Survivor: Week 7

The Episode

Gabon is rapidly running out of beefcake. Just one week after Dan's ouster, Marcus, arguably the most powerful player in the game, came to his ruin. But how could the man at the very core of the onion alliance fall so low? Let's see...

The episode started out with all 10 remaining survivors anticipating a merge. Members of the Kota alliance were eagerly licking their chops at the thought that they could vote out the puny Fangers. The only potential problem was Susie, who they suspected could successfully flip to Fang.

Corinne, who has proven herself to be really good at focusing on things that don't have any impact on the game, declared undying hatred for Susie, promising to vote her out as soon as possible.

In lieu of a reward challenge, the two tribes came together for a communal meal. During the meal, Ken noticed a clue hidden underneath one of the platters that identified the location of a hidden immunity idol.

This was followed by a bizarre sequence. As soon as Ken picked up the clue, Charlie practically ripped it out of his hands in an effort to see what it said. For whatever reason, Ken decided to share the clue with the table rather than insist on his right to keep the clue to himself, and the tribe as a whole quickly identified the clue's location.

Marcus and Randy patted themselves on the back for floating the idea that the idol should be destroyed rather than used for any one member of the tribe. Their theory was that they would rather see it float away than fall into the hands of Fang. I'm not sure why this was better than grabbing the idol themselves (Randy dug it up, and so he had first dibs), but apparently they're super-brilliant in a way to which I am not privy.

Meanwhile, Matty led Fang in going along with this harebrained scheme. With Randy saying things like "So nobody wants this idol? Are you all sure?," the outnumbered Fang members just sat mutely, unwilling to take it and thereby improve their chances in the game.

Even if you subscribe to the theory that having an idol puts a target on your back, you might as well grab it just to use it at the first tribal council and thereby gain three days peace of mind.

Anyhow, the idol was sent out to sea, and then Jeff dropped the bomb. He had ordered a tribal merge feast, hold the merge. Instead, there was a second tribal mixup, which threw things into absolute chaos.

New Kota wound up with original Kota members Bob, Marcus, and Susie along with original Fang members Ken and Crystal. In theory, this left Ken and Crystal on the outs, but there was always the danger of a Susie defection.

New Fang consisted of original Kota members Randy, Corinne, and Charlie, along with original Fang members Matty and Sugar. This seemed to leave Matty and Sugar on the outs, but the intrigue here is that Sugar has a hidden idol which has the potential to even things up.

Before the immunity challenge, Randy (who seems way too comfortable throwing his weight around this episode) discussed throwing the challenge in order to boot Matty and protect their alliance-mates from a possible Susie-defection.

Unfortunately for them, the challenge proved to be unthrowable. Each individual member of each tribe had to stand with their arms outstretched, palms down. They were holding up long, lightweight tubes that were braced between their wrists and a platform over their heads. As soon as either tube dropped, that tribe member was out of the challenge. Many of the people dropped out of the challenge almost immediately, with it eventually coming down to Bob versus Matty for immunity.

In another shockingingly flagrant break with impartiality, Jeff starting cheering for Bob and belittling Matty. His efforts were for naught, as Matty finally outlasted Bob and won immunity for Fang. So, if there was a Fang challenge curse, it's embodied by Crystal and Ken, which is not at all hard to believe.

This led to a lot of cloak and dagger dealings at Kota. Marcus discovered a personal reason to like Crystal-- he turned out to have a very good friend who was her cousin. Based on this, and on the fact that Susie was not a solid alliance-mate, he offered Crystal a chance to turn on Ken and replace Susie in their alliance. Crystal seemed to think that was a good idea, but she quickly reconsidered, apparently because she really likes and trusts Ken. So instead, she told Susie about the offer Marcus had made, which helped to solidify the fermenting break between Susie and her former tribemates.


Susie backstabbed Marcus at tribal council, and that may have been the right move for her. She traded a very good chance at sixth place for a less sure chance to get in the top five with an undefined hierarchy of alliance-mates.

Marcus played a terrific game, and was also a challenge monster. He fell victim to some bad circumstances, although he does have to take some blame for not being able to reign in Susie as a resource earlier in the game. He promised her top three along with himself and Charlie, but it came off as a desperate and not very reliable offer. It's hard to say he deserved to leave, but his absence will introduce a nice power vacuum.



This throws the game wide open. If we see a merge next week, we're looking at a shaky four member onion alliance against five fractured individuals. Anything could happen, and that's how you know it's been a good season.

Next week: Charlie has been separated from his beau. What will he do when he finds out that Marcus is gone?




The Pool

For the second week in a row, we have an unprecedented pool achievement. Just one week after Carl jumped from fourth place into the pool lead, Mom has performed an even greater feat-- she jumped from sixth place into the pool lead. How did she do it? Mostly by being the only person to have Fang for immunity, which netted her 24 big bonus points.

Meanwhile, Kim, Carl, and Dawn all took 18 point hits from the Marcus ouster, which put Carl right back in fourth place.

Only fifty points separate first place from last place, so this is literally anyone's game.

They are presented as follows:
Current 1st picks score (+/- elimination +/- immunity) + Current 2nd picks score (+/- elimination) = Current Total Score

1st: Mom 95 (+5 +24) + 167 (-8) = 262
2nd: Mike 86 (-1 +0) + 170 (-2) = 256
3rd: Matt 69 (-7 +0) + 177 (-2) = 246
4th: Carl 59 (-6 +0) + 183 (-18) = 242
5th: Paul 86 (-4 +0) + 152 (-2) = 238
6th: Jen 66 (-9 +0) + 169 (-10) = 235
7th: Kim 53 (-1 +0) + 167 (-18) = 220
8th: Dawn 47 (-2 +0) + 165 (-18) = 212

This week, please once again send me both a tribal IP and an individual IP, since we're not sure what to expect.

Good luck, everyone!