SURVIVOR: BLOOD VS WATER – 12/4

Really excited to be writing this recap because of what’s apparently in store. As some of you may have seen in a commercial this week, some serious crap is gonna go down at Tribal Council, which is the “significant event” that Jeff Probst alluded to in that Hollywood Reporter interview back in October (which I shared with you in the Episode 6 recap). But rather than telling you what it is, let’s just let the episode unfold and see where we end up. Let’s get this party started!

After the recap, we see Hayden’s campfire announcement about Tyson that was teased last week. However, while it seemed in the tease that Hayden was exposing Tyson as the ringleader and placing a target on his back, tonight it appears that Hayden is being congratulatory towards Tyson…and placing a target on his back. This seemingly annoys Gervase, who thinks he’s actually doing something other than being the person that Tyson relays all the information to that’s been shared with him. But at least we’re seeing a division between Tyson and Gervase, who as I mentioned last week, are essentially running the game.

Tyson is also not a fan of Hayden’s revelation to the tribe, who wishes he hadn’t played the idol last week. Regardless, he’s pretty confident with his alliance, so he doesn’t think an immunity idol will be necessary come next Tribal.

And while Tyson may not have to worry about anyone at the next Tribal, I’ll tell you who he does need to worry about: those meddling kids at Mystery Inc.! I mean it, if you take another look at Tyson in that nighttime ITM, I could swear he’s one of those creepy characters from Scooby Doo who terrorize the amusement park pretending to be a ghost. His spooky eyes were freaking me the hell out…

“Zoinks! It’s Crazy Mr. Jenkins, the ride operator!”

But Mr. Jenkins isn’t worried about Hayden’s callout. In fact, Tyson and his alliance are so tight they’re deciding TONIGHT who they’ll vote out next time (Hayden). And if Hayden doesn’t win the immunity challenge, it’ll be Katie. Good thing we can just skip ahead to Tribal…

But let’s head over to Redemption Arena first for a little Tina-Laura-Caleb time. But before we get to the fun, Jeff notices that Caleb didn’t have much love for the tribe that voted him out last night. Caleb tells us he’s got no problem with Hayden and Katie, but he then calls out the entire state of Utah and the city of Philadelphia on how well they keep their word. Ouch. I think we could be headed to a new Civil War if this doesn’t get resolved soon…

Back to the challenge, and it’s an old favorite. “Stack up the house of cards (tiles) to 8’ high and you win…” I see they’ve added a caveat this time around. “…or whoever’s the highest after 30 minutes wins.” As far as I know, neither Laura nor Tina ever did this challenge, so we’re on an even playing field. No puzzle expertise needed…

And while it’s not a puzzle, Laura appears to be the only one making any progress. And we’re shown that after 24 minutes Laura’s stack is about 7’ (so why not just stop there and not risk knocking them down?) while Tina’s is at 3’ and Caleb’s still playing in the sandbox at 2’.

Hasn’t anyone ever seen this show before? I know that after, I don’t know, 4 minutes, I would have figured out a way to make the tiles stand up enough to make some progress. So it’s a little disappointing to see a grown man build a 3’ tower after 24 minutes. But hey, he was there and I’m typing this as my kids are screaming at each other in the other room…

Laura makes quick work of the last foot she needed, and wins the challenge. The race is on for second place with Tina having a small lead. But she then hits a roadblock and can’t get past one particular level, while Caleb has suddenly become a tile master and blows by her. While she continues to struggle to get one (bleeping) tier higher, Caleb is up near 6’. And with only 2 minutes to go…and now one minute to go…I’m going to tell Caleb the same advice I’m yelling at my kids:

JUST STOP!

But no. He jumps down to get even MORE tiles, so I am not the least surprised when his ENTIRE STACK falls with 30 seconds to go. Serves you right, Alabama , for calling out the good state of Utah …

So finally someone (Tina) is smart enough to just stop and smile as she counts down the challenge. Once again, the old ladies have beaten the young maverick… And as Caleb walks into the horizon, we can bid adieu to one of the better liked survivors of the season. You can truly see that everyone is fond of Caleb, not only for the way he played the game, but for the obvious happiness he’s found in his life.

Back to business, and Laura has a clue to hand out. Of course, she gives it to Ciera, who – surprisingly – keeps it! Looks like we’re finally at the stage where people are playing for themselves and not for their supposed alliance. Let’s hope this doesn’t come back to bite her in the ass…