John Powell – Binge News
Muscles ‘R Us turns on their own. Who would have thunk it? Could it be because David was just far too paranoid to keep in the game? Could it be David was thinking about making a move that was just too soon? Could it be that Joe feared that of anyone David could give him a run for his money during challenges? Whichever scenario you believe Muscles ‘R Us cannibalized one of their own and now are in real danger of a 4 versus 4 scenario instead of maintaining a majority voting block.
I believe the key through the next two votes will be Mary and Kamilla. They both have aligned with Muscles ‘R Us for the last two votes. That would give that alliance a six to two advantage leaving both Star and Mitch hung out to dry since they aren’t parachutes for any of the Muscles ‘R Us crew.
One controversial issue that has been raised is the perception of Joe being not only a “Godfather” on the island. Both Chrissy and David shared the same point of view with me when I spoke to them and they both separately agree that viewers aren’t seeing the entire picture when it comes to Joe’s gameplay.
“I wish they’d show Joe and Eva running the game because that’s what’s going on right now. I look at it now and Joe seems like he’s the Godfather and everybody’s got to come to Joe and he says: ‘Let me, let me think about what’s going on…They don’t even show it on the beach. When we voted out Sai, Joe says to me: ‘You’re not voting out Eva tonight. ‘ I was like scared of him…He really was protecting her big time and there was one point I asked Eva: ‘Who are you voting for?’ She goes: “Whoever Joe’s voting for.’ I was like: ‘Are you f—–g kidding me?’. It was so obvious,” said Chrissy last week.
David supported that theory this week saying to me: “Joe is the one that pretty much everybody’s going to listen to. He’s sort of like The Godfather. When I called him out on that it was like: ‘Hey man, you clearly don’t see me as an equal. You think you’re the leader of this group and that’s a problem.’ So when I got voted out I looked him in the eye. I was thinking that I thought he was different, man. I truly thought he was different but it just turns out he was just like everyone else, playing Survivor…Everybody my cast is an incredible person. Joe is an incredible man. He’s an incredible father. I have a lot of respect for the man, truly, especially outside of the game. In the game, however, he was very much like an aggressive player, sort of a bully. And again, that’s Survivor, right? If he’s doing that intentionally, great! However, it seems to me as if he wasn’t aware, he wasn’t self-aware of his place in the game but unfortunately I was in a position where people were almost scared of him in a way but I don’t even think he realizes that he was doing it so he can’t even really take credit for that. I think that’s what Chrissy was talking about. It was his way or the highway.”
When I pressed David on examples of Joe playing that way, David said in response: “You know, it’s, I don’t want to take away from the integrity of the game. It’s hard to answer that question. I think I’ll just have to fall back on what I said, truly not to withhold information from you. Joe is an incredible person, an incredible man and I don’t want to take that away from him at all. I don’t want to sit here and drag the guy because he I truly do have a lot of respect for him. The best I can say is there is a lot that isn’t being shown and in reality people are saying I was being aggressive towards Kyle but I was not nearly the most aggressive person on the beach.”
One person believing that Joe is at least dominating the game and greatly influencing the tribal politics is one thing but now we have two evicted castaways stating that the Niu Nai tribe is led by Joe. Whether his gameplay is “aggressive” is subjective of course. What seems to be true is that despite the edit showing things are chaotic below the S.S. Niu Nai’s deck , it is Joe and Eva steering the ship.
You can check out my entire interview with David here:
My written interview for Global TV is here.
In case you are wondering about the current winner betting odds here they are from BetOnline:
| Joe Hunter | +140 |
| Shauhin Davari | +250 |
| Kyle Fraser | +320 |
| Eva Erickson | +400 |
| Kamilla Karthigesu | +450 |
| Mitch Guerra | +1000 |
| Star Toomey | +1400 |
| Mary Zheng | +1400 |
Next Time On Survivor: “My Enemies Are Plottin’” – The reward challenge is good enough to sing for when Jeff announces what is on the line for the winners. A rice negotiation with Jeff is completed in almost record time. Then, at tribal it’s a toss-up when two players on the bottom begin to target each other.”
On with this week’s Survivor Stock Ticker:
There are a multitude of reasons that David was sent to Ponderosa. Not only was he with good reason rocking the Muscles ‘R Us boat but he also presented a clear and present danger to Joe or The Godfather as players are calling him. Once his own alliance turned on him it was Game Over for David.
Kyle made some key plays this week including smoothing things over with Joe and appealing to the human side of him. He just may have eased any worries of him shielding Kamilla as much as he has.
This is getting to be a regular deal every single week but one cannot deny that Eva is ratcheting up her game not only with the advantages she has in her arsenal but that she has such strong relationships with everyone that she is the glue that is holding the Muscles ‘R Us alliance together.
Whether he is deserving of The Godfather label he has been given what is very apparent is that he holds a lot of sway at Niu Nai to the point that even players like David are wary of getting on his bad side.
Although he still has a great chance of making it to the finale his stock is taking hit after hit with each episode. Is he disposable to Joe and Eva? We will have to see.
Who’s next to go?
Star has better social connections than he appears to and he is a bigger threat when it comes to challenges.
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