‘Survivor: Kaoh Rong’ episode 11 review: It’s still Aubry’s world
In the wake of last week’s epic blindside on “Survivor: Kaoh Rong,” it was fairly clear that the show was going to have a mighty hard time equaling the pure excitement level of what we just saw with Scot being sent home from the game.
Was the boot of Julia the right way to top that? No, and it may actually be the most predictable boot in a while given that this is a story that has been set up for a while. She was really stuck between a rock and a hard place in this game, at least in that she is someone who was going to be looked at as someone who did very little in the game unless she tried to play hard. She did that, and with that she was targeted. The funny thing here is that it really wasn’t in the best interests of many to get her out.
From this vantage point, the correct move tonight was for Tai to team up again with Jason and the former Beauty tribe to blindside Cydney, if for no other reason than that she’s playing really well. You probably wouldn’t be able to get Tai to turn on Aubry right now, but this would be a move to at least weaken her. Or, take out Joe and get rid of Aubry’s #2. She is clearly playing the best game. When Cydney and Michele won reward, did you notice how quick they were to pick Aubry to go with them? Also, who is Tai clinging to like no other right now? She’s running this game, but the problem here is that it may be too late to do anything about it.
The hard thing here is most that our dream scenario for some players tonight was clearly that given that Jason and Tai don’t seem to want to work together anymore. We just don’t think that getting rid of Julia was really a great move for anyone other than maybe Tai, who was targeted by Julia, and Aubry, since it eliminates one of the only female players who recognizes what a threat she is. For Cydney, it limits other people she can work with. Meanwhile, for Michele she gets rid of one of her closest allies from the beginning of the game.
This vote to us is indicative strategically of Aubry’s dominance on this game, and to a certain extent, Jason ironically gets some credit for being such a heel that nobody wants to get rid of him. His own status as an unlikable player is one of the only things that saved him.
So this concludes a fun episode of “Survivor: Kaoh Rong,” though we’re also not sure it’s one we will remember down the road. The irony here is that we actually think Julia could be a great player in a few years’ time; she just doesn’t have the experience yet to play subtlety. It was too obvious what she was doing. Episode Grade: B.
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