Survivor: Cook Islands, Advice for the Remaining 16

Yul: Well, Tribal Council does suck, but it’s necessary, and the end result put you in a good position in the game. You also did a great job in decoding the message in the reward challenge, and you have your insurance policy with the hidden immunity talisman. You have the strongest position in the game right now. Keep it up and you’ll last a long time in this game.

Raro: I think you found out the hard way that strength isn’t everything when it comes to challenges. Sure, it helps with some of them, but strategy and teamwork were more important in the last two challenges. You lost both of them by a big margin. In fact, the proof that strength isn’t everything was evident in the results of Tribal Council. Other things are more important.

Parvati: When offered a deal, take it. It doesn’t matter if you actually live up to it, but Survivor rewards people who make two promises and break one instead of making no promises at all. Unfortunately, your indecision with the women hurt your position. The others recruited Brad, and while you eventually sided with the women at Tribal Council, you went from a potential core group member to a “me, too” member.

Stephannie: Never give up, and never, ever think just because you were responsible for losing the challenge that you deserve to be voted out. Survivor doesn’t work like that. Fortunately, you got a second chance and are now a core member of the Raro women’s alliance. You should be safe for now.

Cristina: Your position has gotten better and better after the shuffle. You’ve gone from the next to go to being a core alliance member. You suggested booting J.P. and the others ran with it, so it means you are a decision-maker. Also, if you have to sit out of a challenge, immunity is the right one. You were in no way responsible for the loss. Things are looking good for you at this point.

Rebecca: You are also in a solid position, as you are in a core group of women who now control the vote. In fact, it seems to have been your idea to unify politically and seize control of the vote. That is far more important than the strength of the men. Well done.

Jenny: Cutting your hand on the axe during the immunity challenge must have hurt. Of course, it hurt more to lose the challenge, but in the end you were forced to play politics and came out on the winning end. You also suggested a woman’s alliance and are now a core member of the group. Your position is solid, even if your hand is damaged.

Nate: Being on the wrong end of the vote is never a good thing, and when you are the only person left on the wrong end, it is an outright dangerous position to be in. There might be a few ways out of your situation. One would be to avoid Tribal Council; another would be to make yourself useful and willing to vote out somebody else. You did catch an octopus, and if the right challenge comes along, you might be able to demonstrate that the tribe needs you. I would try to shift the target to Parvati if you can.

Adam: This was not a good week for you. Your tribe lost two challenges, and you were sent to Exile Island for a few days. Your strategy of hanging out with the boy’s club was a mistake, as was letting the women do the work. I’m not sure who warned you about the vote, but it was smart to go with the flow if J.P. was a goner. It will buy you some time, which is something you need.

Brad: I’m not sure why you jumped ship, but it was probably a good idea. The women were probably going to control the vote, and by being the first to jump, you put yourself in a solid position. Parvati and Adam are “me, too” alliance members and Nate voted outside it, so you have a fairly safe position right now.

J.P.: What went wrong? Well, when watching the show, the song “Put Another Log on the Fire” came to mind. With all apologies to the songwriter, I thought I’d present the reason why you lost to music in the form of a parody to said song.

Put another log on the fire
Put that pot of water on a rock
Walk over there and fetch me the machete
And snap right to attention when I talk
You need my strength when we go to a challenge
At Tribal Council you’ll vote out Stephannie
Wait a minute; Jeff Probst read the votes
Can you tell me why the tribe got rid of me?

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Survivor: Cook Islands articles here on RealityNewsOnline:

Jeffrey Clinard has been writing about Survivor since the second series, and has published over 100 articles about the show and given advice to nearly 150 different Survivors on RealityNewsOnline. He can be reached at realityfeedback@bookslv.com.

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