SURVIVOR: BLOOD VS WATER 2 – 11/12/14

Jonclyn is discussing the situation, but it’s more like Jon is beginning to feel the pressure of having to actually PLAY THE GAME. This would have been the 3rd Tribal in a row that they are in the middle of two alliances, and he’s starting to feel like they’re not just playing the game, they’re just blindsiding people. Which, as we all know, may not be the best course of action for culling jury votes at the end. At least he’s showing he has a conscience! Jaclyn, on the other hand, is fine with all the blindsides:

“Oh well…” she says about it.

But as long as everyone’s coming to them looking for their votes, that means THEY’RE not being targeted, so that’s the bright side to this very dark situation. As it stands, Jeremy should be going home soon, unless something dramatic happens and the game turns again. Gee, that never happens on Survivor…!

And do I even need to mention that Jaclyn is the new eye candy this season now that Julie is gone…? Bow-chicka-wow-wow… Thank God they don’t do Survivor: Alaska!

But we’ve got an incredible Reward Challenge ahead. Holy s**t, look at the size of this monster! And when Jeff says, “Are you guys ready to get to today’s Reward Challenge?” You wonder if anyone’s ever had the stones to say, “You know, Jeff, not really. Can we do it a little later…?” But, since Keith is the only one with something better to do (wanna take another nap, buddy?), we’re gonna run this bitch…!

The Challenge consists of teams doing some stuff that will take too long to describe. Let’s just say it’s a bear of a challenge and the important thing is they’re playing for tacos! And booze! The schoolyard pick produces the following teams:

Yellow Team
Keith
Natalie
Reed
Jeremy
Wes

Blue Team
Jon
Alec
Baylor
Josh
Jaclyn

Since Missy was not picked, she has no shot at the reward, unless Jeff throws a twist at us. Funny they didn’t give her the option of choosing a side and partaking in the reward if that team won (they’ve done that before) but maybe they didn’t have enough beer to go around. Or more likely, this is Missy’s punishment for cooking all the damn rice! You should have been rationing that stuff, woman!

So why would they even have a challenge like this when there’s an odd number of players? Seems kind of shi*ty. And since this is happening AFTER the last Tribal Council, this odd number would have existed even if Julie hadn’t quit. Something’s funky going on here…

Whatevs.

In the challenge, I’m thinking the teams are pretty even, with a slight edge going to the Yellow team. Not to be sexist about this, but the Blue team has 2 women, and the only woman on the Yellow team is Natalie, who has proven her strength. Plus, they have Jeremy and Wes, so I’m giving the early nod to the Yellows. However, there is a puzzle aspect to the challenge, so let’s see which team is smarter than the average bear…

As expected, the Yellow team has a slight edge in the first half of the challenge since that requires brute strength. Jon and Alec are doing what they can to keep the Blue team in it, but the girls seem to be slowing them down. The Yellows get to the puzzle-making section first, but when Blue reaches that point, they’re able to catch up a little because they can see how the Yellow team is building their pyramid. The Yellow’s lead is diminishing as the puzzle is almost completed, but they’re strength advantage proves too much to overcome as they complete their puzzle and hoist it up the tower first. Yellow gonna get shi**y on beer and margaritas! Oh, and yeah, they get to eat tacos too…

One last order of business is they get to send someone to Exile Island, who will be going there alone. They select Jon, because everyone’s sick of how much he’s kissing Jaclyn. Or…they think he’s strong enough to handle it. You decide.

So as the Yellows head off to get borracho y loco the Blue team heads back to camp. “I got nothing for ya…” Jeff tells ‘em. And while Missy loses out on enjoying the reward, at least she isn’t wiped out after such a grueling challenge. So, good on ya, Missy!

Over at the taco bar, it’s clear the Yellows are a mixed bag of two alliances so there really isn’t any strategizing going on. Keith tries to break the ice by claiming that had Julie not quit, she would have been going home; but from Jeremy’s sideways glances, you can tell he’s not buying it. Jeremy gives him credit for “playing the game,” but he also confesses,

“…I don’t think he’s very good at it.” Jeremy is pretty perceptive…

And then we get the comic relief of the night as Wes is shown ordering more tacos, and more burritos, and more drinks, and then he gets a dose of the #TacoOverload. Not sure if he’s going to burp, or hurl, or pass out, and there’s a good chance he’s going to do all three. He wanders away from the bar to “give something back” to Nicaragua. It’s all in fun, and the others seem to be getting a kick out of it, especially Keith.

“Who the heck raised him?” he quips…

Back at camp, the challenge losers are eating snails and broth and trying to keep their spirits up. Josh is not as bummed that they lost the challenge, because it gives him an opportunity to speak with the people he needs to, namely, Baylor.

