There wasn’t a whole lot of interesting strategic revelations in last week’s episode. We knew that if the new Hina tribe lost, it was most likely that Jason would be voted out. While the Journey challenge showed us that Nate is very good at thinking on his feet, there wasn’t much that happened in that segment that will affect the long-term game. And of course, since the new Kele tribe won the challenge, six of the seven on that tribe still haven’t cast a vote. None of them have been strategically tested yet.

But there was a nugget of information that intrigued me. We witnessed a power struggle between Savannah and Nate. This wasn’t a traditional power struggle like when notorious control freak Boston Rob squared off against Alpha males Hunter, Lex, and Russell in his first three tries. Nate and Savannah struggled for the perceived LACK of power position. Both of them are very aware of how dangerous it can be to be seen by others as the primary decision maker (aka “leader”) of an alliance.

When Savannah was alone with Jason, she convinced him she wanted to keep him around by saying he was the link between her and the original Hina members. This may have made Jason think she was reluctant to remove him, or perhaps the decision wasn’t hers to make. Later, when Nate was alone with Jason, he said “I do think there’s something to be done. I want to talk to Savannah.” Nate wanted Jason to believe Savannah had the most influential voice. Of course, we know Jason was voted out and can’t relay this info to anyone, but I think Nate and Savannah are also taking this approach with other players. So, with that in mind, here’s a look back at a few (lack of) power struggles in Survivor history.

There are plenty of examples from Old School Survivor of players consciously avoiding the “leader” label (Ethan in S3: Africa, Rob C. in S6: The Amazon, Aras in S12: Panama), but the first player to come to mind who consciously positioned someone else as the “leader” comes from S15: China. When discussing an upcoming Immunity Challenge, Todd said to Aaron “In a way it’s saying we need a commander. And I can’t help but notice you’ve taken that position. We do need someone who’s strong and knows how to take lead, and you’re good at it. Is that ok with you?” Aaron reluctantly accepted the role, then Todd said in confessional “I’m smart for pushing the leader role onto Aaron because I don’t want to take that position, but I also want to keep him close so he’ll trust me.” Their tribemate Leslie spent time with the other tribe and identified Aaron as their leader. Then later, after joining the other tribe in a swap, Aaron’s new tribemates voted him out in part because he was the “leader.”

In S19: Samoa, Probst ordered the tribes to select a “leader”; Russell Swan was chosen. Unbeknownst to him, his tribemates Laura and Erik were battling each other to control Swan’s decisions. When Russell was medevaced, they were ordered to elect a new leader. Erik rigged the election to name Laura’s enemy Shambo. Erik and Laura continued to battle for control, and their battle ultimately spelled doom for both of them. In this case, Shambo outlasted both of them.

In S20: Heroes vs. Villains, Sandra fell into the minority when Russell Hantz got rid of Boston Rob. She and Courtney were now on the bottom. But Sandra saved herself by convincing Russell that Coach was plotting against him. While she didn’t exactly position Coach as a “leader,” she did enough to save her and Courtney from “leader” Russell’s wrath.

In S27: Blood vs Water, returning players Tyson, Gervase and Aras were swapped with first-timers Hayden, Caleb and Ciera. Aras suggested they cut down a bush to stabilize their fire pit and properly balance a pot on it. When Aras was gone, Tyson told the rookies that Aras has been pushy all game and shouldn’t have reduced their shade. Tyson’s move paid off when perceived leader Aras was blindsided first at the merge and sent to Redemption Island.

In S31: Cambodia, eventual winner Jeremy famously came up with the “meat shield” strategy. He realized if other alpha males (Andrew Savage, Joey Amazing, Pilot Terry) appeared to be more aggressive and/or successful than he was, he could reduce the “leader” label that helped get him booted from his first effort in S29: San Juan del Sur. He made a point of telling others “Let me talk to ___” as much as he could. He made sure nobody thought HE was making any decisions.

In Survivor 42, Omar did this to perfection multiple times in manipulating the votes to remove Lydia, Hai and Drea. He positioned all of them into one kind of “leader” role or another. His best moment came when he convinced Hai’s partner Mike that Hai was giving orders instead of asking for Mike’s input.

And last season, Kyle took advantage of David’s sudden aggressive behavior to convince Joe and Eva that David was getting power hungry. This resulted in the blindside on David.

It’s not clear that Nate and Savannah are trying to reposition each other just yet. They might just be making sure they don’t get the “leader” label stuck on their own back. They might both be playing a form of Queen Sandra’s “Anyone but me” strategy. But if they are trying to reposition one another, it’s an excellent example of doing great prep work for your individual post-merge game. And to a lesser degree, Sage is doing her best to enhance the “leader” label that is hovering over Shannon.

Will we get a payoff on any of these story lines this week? I doubt it. Another swap is coming, and most players pull back and play more conservatively after a swap. But SOMEBODY is going to Tribal this week. So, there’s a chance.

