I have a great idea for an episode of Survivor. Let’s plan on having a castaway find a beware advantage that they share with another one of their tribe mates, then have to go and collect one special bead from every other player on their tribe. But let’s make it dramatic. Let’s make it appear that the last player on the tribe won’t give them the bead and even have someone give a confessional agonizing over not being able to get it. However, in the end, it will all end up well and the player will get all the beads to make a hidden immunity idol bracelet. Also … in the same episode, we could have three people go on a journey, then return and tell their entire tribe what just happened. Isn’t that a great idea?

Survivor must think so too because we basically saw the exact same thing in three of the first five episodes so far this season. It's a good thing this cast is entertaining enough to get by with it otherwise I’m not sure what I would think of this format.

I understand that each tribe has its own story and someone trying to secretly collect the beads from other people to gain an idol is also a great story, but I just feel like we are seeing the same content with different people plugged into the different roles. On the plus side, all three are done now so we can maybe start to focus on other items as well. Ok, enough of my rant (again) about this, let’s get to this week’s “Top Five Baby!”

1. Cassidy's manhunt

Oddly, we haven’t really seen a lot from Cassidy this season and this is what we get from her. Granted her tribe spent the first three challenges on the winning side, so they never had to go to tribal council, but we still had a lot of Survivor screen time during those early weeks and not much Cassidy. Now she comes back after the vote off of Lindsay and is wanting to know who voted for her.

Unless there is way more going on in the Coco tribe than we have seen, I think Cassidy should have done one or both of these things: One, she should have easily been able to figure out who voted for her based on how the votes went. It had to be either Ryan or Geo and since they are a pair, it doesn’t really matter exactly which one of them it was. Secondly, her approaching them about it is a bad look. You were on the right side of the numbers, and you knew who was going home. At that point, it doesn’t really matter. Just stay the course and don’t start rocking the boat. Pair that with the scenes from before tribal council where she was arguing about whom she wanted to vote for, and you have someone building a nice case against themselves.

Now, personally, I don’t blame her for wanting to change the vote. She knew she was a target, and she also knew there was a possibility of Geo coming back from the journey with some sort of an advantage. Ultimately, she got what she wanted and Geo went home, but if keeps going down the “Lex path” of accusing people when things don’t go her way, then her days may be numbered.

2. Jeanine and the glowing tree

I always enjoy it when they put in the little touches like the glowing tree right when Elie mentioned it. But glowing tree or not, Jeanine did find the beware advantage. It was covered in ants, but it was still the same underneath.

Now despite my rant at the beginning of this column, these parts of the show are enjoyable, I just don’t need to see them every week in the same format. So, with a little “built-in drama”, Jeanine was able to procure all the beads from her tribemates and now she has an idol. The funny part about this story is the entire tribe knows now. Owen walked up to her and Elie reading the clue, so they had to share it with him, then Elie told Sami about it, and next thing you know, Sami is telling Gabler about the hidden idol and the beads … much to his chagrin of course. Now with everyone in the tribe knowing about what she has, the next few tribal councils should be fun.

3. No vote

Dwight already experienced this a couple of episodes ago, and now his tribemate Jesse is going to have to experience too. When Jesse went on the journey with Geo and Jeanine, all three risked their vote to try and get an advantage in the game. Oddly enough, the only one to get the advantage was Geo … and he isn’t in the game anymore. 

So, let’s discuss Jesse first. He may be in the toughest spot here going into what could be some sort of a merge. We are not yet sure of what is going to happen, but if they follow a similar format as they have the last two seasons, then he has a chance to be one on the losing side where only six of the players can be voted off. If he is in that group and he can’t vote that would be huge for the remaining four of the Vesi tribe. With only four players and Coco still being upset at them for helping Baka, that won’t be a good spot for him or his tribemates.

As for Jeanine, she is in a better position since she has a hidden immunity idol to help keep herself safe. Plus, Baka has more players left in the game, so she has more people to hide behind if they can stick together. Let’s see how this shakes out for both of them in the next week or two.

4. Ryan's acting

So, do you think Ryan was telling the truth about throwing the immunity challenge? I went back and forth on this for a bit. At first, I thought he blew the challenge, but then lied to us and said he threw it to make himself feel better about it. But after a re-watch, it does look like he aimed right for those two balls on the left side of his ramp. So, perhaps he did mess it up on purpose.

The worst part about this whole part though was his acting. He thought he was being so slick acting like the weak link in the challenge and that no one is treating him the same, even though they all kept sitting around and laughing together. Obviously, it didn’t help that Cassidy knew what was going on, but the look on his face when Geo was voted out was priceless. He realized right then that he had no clue what was going on.

At the same time, he would have had to be feeling really silly about throwing the challenge. Was Cassidy really that big of a target for him or was he just trying to make a move just to make a move? Either way, his game has just changed tremendously for both the short and long term. He may just be a free agent at the merge now.

5. Karla

Not a whole lot to say here other than I think Karla is killing it this season. Not only is she sitting on an idol that no one knows about (which is huge), but she is seemingly running all of the votes with most of her tribe coming to her and making strong connections to her. Even though Coco has just lost the last two challenges, I think she still sits in a pretty good spot no matter what happens. Plus, on top of all of that, she knows the game really well, knows how to talk to people, and gives great answers at tribal council. In fact … Karla may be the default narrator of the season so far. I’m excited to see where her game goes from here.

So, there you have it for the fifth episode and this week’s “Top Five Baby”. Lots to look forward to. Is there a merge or a fake merge coming up next week? I’m looking forward to what happens to the Baka players. That tribe seems to have the most going on at the moment (and the most people left too). What did you think about Ryan’s claim that he threw the immunity challenge? Are you happy to see the Knowledge is Power be gone from the game before it was used? I want to hear from you, let me know if I missed any moments or if you think I was correct in my thinking, the interaction is part of what makes this so fun!

Please catch more of me here next week where I will try to bring you more fun top five!

Thanks,