‘Survivor: Blood vs. Water’ analysis: Are Tyson Apostol, Monica Culpepper the new masterminds?
Think about this for a second. The last time Monica Culpepper was on “Survivor,” she had no real alliance and was betrayed by Colton Cumbie after a tribal swap. Meanwhile, Tyson Apostol was embarrassed and made what was labeled one of the “dumbest” moves ever in “Heroes vs. Villains” for basically voting himself out of the game after not going along with a plan.
So where in the world does the current dominance of the two during “Blood vs. Water” come from? Wednesday night’s episode featured a little bit of brilliance from some other players (namely Vytas Baskauskas), but there is little questioning from this vantage point who it was that really ended up making the moves that were the most impressive.
Monica: Taking a page out of the Boston Rob playbook
Let’s start here by saying that in no way do we think that Monica is Boston Rob, or is near that level of greatness. But she did make a move that was patented by him this past week: If you start to get nervous about someone in your alliance, take them out. It doesn’t matter if there is someone else outside of your alliance in the game, since you know where they stand. The goal in “Survivor” at times is to eliminate the wild card.
While Kat Edorsson tried to cover her tracks at tribal council and proclaim innocence, she had “guilty” stamped on her forehead. Vytas did a great job mostly of just saying the right thing, but the wheels were already in motion. Kat staying in the game would have been very dangerous, since she could have slid by for a while, and even with Hayden, they would not be seen as huge threats. Meanwhile, Vytas staying around is probably terrible for Aras, who is already in hot water in the first place.
The biggest thing that Monica really needs to work at right now is trying to find a way to get with people who are more passive players, that way she can argue the heck out of the final tribal council. While not everyone loves her, she could win in the right situation and with the right game moves on her resume. This should be counted right up there with Caleb Bankston getting rid of her own husband Brad as the biggest individual move of the season so far.
As for Tyson…
We’re really not sure that there has been anything quite like what Tyson pulled off this week when it comes to trash-talking the heck out of Aras. We don’t know if Aras is even aware of what is going on, and for that reason it’s pretty darn brilliant, since it makes it less about himself and Gervase Peterson. They have therefore carved a nice little spot for themselves out on the tribe where there is a clear target, and he is doing it at a time when he knows that the merge is coming up soon.
Here is the part of Tyson’s plan that could be a little risky, and make what looks great now into something that is stupid later. There are 11 people left in the game, and if there is a person returning from Redemption Island, the merge could happen at 9 theoretically with the returnee being the 10th person. This means that there could be two more tribal councils, and if you get rid of Aras, the family members have the numbers on your tribe. Who’s going to be the next person to take out between him and Gervase? Exactly. So we like the move now if it is a long play, but we don’t think it is smart to try to take out Tyson if they go to tribal council this coming week. You gotta give it a little bit more time.
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Right now, these two are playing the most noteworthy games, but you have to also give some massive credit to Tina Wesson for managing to find a way to stay consistently under the radar, but with a voice to be heard. She has her own daughter on her tribe right now, and no one is targeting her. Meanwhile, Hayden has somehow managed to act like him being a “Big Brother” winner is no big deal at all.
We’ll be back next Saturday night for more analysis on “Survivor: Blood vs. Water.” You can see our most-recent updates to the right, and if you click here, you can also see our exclusive interview with the recently-eliminated Brad.
Photo: CBS