In one of the biggest surprises of the season, the minority alliance of Andy Rueda, Genevieve Mushaluk, and Sam Phalen pulled off one of the biggest tribal council upsets ever. Outnumbered and outgunned, they managed to eliminate Caroline Vidmar, Sue Smey's closest ally in the game.
With a hidden immunity idol, Sue could have saved Caroline if she played it. In one of the final scenes before going to the tribal council, Sue can be seen telling Caroline "I want to save you, that would be my dream". So is Sue's decision not to play the hidden immunity idol a strategic decision or just poor gameplay?
A masterful manouever
The move that Andy, Genevieve, and Sam pulled off may go down as one of the boldest in Survivor history. They did not have the numbers with three votes to four (Sue, Caroline, Christine "Teeny" Chirichillo, and Rachel Lamont). Neither did they have the hidden immunity advantage (zero to two) nor secret advantages (zero to one). And yet they managed to outsmart the majority alliance and vote out Caroline with three votes after the votes from the majority were split two to Genevieve and two to Sam.
When host Jeff Probst read the votes and informed Caroline that she was eliminated, Sue sat speechless. She had to have been shell-shocked that her closest ally had been eliminated, especially when she could have used her immunity idol.
Sue's cluelessness
This tribal council once again exhibited Sue's lack of awareness of the gameplay happening around her. Her emotions were on display right from the start of this episode, saying how eliminated tribemate Kyle Ostwald was picking them off one by one (with what numbers?).
In the new era of Survivor, players are strategic and can pivot quickly. However, Sue has played a largely emotional game, which players are picking up on. Rachel mentioned that Sue was playing a very emotional game last week, which Rachel read like a book and used emotions to appeal to her.
Sue is also not socially aware. Rachel is supposed to be one of Sue's closest allies, and in one of the segments this week, she said 'We need whats-her-name to play her block her vote then', in reference to Rachel and her block-a-vote advantage. In addition to not knowing the name of one of your closest allies, it seemed illogical to expect Rachel, who won immunity and is safe, to use one of her advantages to save Caroline when you have an immunity idol to play.
Sue said "Caroline getting voted out is my worst-case scenario. I still have my idol. If I get a gut feeling, I'm whipping that thing out and saving Caroline." Well, Sue, once again, your gut feeling was wrong.
Is Sue a goat?
With a hidden immunity idol still to play and not having orchestrated a single big move in the game so far, Sue seems almost a shoo-in to be a goat that players would want to bring to the final tribal council. At this point, it is difficult to see any permutation at the final three that would provide her with a shot of winning, although things could change in the last two episodes of Survivor 47.