Kat must be having an adverse effect on me. A fantastic, unpredictable episode with great strategy, and all I can think about is how it left a bad taste in my mouth. I’m inclined to blame Probst for this, but let’s take a closer look at the episode, and see if the blame’s warranted (spoiler alert: it is).
As per the norm these days, we start off at Redemption Islands, where Kat is complimenting herself on not crying this time. Give it time, my dear, give it time. Laura M. and John try to give her some consolation, but it seems that what Kat is really worried about is whether or not Hayden will still want to go out with her, due to the logic that “No one wants to date someone who didn’t make the merge.” Well, my dear, Spencer Duhm (“Survivor Tocantins”) might disagree with you on that point. Maybe you should chat with him. Still, this interview perfectly demonstrates why it is that Kat is an insult to the game of “Survivor”: she blatantly doesn’t care. I’m not saying I want her to start crying again, but she should be a bit more upset about losing the game than worrying illogically about losing her boyfriend. Dear, this is not the sort of thing people break up over. And if they do, well, then they’re pathetic, shallow, and definitely not worth your time. Keep a stiff upper lip.
Hmm, that’s odd, the forecast didn’t call for rain this episode. I wonder why it’s so wet? Ah yes, Kat’s crying again. Oh goody, the thing you said you weren’t going to do! Please leave as soon as possible.
As if on command, we head over to the Redemption Island duel, where Hayden is understandably put out that Kat was voted off. After a nice hug and confirmation that Hayden is NOT a ginormous douchebag (he says he won’t break up with Kat over this), Kat repays Hayden’s kindness by saying that the two of them would have played together come the merge. Gee, Kat, great way to put a target on Hayden’s back, should you survive today’s duel. Speaking of which, we get to the duel, right? Right? Please?
No, we have to endure the great sin of this episode: Probst overstepping his boundaries. Hayden makes the grandiose statement that his love for Kat is worth more than the game. Probst challenges him on that statement by saying he can prove that right now by switching with Kat, and taking the challenge himself. Of course,
a cliffhanger this good needs a commercial, so I’ll use this time to talk about my issue with Probst here.
Probst has two jobs on “Survivor”: He serves as the audience surrogate/commentator, by making observations, asking questions we want the answer to, and making things a bit clearer, particularly with regards to challenges. His second job is to ask poignant questions to get people thinking, hopefully stirring up some drama at Tribal Council. I can also understand why he went to where he did: this could arguably fall under “inadvertently stir up trouble” category, and with a lead-in like Hayden’s, it’s very tempting. My problem here is that Probst has gone from inadvertently influencing the game to try and get people to think, to directly influencing the outcome of certain events. For all that Probst’s questions are meant to cause trouble, it could be argued that he’s just an innocent bystander, and that his questions are not directed toward any one outcome. Here, Probst is DIRECTLY influencing the game by challenging Hayden’s relationship, in a sense, trying to ruin Hayden’s game for the sake of drama. This is clearly NOT what Probst is supposed to be doing, and to top it all off, it’s taking the show in the “How many relationships can we destroy?” direction that I despise and fear. I have the utmost respect for Probst overall. When he’s on form, which is most of the time, he nails being the host, and no one could ever really replace him in my eyes. However, this goes way too far, and is a major contributing factor in my dislike of this particular episode.
The one saving grace of this whole matter is that it doesn’t work. Like many great plans, it is ruined by Kat opening her mouth. She asks Hayden how he’s doing in the game, to which he replies “Not bad.” (a fair assessment). This makes Probst turn his attention to Kat, thus taking the pressure off Hayden to ruin his game for no reason other than a challenge to it by Probst. Probt asks Kat WHY she might want Hayden to switch with her, to which she replies that he’d be better at the duel than she would be, because she sucks at puzzles. Say what you will about Kat, at least she’s become self-aware. Hayden decides to talk it out with her, which is a smart move, as it makes him able to make the point of “I have a better shot in this game than you do.” without being blunt about it, and without sounding like an ass. Taking this to heart, Kat decides to play, a good decision for them as a pair, but not for Kat.
