Survivor 50 FOUR WORD GAME

 We have a new season of Survivor, the most anticipated since Winners at War, and with that, I have to do a new Four Word Game.  If you're new, it's where I (in the past) would talk about a player's game in four words, such as "Needs to find idol".  I would elaborate on it, however, in case the four words were not clear enough.  

For 50, I decided to only do two Four Word Games for each tribe rather than each player.  It would be a lot to do it for each player each week.  I will continue to do four word games for each player who leaves the game.  And, I will go back to going over each player once we get to the merge episode, even if we merge at 15 players or so. 

And, after this, I will indeed rank all remaining players, even when there are 20+ left in the game.  So, without further ado...

AFTER EPISODE ONE FOUR WORD GAME

Cila: Nerd alliance is amazing / Lines not fully clear
The Cila tribe, the one we saw go to Tribal Council, had some interesting groupings.  First off, there was what I'm calling the "nerd alliance" of Christian, Devens, and Emily.  It was too perfect.  Plus, seeing Christian and Devens fawn over each other was TV gold.  I live for that bromance.  But other than that, the alliance lines on this tribe are not fully clear, since the Jenna vote off was unanimous.  It seemed like potentially Joe and Savannah were with her, but it appears they decided not to go down sinking with her.  So to me, we have the nerd alliance, Joe and Savanah, and Ozzy and Cirie.  Which group will be targeted next?  Also, I wanted to throw out there, there were two subtle hints to Ozzy possibly hurting his back during the supplies challenge, so that's something to keep an eye on.

Kalo: Cohesion not clear yet / Girls group in trouble
We didn't see too much cohesion in this tribe, with the most notable grouping being the girls alliance, which also happens to be the three minorities on the tribe in Kamilla, Dee, and Tiff.  If they're too tight, they could be in huge trouble.  We saw Coach bond with Jonathan and Chrissy, Mike bond with the girls, so it'll be interesting to see how the groups shake out once they go to tribal, because with how many boots we need to get through, they are definitely going to tribal council.  If the girls can bring in Mike and maybe Charlie, they can run this tribe.  If not, they are in trouble.  Either the girls group will prevail from this tribe, or the Coach/Jonathan/Chrissy group will.

Vatu: Rotten luck for most / Great together, not individually
Vatu is the most interesting tribe to me.  Somehow, the five-person alliance of Colby, Steph, Kyle, Q, and Genevieve went from having five votes to two votes in the span of one episode--without EVER having gone to tribal council.  Crazy!  That's just rotten luck.  Colby and Q lost votes, and Kyle got medevaced.  Colby will have to bring in Rizo, but their first tribal should be interesting.  They seem to be doing very well at the tribe challenges, but individually, they are terrible, with Q and Colby each losing their respective "journeys".  How will they handle losing Kyle?  Hopefully for them, it's not the start of their downfall as a tribe.

And to our departed players...

Jenna: Too hard too fast
Jenna played too hard too fast, throwing out Cirie's name before they had even competed in an immunity challenge.  She should've slow-played her game, built bonds with other people, and if she does that, Cirie is a possible first boot.  It's a shame the Borneo representative is gone first, but someone had to be.

Kyle: Was positioned so well
It's a shame for Kyle.  A lot of fans pegged the winners as early boots, but Kyle was positioned so well on his tribe and did tremendously at the start.  I didn't see too much of a sentiment to get winners out, so Kyle was possibly going to be golden.  It's a shame what happened to his Achilles.  Let's hope he gets a third shot a few years from now.  

And now my rankings!  So, I didn't officially rank all 24 players before the season started, so I won't have any "movement" from them.  But I will say some players have already made jumps for me, while others have fallen.

22. Q
21. Rizo
20. Savannah
19. Angelina
18. Chrissy
17. Mike
16. Jonathan
15. Ozzy
14. Coach
13. Stephenie
12. Dee
11. Cirie
10. Charlie
9. Colby
8. Kamilla
7. Tiffany
6. Aubry
5. Joe
4. Devens
3. Emily
2. Christian
1. Genevieve

"What about Genevieve?!"  I started with Aubry was my #1, but Genevieve is now my new #1.  It worries me that she already lost a close ally in Kyle, but I bet she will recover.  The nerd alliance makes up the rest of my Top 4.  Joe somehow makes my Top 5.  He seems to be the kingpin of his tribe.  Aubry falls to 6 for me.  I think she had a pretty bad premiere episode.  Ozzy and Coach aren't too high--I worry about them both physically.  There's Ozzy's back, and there was a snippet in the preview for Episode 2 showing Coach struggling.  And until I see more legitimate gameplay from Q and Rizo, they will stay near the bottom.

