This season, I’ve been trying to tie in my Damnbueno Open Era (sometimes) random reference into one of this season’s current players, but I drew a blank on last week’s fairly inconsequential episode. What was Jenna’s story? She got off to a rocky start, got unreasonably targeted by an aggressive player, and couldn’t get out of the hole she fell in. We’ve seen plenty of overconfident pushy alpha males like Devin who went after a passive player. Rocky Reid going after Anthony in S14: Fiji comes to mind. Robb Zbacnik took shots at Shii-Ann Huang in S5: Thailand (I’ll always laugh at the fact that his luxury item for a game played entirely on dirt and sand was a skateboard). We’ve had female bullies too. In S10: Palau, Katie Gallagher was all but merciless in her verbally abusive shots at Caryn Groedel and Janu Tornell. How Katie ever thought she’d get any jury votes is still beyond me.

So instead I’ll go back to my Week 1 impulse and spotlight a player I think played a strong game that got overshadowed by a larger story line.

Devon Pinto

Many Survivor fans believe Chrissy Hofbek was screwed out of a win in S35: Heroes v. Healers v. Hustlers when producers sprung the final 4 Fire Making Challenge on them right after she won F4 Immunity. I disagree with them. I think Devon got robbed. The twist removed a chance for Chrissy, Devon to vote out eventual winner Ben Driebergen. Instead, Chrissy had to choose someone to face Ben in a fire making contest. Ryan couldn’t make a fire. Chrissy wasn’t putting herself against Ben, so her only choice was Devon. Devon lost the challenge and his seat in the finals with it. As we saw in the finals, even though Ben had fought with and angered a few jurors, Chrissy annoyed more of them, and Ryan never earned enough respect to get the votes. But Devon was well liked and/or respected by every juror. He was also the frontrunner to get Ben’s vote. Ben couldn’t stand Chrissy at the end of the game.

Devon was a very smart player who intentionally sandbagged his intelligence. He knew his surfer’s personality and slow, low-toned manner of speaking would lower his threat level. He didn’t tell anyone he had a degree in Economics. Instead, he truthfully told everyone he taught kids how to surf. His laid-back, easy-going persona put people at ease and helped him earn trust quickly. Ryan found an Advantage on the boat on day 1 and asked Devon how he should use it. When Lauren felt like an outsider, she went to Devon for comfort. Everyone on his original tribe liked Devon. When swapped into a minority, everyone recruited Devon to their side instead of targeting the sitting duck, even after a twist took his vote away. He developed his closest partnership with Ashley right after the swap. At the merge, Devon united the remaining Heroes and Hustlers against the Healers who held the majority. The first three voted out after the merge were original Healers. Devon had a natural talent for Survivor. He could convince people to do as he wanted without them knowing they were being manipulated.

After the Healers’ numbers were reduced and control of the game had shifted, Devon pulled off the biggest move of the game. Lauren and Devon formed a four-person sub-alliance that included Ashley and Ben. Ben and Devon were also aligned with Chrissy, Ryan and J.P., who thought they were in control. Devon convinced Ben to function as a double agent who’d gather information from both alliances. Devon used that information to blindside Chrissy’s pocket vote J.P., thrusting her and Ryan into the minority. Devon emerged as the strongest voice in the majority alliance at final 8. But the best part of it is that both Chrissy and Ryan were furious at BEN! And Ben didn’t even vote for J.P.! Devon set Ben up to piss off his original alliance. He knew Chrissy would go off on Ben. Ben had already fought with jurors Joe, Cole, and Lauren too. This was Cirie-level manipulation at its finest. Devon set himself up for a win about as well as anyone can.

Devon entered the final 5 as easily the best liked and most respected player in the game. He even realized others were starting to notice he wasn’t just a dumb surfer boy. Devon read the room correctly. His intuition told him if Ben saved himself with another Idol, Dr. Mike could lead a move against him. So, he voted for Dr. Mike instead of Ben. Ben played an Idol which resulted in a tie between Devon and Dr. Mike. In the revote, Chrissy and Ryan kept their “partner” Devon and booted Dr. Mike. Devon entered the final 4 with no enemies on the jury, and 3 of the 4 remaining members united against Ben. Then Probst showed up with the fire making kits.

I haven’t seen anyone so far this season playing as good a game as Devon played, but one player has that potential. Sharonda has trust from the Helicopter alliance of Devin, Ori and Jelly. So far, nobody knows that group is working together. Sharonda also has strong trust from her original Savu tribemates Linnea, Cristian, Eric, Kristin and Alexis, the last of whom survived her biggest scare. Sharonda could ride the middle of competing alliances deep into the merge just like Devon did. The question is this: Can she keep her cover while doing it? Did she watch S35? Who could she set up as her double agent? Will Eric and Kilby drive her crazy before she has the chance? With two people leaving tonight, how will it affect her prospects? Let’s find out.

