Survivor 44: Episode 7 "Let's Not Be Cute About It" Gameplay Analysis

 "May I offer you a papaya in this trying time."

-Matt Blankinship

If I wanted to watch a reality with a bunch of garbage twists, I would watch Big Brother.  I'm getting pretty sick of Survivor pulling this crap.  I don't like seeing people in this cast get screwed over.  This is a great cast!  Let them play!  Can we at least get a normal Tribal Council at some point?!  Whatever...let's figure out who played well and who sucked...besides production.

Who Played Well:

Brandon, Jaime, and Lauren all made the right move in taking out Matt.  He's an incredibly likable guy and in the tightest duo in the game.  Voting him out is a no-brainer.  Brandon also won Immunity.  I will say I think Lauren should have played her Extra Vote.  Sure, she didn't need to, especially because they knew Matt didn't have his Shot in the Dark, but she's gotta get that target off her back.  If everyone knows you have an advantage, play it sooner rather than later.  It didn't effect her in this episode, so I'll keep her on the Played Well side, but I predict she's going next.

I guess I'll give Carson some credit for picking the right group to have the winner in the Immunity Challenge, which gave him Immunity.

Finally, I love how Yam Yam handled being the backup vote once they got back from Tribal Council.  He used his humor to make the tribe laugh and keep things light.  He also managed to survive this vote and turned on Matt to make it happen.

Who Sucked:

Frannie really blew it at the Immunity Challenge.  Once she won Individual Immunity, she should have dropped out of the Challenge.  She was safe, Matt would have been safe, and she would have had control over who went home.  Instead, she loses her closest ally because she was too competitive.  It could work out for her because now that duo is broken up and her target will be smaller, but she still lost her closest ally when she could have prevented it from happening.

Finally, I think Heidi misplayed the Control a Vote.  She took Lauren's vote and directed it at Yam Yam, who are both still in the game.  She may have created some enemies here.  She either shouldn't have played the Advantage at all or should have played it on Jaime and directed the vote at Lauren.  That could have caused a tie and Lauren and her Extra Vote wouldn't have been part of the revote.  What ended up happening was probably the worst case scenario for her.

We really didn't enough from Carolyn, Danny, or Kane to say either way.

As for Matt, I feel really bad for him.  He was dealt a horrible hand, but if he hadn't been in such an obvious duo, he may not have been targeted.  I hate that since he didn't bring his Shot in the Dark to the Challenge, he wasn't able to use it at Tribal Council.  That's really dumb.  Production should have just let him play it.  Who cares if people bring their gear to a Challenge.  Until production fixes that though, bring your stuff with you everywhere, I guess.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Brandon Cottom for winning Immunity and taking out Matt.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Frannie Marin for not throwing the Challenge after winning Individual Immunity and losing her closest ally as a result.

I didn't care for this episode at all.  Hopefully, Survivor will cool it with the twists for a while and we can watch the players play properly.