Survivor: David vs. Goliath – Alec’s move changed the season

One episode since Alec Merlino’s big blindside and we already see the impact of his decision. Survivor: David vs. Goliath has forever changed after Alec’s brash move.

As the three tribes walked into the Reward Challenge during this past episode of Survivor, we saw the inevitable reactions of shocked Goliath members. They couldn’t fathom how one of their former members could be sent home even though the Goliaths had the majority.

As expected, Kara shook her head to imply to the others that she wasn’t part of this vote, which is true. Alec Merlino pulled off a presumptuous blindside by joining forces with Davie and Elizabeth to vote out Natalia. This resulted in Carl joining their tribe, giving the Davids a three to two majority. Besides the immediate effect on the orange tribe, Alec’s flop has already impacted the gameplay of Survivor: David vs. Goliath.

Alec’s move validated other Goliath’s to bond with Davids. Going into the swap, it appeared that the plan for the Goliath members was to stick together. Players on the outs like Mike and Alison would have thought about working with original Davids. But, the fact that the Goliaths had overwhelming numbers may have prevented them from doing anything crazy.

However, all changed when Alec made his move. On the purple tribe, Mike was getting more and more annoyed by Natalie’s behaviour. After they lost the Immunity Challenge, the two Davids on the purple tribe kept on telling Mike to vote out Natalie since others Goliaths like Alec proved that they weren’t staying Goliath strong. So Alec’s blindside might have been the assurance Mike needed to flip on a Goliath member.

Goliaths and Davids are now on equal footing. That advantage of having more original Goliath members on each tribe has now evaporated. There are now seven Goliaths and seven Davids. They both have a tribe with a one person advantage and then there’s the purple tribe which has two Davids and two Goliaths.

A balanced playing field brings the benefit of forming mixed alliances. We’ve already seen the Brochachos and the Rockstar alliances form between Davids and Goliaths. It looks like Alec has truly blurred the original tribal lines, which certainly is not a bad thing in terms of strategy and entertainment value.

As Survivor: David vs. Goliath continues, take a moment every once in a while, to think about how Alec’s move molded the gameplay. Although this blindside may have hurt Alec more than any other castaway, you can argue that it has shifted the attitude from a team game to a personal game. And when that happens, the fun begins!