Survivor: Game Changers episode 12 review: Was there a family visit flip?

Survivor: Game Changers episode 12 review

Classify this under “things people say when not playing Survivor” — you should never win the family visit reward challenge. It’s easy to say sitting here, and it’s probably much harder when you’re out there for a month without seeing anyone that you can trust.

The reality still is that there is no better reward for anyone to be a part of, and as a result of that, no bigger way to hurt someone’s feelings. The team of Andrea, Aubry, and Brad won the reward, and when they got to pick two more people to join them, they made a SEVERE miscalculation not picking Michaela. She’s someone who wants to feel valued, and Andrea and Aubry saw just how emotionally invested she was in the moment about not being picked. Maybe she does come back around and votes with them, but do you really want to take that gamble?

After they chose to bring Sarah and Cirie with them on the reward, lo and behold that back at camp, Tai, Sierra, and Troyzan were all working hard in order to recruit Michaela onto their side. She and Tai have a special bond now since they both think that they’re at the very bottom of the game. Going into the Immunity Challenge, it seemed clear that the big targets were going to be either Brad or Andrea, depending on what happened.

Immunity Challenge – Well, the intrigue started here when Andrea was eliminated. This was all about balancing buoys between two sticks — this was a completely new challenge, and one that actually moved pretty quickly. Culpepper, Tai, and Michaela were the final three in the challenge, and the winner was … Brad! He really needed it given that the target was on his back for most of the episode. Him winning gave further incentive for some flexibility given he was such an obvious target.

Now, the scrambling begins – Here’s the funny thing — Sierra told Sarah earlier in the night that she has the Legacy Advantage, which was probably as silly a move as not taking Michaela on the reward. GREAT scrambling by Sarah in trying to take advantage of that for the sake of her own best interest, even if it’s a pretty cruel thing to vote out your friend in the game. That’s the point, though — it’s a game!

At Tribal Council, it was clear that the debate was between Sierra and Andrea, and we honestly didn’t know which way the needle would fall. The only reason that we thought Sierra would go here was because the show gave us such an edit on the Legacy Advantage.

Voted out – Sierra. That ended up being the case, and now it’s off to the (barrel) races for her. We liked her for much of the game, but she just trusted in the wrong people. Specifically, she trusted Sarah! That looked bad when she gave the Legacy Advantage to her after the fact…

Overall Grade – A-. What can we say, we really like the family visit episodes! It creates so much intrigue and conflict, and the decision by Michaela and Tai tonight will influence a lot of the game moving into the future.

What did you think about Wednesday night’s new episode of Survivor: Game Changers? Share some of your thoughts in the comments below!

Meanwhile, head over here to preview more of what is coming up on the next new episode of the show. (Photo: CBS.)

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