With zombie-eyed creatures spying at them, Hunahpu returns to camp (Night 10) after voting out Drew. Jon instantly goes on a “that Drew guy was crazy, huh?” diatribe, since he knows he’s up a creek right now. Some in the tribe are given him sideways glances, aware that this is his only play right now; but Jeremy is finding the “apology tour” amusing because he knows that Jon knows he’s in the crosshairs now, which puts Jeremy in a very good place. Let’s see how that tribe swap is going to affect both of them. I think the show is setting us up with a few “I’m in a good place” or “I’m screwed now” scenarios, to lead us into the tribe swap. Those clever editors…
The next morning at Coyopa, Tree Mail announces they need to head over to Exile Arena. It’s slightly better for Coyopa to not have to do the “walk of shame” (where the other tribe sees who was voted out), but as Josh tells us, it just sucks to see which of their loved ones was voted out. Alec knows there’s no chance that Drew is gone, so he’s looking forward to the opportunity to knock his brother in the teeth at the challenge today. Boo-hoo, he’ll be so disappointed…
At Exile, Coyopa files in and takes a seat for the big Hunahpu entrance. “Shocked” is the word of the hour as Coyopa seems more emotional that Drew is gone. Jeff asks Alec for his take on this, but he just reveals how little he knows of this game,
“I don’t get it; I think Drew was one of the best players they had over there… Maybe they saw him as a big threat…?”
Baylor adds that she saw Drew as a popular guy who was “really good at every challenge…”
And just like that, please lower Alec’s and Baylor’s IQ scores about 10 points each. Because A) Drew wasn’t one of the best players (he was a self-absorbed slacker) and B) the guy who just threw a challenge is not “really good at every challenge.”
Look, I understand they had limited exposure to the dynamics of the other tribe, so their assumptions could only be based on time at Exile, challenges and pre-Nicaraguan intel… Josh, again the voice of reason, says what we’re all thinking. That before the tribes head to Exile Arena, they always discuss who they think has been voted off. And especially when there’s a big blindside, it affects even THE OTHER TRIBE. Evidently, NO ONE on Coyopa thought Drew was going home, so this may be the first game changing move this season (and no, Rocker getting voted off doesn’t count because we knew he’d never go deep in this game).
Jeff says, “Alright, let’s get ready for another shock…”
“Drop your draws…”
And with that, Josh and Reed… Oh nevermind. Let’s go to a commercial…
Jeff asks Kelley how it would feel to be paired up with her dad, but her answer is sort of a, “we came out to play with them, but now that we’ve played against them, I don’t know…” So Jeff flips it to Jeremy and asks if being unencumbered is a good place to be. His also gives kind of a bulls**t answer, and it’s clear that no one wants to say anything detrimental BEFORE they choose new tribes. Maybe if you ask them after, they’ll give better answers? Even Josh (What! The voice of reason!?) won’t answer Jeff’s question and just gives us a mugging “I don’t know…” when asked how he’d feel playing with Reed. Reed, as always, is silent…
New buffs are selected and the tribes are now:
Coyopa
Dale & Kelley
Missy & Baylor
Jon & Jaclyn
Keith…
Hunahpu
Josh & Reed
Wes
Alec
Jeremy
Julie
Natalie
Jeff astutely points out that we have a tribe of “couples” (+ Keith), and a tribe of “singles” + “Reesh”? “Joed?” “Broadway?” We’ll figure out a nickname later…
Jeff asks Keith how he’s feeling right now and you know Keith is no spin master. He’s gonna tell it like it is. “This sucks,” is essentially what he says. “I feel like a “Josh in New Orleans…”
Let’s get back to what I was saying earlier about how the tribe swap could affect players. There’s obviously been some shifting in positions, so let’s review whose standing has Risen, Fell or remained Constant:
Risen:
Jon – went from the bottom to the top in one fell swoop. Gained the most.
Jaclyn – was on the outs 2 shows back. Is clearly now in a good place.
Baylor – 180 degree turnaround from before. This is good for her.
Fell:
Keith – duh, but he’s got that dadgum idol…!
Josh – from a power position to a target. Ouch.
Reed – went from being a non-player to a target. I’d say that’s kinda bad.
Missy – went from being secure to being possibly secure.
Jeremy – went from being a power player to needing to scramble. He’ll need to keep plotting. He’s turning out to be the “Tony” of the season.
Constant:
Dale – from being the next one out to being…maybe…the 2nd one out.
Kelley – we’ll never know if she really was a “snake,” but she seems to be okay.
Wes – was in a power position, now will need to do some work. Perhaps a “Coyopa +1” (Reed) will form?
Alec – was in a good place. Now, he’s like Wes. Will need to work something…
Julie – was on the outs, but now may be able to latch onto a new alliance. Jury is still out on her.
Natalie – I’ll put her here, but I still don’t think she has any chance in this game.
As the new tribes exit, Jon confesses what we already know, the tribe swap was a game changer for him, and it came at just the right time.
Well I couldn’t ignore the visual about Josh “going deep” in the game. Thanks for that Mr. Fish! I also noticed the muddy boob shot of Julie, who had that sour puss fish face going for the entire episode. Notice, no boob shots of Natalie….Also, Baylor and her mom are really annoying. I also don’t get why they voted out Kelly and not Dale. Maybe the old theory that you keep the more annoying person around and if Missy and Baylor hate him, then that helps Jon-Klyn (get it Jon + Jaclyn)? The whole rice thing is really stupid too. Like you said, Isn’t the show called survivor? Aren’t they supposed to be hungry? Maybe they should have a food reward challenge? It better be a good punishment otherwise teams will eat all the rice from now on… We better get a good rain storm soon too!
Hi kinb! Glad you appreciate the same things as I do… Yeah, they don’t seem to play up Natalie’s sensuality, do they…? And I’ll agree with you on Missy, but not Baylor. They finally showed Missy in a bad way and she just came across as nasty to me. I can see why she’s thrice divorced. However, there’s something about Baylor that I find very appealing. IDK, just an innocence, longing, simple girl who isn’t pretentious. I could be way off, and judging by her music videos I’ve seen on YouTube, while she may be photogenic, she’s no songwriter. Why doesn’t anyone offer any help with that…? Whatev… I watched the Survivor Live with Jeff when Kelley was on, and it makes sense now. Evidently she was trying to get rid of Jon on Hunahpu, so now I understand why he didn’t want to work with her. And…Jon evidently was super close to Missy on Hunahpu (he used to call her “mom”) so that makes sense. Funny they didn’t show us any of that… BTW, I’ll refer to them as “Jonclyn” from now on… And regarding the rice trade, I’ve heard/read a couple possibilities: either the tribe will need to draw purple rocks to see who goes home or they’ll have to give up all their comfort items. Whatever it is, a precedent needs to be set that future seasons will need to abide by. If you ask for more food, someone goes home… However, you know that would get abused by a tribe with an unfavorable tribemate. We’ll see next week. Have a nice weekend!