Survivor Episode 8 Recap: A Line Draw in Concrete

This week on Survivor, we saw an alliance’s cockiness get the best of them, a fairly contrived “most powerful moment of Survivor,” and game play reminiscent of Tony!  There are lots of notable moments to talk about, so keep reading!

Top Moments from Survivor Episode 8

1. Let’s start with what Jeff Probst proclaimed as “one of the most powerful moments of Survivor,” aka, Cirie couldn’t haul herself onto the platform causing her tribe to lose the reward challenge, but the Survivor producers insisted she complete the challenge anyway, which she did with the support of the other players:  Can you tell I’m not really into this moment? Granted, I totally sympathize with Cirie.  I feel strongly that after that many days of barely eating, I wouldn’t be able to complete that challenge with much success either.  But wow did Survivor milk it!  Has everyone else noticed how dramatic the music this season has become! That music made it the most powerful moment of Survivor!  But, I can’t hate on this moment too much because I think ultimately it really helped Cirie.  Instead of leaving her tribe completely frustrated with her lack of challenge prowess, they felt sympathetic, taking any heat off of her back.  And anything that keeps Cirie in the game a bit long is something I can get behind.
2. Speaking of Cirie, let’s discuss how she managed to whisper sweet Survivor nothings into Sarah’s ear:  Cirie once again demonstrated what a master at this game she is.  She pointed out to Sarah that she was at the bottom of the 6 strong alliance in such a genuine way that Sarah decided to flip from her position on the dominant alliance to Cirie’s side.  If you watched Sarah’s last season of Survivor, you know that she likes to be in control, and Cirie played into that perfectly to lure her to switch sides.
3. Sarah seems to be taking some notes from Tony:  I’m still sad that we only had Tony in this season for one episode, but, at least we’re seeing hints of his game through Sarah.  First, Sarah reminded us that she is constantly looking for idols and clues.   She managed to see from across the way the “Secret Advantage” underneath the bench that Michaela was sitting on during the reward challenge.  How she managed to simply swim over to the bench and take the Secret Advantage, which turned out to be a vote steal, right under everyone’s noses without anyone noticing is still lost on me.  Especially considering they had specifically brought a boat over to pick everyone up from the platform Sarah was standing on so no one had to do extra swimming!  Regardless, this seems like a move Tony definitely would have made as we know he literally never stopped looking for idols and clues.  (Remember when he had already made it to the final 2 but still thought there was an advantage to the game when it turned out the producers had just provided a mirror for him and Woo to look at themselves before the final tribal council?)  Second, Sarah is playing her game right down the middle right now, reminiscent of Tony’s game.  Although she appeared to be part of the 6 strong alliance, she maintained enough connections with those on the bottom to easily switch sides when she felt it benefited her. It’s almost as though she is using Zeke the way Tony used Spencer, drawing him in whenever he needed to target someone on his own alliance.  It’s not clear that Sarah will be able to swing back and forth for the rest of the game but she did it with great success for this vote.
4. Reminder: if you’re feeling too comfortable on Survivor, you’re likely going home:  Debbie was unbelievably cocky this episode, along with alliance.  Whether you blame it on the edit or not, Debbie seemed to have no doubt that her alliance would stay strong.  Not only was this cockiness off-putting to the viewers, but it was also off-putting to almost half of the players.  Aubry used it to her advantage to put the target on Debbie’s back.  Also, although it was only about 1 minute of footage, I was so excited to see a glimpse of Aubry’s game!  Hopefully this is a sign of more to come, and once again, Aubry helps orchestrate a Debbie boot.
5. Michaela’s bad attitude:  Michaela cannot hide her emotions and it’s been grating on everyone.  During the reward challenge, she rightfully pointed out that the players chose their alliance members to play on their teams, but she used the time to openly huff and puff about being benched instead of keeping her head in the game and taking in her surroundings.  If she had, she would have seen the “Secret Advantage” literally right behind her feet.  Apparently it was so noticeable that Sarah could read it from across the water!  Micheala’s antics at tribal council are also starting to really wear on me.  Eating the coconut and clapping when Debbie was voted out was a bad look, and now she’s doing these things in front of the jury! Even if she does manage to sit at the final three and make a compelling case that she isn’t there by virtue of being a goat, how does she expect anyone to award her the million dollars by being so unlikeable?
6. Honorable mentions:  Brad hasn’t been in the spotlight in these past few episodes, but we still see glimpses that he’s playing a very smart game.  Although this vote didn’t go his way, he noted in a confessional that he purposely didn’t pick his entire alliance for the reward challenge.  Instead, he kept two of his allies on the other tribe to keep eyes and ears out for him.  This is an extremely subtle and smart move and demonstrates that although he doesn’t show it, he is never getting too comfortable in this game.  Also, Sarah’s secret advantage of stealing a vote can be played until there are 5 players left in the game.  Sierra is also sitting on a secret advantage that can next be played at the final 6.  Let’s not forget that Troyzan has an idol and Tai has 2 idols. If everything converges perfectly at the final 6 and all of these elements come into play, it could be the most crazy tribal council yet!

Next week, we’ll see if Sarah can maintain her position of power going forward while losing the trust of half of the tribe.  And will the battle between Andrea and Zeke finally come to head?

Photo Credit: CBS