The tribes merge and a love triangle begins to form.
Survivor: Micronesia Blog
11th Elimination: Eliza
It’s merge time, baby! Without fail, the merge episode is one of the highlights of each season, and this time around it was no different. I’ve got a lot of discussing to do, so I’m just going to head right to the observations…
1. Hell hath no fury… Like a woman scorned! I don’t know what Ozzy was thinking when he decided to have a late-night cuddling session with Alexis. It just blew my mind! Talk about setting yourself up for a back-stabbing! After what he pulled, Amanda would be completely justified to give him a swift kick to his Ozzlets, let alone vote him out of the game. I’ve thought a lot about this and there’s just no logical explanation for it. It’s strategically horrible. Even if Amanda gave him a pass, everybody else has noticed the canoodling. Adding a second hoochie to his brothel is only going to make Ozzy an even bigger target. Also, from a pure attractiveness standpoint, Amanda’s got it all over Alexis. So it’s not like he even said, “Forget the game, I gotta have this girl!” What’s the motivation here?
Honestly, I think it all boils down to a major “invincibility” complex that Ozzy’ developed. He’s got a hidden immunity idol, he’s amazing at challenges, he’s got a powerful alliance, he’s got women fawning over him, he’s got men fawning over him – he’s basically got it all. I really think that at this point Ozzy believes he’s the hands down favorite to win this game. He thinks he can pretty much do as he pleases and that everyone will just tow the line and cater to him. When you’re as massive a target as he is, there’s no way you win the million dollars with that attitude. Ozzy should be playing this game with eyes in the back of his head and his ears constantly perked. He should be as paranoid as all get out and ready to pull out that idol at a moment’s notice. I’m telling you, if he’s not blindsided by the time all this is said and done, then I don’t know this game nearly as well as I think I do. Well either that, or the people he’s playing with are complete idiots. As you’ll see in Observation #3, that’s still a distinct possibility.
2. Parvati’s Pickle. Once Parvati and Amanda were reunited, it was time for some catching up. Parvati let Amanda know that she had made a final four pact with Natalie and Alexis, which didn’t please Amanda much at all. Her reasoning for being upset was twofold. For starters, she wasn’t too keen on Parvati dragging her into this alliance without discussing it beforehand. Secondly, she wanted nothing to do with Alexis, especially at the Final Tribal Council. Granted, her first beef was a very valid complaint, but I do think Amanda’s wrong in considering this new potential alliance to be a bad thing.
Amanda and Parvati know full-well that they can’t beat either James or Ozzy at the end, so they’ll need to cut ties eventually. Well, taking those two guys to the final five with Cirie is just asking for trouble. One of them is bound to get through to the end. On the other hand, to start knocking them off early opens the door for the people without numbers to regain them and stage a coup. So basically, without the Alexis/Natalie fallback, the girls are going to have a very hard time keeping both the numbers and Ozzy/James from making the final.
As far as not wanting to face Alexis in the final goes, well, that’s why they’re bringing along Natalie. If Alexis happens to win that last immunity challenge, then that’s the way the cookie crumbles. Basically, with the nine people that are left, unless Amanda and Parvati can somehow maneuver both Jason and Natalie into the Final Four with them, there’s going to be somebody left who’s more popular than they are with a shot to win that last challenge. If it’s not Alexis, then it’s going to be Ozzy, James, Cirie, or Erik.
Finally, Amanda also expressed concerns about turning everyone against them with the massive backstabbing that would take place by joining with Alexis and Natalie. I’m sure Amanda felt all the backlash from her escapades with Todd in China. The real key to Survivor is that you can backstab almost anyone and get away with it in the end if you’re totally honest. If you just own the fact that outwitted everybody, people have to respect that to a degree. Amanda tried to skirt the issue in China, which is exactly what did her in. If you take the other route and play to people’s egos, like Todd did with the classic “You were just too good. I knew I couldn’t beat you so I had to vote you out”, then you can usually erase enough of the bad feelings to garner a vote. And remember, this was all Parvati’s doing in the first place. Amanda shouldn’t hesitate to throw her under the bus by bringing up that fact multiple times if they do get to the end.
3. Because it’s a STICK! You want to know what has me absolutely flabbergasted? Back when Mikey B was voted off and Jason was the lone protestor at Tribal Council, I stated that Jason was clearly smarter than 75% of the Fans. The problem is that even after the massive stupidity displayed by Jason during this episode, I’m still having a hard time discounting that statement. The Fans have just been inexcusably pathetic this season. I have no idea what the producers were thinking when they paired this horrendous bunch up against powerhouses like Ozzy and James and strategic masterminds like Amanda, Ami, and Cirie. Honestly, I think the Roman Christians had a better shot against the Lions, than these Fans do against the Favorites. If not for the “take the bad people with you” strategy that’s starting to come into play, they would be absolutely done for.
