Why I didn't like how last nights episode played out

First off, I want to be clear. This is no shade at Eva herself. Nor is it really shade at Joe, or Jeff, or anyone particular.

BUT, I feel that letting all that play out in the way it did, while its "bigger than the game", is going to have some seriously shitty repercussions on the game and discussing it.

We started to see it last week, but I feel after last night it will get worse for discussion. I feel like they've basically made it impossible to criticize Eva without people deciding you are "ableist" or something. I felt that from episode 1, but I feel it's worse now. Any negative thing said about her is going to be viewed as "you don't understand what it's like" or something. Having autism doesn't automatically mean you can't be a jerk at times.

Aside from that, as a fan of "competition" in general, I feel like it was kind of emotionally manipulating you into pulling for her. Not sure if anyone watches College Gameday, but they always do these human interest stories during the show in the morning about some person or team playing that day. They damn near always make me cry lol. But this would be like putting that package on directly before kickoff of their game. Like how can you root against this person now.

And then in game. We already saw Star just give Eva an idol, when 2 days prior they were enemies. If you think that whole thing won't affect the game moving forward, it's just not true. Both for Eva and Joe. I have a feeling it will make people far LESS likely to target Eva, and maybe even Joe. I feel like its also going to give Eva some "armor" which will protect her if she behaves poorly, where people are going to be far more forgiving than maybe they should be.

On a human level, I think watching that was a great moment. And I think had that speech and everything been done at a live reunion, or outside the game, I'd have loved it. In the middle of the game, I just think it changes too much.