Survivor 43, Episode 5 "Stop with All the Niceness" Gameplay Analysis

 "Part of me is just ready with the knives."

-Karla Cruz Godoy

I hate the Knowledge is Power Advantage with a passion and I was ready to rage about it being back in the game.  Luckily, it was knocked right out of the game in this episode and I couldn't be happier.  I doubt it, but hopefully it's gone for good this time.  Anyway, let's take a look at who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

Let's start over on Baka.  Jeanine found the Beware Advantage and, although she doesn't seem to know it, she's in a very dangerous position on the tribe.  I think it was a good move for her to take it and she managed to turn it into a Hidden Immunity Idol.  I also don't mind that she Risked Her Vote.  I think she's in a position where she could use another Advantage, plus she has the safety net of her Idol.

I loved that Elie encouraged Jeanine to take the Beware Advantage.  She knows where it is and didn't receive any of the penalty.  That's probably how I would use the Beware Advantage.  I would encourage someone else to take it, but read the clue with them and keep myself in the loop about it.

I like that both Sami and Owen handed over their beads to help Jeanine make the Idol.  It's too early to rock the boat.

Moving over to Coco, I don't think Geo should have been the one to go, however, it was a good move for both Cassidy and Karla.  Cassidy got rid of her biggest rival and Karla took the Knowledge is Power out of the game, which is good considering she has an Idol.

Who Sucked:

We'll stick with Coco.  I don't like that James took out Geo.  If he had pulled Karla in to take out Cassidy, he would have Ryan and Geo on his side going into the merge.  The two of them were overconfident and obvious, but they trusted Karla and James.  Those are two people I want on my side going into the merge as they'll be easy to blindside later.  By taking Geo out, they've broken their trust with Ryan going into the merge.  I think they're the most fractured tribe and they're going to completely collapse at the merge.  I can understand why Karla wanted Geo out, but this was bad for James.

I love a good challenge throw, but this was not the time or the place for Ryan to do this and it could have cost him the game.  It did end up costing him his closest ally.

Finally, over on Vesi, I don't like that Jesse Risked His Vote.  On a four person tribe, that's way too valuable to risk.  It was a bad call and he's lucky that this phase of the game is ending.

We really didn't get enough from Gabler, Cody, Noelle, or Dwight for me to say either way.

As for Geo, he was overconfident and too trusting of Karla.  If he hadn't told Karla about the Knowledge is Power, he might have survived.  

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Jeanine Zheng for taking the Beware Advantage, getting an Idol, and Risking Her Vote.  

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Ryan Medrano for throwing the challenge and losing his closest ally.

I'm really excited for the next episode.  We have three tribes with some serious baggage headed into the pseudo-merge episode and no Hourglass Advantage!  Hopefully they don't replace it with some other stupid Advantage.  It'll be fun to see how this one shakes out.