Wednesday’s ninth episode of “Survivor: David vs. Goliath” ended with the Davids mastering the art of hidden advantages in order to even out the numbers 5-5 against the challenge-dominating Goliaths. After Nick Wilson stole Alison Raybould‘s vote (much to her chagrin) and Carl Boudreaux nullified Dan Rengering‘s idol, the Davids were able to vote Dan out with a clear majority despite Alec Merlino and Kara Kay ultimately voting against fellow Goliath member Angelina Keeley.
Alec and Kara’s votes are key heading in to the next episode because it lays bare the fracture that has always existed in the Goliath tribe and there’s no chance Angelina is going to accept those votes against her calmly. If the Goliath alliance does in fact split, the Davids will maintain power even though the numbers are even. Regardless of how the next few votes go, all signs point to Davids, as a whole, having the upper hand and keeping that through to the end so there’s no reasonable ranking that doesn’t put all five Davids at the top and all five Goliaths at the bottom.
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1. Christian Hubicki – no change
2. Nick Wilson – no change
3. Gabby Pascuzzi – no change
Christian has, yet again, managed to escape the threat of all the Goliath members, including his own sort of allies Alison and Alec, wanting to vote him out. And now he has his own immunity idol to use for his and/or his alliance’s protection. After proving that they’re capable to successfully using advantages to their favor, we can only assume that Christian’s idol will also be put to good use when the time is right (if ever necessary). Nick and Gabby are still Christian’s closest allies and the three of them have not shown any sign of wavering.
4. Davie Rickenbacker – up 2
5. Carl Boudreaux – up 2
In the previews for the next episode it appears that Gabby and fellow David member Carl get into a personal disagreement that could potentially split the Davids in half. Because Christian, Nick and Gabby appear to be the closest aligned of the five Davids, I can see a situation where they sacrifice Carl as a way of earning trust back with Alec, Kara and Alison and in order to appease an emotional Gabby. It’s also possible that Gabby just goes rogue and votes with the Goliaths to take out Carl without the help of any other Davids. Either way, Carl could be one of the next eliminated and that will put Davie in a situation where he’s vulnerable simply because he doesn’t have a tight #2 anymore.
6. Kara Kay – up 2
7. Alec Merlino – down 2
8. Alison Raybould – down 4
Even though Nick stole Alison’s vote, because Kara and Alec both voted “with” the Davids–actually they voted Angelina, a sign that they were willing to follow through with Kara’s original plan of splitting the votes with the Davids in cast Dan used an idol–there remains a chance that these three can still work with the Davids going forward. Alison is in the most precarious position because I think she’ll be paranoid about Nick stealing her vote (as opposed to, say, Angelina’s). In fact, the Davids probably trust her the least because she seems like the most strategic of the remaining Goliaths.
Meanwhile, Kara has been floating under the radar for quite some time, but showed some major guts this week when she turned on her showmance Dan and was even willing to break tribal lines to further her own game. Hopefully the Davids recognize her willingness to work with them and they pull her in. Alec is in a similar position–he’s earned trust with Nick by divulging Goliath secrets–but at the end of the day even if these players work with the Davids for a vote or two they’re still going to be on the bottom of a super tight alliance of Christian/Nick/Gabby. If they can manage to get Carl or another David voted out next then there is some hope for a Kara/Alec/Alison path to the finale, but they may need to rely on Mike and Angelina in order to make that happen… LOL!
9. Mike White – up 1
10. Angelina Keeley – down 1
Honestly I thought that Mike might have to pay for his quick betrayal of the Strike Force alliance, but that he went unscathed and unmentioned this week suggests that the Davids don’t regard him as a threat whatsoever. The bigger threat could actually be Angelina who the longer she stays the more likely it is that she’s taken to the end as the token “she’ll never beat me with the jury” goat. Although Angelina is a fighter, and I expect her to seek revenge on Kara and Alec voting against her, she’s still left without any true allies willing to work with her so her path to a victory is super low. Like… impossibly low. Mike has few allies left, too, but he at least once had trust built with others in the game and I can, I guess, see him making in-roads the next two weeks and finding a way to slither into an end-game plan with a small group. Neither have a chance at winning the game though, let’s be real.
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