This episode has been the most interesting episode of the season so far in my opinion. There were multiple plot twists and game changers that were unexpected. The episode starts with Natalie very upset with her “alliance” because they voted out Jeremy last episode who was basically their leader. She was very upset and wanted Jon to go home for being a traitor and a liar. This encourages her to find the hidden immunity idol with the clues she has. Natalie succeeds in finding the hidden immunity idol which will get her further in this game which she has been playing very well for the last twenty eight days. The reward challenge is won by Jon, Jaqueline, Alec, and Reed. However, Reed gives up his reward for Missy because she has yet to win a challenge and hasn’t eaten well since the merge. This may have been a mix of both good nature and strategy by Reed. Going into the immunity challenge Keith verbally expresses what we have all seen these last few episode which is some people feel so comfortable and safe in their alliances that they no longer feel the need to try. This is evident when Jon steps off the pedestal after only seven minutes into the challenge and from there everyone steps down for tempting food except for Reed. This leads Wes to regret stepping down after he is sent home because he realizing the chicken wings weren’t worth a million dollars.
The groups motivation is very obvious, it is the point of the show, a million dollar reward. What reed did in this episode was amazing and if it weren’t for Natalie motivating Jon to play his hidden immunity idol he would have been sent home. Reed convinced one alliance that everyone was splitting the votes between Wes and Keith and in reality his alliance all agreed to vote out Jon. What he did was so great because he motivated diverse personality types all to do what he wanted. Up until the end of the episode Reed had control of the whole game. As we have seen previously with Jeremy and Josh, Reed i displaying his interpersonal need for control in this group. As much as this chapter does have insightful information I do not feel like it directly relates to the episode or even the show. I believe this because the chapter is very much about what motivates groups how to keep groups motivated and ways that groups can motivate each other. In this show the motivation is ninety nine percent focused on the million dollars and very self motivating. No one else is there to help some one else win. The only part of this chapter I believe relates directly to the text is the information about a sense of choice which states “they engage in critical thinking and engage in agreed upon strategies for acheiving their goal. Every member knows what he or she is expected to do. members communicate frequently in an effort to share information, discuss issues, and make decisions.”. I believe this description sums up survivor. Also because everyone in survivor need to feel a sense of choice in an alliance to know that their opinion matters and to take advantage of the opportunities.