focus | Courtney C: The Next Sole Survivor

*eating my words about these being too easy* 😬 struggled w/ it until I said it out loud 😂

Strategy –

FINALLY someone says what I’ve been thinking (get Shan tf out!!!! #blindside) + I can’t believe it was Erika who finally said it. I guess Ricard + DeShawn are also smart enough to be aware of her threat level but where they differ is that they trust her to work with them to the end.

Ricard is really showing his strategizing strength once again in his ability to have this emotional bonding moment w/ Shan on the reward challenge + turn his back on her the next day (for extremely valid reasons ofc – just sayin’). Also in his ability to separate logic + emotion as well as think about each day in the game at a time. We can see this here – “I don’t like him [DeShawn], don’t respect him, he annoys me, but I still think he’s the best choice moving forward today, he can go home tomorrow.”

I also like what he said at tribal about how everyone has their own perception of themself and the ways it differs greatly between Erika feeling insecure b/c she really is on the bottom/powerless + then Xander feeling similarly even though he has great power in his pocket (but insecure b/c people know about it).

Reward Challenge –

At first, when I saw the star puzzle, I was surprised they’d do another repeat puzzle after Evvie knew the one last week by heart almost from practicing at home, but then I was like oh yeah…they DEFINITELY plan all this out way, way, WAY in advance 😂 and conveniently for producers, Evvie just* went home last week so I guess they don’t have to worry about any Superfan advantages anymore.

Also, Pizza Under the Stars is (as Jeff said) absolutely the best reward of any season. I must say, I really enjoy the “pick someone to go w/ you” + “pick one more person to go w/ you” decisions that come w/ the win b/c there’s so much strategy involved. Ricard picks Shan first – makes sense, his #1 alliance. Then he picks Heather + Xander. They play a confessional clip of Danny commenting on it as ‘playing the jury,’ which I think is true, but I would’ve liked the chance to think of it myself….this goes along w/ what I’ve said about the whole season. It’s like we’re just being told/shown everything straight up, when what I and a lot of Superfans love most about the show is analyzing + dissecting each player’s strategy behind each move. IDK – maybe I’ve just become too much of an introvert now.

Immunity Challenge –

Not at all surprised it came down to Ricard + Xander. Was hopeful for another Xander win especially knowing he got to go on reward + eat, but wasn’t surprised Ricard pulled that out. He’s shown he’s very strong when it comes to challenges requiring steady balance. Xander I think is a bit more like me – biggest challenge strength lies in our ability to endure/outlast (discomfort/pain/etc.) which I think is the best, (obviously biased), but the reason I say that is b/c it’s a duality – equally a mental + physical skill – and each 1/2 requires the other.

Tribal Council –

Ricard says to the camera in the voting booth “we both gave each other permission to do this when the times comes.” They had split the majority of votes between Shan/Liana + all went Shan upon the revote. AMAZING. FANTASTIC. I TAKE BACK ANY + ALL COMPLAINTS I HAD ABOUT THE SEASON (*until the next episode anyway…) B/C THAT WAS A BIG ASS MOVE + IT MF ROCKED !!!!!! LET’S GOOOOOO RICARD! 🏅

(also really excited for next week b/c of the preview of Xander saying ‘it’s too good to be true!’… hopefully will actually be good fortune for my #1 boi + not a producer trick)

dumbest rebus puzzle so far… no, not “pocket idol” or “hidden idol,” it’s “IDOL IN POCKET” – sheesh, TF

Hourglass twist –

Erika decides to smash the hourglass, rewinding time + changing the history of the game, which means the 6 people who were safe have to compete against each other in an immunity challenge.

I thought for SURE Sydney had it in the mf BAGGG. Betting she does yoga. Great balance, strong core + she was focused + taking her time. Ricard snuck up on her + Eevie (who had been in the lead from the start) to win it.

I kinda hate this challenge though… especially if I had thought I was safe + then had to do THIS mf challenge to try + stay in the game…. just sayin’… i’d be PISSED. I think it should’ve been an endurance challenge, but I could see production wanting to save those for when we get closer to the end of the game. The real nail-biters.

Strategy –

Ricard throws out “Eevie” right away upon returning to camp + Shan/Danny/Deshon/Sydney agree to vote that way.

Xander says he’ll play his idol for Eevie + luckily Tiffany spills the beans about Lianna’s ‘Knowledge Is Power’ advantage because Lianna’s dead-set on using it against Xander to steal his idol. So now that they KNOW, the smartest thing to do is for Xander to give his idol to Tiffany to hold onto during tribal council b/c the small print regarding stealing is “must be in their possession at the time.”

FAVORITE MOVE OF THE SEASON SO FAR –

Xander telling Lianna at tribal when she attempts to steal his idol “no, but you can have this fake.” AYYYYYYY, LFGGGGGG!!!!! THIS is what I’ve been waiting all season for. + I kept thinking for like 15-20 mins. of the episode ‘why TF does Lianna think she’s gonna pull this off????’ hahahaha. awesome.

Tribal Council –

HUGE MAD SCRAMBLE forever…. sorry I’m not a fan of this bc it makes y’all look like amateurs imo…. they can’t even pull together a backup plan in a reasonable amount of time. old school players would literally think out every single possible outcome + have backup plan on backup plan on back- you get the point…

Sydney plays her shot in the dark + sacrifices her vote for a 1 in 6 chance at immunity . Xander tells Tiffany not to play his idol for eevie bc he thinks if they thought eevie had idol they wouldn’t vote for her… he was 1/2 right on this – they split votes between eevie + sydney.

final votes: 4 ev | 3 deshon | 5 sydney

so even if Sydney had kept her vote, she still would’ve gone home b/c there only would’ve been 4 for Deshon, butttt he had also used his extra vote advantage for eevie, so if Syd voted + Deshon didn’t use his extra, could’ve ended up at a 3-way tie of 4/4/4.

Other thoughts/opinions –

Where yellow lacked physical strength/abilitiy to succeed in challenges, they make up for in loyalty + social game.

Overall I feel like this cast is lacking in personality – most obviously Lianna + Erika… but honestly just in general, I feel that a lot of these tribe members are v forgettable.

Xander’s my fav – truly showed his Survivor prowess this episode. that boi’s SHININ’.

“I think part of my problem is that I’m so self-obsessed – like of course everyone’s gonna gun for me.”
– Sydney

(this may be the single MOST relatable AF thing that’s ever been said on the show🙋🏼‍♀️)