Survivor Had Its Biggest Twist Ever And An All-Time Tribal Council Move
*SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY AHEAD*
This week's Survivor episode was an instant classic that's going to go down in the history books. It featured what could very well be the biggest twist in Survivor history. It had an all-time move at tribal council that we will remember forever. It had Cirie on Exile Island. And it had a fitting farewell to an absolute Survivor legend. Just overall an extremely compelling 90 minutes of television. I'm going to give some rapid fire thoughts on everything that happened below.
-I think you can make a real argument the Double Duo twist is the biggest twist in the history of the show. The hourglass in 41 (so stupid), the Outcast twist from Pearl Island, and idols/other advantages come to mind, but this one stands out. We've never seen a tribal like that before where two people get home at the same time. It's something fans have yearned for and now it finally happened. And while I am typically a traditionalist and prefer less twists, I thoroughly enjoyed this and think they pulled it off really well. It was a huge risk but they obviously wanted to take big swings in Season 50. And also it helps just logistically since they had 24 players in just 26 days. But I really thought it made for compelling television and also thought it felt fair. An argument could be made that maybe they should've known the twist before picking their duos, but that may have made things impossible. So I'm okay with how they did it although it can only be done once obviously.
To me Survivor twists have to be fair and not screw over a player for playing the game well. The Blood Moon I didn't like because it just made random and arbitrary tribes of five that you only had like 3 hours to strategize with. It was really just luck of the draw. Now you can argue that someone could've got screwed here by being attached to a big threat who people wanted to vote out. But at least they had the free will of deciding who their partner was for the challenge. And also these players have now been all on the beach together for a few days so there's been time for bonds and relationships to form. And people had the ability to advocate for themselves and their partner for hours before tribal too. I thought it made for some really unique strategy decisions on how to pitch yourself for safety, how to decide who you're targeting, and using advantages. Overall, this really hit for me.
-Speaking of advantages, we have to talk about Devens. We saw in a very early episode Devens and Christian hiding the fake idol at tribal to set this plan up, and boy did they execute it to perfection. Devens got up in the middle of the tribal, said he had a clue and now finally had the chance to use it, then snatched it from under the fire pit. It was convincing looking enough from the outside. Stephenie was really the only one to push back and demand to see it, but Devens refused and simply just said "knowledge is power." It's easy to watch from our couches and say "How did they fall for that? Why didn't they force them to see it?" But you have to remember the reality of what's going on out there. It's a bunch of exhausted and starving people with a bunch of cameras in their faces on the biggest season of Survivor in history. The adrenaline is going through the roof and they're not thinking totally rationally. Devens pulls a move like that and you're gonna panic and start a live tribal. It's just human nature. The easy thing to do is to just vote for someone else. It was really expertly pulled off by Devens and he deserves a ton of credit for making it seem so real. He is also helped by the fact that he's known as the idol guy so something like this is even more believable for him. As Rizo pointed out, "6 of these things, you're a devil!" I do think that this will paint an even bigger target on Devens back now though. He was somewhat flying under the radar but now people are gonna remember what a threat he is with these type of hijinx. And there's no way he's going to be able to pull off the lie of telling people he couldn't play it at this tribal and just had to retrieve it. If people believe that then I can't defend them anymore and they really are idiots. So while I think this weirdly may hurt Devens chance of winning long term given how much it put a target him, hats off to him on executing a move we will remember forever.
-Now there is the question of if Devens even needed to do that. There's a chance there would've been enough votes to take out Coach and Chrissy regardless. But I still think it was a worthy risk. You don't want to go home when you have that plan in your back pocket. And to be honest, there's probably a part of him that was just like "This is cool and the biggest season of Survivor and I want to do it." And you can't blame him for that. But all that aside, I do think it was the right game move. Especially because it essentially buys you safety for two votes since two people went home.
-The legend of Coach has officially come to an end. After four seasons of Survivor and countless memorable moments, the Dragon Slayer has been slayed for good. (Assuming he never plays again). It was a fitting sendoff season for a legend where we truly got the full Coach experience. From Day 1 on Exile with Ozzy to the haikus, to the songs, to the random quotes, we truly got it all. We saw him go from leading a vote as the man in charge to last week to being put in timeout on the hammock this week. It was the best of Coach and the worst of Coach. I think it was the perfect way for him to go out and I stand by saying he's one of the greatest finds in the history of reality television. It also made me laugh how after the vote Jeff was immediately like "Okay Chrissy you first" so that Couch could get his sendoff moment. Well deserved.
-It was very funny how while all this chaos was happening, Cirie was just completely safe and at Exile Island. Nice moment of her finding the right coconut. It's insane how well she is playing. Staying off everyone's radars and quietly running the votes. Very funny how she got back and immediately told Ozzy he had the wrong plan and Ozzy was dead seriously like "Thank God Cirie got back to tell me what to do." She will definitely be targeted sooner rather than later because you just can't let her get to FTC. But she's been a joy to watch this season.
-I couldn't decide what duo was better to target between Coach/Chrissy and Aubrey/Devens. Obviously it partly depends on who in the game you are. But my gut says I would've targeted Coach and Chrissy just because they are less strategic. Now they are more set in their ways and harder to swing to your side though so that's the reason to get them out. It's a tough decision. But I think leaving the "floaters" of Christian/Devens/Aubry/Emily around is dangerous.
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-Have to give credit to Joe this episode. Thought he came off really likable and actually knowledgable about the game. "It's 100% an idol ... or a rock" made me laugh. He also was right for wanting to stick with Coach and Chrissy and vote for Aubrey and Devens. He did a good job owning up to Tiffany about voting for her and forming an alliance with her that felt genuine. Just an overall good episode for Joe in what's been a pretty rough season for him.
So now we're down to 11. Here's how they break down in terms of who's with who
-Jonathan, Stephenie, and Joe are the "old school" alliance that are now kids left without their parents (Chrissy and Coach)
-Cirie, Ozzy, and Rizo have their secret "Rizard of Oz" alliance
-Devens, Christian, Aubry, and Emily are the "floaters" and "smart nerd" alliance as I call them
-And that that leaves Tiffany as kind of a floater. She's had bonds with Joe and Aubry in the past but we don't exactly where she stands. Probably not with Jonathan though.
-And that's all we got. Once again just an incredible episode and one we'll remember for awhile. Can't wait for next week!
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