Survivor 47 continues to deliver surprising moments, quickly setting it apart from the previous five new-era versions of the show. Survivor 47 episode 7 did its part with a crazy advantage played exactly as it should have been.
It all began with the first post-merge immunity and reward challenge. The 12 players were divided into two teams of six. We've seen this kind of early post-merge recently, and it always includes some sort of twist. This time was no different.
The players drew rocks and the random draw couldn't have been better if chaos was the goal. All five remaining Tuku members and one former Gata member, Rachel LaMont, were on one team, and the remaining three Gata players were teamed with the three former Lavo tribemates.
The twist for the challenge was that the team with the last remaining participant earned a meal of ribs, potato salad, and immunity for all teammates. The winners would go to a beach for their reward and stay there until tribal council, where they would watch and not participate or vote. The last person out of the challenge for the losing team wins individual immunity, and the six people on the losing team must go to tribal and vote someone on their team out. The yellow team won when both Genevieve Mushaluk and Teeny Chirichillo outlasted Kyle Ostwald. Kyle won immunity for himself and no one else.
What was the advantage in Survivor 47 episode 7, and how was it played?
The yellow team was enjoying their ribs and having a relaxed afternoon. While most players rested and napped after their big meal, Andy Rueda tried looking for an advantage. As in so many instances in the game so far, Andy showed an amazing lack of game awareness as he searched around the picnic area without a scrap of subtlety. He disturbed his tribemates and again raised red flags with them.
Sol Yi, however, had the same idea. He was just way more surreptitious about his search. He waited longer until everyone was clearly asleep, then slowly looked for the advantage. Eventually, he found it inches from where he had been sitting throughout the meal.
When he found an opportunity, his advantage was a good one. He would send it to a member of the losing team, and that player would have the chance to either block someone's vote, walk away from tribal and not cast a vote, or be eligible to be voted out.
Back on the beach, Rachel tried her best to find cracks among the former Tuke Five. It didn't appear she was having much luck. Tiyana Hallums was receptive to a plan to vote out Gabe Ortis, someone she hasn't worked well with. Kyle was also on board, but they couldn't find a third. Sue Smey is Gabe's minion, and Caroline Vidmar is in lock-step with those two.
It was obvious during tribal council that the Tuku Five was going to stick to the easy vote and take out Rachel. They admitted to entertaining ideas of making a move against each other, but it was clear how it was going to go down.
Just as they were getting ready to vote, Rachel revealed that she was given an advantage by someone on the winning team, who was watching. Sol did a great job of looking shocked as the events unfolded, claiming ignorance, as did everyone else. Rachel chose to leave the tribal council area to protect herself.
This, of course, forced the Tuku Five to turn on themselves in real time. Gabe pleaded to his tribemates to remember what the plan was IF they had had to go to tribal before the merge. This was directed to his alliance members, Sue and Caroline. They had a plan early on to get rid of Tiyana but never had the opportunity.
Tiyana had to know what was coming. She was very emotional as the Tuku Five absorbed the shock of the played advantage. She knew her only ally was Kyle. Eventually, the five started huddling up in twos and threes, with Tiyana trying to plead her case to take out Gabe. Kyle was willing, but Sue wasn't going to vote for Gabe, no matter what. Caroline appeared to waiver, but in the end, they all voted out Tiyana. Kyle was the most regretful, but he had to vote with everyone else or set a target on himself.
All of this chaos unfolded, with the other six players watching intently. They witnessed the strong ties between Gabe, Sue, and Caroline, the tightness of that unshakeable alliance. It probably won't bode well for those three.
It won't be surprising if Kyle quickly disassociates himself from those three, but he has troubles of his own after winning two straight immunity necklaces.
Sol played his advantage perfectly. It created chaos among the Tuku Five that everyone except Rachel got to witness. That sly play by Sol will have ramifications for the rest of the game. After the pitiful gameplay audiences had to sit through in season 46, it was fantastic to see an advantage played to its maximum effect, and it bodes well for an exciting finish to Survivor 47.