OK, I love this season so far. Great cast with lots of interesting dynamics, most of them triggered by the interactions between the various and not manufactured by production through twists. It’s actually fascinating to see how this cast reacts to the twists compared to the cast of the previous season.

I want to keep this short, so let’s see what happened in each tribe real quick.

Ika tribe

Did we even see them outside of the challenge? I’m afraid not. This is pretty rare. I guess their camp life segment had to be cut in order to save enough screen time for this crazy tribal.

Taku tribe

I really love them. Lindsey is a bit in the background, but Jonathan, Maryanne, and Omar are such great characters. I really hope the three of them go far, and I kinda suspect that they will.

I must also mention Jonathan’s performance at the challenge. He basically single-handedly won it, which is already impressive in itself. But it’s even more impressive when you consider that the two other tribes just couldn’t do anything because of the waves.

Vati tribe

They remain the most entertaining tribe and after this week’s vote, I feel that they will remain entertaining. Unless they self-destruct and most of them get voted out before the merge.

Hai Giang: Really impressive performance at tribal. Or even before when h understood that Chanelle’s idea to split the votes didn’t make much sense. Of course, he didn’t suspect Chanelle and Daniel to not vote with him, but it’s difficult to suspect such things when it’s the first time your tribe goes to tribal. And then, at tribal, it totally rocked. The way he managed Daniel and everyone else and succeeded in saving Lydia and basically taking control of the tribe when the alternative was to find himself alone and at the bottom of the tribe, showed that he is a good player and someone who will most likely have a strong impact on the season.
Chanelle Howell: What the f**k what she thinking when she risked her vote and lost it? She said it herself: it was crucial that she could vote for this tribal, she couldn’t lose her vote. Why did she risk it then? Especially because from what she told Omar, it made total sense for Omar to risk his vote and get an extra one, as the only thing that made sense for Chanelle was to protect her vote. That was a major mistake from her, and let’s not get mistaken, Jenny went home because of Chanelle’s blunder, not because of Daniel’s “betrayal.”
Jenny Kim voted out: I’m so sad she’s already gone. She appeared to be such a strong contestant. I hinted last week that she should be there for the long run and I was wrong. No, really, it’s a shame. She deserves a Second Chance.
Lydia Meredith: As I mentioned last week, I’m a bit disappointed in her edit at the moment. She’s totally hilarious and witty and everything on Twitter, but on the show, we barely hear from her. Hopefully, she will be a bit more prominent now?
Daniel Strunk: He messed up so much, it’s both embarrassing and hilarious. Last week in the preview, when they showed that Mike’s idol was missing, I suspected Daniel to have hidden it. No. Not at all. He literally dropped it and lost it. And that was only the beginning. After that, he couldn’t have mishandled tribal in any worse way. Throwing Chanelle under the bus could only alienate Chanelle, Mike, and Jenny. Even if in the end Lydia was sent home, I can see how he doesn’t end up in the bottom of the tribe. And then, telling from the get-go that he will not go to rocks no matter what was basically telling Hai that he would eventually fold and vote Jenny out. Hai instantly knew that he needed to stand firm and not give in, and in the end, Daniel would agree to vote Jenny out. Which is exactly what happened. Now with that being said, while I suspect that nobody will trust Daniel in the future, he may not be in a bad position at the moment. I suspect that Mike and Chanelle will become a pair, and it means that Daniel will be the swing vote.
Mike Turner: I was so hoping that Mike and Daniel become some sort of comedic duo. The whole lost idol thing was just so funny. Not sure if it’s gonna happen after that tribal, but who knows?

Yes, they definitely are the “complex tribe” this season, but we saw last season, that it doesn’t really mean much in terms of guessing what tribe the winner belongs to.

Who’s voted out next week?

If Ika goes to tribal, I suspect that Rocksroy is in trouble, but as we haven’t seen anything about them this week, hard to tell really.

If Taku goes, Maryanne could be the target. I kinda think that the tribe is safe, though.

If Vati goes, I could see Hai, Lydia, and Daniel going after Mike or Chanelle. As she is more dangerous than Mike (and I suspect that she’s angrier at Daniel too) I think she’ll be the one to go.

Who’s going to win?

Jenny is gone. Daniel is a mess and I’m not sure how much he can recover, Chanelle is also a bit of a mess. I think these three have lost their status as possible winners. So, we have three names left from last week’s list

Romeo
Omar
Hai

We didn’t see Romeo this week, but both Omar and Hai had some very good and positive content. They remain my picks for winning at the moment.

What else?

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Survivor 42 - Episode 3 thoughts