Survivor 45: Episode 7 "The Thorn in My Thumb" Gameplay Analysis

 "My Idol has reached its final form."

-Austin Li Coon

I was concerned going into this episode, not gonna lie.  I wasn't thrilled that we were getting a double boot immediately after the mergatory episode.  I just wanted a normal episode to let the battle lines get drawn.  However, the twist ended up working for me.  I like that the person voted out of the first Tribal Council didn't make the Jury.  It increased the pressure on the castaways and I love that they were told ahead of time.  I will say, I wasn't a fan of the flash-forward editing.  I thought it made the final Tribal Council too predicable and I hope Survivor doesn't do that again.  Anyway, let's get into who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

Starting over on the Blue group, Kellie was the person who kept Belo together.  She forced Bruce and Kendra to get on the same page and make the smart move in voting out Sifu.  I especially loved the way she talked to Kendra.  She started out by completely empathizing with her about how frustrating Bruce is to play with, but finished by saying they couldn't get rid of him yet.  Plus she won Immunity.

Emily, Kendra, and Drew all made the right move in taking out Sifu.  Kendra kept Belo strong and Emily and Drew were smart not to stick their necks out for Sifu.  Now, I know Drew is going to get a lot of flack for leaving his Safety Without Power at camp after what happened with Matt last season, but Dalton Ross tweeted out that this cast didn't get to see that episode, so it's not nearly as egregious.  In the future, everyone needs to take their advantages to the Challenges, but I won't give Drew too much flack and he ended up doing what he needed to do to survive.  He didn't even need his Advantage.

Moving over to the Red group, Dee, Julie, and Austin made the right move in taking out Kaleb.  Austin made a good point about keeping Kaleb as a meat-shield, but I don't blame Dee and Julie for pushing for Kaleb after he called them out at the last Tribal Council.  Plus Dee was great in the Immunity Challenge thanks to her big toes.

I like that Katurah ended up flipping on Jake and Kaleb.  She found out that she was the only person on Lulu 2.0 that didn't know about Bruce's Idol.  She may not truly be on the bottom of the Belo Alliance, but I don't blame her for believing that she is.  I believe that if you're on the bottom, you need to try and throw a little chaos into the game and use that chaos as a ladder.  By tuning on Kaleb and Jake, she might cause a little chaos in the Belo alliance in the next episode which could give her some room to separate herself from them and possibly maneuver herself into a better position. 

Who Sucked:

While Bruce ultimately ended up on the right side of the vote and held onto his Idol, his social game is so horrendous that his own alliance considered making a bad move and knocking him out of the game.  He's driving everyone insane and I don't think he can win.

I liked the plan that Jake and Kaleb put together and I think they could have gotten Austin to flip on Julie, but they shouldn't have told Katurah about Bruce's Idol.  Austin could absolutely tells Katurah about the Idol in the future, but I don't think that was likely for this vote.  Kaleb and, to a lesser extent, Jake, overthought this one and ended up convincing Katurah to turn on them.  

Verdict:

Since there were two eliminations in this episode, I'm going to give two Best and Worst Players of the Episode.  Best Players of the Episode goes to Kellie Nalbandian and Dee Valladares for winning Immunity and getting the vote to go their way.  Kellie was especially impressive for getting Kendra and Bruce on the same page.

My first Worst Player of the Episode goes to Bruce Perreault for his horrendous social game.  My second Award goes to Jake O'Kane for ending up on the wrong side of the vote and causing Katurah to flip.  As a reminder, I don't give either Award to the eliminated player.  That's too easy and boring.

This was a really fun episode, but I'm ready for a straightforward normal episode next week.  Hopefully Bruce continues to drive everyone nuts.  I find it hilarious.