Survivor: David vs. Goliath episode 5 – Big takeaways

Another thrilling Tribal Council on Survivor: David vs. Goliath. Despite Goliath members having the majority, the Davids continue to stay alive.

Wednesday’s episode was a testament to how great this season of Survivor is poised to be. There’s a great mix of strategic and social players that all have their own dynamic personalities. We’ve already had a few blindsides, three idol finds and one castaway vote solely because of a jacket! Here are three big takeaways we gleaned from episode 5 of Survivor: David vs. Goliath.

This season’s theme is starting to fade out. Coming into the tribe swap, the Goliaths had overwhelming numbers, but that didn’t last long. Having a swap so early allowed for the castaways to start to build new relationships before they fully bonded with everyone from their original tribe. During the past two Tribal Council’s the Goliaths voted based on the type of person they wanted to work with, not based on overall numbers.

So does this mean the original allegiances are over? It’s a little too early to say, but it does appear the social game has taken over. Not only were the past two votes decided by personal feelings, but even the Tiva tribe who haven’t been to Tribal yet have seen Christian bond with the Goliaths. It’s exciting to watch the castaways decide their own fate instead of sticking to their old tribes, and will definitely make for interesting play when the merge comes.

Angelina is playing hard… maybe a little too hard. It makes last Tribal Council so much more layered when you think how everything that Angelina said was intentional. Her voting for Lyrsa, defending Natalie and then going straight to hug her after being voted out was all an act to get the jacket! It didn’t work, but it just goes to show how manipulative and determined Angelina can be.

Those are great skills to have on Survivor, just ask Parvati, Amanda, and Cirie. However, having a manipulative attitude only works if people believe you are genuine. Angelina’s performance at Tribal definitely raised eyebrows for the rest of her tribe. When you deliberately use your vote to deceive another player, that doesn’t go unnoticed, especially with smart tribe members like Mike.

We even saw on the preview for next episode how Mike thought about targeting Angelina for the next vote. So Angelina’s social game has been phenomenal, and it’s clear she came to play, but that might be her downfall. In today’s Survivor, if you come off as a dangerous player then you won’t last long.

The social game is outplaying the strategic game. There’s always a fine line between strategy and social politics. So far it’s been personal relationships that have been a main influence on the vote. Angelina persuading her tribe members to vote out Jeremy; Elizabeth and Davie sowing seeds of distrust in Natalia; and Mike preferring to play the game without Natalie’s aggressive attitude are all examples of the social aspect reigning superior.

It is very refreshing to watch the social game direct the flow of this season of Survivor. It will be interesting to see how strong social players including Christian, Angelina, and Davie continue to use the relationships they make to advance themselves in the game.