Survivor 41 - week 5 results

 Wow, what an episode.  It seemed like a lot of stuff happened!  Here's how it breaks down in pool points:

• First, Genie finds the immunity idol clue but doesn't open it.  Since she doesn't open it, it's not hers.  Instead she shows it to her tribe.  Shan and Ricard trick her, and Shan actually opens it and gets the 3-way powerless immunity idol - 1 point to Shan for obtaining this "clue" to how to activate her idol.  She gave her extra vote advantage to Ricard, but it seems like he'll be giving it back next episode.
• At the immunity challenge, Shan says her idol phrase, Xander says his idol phrase, and then the show gives us a holy crap! moment when Naseer out of nowhere says the last idol phrase!  It turns out that he found the clue the day earlier.  So 1 point to Naseer for finding the idol clue, and then 3 points each to Naseer, Shan, and Xander for activating their immunity idols!
• The yellow Yasa tribe wins first place in the immunity challenge.  3 points each to Evvie, Liana, Tiffany, and Xander.
• The blue Luvu tribe wins second place in the immunity challenge.  2 points each to Danny, Deshawn, Erika, Heather, Naseer, and Sydney.
• Yasa chooses to send Shan and Liana on the journey to play the prisoner's dilemma.  Shan protects her vote and Liana risks it and gains a Knowledge is Power advantage.  3 points to Liana for obtaining that.
• At tribal council, Ricard and Shan vote out Genie.  2 points each for Ricard and Shan for controlling the vote.
• Everyone except Genie earns 5 points for surviving week 5.

In the pool, only 15% of entries had Genie, including me.  She was my sleeper pick.  Since not many entries had her that wasn't too much movement in the pool:

• Rachel L moves up one spot and now ties Jswizzle for 1st place and they are the only ones with all picks intact.
• Adam J still holds last place by only 2 points.
• TONE jumps 30 spots to 23rd.
• Jeff Probst fell 38 spots from 12th to 50th.  Poor Jeff!

Next week: merge!  but, only sort of?

My episode observations:

• Ricard and Shan are so devious together, tricking Genie into not opening that idol clue.  Genie must have been REALLY kicking herself for not opening the clue.  She would have got the immunity that she needed and would have lived another day.  What puzzles me is how she didn't figure out that all 3 idol phrases were spoken and now Shan has the activated idol and she was tricked?
• Danny and Deshawn are really thinking smart and meta. They are catching on that mostly guys are getting voted out so that when the merge happens the women will outnumber them.  Unfortunate for them that Naseer is not on their meta-level.
• That Knowledge is Power advantage really confuses me.  If she asks someone about their idol and that person lies about not having it, does a producer walk out of nowhere and say that they're lying and force them to give Liana their idol??  Someone, please reply in the blog and help explain it to me and everyone.
• Really anxious to find out what the heck kind of merge or swap is going to happen next week!

Till next week,

Jay

Survivor 41 - week 4 results

Episode spoilers below!

What an episode! Best in the season so far in my mind. The immunity challenge was hilarious and the ending was great.  Let's break down the pool points:

• The first reward challenge of the season starts pretty early in the episode.  The green Ua tribe wins first place. 2 points each to Genie, JD, Ricard, and Shantel.
• Behind a great performance from Tiffany, the yellow Yasa tribe comes in second. 1 point each to Evvie, Liana, Tiffany, and Xander.
• At the immunity challenge, despite a slow start, Zander has a clutch throwing performance in the end to earn the yellow Yasa tribe first place. 3 points to each of them.
• And despite Danny and Deshawn hilariously trying to sabotage their team and throw the challenge, Naseer almost single-handedly wins second place for the blue Luvu tribe. 2 points each for Danny, Deshawn, Erika, Heather, Naseer, and Sydney.
• Before tribal council, Shan convinces JD to once again give her his extra vote advantage as a sign of good faith. He thinks its temporary. Shan makes it permanent, as we find out later. 3 points for Shan for pulling this off and acquiring the advantage from JD permanently!
• At tribal council, Genie decides not to use her Shot in the Dark die and votes for JD as Shan told her to do. Shan and Ricard blindside JD, and didn't even have to use Shan's new extra vote advantage. 2 points each for Genie, Ricard, and Shan for pulling off this blindside and all voting for JD.
• 4 points for each remaining contestant this week.
• Shan earns the most points this week with 11.
  

In the pool, 45% entries had JD.  And:

• 3 entries remain perfect with all 8 picks intact.
• Jswizzle is one of those entries, currently in 1st place
• Rachel L and The Mexican are the other 2 of those entries in 2nd and 3rd by a few points.
• SneakyIdol is still in last place by just a point.
• Both Erika G and JaeZ jumped the highest from 69th to 13th
• Both AJ and Jmarling fell the most from 21st to 78th.

Next week: it looks like Genie finds an advantage

My episode observations:

• Was this the right move for Shan to blindside JD? It seems JD would have went to the end with her. Genie can easily join another alliance in a swap or merge.
• Either way, huge props to Shan for convincing JD to give her his advantage and then voting him off. This is up there with the time when Erik gave away his immunity and then got voted off in the Fans vs Favorites season a long time ago but the show keeps bringing up as one of the dumbest moves in Survivor history.
• The baby turtles flopping their way to the ocean was pretty cool to see.
• I love Genie's comment about the local outdoor expert being a cross between "Cirque du Soleil and the best stripper you've ever seen."
• Deshawn's commentary during the immunity challenge was hilarious, explaining how much he was trying to sabotage their team, but Naseer and Erika ruining it.  And retying the knots!!
• So, now that Brad got voted out with part of the 3-way immunity idol, will Zander never get to vote again until there are 6 players left? That's a looooong way away. He's pretty screwed if this is the case.

Please, let me know your thoughts on the episode in the comments below!