And away we go ...

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Jawan is celebrating the blindside on Jason, but he doesn’t seem to know he’s leaving before Sophi B. He thinks she’s expendable.

Historically, the #1 reason people leave first at the merge is because they’re annoying. (#2 and making a push for the lead is the person least likely to have an Idol.) We’ve seen it many times (Boston Rob in S4: Marquesas, Rory in S9: Vanuatu, Coby in S10: Palau, Kass in S28: Cagayan, Chris Noble in S36: Ghost Island, and most recently Rome in S47). I think that’s what’s on Savannah’s mind when she talks about Jawan.

Hmm, the players show up for what they think will be another challenge but are faked out with another swap. If I ever play Survivor (I won’t), I’m bringing everything I think is valuable with me to every challenge, Journey, or Reward trip. Alex won’t shut up about how well they ate yesterday. Bad move, dude. He just moved up on Savannah’s “annoying scale.”

Will this swap be random again? Yep. One tray of buffs for everyone. This time he goes to Kele first. Last time, Hina got to pick new buffs first.

Savannah gave a HUGE hug to MC, when they moved to their new mats. She knows MC will be a big help in winning Immunity.

Thank you, Mr. Sea Krait. Not for biting Jake, but for eliminating the irritating “earn the merge” twist.

New Uli with Alex & Nate looks to be the physically strongest tribe.

Kristina is overwhelmed. Does she realize she wasted 10 days not getting to know Sophie S. very well? Kristina unintentionally created a reason to want her gone.

We get it. It’s really hot in Fiji. Maybe Survivor should have licensed Nelly’s hit “Hot In Herre” for this season.

Steven is failing in this spotlight role with the poles. He’s lucky it’s only a Reward Challenge. Alex and MC blew him away on the first ladder. Steven picked it up on the 2nd ladder, giving Kele the lead.

But Rizo dominates the frisbee portion. And part of his reward is raising his challenge beast profile.

Steven and Alex double up in the spotlight role duty by tossing the frisbees too. But Jawan and Nate both step in for them (respectively) after a few misses.

MC’s social game will be tested if they lose Immunity ... but of course, she can get an Idol if she can avoid being detected.

I’m glad Sophi B. got to eat some real food. She’s one of the smarter players and has a natural talent for Survivor. Knowing she can think straight means she’ll be giving me some good TV.

MC is smart for coming clean to Rizo that Sage outed his Idol find. That could be the info that ends Sage’s game. She created a reason for Rizo to want Sage gone.

I’m glad Alex finally got to eat too. In a secret scene, we learned that Kristina and Sophie S. are the ones who organized all of the “Hina, Hina” chants that annoyed the Uli members. Nate’s social game will be tested too. It might be a good idea for him to throw Savannah under the bus with these three. But walking away from the other three was a bad move for Nate, and Sophie S. took full advantage of it. It was nice to finally hear her talking some strategy.

Watching Steven and Jawan chasing the chickens reminds me of Shambo from S19: Samoa when she said “I had no idea chickens could fly.” Now you know why Erik wanted to push Shambo into the “leader” position.

If I’m Steven on New Kele, I immediately expose the Sage vs Shannon war to Jawan. But he’s doing a good job of bonding with him. He has created a reason for Jawan to want to keep him around.

Uh-oh, we’re getting a visibility spike with Alex. In many seasons, that means he’s leaving soon. Kind of like one of the characters on the show “Lost.” A lot of characters died ater they got a flashback episode on that show.

Kristina just broke the Ciera Eastin rule: Nobody likes being served up as the decoy vote. I guess Kristina didn’t watch S31: Cambodia. It backfired on Andrew Savage when he did it to Ciera. Will the same happen to Kristina? She just created a reason for Sophie S. to want her gone.

Shannon: “I have lucky girl syndrome. Good things happen to me. I love Sage, she feels like someone I can trust.” Shannon’s reads are really bad. Right about now, Boston Rob is thinking “Don’t tell people you got advice from me.”

I LOVE Sage’s “disgust/contempt for Shannon” faces. Shannon has no idea how annoying she is.

Not that I’m complaining, but we’ve had at least 20 close up shots of Savannah’s butt this season.

Sophi B. finds an Advantage and FINALLY someone does the smart move and does NOT tell anyone. I couldn’t be happier! She gets Knowledge Is Power, which means she can take Rizo’s Idol, or she can burn the Advantage on MC by simply asking if she has anything if they go to Tribal Council. That might be the better long-term move for her. Rizo and Savannah might even forgive her for not telling them.

We’ve seen every element of this Challenge before. The worst position to take is the one tying the sticks together. If the original Uli were united, they’d throw this challenge to remove Steven. I agree with most who said that after seeing Matt was voted out, the new Kele tribe should have thrown last week’s challenge to even the numbers with original Uli.

