When Survivor teases a “tribal shake-up,” the possible scenarios that run through your mind can seem endless. Survivor: Worlds Apart completely abandoned the no collar, blue collar, white collar concept — a bit prematurely in my opinion — and merged three tribes into two, Escameca and Nagarote. They also threw in two tribal councils, but trying to predict anything based on a teaser trailer and limitless “What ifs?” is akin to pissing in the wind.

I’m glad the original Escameca went to tribal before the merge but disappointed that they didn’t vote out Rodney. Kelly should consider herself a traitor to her gender for letting that idiotic, misogynistic, juice head, mama’s boy Rodney stay over Lindsey. I think Max got a bum deal as well. His biggest crimes were spending too much time alone in the nude “strategizing” and having a plantar wart. It was Jenn who told him to stick his feet in that pot, Hali! Some alliances remain, others have been decimated and Sierra has the misfortune of being the only chick member of the new blue. Check out where each group stands and my pick for the survivor most likely to go home next.

Survivor: Worlds Apart Recap: Three Tribes Become Two >>>


Escameca

Sierra has the choice of dancing with the cute new boys (Joe, Tyler, Joaquin) or the sexist jerks who she came with. Of course, she’s going to ditch those zeros and go for the heroes, especially after Dan’s pathetic half-assed attempt at an apology for attacking her after tribal.

There is a dark horse, who could throw a wrench in the dynamics, Joaquin. He’s drawn to Rodney, and Joaquin has no allegiance to Joe and a tenuous one with Tyler at best. The original three Escameca boys may still turn on each other.

Let me take this opportunity to point out that if anyone made derogatory comments against someone of a different race, viewers and players alike would be outraged. Was I the only one who heard Rodney threaten to “spank” Lindsey? This guy has a total Jersey Shore meets Psycho (he loves his mother) vibe, and I do not dig it. If I could pick Rodney to go home every week, I would. Diatribe finished.

Mike has said he doesn’t trust Rodney, and who can resist Joe’s mad challenge skills and adorable dimples over Jughead, who singlehandedly manages to bring down the average IQ of the state of Massachusetts by a good 10 points?

Carolyn took the immunity idol with her, and unless the merge puts another one in play, that won’t be a factor.

One thing is certain, when it comes to challenges of both the reward and immunity variety, this tribe is stacked, so a good social game is going to be imperative. And Sierra needs to stop mourning the loss of Lindsey, man up and start playing a more aggressive game.

Nagarote

Nagarote has some problems. I hope that removing one annoying superfan, who also happened to be their only able-bodied male, was worth it. Carolyn had a hard-on against Max because she thought he had the charisma of some kind of cult leader? Really?! The guy had one follower, Shirin. That does not a cult follower make. It was a dumb vote.

Will may have been granted a stay of execution with the new arrivals, but this group is going to be at tribal council a lot, so after Shirin, he’s so outie.

Shirin is done, stick a fork in her. She’s got no chance at an idol, the woman works everybody’s nerves and she just lost her best and only ally. Her best bet for staying is a fissure in the Jenn, Hali, Will, Carolyn and Kelly alliance, which, after a few days, isn’t exactly rock solid.

Carolyn is tough, and she might easily begin to grate on Jenn and Hali. Here’s hoping she tells somebody about the idol and the rest are smart enough to flush it out, unlike the half-wits in her old Masaya tribe.

Will has to know that he’s a challenge liability, and being the only one left with a penis doesn’t work in his favor. He should also remember that Jenn and Hali have not hesitated to write his name down, and he would have gone home the next time the old Nagarote lost a challenge. Jenn and Hali may put old tribal alliances before girl power. They could keep the threesome going until the big merge since Jenn does have an idol — a fact I’m not sure she’s shared with her girl, Hali.

Kelly’s blowing with the wind right now, and she’ll vote with the numbers.

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Who Will Go Home?

Nagarote is going to struggle to win challenges against all those boys in blue. Without a doubt, Shirin will be out.

Survivor: Worlds Apart airs Wednesdays at 8pm on CBS.

(Image courtesy of CBS)

Jennifer Lind-Westbrook

Contributing Writer, BuddyTV

Jennifer has worked as a freelance writer in the entertainment field since 2012. In addition to currently writing feature articles for Screen Rant, Jennifer has contributed content ranging from recaps to listicles to reviews for BuddyTV, PopMatters, TVRage, TVOvermind, and Tell-Tale TV. Links to some of Jennifer’s reviews can be found on Rotten Tomatoes.