Survivor 51, Episode 3 "What I'm Smellin' Is Stinky" Gameplay Breakdown

 "The friendly vampire needs some new friends."

-Eric Macksoud

Wow, if Survivor 51 was a bowling match, call it a turkey because that's three strikes in a row.  I loved this episode.  I didn't even mind the quit because it was kinda funny.  After that, we had the long-awaited return of the Mutiny to absolutely stellar results.  Plus I was genuinely blindsided by the vote.  I didn't think there was anyway that the 6 was going to be able to lock it in, but they did it and it was excellent.  Season 51 is definitely in the conversation for having the best first three episode run of the show.  I'd throw Cagayan in there as well.  Does anybody have any other nominees?  Anyway, let's get into who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

We'll start over on newly decimated Savu tribe.  I can't believe they managed to pull out the Immunity to win and they can thank Cristian and Kristin for their clutch performances on the puzzle.

I also thought Sharonda and Ori did a good job of reconnecting with Devin.  Their tribe may be down in numbers, but they have the Helicopter Alliance to fall back on come a swap or merge.  And they both learned about Devin's Extra Vote in the process.

Over to Toka's newest member.  I don't know how much of it was luck and how much of it was skill, but Carter's position in the game did a massive 180 over the course of this episode.  He managed to convince Rob to give him the Hidden Immunity Idol before he quit and he ended up mutinying, which was the right call.  I don't know if he truly just didn't make it to the boat on time or he if was planning on staying and was just looking for the Advantage for as long as he could.  I'm very curious to read his eventual exit interview.  Intentional or not, it was the best move for his game.  He also made an alliance with Lewis, wasn't even brought up as a target, and helped take out Patt.  I don't like that he left his bag behind for Brady and Lewis to search, but I can't argue with the results of Carter's change in position over this episode.

The 6 coming together to take out Patt was an excellent move and I'll give them all a lot of credit for making it happen.  Lewis, Maggie, Thien An, and Jenna all end up in this section for me.  Lewis made an alliance with Carter and was one of the main people to spearhead the vote and Maggie managed to convince Brady to give her the Extra Vote.  I will say that both Jenna and Thien An were embarrassingly bad on the puzzle at the Immunity Challenge, but the move to take out Patt brings them back into the positive. 

Who Sucked:

I don't have anyone from Savu in this category, so we'll just stay on Toka.  The alliance of 5; Devin, Brady, Jelly, Patt, and Mike did a bad job in keeping their alliance quiet.  Everyone knew how tight they were and they made it easy for the 6 on the bottom to turn things around.  Also, apparently Mike isn't doing a good job of connecting with other players on the tribe.  Maggie and Thien An described their interactions with him as very surface level. 

While Devin is still in the net negative for me, I thought he did a good job on his visit to Savu.  He got the Extra Vote, reconnected with Ori and Sharonda, and threw some mistrust onto Kilby.

In hindsight, I'm sure Brady regrets giving the Extra Vote to Maggie, but I'm not going to hold it against him.  It was the right move to give it to her.  She was there first and it would have been kinda dirty for him to keep it after she asked for it.  That's a good way to ruin your reputation.  It didn't work out, but in the moment it was the right call.  He's still a net negative though.

Finally, we have Kilby, who ended up being on the right side of the Patt vote and got in with the 6, but he was far too trusting of Brady and Patt and gave them too much information.  He made enemies with Devin and talked a lot of smack about Brady behind his back.  If you want someone to be your ally, maybe don't do that.

We didn't get enough from Alexis, Eric, or Linnea for me to say either way.

As for Rob, it was clear the man hadn't slept at all and was spiraling.  It's a bummer, but I'm not going to give him a hard time beyond that it was funny watching him try to orchestrate a way out of the game that didn't involve quitting.

As for Patt, her alliance did a bad job of hiding how close they were and, for whatever reason, she was seen as the most dangerous.  Gotta remember that threat management.

Verdict:

Since two people went home in this episode, I'm going to give out two Best and Worst Players of the Episode.  As a reminder, the players who went home are not eligible for either Award.

My first Best Player of the Episode goes to Carter Krull.  I'm not sure if he was lucky or good, probably both, but he got Rob's Idol, mutinied to Toka, made an alliance with Lewis, and helped take out Patt.

My second goes to Lewis Kelly.  He made an alliance with the other new kid, Carter, and seemed to be the primary architect of the Patt vote.  

My first Worst Player of the Episode goes to Brady Booker for failing to keep his alliance under wraps and for being on the wrong side of the vote.

My second goes to Mike Pinksy for the same reasons as well as failing to make meaningful connections with people not in his alliance.

I'll be curious to see how long 51 can keep up this run of banger episodes up.  Can we go for 4?  How about the whole season?  I'm having a blast with this cast and I can't wait to watch the fireworks when Toka gets back from Tribal Council!