To Keep Bhanu or Not?

We got the impression that Q and Tiff were strongly considering turning on Kenzie if the Yanu tribe went to tribal council. Let’s explore this decision that did not happen and what would have been the right move if it did.

Putting yourself in the middle of a three is a good place to be. With that logic, Q would be best keeping Bhanu and Tiff would be best keeping Kenzie, because it puts each of them in the power position where they’d hold the strongest relationships. That’s obvious.

What’s not obvious is the way Q approached the situation. He views Bhanu as his loyal soldier who doesn’t have Kenzie’s strategic chops. Bhanu might blurt things out at tribal council although he is far less likely to turn on Q. Kenzie might, because she is a more aggressive game player.

So what’s better: an ally you can trust who isn’t on your strategic level or an ally who might turn on you one day if they think it’s best for them?

I’m taking the ally who might turn on you. Survivor is highly complex and involves balancing so many different aspects of a social game that having a capable ally to do it with you is extremely valuable. Having a partner that helps you navigate the twists and turns, just like Charlie and Maria are doing over at Siga, is a good thing, even if you anticipate that said partner might stab you in the back one day down the line.

For Q, he might already have that partner in Tiff, which complicates the decision. I still believe the more strategic your ally the better. And if you’re nervous about Kenzie, put in the work to make sure she doesn’t turn on you. While it might be nice to think you can control everything, most players can’t, and if you have a capable mind playing the game with you, you’re more likely to control things.

The other issue with Bhanu is being more trustworthy doesn’t mean being more reliable. He is in fact unreliable. With Kenzie, the variable to manage is whether she’ll turn on you. With Bhanu there are way too many variables to manage any of them.

Rather the devil you know than the one who will tell all your secrets to Ben and Liz on a journey.

Tweet of the Week:

Player of the Episode: Ben

• Great lie about the journey. Claiming he doesn’t know whether he got an advantage or not adds uncertainty to his position and makes him more of a wild card to vote for

• It’s easy to spiral when things don’t go your way. He could have had Bhanu’s reaction to losing the challenge at the journey. Instead, Ben admitted that not everything is going to go right and used his misfortune as an opportunity

• He seems really fun to be around. He can be very dangerous if his level of “rock” outweighs how big of a threat people perceive him to be

Look Out For: Bhanu. Seriously. If you hit rock bottom, which he did, there is nowhere to go but up. He has nothing to lose at this point. When you’re not afraid of being voted out, your tolerance for risk taking gets way higher. That makes Bhanu dangerous and unpredictable. Also, Bhanu apparently has an uncredited appearance in 2023’s best Christmas movie, The Holdovers, so I had to give him something when I found out because that movie is excellent.

In Danger: Nami, the orange tribe. They all seem to hate each other. We need the payoff for the drama here soon. Who goes home? I have no idea but Tevin is well insulated and everyone else is fair game.

Until Next Time,

Kevin 🐍

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