Ryan’s Analysis: Survivor 44, Episode 11

Survivor 44: Episode 11 "I'm Not Worthy" Gameplay Analysis

"Are you mad at me, now?"

-Jeff Probst

The hits keep on coming in Survivor 44.  This was another fun episode, even if some of the gameplay didn't make much sense.  I'm starting to suspect Carolyn might win this game.  If you had told me that after episode 1, I wouldn't have believed you.  Anyway, let's get into who played well and who sucked.

Who Played Well:

I'll give a lot of credit to Carson and Yam Yam for managing to get Carolyn back on board with them, even if she probably shouldn't have.  They handled her very well.  Yam Yam also won Immunity and Carson managed to get Jaime and Lauren to join Tika in splitting votes between Danny and Heidi.  Plus Carson got Carolyn to play her Idol on him.

Who Sucked:

As for Carolyn, I don't love her meltdown after Tribal Council, but at least she patched things up with Carson and Yam Yam the next day.  My issue is that she technically wasted her Idol.  Carson wasn't actually going home.  She might need that Idol later on.  I don't think it will hurt her much because there are bigger threats on the board and the episode presented this as a victory for Carolyn.  It's good for her that Danny is gone and I do think she is going to win the game, but that doesn't make playing her Idol for Carson a good move.  Even if Carson went home, I think she would be fine and wouldn't have any blood on her hands from betraying him.

I have no idea what the hell Jaime and Lauren are thinking in joining Tika in the split vote between Danny and Heidi.  They need to take away some of Tika's power.  Carson is an absolute no-brainer for them to target.  This was a terrible move.

I respect how hard Heidi doubled-down on her lie to Danny.  I'm impressed she managed to convince him that she did not vote for him.  However, she ended up on the wrong side of the vote and very nearly went home.

As for Danny, his plan was totally sound in trying to take out Carson.  He was simply seen as untrustworthy.  Maybe if he had started a working relationship with Lauren earlier in the game, she would have been more willing to trust him and keep him in the game.

Verdict:

Best Player of the Episode goes to Carson Garrett for managing to patch things up with Carolyn to the point where she played her Idol on him and for getting Jaime and Lauren to go along with the vote split between Danny and Heidi.

Worst Player of the Episode goes to Jaime Lynn Ruiz for not taking the opportunity to take out Carson.  It's splitting hairs between her and Lauren, but to break the tie, I took a look at the Immunity Challenge.  Lauren was mentioned as being the second biggest threat to Tika after Danny, but she performed very badly in the Immunity Challenge and was the first person out.  We've seen in the past that doing badly in an Immunity Challenge can lower a person's threat level.  It's extremely minor, but I don't like having a tie if I can help it, so that's why Jaime is my Worst Player.

This was another really fun episode with some really bad gameplay.  I'm really excited to see if Carolyn can pull this off.  That would be insane, but it's very compelling.

I'm excited to see what happens next! If you liked this breakdown, check out my other write-ups at www.stacysbloggoingon.blogspot.com/.