Survivor 42, Episode 3 "Go for the Gusto" Gameplay Analysis

 "I can direct the vote without even having one."

-Chanelle Howell

Wow, I think it's safe to say that Survivor 42 has officially kicked it into high gear.  This was an awesome episode filled with some terrible gameplay, a lot of which came from my winner pick...  This was definitely my favorite episode of the season so far.  Let's take a look at who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

We'll start over on Taku with Jonathan who gave us an extremely impressive performance in the Immunity Challenge.  He won it for his tribe single-handedly.  He's going to make such a good merge boot.

I also liked that Omar decided to Risk His Vote.  With the information he was given, it was a good, logical move for him to risk it.  He's also in a good position within his tribe, so even without his vote, I think he will be fine.

Let's move over to Vati.  First we have Hai, who saw through Chanell's lie in trying to get him to split the votes.  He voted for Jenny, which gave him the opportunity to save Lydia.  I love that he refused to switch his vote and wielded all the power in the discussion.  I also like that he and Lydia told Daniel that they would not hold his initial vote against Lydia against him.  This was the right thing to say, but I hope it was a lie.  They should definitely hold this against him.

Who Sucked:

Going back over to Taku, I don't know why Maryanne decided to tell her entire tribe that she has an Extra Vote.  This just puts a target on her back.  Telling someone about the Beware Advantage makes a little more sense, but she needs to stop showing everyone her cards.

Moving on to Vati, how much time do you got?  This really all started with Chanelle's move to Risk Her Vote.  This was a terrible decision.  She knew Mike didn't have a vote.  She had all the information she needed to know to Protect Her Vote.  She even told Omar as much.  Risking Her Vote was idiotic and caused all of the Tribal Council madness.  I liked her play to try and get Hai and Lydia to split their votes, but she wasn't able to sell it.

Then we have Daniel.  First, he temporarily lost Mike's Idol, which makes him someone you should not want as an ally.  Then he talked way too much at Tribal Council.  He had very kind words to say about Mike, which helped make Hai more paranoid, and then he completely threw his closest ally, Chanelle, under the bus during the discussion.  He failed to get Hai to flip and gave him all of the power during the discussion by saying he didn't want to go to rocks.  He actually would have been better off going to rocks because he only had a 25% chance of going home.  Hai going out would have been ideal, but if it had been Mike or Chanelle, at least one of his allies would have still been in the game and he wouldn't have burned any bridges.  Daniel started off this episode having a working relationship with everyone on his tribe, but now I don't think he has any.

Finally, we have Mike, who simply did not do a good enough job of convincing Hai to flip and now he's lost his closest ally.  

As for the Ika tribe and Lindsay, we simply did not seen any of them.

I feel really bad for Jenny.  She lost the game 99% because of Chanelle and Daniel's actions.  The only thing she could have done was be closer to Hai and Lydia.  It's a bummer to lose her here.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Hai Giang for seeing through Chanelle's lie, not splitting his vote, and refusing to switch his vote.

Worst Player of the Episodes is close, but I'm giving it to Daniel Strunk for losing Mike's Idol, talking too much at Tribal, turning on Chanelle, not going to rocks, and burning all of the bridges.  I don't have high hopes for my winner pick anymore.

What a fun episode.  I can't wait to see the fallout over on Vati.  It should be wild ride!