Episode 11 - You Sunk My Battleship!

To Exile: Boo

Immunity: Stacey

Voted Out: Mookie

Votes:
Alex, Boo, Cassandra & Dre voted Mookie
Earl, Stacey & Yau-man voted Alex
Mookie voted Boo

Who's Left: Alex, Boo, Cassandra, Dre, Earl, Stacey & Yau-man

Build-up: The original plan of Earl's group was to vote out Alex, but Boo came up with this idea that they should create a tie just in case either Alex or Mookie has hidden immunity (even though they have no clues as to it's location). Earl agreed, figuring he'd let Boo think he values his input and figured Alex would be the one to go anyway. However, Alex confidently voted Mookie as if he knew what was up - I'm looking at you Dre - to buy himself another few days.

HC's Take:
Although Boo's plan shows folks ways of dealing with potential hidden immunity, the fact that Alex and Mookie do not have access to any clues to its where abouts makes this move a little on the silly side. If I had more faith in Boo, Stacey & Dre, I would consider the possibility that this is all a plan to get rid of Mookie so that the three of them could latch on with Alex and begin targeting Earl and company. It's not like this wouldn't be a great move on their part (it certainly would), I just have no faith that they are going to attempt such a thing. These three just aren't thinking that far ahead. For goodness sakes, the first thing Boo did when he received the first clue as to the location of the next hidden immunity was to blab it to Earl and company. Man, if anyone in this game could make creative use of hidden immunity later on it would be Boo. Why would he risk not finding it himself in a misguided attempt to suck up to Earl? Your position is fifth in this alliance, Boo. You aren't going to be moving up the ladder without knocking off the people at the top of it.

The other reason I don't see a coup coming is because of Alex's and Mookie's boneheaded move of searching through Yau-man's bags for the hidden immunity idol and then advertising the fact. How could they not see how this makes them look like the scummiest players in the game? Them trying to convince the others that Yau-man could not be trusted was self-righteous nonsense and doomed to back-fire on them. Alex, of course, caps off his performance by helping to vote out his only ally in the game - and now he wants people to trust him? Fat chance!

HC

Episode 10 - "Who Do You Most Trust?"

To Exile: Mookie

Immunity: Yau-man

Voted Out: Edguardo

Votes:
Boo, Cassandra, Earl, Stacy & Yau-man voted Edguardo
Alex, Edguardo & Mookie voted Cassandra
Dre voted Mookie

Who's Left: Alex, Boo, Cassandra, Dre, Earl, Mookie, Stacey & Yau-man

This one requires a bit of explanation. Cassandra, Earl and Yau-man pulled Boo and Stacey over to their camp with the plan of voting out Alex, while the Four Horsemen (Alex, Dre, Edguardo & Mookie) were going to vote Earl. Dre, trying to play both camps through Cassandra, was told by Earl and company to vote Alex. Dre told Alex and company what was happening so the decision was made for Mookie to give Alex the hidden immunity idol he carried. Dre then promptly told Earl's group what Mookie had done causing them to switch the target to Mookie. However, they later decided that Edguardo was a better idea. The five of them (Boo, Cassandra, Earl, Stacey & Yau-man) agreed on voting Edguardo, but also agreed that Dre was to be left out of the loop. In the meantime, Alex, Edguardo & Mookie decided to shift their vote to Cassandra in an attempt to split that alliance in two. When Dre heard about this plan, he was less than enthused.

HC's Take:

After a potentially enjoyable tribal council being sabotaged last week by a stupid twist, this week we get one of the most enjoyable tribal councils in the history of the series. Why, because events were allowed to play themselves out without wrenches being thrown in by the show's producers. Are you listening CBS?

Anyway, I thought I would split my comments into groups.

Cassandra, Earl & Yau-man: Perfectly played! Especially well done was how Cassandra winning the reward challenge was used to work on Boo and Stacey. Cassandra could not have picked a more perfect trio to accompany her. This is undoubtably thanks to her, and her allies, being given some time to think about their choices. At the vote, although the irony of voting out Mookie after he handed over immunity is delicious, Edguardo was the right call. If you can't get the number one guy, you hit number two.

Boo & Stacey: Right call by these two. Stacey is guaranteed final four with Earl and company with no such assurance from the four horseman, and Boo was the four horseman's original target after the merge, so you know his standing is even worse. Besides, Stacey's and Boo's biggest assets are each other. They need to stick together and look for any opportunities to improve their positions, and they can still easily come.

Alex & Edguardo: The reward challenge should have made it clear to you guys that you aren't half the players you think you are. Question: Who is the player you most trust? Most popular answer: Earl. Question: Who is the player that thinks they are controlling the game but isn't? Most popular answer: Alex. The writing was on the wall. Again, these guys showed they don't know how to create a stable alliance. Why would Stacey come your way when you are writing off Boo? Why would Dre work with you if you want to vote off Cassandra? Get a feel for the dynamics of the group and learn to work those dynamics in your favour.

