Wooohoo! Something tells me a lot of this fan base is going to be quite happy following the events of tonight’s Episode 6 of Survivor. The overall feel of this season definitely seems to have cooled off a bit over the past two weeks, but at least we got another solid episode that ended with some surprising results.
Before we get lost in this episode like David wandering through a blindfolded challenge, let me remind you that spoilers are abound if you read on past this paragraph.
CLICK THE CONTINUE READING BUTTON FOR MORE, AND THIS IS YOUR LAST *SPOILER* WARNING!
Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead! OK, so Figgy‘s not dead and nor would any of us want that, but as far as her time on Survivor goes, she’s history. Yes, the showmance is officially over, and I for one am not going to lose any sleep over it…not taking into consideration that with a newborn, I’m not getting much sleep to begin with. But that’s besides the point. Yes, “Figlor” or “Fig-Tayls” or #Figtails, whatever you want to call it, was cleft in twain tonight. But let’s pump the brakes and start at the beginning…
Tonight’s episode began and ended on the same note: Zeke is moving into a position of real power in the game. With CeCe voted out last week, Zeke is feeling the love from both Chris and David and is feeling pretty good about himself. Now, feeling good in Survivor usually is a bad thing, but Zeke could be the type of player who could really fly under-the-radar the further he goes in the game. By the time we were watching the “Next Time On” portion of the show, we see that Zeke and David might be taking over as the new power couple on the show. Talk about an unlikely duo to have the word “power” attached to.
There was a revealing moment tonight involving Zeke as well, when as the tribe’s were called in to begin the Reward Challenge, Figgy proclaimed her excitement for seeing that Michelle had not been voted out…adding on only a bit too late that she was also happy to see Zeke. Figgy’s hesitation was not lost on Zeke, nor was it lost on the rest of the tribe. Zeke knows that he has no real friends should he try to reconcile with the Millennials, and that he is truly on the bottom of his initial tribe. All the more reason to branch out and create alliances with Gen-Xers like Chris and David. And taking into consideration what’s going on at the other tribe, with Ken and Jessica now having pulled Adam in, the remaining Millennials might be in for a rude awakening if they think they’re on top of the game simply because there will be more of them come merge.
The only real story line that took place with the Green Tribe tonight, was that Jay discovered an Idol! Now he, David, and Adam all possess Idols. Will was with Jay when he found it, and then bad-ass Michaela walked up on them to discover that he had the Idol too. Michaela continues to play to the beat of her own drum, and also dominated another challenge tonight, despite yelling and barking orders to her teammate, Hannah.
Speaking of Hannah, it has to be a Survivor first that medical had to be called in to attend a player who was sitting out a challenge. That’s exactly what happened to Hannah tonight. She revealed that she has a history of panic attacks, and seemed to have a serious one, that when combined with the intense heat, the lack of food, and severe dehydration out on the island, led to Dr. Joe making yet another appearance. If Dr. Joe appears any more than he has lately, they may start giving him voting rights at Tribal Council. Fortunately, Hannah was not seriously affected by the attack, and was able to rejoin the game, with the worst of it being the embarrassment that she felt.
After finishing in last place at the Immunity Challenge, Figgy‘s Purple Tribe was headed to Tribal Council. As was foreshadowed last week, it would come down to Adam, the man in the middle, to decide who would stay and who would go. On one side, he had fellow Millennials and showmancers, Figgy and Taylor, while on the other side he had two genuinely nice Gen-Xers in Jessica and Ken. Earlier in the ep, Figgy and Taylor decided to “go public” with their showmance by revealing that they liked each other to both Jessica and Ken. This of course ranked right up there with “Bear S**ts in Woods” as far as topical headlines go. Ken and Jessica weren’t born yesterday and saw the budding romance almost instantly, so it was comical that Figgy and Taylor thought they had kept it under wraps. But it came down to Adam, and in the end he decided to finally kill the showmance of #Figtails.
The fact that Ken was that close to going home over Figgy, I’m sure would have sparked riots throughout the Survivor community and here among Survivor fans at Reality Tea. Ken, a fan-favorite to most (men and women) getting voted out before Figgy, who is whatever the opposite of a fan-favorite is? That wouldn’t have been cool. At all. But Adam ultimately made the decision to vote out Figgy, clearly the stronger of the two, cutting off the “head” and saving the “tail” for later. Adam says he was thinking about his long-term game, but it will be interesting to see how he fits in post-merge, should he get that far.
Taylor, on the other hand, is a sitting duck, but he deserves it. He has been enamored with Figgy since Day One and it’s clouded his game to the point where I don’t see him recovering from it. And really, Figgy deserved her fate tonight, despite showing that she had all the ingredients of a Parvati Shallow, she too put boy-craziness above a million dollars, and it cost her in the end.
Episode Take-Away: We’ve all been rooting against #Figtails for the most part, and we finally saw our dreams come to fruition. Besides that, there were a bunch of small plot seeds planted this ep. Jay finds an Idol and the show draws him a bit of sympathy by showing him get emotional about his family. Zeke is clearly rising to the top of the “one’s to watch” list. Michaela continues to forcefully will herself through this game. And Adam has now picked a side, and his decision to take out Figgy truly devastates the Millennial tribe moving forward. You have Zeke who has already deserted, Michaela who hasn’t quite been happy with them and has shown signs of mutiny, and Taylor who is dead in the water and hasn’t shown enough game-smarts to really become a threat.
That leaves Jay, Will, Michelle, and Hannah. Michelle is the first target on her current tribe and in serious trouble should they head to Tribal next. And Hannah has not been given a very strong edit thus far as a capable player. Will, being the youngest player ever, well, is the youngest player ever and that’s bound to catch up to him. So good news to those rooting for the old fogies…the Millennial tribe is in shambles, any way you slice it.
Strategic Move of the Week: Adam‘s decision to go with Ken and Jessica, for sure. The showmance is never a good strategic idea on any reality TV show, and rarely works out well. Adam really had no choice. He’s got the protection of an Idol should anything go sour, plus he gets the same vibe the audience does, that Ken and Jessica are good, trustworthy people that wouldn’t be bad long-term teammates. I think it was his only move, especially considering that he really doesn’t have many other close allies left in the game.
Voted out this week: Figgy
Vote: 3 – Figgy (Ken, Jessica, Adam), 2 – Ken (Figgy, Taylor)
Next Week’s Episode: Taylor looks for payback after his girl Figgy was taken out of the game. And as mentioned, Zeke and David form what might be the most unlikeliest “power” couple the game of Survivor has ever seen. See you next week!
TELL US – DO YOU THINK ADAM MADE THE RIGHT CHOICE IN VOTING OUT FIGGY? WHICH MILLENNIAL DO YOU THINK IS IN THE BEST POSITION AT THE MOMENT? WHICH GEN-XER? AND IS TAYLOR A SITTING DUCK AT THIS POINT OR IS THERE A MOVE TO BE MADE?
Photo Credit: CBS/Monty Brinton/Robert Voets
