Survivor 42, Episode 11"Battle Royale" Gameplay Analysis

 "The game's getting spicy now."

-Lindsay Dolashewich

What a great episode.  I love it when Jeff's stupid twists completely fail.  It brings a smile to my face.  Now, let's never do the Do or Die and especially the Knowledge is Power ever again!  Meanwhile, let's talk about who played well and who sucked!

Who Played Well:

We'll start with Jonathan.  I don't like that he got into that argument with Drea, but he did help knock her out of the game.  Plus he won Immunity and was also the only person who had any business competing in the challenge.

Omar managed to knock out Drea from the game by neutering her Knowledge is Power Advantage.  He had a good enough relationship with her to learn about the Advantage and he has a good enough relationship with Mike for him to hand over his Idol.  Great episode for Omar.

Mike was put in a very unfortunate situation where he needed to hand over his Idol in survive the vote and did it.  Omar could very well never give it back.  He made a hard move when he needed to to save himself and knock Drea out of the game.

Finally, Maryanne recognized that Drea needed to go, even if they did have a bond, and helped take her out.  Plus I love that she, Omar, and Mike all sat out of the Do or Die challenge.

Who Sucked:

First we have Romeo, who nobody really seems to like.  We got a whole sequence dedicated to him being lazy and stealing food.  I think he's a lock to draw dead at the Final 3.  He also ended up being on the wrong side of the vote, but that could be a defensive maneuver against the Shot in the Dark, so I won't hold that against him until I know for sure.

Finally, we have Lindsay, who had a very mixed night.  She and Omar came up with the way to defuse the Knowledge is Power Advantage and getting rid of Drea turns her Amulet into an Idol.  All of that is great.  She had no business competing in the Immunity Challenge.  They all needed to just let Jonathan have that one.  Lindsay was totally safe.  She also played the Monty Hall problem completely wrong.  She should have switched boxes and is only still in the game because of luck, not because of solid gameplay.

As for Drea, she simply gave away too much information.  She told people about her Advantages multiple times over the course of the season and this time it did her in.  If she hadn't told Omar about the Knowledge is Power, Mike would be gone and Drea would still be in the game.  I loved her interaction with Mike on her way out the door though.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Omar Zaheer for neutering the Knowledge is Power Advantage and knocking Drea out of the game.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Romeo Escobar for being lazy and not well liked by his tribe.

One more regular episode before the finale!  I can't wait to see how this plays out!