Jeremy Collins and Kim Spradlin eat rice and talk strategy. (Wikimedia Commons)The merge is really when Survivor kicks into full gear. That’s when the game officially shifts from tribal to individual and the cream rises to the top. After the insanity of this episode, it is clear that Winners at War is just getting started.
At the Wendell Holland boot last week, Michele Fitzgerald and Nick Wilson were left blindsided. The episode opens with their reactions to that. Both were furious at their fellow castaways, captured in a funny scene in which they went back and forth about how much they despised them. It was Wilson’s birthday, which becomes important to know later.
Next, we see that Klein noticed a fleur de lie at Probst’s podium last tribal council. Klein thinks this is an idol. There was no U.S precedent for an idol hidden at tribal council, but there was one on international Survivor.
At the Edge of Extinction, Shallow found an advantage with Danni Boatwright. This was a 50/50 idol, the first of its kind. Instead of just being able to play it and be immune, the player would have to flip it, with a 50/50 chance of safety. Shallow offered this to Michele Fitzgerald for 4 fire tokens, as she knew that Fitzgerald had the most tokens in the game. She took this offer, which was a good decision. The best way to use the tokens is to get advantages from the edge, and if she rejected this offer, she would likely not receive another one. Shallow used one token on peanut butter to share with everyone on the edge, except for the last two to arrive (Kwon and Holland). She felt that they hadn’t suffered as much as the rest of them, so the others ate their peanut butter in secret.
This episode marked the first time this season that we saw the reward challenge, and it was for good reason. After winning the challenge, Lacina offered her spot on the reward to Wilson, because it was his birthday. This was a rare human move from Lacina, with no strategy involved. Unfortunately, kindness is not rewarded on Survivor. This move, even if it wasn’t strategic, has had a horrible track record in past seasons. Collins even reminded the audience that it got him voted out the first time. Lacina, who had been playing an under-the-radar game, skyrocketed up the target board after this move.
Spradlin won the immunity challenge, which was the classic balance challenge right over the water. This win gave her the record for the most female immunity challenge career wins with 5, which further cements her legendary status. Spradlin seems to be in the best position in the game along with Collins, and I must admit that I overreacted to last week’s result, as Collins has many more connections than I gave him credit for. Clarke, who I gave player of the week to in my last update, is in a dangerous spot because she has few allies.
Chaos ensued when the castaways returned to camp, started by Wilson telling Apostol that Lacina said his name. After this, every castaway scrambled, and the majority of them had their names thrown out. A highlight was when Driebergen confronted Klein about who said Driebergen’s name. Klein said it but didn’t admit it. Driebergen caught on quickly, and their already tense relationship was further severed.
During this, Collins didn’t move from his bench seat as people came to him, which showed his power. At tribal, the 4 most likely to go were Lacina, Klein, Wilson, and Apostol. If the gameplay at the beach wasn’t insane enough, the tribal was live. This means players rose from their seats and started whispering and talking, which is rare. This previously cagey game in which the players feared throwing out names because it might come back to them was no longer so. In the midst of the craziness, Driebergen and Klein got into a shouting match about their previous conversation. Klein knew he was on the outs and was trying everything he could.
When I say Klein tried everything he could, I mean everything. He got up and tried to pull the fleur de lie out of Probst’s stand and play it. In a comical moment, it didn’t come out after multiple attempts. After some goading from Probst, Klein played the stand as an idol, which did not work. Then Klein was voted out. As his torch was snuffed by Probst, he said: “It was worth a shot” to which Probst responded “Always.” I loved this moment, because of Probst’s respect for the game that Klein played. Sure, he was overplaying, but he went as hard as he could because he loved the game. There were multiple times throughout the season when it looked like he was going to get voted out, yet he somehow stayed in. Klein is a superfan and played his first season for his mom with cancer, as Survivor was something that bonded them. I was overjoyed to see someone with so much passion on my screen every week, and I’m glad that Probst felt the same way.
The player of the week is split 50/50 (just like the idol) between Spradlin and Collins. They are both in power positions currently and controlled this vote. But the large alliance centers upon the idea of keeping big threats in the game so they don’t all go out one by one. There is an expiration date regarding how long that can last because someone will make a move to go against the people most likely to win the game.
