Survivor: Pearl Islands – Advice for the Remaining 11

Drake is now on a losing streaking, having failed at three challenges in a row. With tribal alliances set and the merge approaching, it's more important than ever for the players to realize their position and what they need to do in order to survive the game. Who is making mistakes? Who is playing well? What is the advice for the remaining 11.

Both Tribes. The next immunity challenge is critical. For Morgan, it's a chance to merge even. For Drake, it's a chance to merge dominant and decimate Morgan after the merge. This is the one you have to win. Put full effort into it.

Morgan. I'm rather glad you took my advice and took full advantage of Rupert during his short stay. He helped you move your shelter, showed you how to use the spear gun, and helped you win the reward challenge. You got some nice items from it and you definitely needed them more than Drake did. However, your tribe simply never has recovered fully from the mistakes you made in the village when you were buying supplies. It forced you to take food instead of getting your tarp back. As a tribe, you need to win the last immunity challenge to merge even, and then take it from there. If you lose it, you are probably going to be Pagonged.

Andrew. You really didn't have any choice in what to take during the loot. Your tribe was going to starve without food. You knew it and Rupert knew it, which is why he directed you to the rice and even gave you extra. It's what you needed the most. You are also correct in wanting to be a part of their tribe, and since you are likely to make the merge, you need to carefully consider who to try to recruit from Morgan into a game-winning alliance.

Ryan O. You did exactly what I suggested last time regarding Rupert and his time at Morgan – you watched and learned. Of course, you need to learn how to get fish in the bag without releasing them, but you made an effort to do something. If you have problems with putting them in the bag out at sea, go to shore and do it. It's better to do that and have the fish flop on the sand than lose it to the ocean.

Tijuana. Unless something goes wrong or Burnett throws in a few monkey wrenches, you are set for the merge. Of course, it won't help if you merge shorthanded, unless you can somehow find cracks in Drake and exploit them. You didn't get much footage, but it was mostly positive.

Osten. I just don't understand you. Why did you want to wait until the shelter was underwater before moving it? It had to be moved eventually, and doing it while you had Rupert was exactly the right time to move it. Also, if Rupert's assessment of you was correct, you need to start working. Rupert's assessment of you might be compared to his assessment of Shawn (not working and eating quite a bit). Plus, as a big, strong guy you're a prime target post merge.

Darrah. Nice job during the immunity challenge. You did what it took to win, especially since your neck was on the line if you went to tribal council. Since you are on the outside of your tribe's alliance, you might think about approaching Drake members to work with in order to ensure your own survival. This, of course, means you need to win immunity next time out, otherwise you're probably a goner.

Drake. Well, you finally owned up to throwing the last immunity challenge, which is something. However, I hope you learned your lesson on what a completely idiotic move it was. If you go back to tribal council, you may merge even instead of one or two up, and then the game gets harder for all of you. If that happens, you need to work as a unit to target a Morgan tribe member who you feel is least likely to win deadlock challenge. Listen to Rupert – he's spent time with them and can't help but to have picked up on some of their strengths and weaknesses.

Rupert. You made your first serious mistake by showing off your challenge-winning abilities during the reward challenge. There were only three challenges left until the traditional merge time and once challenges become individual, you become a huge threat to win it all. While you bought some friends on Morgan during your stay (and helping them when they got to loot Drake), you made yourself an even bigger threat since, if you are allowed to get to the finals, you have the jury won over already. You did do the right thing in refusing to share the Morgan reward and going back to Drake immediately, but I still think you should never have helped Morgan to win it in the first place. Your primary task right now is to collect the allies you need to carry you past the merge and into the mid-end game. From there on out, you will probably be out on your own.

Shawn. You did the right thing in writing down Burton after Jon told you he was out. It put Michelle's neck on the line instead of yours. You are also correct that it's a game about strategy, but you aren't fooling anybody by pretending your loyalties were not with Burton and Michelle. It might be you next, so you need to win immunity, but then you might think about changing sides after the merge to try to solidify your position in the game.

Sandra. Don't worry so much about losing the challenge. Granted, you should never have said you would be sick after this (the bleeding clam/rock oyster smoothie), because that indicated you were having problems with the challenge. That made you the tie-breaker selection for Morgan. These food challenges are often won by a matter of seconds and you were outmatched. You might remember somebody named Tina Wesson who lost the food challenge for Ogakor in Survivor 2 – and she ended up winning the game. The most important thing you need is allies.

Jon. As I suspected, you clued in Shawn that Burton was going and got him to swing his vote to make Michelle the next target. It worked. The trouble is, you couldn't leave well enough alone. You shouldn't have told Michelle that everything was fine, because it wasn't, and everybody knew it. You just made yourself look bad. You didn't help matters in the reward challenge (apparently you don't know what steering means, though I don't give you full blame because the others didn't look too good either). Also, quit the whole "Johnny Fairplay" act. Do you really think you are fooling anybody?

Trish. Don't worry so much about Rupert giving away information. He is many things, but stupid is not one of them. He wasn't about to reveal tribal secrets and mostly wanted to come home. You have a strong position right now because you aren't seen as a threat, but are secure in an alliance. This is a winning combination if you can continue your low key presence in your alliance.

Michelle. Why did you walk the plank? Well, I'd have to say it was because you picked the wrong friends. Jon was willing to sell out Burton and leave you holding the sack to retain his one-on-one alliance with Shawn. You didn't help matters when you developed a rather good plan to sucker Morgan into picking you for any tie-breaker by faking difficulty, then blew the implementation by chugging the smoothie down easily. It was your chance to save your own neck, and you failed at it.

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

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