Oh, I suppose I have to talk about the challenge now. Once again, it’s a hybrid rehash, combining the “Chop a rope to get puzzle pieces” element first seen in “Survivor Guatemala” with the fire puzzle element from the final episode of “Survivor Caramoan”, thus giving Probst a chance to give Cochran (“Survivor South Pacific”) another plug. There’s another problem, Probst: I like Cochran a lot, but you should focus on the players from THIS season, not the one immediately before it. Still, while it’s a simple challenge, the puzzle is nice and difficult, one that I particularly like, and the most I can muster is a “meh” in the general direction of this challenge.
Quite predictably, Kat loses, and I’m not sorry to see her go. She was whiny, brought nothing to the game, and was, quite frankly, an insult. May she never be brought back again.
Fallout from Kat’s exit comes in the form of Hayden, who’s understandably broken up by his loss, but looks on the bright side: now he can play his own game. And play he can, as Tyson has his own designs, forming an alliance with himself, Gervase, Hayden, Caleb, and Ciera to the final 5, the goal being to split up Aras and Super Vytas, who will apparently enter into a good-and-evil alliance come the merge, to dominate the entire island. With the merge evidently drawing closer (and is in fact imminent, as evidenced by the “Next Time On” segment), it’s time to start targeting the bigger threats than you, and while I think the original alliance is overall more solid and trustworthy, if only because with returnees you have a better idea of what their play-style is, it’s always good to keep your options open. Acting on it pre-merge might be a bit much (put Tina and Monica against you that early? Bad idea.), but with the way things are now, it’s a good move.
Still, for all that he’s not the most interesting character, Aras is no dummy. While his strategy on “Survivor Exile Island” might have won more by a fluke than anything, in my opinion, that doesn’t make it a bad strategy on it’s . There’s no way Aras can’t tell something’s up, particularly when he offers the tribe a meditation session and they send him off on his own, right? He’s gotta see what’s going on, right?
Not if the interviews are to be believed! Played hilariously close to Tyson’s betrayal is Aras’ confession about how happy he is that he’s in such a good position, with allies he can trust. Aras, was Kat’s stupidity on Galang contagious? You can’t seriously be that deluded. But evidently he can, and I feel great shame for Aras. The poor guy is toast.
Meanwhile, at Galang, Super Vytas is making use of his unique ability to exude super-pheremones. Or, at least, Tina wishes he would do that. Super Vytas, while seeming to take an interest in this mild-mannered hedge fund support worker, is really just exuding a friendly bond with the only other loved one on Galang, while Tina mothers her and wishes for Grandchildren. On the one hand, this is very sweet, but on the other hand, it makes Katie, who’s been very quiet up until this point, seem like even more of a non-entity. Very bad from a viewer’s perspective.
Just because he’s not exuding pheromones, though, doesn’t mean Super Vytas isn’t exuding OTHER things. No, Super Vytas, evidently having drained intelligence from Aras-Man during their last encounter, is turning on his Super Charm, an ability based upon his backstory that turns everyone’s brain in the vicinity to mush, so that they both love him and buy his blatant lies. Really, Super Vytas, the hardest part of the whole game is being dishonest? Please.
Turning on the serious for the moment, though, I must give Super Vytas tons of credit, he is playing hard and well! I can’t say I’d buy his spiel if I were out there, but he’s managing to gain the women’s trust despite having been on the outs from the get-go, and he’s quite good at keeping his head down. Overall, he’s doing AMAZINGLY well, all things considered. If anything, he seems to be taking a leaf out of the Chris Daugherty (“Survivor Vanuatu”) book of strategy, and given that Chris is, in my opinion, one of the smartest and most deserving winners of the game ever, I can’t really complain.
