HOLLYWOOD—Well, we are officially now in the merge stage of the game on “Survivor 43” after that ‘fake merge’ last week. This week’s episode, ‘Bull in a China Shop’ witnessed the fallout of Jeanine realizing she just got blindsided at Tribal Council when Elie was sent packing. We have our tribe merge name Gaia. Jeanine realized she was on the bottom and has to adjust her game, as Noelle gave advice on how to move forward. Dwight and Owen chatted about working together, and Gabler became a target because of his wildcard status. We did get confirmation from Gabler that his idol is indeed expired, so not sure if that will save him longer.

Merge mail announced that they will compete in six pairs of 2 to compete for the upcoming Immunity Challenge. Hmm, that sounds very dangerous and concerning for me people. This is changing the game people and perhaps NOT in a good way. This would leave me quite concerned as a player. The tribe decided to utilize rocks as a way to determine their partner. This challenge was being run in three stages, so if you don’t pass the first stage you’re out; if you don’t pass the second stage you’re out. Wow, there is a lot more risk with this IC and I’m not a fan of this because your fate is in the hands of someone else.

That net looked twisted people and not in the best way, as Sami was more concerned about Noelle’s wellbeing versus moving onto the next leg of the challenge. It is apparent that Noelle is not a target to be booted at Tribal Council based on the edit I’m seeing so far. Owen & Gabler, Cody & Dwight, Ryan & James and Cassidy & Karla were competing in the next obstacle, which was quite fun as anyone could have one, but Karla fell and James dropped the blank.

So Cody, Dwight, Gabler and Owen were now competing in a challenge of holding onto buckets with 25 percent of their body weight. It came down to Gabler and Cody, and I feel this is Gabler’s to lose, but his constant chatter is a bit much for me as a viewer. As predicted, Gabler out lasted Cody and he’s safe people, now the game begins. Back at camp, names started to be pushed, as Cody, Noelle, Jesse and Jeanine wanted to target Ryan or James, but in the well, James learned about an advantage back at camp and he went hunting for it. So he refused to wait around finding that wicked advantage that has been the undoing for several players in the past.

James supposedly having something changed the game, but no one knows who has it. Noelle is pushing something that Jesse and Karla don’t love people. This is an interesting development, as Karla and Jesse realized Noelle is controlling the game and it might be the time to make a move, which Cody also picked up on it. Cody wants Dwight out and why? James found the Knowledge is Power Advantage and started singing to anyone who would listen. Cody is scared of you, Karla could be scared of you, and Cody gave his advantage to Jesse and Jeanine gave hers to Dwight. It is intriguing to see people pass things around. Owen received Noelle’s steal a vote people.

This feels like utter chaos people, I mean utter chaos with this potential twist. Oh, I am quite excited people to see what might unfold. At TC, Jeff brought up the Baka and Vesi potential alliance, and Dwight diverted that conversation, but it was too obvious people and questions about advantages came into gear. Really, everyone thinks the vote is going to go their way and we’re seeing nothing. Yeah, this Tribal Council vote feels like a bore for me. Really James? Why did you NOT play your advantage? Dwight, James, Ryan are the votes and it looks like Dwight just got blindsided people and Jeanine lost her idol people! So much for the switcheroo, oh, that was a delicious blindside, as Jeanine and Noelle found themselves at the bottom yet again and jury officially has started.

Interesting move people and I wonder how this will impact the rest of the game moving forward. Until next week “Survivor” fanatics!