Day 37: Best Tribal Council
Survivor 39-Day Challenge
Most of the time, the best tribal councils on Survivor involve one bad move. It makes for a great television, an exciting few minutes of the show’s weekly climax. Especially when there’s a hidden immunity idol involved, played incorrectly or not played at all.
The best tribal council of the series involve not one, not two, but three horrible moves: two hidden immunity idols incorrectly played and a flip that shocked the whole tribe, half of which was devastated, the other ecstatic, nobody grateful (except sweet Jefra, maybe). It’s the Final 11 Tribal Council of Cagayan (2014).
The build-up to this tribal council was interesting to say the least. Kass and Sarah were on the same alliance, the post-swap Aparri tribe. Entering the merge, they did have a slim 6–5 advantage over the post-swap Solana tribe.
Naturally, as majority of the old Aparri tribe was in Solana, they were recruiting back Sarah to their side, essentially making her the swing vote. Sarah called it the Perfect Sarah Sandwich. Oh, but Sarah couldn’t totally commit, which meant she wasn’t on board the Tony alliance anymore, and Tony read that correctly. However, over at her post-swap Aparri alliance, Kass was wary of her and how she was perceived as very important person for that vote.
While the majority alliance was figuring out who to vote for, Tony or LJ, Kass was irritated by the fact that it should be Sarah’s way or the highway. “Who made her the queen?” Kass confessed.
Trish sniffed this crack like a hound and exploited this, talking to Kass instead. It was one of the most amazing subtle moves of the season, nay the series, knowing Kass wanted Sarah’s swing vote position and serving it to her in a silver platter and more. “Who do you want out?” Trish asked. “Sarah.” Kass answered rather coldly yet sharply.
At tribal, the center of discussion was big threats who were good at challenges. Couldn’t touch Woo, he had immunity, which left LJ or Tony, the majority alliance’s two choices. And then, in one of Tony’s classic moves, he brought out an immunity idol and claimed he’d play it for anyone in his alliance. Cut to Tasha and Spencer saying “the other one”, apparently switching their vote.
Cue the Agua Caliente musical score.
Tony naturally played the idol, but played it for LJ flashing a big move. At the last minute, LJ held up the reading of the votes and said he’s going to play an idol for Tony, too. The looks on everyone’s faces were ridiculous. Jefra and Woo almost celebrating, Tasha and Spencer trying hard to have a poker face. But when the first vote came up, Tasha and Spencer were now smiling, while Jefra and LJ had to bury their faces on their palms. The majority alliance voted for Jefra, pulling a Stacey move from Fiji (2007), targeting a third person instead of the obvious two.
The second vote was against Sarah, a mild shock now to the majority alliance but not so because they had the numbers right? It’s five votes Jefra, five votes Sarah, one vote left. And when the deciding vote was revealed, it was another turn of emotions for the opposing alliances. Spencer went from his gotcha face to WTF face in a matter of seconds.
The post-swap Solana alliance won that battle which left everyone blindsided. And I really do mean everyone. It was only Kass, and probably Trish, who knew what was going to actually happen. This was literally a roller coaster of emotion, from misplaying idols to premature celebrations after another to the reveal of the flip, and eventually the flipper.
Because of this tribal council, a new rivalry was born as well, paving the way to this iconic line:
It’s one of the most entertaining tribal councils of all time, and one that I really love to dissect.
That episode and its tribal council perfectly encapsulated that anything can happen on Survivor. You may think that you’re in the majority so you have the power, or you are in possession of an idol so you have the power, but truly the power lies in the subtle moves in the background of everything spectacular. And it’s Trish that made this move happened, for post-swap Solana to take the majority from the post-swap Aparri. Those horrible moves at tribal councils were just icing in the cake; everyone was truly playing the game, making this season one of the greats.
Runner-up: Final 12 Tribal Council, Survivor: Cambodia (2015)
