So long, Brady. Usually, when someone is the first to be voted out after the merge on Survivor, we say that we hardly knew them because it’s usually not until a few episodes after the merge that the castaways start to emerge as individuals as opposed to just tribemates. In the case of Brady, we might be tempted to say that we knew him too well.

Brad was the dominant player during the first half of the season. He was big and strong and he competed even after chopping off a piece of his thumb with a machete. He was exactly the type of player that you want on your tribe when you’re having to compete as a group because he was strong enough to carry you over the finish line. On the other hand, Brady was also kind of dumb and more than a little arrogant and his habit of constantly bragging about himself got to be a bit much to take. If I had been on his tribe, I would have started to make plans to vote him out as soon as I heard him refer to the other members of his alliance as being his “Bradys.” Brady didn’t seem to realize that being so dominant in challenges would make him a natural target once the merge happened. The same guy who leads your group to victory becomes a threat once you’re playing for individual immunity.

So, I’m not surprised that Brady was voted out. He wasn’t a strategic threat but he was definitely a physical threat. The other names that were tossed around after the immunity challenge — Kilby, Kristen, and Eric — don’t come across as if they’re going to be winning a lot of immunity challenges. It’s easy to look at them and say, “Well, we can vote them out whenever we feel like it.” With a player like Brady, you have to take your shot when you can.

Still, Mike was right when he told Jeff Probst that he was lucky to be wearing his immunity necklace. Mike has somehow managed to make it to the merge without establishing any single strong personal relationship with anyone else in the game. No one trusts him. Until he won the first individual immunity, everyone was planning on voting him out. Mike himself awkwardly tried to involve himself in Brady’s plan to vote out Eric and ended up alienating everyone, including Brady. (Brady was not smart enough to hide his irritation which led to Mike joining the majority to vote out Brady.)

Tribal was chaotic. It’s difficult to coordinate 13 people and it was clear that quite a few people went into tribal with no idea what the plan was. Some people thought the tribe was voting for Eric and some people thought the tribe was voting for Brady. The best part of Tribal, for me, was Lewis asking why everyone was talking so much and it is true that there are some people this season who are very much in love with the sound of their own voice. (Devin’s psychobabble gets worse with each episode.) Brady obviously loved the sound of his voice but we won’t be hearing it again until the final episode.

By a vote of 9-4, Brady became the first juror. Carter, Lewis, Thien An, and Brady all voted for Eric. Everyone else voted for Brady. Brady seems to be genuinely surprised that all of his Bradys voted for him. He shouldn’t have been.