‘Survivor: Cagayan’ review: The mad idol scramble and Woo the pants bandit

“Survivor: Cagayan” had a very difficult challenge topping last week’s insanity, and in the early going, it certainly looked like they found a way to make it happen. We may hate the “Tyler Perry idol” (named by the internet after he suggested the idea to Probst for an idol you play after the vote), but the search for what we thought was it tonight created so much chaos.

We begin with Spencer, who found the clue at the Outback Steakhouse reward that probably made Sandra Diaz-Twine somewhere very jealous. He made a pretty bad move in leaving the clue somewhere (i.e. his pants) where someone could scoop it up and look for the clue himself. Woo was so entertaining here, but Woo then made a bad move himself during the mad scramble: Trusting someone else in Kass to watch Spencer. He ended up finding it right next to her, but without her even noticing. Yet another questionable move to add to Kass’ resume.

With this additional feather in his cap, Spencer suddenly became the most powerful person in the game … even more so after he won immunity in a grueling test of willpower. The guy has impressed from a competitive standpoint, and we found it very interesting that two of the Brains in him and Tasha outlasted everyone.

Here’s the problem with the idol tonight: The show didn’t really make it clear if this had the special powers that Mr. Perry ordained. It seemed like a normal idol. Bad job on the show’s part explaining this one.

The vote scramble – We knew that this was going to be interesting. Kass never firmly committed to being with the new alliance, and she seems to really pride herself on being the “free agent.” There is a strategy to being the swing vote, and it has worked in the past. It’s just so risky a strategy this early. We feel like she would’ve been better off waiting for a few weeks.

The new majority alliance wanted to vote out Morgan, mostly because she’s useless, whereas the new minority alliance wanted to take out the massive threat that is Tony. This is why we’ve been worried about this guy all season. He’s just too big of a player to keep playing this way!

The whole issue with the whole “vote Tony” plan is that unless someone draws rocks, it’s very hard to convince people (or Kass in this case) to vote for a tie, and then have to draw a rock.

Seeing Mrogan leave is super-predictable, and since she’s not bringing anything to the table strategically, it’s hard to be upset about it. At least there was enough great entertainment early on to make up for the ho-hum finish, and at least getting rid of her was smart thinking from the alliance’s standpoint. Then again, we’re almost glad that it ended this way since it keeps the bigger players in the game a little while longer. Grade: B.

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Photo: CBS