Survivor Micronesia: The beginnings of the Black Widow Alliance

The seeds of a famous foursome of Survivor Micronesia were planted long before the merge, with a certain three women coming together for a vote.

Survivor Micronesia doesn’t have quite as many major moments in episode 3, but it does have what we think really should count as the beginning of the eventually dominant alliance that saw huge players voted out a long way down the line. At the very least, particular players made particular strategic connections.

Survivor trotted out the paint-yourself-up combat challenge for its reward. This is one of those challenges that Survivor doesn’t do very often anymore, presumably because it is really easy to get someone injured. Even though this one didn’t go in rounds and was at least in water, the tackling was bonkers. Erik literally flipped Amanda over his head! Even with all that, the favorites took home their chosen rewards of a fire-lighting kit, shelter, and a “survival kit.”

On Malakal beach, Cirie started talking to Parvati and Amanda about voting Yau-Man out, with both Amanda and Parvati talking about how they liked Ozzy and James, respectively, but didn’t want to face them in the finals. Wait a second … Amanda, Cirie, and Parvati? In Micronesia? Although their fourth member hadn’t arrived on the scene just yet, the three of them talking about a plan to take out some men has to count as the start of the legendary Black Widow Alliance.

It won’t pay off completely just yet, but keep this conversation in mind as we continue looking at Survivor: Micronesia. At the time of this conversation, Cirie had occupied a position between two alliances. If she’d chosen to play with people like Jonathan and Eliza, who had also already banded together, she could have changed the game in a completely different direction. This is made doubly true by the fact that the other alliance planned on taking out Parvati. For bonus points, Survivor threw in a few shots of spiders in their webs.

Although the fans of Airai passed a pretty awful night, they did end up winning the immunity challenge, which was a variant on holding weights for endurance. In this one, players had to shoot coconuts into the other team’s net. For comedy, Jonathan set up his own running commentary.

Parvati’s group of Ozzy, James, Amanda, and Cirie, split between Yau-Man and Eliza originally. Jonathan and Cirie had it out at Tribal Council, and one has to wonder if Jonathan’s aggressiveness didn’t push Cirie further towards the ladies.

With six votes (Eliza also defected), Yau-Man went home. Parvati took two votes, and Cirie the last (from Ami).

Next: Best 5 moments of Survivor: Gabon

Brief observations:

• Cirie named her second episode in a row with “I Should Be Carried on the Chariot-Type Thing!”
• When you wake up with prune fingers, you have had a bad night on Survivor.