Survivor 43, Episode 3 "I'll Sign the Divorce Papers" Gameplay Analysis

 "Just checking."

-Geo Bustamante

Episode 3 of Survivor 43 was a pretty average episode of Survivor.  Pretty straightforward, but enjoyable, if not spectacular.  That's okay.  Not every episode needs to be jaw-dropping.  That said, we still need to figure out who played well and who sucked.  Let's take a closer look!

Who Played Well:

We'll start over on Baka.  Gabler may be annoying the girls on his tribe, but I like how he, Sami, and Owen are luring them into a false sense of security in regards to Gabler's Idol.  The three of them have complete control of their tribe.  I also liked that Owen volunteered to go on the journey to stop Elie or Jeanine from getting an Advantage.  And letting Noelle take the Advantage instead of Risking his Vote was a smart move.

Moving over to Coco, just like Owen, it was smart for James to let Noelle have the Advantage rather than Risking his Vote.

I also really liked that Geo checked under the sit-out bench for an Advantage.

Finally, I don't love that Karla went for the Beware Advantage.  Unless you are in a desperate situation, I don't think you should take them.  While that was a bad move, at least Karla was able to get herself out of it by getting the beads from everyone and gaining an Idol that no one else knows about.

Let's go over to Vesi.  Knocking out Nneka was a great move for both Dwight and Noelle.  They definitely have the advantage moving forward.  Speaking of advantages, I love how Noelle convinced Owen and James to let her get the Vote Steal and she didn't even need to use it thanks to her awesome performance in the challenge. 

Who Sucked:

Back on Baka, Elie and Jeanine, especially Elie, are way too overconfident about their spot in the game.  Elie is assuming that Gabler is an idiot.  You need to assume that everyone you're playing with is intelligent until they prove otherwise.  Elie is setting herself up for an epic blindside.

I don't have anyone on Coco, so we'll move onto Vesi.  Cody and Jesse should not have gotten rid of Nneka.  Loyalty is far more important than challenge strength.  Noelle was the correct choice.  If they were worried about Noelle having an Advantage, then maybe they could have knocked out Dwight, but Noelle didn't end up playing her Advantage in the end.  They could have done everything exactly the same and switched their votes to Noelle at Tribal Council.  She would have gone home with a Vote Steal in her pocket.  Jesse also blew the puzzle alongside Nneka.

We really didn't see enough of Ryan, Lindsay, or Cassidy for me to say either way.

As for Nneka, it really all came down to challenge performance.  It's too bad, she could have been very dangerous in the post-merge.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Noelle Lambert for her challenge performance, getting the Vote Steal, and knocking Nneka out of the game without playing her Advantage.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Jesse Lopez for blowing the puzzle and voting Nneka out of the game when he should have gone after Noelle.

I am loving the tribe dynamics on both Baka and Vesi, so if either one of them lose again, it will be exciting.  I'm also hoping we get more of Coco soon.