Survivor: Ghost Island Episode 11 "The Finish Line Is In Sight"

"Malolo's been getting the low end of the stick..."

-Sebastian Noel

I was nervous about the twist in this episode.  Survivor has gotten me very apprehensive about new twists, but I actually liked this one quite a bit.  It feels like they reversed the curse of the Michelle Yi twist in Survivor: Fiji.

Who Played Well:

Let's start with the orange group, and we'll begin with Domenick, who is impressing me more and more as we get deeper into the game.  Not only did he win individual immunity, but he saw right through Michael's lie about having an idol.  This guys has some really impressive reads.  He managed to get rid of Michael and save Laurel, while Kellyn dug her own grave.

Moving on to Laurel, she has done a great job keeping Wendell and Domenick close.  She has a great social game with them and it's the only reason she is still in the game.

Finally, we have Wendell, who kept his head on straight and voted Michael out of the game, saving Laurel.  All three of them are in a great position moving forward.

On to the purple tribe, aka the background extras, plus Donathan.  Props to Chelsea for winning immunity again.

Then we have Sebastian who seems to be the one mostly responsible for taking out Jenna.  I was shocked he was willing to get rid of her, considering they are in a relationship now, but I'll give the credit for her elimination to Sebastian.

Who Sucked:

Let's go back to orange and talk about my girl, Kellyn, which just makes me sad.  She was so easily fooled by Michael's lie.  Her insistence on trying to get rid of Laurel is going to end her game, I believe.  She's created a rift between herself, and Domenick and Wendell.  If I were a betting man, I'd bet a lot on Kellyn being the next to go.

On the purple tribe, we have Donathan, who misplayed his idol.  He's just lucky he played it for himself.  Had he played the idol for Jenna, we would be looking at one of the worst moves of all time.  But, he's still in a pretty good spot, he's just down an idol.

Angela didn't do anything in this episode.

Let's move on to Jenna, who came so close to accidentally saving herself.  But she was much too trusting of Sebastian and should have been more insistent that Donathan play the idol for her.  This was her opportunity to make a big move and she let it pass by.

Michael, on the other hand, did everything he could do.  His manipulation of Kellyn was masterful and worked perfectly.  If only Kellyn would have told him to vote for Laurel than she would have been out of the game.  It's probably smart that Kellyn left him in the dark, but for an 18-year old, Michael played a very impressive game.

Verdict:

Since we had two eliminations, I'm giving out two "Stacy's Blog Has Got It Going On Awards".  The first goes to Domenick Abbate for his read of Michael and for winning immunity.  The second goes to Wendell Holland for keeping his head on straight and getting rid of Michael.

I'm also giving out two "Not The Player For Me Awards"  The first goes to Kellyn Bechtold for being so easily manipulated by Michael and for created a rift between herself, Wendell, and Domenick.  The second goes to Donathan Hurley for misplaying his idol.

I was a big fan of this episode and the twist worked well.  Even though we got two predictable boots, how we got there was still very exciting.