You have to admit that he deserved it. Tyson Apostol, the professional-cycling, possibly Mormon goofball from Survivor: Tocantins was blind-sided last night at the height of his arrogance. He spent most of the episode handing down verbal beatings to the good-hearted Sierra Reed for no other reason than to rub in what appeared to be her inevitable fate. It was unnecessary psychological warfare, and Tyson’s karmic retribution was swift. It was also the product of sound thinking from J.T., Stephen, Erinn and Taj. Tyson had to be voted off. He was a physical force, the likes of which that could have won every physical immunity challenge from here to the end of the season. Those four jumped at the chance to eliminate Tyson, Coach’s upcoming wrath be damned.
What happened last night is exactly why Stephen and J.T. kept their alliance options open, and it is why they are in the driver’s seat on Survivor: Tocantins. Debra and Coach are on the outside looking in and, while the previews for next week’s episode showed them attempting to bring back the Timbira alliance, I fear it’s too late for them. If I’m Sierra, I’ll side with the people who saved me, rather than the ones who voted for me two tribal councils in a row. Regardless, I’m looking forward to the fireworks next week.
I really liked Tyson for much of the season. He’s an infectious personality, a funny guy, but probably a little too full of himself. When you have that kind of personality, the kind that others really gravitate towards, you need to use it for good. When you try and turn everyone against one weak player, you end up looking like a huge jerk, which is what Tyson ended up becoming last night. I can understand asserting dominance over someone who deserves it when they’re put in a tenuous position. But, to verbally assault a girl like Sierra is nearly unforgivable. Whatever you think of Sierra’s intellect, she’s appears to be a genuinely nice person who works hard. She wasn’t cruel to anyone, and was the victim of Coach and Tyson’s jackassery all season. I was actually beaming with happiness while watching Sierra’s stunned reaction to being saved during last night’s tribal council.
Some of the best parts of any Survivor seasons are the power shifts from episode to episode. The three Jalapao members should not have had any say coming into the merge, but they’ve ended up running the game for the past two weeks. Interestingly, the power now lies in the hands of arguably the game’s two weakest players – Erinn and Sierra. They now have a grand opportunity to set themselves up for weeks to come. The question is whether or not they’ll take the opportunity to team up. As evidenced last night, those two ladies don’t particularly care for each other.
It was a bit of a shaky start, but Survivor: Tocantins is turning into a pretty darn good season. I have no idea where the season will go from here, which is a always a good sign for Survivor.
-Oscar Dahl, BuddyTV Senior Writer
(Image Courtesy of CBS)
Senior Writer, BuddyTV
