Survivor 47: Episode 9 "Nightmare Fuel" Gameplay Analysis

 "Gata got got."

-Sam Phalen

This was a genuinely thrilling episode of Survivor and none of the excitement had anything to do with people losing their votes.  Take notes, Jeff!  I was really annoyed at the prospect of having four people lose their votes.  Luckily, it only ended up being one.  But the chaos at camp and Tribal Council was a blast.  I'm bummed Sol went out as he was my favorite person left in the game, but it was an entertaining journey.  Let's get into who played well and who sucked.

Played Well:

I gotta give Andy some major props for the damage control he did in this episode.  We saw him having good conversations with both Sam and Rachel after betraying them in the previous episode.  As far as the episode tells us, he still has working relationships with both of them.  In fact, his relationship with Rachel may be stronger than ever.  He also ended up on the right side of the vote after all that chaos.

Sam did a really good job of keeping his cool and seemingly repairing his relationship with Andy and Lavo.  I also love how much he stirred the game up.  He figured out the Sol was the target and immediately let him know, which caused all of the ensuing chaos.  Sam is such an obvious boot that he needs to shake things up as much as he can.  Otherwise he'll just get picked off in the next episode or two.  It may not have worked out the way he wanted it, but once he realized the writing was on the wall, he did vote for Sol, but he may have created a few cracks in the process.

Gabe, Kyle, and Sue all managed to stick together and take Sol out of the game.  It wasn't a Tuku member and they stayed strong in the chaos and got their way.  Plus Gabe won Immunity.

It was a bit of a rough go for Teeny.  The vote didn't go the way she wanted, but at least she figured that out before she cast her vote and threw one down on Sol.  It was the only play for her to make in all the chaos.

Who Sucked:

Rachel probably gave too much information to Sam.  Especially if she and Genevieve agreed to keep Sam in the dark.  If she had kept quiet, Sam wouldn't have been able to shake things up as much as he wanted.  On the other hand, maybe she should have joined with Sam to shake things up.  Going this way ended up with her ally, Sol, going out of the game.  She may have been better off trying to use the chaos to save him.  But now I think people are going to realize that she told Sam what was happening and use that against her.

I really don't like that Genevieve initiated this move against Sol.  Sure, she still has plenty of options moving forward, but she gave up one of her Lavo tribemates for no good reason.  She tells us it was payback for taking out Rome and even admits that it's a petty reason.  That's not a good reason to vote out one of your numbers.  Yes, she got her way, but I don't think it's a way she should be going.

I'll put Caroline here because she lost her vote in the Journey Challenge.  It's a minor thing for sure, but enough to put her in this section.

As for Sol, I don't really know what else he could have done.  With the way Rome was treating him, of course Sol wanted Rome out.  I don't blame him one bit.  I think Genevieve made a bad move here and Sol shouldn't have been the one to go out.  And he did what he could when he found out he was the target.  It's a bummer, but that's Survivor.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Gabe Ortis for winning Immunity, keeping his alliance together amidst the chaos, and taking out Sol, who was, indeed, targeting him.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Genevieve Mushaluk for targeting Sol far too early.

This was a blast to watch, even if my favorite remaining contestant got voted out.  If the promo for the next episode is to be believed, the Sue/Kyle feud might heat up next week, so I'm looking forward to the fireworks!