Monday 15 August 2011

Survivor Tocantins episode 8

Its merge time on survivor and this new development will really shake up the game. Over the last 19 days, we have seen six people being voted out the game for either being a liability of the tribe or because they brought about an air of negativity. Now that the game is reaching the finish line, how will the voting strategies shift? Will the blooming Exile Alliance finally emerge and take control of the game, or will the desire for self preservation crack this alliance? How will the battle between Coach and Brendon end or will there be just no end to their rivalry? And how will new strategies, alliances and betrays turn the game around?  10 are left- who will outwit, outplay and outlast all others and become the sole survivor?
Jalapoa is down to four members against the 6 people at Timbira. In this game, numbers is everything. Will Jalapoa disintegrate, get someone to jump over from Timbira, or will they be picked off one by one? As Stephan and Jt both feel, their best hope is to find some sort of power struggle in Timbira and exploit it…a power struggle that they will soon call Coach vs. Brendon.
The best move for the Jalapoa 4 is to take a lesson of Sandra Diaz Twine's(Winner Survivor: Pearl Islands) mantra of "for as long as it's not me" strategy and vote with the majority.
In anticipation of the merge, Coach has evolved to become friendlier and likable tribes mate, with the motive of keeping Timbira happy so that they don’t break apart after the merge. Yet, he still continues to enlighten others with fictional tales about his adventures- this time about how he started the Art of Samurai!
Coach reinforces that his desire is to take the strongest to the end. He sees Jt as a kindred spirit and Stephan as intelligent, and wants to include them in his Warrior Alliance with Debbie and Tyson. Is this a good move on Coach’s part? Is his ulterior motive to be rewarded for taking deserving people to the end and playing and honorable game? What would happen if the people on Coach’s alliance as just stronger than him and he can’t beat them?
Coach also feels that Brendon is too deceptive and believes that Brendon is lying to him says: “If you flat out lie to me, you better go to war”. Does Coach have enough minions to finally take out his long time rival?
Tyson, who also wants to take out Brendon, is proud of believing that he is outwitting Brendon. “He is like putty in my hands right now- I can mold this game however I want right now”, Tyson muses as he shares his undercover puppet master strategy with the camera. He also feels that Stephan and JT have replaced Brendon and Sierra in the alliance. And with a remorseless and arrogant tongue he says:  “I have no clue why she is out here, to give stupid people hope around the world”, when sharing his opinion of Sierra.
Erinn and Joe strategize together. They decide to work together to find out the whereabouts of the Hidden Immunity Idols. To no surprise, they establish the both Idols are missing. Will Joe share the idol be found with Erinn, and does he know it is a fake?
This immunity challenge is one of my favorites. We have seen it before in Survivor: Vanuatu Survivor:  Cook Islands, and a variation in Survivor: Palau
During the challenge, Jt tells Joe to hang on because either he or Joe will be going home tonight. Does JT really believe this? If he does, this is a potentially fatal move if it alerts the other tribe mates that JT and Joe are perceived as the bigger threats ho need to be eliminated next.
Coach is happy that Brendon dropped out of the challenge, and Tyson and Debbie are the last two standing.  Is this a good idea for Debbie to be challenging Tyson? By giving too much effort in immunity challenge could indicate that you need Immunity because you feel vulnerable or that you are a serious threat to win future challenges. Debbie could have just drawn too much attention to herself, especially since she had a stable alliance. She gets distracted and Tyson wins immunity.

Stephan has put himself in a really tight spot between the Exile Alliance and Warrior Alliance. He appears to be unsure as to which route to take. He tells JT that he would go along with the Warrior Alliance if a JT turn on them at a later stage .He considers making a move to vote out Brendon and shares this idea with Taj, who agrees to go along with the plan if they have numbers. Stephan bounces of the idea of splitting the votes between Sierra and Brendon, in the case of Brendon playing the Idol, so that Sierra would be voted off.  We have seen the Exile Alliance strengthening for the last twenty days. Is it going to crumble so quickly?
We get another under the radar appearance from Tyson who interrupts JT and Stephan’s chat and says: “We doing the beans right now. We stir it a bit, add a little rice to it and in split it up, and in a couple of hours we put Brendon’s name down”.  This shows how casual, yet effective Tysons gameplay is, and couple this with his might in challenges, and Tyson is looking like the biggest threat to win the game right now.
During some camera time, Brendon discusses why he is not making any indications concerning the Exile Alliance with Taj and Stephan. He wants the alliance to lie low for a while, after Coach and Tyson are voted out, so they can feel the full power of the alliance. Is Brendon taking too long to strike? There is scrambling going all around him and although he senses that he is in danger, he feels at ease because he has possession of the idol. Does Brendon lack the killer instinct of knowing when to take out his prey, and will this be his Achilles Heel?
Medic takes a look at Joe. Coach’s excitement of taking out his long time rival is heightening and his ego is inflating to the extent that he decides to call himself “The Dragon Slayer”….a name that we better get used to for the rest of this season, another season and possibly one more.
Jeff makes a visit to camp with bad news (or good news for Brendon) that Joe has been medivaced from the game. His infection n is too close to the bone, and could enter the bone or go to the blood and risk death. This just shows that this game is aptly named, as one does not only have to win the battle against other competitors for the ultimate prize, but also that they have to endure harsh environments, bugs and parasites and keeping their sanity.
So once again, the battle between The Dragon Slayer and Brendon has been postponed. Will Brendon catch wind of what is going on and will he able to regroup the Exile Alliance and take out his enemy? Be sure to tune into Survivor next week…because only one person will be victorious…..