Oh my god, Yau-man totally rules. Yau+Earl 4evah.

3 Top Chef chefs are opening restaurants in New York.

But the only winner I wanna see on Sunday is Yau Man. He is playing this game for all that it's worth.

I'd like Yau-Man to win but I'd like to see Cassandra win more. Because while Yau-Man has been playing a fine technical game, it's been showy and aggressive and public and it almost lost him the game last night. Cassandra's manoeuvring has been subtle and informed and the best of anyone's for getting to the Final Three.

But Cassandra is such a non-tryer in the challenges. She gives up so fast. I don't see her as playing the game so much as riding actual players' coattails. I realize that IS a style of play, but not one I like to see rewarded.

But Cassandra is such a non-tryer in the challenges. She gives up so fast. I don't see her as playing the game so much as riding actual players' coattails. I realize that IS a style of play, but not one I like to see rewarded.

This, exactly. She doesn't so much strategize as smile and nod.

But Cassandra is such a non-tryer in the challenges.

I think it's more that she's neither athletic nor challenge-minded nor any good at them, really. I see challanges as yielding aids to the players rather than as an intrinsic part of the game; players want to win the challenges because it'll give them an advantage come tribal council. Since Cassandra has played so well in the essential parts of the game, she doesn't need to win challenges.

I don't see her as playing the game so much as riding actual players' coattails. I realize that IS a style of play, but not one I like to see rewarded.

My way of looking at it is that the aim of the game is to make the final and take enough jury votes to win. If you're capable of Yul-type maneouvres or Ozzy-type immunity streaks but know that a quiet, non-threatening game will hand you the win, then that's the best game to play. Like, if the best way to win a game of soccer is by lying down on the pitch for 90 minutes, then it's foolish to play otherwise. For all Yau-Man's number-crunching, deal-making and alliance analysis, his technique would have had him warming a jury seat were it not for Stacy's and Dreamz's stupidity. I'm not saying Cassandra is a Survivor supremo capable of everything nor that she's playing a game the jury will appreciate; I'm just saying that the game that wins, whatever it may be, is superior to the game that loses.

Also, I think she has contributed a good deal to her own survival. Had she not secured Dreamz, her alliance would have been long gone. Had she not fostered so many side pacts, she wouldn't have the options she has now. She's thinking of who is best taken to the final, the pros and cons of arriving there with them and which remaining players are going to hurt her chances. Her strategy has been remarkably similar to Earl's except she's better at it because she's shows more foresight and awareness to contigency than Earl.

She doesn't so much strategize as smile and nod.

Her social skills had, up until last night, made her the power-broker in the game. She was held in confidence by four of the remaining five, one of whom used to dislike her enough to make her an outcast in the beginning. Compare that with Earl and Yau-Man's treatment of Boo, a player in search of an alliance, who, inexplicably hasn't been wooed.

Plus Cassandra got everyone of the questions right in the challenge about knowing the other contestants.

I think that was a pretty good feat and not just luck. She's quiet so she's not getting a lot of side interviews like Yao Man or Earl have.

It'd be really funny if Boo were able to sneak in and make it to the final 2 at the very end.

Also, Edgardo, Mookie and Alex, when they still thought they had the numbers went after Cassandra (before Earl and Boo) because they had identified her as being the most dangerous. And it was stupid because the way she was dangerous was the same way she wasn't going to be voted out. Which is, er, the best way to be dangerous.

I don't hate on Cassandra. I think she's playing a very smart game. She was smart last night to flip on Yau Man, too. But again, that wasn't her plan, that was "Dreamz" plan. (I can't figure out how to make that name possessive!) Cassandra is riding coattails, which I guess is a strategy, just not one that I'm overly fond of.

I just think Yau Man is playing a better game. I don't think Stacy's comments at tribal council were what tipped Yau Man and made him play the idol. He had already told Earl that he was uneasy and felt something in the air back at camp. And Earl was still believing at that point that Stacy was all set to go gently. I think Stacy's comments at tribal might have finally made Earl wake up, but my bet is that Yau Man already had guessed that something was up because he's been a couple of steps ahead of this game for a while now. I like Cassandra's game, and I might even like her a little bit more than Earl for the win right now. But for my money, Yau Man is outplaying everyone.

I don't hate on Cassandra.

Oh, I wasn't saying you were.

But again, that wasn't her plan, that was "Dreamz" plan. (I can't figure out how to make that name possessive!) Cassandra is riding coattails, which I guess is a strategy, just not one that I'm overly fond of.

Yeah, but is agreeing to another's proposal when it's something you've previously considered, is beneficial to your long term game and when you wield the most influence over your voting bloc, riding coattails? I have no problems with riding coattails as a strategy but, for me, that means being a low ranking member of an alliance whose leaders ignore you to dump perceived threats. Cassandra hasn't been ousted because she is being ignored, she hasn't been ousted because she doesn't want to be. I mean, Dreamz was pretty adamant about voting Yau-Man out before Alex and Cassandra put the kibosh on that. What she has wanted, for a long time up until now, has been what has transpired.

I don't think Stacy's comments at tribal council were what tipped Yau Man and made him play the idol. He had already told Earl that he was uneasy and felt something in the air back at camp. And Earl was still believing at that point that Stacy was all set to go gently. I think Stacy's comments at tribal might have finally made Earl wake up, but my bet is that Yau Man already had guessed that something was up because he's been a couple of steps ahead of this game for a while now.

I agree; Stacy's significant misjudgement was in not faking a scramble as a distraction.

But for my money, Yau Man is outplaying everyone.

I feel that Yau's doing the Survivor equivalent of overwriting a novel: viewed individually his actions make sense but overall his strategy has been mistaken. He's simultaneously made himself an unattractive opponent for the final and an unattractive player to rely on.