Survivor 41: Episode 3 "My Million Dollar Mistake" Analysis

"I like what you said about broccoli."

-Xander Hastings

Okay, I've got to say it...there are too many advantages in Survivor.  I've kept an open mind up until now and I still enjoyed the episode, but I would enjoy it more if there was more time spent getting to know these people and see them interact rather than watching reactions to all of the advantages.  It's too much!  Either way, we still have to figure out who played well and who sucked, so let's take a closer look.

Who Played Well:

We'll start over on the unstoppable Luvu tribe, where I only have one person to talk about and that is Deshawn.  The man is a beast in these challenges and he continues to be physically impressive.

Moving over to Yase, again, I only have one person to talk about.  I loved how Xander was able to drop in his line about butterflies just being dead relatives saying hi, by basically making fun of himself for saying it last time.  I also liked how he was able to connect with Brad during the challenge, even though that's not going to end up going anywhere, and he won Immunity for his tribe and saved himself.

That's all I have for people who played well.  It wasn't a great episode in terms of gameplay.

Who Sucked:

Back on Luvu, Naseer seems to have gone back to the bottom of his tribe by scheming and plotting too much.  He needs to slow down and wait until his tribe actually loses before scheming this much.

While I liked Sydney throwing Naseer under the bus to the rest of the tribe, I didn't like how she handled her nighttime adventure.  She really rubbed Tiffany the wrong way with her attitude and chose the tarp.  The Vote Steal was the clear answer on this adventure.  She ended up with nothing.

Moving on to Ua, JD got caught in a lie when he was sloppy in hiding his Extra vote, though he did manage to save himself by giving the Extra Vote to Shan.  Normally, I would say this was a bad idea, but this is a rare exception.

I think Shan ultimately made the wrong move in keeping JD over Brad.  Brad was going to be nothing but trustworthy.  While JD may be loyal in the short-term, you can't trust him long term.  He's too much of a player for that.  Also Brad had been better in the challenges.  Take JD's Extra Vote and send him packing.  He's not going to be on the Jury, so who cares?

I hated how Genie and Ricard fought with each other at Tribal Council.  They need to mend some fences, for sure.  What if there's a swap and they end up on the same tribe together?  At least pretend to forgive one another.  Ricard also made the wrong move in voting out Brad over Ricard and Genie ended up on the wrong side of the vote.  I think she is going next.

Finally, on the Yase tribe, Tiffany didn't handle her nighttime adventure very well either.  She rubbed Sydney the wrong way and took the tarp over the Vote Steal.  She and Sydney both ended up with nothing.  Sure, they could have lost their votes, but they also would have prevented the others from getting Vote Steals that could be used against them later on.  Going for the Vote Steal was worth the risk.

We didn't get enough screen-time from Danny, Erika, Heather, Evvie, or Liana for me to say either way for them.  

As for Brad, he actually had a decent episode.  He got two advantages and took the Vote Steal on his adventure.  He shouldn't have gone home here.  He's the perfect ally: hardworking, loyal, and trustworthy. I don't think he could have won the game, but Shan and Ricard definitely should have kept him.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Xander Hastings by default.  He was great in the challenge, connected with Brad, and pulled off his secret code again and to perfection.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Genie Chen for fighting with Richard and ending up on the wrong side of the vote.

I am very excited to see where this season goes next, but I maintain there is too large of a focus on the advantages.