Since you have already seen the episode: What did I think of it?

Disclaimer

As a gamer, if I were in this competition I would have one mindset: I am going to win $100,000. I have the ability to split friendship from business. Attempting to win $100,000 is the equivalent to a business project to me. My friend(s) would have to know going in if, I get the opportunity to take him/her out, I will. I would expect my friend(s) to do the same. Friendship and competition does not necessarily mix well for some people. There can only be one $100,000 winner.

Ciji

Poor girl, she is too focused on Dante (a fellow competitor she knows personally and has a crush on) and it makes her overly emotional (and annoying). His presence shakes her up. If she does not refocus, she will not last very long. I see where this is going. Dante is going to end up telling her to back off and leave him alone because he is not interested. She is going to be hurt, jealous of his friendship with Alyson and cry. Yawn….we will see how it goes but I see a triangle situation coming.

Dante

Dante is not a “professional” gamer. He is allegedly a good gamer but does not have a professional status like Swoozie or Robert. That would make one think he is in over his head. This week he had the challenge of singing a Rock Band song he obviously never heard before. Putting aside the fact he is not a singer (none of them are) he did well under pressure. Dealing with pressure is a key asset for success with tournaments so he might be a wild card. He did not actually “play” anything this week so his gaming abilities are still unknown.

He is making a mistake (in my opinion) by becoming friends with Alyson. If he begins to like her, he will have a harder time eliminating her later.

Swoozie

Swoozie won the first place slot this episode. That did not surprise me at all. Personally, I think he went far in the competition because of the changes he made in his life (stopped doing weekly videos, bought himself Samsung products, etc.). I hope he does not regret taking Robert out when he had the chance.

There can only be one winner. Unless Swoozie has a history with Robert where he knows he can beat him, there are no guarantees they will be on the same team and even if they are, the one on one scenario will eventually happen at the end.

Robert

If he is a true gamer, he will not let his “friendship” with Swoozie get in the way. If I was Robert, I would be grateful (and surprised) Swoozie let me stay in the game but when the opportunity came…I am winning the $100,000. I do not know much about Robert but he does not seem to type to do the same thing Swoozie did if he had to make the same decision. To me, his request for an alliance at the beginning of the show was a trap. If he is as good as he claims he would not need an alliance with anyone (an alliance that loses its foundation the closer they come to end game). I am going to keep watch on that as the show progresses.

In the end….

Unless I am missing something obvious, Robert was way more of a threat than JD to Swoozie come end game – if they had to face off one to one and the game is not DoA. The obvious choice for Swoozie was using Ciji to take out Robert early on (I am assuming Swoozie knew this, which makes his choice more interesting). Ciji now has a weak spot because her “best” game is Rock Band, making her vulnerable on the other games. Swoozie could probably over-take her. Although Swoozie said JD is a strong contender, he picked the weakest choice for Rock Band to save his friend Robert. JD is not as versatile in gaming as Robert is. I like JD and I wish JD lasted longer in the competition.

If the final game is DoA, and Swoozie just happens to make it that far (especially if Robert makes it that far as well), I call foul right now. What are the odds of that happening for anything other than ratings?

In business, not taking out Robert when Swoozie had the chance would most likely be the choice that would either:

• Make Swoozie have to work twice as hard to reach his goals.
• Severely cripple (if not destroy) the company’s chance for success.

Instead of using strong moves to put the odds in the company’s favor, Swoozie’s decision places “luck” too strongly into the equation.