Survivor: Cambodia (Second Chance)

For all of the talk about strategy, I think it is much more of game of tactics, especially after the merge.
If you are outside of the numbers, you have to play to stay alive because the dynamics potentially change after each elimination.
Wentworth played it correctly, and not just because it turned out to be her rather than Ciera who was targeted.
She;s got Ciera and Abi for now, and as the majority shrinks she's got Spencer, Tasha and Stephen as potentially moving pieces.
And Jeremy is smart and will vote out Joe when he gets the chance. I don't know if Joe is as smart.
At this point, nobody should want Jeremy or Joe around any longer than they have to be. You have to stay alive until the movement starts.

 

People also start to try and blindside you when you have an idol. It can make you a target or a bigger target if you already are one. I wouldn't reveal I had one unless I absolutely had to.

 

I haven't watched last night's episode, so I can't look at this thread again until I do.

I've seen a lot of poor tactical play when people announce they have idols. You have to flush it out by voting for that person, make him/her play it.

OK, I slipped in without seeing a spoiler. I'll check back after seeing last night episode.

 

finally got to watch it. not an evolution of the game at all. these types of scenarios play out anytime there are a lot of smart players.
sandra won twice by shifting with momentum as suited her.
but this is an interesting season.

wigglesworth sour grapes at the end, 'not my kind of game.'
wasn't her kind of game last time either

 

The game is very different right now, but not because of advanced strategy by the players so much as the way they are being forced to react to the ever-changing format created by the production team. They've really switched up a lot the game this season and the players are reacting. It's only an evolution of the game in the sense that the producers are trying to keep the players on their toes by changing things left and right.

 

I think the ever-changing formats were necessitated by the skill of the players involved. Nothing worse than getting into "blocks" where one tribe gets chopped down week after week.

 

It's a good game this season, but I don't know if all of the change-ups were needed.
thta season with tall long-hair guy and the woman. Their tribe was destroyed, but those two managed to play it out until the end.
He got booted at the final tribal and she went on to win.

the Spencer-tasha-Kass season - their tribe was a disaster, but I believed they were poised for a huge takeover of the game until Kass turned on spencer and Tasha.

It can work, because even rock solid alliances have hierarchies, and the players know it.

Joe is in the majority alliance and voting with them, but he knows he's gone as soon as he looses a challenge.
Jeremy would be in the same boat if not for the two idols.

the producers' manipulations have definitely caused a more fluid game, but i think players start thinking about the end game earlier

 

Another two good episodes and two more surprising exits.

I was surprised Jeremy wasted one of his idols saving Fishbeck and then Fish basically voted himself out by splitting his two votes.

And if anyone doubted how douchey Savage is, just look at him in that ridiculous beanie he wore to the the TCs.

 

That was some great stuff. I was surprised nobody flipped to vote with Stephen when they learned of the advantage.

 

I thought Stephen was foolish to use his advantage when he did, but it turned out he was just dumb for the way he organized the votes among his "bloc." He should have cast two votes for Joe, along with Jeremy and Tasha. Those were the guarantees. Entrusting votes for Joe to anyone else was risky and, ultimately, his downfall.

Another thing I didn't get was why in the hell they would tell Abi, of all people, that she was the "dummy vote." She's simply way too unpredictable. If you want her to vote with you, you make her feel safe, you stroke her ego a bit. You most certainly do not bring up her name in talks of who will receive votes. It didn't matter, but damn, these people have not figured out how to use her effectively as an ally.

 

In the first hour, I was thought it was dumb for Jeremy to use his idol to save Fischbach. If he really wanted to save Fischbach, he should have talked to him, told him people wanted to vote him out, and asked what his advantage was. There was no reason for Jeremy to use his idol when Fischbach held an advantage.

Jeremy lost his idol and risked his partners turning on him instead. Ultimately, that hasn't happened, but it did not seem like the smart play at the time.

 

Fishbach splitting those two votes might have been the single dumbest move in Survivor history.