Episode 5

[michaelbrady]

Episode 5 content here!

[michaelbrady]

Episode 5 is here! We're headed towards another swap after this round! I haven't done a write-up in a while...it's been a busy couple rounds but I'll start with some Tributes to those who left.

Tributes:

Alex - I am still so sad that Alex is gone. He's one that really hurts to lose this early. I felt like he had winner potential and he was so fun to watch other players underestimate. I thought his strategy of playing up the newbie card could be a great one, but he really got a bad swap and there was just nowhere to hide. 

Erin N - Another person leaving from Dinah, this one was tough too. Erin had such a lowkey UTR game but it was so different than most of the cast that I felt it really meshed well with the game and would've been fun to follow. I think if Erin could've made the Merge she really would've came alive and had a good run towards the end.

Monte - Monte having to leave the game was so sad, I wish him and his family the best. It was the right decision for him to leave, I can't imagine playing a game like this while going through that. Monte was such a bright light on this game and was truly one of the most positive/fun people to be around/watch on calls.

Let's get into the tribes now!!

Dinah: 

DINAH FINALLY WINS IMMUNITY!!! Goodness, they had a rough couple rounds. Back to back Ls, 3 straight tribals for Rizo/Anna Lynn. Brutal. If they had lost, we would've seen Sarah go which would've been brutal. But nope, they all 4 win their mini-games, giving them their first win in dominant fashion! This was my favorite tribe when they swapped, there was no inactive players and everyone really bonded/tried hard. So it's nice to see something good happen to them for once.

Alicia - Alicia is playing a really good UTR game which is exactly what she wanted to do. She's a good 3rd wheel with Rizo/Anna Lynn and I think it's a great spot for her to be in. Those 2 will be shields for them come a Merge, and Alicia has other connections to people on her OG tribe that gives her a lot of options. I think Alicia is going to go far in this game, and she's got a lot of winner potential!

Anna Lynn - Anna Lynn has been one of my favorite players to watch all season, and it hasn't changed much. She's got a unique way of just making everyone want to be her friend, it's pretty much impossible to hate her. She's been playing a great game so far, her and Rizo have been dominating and they have balance each other so well that it's working perfectly. I'm worried they're going to be targeted heavily come a merge, so Anna Lynn will need to adjust her game and make new connections but I have no doubt she will be able to do that. 

Rizo - Rizgod!!!! Rizgod has the best confessionals and it's not even really close. He puts all of his effort into EVERYTHING he does. Whether that's a challenge, socializing, confessionals, idol hunt, everything. This dude is a try-hard but he does it in a way that it's so easy to root for. I've been a huge rizo fan from the beginning as well but it's nice to see him change other peoples opinions as well. I think Rizo is one of the best players in this cast, but he's also got the biggest target on his back in this game. In my opinion, Rizo needs to keep his foot on the gas and never let up. It's going to be very hard for him to get deep into a merge but if he plays his cards right there's a chance.

Sarah - Oh Sarah, you dodged a helluva bullet this round LOL. There's nothing she's really done wrong, she just hasn't read that Alicia is closer to Rizo/AL than she is. I'm so happy Sarah didn't get screwed here because I need my winner pick to....win!! Sarah has been playing hard from the beginning and she's so entertaining to watch, but I think people are becoming slightly weary of how competitive she is....she hasn't really been hiding it. I can't wait to see how Sarah does in the rest of this game, I still have hope for her!

MVP: Anna Lynn

Liddell: 

Liddell wins again! Technically they have not had a Tribal Council as a tribe which means they're all swapping! This is kinda unfortunate because I was looking forward to a Anders vs Felix rivalry, but I guess that will have to wait for now. Fingers crossed they swap together again LOL!

Aleem - Aleem is straight ballin. Easily one of the best players since day 1 this season and it hasn't stopped at all. He's doing a great job of not playing too hard and letting bigger/louder personalities dominant the conversations, while navigating things in the background. I think Aleem can win this game, if I had to bet right now he'd be one of the favorites hands down. Aleem has been the biggest surprise for me this season, I didn't expect to like him as much as I do but he's straight killing it.

Anders - Anders is about to be a Tribe captain (similar to Aleem) but I wonder if he will realize it's because he came in last in these rankings everyone did. Anders was at the bottom of a majority of the lists submitted and I think he really turned people off to him in the Scav Hunt posting challenge. Anders is someone I've loved to hate this season, but there's no denying his competitiveness and dedication to the game, which is very appreciated. I think watching Anders in the minority would be a lot of fun and become rootable for, but I don't know if he realizes how bad of a spot he is in the game right now. 