And away we go…

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Two tribes are going to Tribal Council this week, and the “previously on” promo reminds us of Devin and Maggie’s Extra Vote. But I’m not sure why Devin would have to use it unless there was another swap.

Jelly: “I was trying to contain my excitement but it’s hard to do that when Devin is acting like he won the Super Bowl.” I’ll say it again, Devin is a horrible alliance partner. There is zero subtlety to his game.

I don’t know I I could sleep with someone’s foot that close to my face.

Devin’s “Why I’m playing” tells me he’s a “just here for the adventure” player as opposed to someone focused on winning.

Hmm, while playing H-O-R-S-E with coconuts, Kristin took one shot left-handed, then took another with her right. Is she ambidextrous? That could come into play in an endurance challenge where she has to grip something for a long time.

Maggie is targeting Kristin. I think she’s sticking her head up too early. Who cares if Kristin stays over Mike now Maggie? Keep your head low while you’re in a safe position.

Brady regrets giving that Extra Vote to Maggie. He was stupid for handing it over so easily in the first place.

I’m not doing any more “Brody” counts from Brady. I’m sick of the word now.

Lewis notices how much Kilby is annoying his new tribemates. That’s a good way for him to get in good with Sharonda, Linnea and Cristian.

And just like that, Linnea unintentionally hands Lewis a plan that could work: Bluff that he got an Advantage while he was on Exile. That could make them afraid of voting for him.

We’ve seen every element of this Immunity Challenge may times before, including the Cirie Fields memorial balance beam. The basketball part alone was used recently in seasons 41, 42, and 46.

With four people sitting out, I’m guessing there won’t be any Advantages hidden on the sitout bench.

I wonder if they could have gone for the lower buoy first and saved the higher buoy for whoever is slowest climbing the ladder?

With only one tribe getting Immunity this could be a fairly meaningless challenge if Toka blows everyone away.

And that’s exactly what they do. Savu never even got to the last platform.

With two small tribes, the boots become predictable. Bye Alexis. The only question on the other tribe is, will it be Lewis or Kilby?

I’ll be very impressed with Alexis if she can escape this vote, but I don’t think she has a prayer.

Devin blabs about his Extra Vote and asks Alexis to vote for Ori. DUMB MOVE! He just gave Alexis what she needs. Now she can tell Ori that Devin asked her to vote for him. On top of that, he has no idea if Alexis has an Idol or Safety Without Power Advantage. He could have just told her to play it. He’s also alerting her to play her Shot in the Dark.

But Alexis blows it by asking Ori to go to rocks. Nobody ever wants to go to rocks. That’s equal to asking someone to risk their game to help you.

Her “I have numbers with Savu” pitch to Jelly isn’t very smart either. She’s asking Jelly to take a seat at the bottom of a new alliance.

Jelly says she doesn’t want to vote out another woman. But in this case it’s probably the smarter move for her game. Alexis isn’t gonna be as strong of a long-term ally for her as Ori for sure. Even though Devin’s mouth will keep hurting her, cutting him loose now threatens her relationships with Ori, and Sharonda.

Ok, this is interesting. Someone on Toka is leaving to visit another camp? I wonder if they get to vote at one or both of the Tribal Councils? Normally, I say “Don’t get on the boat,” but this tribe already has Immunity. There’s always a downside to getting on the boat, but this one might not be as steep.

Maggie gets to go. I wonder who she might want to save?

Ahh, she gets to give an Extra Vote to someone. If she picks Alexis that could devastate the Helicopter Alliance. I can see why Maggie might want Devin gone, but why would she want to save Alexis? Does she have the option of keeping it for herself? Then again, could she try and save Lewis? Would two votes help him out?

Ahh, Lewis comes up with a Blood Ring bluff, and smart as a whip Sharonda immediately asks for the parchment that came with it. I told you Sharonda was smart.

Eric thinks it’s real, but Cristian sees through the bluff. Will Linnea and Eric believe Cristian? Will Lewis’s wife be happy that he gave away his wedding ring?

And right on cue, here comes Maggie. Who does she want to save? Lewis or Kilby? Also, it looks like they have no plans on building a shelter.

Hmm ... I don’t know if Maggie handing out both of her Extra Votes is that good for her. Favors aren’t returned in Survivor. There’s no guarantee Lewis and Kilby will help Maggie later on. And you know Brady’s gonna be pissed about it.