AFTER EPISODE TWO FOUR WORD GAME

Cila: Voted out two bookends / Lacking in tribe cohesion
One thing I noticed was that after Savannah's ouster, they voted out the earliest player and the latest player on their tribe.  I wonder if that theme will continue?  And it looks like they were going to be the disaster tribe, which is funny because most fans thought it would be Vatu.  But there will be a tripe swap next episode, so all bets are off.  But this tribe just could not find it in them to work together.  The majority of them were pretty screwed if the tribe swap never happens, but it looks like the fans voted for a tribe swap.

Kalo: Lacking in game content / Women almost shut out
This tribe is definitely getting the least amount of content among the three tribes, with Coach, Jonathan, and Mike getting most of it.  It's a shame we won't get to see the alliance lines tested.  And a crazy stat I saw: The women on Kalo combined for ONE confessional in Episode 2, and it was from Dee.  And none of them got a ton in episode 1.  It makes me think we may have an underdog female winner out of nowhere like we had in All-Stars with Amber, HvV with Sandra, or Game Changers with Sarah, or perhaps none of them win.  We shall see.

Vatu: Looked in bag early / Somehow avoided tribal twice
Crazy how nearly everyone except Aubrey was in on looking through Aubrey's bag, and then a short while after, she receives a boomerang idol from Christian.  They just looked too early.  It's hard to tell how long after they looked that she received the idol, but I can't wait to see the surprise from one of them when Aubrey whips it out, whether it be to build trust or play it.  And then, somehow, the tribe always avoided tribal, even though they just lost Kyle.  They lost reward, but still managed to come in first in the immunity challenge, thanks to the great teamwork amongst Rizo, Angelina, and Genevieve.  Cila on paper is stronger, but Vatu clearly had better communication and teamwork, which is why they won.

And to our departed player...

Savannah: Needed the best fortune
Savannah needed to be on a tribe that won at least one, if not both of the first two immunities.  Unfortunately for her, they lost both, through little fault of her own.  She knew coming into this season she'd be a long shot, but could not turn down the offer to play on 50.  Don't blame her.

And before I get to the rankings, I want to do a new segment.  It's called Player of the Week, where I will pick one player I thought had the best episode.  I will do this for every episode UP to the finale (but not including the finale, since obviously the winner will be the player of the week).  And before I pick this week's player of the week, I want to mention who would have been my player of the week for episode one.  That would have been Ozzy.  He had the most confessionals, got Q to "sell" his vote, and got the vote on Jenna over his ally, Cirie.  He also did great in the challenges.  

And now, for my Episode Two player of the week.  That will be... Christian!  He may have gone to tribal, but in one episode, he crapped his pants, worked with Joe and had both shots of him through the hammock and him rocking Joe in the hammock, and he fell at tribal on purpose, distracting everyone from Rick planting a fake idol.  Pure cinema, as Rizo would say. 

I will keep track of the total "PotW" as it shall henceforth be known, to see if the player who wins the most of them ends up winning the season.  

Now, for the power rankings:

21. Stephenie (-8)
20. Q (+2)
19. Kamilla (-11)
18. Rizo (+3)
17. Angelina (+2)
16. Chrissy (+2)
15. Dee (-3)
14. Tiffany (-7)
13. Mike (+4)
12. Jonathan (+4)
11. Coach (+3)
10. Ozzy (+5)
9. Charlie (+1)
8. Joe (-3)
7. Colby (+2)
6. Cirie (+5)
5. Emily (-2)
4. Devens (0)
3. Genevieve (-2)
2. Aubry (+4)
1. Christian (+1)

Biggest rise: Ozzy and Cirie (+5), also Mike, Jonathan, and Aubry (+4)
Biggest fall: Kamilla (-11), also Stephenie (-8) and Tiffany (-7)

Steph falls for me.  She still has not shown a ton of game acumen, and she likely will be away from Colby, so if her tribe loses after the swap, she is in danger.  Kamilla falls a ton as well.  Skunked in the confessionals (zero in this episode), and that's very telling since we could have gotten a reaction confessional from her about Kyle being medevaced, but we didn't.  Tiff also drops; just not high on her chances post-swap.  Ozzy and Cirie move up.  I didn't like Cila for them, but even if they get separated, I like their chances of making bonds with other players.  Aubry moves up after receiving an idol and having a good episode, and Christian being my player of the week has to be #1 now.  He is just so likable and I can't see anyone wanting to blindside him, at least not anytime soon.  

