The tribe swap is one of those exciting moments each season in Survivor, where the course of the game completely shifts. For some, it’s a lifeline that saves them from having been in a terrible position on their old tribe. For others, it’s a not-so-subtle reminder of how much luck is needed to get far into the game, as by the luck-of-the-draw, some players are knocked from their position of power and are left trying to figure out their next move on the bottom of their new tribe.
One thing is for sure though: Somebody gets voted-out after every tribe swap, meaning that the tribe swap always claims a victim. This season, that victim was 29-year-old marine animal trainer, Morgan Ricke, who pretty much nobody thought was in any danger this week.
If you missed any of the action, you can catch up with our Episode 3 Recap, as well as checking out the Podcast below.
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Morgan Ricke entered the game on the purple tribe and was seemingly in a good position, as her tribe went on to win the first two challenges in the game. But on Day 7, a random draw of buffs changed up the game. On the surface, it still didn’t seem to affect Morgan all that much – she was still placed on a tribe that had a majority of original purple tribe mates, 5-4. But the growing rift between Domenick and Chris was just too much to overcome, and it led to some cracks in what could have been a solid majority alliance. Once purple lost the Immunity Challenge, things became even more interesting when Chris was randomly selected to be the one to go to Ghost Island. He was going to be the target, so the move basically saved him, and it left the rest of the tribe searching for a new target.
Because Domenick was feared to have a real Idol (in addition to the fake one he was flashing around), the minority alliance of Donathan-James-Libby-Jenna decided to put their votes on the unsuspecting Morgan. Angela – who was loyal to Chris but who would have gladly voted along with her purple pals – was never made to feel comfortable enough, so she cast a rogue vote towards Libby. Because of this, the minority of four became the majority, and just like that, Morgan was out. And yes, one of the votes against her was from Libby, whom Morgan had thought she had developed a deeper bond with in the game. As it turns out, you can’t trust anyone on Survivor.
I had the chance to speak to Morgan today on the FilmSurvivor Podcast (the full audio of which you can find and download at the bottom of this article). But here were some highlights from the interview:
MORGAN INTERVIEW
On how much (bad) luck played a factor in her being voted-out:
Morgan Ricke: I don’t really think I made a lot of mistakes in the game, so yes, I do attribute a lot of it to fate, luck, chance. It was sort of like a double-whammy with dropping our buffs and having to draw rocks. I feel like I was very strong physically, I felt like I had a good social game and I made those connections right off the bat, which was proven by Jacob giving me his Legacy Advantage, you saw how hard it was for Libby to vote me out last night…it was just an unfortunate double-whammy.
On why she chose to will her Legacy Advantage to Domenick:
Morgan: It was either between Dom or Wendell, and I was super-close with both of them. But I felt like I had more of a connection, a stronger connection, with Domenick. We’re the two that built fire every night, we never slept on the bed, we would stay up talking at night, we would talk game, we would look at the stars. We just had a bond, I sort of felt like I was the Amber to his Boston Rob. Not that I didn’t love Wendell, I just felt more of a connection with Domenick.
For much more from Morgan Ricke, including my full interview, please listen to the latest episode of the FilmSurvivor Podcast below or by clicking here.
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Photo Credit: CBS/Monty Brinton/Robert Voets/Timothy Kuratek/Jeffrey Neira/Michele Crowe