And like a dumbass, Kilby shows his Extra Vote to Linnea and Eric! And he does it before Maggie even gets back on the boat! What the hell is he thinking? There is ZERO advantage to doing that. Does he think he’s gonna flip Linnea? Does he think she’s not gonna tell the other original Savu? If I’m Lewis, I’m slapping Kilby upside his head.

I’ll be totally honest. I’m hoping Kilby gets booted simply because his voice annoys me. He also set himself up to piss off everyone on Savu.

I wonder why they keep using shots of the players walking on the beach with their torches? Don’t the Producers know the majority of the fandom knows the players are driven to Tribal Council by now? Isn’t showing them packing their things sufficient?

Good, they’re saving the more interesting Tribal Council for last.

Bye, Alexis. Oh yeah. I have to wait for the votes first.

We sure are getting a lot of closeups on Alexis’s face.

Ok, it’s official. Bye, Alexis. Smaller tribes add up to predictable votes. She was swap screwed. Jenna wasn’t. Jenna had more of a chance to save herself before the swap.

Tribal Council #2. Are Lewis and Kilby on the same page? Will it matter?

The smartest move for Sharonda, Cristian and Linnea is to remove Kilby because he’s so close to Eric. Also, if Kilby is so willing to throw Lewis under the bus, he’ll do the same thing to any of them.

Why did Lewis spell Linnea’s name differently twice? Was he trying to fool Linnea into thinking one of her own voted for her?

Hearing Probst repeating “Lewis” reminded me of how Bridget Fonda’s character taunted Robert DeNiro’s character (also named “Lewis”) in the Quentin Tarantino movie “Jackie Brown.”

Sharonda figures it out and says, “They both had an Extra Vote.” Extra Votes carry over to a re-vote. There’s 15 minutes left. It looks like we’re gonna see some rocks, or at least a negotiation.

Now is the decision time. They have to be unanimous or they draw rocks. Eric, Kilby, Sharonda and Cristian are now deciding if they’re playing to save themselves or playing to save someone else. I remember in S33: Millennials vs Gen X, Jessica Lewis was the first to blink about her fear of pulling a rock. That told everyone else to hold strong – especially Will, who later admitted he was just as scared. Ultimately, Jessica opted to pull a rock to save Hannah instead of letting Hannah go to save herself. I wonder who will crack first in this negotiation? Needless to say, Lewis and Linnea want to see some rocks.

I’d never pull a rock to save someone else. Survivor is an individual game from start to finish. I wouldn’t expect anyone to pull a rock for me either…but I wouldn’t hesitate to ask them to do it.

Lewis: “Let’s draw rocks, guys.” That’s what I’d say if drawing rocks guaranteed my safety too.

Eric is the first to crack.

Wow, I didn’t think Kilby’s stance would work, but the other three Savu had to play in their own best interests. They did what Jessica didn’t do and guaranteed their spot in the game.

This was compelling, but just the same, how much more compelling would have been if a larger tribe was deadlocked?

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Recap

This really sucks for Linnea. It’s very hard to identify anything Linnea did wrong too. It came down to Lewis and Kilby honoring Maggie’s request. And what was Maggie basing her decision on? I think it was secondhand information brought to her by Carter when he visited her camp and said “I’ve got some news. Sharonda and Linnea are running the show.” That got both Sharonda and Linnea labeled as “leaders” in my book. Maggie also said, “When I met Linnea on day 1, I was like ‘This girl is so dangerous.’” What did Linnea do to alarm Maggie so much?

I also found it interesting that Jelly was very clear about not wanting to vote out another woman, then turned around and did exactly that. The Survivor fandom has been exploding with accusations of sexism, but I just don’t think that’s been the case. Producers aren’t controlling the votes, and I don’t think any of the players have consciously been targeting women either. Just the same, I still think a savvy woman is gonna win this season.

In a way, Lewis and Jenna showed us how important it is to open lines of communication with as many people as possible at your first chance. Jenna was stuck in her own head on day 1 and got targeted. Lewis was sick as a dog when tribes were swapped and also got targeted.

But I guess I should give props to Lewis too. He did something to earn loyalty from Kilby. Kilby kept loyalty from Lewis too, but since he put so much energy into bonding with Sharonda, Eric and Cristian, he made himself the most likely to be booted if they return to Tribal Council. He also made it clear that they can’t manipulate how he votes. They can’t depend on Kilby at all now. He definitively declared his #1 is Lewis. Why should they think anything different?

I think the most props should go to Maggie for getting this vote done. She picked the target and figured out a way to get that name written down.

What do you think? Does the fear of a rock draw make for a more compelling episode than an actual rock draw? Do you think Eric, Sharonda and Cristian made the right move? Did Kilby? Was there anything Alexis could have done to save herself – whether or not she knew about the Helicopter alliance? Let me know in the comments.