Survivor: Game Changers episode 13 review: An advantage avalanche
As for what actually did, that’s something to break down given that things moved SO quickly and without a lot of time to think things over. It’s especially true for the second half of this episode; even if that vote had been at the end of a full hour, it’d still be confusing!
First Immunity Challenge – Aubry took home her first immunity challenge win, and the show made an ENORMOUS meal out of her beating Cochran’s record in this balancing act. Was the record in this challenge that big of a deal? Still, major kudos to Aubry for shattering this record so quickly.
After the fact, this is where things began to get a little bit more interesting. Andrea started to become extremely paranoid, and with that, started (understandably) to target Sarah. She realized that she was playing the game hard. Meanwhile, Sarah was starting to target Andrea in turn as a big threat, and there was also the presence of both Brad and Troyzan in the game as physical threats.
First Tribal Council – If this was the way to get rid of Brad, it’d be an awful predictable way to do it, no? He is on the outside of the numbers, so that is the easy move for everyone to make. The conversation at Tribal Council was built of course on trust, and also making the case to survive at the end.
Based on Brad’s demonstrative behavior, it seemed like he knew his goose was cooked. Was it? Well, not so much! The play was made on Andrea, which meant that YET ANOTHER AUBRY ALLY went home. Poor Aubry. Andrea is the best when it comes to taking blindsides on the chin. She’s always in good spirits even from the moment her torch was snuffed.
Second Immunity Challenge – Going into this, the big takeaway here was that there was suddenly a lot of suspicion around Tai, who felt bad for Aubry and started to console her. The good thing about the challenge this time is that it wasn’t nearly as painfully obvious who would be winning it, Also, it was mostly about who could figure out the puzzle more so than anything.
Brad ended up winning the challenge, and he almost had a Troyzan “this is my island” moment after the fact. Best moment of the entire challenge, though, came when Michaela kicked her puzzle and Jeff commented “that always helps.”
Second Tribal Council – Apparently, Sarah thought that an advantage would be good collateral to someone like Cirie. She insisted to her that Tai was more trustworthy than Aubry, and she would give her the vote-steal as a sign of her loyalty. Bad move. Didn’t Sarah think that Cirie would as ruthless a player as she was with Sierra? She may not have been using it to get rid of her, but it was a tricky move all the same.
Things were pretty complicated going into this Tribal just because of the fact that there were so many different advantages and idols still at play out there. Somehow, it got even crazier after the fact because of what Cirie tried to do with the new advantage in her hand.
Wait, a rule violation? – Well, this is where things started to get a little messy. Cirie ended up trying to play the Vote Steal, only to be told by Jeff Probst that she couldn’t because the advantage was non-transferable. This was BAD for Cirie. Whispering ensued, and it was impossible to know precisely what was going to happen. If she wasn’t such a great player, this could’ve been the end for her.
Sarah eventually stole Tai’s vote, but Tai still opted to not use an immunity idol. In the end, the person sent home was … Michaela? This was odd to say the least, and a vote that came almost entirely out of left field. This is one that is going to take watching a few times over to figure out. Sarah, Brad, and Troyzan were actually the only people to cast votes for her, but that was enough and would’ve been even with Sarah’s advantage being played.
It doesn’t seem on paper like this was a great move for many of the remaining players, but it was definitely CRAZY entertainment. Grade: A-.
What did you think about the two Tribal Councils taking place on Survivor: Game Changers tonight? Share in the comments below!
Meanwhile, head over here to get some further news on the show. Two exit interviews will be coming up tomorrow. (Photo: CBS.)