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This week we viewed an emotional family visit.  While some players seemed to take strength from seeing their loved ones, at least one player let her guard down at a crucial juncture, leading to the end of her game.  All that and more on this week’s most notable moments.

1. The family visit: As expected, there wasn’t a dry eye at my Survivor viewing party.  From Sarah breaking down at the chance to see her husband and ask about their young son to Tai sweetly asking his partner Mark how their cats were doing, it’s nearly impossible to watch a Survivor loved ones visit without feeling emotional yourself.  More importantly, the loved ones visit leaves those on the outs with the chance to bond and flip the game.  It seemed for a moment that Michaela, Tai, Sierra, and Troyzan, who were not chosen for the loved ones visit, bonded enough to flip the game, but alas, Michaela and Tai stuck with Andrea’s crew for this vote.  I suspect that alliance is not going to be very long-lived and t will be interesting to see if Michaela and Tai have formed a new power couple who can take control of the next few votes.
2. Sierra demonstrates how not to play the Legacy Advantage:  Sierra, in a moment of desperation, tries to use the Legacy Advantage as leverage to save herself with Sarah.  At first, it seems to be going well.   Sierra admitted to Sarah that she had an advantage that could only be played at the final six and she positioned it as an advantage she hoped to use to better both her and Sarah’s position in the game.  Great pitch so far! If only she had stopped there.   Instead, she spilled to Sarah that if she was voted out of the game, she would have to leave the advantage to a remaining player and she would leave it with Sarah.  Let this be a lesson to all of those future Survivor players – don’t offer up an advantage to a known flipper at the final nine and expect it to not blow up in your face.  It’s as if she was asking Sarah to vote her out of the game, which is ultimately what happened.  But, although Sierra didn’t last as long this season as she did on her first, she played a much more impressive game and I’ll miss seeing her swinging on that hammock while deciding who to target next.
3. Sarah Lacina’s masterful plan to get the Legacy Advantage for herself:  Sarah Lacina is playing one of the most impressive Survivor games I’ve seen, period.  It’s a big statement, but I stand by it.  She has played down the middle of the alliances for the post-merge game and yet no one seems to hold a grudge against her.  The fact that Sierra shares the information about her Legacy Advantage with her, knowing full well that Sarah is a flipper, speaks volumes to the level of comfort people feel with Sarah.  And, Sarah’s shocked face at the Sierra vote to further convince Sierra she hadn’t flipped, guaranteeing Sierra actually would leave her the advantage, left me even more impressed.  The fact that after the votes were read, Sierra still thought Sarah stayed loyal to her over Brad, her number one ally throughout the game, blows my mind!  There is a concern that if Sarah can make it to the final three, she might find herself facing a very bitter jury, but if anyone has a chance to win back over people, I have faith in Sarah.  Plus, in a season of “game changers,” they might respect her gameplay more than the average player and put aside any anger and bitterness in voting for the winner.
4. Tai and Michaela’s new bond: Tai and Michaela seem to have really bonded after the loved ones visit.  Tai even said that he and Michaela think exactly the same way.  Although Michaela’s personality and temperament seems completely different from Aubry, this potential power couple is giving me flashbacks of the Tai-Aubry days on Survivor Kaoh-Rong.  With Tai sitting on two idols, these two can make a very powerful duo going forward and I’m excited to see what they do.  I’ve said it before and been wrong, and I wouldn’t be surprised if I’m wrong again, but I suspect next episode we’ll see these two take control and finally manage to oust Andrea, assuming she doesn’t win immunity again.

With eight players left in the game and only two episodes left, I suspect we’ll be looking at a double elimination next episode!

Photo Credit: CBS