Brenton - I was a Brenton fan after the first couple days but a lack of activity level turned me off to him. However, after one call with Felix where Felix basically told him how much he was slacking socially, Brenton has done a complete 180. I absolutely love Brenton in this game, I am the founder of the Brenton fan club! It's just so fun to watch someone play a loyal/trusting/honest/heroic game, especially when so many people love to lie/backstab. It's just such a breathe of fresh air, and he's honestly done a great job this past round establishing relationships with Felix/Aleem that will keep him safe, and also rekindled a good relationship with Leanna. Awesome past few days for Brenton!!

Felix - Felix consrtantly has the best reads on the game and it shows how much of a great strategic player he is. Bringing Brenton in as a loyal ally was arguably one of the best UTR moves made this game so far. That could be HUGE in the long-run. Brenton is a loyal ally and it's hard to find. Great move. Felix vs Anders is something I need to see happen just for the entertainment value of it all. Felix's game has been impressive so far and I've really enjoyed seeing this new side of him.

Leanna - Leanna had been struggling in the game to be as active/dedicated as she wanted, but the last few days she has really turned it up again! I enjoy watching Leanna play, it's just entertaining because it's all over the place. I believe that if Leanna is able to stay active and put in the time, she can be a very dangerous player. The good thing is, she isn't really being talked about too much as a huge threat. Maybe that'll change because of reputation, but I think Leanna could play her cards right and turn it up at the merge! Super excited to see where she ends up going with in this game.

MVP - Brenton

Momerath:

What a terrible performance this round in the challenge. I mean they just straight up got their asses kicked. Hugo got last, Gerda got last, Malcolm got last, Lance actually did the best which is wild given his activity level. Overall they've been a good tribe since the swap,but it was mostly them being carried by Malcolm/Carly/Hugo. I'm glad someone who isn't as active should be going this round.

Carly - I've been preaching "Carly is playing a great game" for a while now, and that hasn't changed. I've been truly so impressed by her game and I think she's been doing a great job of establishing awesome relationships without coming off as playing too hard or running things. She's working with a lot of meat shields (Malcolm/Felix) and that could be great for her in the long-run. I believe Carly can win this game. She's another one that if I was betting, I would put a little money on her as well. Not to mention she's been dominant in these challenges/helping her tribe win. 

Dayle - Dayle is in trouble this round and I'm not sure why. People are still super worried about OG pink which is silly considering they're down to 3 people. If Dayle leaves here that's a robbery. I absolutely love watching Dayle and I don't feel like we've had the full Dayle experience yet. We need Dayle at at Merge just for the chaos of it all. I'm not sure where Dayle lands long-term in this game, but if she survives tonight I think a lot will open up for her!

Gerda - I felt so bad watching Gerda do the pencil bounce, she's had a rough time with some of these challenges unfortunately. But Gerda is still a wild-card in this game that could be a sleeper pick to go far! I have had mixed opinions on Gerda throughout this game, but I do feel like she needs to be separated from Malcolm at this tribe swap or else those 2 will be targeted quickly at the Merge. However, would Gerda be able to survive without Malcolm? That's the big question.

Hugo - Hugo has been doing amazing, and him pushing back on a Dayle vote was savage and really nice to see. I like this side of Hugo, he's showing he's got balls to say no and push his own agenda. It's not good for him for Dayle to go and he knows it! Hugo has developed really strong relationships with a lot of players in this game (Brenton, Leanna, Sarah, Carly, Malcolm, Dayle) and he really is a huge winner threat in this game. I've been very impressed by Hugo, not to mention he's arguably one of the strongest challenge performers thus far. The only downside to Hugo is his 25 minute confessionals LMAO. 

Lance - Lance is someone I was really excited for pre-season as he had one of the best interviews. However, he just hasn't been active enough this season. He's received two strikes now, giving him a self-vote this round. He just simply hasn't been dedicated enough to the game and it would be tough to see him stay over someone who is putting in the effort.

Malcolm - Malcolm has been a star in this game since the beginning, but I have been worried for a while now that he's just playing too hard. For example, this round he's pushing for a dayle vote? It's just a bad move for him, because he's showing all his cards and how much of an alpha player he is in the game. It's a lot smarter for Malcolm to let Lance go and play under the radar for a few more rounds. He's in a very good spot in the game, but only if people don't become scared of his power in the game. I am rooting for Malcolm hard and want to see him succeed so I just hope he dials it back a little bit before it starts to hurt his game.

MVP: Hugo

[robbie]

Above is the tribe rankings that helped determine the swap this round.  The players were given until 10pm to complete their tribe rankings, and unfortunately Lance did not get his in time (which is why his is blank).  The players are listed up top and their rankings are listed below their name with 1 being their number 1 ranking and 14 being their last ranked. The rankings were used to determine one of the captains for a school yard pick,  and the second captain (Aleem) was determined by a power found in the idol hunt. 

