Survivor Ghost Island: The first ‘curse’ is designed for chaos
One person’s attempt to reverse a Survivor curse has set in motion a series of events in Ghost Island that will likely create a number of interesting payoffs.
The premiere of Survivor Ghost Island was the Jacob Derwin show. I’ve never seen a two-hour introduction to a cast of 20 players spend so much time on one person bumbling their way to their exit. Even Garrett Adelstein found an idol and had moments of lucidity! However, he was important in setting up the idea of Ghost Island as a living monument to the mistakes of past players.
In doing so, not only did he avoid reversing the curse of the game’s first power, the Legacy Advantage, but he might have cursed the season in general!
Survivor’s handling of the Legacy Advantage includes introducing it as the first twist of the island, explaining how Sierra allowed Sarah to blindside her into handing over her power and allowing Jacob to assign it to someone on the opposite tribe. Somehow, reversing the curse includes giving it away immediately, which totally happened in Game Changers regardless. Whatever!
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The more important part of this “curse” is the information imbalance. Jacob and Morgan share a secret that would have served them both well had they kept it to themselves. Morgan, for what it’s worth, managed to staple her mouth shut as she hinted at and had kept that to herself. Jacob, however, poured his heart out to the “Beauty” of the “Beauty and the Beast” “alliance,” letting Stephanie know all of his secrets, including of this advantage.
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Ideally, an astute player would take a time-sensitive advantage and use it to gain a partner in a swap through fate. Ryan Ulrich used a one-time Super Idol in Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers to establish an unseen bond that carried them to the final Tribal Council. However, he let Devon in on their plan, giving him the information necessary to know about their tight bond in forming a Final Four alliance of his own.
There is immense power in keeping a secret in Survivor, just as there is in telling someone else a secret. However, when it comes to powers in the game that are given away if you can’t use it, the Legacy Advantage is chaos. Morgan’s playing behind an 8-ball now, as she’s more or less at the whims of another player, Stephanie, who holds an unseen power over her.
Should Stephanie play her cards right, she could bring her in as a friend, stick up for her as a vote and later cut her in order to steal the Legacy Advantage away from her in a similar fashion to Sarah over Sierra. Stephanie even has the option of being upfront about her knowledge to create a stealth alliance with Morgan, ultimately giving Steph the credit should they make it to the end.
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Jacob saw Morgan on Naviti and thought, “She’s a swell lady! I’ll give her this advantage, and we can run the gauntlet at a swap!” However, just like everything Jacob did in the first six days of Survivor Ghost Island, he created a bumbling mess that could alter the game for the long term. Unless Stephanie is voted out before she can meet Morgan and the latter can use its power for good, she’s in a messy situation.