Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Survivor Redemption Island - Episode 12 - Giving it your all!

First off let me tell you that I love the family episodes and the emotion they bring to the tribe.


Ralph and Steve joins RI and they start talking about the final 3 and they realize that if one of them get to the end, especially if it is a Zapatera member, they have won.  I agree with that statement, which is why it is extremely important that Rob and co. send the correct people to RI.  


After the tribe returns to camp, Natalie gets emotional about having to start turning on each other and she is missing her family.  Rob comforts her and states that he just has to keep everyone happy.  That's a tough thing to do when you have to vote most of them out and they will likely be blindsides.  Might be better to tell them beforehand and even make up a story as to why they are getting voted off.


Before the duel, Tree Mail arrives and it is a Sprint phone.  Videos from family to watch before the duel.  Of course that gives everyone the fuel they need to continue in the game.  The crew on RI also go a phone too and they got to see their family videos as well.  I'm not sure how I feel about this since they have been voted out and should they get the reward, but then again, being on RI is no picnic and technically one of them is still in the game, so I guess it is ok. Matt is energized by the chance to see his brother and vows to do what it takes to win.  During the duel, here is how it went down:


Mike, starts the duel with an early break, no one else gets a break.
Everyone breaks a tile on the second round.
Everyone except Steve breaks a tile.
Mike wins the duel and family time.
Matt and Ralph also advance.  Steve joins the jury.


Now Mike has a tough decision.  He can forgo a visit with his mom and give to Matt and Ralph or give the visit to everyone else left in the game.  He chose to give the visit to the 6 remaining in the game.  Mike says that he prayed and asked God to help him win and he said that the decision is what God wanted him to do.  He denies there was any strategy involved.  I admire his character and I believe he was telling the truth.  Ralph was upset that Mike gave the family to the 6 and would have preferred Mike keep it for himself, if he wasn't going to share it with him and Matt.  Matt admits he couldn't give the visit to 6 remaining, but didn't say if he would keep it or give it to Mike and Ralph.


With the family back at camp, Phillip says will dominate the rest of this game.  He told his sister that he is prepared to go crazy.  I want have we seen then, if he hasn't been crazy up to this point?  Rob never stops playing the game and even while his sister was there (Amber was pregnant, which is why she wasn't there), he was still planning his moves.  We didn't see a lot from the other family members.  


Leading up to the challenge, Rob states to the camera that he will work his butt of to prevent Andrea from winning.  Editing 101 says that either Rob or Andrea is going to win the challenge and sure enough, Rob pulls out the exhausting win.  You could see that everyone was spent, but Rob left it all on the field and came away with the victory.  Andrea and Grant were very close to Rob in the challenge, but could quite pull it out.  Definitely a tough challenge to have this late in the show, but really it would be very tough to do earlier, since there would be so many more people.


Phillip says in an interview that he is a good at talking and that he can convince the jury to vote for him, but at Tribal Council Jeff points out he is an idiot, at least from a strategic standpoint.  Everyone at TC is convinced they are safe and thus the blindside occurs and takes Andrea out and send her to RI.


My thinking is Rob made a mistake here.  While Andrea is good at challenges, I would have tried to approach it with Grant to send him to RI, saying he has the best chance of winning against the others that are there and making it back into the game, thus preventing a Zapatera member or Matt from reentering the game.  All that would have been true and if Grant did lose and didn't come back in the game, then that fits into Rob's plan too.  Andrea definitely would have been the next one on my list to go, so it could still work out ok.


Rob's best chance to win is to have Phillip and Natalie sitting next to him in the final 3.  If Matt or any Zapatera is in the Final 3, I think they beat whomever the other two are.  I think Grant may be the only one left in the game that has a small chance of beating Rob.


With two episodes left, I think that RI will continue and the person voted out next week will go to RI and the final RI duel will put the person returning into the game with 4 players left, leaving the final episode to eliminate 2 people and round out the jury.  At least that is how I hope it happens. I don't feel that the RI person should be brought back and automatically gets in the final 3, but coming back with 5 left in the game, they can become a huge swing vote and be used to knock out someone, maybe Rob.  Although I'm really hoping that Rob wins this season, because he has played the best game and deserves it.


If I was Rob, I would vote out the people in the following order:


Grant
Ashley or whomever returns from RI
Ashley if the RI person gets voted out, otherwise the RI person


Final 3:
Rob
Phillip
Natalie


Rob will probably have to use his hidden immunity idol next episode or it will be no good.  Rob should not play it unless he doesn't have immunity and he has a feeling they may switch on him or if they want to vote out Phillip (or someone else he wants to save), then he can give the idol to them.  Otherwise, it will only cause animosity with his tribe mates because he held it and didn't tell them.


So another good episode and I can't wait until next week.  So until then... the Tribe has spoken. 

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