The first look at episode 13 of Survivor Game Changers has Cirie throwing up her hands

Cirie throwing up her hands! Michaela going for Brad! Possible houses of cards! Survivor: Game Changers has that and more in just 20 seconds.

Survivor: Game Changers has started planting a story for this week’s episode in 21 seconds.

And by “planting a story,” we mean “appears to be telegraphing Michaela’s elimination.” With two Tribal Councils confirmed both by the synopsis and the following video, and with only eight players remaining, it’s not completely outside the realm of possibility.

But before we get any further, it’s time to take a look at the video:

If Michaela were successful in actually controlling Brad, it doesn’t seem likely that the clips would have him calling her (presumably) a “diva.” The brief shot of Cirie where she looks away and puts her hands up in a gesture of basically giving up seems to suggest that even she’s given up on helping Michaela. Incidentally, if you pause (it’s at 14 seconds above), it appears she’s talking to Sarah.

Here’s a brief guess of what goes down: Michaela tries to force Brad to vote along with her (and probably Tai). Brad tells Sarah about it, and Sarah goes to Cirie (and probably Andrea). Andrea and Cirie have already shown a propensity to take down members of their own alliance. Granted, Michaela probably doesn’t count anymore after last week’s episode. The point remains, however.

The challenge shown, which appears to involve building a house of cards on an unstable platform, practically makes a perfect metaphor for the game. Recently, the metaphor of “shuffling the deck” has come up in episodes as of late, where it refers to how quickly positions can change. As for the house of cards, it may very well represent how easy it is to lose power. We fully expect to hear Jeff Probst commenting on it, or someone else picking up on it instead.

Next: Who's playing the best game after Game Changers episode 12?

What story do you see in this video?