Survivor Micronesia: When an alliance is too big

Immunity idols and medical issues meant that the Black Widow Brigade had to turn on its own members faster than it would have liked in Survivor: Micronesia.

When you think about Survivor‘s Black Widow Brigade, you probably think of four players, right? However, there was a fifth member. She just didn’t make it as far in the game as her fellow alliance members.

We’ve gotten used to seeing Survivor indicate the tribe name and the day count at the start of scenes, so when it says “Survivor Medical Services — Night 30,” you know something’s up. James did not look pleased at the mention of possible surgery for his finger. Unfortunately, on the morning of Day 31, Alexis joined the injured group with a fall hurting her knee.

Before James got another medical visit, there was a reward challenge: the three strikes, you’re out quiz game crossed with the loved ones’ reward! (Jeff Probst took a moment to call Erik a “freak” because Erik pointed Probst out to his brother.)

Here’s who went out in order: Parvati (by Cirie), Erik (by Cirie), James (by Alexis), Cirie (by James), Natalie (by Amanda), and Amanda (by Cirie), letting Alexis win the reward. Cirie and Natalie joined on the trip to swim with jellyfish, and Amanda said she would go to Exile Island. (On Exile, she discovered she had to dig under the tribal flag to obtain the idol.)

The medics then returned to look at James’ finger and deemed it “too big a risk,” sending him to the hospital. After saying good-bye, Erik commented that he was the “only man left.” Keep your eyes on that, because it’s going to matter a lot in these last few episodes.

Alexis’ knee provided a great excuse for Parvati to suggest that she maybe needed to get voted out for those all-important medical reasons. Then, Natalie casually brought up Amanda’s name.

Erik foiled the ladies’ plan to knock him out of the game by turning out to have a skill at shooting a rifle at hanging sake bottles and winning immunity.

The Black Widow Brigade then had to look amongst themselves for a new target. Suspecting she was in danger, Amanda proved she didn’t have the immunity idol and then enlisting Parvati for help to run interference.

Survivor did not show her finding the idol, instead cutting straight to Tribal Council and Amanda continuing to try and swing Erik back to help her. Of course, she actually then played the idol, invalidating 4 votes and sending Alexis home with just two votes: Parvati’s and Amanda’s.

This idol play certainly did not help Amanda’s case to win the game, mostly because of how she played it, celebrating and even apparently smiling at Alexis as Jeff Probst sent her home.

Quick notes:

• James had the chance to name his departure episode, “I’m Gonna Fix Her!”, talking about getting his revenge in the chopping challenge.
• Amanda justified voting Alexis out by saying she had been playing a good social game with the people on the jury … which also was the reason for voting Amanda out.

Next: Survivor: Game of Thrones edition

For our next look at Survivor: Micronesia, it is time to talk about what exactly everyone remembers the Black Widow Brigade for doing.