Survivor: Game Changers episode 5 review: Why the Queen is Queen

There is sometimes an interesting relationship between making big moves and winning Survivor — often, they don’t go hand in hand. For Sandra Diaz-Twine, we’d argue that it was smart little moves that won her the first two seasons that she was on the show. This time around, she’s swinging for the fences.

Let’s be clear that it’s still very hard to envision a scenario where Sandra goes deep into the jury phase of this game; yet, she doesn’t need to at this point to prove even further that she is the greatest pure player in the show’s history. She may not be the most dominant, but she always manages to find a way to keep the target off of her. Tonight, it was something as simple as taking all the sugar at camp. It caused JT to immediate suspect Michaela, and he threw all of his frustration her way rather than at Sandra. It got the target completely off of someone who’s not great in challenges and has won the game twice. Think about that! JT instead targeted someone who’s never even made the merge and is a solid threat in challenges, just because he perceived her as having an attitude problem.

As if this wasn’t bad enough, JT found a hidden immunity idol and didn’t even bring it to Tribal Council! This is the second straight season where he’s had an idol, and he somehow found a way to squander it. While we do think JT doesn’t get enough credit among Survivor super-fans for being a strategic player and a great winner, these errors show further that he does need a partner-in-crime like a Stephen. A Stephen would’ve told him to bring the immunity idol to Tribal Council at the very least, or to have him consider still targeting Sandra once they got there.

In the end, Aubry and JT were played pretty hardcore. Poor Aubry’s almost cursed in that almost person she’s seemingly close to seems to be going home across the board. (It’s possible that Aubry was aware of the plan, but if she was why still vote to send Michaela home?)

We will say that Michaela bringing the mug to Tribal, while good television, was pretty cocky. That’s the sort of move that can make her an easy target down the road … and another reason why Sandra would want to work with her in the end.

As for the other tribes…

There wasn’t too much of note AT ALL from Tavua this week other than Troyzan contemplating forming some sort of working relationship with Sarah. With that, let’s tilt instead to Mana and the great Brad Culepper / Debbie crisis for the ages. Maybe there’s something that didn’t make the edit, but this felt like Debbie went completely unhinged on Brad for very little reason. She volunteered to do something in the challenge, and then got rather angry and claimed that she was being ordered around. Brad is an alpha male, and can be overly controlling — we’ve certainly seen it before. Yet, we have to say that he’s done a very good job this time of ingratiating himself and not going too aggressive — he did call Hali “Blue Eyes” last week (a little obnoxious), but she doesn’t seem bothered by it.

If this tribe had went to vote, it’s hard to envision a situation where Debbie stays. She’s not reliable, and she’s not an asset in the challenges.

Overall

A great episode despite a somewhat predictable boot — it was obvious coming into the hour JT was in hot water. The twist came in just how he went home. Great play by Sandra (tremendous, even) — not only did she get revenge over the exit of Malcolm, but she kept around an ally who could easily be a target over her just for camp life alone. Episode Grade: B+.

What did you think about Sandra’s big play tonight? Share in the comments!

Meanwhile, head over here for some further Survivor news, including a preview for what is coming up next on the show. (Photo: CBS.)