Survivor Tocantins - Dragon Slayer

Sorry for the belated Survivor update. I think it took me so long because the episode was kind of a let-down, so I didn't feel like posting. There was a lot of great drama and build-up right until the end, when Joe got med-evacked and therefore there was no epic upset at tribal council like they were hinting at through the whole episode. Overall I thought it was a solid episode, but the ending was so disappointing that looking back on it I thought it was weak. Hopefully this episode will be a great build-up for an epic show tomorrow, though!

There are many things that I liked about this episode:
1 - neither of my picks got voted out, and even more importantly, one of Bag's picks is gone now without getting a jury seat. My guess is that the next person voted out will be a jury member, so this is a big loss for him.
2 - I thought JT was going to be in really bad shape going into the merge. He's on the short-stacked tribe and is clearly both their leader and a really strong competitor. I don't think he could put a bigger target on his back. But the weird twistedness that is the other tribe instead loves him and they all want to be in an alliance with him. This is an unexpected and very welcome surprise.
3 - Tyson won the only points last episode. Considering that he is Doug's only pick and Doug was in last place, I'm fine with that. If I don't win the points, then I want Doug to.

Here are our current standings:

Pickett (24 points)
- JT (7)
- Taj (11)
- [Sandy (6)]

Doug (19 points)
- [Jerry (0)]
- Tyson (12)
- [Sydney (7)]

Alia (19 points)
- [Spencer (6)]
- Erinn (6)
- Coach (7)

Bag (18 points)
- Stephen (6)
- [Joe (7)]
- Debra (5)

Moon (18 points)
- Brendan (12)
- [Candace (0)]
- Sierra (6)

I haven't earned any points in two weeks now, so that fact that I'm still in first is remarkable. Based on the way things developed last episode, I think my team is likely to stick around at least a few weeks more (thank you, survivor gods!). It helps me that they are allies, so if one does well so does the other. If they lose I'll go down hard, but if they keep succeeding I will reap twice as many benefits.

Doug still only has Tyson... his personal sole survivor. Last post I said he needs to win the whole thing and a lot of immunity challenges along the way for Doug to have a chance at winning the pool. Last week, Tyson pulled through. He's in a pretty good alliance, so he'll probably last at the minimum a few more weeks. I'm still calling him a long-shot but if anyone can do it, Tyson can.

Alia's team continues to blow my mind. How Coach and Erinn are both still in- and are winning- I don't know. But Coach is leading the show in his wacko way. He's now calling himself the Dragon Slayer since he is hoping to blindside Brendan. He's also saying things like "the strongest deserve to be here, so we're going to vote out the weak" right as he plans on voting out the strongest person in the tribe. I think Coach may have either done a lot of drugs in his youth or is just straight-up delusional. In either case, I don't like him but I love watching his antics on TV. He may be one of the most entertaining cast members ever and will undoubtedly get invited back to any all-stars seasons in the future if he's not dead or in jail at the time. Coach is a lot like Dreamz (from the season that Earl won). They are both loose cannons, which makes for a really exciting competition.

Bag's team took a big hit with Joe being med-evacked last episode. He was a solid strong player who, had he not gotten injured, would probably have gone pretty far... although I don't think he would have won. Still, Bag has two other great players in Stephen and Debra. I think out of all his players, Joe was the most expendable. Don't expect Stephen or Debra to win many challenges, but you should definitely expect them to go deep in the show. I think at least one if not both of them will finish top 3.

Two weeks ago I said that Brendan was in the most secure position, and I would be shocked if he got voted out. But this season is one of the most unpredictable they've ever had, and sadly for Moon, both of his players were on the chopping block last week. Fortunately for him, they never actually went to tribal council, but he could still be screwed if nothing changes. Previews hinted that Brendan would bust a move in the next episode, but we won't know how successful that turns out to be until tomorrow.

This week it looks like either Brendan or maybe Coach will get voted out - if that happens then either Alia or Moon's dragon really will have been slain. Erinn and Sierra cannot win this survivor pool on their own.