The Survivor Research Project: Ep 9

They finally merged this episode, but not before some cleverly edited scenes contrasting poor Stephenie's solo struggle at Ulong and Koror's rumbles of discontent as people get on each other's nerves. On the one hand, the desolation of solitude, on the other, the despair of not having your personal space. Quite brilliantly handled.

Stephanie's arrival at Koror introduced a new element to the alliance forming. Coby talked up a storm but was not shown to do anything to try and break up the Koror 5 of Tom/Ian/Katie/Gregg/Jenn. In the end, the picture is not a lot clearer for us, as we are not yet sure where the Gregg-Jen part of the equation stands. Jenn wants to vote off Stephenie, but it is foreseeable that Gregg/Jen might need her vote to oust the Tom/Ian/Katie alliance, which Gregg had already seen as being at the core of Koror 5. Unless Gregg/Jen can get Caryn on board, where would the numbers come from now that they have lost a potential ally in Coby? Caryn is an unknown quantity in all these. She was close to Coby and yet she voted for him to go. I wonder if she has made an agreement that we had not seen. I am discounting Janu because tonight's vote showed that she is clearly not in the main discussions on voting strategy, although that might change next week. Unless she gets a second wind, though, she might not be interested in participating anyway.


ST: Screen Time ; Im: Impression Left ; Lk: Likeability

Stephenie
ST: 5 (lone Ulong survivor shown struggling to find food, tend fire, fetch water all by herself at camp, in the middle of alliance discussions after the merge)
Im: 5 (what a strong competitor. She confessed to being scared and worried about being alone, but never whined about it. Her relief and joy at learning about the merge was quite affecting. She was also thrown straight into the mix after the merge. )
Lk: 3 (I still don't care for her earlier displays of self-entitlement, but I have never respected a Survivor female player as much as I admire Stephenie. I give her a lot of credit for not breaking down and giving up, as many would have done in her place. Over at Koror, she made (or remade) friends quickly, and you could see that she could genuinely get along with these people in a way she couldn't with her Ulong tribesmates. Perhaps her failure to play the social game in her old tribe had something to do with this)

Caryn
ST: 0 (so strange that she is being kept hidden, although we are down to the jury now)
Im: 0
Lk: 2

Coby (voted off Ep 9)
ST: 5 (major bitching about everyone, especially Tom and the fishing/baiting incident, complete with dramatic eye rolling. He also figured prominently in the politicking shenanigams, with complete lack of subtlety in the way he approached Stephenie and poured out all the tribal secrets to her. It seemed he was ready to go down in a blaze of bitchery.)
Im: 5 (he's certainly a "character", if nothing else. He admitted to being cranky, which might have explained the uncontrolled bitching tonight, and probably led to his own demise)
Lk: 2 (I found him too much to take tonight. He was almost determined not to like anyone and could not accept even niceness as anything other than "kissing butts". I lost respect for him tonight.)

Gregg
ST: 1 (took part in the finish expedition, but otherwise quiet)
Im: 1
Lk: 3.5

Ian
ST: 3 (caught up in the whole "should Coby come fishing/ should Ian stay baiting" rubbish. Some commentary on Coby's huffiness and an amusing couple of lines at IC.)
Im: 3 ("I would take off my clothes for peanut butter and chocolate" - hahaha! An excellent mimicking, and possible mocking, of Jenna M and Heidi's infamous "strip for food" performance in the same challenge in Amazon. He has a sense of humour, this one.)
Lk: 4

Janu
ST: 1 (talked about by others, more than she talked. Was depicted as ready to go, which she readily admitted to during tribal council)
Im: 2 (memorable for seeming to be at death's door)
Lk: 2 (if she is ready to go, perhaps they should be merciful and let her go. She really seems to have given in, not even being able to muster up enthusiasm to greet Stephenie's arrival. Where are your manners, lady?)

Jenn
ST: 3 (shown talking to Stephenie, along with Katie. Interviewed about how she perceived Stephenie as a threat and her preference to vote her off early)
Im: 2 (she talked about something akin to strategy, for a change.)
Lk: 2 (A bit of the competitive, possible bitchy side of her was shown today, although she is right to feel threatened by Stephenie. I still think I know very little about her. )

Katie - Koor
ST: 3 (shown a couple of times geelfully participating in the gossip-mongering in an all girl gaggle with Stephenie and Jenn. Also a couple of confessionals talking about Coby's blatant seeking out of Stephenie, and explaining that Jenn wants to vote off Stephenie while Tom and Ian want Stephenie to stay.)
Im: 3 (she obviously is gregarious, and has a tendency towards exaggerated expressions and exclaimations.)
Lk: 2 (she's like the eye-rolling, always-talking friend who might be exhausting and irritating at times, but is generally entertaining enough that you don't mind having her around, even if she doesn't do much other than being entertaining.)

Tom - Koror
ST: 4 (involved in the fishing/baiting disagreement with Coby, a hilarious show of drunken falling down after too much rum and an IC win)
Im: 4 (it was quite funny to see mighty Tom stumbling about in a drunken stupor. Other than that, I think think he showed with the fishing/baiting incident that he has a certain deterministic streak in him, in that he sees that things should be done in certain ways for certain reasons, and he is not easily dissuaded)
Lk: 4

Previews for next week look fascinating. Someone will be sent off somewhere to live on their own if they are the first to bail from a challenge. I wonder how long that enforced exile would last. It'd be interesting if they sent that player to permanent exile as long as he/she is not voted off, only getting back with the rest of the tribe for challenges and tribal council. But surely that is too cruel even for Mark Burnett.