Like I said, this next merge episode involved a fake idol. It may not be the first season you think of when you hear this so let me reveal it. This is:
CHINA!
Admittedly, the set-up was somewhat interesting for a merge ranked this low. Probably the most positive aspect of it tbh. See, China had what might be the worst twist in survivor history 2 episodes prior to the merge where each tribe could kidnap 2 players from the other tribe. This resulted in Aaron and James going to Zhan Hu and Frosti and Sherea going to Fei Long. Zhan Hu threw the first immunity as new tribes in order to get rid of Aaron. The goal was to go into the merge 5-5 and send Aaron and James home. But then Zhan Hu felt bad about doing the same to James while Todd almost simultaneously gave James his HII for protection in case they threw another challenge. He also told James where Zhan Hu's HII was so he ended up with both going into the merge.
Unfortunately, that's the high point of this merge scenario. James had 2 HII and had no intentions of staying with the 3 Zhan Hu. What made it worse was that Frosti didn't have interest in flipping back either. So this left the 3 Zhan Hu screwed for this episode. Now Jamie did have a fake idol that was brought to tribal council and I believe she played it, but honestly, it wasn't as funny as Eliza's to really save it from being a terrible episode. It was pretty clear most of the episode that Jamie was going to be the one going unless she won immunity. Jamie was someone that was somewhat significant, I'll give her that as the unofficial leader of the Zhan Hu alliance and really the one connecting Erik and Peih-Gee.
The impact of this episode is also rather weak. It really didn't have a big effect on the rest of the season. To be honest, this tribal was really just a filler before the decent ones actually happened. Todd and Amanda did do some blindsides but Jamie's departure really didn't have a direct effect on that. Peih-Gee and Erik also never really escaped their roles despite sticking around for a few episodes.
Overall, the set-up for the merge had potential but I think it quickly got squashed of any possible interesting merge episode once James got both idols and expressed his distaste for Fei Long. There were a couple of interesting vote-offs after this but none of them really had any connection to Jamie's boot. Losing Jamie was missed for later in the season and she was a decent player but the fake idol thing wasn't funny enough for me to really carry it up over other pointless merge episodes.
Stay tuned for #26! Hint- the person that won the first individual immunity made it to the finale
Borneo
Australian Outback
Africa
Marquesas
Amazon
Pearl Islands
All Stars
Vanuatu
Palau
Exile Island
Cook Islands
Fiji
Micronesia
Gabon
Tocantins
Samoa
Heroes vs. Villains
Nicaragua
Redemption Island
South Pacific
One World
Philippines
Caramoan
Blood vs. Water
Cagayan
San Juan Del Sur
