The next day at the first Individual Immunity Challenge we’re offered a game of Concentration. Jeff holds up a series of images and the players have to get the order right. Something about this seems a bit easy, with only 6 images to remember in the first round, but even remembering past 2 was tough for some people (Monica) and we see that food and sleep deprivation may actually affect your acuity. Maybe that’s a bit much, but after the first round, more than half the players are gone. Please, Survivor, can you give us a season of highly intelligent people so we can see some challenges go deep? I’m tired of watching one of the Real Housewives perform in these challenges.
So after dropping like flies, the challenge comes down to Vytas, Aras and Gervase; which sounds like a Greek Vaudevillian act from the Hellenistic period. And, after the second (!) round challenges them with 7 things to remember, Vytas wins and earns the first Immunity necklace. I wonder if that’s not going to bode well for his brother…?
Back at the new Kasama camp (kasama means “companion” in Tagalog) it’s game time as players begin scrambling for how the votes will play out. Aras is asking Katie, Gervase, and Tyson to split the votes between Laura M. and Ciera, and later Laura and Ciera discuss throwing votes to both Tina and Aras , thinking he may have an idol. Somewhere those two plans are going to cross, so I’m thinking the s**t’s going to hit the fan once those two plans are discussed more openly back at camp.
And THAT’S what we get as Gervase and Tyson do a quick vote check and tell us that their new alliance is gunning for Aras . That may be the best move for the remaining players, but you never know what’s going to happen at Tribal. Let’s find out…
Jeff brings up the one thing we haven’t really discussed yet and that’s when a player returns from Redemption Island they’re often sent packing at the first vote (a la Ozzy on Survivor: South Pacific…). I’m sure Laura is not too pleased for Jeff to be bringing this up now, but she already knew she’d be a target one way or another, so she dusts off her big girl panties and takes her medicine.
Other storylines to discuss are that there are 6 players in “couples” still left in the game (a majority) as well as there are 6 guys left (a majority), and there are original tribal lines, as well as switched tribal lines, so there’s a lot of ways this vote can go. Gervase offers the best advice that the way things are, you just need to stay calm and be ready to switch it up. As Katie said so eloquently…
“Game on, bitch…”
And it appears that it may be one of the ladies to taste the wrath of the Kasama tribe as Laura and Ciera split the first 4 votes. But, the Tyson/Gervase coup is about to blow up and Aras receives the next 5 votes and is sent packing. One bit of good news for him is that Jeff tells him he’ll “have a chance to get back into the game” as he heads to Redemption Island . So at least we’ll have Aras to kick around some more.
In the tease of next week, we get a taste of what Tina’s like when she gets pissed. And evidently she’s pissed that Tyson and Gervase turned on their alliance with her and Aras . It’s getting ugly at Kasama and next week looks to be a watershed episode. And we’re heading towards another Survivor/Fear Factor eating challenge, which are the ones I hate the most. It’s just so 10 years ago. There’s a reason Fear Factor got cancelled again, and these gross out events are one of the reasons… Please Survivor, stop doing them…
And finally, Aras arrives at Redemption Island and is understandably surprised. Not only did he think he was sitting pretty in the tribe, he’s also never been voted out so he’s a total fish out of water. He tells us what’s even worse for him is that he thinks Vytas will probably be joining him soon, so he’s not looking forward to that. Can’t wait to see how the second Redemption Island series will play out.
Until next week…
Fish
bryan.fish.fischer@gmail.com