Survivor: The Amazon – Advice for the Remaining 11

The tribes are now gender-mixed, hand-picked for one reason or another by the youth of the tribes, Jenna and Dave. Some alliances have been kept together, some broken apart, and others starting to form. The next few tribal councils will determine the power come merge time, so it's time for every player to think ahead to mid-game. This means it's time for the Survivor Advisor to once again examine the tribe and the players in them. It's advice for the remaining eleven.

New Jaburu

Jenna. As you might have figured out, talking to Dave about Jaburu tribal politics was a terrible idea. Dave pounced on your mistake and acted to break up the cute girl alliance by selecting YOUR closest ally Heidi with his first selection. However, you did end up with the stronger men in your tribe, and still have Deena and Shawna from your alliance. You've got to stick with them to try and toss a male when it comes time for tribal council. You might also consider living up to your cute girl idea of walking around naked. It would make the men much more likely to try to vote out Deena instead of yourself or Shawna.

Shawna. You seem to have made a miracle recovery once a few good looking guys entered your camp. Keep your mind on the game, though; you need to try and kick one of the men off if you go to tribal council. If you like Alex, try to woo him over to your side, keeping him safe from the vote if he'll vote off one of the other men. That secures your position in the tribe.

Deena. Watch out. You're likely to be the target if you go to tribal council. They guys have their eyes on the hot chicks, and that leaves you the odd woman out. You can play it one of two ways: either sell out the girls to the men, or work on one of the men to swing his vote. I'd suggest the latter, as it makes you less of a backstabber. Still, if push come to shove, be prepared to put the knife in the back of Jenna or Shawna.

Rob. You are absolutely correct that Dave didn't have your best interests in mind when he selected the new tribes. He (gasp!) put his OWN best interests first. Believe me, if you'd have been the youngest, you'd have done exactly same thing; trying to keep your strongest allies and break up any strong women alliances. Besides all that, given your previous comments, you probably want to be in the tribe with two of the hot chicks. What you've got to do is work with the other guys to kick out Deena. It's both tactical and strategic. She's the strongest of the three women in camp, and she's a leader. Once you merge you don't want her to be around to win challenges or organize any counter-forces in the game.

Alex. If you've got a thing going with Shawna, that's great. Just don't let it interfere with your game play. Like Dave did with Heidi this episode, you can try and talk her into voting with the men on the promise that she'll be spared from the vote. It will be harder since the women have two allies (Shawna and Jenna), but it's possible. Make the effort to win her over and vote out Deena.

Matthew. You were the odd man out before. Now you've gotten a new deal. If you feel like you are enough of an outsider, you might want to consider selling out the men to secure yourself a position with the women. However, if you can bond well enough with Alex and Rob in your Tambaqui exile, work to oust one of the women, probably Deena.

New Tambaqui

Dave. Well done on all fronts. You kept your mouth shut and ears open while Jenna gave away her entire tribe's social structure, and you gave little information back in return. You kept your closest allies (Butch and Roger) on your tribe, and did your best to do any damage control among the exiled men (face it, somebody had to go, and you did try to explain the way you made your decision). Still, talking Heidi into selling out Jeanne at tribal council was your best trick of all. It was a good move, but a better one would have been to kick out Heidi. All that was really needed was for Heidi to think the men were going to vote out Jeanne. Then the men could have kicked out a member of the cute girl alliance and left two stragglers (Jeanne and Christy) in their camp; easy pickings for the next tribal council. In fact, if the guys are a tight enough unit, you might consider tossing an immunity challenge to kick off another woman, putting the men in the position to completely rid the Amazon of the female gender after the merger.

Butch. Dave kept you on the team, which means he values you as a part of his alliance. He also made the deal with Heidi which ensured the men stayed intact. You are completely safe for the next couple of votes and have a strong position in the game. One thing you might want to push for if you go back to tribal council is to toss Heidi. Not only is she one of the members of the cute girl alliance, but Christy has appreciated the efforts you've made to bond with her and overcome her nighttime disability. If you keep her until the merge, you can win a friend on the jury if you make it to the final two.

Roger. Dave picked his alliance, and you are a core part of it. Like Butch, you should work to boot Heidi next time out and recruit Christy as an ally, if not future jury friend. I suspect Heidi might get on your nerves if she's as lazy as she's been portrayed in the past. If you and Butch put it up to Dave that Heidi is next, then he'll pretty much have to go along with it to save his own skin.

Christy. You need to work to secure your political position. Obviously you know that Heidi sold out Jeanne. That means you should know they she is going to sell you out if you go back to tribal council. Sell her out instead. Point out to the men that Heidi is in the cute girl alliance, which will reform once they merge. Let them see how lazy Heidi is compared to yourself. Make yourself the strategic and tactical choice to stay in the game at Heidi's expense. After all, you don't owe her any consideration. She never bonded with you, and only seemed to want to talk to you when they wanted your vote at tribal council. The men actually value their conversations with you, and turned up the lamps so you were included at nighttime discussions.

Heidi. You might have made a mistake in selling out Jeanne to the men. Yes, it preserved your position for that vote, but strategically it may have been a fatal error. You are the next logical target of the men of Tambaqui, and Dave might not have been speaking for the entire group of men when he made the deal. You need to push him to keep his part of the bargain. As you've said before, it would be to your advantage to go around topless when there are men around to advance another step in the game. Are you ready to put your moneymakers where your mouth is?

Jeffrey Clinard lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, with his kittens, Lam and Princess. He can be reached at jclinard@earthlink.net.

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