With the averages being so close,  (Out of curiosity) production asked Lance to submit his rankings just to see if it would have affected whether Anders or Dayle would have been the captain. His rankings are listed below: 
1.Sarah
2.Malcolm
3.Hugo
4.Carly
5.Andres
6.Leanna
7. Aleem
8.Alicia
9.Felix
10.Brenton
11.Anna Lynn
12.Rizo
13.Dayle
14.Gerda

This would have changed the outcome, but due to the deadline being missed, Anders was the second captain.  The Schoolyard pick went as follows:  

Aleem's first pick was Carly.  Ander's first pick was Malcolm. Aleem then sent Anna Lynn to Anders. Anders sent Rizo to Aleem. Aleem picked Brenton next. Anders chose Hugo. Aleem sent Felix to the other tribe. Anders sent Alicia to the other tribe. Aleem picked Sarah. Anders picked Leanna. Aleem then chose Dayle and sent Gerda to the other tribe. 

Felix used his mutiny power and went to the Cheshire tribe, so the tribes going into round 6 are as follows.
Cheshire: Aleem,  Felix,  Carly, Alicia, Brenton,  Rizo,  Sarah, Dayle. 
Dormouse: Anders, Malcolm,  Gerda, Leanna, Hugo, Anna Lynn.

[robbie]

This round was one of the most chaotic yet exciting rounds I've ever seen, and if this is any indication of how this season is going to play out, I am so here for it 👏! 

There's a lot to unpack here, and Brady pretty much summed up the overall round perfectly. I'd like to summarize what happened on Momerath 2.0 leading up to tribal. It was wild to  say the least. Of course, Malcolm was running this tribe, but I think we saw his game take a turn for the worst  this time. Tapatalkers 2.0 overplayed this round and ultimately crumbled. It all started with idol paranoia. The Tapatalkers (Malcolm, Hugo, Gerda, and Carly) speculated that Dayle or Lance might have the idol since none of them heard from these two that much throughout the game. They took the the inactivity as comfortableness. It went from, "What if Dayle has the idol and is trying to get us to vote Lance so she plays the idol on him and the vote together to control the vote." to "We should split the vote 2-2 and then just vote out Dayle on the revote" to "What if they have an extra vote and we split the vote and they both stay and then we piss them off." 

The initial target was Dayle. Then the tribe agreed on Lance because a lot of people hadn't talked to him in days. He told them that his messages weren't sending, but they weren't buying it.  Malcolm's game slowly started to slip between his hands as he started to spiral. I think Malcolm's problem is, he needs to know all of the information. He's not content with the unknown and in Survivor, there is going to be a lot of unknowns. You have to learn to play around them. Since Malcolm didn't know whether Dayle or Lance had the idol, he started to push a Gerda vote. He thought that if he pushed a Gerda vote, he could get them to idol out Gerda if they did play the "idol". Unfortunately this didn't sit well with his closest allies Hugo and Carly. Hugo and Carly jumped on call and said, "If he is willing to turn on Gerda like that, what do we think he would do to us". Very valid point. The two of them tried to think about bringing in Dayle and voting out Malcolm with a major blindside.  This wasn't really an option as Carly had to lose her vote at one of her next two tribal councils so it made more sense for her to lose it here where her name wasn't being tossed, and Lance had a self vote for not completing confessionals. Carly entertained the idea, but she wasn't going to pass  on losing her vote here.  Carly then talked Hugo and Dayle off the ledge, and flipped the vote back on to Lance.  

In the final minutes before tribal,  Lance and Malcolm jumped on call and Lance told Malcolm that he knew this was going to happen, but he wasn't worried about he because he had an idol and he was playing it. He didn't actually have it, but Malcolm believed it, and continued to spiral, messing up his game even more. We saw several group chats created, and multiple calls happen in less than 15 minutes.  There was a chat made with Hugo, Malcolm, and Lance. There was a chat created with those 3 that included Carly (after the boys had already talked) and she took notice. She felt like she was being left out of the vote and like Malcolm was prioritizing his relationship with Lance more than theirs. Malcolm tried to convince the tapatalkers that Lance had the idol and tried to flip the vote on to Dayle with less than 5 minutes left before tribal. They all said yes, but in reality Hugo wasn't comfortable with it. Meanwhile Gerda was asleep and didn't realize her name was being tossed and that the vote had changed. She prevoted for Lance. 

When it all played out,  the vote was 4-1 with everybody who did vote, voting for Lance (himself included) and Malcolm being the only person who voted for Dayle. This was a complete blindside for Lance and Malcolm, although Lance kind of expected it and Malcolm was blindsided by it. 

Let's see how the swap plays out! This game has been wild, and I dont see it changing at any point. These players came to play, and I'm so here for it!