Survivor Nicaruaga Episode 5 Thoughts

Jeff Probst called tonight's vote the "first blindside" of the season. I don't know that I can agree.

Realistically, any of the Old Tribe (sorry, Espada) could claim to have been blindsided, since they all felt as though Dan was the target, and was going to be the one voted out. On La Flor, I am pretty positive that Shannon did not believe he was the target, nor was he going to be voted out.

So why did Probst single this out as the first blindside? I think he just missed saying it.

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With the Young and Old split shaking out as we expected (the old tribe end up getting decimated), the producers decide to shake things up with a tribe switch. And once Holly ended up as one of the captains left to choose tribes, I knew NaOnka was destined to be on that tribe. Crazy seems to attract crazy. Otherwise, it was interesting that Brenda chose Jill and Marty. It's a reflection of how Jill and Marty are seen as the competent ones, and how their alliance was at least hidden from the younger tribe.

Of course, Marty's desire to be the smartest one in the crowd begins to hurt him when he shows off the immunity idol. I understand that he thinks that it's cutting Jane's narrative off at the legs, but it still came off as pretty arrogant and did not help him at all. Luckily, he moved to La Flor, which should just be called the winning tribe. Naturally, this would make Espada the losing tribe.

Tyrone sealed his own fate by taking a leadership role with a group of players who did not want to be lead. When tribes merge, it's important to figure out what the personalities are of your new tribemates. If Tyrone spent the time doing that, he might have taken a step back and let things happen organically and still be in the game.

I do think that everybody needs to start to worry about Dan. He's by far the weakest, but once he makes the merge, his weakness becomes a strength. If you get rid of him now, you not only strengthen your tribe, but you remove a threat to win the whole game. So why doesn't anybody else pick up on this?