“Survivor Samoa” episode VIII: the women finally get it together

This particular episode began with tribe Foa Foa strategising about the possibility of a merge. They decided to approach the merge with a divide and conquer mentality. Russell, of course, made sure to point out that they should work on Liz. It is clear that a major part of his strategy involves using women to get to the final two. He has never considered an actual alliance with any woman.

At this point in the game, the castaways number twelve, so Foa Foa was quite right to suspect that a merge was imminent. When they walked down to the beach to meet tribe Galu, they saw a treasure chest. Inside the chest were new buffs, a tarp and a note telling them that they were now one tribe. As with other Survivor seasons, this notification was followed with a feast. Foa Foa and Galu are no more and they are now called Aiga, which is Samoan for “extended family.”

It did not take long for Russell to begin attempting to manipulate the women. He initially approached Laura and showed her the immunity idol. He promised to give it to her, if she took him to the top seven. When he told her that to finalize the deal she must get rid of a member from the former Galu tribe, Laura said,

“That won’t happen. It will be one of your guys or Shambo. You’re in a worse position than myself at this point. You come in here with ten percent and I’ve got ninety.”

Clearly, this was not the response that Russell was hoping for. As usual, he found an assertive woman to be a threat and immediately began a plot to get rid of Laura.

Alone with the camera Russell once again displayed his fears of assertive women:

“She’s digging her own grave. She told me I’m ninety percent in charge of this thing, Russell you’re about ten percent right now. In other words, sit down and listen. No it don’t work like that for me. She might be the first to go. I went to Laura and saw that it really wasn’t gonna work so I’m gonna do the same thing with somebody else, maybe Monica.”

Unlike Laura, Monica immediately agreed to partner with Russell. However, he did not believe a word she said, but felt that if he could somehow manage to get rid of Laura, “her boss,” that perhaps she would change her mind.

Russell approached John and showed him the immunity idol. He spoke about using the idol to prevent a girl alliance. Just as Russell made clear in his private camera time, he took the opportunity to target Laura.

“Do you think Laura is trustworthy?”… “Cause once she is gone the girl power is over.”

Keep in mind, that even Russell and John had this conversation regarding the supposed threat of female castaways, so far, the women have never acted cohesively and have been voted off one by one. Russell counted on John’s misogyny to make his plan happen. John did not disappoint. In his commentary to the camera he too expressed fear of the supposed female power on the tribe.

“Laura and Monica have a relationship that is potentially dangerous and even though it is going to be viewed as a big move, I think it’s a manageable risk to vote off Laura first while we have votes from the other tribe.”

With that, John and Russell decided to target Laura. Russell was thrilled at finally finding someone open to his suggestions. They shake hands on the deal “as men.”

Why is it only the women castaways seem to have a clue about the type of game that Russell is playing? The men seem to ignore the ways in which he is manipulating them, in order to support the boys club. Why is threat solely understood to be gender-based? The only one who seems to get a pass is Shambo. Perhaps, it is because of all the women, she is the most naive. She agreed with Russell that Laura should be the next to go. She does not like Laura, but the fact that she “implicitly trusts” Russell made this decision even easier.

As the saying goes, the plans of mice and men oft go astray. The immunity challenge was an individual challenge this time around, because the tribes have merged. Laura and John each won individual immunity. This meant that neither of them could be voted off at tribal council.

Back at camp, Russell and Shambo commiserated over Laura winning the immunity idol. When Shambo asked Russell who he wants gone, he answered, “Monica, and get rid of the girl thing.” Shambo let him know that this is not a possibility because she believes that Eric and Laura are going to control who gets voted off. Is an alarm bell ever going to ring in Shambo’s head? Russell clearly told her that he fears a girl alliance and she ignored this completely. Does she need a reminder that she fits into the category of “girl”?

Off to the side, Erik and Laura agreed to make Russell feel as though he is the target to flush out his immunity idol, but wrote down Jaison’s name, because they felt that Jaison is useless to the tribe. When Erik related the plan to John, he was informed that a better idea would be to vote off Monica, because she is seen as Laura’s support. If they could get every member of Foa Foa and the men of Galu to write down Monica’s name, and Erik votes for Jaison as planned, they would weaken the women while at the same time allowing Erik to look like he still has an alliance with Laura. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it? Once again, the women were left out of the loop as the men plotted their demise.

John allowed Erik to tell the male members of the former Galu tribe what the plan is. Though Dave agreed to this plan, alone with camera he speculated on why Erik is pushing it. He called Erik a crafty dude and admitted to being nervous about his plan.

Erik then approached the former members of Foa Foa without Russell, and stated:

“I think there is a way for the three of you stay in the game tonight. If the three of you guys vote for Monica, then definitely the three of you will stay and I am pretty sure Russell will stay. So the best interest would be the three of you to vote the same way and not tell Russell. We want him to think he is going home tonight, that way he plays the idol. We all know he’s got it. People have seen it. So what you need to know you know. You choose a different route their might be a different outcome and I can’t guarantee the four of you are here tomorrow”.

Jaison felt that Erik’s approach was highly arrogant. He suggested that the remaining Foa Foa members all vote Erik and see where the chips fall. Natalie took his suggestion one step further and told all of the women on the former Galu tribe that Erik is targeting Monica. She took care to inform them that he feels threatened by women and therefore plans on eliminating them one at a time. This gets the ball rolling amongst the women and for first time this season, with the exception of Shambo, they began to strategize.

At tribal council, Russell, still fearing that he was targeted, played in the immunity idol. When Probes read the names, however, Erik was voted off and became the first member of the jury. The vote came as a complete surprise to Erik, and that is why he did not play the idol he had found on the Galu beach earlier in the game.

Though the idea to vote off Erik came from Jaison, it marked the first time this season that the women have acted with any kind of agency. The fact that Russell played the immunity idol leaves him vulnerable should they decide to act upon their suspicions that he is control freak and a misogynist. Perhaps, it is not too late to hope that the women of “Survivor Samoa” will finally begin to play to win.