Board Thread:Virtual Tribal Council/@comment-26497595-20160405005324

Great merge episode, as expected. Unless this season goes downhill, fast, we're in for a top 10 at least.



'''1. Tai Trang''' - in the midst of chaos, it's inevitably the tightest group that makes it out unscathed. Scot, Jason and Tai have become that group. Top that off with Tai's idol and his lovable demeanor and everybody's favourite SanFran gardener is easily the number 1 this week.

'''2. Julia Sokolowski''' - It looks like Julia is cemented as a tag along to the group of bros. Actually, it doesn't even matter who she aligned with; she would never and should never be anybody's target at final 10.

'''3. Kyle Jason''' - He's got an idol, an ally with a disposition that could lead him to give that idol away, and another ally that is a much better player in other peoples' eyes. Top that off with Jason's goat factor and his aggressive momentum and he's in a great spot.

'''4. Cydney Gillon '''- I'm calling my shot; Cydney's freak out to Jason in the preview was actually her venting frustrations about somebody else. We've seen too much of Cydney that suggests she's an incredibly levelheaded person for me to easily believe that she's going to flip her lid on her closest ally. If my prediction is accurate, Cydney will remain a loyal follower of the huge targets and float by this vote with ease.

'''5. Michele Fitzgerald''' - All the exit press I've heard so far suggests that Michele really isn't that great. While that means she probably isn't going to win, I think it also means she isn't going anywhere this week. This is the time for an adhesive player to be voted out to break up some loyalties. Michele is not that lynchpin for any group.

'''6. Aubry Bracco '''- She may think she's going to be in a lot of trouble, but Neal leaving is actually great for Aubry. The only reason she was the target was because she was least likely to receive immunity from Neal. While it would've been fantastic for Neal to give her the idol, its departure means Joe and Debbie are open to be targeted...

'''7. Joe del Campo '''- ...and who better to gun for than the crotchety, stubborn old champions of the Brains alliance?

'''8. Debbie Wanner''' - She's pretty much destroyed all faith I had in her game. I saw some terrible gameplay from Debbie this week; several other players had time in the episode dedicated to talking about how bad Debbie was doing. She could come back from this, but until she learns that she isn't invincible she'll have to be played pretty low on this list. I guess her declarations of her own greatness were more Coach-like than we thought; she actually had us fooled though. There wasn't exactly much of a degree of difficulty to what she was doing on Brains, either; Liz and Peter played themselves out on their own, and she couldn't effectively pull the wool over Nick or Michele's eyes on ChanLoh 2.0. I'm very down on Debbie after this week.

'''9. Scot Pollard''' - He's simply too powerful. He's an incredibly adhesive player; people seem to really rally around him. If the title of the episode - "The Jocks vs The Pretty People" - is to be believed, Scot is most likely that titular Jock.

'''10. Nick Maiorano''' - And Nick is the easy "Pretty Person" to gun for. It's no secret that he's sneaky, and now he's clearly an immunity threat. If my guess is accurate, Nick will shoot for the moon in this episode and end up among the stars - slowly snuffing his own torch just as a star eventually burns out.



Obituary - Neal Gottlieb 

Neal's departure makes things very interesting. Now that the Brains don't have as many numbers, it'll really open the door for Brawn to reemerge as targets. Now I see why Neal finding the idol wasn't made out to be such a spectacle; it ended up not mattering whatsoever. It's sad to see him go, but I don't think it's sad enough to see him come back.  </ac_metadata>