This week, we saw Jay & Michele make a very, very questionable move when they nominated Laurel & Jakk, Darrell & Veronica, Jordan & Aneesa, and Kim & Colleen. At first, it seems like a gutsy move, but upon further thought, it was a head-scratcher.
What, exactly, were they hoping to accomplish here?
Veronica made a good point during the interrogation. If they were targeting the veteran alliance, nominating Jordan & Aneesa and Laurel & Jakk (debatably herself & Darrell, also) makes sense. But, then there’s Kim & Colleen. The only scenario where they don’t compete in The Zone is by pulling the safety dagger. That’s a 25% chance — otherwise, the rookies are going down, and likely going home. And that’s exactly what happened.
It seems like the Survivor duo was trying to target people who didn’t speak game with them, and they hoped that saving those people by sending them to the dagger pull would forge relationships, but the opposite happened. The veterans are pissed, and this move arguably brought them closer together. Meanwhile, the German rookies didn’t have a lot of numbers and could have become allies. Now they’re out of the game.
Of course, there was no way to walk out of this situation without making one team mad, and they chose Laurel & Jakk when they sent them straight into The Zone. Michele seemed to be misinformed, believing that Laurel didn’t like her and would target her. By no account was this accurate. Laurel may not have been best friends with Michele, but she wasn’t plotting to get rid of Michele & Jay.
So, Laurel was surprised. And now that she’s won an elimination, she’s likely to target Michele & Jay.
But, have Michele & Jay really messed up their game?
Not too much, but they could have done better. They should have saved Kim & Colleen because they would have (likely) returned the favor. If they were going to target the veterans, they should have put four vet teams on the board and guaranteed at least one of them left.
Even though they could have executed their move better, targeting any veteran would have repercussions. Moving forward, they should expect to have enemies, but they were already getting nominated by vets. So why not make a move against them?
The biggest question mark comes from saving Nany & Bananas, as they had every reason to send them to the inquisition, and having the favor reciprocated is a gamble. Truthfully, Nany & Bananas have won a challenge before, so there’s a good chance they’ll have power again in the future. So, this olive branch might actually get them some safety.
And we can’t forget, Nany is close with Kaycee & Faysal. A lot of attention was placed on Bananas after the move was made, buy Nany’s friendship may really be the prize. If Jay & Michele are banking on victories by Fessy and Kaycee, their move could pay off in the long run.
It’s a gamble, and certainly not a perfect move, but it’s possible they could survive the backlash.
Stop Being Polite 