‘Survivor: Kaoh Rong’ episode 12 review: The editing fake-out of the year
We’ve spent so much time as of late really talking about “Survivor” in the context of the edit, and now, we really do feel like the timing is right that we choose to give the team a huge round of applause for completely duping us and then some Wednesday night’s new episode.
If we were to draw a parallel between this “Kaoh Rong” season and “Survivor: Gabon” tonight, we’d do so with this: Is Tai becoming Kenny? He’s a super-likable guy who we’ve rooted for the whole game, but suddenly becomes much too cocky for his own good. We thought that through most of this episode, we were witnessing what was going to be his undoing at the hands of the rest of the tribe. He was dictating to everyone that Michele needed to be voted out, but Cydney in particular didn’t want to do that. We thought that we were going to see him get voted out after that contentious tribal council, similar to what did happen to Kenny late in his season.
Meanwhile, we also thought that Tai was going to become the new Dan Foley or Stephen Fishbach and go home the same tribal council that he played his advantage. That did not happen, but he did end up being on the wrong side of the vote anyway. Aubry, Michele, Joe, and Cydney all voted for Jason, and that was enough to send Jason home.
Ironically, this came on a night when it started to look as though Jason had a chance to stay, but based on the fact he voted for Joe at tribal council, he must have felt like that chance was slim to none. Was that who Cydney told him to vote for or something? It’s hard to figure why else he would pick that name out of everyone that is still in the game. Jason was a polarizing force for most of the game, and while we weren’t always rooting for him, his actions did add a certain something to the game. It’s also curious to get rid of a guy who may not have been that well-liked by many of the jury members.
Moving forward, Tai is clearly the person with the power for one more week. He’s got the idol that he will surely play at the final five, and that will carry him into the finale. However, from there he seems like a quick target, while the likes of Cydney and Michele are starting to feel more like final 2 material. Aubry’s a great player, but if this is a final 2 like we expect, we foresee a treatment coming her way that has befallen other greats in the past. Episode Grade: A-.
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