CHALLEBNGE TIME! And John Kirhoffer, I must say you’re stepping up your game! Two original non-Redemption Challenges in a row, this I can get behind! Four Tribe members are chained together at the ankles, and the two on the ends have a hand chained to a spiral. Once they’re undone their hand from the spiral, the four must then walk through a series of bamboo steps and crawls, undoing bags of chains and balls along the way. Once they’re reached the end, the remaining tribe member will then attach balls to chains, and attempt to throw them around a series of posts. First tribe to land 3 ball-and-chains on the posts win immunity and a fried chicken feast. Kind of a step down from steak in my opinion, but what’re you going to do? While this challenge still technically isn’t entirely original, as bamboo crawls, throwing things on posts, and being chained together are all “Survivor” staples, we’ve never seen them thrown together like this, and the added addition of the “undo your hand from the spiral” bit was a major plus. On top of that, this challenge got a lot more physical than I would have anticipated, but in a good way, and I always enjoy a challenge where you need to take elements from the challenge and construct them into a new element for the challenge, like with the balls and chains, so I’m well pleased all things considered.
Despite a declaration from Galang that they will win for Vytas’ sake, Tina’s throwing skills just can’t quite match Tyson’s, and Tadhana goes off in triumph to pig out under Tyson’s gloating. Let’s face it, unless there’s an idol clue involved, not a lot happens when the winners feast, so let’s see how Galang’s getting along.
Yes, it seems that Laura “Bonehammer” Boneham has taken a particular liking to Vytas. So much so that while she still has to kill him, but she’ll kill him with kindness. She publicly and tearfully declares that Vytas is the next to go, which Vytas seems somewhat miffed about, but takes it in stride. Laura B. admits that this might not have been the smartest move she could have made, but it felt good, and might net her a leadership position in the long run.
Irony, however, is a cruel mistress, and we see that Laura’s move may have in fact backfired on her. Monica in particular is miffed that she wasn’t included in any discussion of whether or not to tell Vytas, and says it makes Laura untrustworthy. Katie agrees, and takes the idea to Tina, who’s a bit hesitant, but is not immune to the possibility, even telling Vytas to give him some hope. I have to admit, at first, I was not wild on a strategic level about voting out Laura over Vytas. This was the first time Laura’s done something like this, that’s maybe being a bit harsh, and on top of that, there’s no way she sides with the old Tadhana, whereas Vytas could easily go back and reunite them. But then I got to thinking about it a bit more, and realized that it’s the smart move for everyone except Monica. Now’s the right time to start thinking about the merge (at least from an outsider’s perspective), and even in Laura Morett makes it back into the game (and the smart money’s on her, I’d say), that’s only 3 couples still intact if Vytas survives, two if he doesn’t. That’s a huge target on all couples, one of these being Tina and Katie. If Vytas goes, and John ends up coming back, that puts large targets on both of their backs. If, however, Vytas remains in the game, then he and Aras are the couple to beat, by everyone’s standards. This is a great deal of safety in a tempestuous time in the game, and a very good strategy. Plus for Katie, it has the added bonus of another safety net for her should the merge not occur when they think it will.
Still, even I’m clueless as to who will go as we march off to Tribal Council. Probst goes right for the jugular this time, getting at Laura about strategizing at camp. Talk turns to, and focuses solely on, Vytas vs. Laura B for elimination, and here’s another part that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I can’t say exactly what it was, but something about Probst’s demeanor was off tonight. He was a little too personal, a little too cutthroat, and I just didn’t like it. Still, he does a good job hiding who’s going, until he asks Laura a question that makes her make an offhand comment about how winners are a threat, which gets Tina, as a former winner, on edge. At that point it’s all downhill, the suspense is killed dead, thus making the episode worse, and Laura goes home. While on a personal level I’m disappointed, as it seems that the chances of a Boneham taking home the prize now seem minimal, I can’t say I’m sorry to see Laura B. go. She wasn’t the worst character, but she was very one note and brought little to the game, whereas I’m liking Vytas more and more with each episode. So if one of them had to go, I guess better her than Vytas.
You, however, shouldn’t go anywhere, as it’s once again time for another:
TOP 5 AND BOTTOM 5!
