Survivor 51, Episode 7 "The Girl at the Prom" Gameplay Breakdown

 "I could get through a human foot."

-Brady Booker

Another day, another banger episode from Survivor 51!  I was a little worried that the merge episode might be a dull, straightforward Mike boot, but thankfully Mike won Immunity and shook up the entire game like a snow globe.  This was so much fun and what I think was a legit Live Tribal.  I think a lot of the "Live Tribals" we are shown aren't really live.  The vote isn't actually up in the air, but someone is nervous or it's a last ditch effort of someone trying to save themselves.  I don't know for sure, but this one felt live.  The only bad news is we won't be getting anymore intense stare-downs between Mike and Brady.  Their confrontation was the highlight of the episode for me.  Let's get into who played well and who sucked!

Who Played Well:

Cristian ended up being on the right side of the vote and it's much better for him for Brady to go out over Eric.  I do think it's weird that he was offering up Eric to Kilby.  That wasn't great, but still a net positive.

Kristin is an interesting one.  She didn't like the way Mike spoke to her, so she ratted him out to Brady, who she trusted more.  However, Brady was gunning for her and Mike was trying to warn her, he just did a very bad job.  I don't blame her too much for this though.  Mike just sucks at Survivor.  And ratting Mike out caused enough chaos to get the target off of her and she survived and was on the right side of the vote.  Telling Sharonda the truth about the Tethered Idol is not something I would have done, but I do think it could still work out well for her.  I'm very curious to see how that one plays out.

Finally, we have Sharonda.  Taking out Brady over Eric is infinitely better for her game, plus she learned the truth about Kristin's Tethered Idol, was given it to hang onto, and learned that Jelly has an Idol.  She's doing well enough socially to make these people trust her and give her information.

Who Sucked:

Eric continues to drive the rest of the cast and myself up the wall.  How does someone get so far in life and not realize that people generally don't want to hear every thought that rattles through your head?  It's baffling to me.  He was also frantically running around and plotting against Kilby, but spoke to the wrong person about it in Brady, who is apparently number 1 allies with Kilby?  It nearly got him voted out.  I'll give him credit for surviving, but I don't think it had much to do with anything he did.

Kilby is a weird one.  I don't fully understand what happened with him in this episode and hopefully we'll get some clarification next time.  I like that he patched things up with Brady, but he ended up losing that ally in Brady and helped vote him out.  It seemed like he had the opportunity to switch it to Eric, who was actively gunning for him.  The whole thing was weird.

Carter, Lewis, and Thien An all ended up on the wrong side of the vote and lost an ally.  Lewis is another weird one.  He said that he thought the target was Brady at Tribal Council, but ended up voting for Eric.  Not sure how that happened.  Carter was also with Brady when they told Mike the plan about voting Kristin.  That was information they should have kept far away from Mike.

Speaking of Mike, it's amazing to me that someone can win Immunity, save himself, and get his biggest adversary out of the game and still probably be the worst player of the episode.  He got caught scheming hard by Brady, pissed off Kristin in how he spoke to her, came off as royally untrustworthy, has just the worst social game, and it seems like everyone kinda hates his guts now.  I'm so glad he's on this season because he's wonderfully bad at Survivor, but isn't annoying like Brady or Eric.

Devin and Jelly are an interesting pair here.  I can understand why they might want to join Savu to work with Sharonda.  That makes sense.  I don't like that Jelly told Sharonda about her Idol, but better her than letting Devin beat her to the punch, but why were they so gung-ho to flip on Brady?  They had an alliance with Brady early on and Devin seemed to get along great with him.  I know he's annoying, but you still have a working relationship with him.  Why cut him over Eric, someone who you literally just met?  It feels like this move limits their options going forward.  I feel the same way about Maggie.  She had a working relationship with Brady even if she didn't care for his behavior.  Why cut that to save Eric?  If we learn more information about Brady, I could potentially change my mind on these three though.

As for Brady, I'm very glad he's gone.  He had his moments, but I really couldn't stand the guy.  I would not be able to tolerate living on a beach with him for long before yelling at him to shut up.  So I should probably cut Kilby, Devin, Jelly, and Maggie some slack.  He was too chaotic, too loud, and too controlling.  He had some strategic chops, but an abysmal social game.  Being unlikable and a wild card is not a good combination.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Sharonda Cox for getting the truth about the Tethered Idol from Kristin as well as the Idol itself, learning about Jelly's Idol, and taking out Brady while protecting her close ally, Eric.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Mike Pinsky for his horrendous social game, getting caught scheming, his poor tone when talking to Kristin, and for coming off as so untrustworthy.

If we get the Double Duo twist next time, where people are put into pairs and two people get voted out, I feel so bad for the person who gets stuck with Mike.  I kinda hope it turns into a big argument with nobody wanting to pair with him.  That would be great.  I'd be fine with Mike continuing to survive so I can watch him continue to play poorly, but I'm also okay with anyone from the Yankees to lose at any time.