Grudges take precedence over strategy during Survivor 47 episode 9's chaotic tribal vote

Let chaos reign! That was the theme of Survivor 47 episode 9, "Nightmare Fuel."

The episode included a series of convoluted twists surrounding the immunity challenge, a disorganized scramble at camp, and a maelstrom during tribal council. It all led to somewhat of a surprise ouster of Sol Yi, the ninth player voted out of Survivor 47.

First, what was up with the challenge? It was set up in stages with five two-person teams. The first three teams to finish the first part of the challenge advanced, and the other two lost their votes, with a chance to earn them back. The team that lost the next stage got nothing. The final four won a food reward and competed for immunity, eventually won by Gabe Ortis.

What all of this accomplished was splitting the tribe up into three parts. The four people who lost their votes had to go off alone to compete to earn back their votes. The loser - Caroline Vidmar - lost her vote. Meanwhile, the four people who made it to the final stage of the challenge went to eat on their own, and the two who advanced past the first stage but lost the second stage went back to camp by themselves—three groups of people, three groups to discuss who should go.

Tribal council went from complete chaos to a unanimous vote on Survivor 47 episode 9

The complicated twists of the challenge accomplished one thing: It split the tribe apart and started conversations about who people would like to see voted out. As it turned out, the two players who didn't have to fight for the vote and didn't get the reward were the two who controlled the direction of the vote.

There were plenty of great targets. Kyle Ostwald was vulnerable for the first time, having won immunity three straight challenges. Sam Phalen, who had his alliance destroyed in episode 8, and Andy Rueda, someone who has flipped on his alliance multiple times.

Genevieve Mushaluk and Sue Smey discussed voting out Sol when they were alone in camp. Targeting Sol at this time was based solely (pun intended) on an old grudge Genevieve held against Sol because he voted for her early in the game during a Lavo tribal council. Genevieve has been playing a great game since the merge, but this move just didn't make sense at this point.

Not only were there so many better people to focus on, but Genevieve burned her bridge with Teeny Chirichillo. Although these two have been allies throughout the game, Genevieve clearly doesn't value that relationship very much and feels she has other paths forward that don't involve Teeny.

Sol also made a critical mistake. He wanted to target one of the Tuku Four, who have regained some of the power that they lost in episode 7 (thanks to Sol's great move with an advantage). He wants his allies to vote for Sue. Most other players probably have Sue on their shortlist to take to the final three because she hasn't made any moves.

Sol's group had also been talking about Kyle, which made much more sense. Caroline, who didn't have a vote, would have been an even better choice. She seems to be the brains behind the Tuku Four, even though she lets Gabe think it's him.

When Beka left camp to go to tribal, neither side knew who they were voting for. Sol, Kyle, and Sue seemed to be the three main targets. At tribal, Sol seemed to be pushing Sue's name to his allies, but it seemed this was a change away from Kyle.

The council quickly fell apart. Everyone whispered to each other, and conversations continued the entire time. Sol kept pushing Sue's name, but no one really wanted to vote that way. If he had been pushing for Kyle, he might have survived the vote.

In the end, through all the chaos, audiences got their second unanimous vote (Rome Cooney being the first). Even Teeny, Sol's closest friend, ended up voting for Sol because she had to protect herself when she realized how things were going.

This season has featured some excellent moves and gameplay. This episode had neither. Genevieve decided her personal grudge against Sol was going to rule her decision-making. Luckily for her (for now), she was able to align herself with the Tuku Four and had the power to push out Sol.

The whole episode featured strange play and decisions, but I can't wait to see what is next!