Survivor 43, Episode 6 "Mergatory" Gameplay Analysis

 "BYOB!  Where's the party at?!"

-Sami Layadi

It was nice to have a merge episode that didn't make me completely rage.  The last five merge episodes have all been tainted in some way.  Two had the Hourglass Advantage, two had the Edge of Extinction, and one was literally my least favorite episode of Survivor of all time.  To have a good, old-fashioned, chaotic merge episode was a delight.  I even like the win your way into the merge component now that the Hourglass has gone.  Anyway, let's take a look at who played well and who sucked.

Played Well:

Let's start with the Coco crew.  I thought they were going to be the most fractured group coming into this episode.  Ryan even talked about turning his back on all of them, but the group held tight in this episode.  Ryan and Karla both won their way into the merge via challenge.  Ryan was an absolute badass in the challenge as well.  The group as a whole managed to sniff out that Elie was lying to them and turned on her.  I also noticed that Ryan was scheming and plotting with members of Vesi as well.  He's keeping his old tribemates close, but reaching out for new connections, which is exactly how you want to play this.  I'm assuming Karla voted for Owen in case of the Shot in the Dark, but the rest of them were all on the right side.

Moving onto the Vesi crew, I don't love how much Noelle was talking about her Steal-a-Vote and Jesse's lack of a vote, but beyond that they were all solid as well.  Jesse and Dwight won their way into the merge and Noelle correctly picked the winning team.  I loved that they were willing to team up with Coco to take out Elie.  Noelle's vote for Cassidy was odd, but I'm guessing it's another Shot in the Dark safety net.

Who Sucked:

Gabler really destroyed Baka here.  I get that he had beef with Elie, but that absolutely could have waited.  This group schemed and plotted too much in the premerge when they really didn't have to and all of their reputations took a hit.

Sami was way too quick to turn on Elie.  He should have tried harder to put Baka back together.

I don't know what Owen was doing with the vote for James.  Was it case of Shot in the Dark or an Idol being played, or was he completely left out?

Finally, I do like how hard Jeanine tried to keep her tribe together and I'm glad she didn't play her Idol on Elie.  She was certainly the best of the Baka group, but she ultimately failed and seemed to be left out of the vote.  

As for Elie, like the rest of her tribe, there was too much scheming and plotting in the premerge that damaged the trust of the tribe.  She also played too hard coming into the merge and made herself a target.  Maybe if she had been more willing to throw Jeanine under the bus, she would have survived.  She could have at least played the Shot in the Dark.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Ryan Medrano.  Everyone on Coco and Vesi was solid in this episode and it was tough to break the tie.  Ultimately, I picked Ryan because I like that he kept his Coco alliance intact, even though they burned him last time, but I also saw him working with the Vesi guys.  Plus he was a beast in the Challenge.  And yes, you could give him grief about pitching a Final 7 at the merge feast, but at least he tried.  And he may have lowered his threat level with that idea. 

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Mike Gabler.  He tossed Elie right under the bus at the merge feast when he should have been focused on keeping Baka together.  This was way too early to turn on her and I think it will cost a few more members of the Baka tribe the game.

That was a fun episode.  I can't wait to see which alliance implodes next.