After 34 seasons, Survivor continues to teach valuable real life lessons to us all. As I sit here writing this, I do not think I have ever felt this close to a group of Survivor players before. Tonight, we had the challenges and the strategy like usual, but we also were hit with something that just isn't a television show, it is real life for many people living in the United States.

Tonight at Tribal, Jeff Varner, had his back against the wall. He had just lost his main ally in Sandra, he had thought he could trust Zeke to help him out, he then was told by Zeke that Sarah and Andrea were going to be fake to him and tell him that they would vote with him to get Ozzy out. Zeke, however, did not want to vote out Ozzy because he wants to have threats around him, ala Jeremy Collins. By Zeke wanting to protect Ozzy, this made Varner think that there might be a secret alliance between Ozzy and Zeke so he informed the girls and it was looking like Varner might pull it off. In Varner's mind, he thought Zeke was being deceptive and to show that he outed Zeke as being Transgender. Immediately, that was when Varner punched his ticket to Ponderosa. Everyone, even Jeff, turned on him at Tribal Council and there was a lot of good dialouge back and forth. Varner also apologized over and over again with Sarah being the only one that really didn't forgive him. Lots of tears were shed and without voting, Varner was sent home.

Zeke sat tough through all of this and that is so admiral. He even seemed to forgive Varner. To me, that was one of the coolest moments. Zeke is a wonderful Survivor player and I completely sympathize with why he never told anyone in his two seasons of Survivor that he was Trans. He stayed strong throughout this whole thing and I am happy he did. Survivor forever has been bringing people in from all walks of life to play the game together and I am happy that someone like Zeke is no exception. I support Zeke as both a Zeke fan, a Survivor fan, and a Life fan.

What I really don't want to happen though is to crucify Jeff Varner for what he did. Yes, this was a mistake on his part, but let's put ourselves in Jeff Varner's shoes for one moment. The man loves Survivor. I have read many interviews, listened to him on RHAP, and seen his Social Media. I don't know if I have ever been more happy for a person than I did when he got voted into Second Chance and almost tripped up the stairs because he was so excited to go back for the first time since Season 2. It has weighed heavy on him that he has never made a Jury in his two seasons of play. He even mentioned it on this season. The guy was desperate. He just wanted to stay. So to show that Zeke was a liar, he outed Zeke. On the surface, this is so bad, but I am going to infer Varner's mind set. Jeff Varner is a 50 year old Gay Man that has been out for awhile now. He is probably used to being around people that are the same as him. What I notice as a College Student is how drastically out of touch some of my older superiors are with certain things that the younger generation. Jeff Varner is no dumb guy and this could be something normal to someone his age. Him being older he thought he could understand, but really he couldn't. He knows he screwed up and he made it known. I am not defending Varner for doing this because he was wrong and should'nt have said anything, but let's not crucify him for making a mistake. Varner doesn't hate Trans people and that is that. I hope that nothing, but support comes both of their ways.

The other very human moment that will probably get lost in the shuffle is Mana's breakdown after losing the reward. It starts with Sierra saying she cried before she got out there because of what she was about to put her body through. Aubry then agreed and gave a great confessional explaining that people don't understand what it is like to go out there and play the game. People notice that these players change when they get back. This is what led to Cirie breaking down as well as Brad Culpepper. Culpepper really poured his heart out about how Monica had changed when she got back and how he now understands. By this happening, it really solidified Cirie and Aubry coming into the fold with him Troyzan and Sierra.

This moment was so revealing that these are actual human beings and not just television characters. I felt like I got to know these players more personally than I have ever before. Yeah we've had people with issues at home and what not, but this is these people talking about themselves and their own psychology. Survivor is so hard on someone emotionally and physically and I probably will never understand the magnitude of that, but nevertheless, Thank You Mana tribe for giving us one of the realest glimpses into what it really means to play Survivor.

Usually I'd give an MVP of the week, but I am going to give 3 this week. First, from a game stand point, Brad Culpepper. The guy has done such a 180 and has so many people on his side. I can't wait to see what he does post-merge. Second, to Zeke. Zeke sat there and dealt with the situation so well and I along with the rest of the Survivor community embrace him for who he is. The last, is the actual show Survivor. Like I said before, there is no realer television show on air right now. Yes it is a game, but life lessons will always be apart of this show. This is real life and it is important that we never forget that we can always learn from ours and other's mistakes.