AFTER EPISODE THREE FOUR WORD GAME

Cila: A rivalry is brewing / They may not lose
Loved the Rizo/Charlie banter and rivalry that is brewing.  The thing is, it's a one-sided rivalry as Charlie wants Rizo gone because Rizo told him he didn't vote for his number one.  Why would you do that, Rizo?  Crazy.  And I just want to see more from this tribe, but they are very well-rounded.  They have Kamilla for puzzles, Cirie for social strategy, and Jonathan for strength.  Everyone here outside of Cirie is fairly athletic.  I can't see them losing.

Kalo: A rivalry is reborn / Women outnumber the men
The Genevieve/Aubry rivalry continues, with them staying together on a tribe, although a different one now.  Who will emerge victorious?  Time will tell.  Didn't love how Coach handled Chrissy, that won't bode well for his long term prospects.  And the three older, loyal-focused men in Colby, Joe, and Coach, need to remember that the women outnumber them, so they really should be cozying up to them.  I could very easily see Chrissy siding with the other women in a vote.

Vatu: Messy, chaotic, disaster tribe / The trio will triumph
This tribe is not going far.  I hate to say it for Christian and Ozzy, who have lost every immunity so far, but I don't think they're winning again without ANOTHER swap.  They just voted out one of their stronger players.  Here's who is remaining: A 50+ pale man, a lazy 30+ mom, a 30-something nerd, an unathletic near 30-year-old woman, a washed-up 40+ man, and a 40+ mom that isn't as good as she used to be.  They are screwed.  But, fortunately for the David vs. Goliath trio, they have at least a tie against the trio of Ozzy, Steph, and Emily, so if they stick together, they can be the final ones left standing here.

And to our departed player...

Q: Chaos is very volatile
If you play chaotically, your placement in the game is volatile, meaning: you could go early or you could last a long time.  It's a very risky game to play, and I'm sure Q is aware of this.  But it's nothing if but entertaining, and he absolutely was worth bringing back.

My episode three player of the week isn't as clear.  I considered Kamilla, but she didn't do too much outside the challenge.  I'm going to go with a possible surprise: Chrissy!  She showed some emotion, got some content, and did well guiding her team in the challenge.  

So my PotW tally so far is:
Ozzy: 1
Christian: 1
Chrissy: 1

And now my rankings of all 20 remaining players.  Man, when are they going to really get people out of the game?  I would've thought we'd have a double/split tribal by now.  

20. Stephenie (+1)
19. Rizo (-1)
18. Tiffany (-4)
17. Kamilla (+2)
16. Angelina (+1)
15. Joe (-7)
14. Coach (-3)
13. Ozzy (-3)
12. Emily (-7)
11. Chrissy (+5)
10. Dee (+5)
9. Mike (+4)
8. Jonathan (+4)
7. Cirie (-1)
6. Charlie (+3)
5. Colby (+2)
4. Devens (0)
3. Aubry (-1)
2. Christian (-1)
1. Genevieve (+2)

Biggest rise: Chrissy and Dee (+5)
Biggest fall: Joe and Emily (-7)

Steph is likely the next to go on Vatu.  Rizo is the odd man out on his tribe.  Tiff only has 2 confessionals in 3 episodes, yikes.  Joe falls because I worry if they have to go to tribal, that Joe could be picked off by the women.   Emily also falls a bit because she's on a bad tribe, and her closest bond is to Christian, but that's it.  Chrissy and Dee rise as underdogs for me.  Yes, even Dee.  No one is talking about her.  Charlie jumps a bit with a good episode.  And Gen reclaims the #1 spot for me.  I can't see her losing the Aubry battle, and she formed bonds with virtually everyone on her tribe.