SURVIVOR: BLOOD VS WATER – 10/9/13

So off to Redemption Island we go and John is reunited with Candice. Not much to mention here, the only thing we learn is that Candice thinks John is too trusting of others. Come on, guys, give us some dirt!

At Tadhana, the tribe (mostly Brad) is celebrating the blindside of John. He seems to relish in the fact that he orchestrated it, which – to me – doesn’t seem to be the best play. Sure, be glad you pulled it off, but don’t rub it in everyone’s face. Show a bit of compassion to the guy who was an ally and a benefit to your tribe for 8 days. And even if you don’t mean it, at least make your tribe think you have a heart. The “Sole Survivor” is chosen for many reasons, one of which is how they’ve treated everyone else. Once again, Brad thinks he knows how to play, but every day he proves that he doesn’t.

At Redemption Island it’s on as soon as Candice enters the arena. In addition to flipping the bird to Brad, she calls him out for his actions, tells him not to even look at her, and then calls him a child. I’m sure all this “abuse” is doing nothing to Brad (ex-NFL player…attorney…husband!) but I’m sure it makes Candice feel good about herself. (Again, this may be a hint of why her tribe voted her out first…?) Her particular issue is that he “shushes” the women. But since John can’t really corroborate that, it just appears to be more sour grapes on her part. However, John does raise the point that everyone who’s been voted out of Tadhana has been decided by Brad, so he’s got that working against him…

“Maybe it’s time to knock the king off his throne,” John quips.

We’re finally ready for the Redemption challenge, where Candice, John and Gervase’s Niece have to maneuver a football-shaped float along a rope with a key attached to it while balancing on a wooden structure. Once completed, you unlock a bag of puzzle pieces and have to assemble what looks to be a fairly complicated block puzzle. By the looks of it, the puzzle appears to be the hardest task in the challenge, as all three seem to handle the maneuvering part quite easily. John is kicking a** and just seems to figure it out too easily. I can’t recall a challenge where a contestant just flew through it as quickly as John does. And while Candice starts out slowly, er, methodically, we quickly see that Marissa has hit a wall and puzzles are not her thing. Even with Gervase trying to offer some advice, it’s falling on deaf ears. And when you’re trying to figure out a puzzle, is someone yelling at you what to do really that helpful…? Candice blows past her and comes in second. The power couple is safe, Stink Eye is going home.

With the victory, John is now given the opportunity to give away another hidden immunity clue. You’d think this would be something that John would mull over and think through. Nope. We find out who wears the Survivor pants in this family as Candice immediately tells him to give it to Monica. He doesn’t even have a reply for Jeff why he’s doing it. I guess, “Because Candice told me to…” wouldn’t sound right…?

And okay, I get that you think that giving Monica the clue would instantly put a target on her back, hence getting a bit of revenge on Brad, but really, this just seemed like an amateurish move, and not very well thought out. More of a reaction on Candice’s part than a cultivated decision. Don’t they know this is Survivor? You always need to think about whom to give these things to…

So then we find out who wears the pants in the Culpepper family as Brad instructs his wife to throw the clue in the fire. Which she does with much aplomb. Once again, I understand that having an idol may be a negative thing, but why not keep the clue, share it amongst your tribe, and use it at a possible merge later? I see why she did it, but I don’t agree that it was the best move. Who knows which decision is better? I guess it doesn’t matter as this happened 5 months ago…

Everyone departs and we head over to Redemption Island (or shall we call it The Blue Lagoon?) where Candice and John seem to be in a better place than anyone else. While the other survivors are stuck playing the game and wondering what moves to make, John and Candice are like newlyweds on their own deserted island. They get to “play” the game the way they wanted to play it – together – and are probably bumping their most impressive uglies at night. Or day. Or whenever they want. Just as long as the cameras aren’t rolling, right guys!? Hell, if I was there with my wife, we’d be running around naked like Brooke Shields and…Richard Hatch…until our next victim arrived. Can somebody please check to see if Candice is expecting a child next February? If so, I wonder what was really “conceived” on Redemption Island …?

Day 9: Galang tribe, and Monica is trying to understand why everyone hates her husband. Yeah, she’s probably been drinking his Kool-aid for so long she doesn’t see how much of an a**hole he can be, and based on his command to burn the clue, she probably goes along with whatever Mr. C says.

“Leaders have followers,” she explains. “So if that’s the case, someone’s buying what he’s selling.” She’s obviously justifying his a**hole tendencies…

She continues to impress upon her tribe that Brad is probably “up first, catching fish, making fire,” to help his tribe. Which may be all well and good, but my problem with her saying all this is, THIS tribe doesn’t need to know what THAT tribe is up to. And they probably don’t care. The more Monica justifies the actions of her husband, the farther from her tribe she places herself.

At Tadhana, the tribe is apparently surprised at how personal Candice took things, and Brad tells us he’s been a target his whole life. Okay, not sure if that’s accurate, but let’s just go with it. And then, while Brad is out fishing, Caleb, Hayden and Vytas discuss how awful it would be to be “Johnned.” Translation: Brad will screw you over. I don’t want to get screwed over. As Caleb puts it:

“Brad’s the bottom guy on the totem pole.”