Tonight’s episode of Survivor Gabon reminded my, once again, why Survivor has made it through seventeen wonderful seasons. One of the longest running reality show sitcoms out there, spawning a reality show revolution in the U.S. when it was first aired in 2000.

And sure, a lot of that can be explained away by the fact that reality television, introduced cheap television. Producers jumped at the fact that they were now being shown a way to not only make their audience feel like a personal part of the game (if only they just apply), but the amount of money spent on set, scripts, etc. completely flew out the window. What’s not to love?

If you take a closer look though, Survivor is something more than just a production-cheap show. Instead, it’s a way for audiences to simultaneously live through the hardest and yet most rewarding moments one could possibly have, with all of the beauty a country like Africa has, without once having to fear being bitten by their own snake. Over at my house, we have plenty of rice.

Specifically this evening was set apart in it’s ultimate greatness by a few different highlight moments. The first came during the second challenge when host Jeff Probst announced that the teams would be randomly paired up in a log roll face off working towards earning individual immunity. Easing the audience into seeing the teams meld together led to the anticipation that a merge was next on the agenda and would surely be Probst’s “second surprise.”

A surprise indeed, the tribes were instead told that instead of just one immunity up for grabs, the teams would be kept separated and Marcus, having won the challenge would choose a member of his opposite team, Fang, giving a gift of safety to Sugar. (After sending her to exile island for the 5th time in a row and breaking a show record, Kota sure does like to toy with players minds.)

Seeing as only Marcus and Sugar had immunity, both tribes went to council. A first in U.S. Surivor history to my knowledge. Correct me if I’m wrong.

Proving that what she lacks in physical ability she makes up for in intelligence, Sugar teams up with Crystal and Kenny to take out an unsuspecting Ace. While he may have been her strongest alliance, she knew well enough how close he was to stabbing her in the back and saved him the trouble. Not bad pin-up girl, not bad.

Kota’s tribal council was a lot less interesting. It was obvious and unsurprising that both lackluster Susie and the unstable Dan were on the chopping block. Due to the most minute of fears, Dan headed home just in case he was carrying exile island immunity from his brief stay there. I foresee some anger from that one when the cast-offs are asked back to place their own votes for the win.

As for my number one choice for victory right now? Marcus. We rarely see him, but that just means that right now he’s boring and otherwise golden.