Survivor 45: Episode 5 "I Don't Want to Be the Worm" Gameplay Analysis

 "Whatever, man."

-Kendra McQuarrie

This was a bounce-back episode for Survivor 45.  It was a pretty standard episode for the new era, but it worked.  We got solid setup for the possible conflicts in all three tribes going into the Immunity Challenge, so I had no idea who was going to Tribal Council.  We got some fun scheming and plotting and interesting character backstories.  This is what the average episode of Survivor should look like.  Plus, no one quit!  Let's get into who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

We'll start over on Belo with Austin.  He got dealt a bad hand by being sent on the journey, but I'll give him props for being the only to recognize how much of a disadvantage the Advantage Amulets are.  Taking food would have been the right call, but when he realized that wasn't going to happen, he made a nice pivot into embracing new allies while plotting to take them out as soon as possible.  He also convinced Emily to stay with him and Drew by telling her the truth about the Advantage Amulet.  And he extended the power of his Idol by playing the Goodwill Advantage and took out Brando.  All in all, a very good episode for Austin.

Emily made the right move in sticking with Austin and Drew.  If you're caught between two groups, go with the group that shows you the hardware and the instructions that prove it's legitimate.  Austin did that and I'm glad Emily stuck with him.

Moving on to Lulu, I just have Kaleb here.  He continues to be great socially by improving and creating bonds with literally everyone else on Lulu.  He's set up well going into the merge.

Over on Reba, I have to give Dee credit for managing to not let Sifu figure she voted for him.  I wasn't expecting that.  I don't love that she was considering flipping on J., but that ended up just being a strategy discussion and nothing came from it...yet.

Who Sucked:

Going back over to Belo, I can't believe Drew told Brando he wasn't interested in the Nerd Alliance.  If someone approaches you to be in an alliance, you say yes.  Drew's rejection caused him to be the target of Brando and Kendra and he was just one vote away from being voted out.  Now, to his credit, he and Austin managed to keep Emily on their side, but it was just entirely unnecessary for it to even come that close.

Kendra ended up being on the wrong side of the vote and was unable to get Emily on her side.  I will give her credit for her social game though.  Everyone seems to really like her and I think that's part of the reason Brando was chosen as the target over her.

Over on Lulu, Bruce continues to have a flawed social game and is even rubbing Kaleb the wrong way.  

Katurah got caught searching for an Idol and made her alliance member, Kellie, trust her even less.

Speaking of Kellie, I had been pretty impressed with her up until the journey in this episode.  I hate that she went for the Advantage Amulet.  That puts such a huge target on her back.  If we do get a Reba/Belo war, I would bet that Kellie will be the primary target of Reba.  I think there's a good chance she goes next.

Moving over to Reba, I have the same criticism of J. as I do Kellie.  Taking the Advantage Amulet was a terrible idea.  She could very well be the target of Belo come the merge.  If I had to bet money on who was going next, it would be on J.  Plus she offered herself up as the decoy boot in a plan to take out Sifu.  That was unnecessarily risky.

Finally, Sifu failed to figure out who voted for him and ended up trying to intimidate J.  That wasn't the right way to go about it.  Plus his fake Idol ploy needed more subtlety.  If you have a real Idol, you don't need to tell people.  If someone tries to tell you they have an Idol in order to not get votes, but they don't show you any paper to prove it, they don't have a real Idol.

We really didn't get enough strategy from Jake and Julie for me to say either way.

As for Brando, I think he actually played pretty well and did what he needed to do.  It's just that Austin was able to play the situation with Emily better because of his Advantage.  It's a bummer to see Brando go so early.  I just think he and Kendra were slow on the draw in recruiting Emily.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Austin Li Coon for his pivot on the journey when things weren't going his way, showing the Advantage Amulet note to Emily, using the Goodwill Advantage to expand the power of his Idol, and taking out Brando.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to J. Maya for taking the Advantage Amulet and offering herself up as a decoy boot to take out Sifu.

With the merge coming up, I can't wait for the next episode.  Who knows what's going to happen, but I'm betting it will be fun.  I'm especially excited to see Kendra's reaction once they get back to camp after this Brando vote.  Here's hoping for some fireworks!