Survivor: David vs. Goliath episode 4 – Big takeaways

After the first swap of the Survivor season, it seemed like the David tribe could not get a break.

Not only did the David tribe lose Bi as she pulled herself from the game, but they were also outnumbered on every single tribe. What are the chances that all three new tribes had three Goliath members and two David members? This imbalance made for some interesting social dynamics, as original David members tried to amalgamate themselves with the Goliath members. So following this tribe swap and power shift, here are three interesting trends we saw in episode 4 of Survivor: David vs. Goliath.

1) Goliath strong? Following the tribe swap, even Jeff focused on how the David members were outnumbered yet again. It appeared that all of the original Goliath members were dead set on sticking together to form an overwhelming majority.

However, that changed fast. Alec decided to make a rash “big move” that wasn’t really necessary. By voting out Natalia, that sent the exiled castaway: Carl, to their tribe. This gives original David members a three to two majority at Nuku, the orange tribe.

On the purple tribe: Jabeni, Natalie continued to be demanding and bossy, which moved Mike and Angelina to bond with the two David members in Nick and Lyrsa. This led to Mike forming the “rockstar” alliance with Nick, divulging the fact that Dan found an idol. Even Christian was able to make social relationships right out of the gate at Tiva, the green tribe.

The way things are shaping up, tribal lines are starting to muddle and I wouldn’t be surprised if another Goliath is sent home next episode. The Goliath tribe has the numbers but the David tribe has the fight.

2) Cool advantage, but does it have any value? When Carl didn’t end up with a buff at the tribal swap and was sent to exile, you just had a feeling he was going to be the first person to find the Idol Nullifier. After an epic search of chasing down coconuts before the tides take them away, Carl found it!

Let’s explain how the new advantage works. If someone uses an idol, and if Carl plays the Nullifier on the person who used the idol, any votes cast against that person will still count. Creating an advantage to block an idol is an awesome idea, but there’s a lot of ifs in that explanation above. The truth is, circumstances have to be almost perfect to play the Nullifier correctly.

When you think about it, most people play an idol when they’re on the wrong side of the numbers and are in jeopardy of being voted out. So in reality, a Nullifier will only be helpful to the majority alliance, making the strong even stronger. For now, the Idol Nullifier doesn’t really help Carl, and if the Goliath members do in fact stay strong, this advantage may never be useful to Carl.

3) The emergence of strong social players! In the past few seasons of Survivor, we’ve seen how an abundance of Hidden Immunity Idols and special advantages has sped up strategy and slowed down the social game. However, in the last two episodes, we’ve seen players make moves purely by their social relationships.

Last week it was Angelina who was able to change the vote from Natalie to Jeremy simply by taking the time to explain to everyone why Jeremy had to go. Throughout the day she kept on working on it and eventually got every single castaway on the Goliath tribe to vote for Jeremy.

In yesterday’s episode, it was Davie who was able to persuade Alec in voting against his former tribe members. Elizabeth definitely helped his case, but it was Davie’s natural and sly attitude that really caused Alec to think about his position in the game. That conversation they had on the hammock was an example of incredible social play! Instead of begging Alec to vote Natalia out, Davie planted subtle doubts in his mind and drove the point home by asking Alec if he could really trust her. That bold viewpoint question likely played a part in Alec’s final decision.

In addition to Angelina and Davie, we’ve also seen Christian, Mike, and Nick constantly forming social relationships that might pay off when they have to go to Tribal Council. For the first time in a while, I am thoroughly excited to watch how this diverse group of strong social players will pan out on Survivor: David vs. Goliath.