Survivor: Cook Islands - Advice for the Remaining 15

Cao Boi: I’m sure you’ve lived a fascinating life. Refugee, boat person, new life as an American, Survivor player who is a Zen fire master and resident headache cure. However, that doesn’t mean that everybody else wants to hear it. If you talked a little less, you wouldn’t be in a vulnerable position. You’re going to have to convince the tribe that your fire and challenge skills make you worth keeping. Otherwise you might be out at Tribal Council.

Ozzy: You’ve been in a vulnerable spot ever since the tribes were integrated, but your attempts to form a new power structure were doomed from the start. While going off with Cao Boi and Jessica would have been smart if they were swing votes, it still takes five votes to control the vote, and you might have done better to try to become the fifth to the core group. Still, you’ve made yourself valuable with your fishing and challenge skills and I think you’re going to survive this visit to Tribal Council. However, it might not hurt to plant some ideas about how useful you are compared to the others as an insurance policy.

Sundra: You did the right thing in taking the offer proposed by the core alliance. They needed a fifth vote; you needed protection. Besides, it’s always wise to accept deals; you can always break them later. However, your deal is a short term fix; when things shake up again you’ll either need to get a new deal with other people or make yourself the key third vote in the Yul/Becky or Jonathan/Candice situation.

Raro: Your tribe does not appear to have stable politics, as the tribe has gone after the bossy people and the people who seem to want to go home. What you can’t have is either anarchy or dictatorships; anarchy leads to tribal chaos and dictatorships beg to be overthrown. Your tribe needs to learn how to work together more efficiently or you’ll be going back to Tribal Council many more times.

Cristina: Watch what you are doing. You were lucky to escape elimination, and your attitude annoyed a lot of people. Also, losing bits of octopus didn’t help your position; nor was trying to shift the blame to Jenny. You need to regroup with the other women and emphasize that if you don’t stick together, the men will be on even voting strength if you don’t go after one of them at the next Tribal Council. I think you should suggest Nate as the target, as Jonathan’s talk about Exile Island should indicate a possibility that Adam has the talisman in his possession.

Nate: Honestly, your game play leaves a lot to be desired. Everybody was set to vote out Cristina until you passed along the message about Stephannie and the mashed potatoes. I can’t see any compelling reason for getting rid of her in Cristina’s place, and spreading rumors that another person wants to be voted out have led to reversals before (most notably in Survivor: The Australian Outback). You’ve done well in the food-providing area, but you have to be smarter in how you play the game or you’ll be going home soon. Push to get rid of Cristina now. It’s your best option.

Adam: I’d glad you were firm with Cao Boi in his attempts to get resources off your island. Somebody had to say “no” and you did it in a polite manner, noting you worked hard to get the spices. I think you were the secret hero in getting rid of the unwanted guests. At Tribal Council, you’ll have to try to get rid of Cristina again. It’s your best option for keeping the men off the block. If it seems like you can’t do it, run a bluff and pretend you have the immunity talisman. Something subtle, like a statement that Jonathan was right when he said the talisman isn’t on Exile Island anymore. It makes you less appealing as a Tribal Council victim.

Rebecca: I don’t blame the immunity challenge loss on you, even though your move to get to the platform caused the rest of the tribe to fall off the platform. Simply put, your tribe didn’t plan the assault on the platform well, and the body structure was unstable to begin with. You need to get together with the women and decide which man to get rid of. If the consensus is still Cristina, go with it. Better her than you.

Jenny: Nice job in the challenge; your work helped give the tribe a small lead at the start of the immunity challenge. You can’t be blamed for the loss. You’ll need to decide whether getting rid of Cristina is more important than keeping control of the tribe via women votes. I think control is needed, so take a careful look at Nate or Adam as targets.

Parvati: It seems the message you sent at Tribal Council last time was received, as the men stepped up their workload at camp. However, you need to learn the lesson that telling somebody you’ll “think about it” when they approach you for a vote is a mistake. It didn’t hurt you, but it has cost two former players the game when they refused to commit. In any case, your position has improved as the removal of Stephannie makes your vote more important to the women. Go along with their suggestions for the target.

Brad: You are in something of a strange position, as you don’t seem to be a part of the men, but also don’t seem to be a full-fledged member of the woman’s voting alliance. It kind of makes you a floater, and they can do well if they know how to play and take advantage of the mistakes of other players. I don’t think you are in danger right now, so you can go with the flow. Alliances in Raro do not appear to be set in stone, so you have some time to see how things develop.

Stephannie: What went wrong? Last week you accepted the blame for the immunity challenge loss, and this week you opened up your mouth about mashed potatoes. Nate spread the story around, and you didn’t do enough to counteract it. It all resulted in your elimination.

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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