For the first time since War of the Worlds 2, we see Cara Maria and Laurel on the same team. The two girls have a very rocky past, but it seemed like they wanted to come into this season with some semblance of friendship.
Then, Laurel won the Era Invitational and earned the power to send one of her teammates into elimination against Kellyanne. Her options: Aviv, Cara Maria, and Emily.
Keep in mind, the women on the Era 2 team are utterly stacked, and Cara Maria finished in second place overall during Light It Up. Seven people won immunity who performed worse than her, but unfortunately, Laurel’s first-place finish prevented Cara from getting immunity.
This put Cara Maria in a tough spot, but it also gave Laurel a lot of power. She could try to form an alliance with Cara Maria to keep unity on the team, or she could take the first strike and hope to get Cara out of the game.
At this point in the game, it would seem very personal for Laurel to nominate Cara Maria into elimination. We know Laurel won’t vote in Emily due to her strength, but it’s hard to deny that Cara Maria also adds strength to the team. While numbers aren’t everything, it’s hard to find a metric where Cara Maria has performed worse than Emily.
Theoretically, the only real benefit for Laurel to nominate Cara Maria into elimination would be to potentially get rid of a threat, and that could benefit Laurel down the road. But, if that was her motivation, Emily wouldn’t be off the table. It’s hard to think of a competition where Cara Maria would do worse than Kellyanne, and whichever girl wins would likely return to the game with resentment toward Laurel. Plus, Gen 2’s biggest asset is their strong females. By jeopardizing Cara Maria, Laurel’s move could diminish the team’s potential.
The smartest second nominee would likely be Aviv. Very few people on the team have any relationship or knowledge of her. If she goes home, it’s not a hard loss; if she wins, she builds her reputation and makes the remaining team look stronger.
Assuming Cara’s offer to work with Laurel is genuine, an Era 2 team with Bananas, Laurel, Emily, and Cara Maria looks really intimidating. Losing any one of those players would significantly weaken the team — meaning they could lose daily challenges and Laurel could go into elimination sooner than later. But, if Laurel does send Cara Maria into elimination, it’s ensuring this season will be full of drama and I’d expect that we will watch the Gen 2 team implode.
Stop Being Polite 