I do feel a little late to the party, but I did spend the past half hour or so reading over some of the
Mariche board and all of the confessionals. I'll probably read over some PM conversations a little later on because I am curious about some of these guys' conversation styles, but for right now I just wanted to get a general sense of what is going on over there in terms of tribal dynamics and such.
I haven't really looked over anything over at the other tribe, but I do think that this tribe could go either way, either super crazy, chaotic, and unpredictable, or super straightforward and boring. I could seriously see about ~6 of these people potentially being the first boot over here, and with Sarah being immune as well, that's saying something about how these first couple of rounds could really dictate what happens over there.
So let's break it down:
General- seems to pretty well-intentioned, and he seems to be one of the only people over there who doesn't really have a huge ego. Right now I like that he wants to make some personal connections with everyone, making sure he is in with everyone, and kind of just floating along and just eventually just letting whatever alliance he'll be a part of just fall into place. I mean, it's not necessarily super exciting, but who am I to criticize someone's game for being too safe and boring pre-merge? It worked for me
Peter- is just kind of whatever for me. I haven't read any of his PMs but he doesn't seem like someone who excels in the social aspect of this. Right now I don't think he'll do anything special. I don't think he'll be the first boot but I think he'll definitely be an earlier boot. Overall, I think he's probably the least aware of the shit that's goin' down over at Mariche, the one most strategically disconnected, and although I don't think he's the least-liked, I think he's the one who has had the hardest time connecting well with at least one person.
Vecepia- ok lol. Like, it just seems like she's Jolanda 2.0? And that could either be a good thing or a bad thing. Right now, she's kind of playing hard right off the bat, but no one really thinks anything of it. She's almost like a hybrid of both Jolanda incarnations, in that she isn't well-liked at all, kind of like how Jolanda was despised at the beginning of Patagonia, but she does seem to have a strong ally in Sean, and if they kind of don't recognize that and don't get rid of her as soon as they can, she could end up running the tribe, like how Jolanda essentially ran original Chorotega, and later nuGuatuso in Costa Rica through her strong partnership with Ibrehem. She didn't really give me a whole lot in her confessional though, we'll see.
Sarah- It will be interesting to see how being the Cacique affects Sarah's game. It definitely seemed like she wanted to stay off the radar, but she recognized that she had the what it takes to pull off being the leader, got into everyone's good graces, and would've probably been safe to the merge regardless of whether or not she took the Cacique role, and now she's probably put herself into a position where she could piss a lot of people off, and be a target once the merge hits. It'll just be interesting how the tribe reacts to Sarah sabotaging everyone else's games, and if they will still back it up once they learn that she didn't really do it by her own choice.
John- although he didn't really confess too much, I just see something in him and I like it. He really was the only person to challenge Sarah's leadership (because let's be honest, Peter is kind of a joke) and he didn't get it, and it's really interesting because Sarah hasn't really addressed it at all after the fact either? John seems to kind of have a bigger ego, and him not getting to be leader could hurt him, since he did kind of show that he was here to play, he just didn't luck out with the whole immunity til the merge thing. Right now, I think he could be a target, I think Pat is for sure gonna target him, but I think John has it in him somewhere to do what he needs to do to get to the merge and potentially shake things up. He's a wild-card.
Sean- I actually don't really like that much. Maybe I'm just not giving him enough credit, because he does seem well set-up, but he seems kind of aggressive as well, and has really led the charge to get a majority alliance going at all costs. He's not taking it slow at all, he's basically attached himself to Vecepia, who isn't popular at all, but then again, it could all work! I think he could take control of this tribe should everyone just lay down and let him take control with this weird five-some he's proposing, but he'll be a target come merge time. He just seems like someone who's super loyal and that could turn off the players from the other tribe. I think he's kind of delusional in thinking that he has things kind of on lock right now, and would feel comfortable losing the challenge, but everyone could really blow up in his face too.
Gabriel- Gabriel is a big surprise for me, because not gonna lie, I wasn't expecting much from the Redditors, but he seems like a completely likable guy, he gives great confessionals, and he seems to be pretty well-connected to everyone on the tribe. I don't think there's anyone that doesn't wanna work with Gabe at this point. Sarah and him could be the pair of the season, it'll be interesting to see if their bond stays strong after Sarah starts fucking everything up though. Regardless though, I'm excited for Gabriel. I think he has a great head on his shoulders, and isn't a target, so I think he will make it super far in this
Patricia- Is entertaining. I think she's super righteous in her assessment of the tribe, and I think that under different circumstances, she could have flourished in this tribe. However, she showed up late, and although that puts a target on your back, I think she didn't do too great a job trying to diffuse the target off her back. She definitely seems to be scrambling to get into some kind of power over at Mariche, and people seem kind of hesitant to work with her. Like I said, I haven't read any PMs, but I'm sure Pat is still doing well socially, but she does have the "didn't show up the first night" stigma attached to her now, and that doesn't sit well with a lot of people. I do think she has some good ideas though, and could take over this tribe should everything go in her favor, but right now, I'm a little skeptical. And her not being able to make it to the challenge doesn't really help either.
Gina- I actually see the most of Kim Mullen's game in Gina, but I do think that she'll have a bigger uphill battle than me. I kind of lucked out by being one of the better social players on my tribe, despite showing up late, and was able to diffuse the target of my back for at least a little while, but Gina kind of just doesn't have it lol. No one seems to really like her besides Patricia, and although I have low expectations for this alliance succeeding, I am rooting for these two so hardcore. I do think Gina's done a good job in at least assessing what is going on, and what she needs to do to get past the first couple of votes at least. Like myself, getting to the merge might be a struggle for her, but if she makes the merge, I'm sure she will be golden.
Tribe Ranking1. Gabriel
2. Gina
3. John
4. Sarah
5. Patricia
6. General
7. Vecepia
8. Peter
9. Sean