Dre & Mookie: If Alex and Ed aren't half the players they think they are, these two aren't a tenth. While they were attempting to work everyone so that Alex didn't have all the power, they completely ignored the real threats: Earl and Yau-man. Now, it's just time to warm up your seats on the jury.

Now I know that the four horseman are going to whine about how they were screwed in this game, but let's be honest. They were handed a gift with Michelle last week and they failed to take advantage of it. Earl lost his number three in his alliance and was able to work to fill the hole. We know who deserves to be there in the end and who doesn't.

HC

Episode 9 - Screw Job

To Exile: none

Tribes merged.

For the immunity challenge the players were randomly put into two groups:

Group 1: Boo, Cassandra, Earl, Edguardo & Yau-man
Group 2: Alex, Dre, Michelle, Mookie & Stacey

The losing group went to tribal council.

Voted Out: Michelle

Votes:Alex, Dre & Stacey voted Michelle
Michelle & Mookie voted Stacey

Who's Left: Alex, Boo, Cassandra, Dre, Earl, Edguardo, Mookie, Stacey & Yau-man

HC' Take:

Man, I hate these random elements! They're turning Survivor more into a game of Russian roulette than something you need to develop a game plan for. If the producers of Survivor really want to take control of the game away from the players, why not just start taking them out randomly?

Anyway, although I feel bad for Michelle - she was well placed in the game and did nothing to facilitate this outcome - I can't blame those who voted for her for doing so. In fact, anything else would have been a mistake. Even Mookie is better off with Michelle gone. I know he saw her as his ally but I believe he was sitting, at best, fifth in Earl's mind while Michelle was likely third. Michelle wouldn't have been able to protect him and wouldn't have risked her position to stab Earl. Now Earl has a void to fill and if Mookie can play his cards right (which he won't) he could fill that void.

Although Mookie and Dre both see themselves as playing brilliantly thus far, they're not. They are not highly valued by either of the power players in this game and they can't continue to play both sides. It won't work. I was also disappointed with Alex's and Ed's decision to target Boo (even though that opportunity was taken away from them). Alex seems to think this will force Stacey to side with him but it could so easily backfire. Stacey could easily walk into Michelle's vacant position too. Alex, if you want to kill the beast, shoot for the head and target Earl. There are just too many players trying to manage too many people in this game. Build your alliance, stick with 'em, and screw everyone else. It ain't rocket science.

Thur far, Earl and Yau-man are playing the best game, but here went another opportunity for them to throw a challenge. With Yau on the stick recovering pieces and he and Earl doing the puzzle at the end, the opportunity was there without it even looking suspicious. Earl, Yau and Cassandra gets rid of Edguardo and the wind is taken right out of Alex's sails.

HC

Episode 8 - "Loser!"

To Exile: Lisi

Losing Tribe: Ravu

Voted Out: Lisi

Votes:Alex, Dre, Edguardo & Mookie voted Lisi
Lisi voted Lisi

Who's Left:
Moto: Boo, Cassandra, Earl, Michelle, Stacey & Yau-man
Ravu: Alex, Dre, Edguardo & Mookie

HC' Take:

When Alex and Eguardo look back upon how they played, while sipping cocktails at Loser Lodge, they will likely both agree that this was the moment when they lost their game. Truth is, I think they were doomed when they first hitched up with the unstable crew they decided to make an alliance with. If I were them, right after the swap I would have been very tempted to have teamed up with Dre with the plan of disposing of Lisi down the road.

But the thing is, they need her now. Dre knows exactly where he stands with Alex and Edguardo now. At the merge, Cassandra will stick with Earl and company and they've got to know that the chance of Dre hitching his cart to her's, taking Mookie with him, is very high. If she needed to be dragged kicking and screaming into the merge, then they needed to do that. She may be unstable but their pool of support is very shallow. They don't have the option of being picky.

So was voting out Lisi a mistake for Alex and Ed? Absolutely, though I'm not too impressed with their alternative of targeting former team mate Dre as opposed to Mookie. In fact, I'm coming to the realization that their isn't going to be much in the way of brilliant game play from any of these contestants. Earl and Yau-man don't even seem to want to consider the possibility of throwing challenges despite Alex and Edguardo likely booting another ex-Ravu. If the Moto five (Alex-Edguardo-Lisi-Boo-Stacey) were as tight as they should be, they should be able to run this game. But they're not, leaving Earl and Yau-man the likely duo to end up on the top of the totem, not because of their great play, but because of their opposition's inability to get their act together.

It is funny to think that the old Moto's are currently up 6-4 (even with the Lisi boot) and they are likely to end up on the losing end of a merge. One word for future Survivor contestants: team!

Anyway, changing tack. We're now down to ten players which is the traditional time for a merge. Whether their is a merge or not, I figure now is a good time for this question.

1. Based upon what you've seen so far, who are the three players most likely to win this game?

HC