Getting back on topic, there were at least a good 5-6 times where I wanted to punch Jason in the face this episode. The way he bragged about “dominating” the immunity challenge was beyond irritating. I mean, come on, it was a challenge that involved keeping your mouth above the water! I don’t think anybody can “dominate” a competition like that. All his talk about beating Ozzy and knocking him out of the game annoyed me as well. Are you here to win a million dollars or to carry out some twisted fanboy vendetta against a person you watched on TV?
Before we move onto this week’s “bonus” observation, there’s one more thing I’d like to point out. Jason, a male gymnastics coach, is clearly one of the dumbest players to ever appear on Survivor. Dreamz from Fiji, a male cheerleading coach, is THE dumbest player to ever appear on Survivor. Notice a trend? Can we all just take a moment to all agree to never let a male coach of a predominantly female sport on this show again? Would anybody have a problem with that?
4. The Road to the Million. After I mapped out a plan for Amanda and Parvati to take home million, I had one person bring up a potential flaw in the system. Basically, if the final four were Amanda, Parvati, Alexis, and Natalie, there’s nothing stopping Alexis and Natalie from forcing a 2-2 tie and potentially knocking one of them out in a fire-making challenge. It definitely is worth considering that possibility. However, I figured that Alexis would be such a clear-cut choice for the jury that Natalie would be smart enough to knock her out and head into the final with Amanda and Parvati.
Anyway, after the recent developments of this past episode, I would like to make some revisions to my plan. Here they are…
1. Knock off Eliza (Too big of a schemer) Check.
2. Knock off Jason – You can’t take out Ozzy next without making it four fans and four favorites. At that point, the fans could band together and take over the game. Not a good idea. You’d like to keep Jason around because he’s so disliked and could result in an easy win, but you can’t oust Erik without getting Ozzy’s guard up. Unfortunately, you have to take out Jason.
3. Blindside Ozzy – Now that Cirie knows he has the idol, you can get her in on the action, where before, it might have made her feel like the alliance had fallen apart if you took out Ozzy before Jason and Erik.
4. Knock off Erik – With Ozzy gone, nobody should be protesting this. You also have to make sure to keep the fans outnumbered.
5. Knock off James – The last remaining physical threat. Ideally, you could take him out before Erik, but again, it’s a numbers game with the fans.
6. Knock off Alexis – Last week I said that you wouldn’t want Cirie left with Amanda, Parvati, Alexis, and Natalie because of her potential to flip over to the Fans. However, Cirie is definitely playing the Sandra from Pearl Islands strategy where “as long as it’s not me, I’m good with it!” She knows Alexis is a huge threat, and she knows Amanda and Parvati know it as well. I don’t think she’d try any funny business in this situation and would vote Alexis off.
7. Knock off Natalie – It’s really a toss-up between Cirie and Natalie. After thinking it over, you know Natalie is getting Erik, Jason, and Alexis’ vote. She has a good shot at Eliza’s as well. That’s the game right there. In retrospect, I think they do need Cirie in the final three. At that point, it’s basically a crap-shoot. You would think Ozzy would go Amanda and James would go Parvati. After that, you’d have to be a mind-reader to know how people would vote.
Would anybody get the four votes needed to wrap things up? I’m not so sure. You could easily see a 3-2-2 finish, or better yet, a 3-3-1. I’m still dying to see a tie. That would make horrible three-person finals all worth it! If the rollercoaster ride that this season has been is any indication, we just may be heading there!
Survivor Power Poll:
| Ranking | Player | Comments | Last Week |
| 20 | J. Fairplay | Eliminated. | – |
| 19 | Mary | Eliminated. | – |
| 18 | Yau Man | Eliminated. | – |
| 17 | Mikey B | Eliminated. | – |
| 16 | Dirty Ogre | Eliminated. | – |
| 15 | Jonathan | Eliminated. | – |
| 14 | Chet | Eliminiated. | – |
| 13 |
Kathleen |
Eliminated. | – |
| 12 |
Tracy |
Eliminated. | – |
| 11 | Ami | Eliminated. | – |
| 10 | Eliza | Eliminated | 9 |
| 9 | Jason | He’s got no allies, which could let him be the tag-along. However, with the multiple alliances Amanda and Parvati have going, I can’t see how they can keep him. | 10 |
| 8 | Ozzy | Everyone will be gunning for him now. | 3 |
| 7 | Natalie | I just don’t see her winning the million. | 4 |
| 6 | Erik | He’s starting to get that vibe of the guy everyone lets hang around for too long. | 8 |
| 5 | James | Ozzy’s deflecting major attention away from him. If he can last a few more weeks, an immunity table run isn’t out of the question.. | 7 |
| 4 | Alexis | She could win the whole thing, but I don’t think the other women will let her get that far. | 6 |
| 3 | Amanda | I’m getting flashbacks to her meltdown at the final tribal council in China. | 2 |
| 2 | Cirie | “As long as it’s not me!” I don’t think anyone will try to make it her for a while. She’s keeping her mouth shut and her ears wide open – always a good strategy. | 5 |
| 1 | Parvati | She’ll sweet-talk her way to the million bucks, just like she does with everything else. | 1 |
Biggest Riser: Cirie (5th to 2nd)
Biggest Faller: Ozzy (3rd to 8th)
