Brilliant and Boneheaded 'Survivor' Plays of the Week: Stand By Your Alliance Member

Warning: This recap contains storyline and character spoilers for this week’s episode of Survivor.

Survivor is a game of backstabbing, betrayals, and throwing other players under the bus.

But it can also be a game that turns on a simple act of kindness.

After last week, it seemed that Ta Keo’s Old School alliance — Kelly Wig, Peih-Gee, Terry, and Woo — were doomed. Jeff decided to throw his vote with the New Kids against Vytas, and they had the numbers to rule the tribe until the merge.

And then Abi happened.

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Abi is one of the biggest drama queens to ever play Survivor. Any encounter with her can change the course of the game — and that is just how it goes down this week. The main casualty is Shirin, though Spencer is also wounded since he’s Shirin’s main ally.

Thanks to Abi’s dramatic fireworks, these two went from the top to the bottom in just a few days. As Spencer himself noted, Abi can be a “deathly cancer for an alliance.” His words come true as Shirin is voted out — with Spencer seemingly not far behind.

Boneheaded Play of the Week: Shirin

It’s a no-brainer to give this to Shirin, since she got voted out. But she still would’ve got it had Spencer been eliminated.

Sure, Abi is unpredictable and just a little crazy. But if you’re going to be in an alliance with her, show her some loyalty. Peih-Gee starts talking smack about Abi to Shirin, and instead of defending her ally, Shirin skulks away.

That leaves room for Terry to fill the void to comfort her. And while he does acknowledge doing so could help him in the game, he also does it because he’s a genuinely nice guy. He’s kind.

Abi instantly transfers her loyalty to him. It’s something Shirin should recognize; she did the exact same thing in Worlds Apart. She latched onto Mike, because he was the only one who was nice to her.

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Instead, Shirin rides high, confident in her crumbling (unknown to her) alliance. After Ta Keo loses another immunity challenge, though, she starts to get an inkling that Abi isn’t on board. She tries to apologize and plead with her, but Abi isn’t having it.

Shirin and Spencer see the writing on the wall and desperately hit up Woo, who’s just incredulous that they’re trying to get his vote — even though it’s the first time they’ve bothered to really talk to him.

The two are despondent, but accepting, at Tribal Council. Spencer makes one last-ditch effort to appeal to the other tribe members, promising he’ll stop strategizing so much and actually get to know them as people. Maybe it works, because he stays and Shirin goes home.

Brilliant Play of the Week: Jeff

Now, you might say — why not give this to Terry, whose action in befriending Abi turned the game around for the Old School alliance? That’s very true, but it isn’t an (entirely) strategic move.

Instead, let’s tip our hat to Varner. We were a little baffled by his vote against Vytas last week, but it seems he did that to wake up the Old Schoolers into action. He even admits to Terry, and immediately starts scheming against the real threats in the Ta Keo tribe — Spencer and Shirin.

Though he couldn’t have predicted Abi’s meltdown and Terry’s kind gesture, Jeff quickly jumped on working it to his advantage. The morning after the argument, he talked to Abi about aligning with Terry and the other Old Schoolers. He corralled everyone else after the challenge loss. Jeff could’ve found himself in a tough position after “defecting” from Old School. Instead, he’s orchestrating everything. He wanted to play a different game this time? Well, he’s doing it!

Power rankings (Ta Keo): 1. Jeff, 2. Kelley Went, 3. Terry

Power rankings (Bayon): 1. Joe, 2. Andrew, 3. Jeremy

Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.