People might cheer about Tom's elimination, but I think this might be one of the worst eliminations in terms of satisfaction, as the only one comes from the external reason that many had had enough of Tom, and that's all.

Since Tristan/Dunia's elimination music played during the elimination, this was supposed to be an emotional moment to wrap up the relationship between Tom and Natalia. However, it ended up sounding pathetic on both sides: Natalia decided to burn up her entire game, to the point Benji and Lake are both onto her, while Tom knew that a tie-breaker was the only way to survive the elimination, yet he decided to throw that away because he couldn't vote for Natalia.

It's just a shame how Tom's storyline ended up because this might be his last season, and they decided to go with the "Oh, but I am a winner already because I have you in my life" route when we are talking about one of the least sympathetic characters remaining in the competition. Plus, this elimination made it clear to me that Tom should've gone in EP13 while letting Ally stick a little longer in the competition, since the entire Tom VS Natalia thing in the merge was POINTLESS (something Gabby played a part in, by the way). 

I don't have any faith that Gabby will suddenly be better because Ally exists, so we all know she hadn't eaten her side of cake after Benji's first elimination, so I doubt there will be another "independence arc" from her, especially after her constant switch-up in roles (sometimes supportive, sometimes immersive in her thoughts). Hence, from how I see it, from a narrative point of view, Tom's elimination is meant to push Benji and Lake, setting them as potential endgamers, as both characters had narrative similarities, a foil of the other when it comes to talking about character vs gameplay (Spencer is only Lake's opposite, by the way). All I see is painting Tom as the biggest target, so Benji would get a glow-up while Lake would finally start playing for good. But when it comes to Tom's character, this elimination did no wonders for him, and the same could be argued for Natalia unless she gets something different in the future episodes.

Honestly, you could swap Tom with Ally, who would've been a more suitable threat for the game's current state: Tom would be eliminated without being Natalia's fault (technically, it's the same thing that happened in EP17 anyway) while still concluding their relationship, Ally would start becoming a threat that adjusts her loyalty to the better position until she cooperates with Benji in EP16's elimination (Rosa still going home) but then Benji goes for her because her flipping tendecy makes her a big threat, while Lake still try to set-up Natalia's elimination by convincing Ally, things like that. There's a lot they could've done with Ally, but they've chosen to keep BOTH Tom and Gabby in the game, and the result is that the most awaited moment for a lot of people ended up being narratively unsatisfying.

This line in the same episode is crazy work