Survivor 48, Episode 6 "Doing the Damn Thing" Gameplay Analysis

 "You drink a lot of milk?"

-David Kinne

I'm just going to call this the merge.  Everyone was living on the same beach, one person won Immunity, everyone went to Tribal Council, and one person was voted out.  This was a merge.  We don't need to do this silly thing with earning the merge buff.  This is a merge with extra steps.  Apart from that nonsense, this was a fun episode of Survivor as we raced to the bottom with voting out either Charity or Sai.  I enjoyed watching the other castaways just dunk on these two as they decided who to vote out.  Let's get into who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

We got a new alliance this week, which doesn't have a name yet, so I'll call it the Honesty Alliance for now.  It's a good fit for Joe, Eva, Shauhin, David, and Kyle.  They could do really well in this game, but I think this helps Kyle the most.  He seems to be the most strategic of the bunch and he and Kamilla are playing it smart by keeping their close relationship on the down-low.  Kyle also managed to win Immunity, so a strong showing for him in this episode.

Star also had a strong episode.  She had a really nice moment where she gave Cedrek a pep talk after his breakdown.  I can see them forming a tight bond after that.  She was also the one who threw Charity under the bus to Eva and Joe when Charity told Star to get the Idol back from Eva.  It seems like she was the one who got the ball rolling on Charity's elimination.

Cedrek also managed to talk Sai off the ledge after they returned from the previous Tribal Council.  There are still issues there, as Sai ended up voting for Cedrek here, but she didn't even want to talk to him, but Cedrek got her to listen and hear what happened with the Bianca vote.

As for the Charity vote itself, it appears that everyone was in on the plan except for Mitch, Sai, and Charity herself.  I'll talk about them later, but this was a good plan for everybody else.  Original Lagi and Vula get rid of a Civa, and the Civa members who were in on the vote get to lower the target on their back by cutting someone from their tribe that none of them seem to trust or like much.  Charity was definitely the smarter target for them as opposed to Sai.

Who Sucked:

Mitch was left high and drive in this vote as he was too close to Charity.  That's the risk you run when you're the closest ally of an unpopular player.  He also probably should have played his Vote Blocker on Sai just to get the target off his back.

Sai continues to be terrible.  Her refusal to speak to Cedrek when they first got back to camp is the last thing you want to do, her social game and general awareness aren't good, and she voted for Cedrek for some dumb reason.  Even if she wanted a Shot in the Dark safety net, voting for someone she has a working relationship with wasn't a bright idea.  Throw it on someone you can't work with or someone you don't know very well if you're going to do that!

As for Charity, she was just seen as phony by too many people.  She needed to focus more the social game and making genuine connections.  If only one person on your tribe likes you, you're not playing the social game well enough.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Kyle Fraser for getting into the Honesty Alliance, keeping his bond with Kamilla secret, winning Immunity, and letting Charity go from the game.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Sai Hughley for her poor social game, lashing out at Cedrek after Tribal Council, and wasting her vote on him as well.

I'll be very curious to see how long this Honesty Alliance can last.  It's a good group, but it's bound to fall apart eventually.  I'm also very curious to see if the others will get sick of Sai and vote her out or if people will see her as a goat to bring to the Final 3.