Survivor 43, Episode 2 "Lovable Curmudgeon" Gameplay Analysis

 "I'm thinking of worms."

-Mike Gabler

I enjoyed the first episode of Survivor 43, but I wasn't fully hooked.  After watching episode 2, consider me hooked.  What a fun episode.  I loved the insanity of Cody picking up the Beware Advantage.  There was some absolutely stupid gameplay that was highly entertaining to watch.  I'm rooting for Cody now, even if I think he has a zero percent chance to win the game.  Now, let's wade into this nonsense and figure out who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

Let's start on the Baka tribe.  It was great to see the guys form an alliance when it was initially set up to appear like they weren't playing at all.  Now I think they absolutely have an edge.  Gabler especially needs this because he isn't doing all that well physically.

We also have Jeanine who went through Gabler's bag to confirm how long his Idol is good for.  It's a classic move and I love it, even if it may come back to haunt her in the next episode.  It needed to be done.

Moving over to Vesi, more like Messy, am I right?  Cody made the worst move of the episode by taking the Beware Advantage.  I thought that I would for sure be giving him Worst Player of the Episode, but if you're going to dig yourself a hole, at least be able to get yourself out of it.  Cody did just that.  He got all of the special beads from his tribemates and got himself an Idol.  He protected his closet ally, Nneka, and took out Justine.

Nneka had a similar story to Cody.  She was terrible in the Immunity Challenge and I wouldn't have blamed anyone for voting her out.  Her social game came in clutch by keeping Cody and Jesse on her side and she helped Cody get the beads to make his Idol.  She survived this vote and took out Justine.

Finally, we have Jesse who completely controlled this vote and took out the person he wanted to go.  He might have made some enemies in Dwight and Noelle, but I think Cody and Nneke will be very loyal to him.

Who Sucked:

Let's go over to Coco, where we have Ryan and Geo who are way too much of an obvious pair.  Their other potential alliance member, Karla, seems to be wary of how close they are.  I would bet that one of these two go home if Coco goes to Tribal Council.

Back on Vesi, Dwight was pretty bad on the puzzle.  It was just a minor thing as he couldn't contribute to the vote.  Hopefully he isn't too mad at Jesse after Tribal Council.

Finally, we have Noelle.  She was left out of the vote and lost her main ally.  Plus I don't like that she and Justine split their votes.  I think that was a really bad call.

We really didn't get enough from Elie, James, Karla, Lindsay, or Cassidy for me to say either way.

As for Justine, she came out of the gate playing too hard.  She was in an obvious pair with Noelle, was too confrontational with Jesse, and shouldn't have split her vote.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Sami Layadi for being the driving force behind the Baka Guys Alliance and for maintaining a good relationship with everyone on his tribe.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Noelle Lambert for being left out of the vote, losing her main ally, and splitting her vote.  Reminder: the person who is voted out in the episode cannot with either award.

I'm excited to see what happens next on Vesi.  They are a mess of a tribe and I love it.  I'm officially on the Survivor 43 hype train!  Let's hope it doesn't derail.