Yeah, been a while since we’ve seen one of these, huh? Well, the truth is, while this season has been pretty good, certainly surpassing my expectations, nothing in it has been so earth-shattering that it’s merited a list. One could argue that since the merge is next week, and I usually do one at the merge, I should save it, but I don’t think we’ve quite hit our quota yet. As there was nothing particularly good that was NEW to this episode, this season won’t be appearing on the list. However, I said I quite liked the Redemption Island puzzle, and that’s a good a subject as any. This is my list of the best, and worst, “Survivor” puzzles!
TOP 5
5. Fire Puzzle (“Survivor Caramoan”): While this might seem a bit low, there’s a lot of good puzzles out there. Still, to its credit, this puzzle was difficult, unique, vertical (something we don’t often see, which is a plus), and difficult enough to be very enjoyable.
4. Battering Ram Maze (“Survivor China”): As I said earlier, I love it when challenges use elements from earlier in the challenge in a new way, and the battering ram maze was a great example of that. It does lose some points for being a bit on the easy side, but it was still a lot of fun, and a great idea.
3. Sliding Cloth Puzzle (“Survivor Marquesas”): An oldie, but a goodie, and definitely one of “Survivor”’s more unique challenge ideas, this challenge had people sliding a large net of cloth around, strip by strip, to make a picture displayed by Probst for immunity. Another deceptively simple one, I think I like this one mostly because it was “Survivor” working with different material than we’d previously seen. It was also hilarious to watch Maraamu crumble during that challenge.
2. Compass (“Survivor Cook Islands”): While not the most exciting puzzle to look at, difficulty does count on this list, and the compass, simply put, was one of the most difficult challenges ever devised by the show. Kudos there.
1. Counting Combinations (“Survivor Exile Island”): Rarely will I say Exile Island had the best anything, but this was an awesome puzzle. Combination locks were nothing new on “Survivor”. Nor, particularly, were memory challenges. Combine the two, however, and you have a tense, demanding challenge that can’t be beat in my book!
Honorable Mention: Math Riddle (“Survivor Gabon”): Another one high up on the difficulty level, it only stays off the list proper because it didn’t feel very “Survivor”. I do like the idea of brain teasers on “Survivor” though, and wish they’d come up more often.
BOTTOM 5
5. Build the Archaeology Tent (“Survivor Guatemala”): Have to admit, even I’m not sure why I don’t like this one. It’s a unique puzzle, somewhat challenging, and certainly fits the theme of the season. I guess the only thing negative I can say about it is that the general name of the concept just seemed lame. Still, not a bad idea over all, which is why it sits at number 5.
4. Memory Match (“Survivor One World”): Normally I’m a fan of memory challenges, but this one just didn’t seem challenging enough. I liked the element of having to decide when to stop people looking, and we did get some funny back and forth between Kat and Troyzan. But, as I’ve said before, I just don’t find such challenges difficult enough.
3. Word Scramble (“Survivor Pearl Islands”): Feel like I’m beating a dead horse here! Once again, a case of glad they tried something new, but seemed un-“Survivor” and wasn’t challenging enough.
2. Logo Puzzles (“Survivor Samoa”): Now this is being a bit harsh, as “Survivor Samoa” was not the only offender in this category. It was, however, the first. Traditional-style puzzles are nothing new to “Survivor”, and while they don’t stand out, they’re normally not bad either, and the production team can be very creative with what they put on them. However, in recent years, they’ve taken to it just being the logo for the season, which gets old really fast, and is one of the less-challenging iterations of said puzzle.
1. Counting 1-100 (“Survivor Redemption Island”): Yeah, you all knew this was coming, so I don’t need to rant long about it. It’s a simple, stupid challenge that has no business being on “Survivor”.
Honorable Mention: Flag Billboard (“Survivor South Pacific”): This one would have gotten a pass from me as just a less-memorable one, but only having 6 simple pieces, plus the help of tribemates who could see the whole picture really drag this one down.
Well, perhaps the merge will perk me up again…
-Matt
Title Credit to Jean Storrs.
idolspeculation 
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