The November 25, 2015 two-hour episodes—titled "Like Selling Your Soul to the Devil" and "My Wheels Are Spinning"—may be our answer to who will be winning
Survivor: Cambodia—Second Chance.
That winner may be…Spencer.
The two-part episode, resulting in the vote-outs of Ciera and then Stephen, struck me as one highlighted by a battle of wills starring two leaders with two separate paths to getting to the end of the game.
Jeremy wanted Stephen in the finals with him. Spencer, observing enough about Stephen, saw the need to eliminate Stephen for the sake of Spencer's game—which, for a time with Jeremy, might have seemed good as well for Jeremy (the false impression that Jeremy was willing to mislead Spencer into believing; perhaps it is accurate to say that Jeremy did do that for a while).
Spencer, having recognized prior to the first-part's Tribal Council, knew that Jeremy was adamant about eliminating Ciera. But, Spencer stood his ground by actually voting to eliminate Stephen.
At Tribal Council, we saw a result of six votes cast against Stephen: Spencer, Kellie, Abi-Maria, Joe, Keith, and Tasha. The other three (which includes Kimmi)—who flipped on their original Bayon tribe mate Monica weeks ago to spare Ta Keo originals Kelly and Spencer—cast their votes against Ciera and, clearly not willing to let go of Stephen, Jeremy revealed slightly his intention of retaining an end-game alliance with Stephen when he presented his hidden idol to host Jeff Probst on behalf of saving Stephen. (At the beginning of the second part, Spencer knew Jeremy's explanation was a lie.)
The undeniable truth came to light after Stephen, having won the Reward Challenge, actually explained why he was taking Tasha with him. (She's in his alliance. She voted against him, rather than against Ciera, and wanted her on the reward with him—so that Stephen could shore up any alliance weaknesses with Tasha. He actually said it!) And then, because he was allowed to take a third person on the reward, Stephen selected Jeremy. Shown having reacted to this, in addition to Spencer, were Bayon originals Keith and Joe (who was targeted, as some obsession, by Stephen while others didn't want Joe winning more immunities). And, with Kelley not needing any time to process the score (while Abi-Maria does), they realized the Final Four intention of Jeremy, Kimmy, Stephen, and Tasha. If Spencer, Kelley, Abi-Maria, Keith, and Joe were also interested in getting to the end, they had to counter that four-person group with their five. They had to unite.
The battle of the wills was won by Spencer when, not only with corralling the necessary votes, both Jeremy and Stephen came to him to explain how they were going to handle the upcoming Tribal Council vote: that Stephen would play his advantage—allowing him to void another player's vote (which would be Joe's vote) and Stephen would get to cast a second vote at the same time—and that they were going to split their votes equally between Abi-Maria and Joe. They wanted Spencer to vote against Joe so that three votes each would go against Abi-Maria and Joe. At Tribal Council, Jeremy and Stephen, with one of his votes, voted against Joe while Tasha and Kimmy voted against Abi-Maria (as did a votes-splitting Stephen). Spencer, Kelley, Abi-Maria, and Keith sent their collective four votes and knocked out Stephen.
Now that we know that the Spencer Group has wrested control from the Jeremy Group, I think we're going to be seeing Spencer, Kelley, Abi-Maria, Keith, and Joe send Jeremy, Kimmy, and Tasha out between 6th and 8th place. The hidden idol in Jeremy's position may delay his elimination slot by one; or, if he can mount an immunity run, he could move an additional notch further. While Jeremy is still there, who should also most definitely remain is Joe.
I think, if we're getting a Final Three, this is going to be between these United Five: Abi-Maria, Joe, Kelley, Keith, and Spencer. And, even though I am impressed most with Kelley—especially her magnificent hidden immunity idol surprise in the November 11 episode (which eliminated Andrew with three votes to her voided nine)—throughout this
Survivor, it's very feasible for the winner of
Survivor: Cambodia to end up becoming Spencer. But, hey, wouldn't it be cool if Joe—so dismissed by
Survivor Geeks for not being a mastermind strategist (but just merely a Challenge Beast)—were to come out on top and win this game?!
Picture This:
1. Spencer
2. Kellie
3. Abi-Maria
4. Keith
5. Joe or Jeremy
6. Jeremy or Joe
7. Jeremy or Kimmi
8. Jeremy or Tasha
Spencer-for-the-win votes would likely come from Andrew, Kelly, Stephen, as well (alphabetically by first name): Jeremy, Kimmi, and Tasha.
)
