Survivor 41: Episodes 6 & 7 "Ready to Play Like a Lion" & "There's Gonna Be Blood" Analysis

 "This one may ruffle some feathers."

-Jeff Probst

Since no one was voted out in episode 6 and this was basically one long episode, I decided to combine my gameplay breakdown for these two episodes into one.  I gotta be honest, I'm not thrilled with Survivor right now.  The Hourglass advantage is pretty much the worst thing to ever happen.  The twists and turns have become too much where it severely impacts my enjoyment of the season.  I don't like seeing players get royally screwed out of the game via production's B.S.  While there were a few fun moments and I do like the idea of having half of the merge tribe get Immunity in a challenge and then having a second challenge for the remaining players to win Individual Immunity, the amount of Advantages in the game really sucks the life out of the show.  Anyway, let's figure out who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

We'll start with Danny and Deshawn.  I really liked how they faked a game of rock, paper, scissors to bring Naseer with them and sent Erika to Exile Island, but at the feast, I didn't like how Danny confessed that he was trying to protect the men.  That's something you keep to yourself.  They also formed an alliance with their fellow black castaways, Liana and Shan.  I know a lot of people are getting bent out of shape about this, but it's a good move for them.  Make any alliance you can for whatever reason.  Race is perfectly valid.  Whatever connects you to another player.  They ultimately survived the vote by doing what they had to in voting out Sydney.  Honestly, props to them and everyone else who survived that chaotic Tribal Council.

Next we have Erika, who 100% made the right move in playing the Hourglass Advantage.  I may hate the thing itself, but it was a good move for her.  Whatever gets you Immunity.

Shan started off on the wrong foot by fighting with Ricard so much about the Extra Vote.  She ended up getting it back and I'm glad Ricard finally did, but they both handled that very poorly.  After that, they both had a pretty solid episode.  Ricard won Immunity for himself...twice and Shan convinced Liana to completely flip on Yase.  It didn't fully work out the way Shan intended, but she isn't any worse off for it.

I love how Evvie, Xander, and Tiffany played this episode.  Once he realized everyone knew about his Idol and that Liana had the Knowledge is Power Advantage, Xander used the Idol as an offensive weapon instead of playing defense.  That trio really got in people's heads, especially Liana.  Props to Tiffany for exposing Liana's advantage and it was a great move on all of them for Xander to have the fake Idol and for Tiffany to have the real deal.  I also love that Xander ended up keeping the Idol.  Evvie is not fully trustworthy and either she or Sydney was probably going home, so why not let one of them go and hold onto the Idol.  Tiffany was also great as she let Xander make the final decision even though technically she was the one with the Idol.

Finally, Heather and Naseer ended up on the right side of the vote.  More importantly, Naseer made it through the chaos with his Idol intact.

Who Sucked:

I only have one remaining contestant in this category and that's Liana.  She flipped on her old Yase tribunates way too early.  She's known these people since Day 1 and she's going to let Shan, who she only just met, get her to turn on them?  That's a lot of bridges you just burned Liana.  She had a much better move in front of her and that was to use the Knowledge is Power Advantage to take Naseer's Idol and vote him out instead.  That way her Yase tribe stays intact and the black alliance stays intact.  Now everyone sees her as sneaky and I would guess only Shan trusts her.  Plus she misplayed her Knowledge is Power Advantage and fell for Xander's trick.

As for Sydney, I feel really bad for her.  She won Immunity and had it taken away via complete B.S.  I don't blame her at all for going with the Shot in the Dark.  It's a bummer.  She was utterly screwed and I liked her a lot.  This kind of elimination is not why I watch Survivor.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode, by which I mean round of play, goes to Xander Hastings for the way he used his Idol as a weapon, completely faked out Liana, and got Tiffany to not play the Idol in the end.  Masterful gameplay from Xander.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Liana Wallace for trusting Shan too much, flipping on Yase too early, and misplaying her advantage.

We've done away with some of the advantages, but can we get rid of the rest and enjoy the rest of the season?  Pretty please?