Sophi B. builds the pole for New Hina. Bad move. You need someone with a longer reach. Props to her for pulling it out.

Steven: “How many sticks does she (Sophi B.) have?” That’s a VERY smart question to ask. It gave Steven an even bigger edge on Kristina. He didn’t waste time adding an unnecessary section to his pole. Despite having the advantage of being in the middle, Kristina didn’t pick up on this at all, and used all six sticks to build her pole.

New Uli chose the worst person for the spotlight role here in Kristina. If I saw someone almost pass out the day before, I’d never put them in such an important position. Staying out of that role is smart for Nate’s long-term game, but when he’s outnumbered like that, it might’ve been worth the risk.

But being on the maze with Sophie S. turned out to be the smarter move. Sorry about that, Nate. Shannon is a goner. Sophi B. won’t break Denise Stapley’s record of attending every Tribal Council.

Nate is probably the player who is the coolest under pressure this season. It takes a lot (like carrying 50 sandbags) to make him crack.

Jawan on the other hand keeps jerking his side way too hard. He’s reminding me of Rome doing the same thing in S47, then blaming the failure on his maze partner Gabe. Rome really annoyed Gabe at that moment. Then Rome got voted out that night. This sucks for Steven. He knows where the Hina Idol is hidden but being stuck on Kele he never had a chance to find it.

Shannon is the epitome of overconfidence. I’m really hoping Sage outs Shannon’s plan to Jawan. I love seeing cocky players get their comeuppance. But of course, the danger is that Jawan could do the same thing to Sage.

I have no idea who’s leaving, which means it’s a pretty good episode.

Shannon is sitting in the front, which is the worst position. She won’t see anyone’s reactions as she’s speaking.

Jawan was worried about how effective a speaker he was at the last Tribal Council, but I think he’s killing it at this one. His experience is valuable. I agree with players who say it’s a huge help to go to Tribal Council at least once before the merge. At a minimum, you get to practice how to answer Probst’s questions. But Steven is pretty good at it too.

Shannon exposes her ulterior motive “It’s clear original tribes have been playing a role but to me, it’s about who do I want to move forward with.”

All this talk about how awesome the Tribal Council set looks makes me think Producers will continue devoting money to redesigning the set each season instead of improving the game structure.

I wonder if the players can see cameras being readjusted before the votes are read? If I saw cameras moving towards me, I’d know I’m in trouble.

Sage won’t hug Shannon. Yeah, Shannon hit pretty high on Sage’s annoying scale. I bet to this day Shannon still has no idea how annoying she was.

So, the second swap lasted for exactly one vote and ultimately led to a boot that was hinted at for two episodes. (Though I admit I was worried about Steven for a while there). Shannon turned out to be a pretty socially clueless player.

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Recap

In my preseason column, I wrote “Shannon could be the instant outsider and get booted early or the one nobody takes seriously but gets carried deep. But she’s not winning this game.” I was wrong about the first two parts. She got herself into alliances, and some players took her seriously. But I was right about knowing she had no shot of winning the game (that was a pretty easy call).

It's too bad the first swap didn’t produce more strategically challenging situations for these players because a lot of them (Nate, Steven, MC, Sophi B., even Jawan) seem to be pretty good at making adjustments on the fly. But since none of them were really tested, it means we’ll get to see them strut their stuff after the merge. I for one am really excited to see how they’ll handle it.

And with an Uli member leaving, the impending Uli vs Hina “war” might not materialize at all. Steven can report to his original Hina members about the Uli cracks, and of course, everybody can strategize around Rizo’s Idol too.

In my view, Alex and MC have performed the best in challenges so far, but I haven’t heard anybody straight out identifying either of them as a beast to be feared in Individual Immunity Challenges. Jason took four pre-merge spotlight roles, but he’s already gone. MC (4) and Nate (3) took a lot of spotlight roles too (MC took her 4th tonight), but Nate hasn’t even been hinted at as a beast. It doesn’t look like challenge performance will be a compelling post-merge voting criteria this season ... unless someone comes up with a good lie.

MC can get her Idol now but won’t know for sure if Steven revealed her secret. The Beware Advantage notes said the same rules apply if their tribe never loses a pre-merge Immunity. MC can dig up her Idol at the boat after the Immunity Challenge. But I wonder what happens if MC wins Immunity? Since SHE wouldn’t have lost Immunity will her Idol still be available? I think it will, but the note didn’t address that possibility.

What do you think? Is the Hina vs Uli war a non-factor now? How should Sophi B. and Alex play it since they have the most information and relationships and can compare notes now? Can Savannah, Rizo and Nate trust whatever Sage and Jawan tell them to explain Shannon’s boot? Does Sophie S. defect from Hina since Uli could be looking to replace Shannon? Let me know your thoughts in the comments.