LJ Idol Presents:

 Getting back into it. There were 8 contestants left, and a couple major twists were left on the table. Plus, flipflop_diva  had 3 hidden immunity idols in her possession. The game was about to get crazy! 
 
Whoever ended up winning these next couple of immunities was going to determine how the rest of this game was going to go... the original tribes were back even - but how strong were those LaMina bonds? We were about to find out!

The immunity challenge this time was really close, but flipflop_diva ended up winning it. Which meant she wasn't going to have to use her idol to save herself. (they were only good until the final 5), but I wasn't sure if they would be coming out to save someone else... 

Flipflop_diva's immunity picture was Sharn Combs from Australian Survivor, widely thought to be one of the most dangerous players to ever play the game. (and who was wildly underestimated the first time she played) 

This was the sealed bottle/double tribal council.  The sealed bottle was a throwback to a few different classic Survivor moments. I figured putting the message in that bottle would have a reaction from the fans. They would either go for it right away, or stay as far away from it as possible. Either way, I wanted to have a tribal council where NO ONE was safe.  When I designed the season I realized early on that someone *could* just come in with a bunch of friends and dominate the polls, but unlike regular Idol, there were no "other kinds of voting" happening to balance that out in the long run. Nor was it a marathon where that sort of behavior would be checked after awhile. (it's difficult to keep that up for any length of time)   But, I wanted to give that person a chance as well. So I put the bottle at the tribal council.  

Putting two notes in the bottle, and making the first person hand one of them to someone else was just me being funny.  :D  It also meant that someone could "choose wrong." (there was the option of taking the second note for themselves and giving the first to someone else... which would have put them in danger! But murielle played it correctly) 

It was a shot for someone who thought they were in a bad position in the game to save themselves.  Going into this week, just based on prior behavior, I thought that flipflop_diva would be the one to grab it. When she won immunity, I started running scenarios of who would take it, and what that could mean for the game... 

I will admit, I never gave the possibility of murielle taking the bottle seriously. It seemed out of character - BUT given that this was the period when she was starting to actually ENJOY this process... it makes sense in retrospect. 

Her leaving put her people in danger... unless something else happened. Which, of course, it did. 

Instead of taking out an original Luzon,  votes were split between eeyore_grrl  and adoptedwriter  - with the final vote coming in to eliminate eeyore_grrl.   2 of the final 3 were original Asaga, so I guess I can't argue with the results of taking out an Asaga in this spot when they had the numbers at tribal. But I think that for most people's games, this was another crucial vote where people went after the potential "swing votes" instead of who they thought was in "the other alliance." 

I'll also say - yes, she was dangerous. She had come close to winning immunity and was putting out some great work. 

I'll be honest though, the fact that no one took a shot at bleodswean  here just strengthened my belief that there was no way halfshellvenus  was casting a vote against her and that the flipflop_diva/gunwithoutmusic  alliance was walking into a trap. 


Of course, as you may recall - the second vote was where bleodswean had to bow out due to a death in the family.  So we never got to see how that vote WOULD have turned out... well, YOU didn't... 

Until now....

adoptedwriter would have been eliminated. Which makes sense, it was a close vote last time and no one had a lot of time to talk. So going for the one name everyone knows is the obvious way to go. What you DON'T know though is that it was close. As in if bleodswean HAD cast a vote - and murielle had been there voting... (assuming of course that they were voting together, which wasn't always the case... and also assuming that they wouldn't have just gone for adoptedwriter... which, I don't think would have happened....) gunwithoutmusic would have been going out in this spot. 

That drop changed the course of the rest of this game more than any other. As long as bleodswean and murielle stick together, the ONLY real threat to them after this vote would have been those idols. And based on the rest of the board, I don't think they would have been the targets anyone would have picked... my guess would be that it would have been the two of them and probably halfshellvenus or alycewilson in the final 4.  (Again, unless flipflop_diva played an idol every round. Which is a possibility.) 

When it comes to Survivor - in person or online - there is a LOT of luck involved. All of the planning from the super fans would have, IMO, gone out the window right here if not for the "wrong" person picking up the bottle and leaving tribal council and a Real Life tragedy making one of the biggest threats the game has ever seen step away.