Survivor: The Amazon – Advice for the Remaining Eight

Sometimes it's harder to give advice than usual. Usually the minority members of a tribe know where they stand, and act accordingly. Not this time. There is a five person alliance, but just who the fourth and fifth persons in it are (and their rank within in it) is an open question to debate. Rob, Deena, and Jenna are in the core group, but where do Alex, Heidi, Matthew, and even Christy fit in? The answer varies widely by the person. Since so many players seem to have blind spots as to where they stand, the advice will for the most part be ignored. Still, the Survivor Advisor is here to guide the players as best I can.

The first piece of general advice to everybody is to look at whether or not your alliance will get you to the final three. If so, then keep playing to leave things in the status quo. If not, look for opportunities to overthrow the ruling core and put yourself into a final three situation. The question can no longer be to get rid of the Tambaqui tribesmen and figure it out from there; the long term problem is where the tribe fractures once the easy cuts are made. Everybody without short term problems should be looking to that position and acting now to put themselves there, even if it means breaking with their current allies.

Also, a bit of advice for Mark Burnett. If immunity is going to continue to be a commodity to be traded, you might consider reversing the order of the immunity and reward challenges in the future. Reward challenges where somebody can pick somebody to go along would open up additional opportunities to bargain for the necklace (in the last episode, Dave could have used his pick as leverage to try and save himself by bargaining his way into immunity).

Butch. You must know you're next on the firing line, so here's an idea or two for you. You might try to suggest to the other males that they are being used by the Jaburu alliance to unbalance the gender mix of the tribe from a 6-4 male advantage to a 4-3 female advantage. Then further suggest they work on outing a female this time, one unimportant to the alliance (Christy). You might offer as "proof" the order in which the men went down in the mask immunity challenge, suggesting the order is no different than that which happened in the similar challenge in the Marquesas (which, as Jeff Probst openly declared at tribal council, was designed to sort the order in which people would be leaving the game). If you can't pull any of that off, you'll need to win immunity.

Rob. The way you are playing the game is similar to the way somebody juggles eggs. You've set yourself up to either pull off the best trick of the year, or end up with a lot of egg on your face. All things considered, it's not a bad strategy, as you've set yourself up to win the game if you can keep fooling Alex and Matthew long enough. Just be very careful you aren't being outplayed by Deena. I sometimes wonder if she's planning to whittle the number of men down to where she can shift gears and use the rest of the women to out all the men in the game. For now, keep on juggling, particularly with a careful eye on Matthew, as it's your job to control him for the next few votes.

Matthew. You need to decide what your position is in the Jaburu alliance. It's not good, as the immunity challenge showed. If you decide it can't get you to the final three (and you should be thinking that at this point in the game), then you need to figure out who else is in the same position and reposition the alliance to put yourself into that position. The right answers to the questions begin with Butch and Christy, and should be expanded to include Alex. Work to take out the heart and strength of the Jaburu alliance, Deena or Rob.

Heidi. You need to work with Jenna to find a third person for a "till the end" agreement. The Jaburu super-alliance (consisting of everybody who had ever been on Jaburu) has only one more cut to make before it feeds on their own members. This leaves you with the options of trying to recruit Christy (unlikely, since you and Jenna can't seem to be bothered to talk to her) or a few of the remaining men, such as Alex or Matthew, into the fold. If you can do that, you can eliminate the true power brokers of the tribe (Rob and Deena) and set yourself up for a trip to the finals.

Jenna. I'm so sorry if the "fat pig" wanted to eat dinner with the rest of the tribe. I have to wonder, did you skip a meal or two after your ambassador feast with Dave? Keep your tongue bitten; you are in an alliance that can take you until the final three unless you do something to blow it up. Unfortunately, that situation exists, and her name is Heidi. You need to be prepared to eliminate her from the game and put her on the jury (you should want her there; she's your best ally for the big money should you stand in judgment).

Deena. Keep going! You're in a powerful position in the game, and while I wouldn't go as far as you are going (saying "This game is mine!"), you do have a solid position as long as you can keep the status quo. You need to keep Jenna and Heidi in line, and work to oust Butch, Alex, Matthew, Christy, and Rob (in about that order). This will set you up against the weak for the final immunity challenge with a great chance to win the money.

Alex. Your advice is similar to Matthew; you have to ask yourself the question of whether or not your alliance can carry you until the final three. If not, search for alternatives, such as allying with Butch, Alex, and Christy. The alternative is to make side deals with people inside the alliance for a final three position. You might approach the Heidi / Jenna combination as they are the most visible pair. Then you can work to rid the tribe of the easy cuts first (Butch and Christy), then take out Matthew, Deena, and Rob. You'd be in a great position to win immunity against the two cute girls left in the game, particularly if the challenge is physical.

Christy. How can I put this? You are slowly losing the game. Every week that goes by reduces the number of potential allies you have to overthrow the ruling group. You have to act now to recruit people in an alliance that can get you until the final three. The status quo leaves you with a fifth place finish at best. You need to act now to form a counter-alliance with some of the others in your position in order to advance to the finals instead of being stuck with jury duty.

Dave. A little posthumous advice for you, but perhaps somebody left in the game could benefit by it. Once you won the reward challenge, you should have done a little bargaining with the tribe. You should have taken somebody you could discuss strategy and a new voting alliance with (such as Christy, Alex, or Matthew), your political ally (Butch), or offered it up to anybody willing to give you the immunity necklace in the event they won it. I know you might have figured Deena or Alex might have earned the reward more with their runner up positions, but it was just one more piece of tactical failure on your part. The game isn't about being fair, it's about putting yourself in a position of power. You squandered your opportunities, and lost the game because of it.

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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