Survivor 47: Episode 6 "Feel the FOMO" Gameplay Analysis

 "That was blindside city!"

-Andy Rueda

Rome has fallen!  What a fantastic episode!  This was such a fun ride.  I can't remember a merge boot being this spelled out since The Amazon.  It felt like a big practical joke that we were all in on with the contestants and production at Rome's expense.  And with the way he's played this season, he kinda deserved it.  It was fun to watch and it's fun to talk about, so let's get into who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

Well, let's get this out of the way first; I think getting rid of Rome was a good move for everyone else in the game.  On paper, both the Gata and Tuku tribes got rid of someone that wasn't on their tribe.  That's usually a good move at the merge.  Not to mention the people like Kyle that Rome burned in this episode.  And then the Lavo group was totally justified in getting rid of Rome because he was such an agent of chaos that none of them could trust.  Even Genevieve, his closest ally, saw the writing on the wall and voted him out.  Genevieve also found the Advantage for the Challenge.  She may not have won Immunity, but she at least guaranteed herself the merge feast.

Sam and Sierra also ended up getting the merge feast and while they were there, Sue threw out Andy's name as the backup vote.  They ended up agreeing to it, even if Sam was a little reluctant.  They were put in a tough spot, but they had no choice but to go along with it.  If they tried to save Andy from being the backup vote, that would draw suspicion onto the Gata group.  It's a tough position to be in, but they did what they had to do.

Andy, Teeny, and Caroline all made a brilliant move in playing the Amulet Idol.  Rome did a great job explaining why they needed to get rid of it.  It was an Advantage that everyone else knew about and incentivized turning on each other.  Getting rid of the Amulets takes a target off their backs and actually makes it easier for all three of them to potentially work together in the future.  

One other note about Caroline; I don't love that she told Sue that she knows about her Idol.  I would have kept that info to myself.  This could incentivize Sue to turn on Caroline.  I don't think that will happen, but to me it isn't worth the risk.  That said, I still give Caroline a net positive for this episode.  Tiyana is suspicious of Sue as well, but kept her suspicions away from Sue's ears, which was the smarter way to go.

Kyle started this episode off a little too trusting of Rome, but learned his lesson quickly.  Even without his vote, he's the one who led the charge against Rome and knocked him out of the game.  He also won the Immunity Challenge!

Who Sucked:

I don't think anyone left in the game played poorly.

As for Rome, he simply played too hard and made too many enemies.  He forgot about the social game or thought he was good at it.  His lack of self-awareness was pretty astonishing.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Teeny Chirichillo for taking out Rome and getting rid of the Amulet Idol.  Andy and Caroline also made the same moves, but Andy was the backup vote and, like I mentioned earlier, I don't love that Caroline told Sue that she knows about her Idol, so that's how I ended up with Teeny here.

I don't give out Worst Player of the Episode to the contestant who was eliminated.  I think that's typically too easy.  Since Rome isn't eligible, I'm not giving out a Worst Player for this episode.  I think everyone left in the game was net positive.

I loved this episode.  Rome definitely made the game interesting, but I'm glad he didn't stick around any longer.  His downfall was simply delicious.  And the lines haven't been drawn in the slightest, so it's almost like we get another merge episode next week.  I bet we'll get some more fireworks!