The two of them take a little walk and Josh immediately hits her with, “I think you owe me one because I stuck my neck out for you a couple times.” And while that proposition may seem legit in the real world – or maybe it wouldn’t – this is Survivor. And does Josh think that Baylor is so easily swayed?

Evidently not, because she tells us that this side of Josh is really annoying to her since he’s a Christian and the son of a pastor. She was raised that a favor is done with no reciprocity expected, so this whole “Tony Soprano” Josh thing is not sitting pretty with her. She checks herself and tells him that her concern is that he’s trying to steal her vote, to which she’s not happy about. Either way, Josh can read between the lines,

“I’m pretty fed up with Baylor.”

When they return to camp, he’s now chatting with Jaclyn about what just happened with Baylor but she tells him not to worry because Jonclyn is voting with Josh, not against him, AND, they have Missy and Baylor believing that they’re going to vote against Josh. So they’re covered both ways. Josh says he’s cool with seeing his name written down, but he doesn’t want to go home. So it looks like we have the seeds for a very interesting Tribal coming up later…

Over at Exile Island, Jon is feeling the pangs of being apart from his true love. Oh my God, it’s been like 45 minutes since he’s seen her! How’s he going to survive?! After a good cry, Jon heads to the “camp” to find out what’s all the hubbub, bub… He knows that being apart from Jaclyn will give her the opportunity to build some new relationships, and it’ll give her the appearance of standing on her own two legs, not just going along with him. Because as we all know, you never want to be seen as a tag-a-long in Survivor (didn’t we start calling that “being a Gervase?”)

Jon reads the clue at the urn and it’s surprisingly different than the ones we’ve seen before. This one is a riddle that seems to indicate an idol is hidden here at Exile and not at camp. Jon does a good job deciphering the clue and guesses that it must be hidden near the spear of land that juts out from the beach with the big rock formation on it. While the tide is low, he’s able to search around the base of the formation, but is fruitless in his efforts. As the tide seems to be rising now, his only other option is the giant rock that towers above him. And after what seems like 15 seconds of searching, he spies a rock in an odd place and kicks it aside, revealing…a hidden immunity idol! Looks like Jon’s game just improved.

Huyopa camp (Day 21), and it’s Battle of the Sexes time! The lingering affects of the Reward Challenge have been “uncomfortable” around camp. Not just for Wes, who’s been burping and farting all night, but for everyone else, who’s had to hear him burping and farting all night. Evidently this departure from propriety is not sitting well with most of the girls, nor with Jeremy, who realizes there’s a time for “firehouse” behavior and a time to show some manners. Either way, this boorish behavior from Wes, Keith and Alec is starting to wear thin on the girls.

To make matters worse, Alec begins bossing Baylor around “like a slave” (as she describes it) and then tells the girls to “keep the fire going.” His comment that they – apart from Natalie – might have trouble completing that task does not sit well with them. His accusation particularly does not sit well with Jaclyn who thinks her vote (plus Jon’s) should be something that Alec’s alliance is lobbying for, so these signs of disrespect shouldn’t be occurring. Jaclyn confesses that “the guys” just lost her vote, and that “Jon can vote with them, but I’m not.”

Away from camp, Alec discusses with Keith that the plan is still to vote out Jeremy next, assuming he doesn’t win Immunity. Keith says he stills wants to speak with Jaclyn (at least Keith is showing he’s trying to play the game!) but Alec “knows” that Jaclyn will vote with Jon, and he’s got Jon in his back pocket, so Alec is feeling really good right now. Seems I’ve heard that from a Christy boy before…

The Immunity Challenge is up and once Jon rejoins the tribe, Jeff asks Keith for the Immunity Necklace back. (So, the show is really gonna do Keith like that!? He wins Immunity and they don’t let him use it in a VOTE! That seems really shi**y. I think there’s a Tweet to Probst or Jeff Schroeder in my future tomorrow!) But dadgummit, Keith is not gonna rock the boat so he gives it back without so much as a word. Well, maybe he said one word, and it was probably, “Dadgummit…” under his breath.

The challenge is one we’ve seen many times. Players will be shown a series of symbols and they have to repeat the correct sequence. Kind of like Simon, without the 4 x C batteries… Various memory/concentration games have been used on almost every season of Survivor, most recently it was the challenge that LJ “knew” he had right, but was wrong. No telling who might have an advantage in this challenge, since no one seems to qualify as being a “Brain” this season. (Although, did any of them last season…?)

Quickly, Jon is out. Either the crying took it out of him, or he knows he’s solid so he didn’t try. Or he’s dumb… Next, Reed falls. Dude, Jon just put up a Skull, how could you think it’s Pyramid? Wes and Alec fall on the next symbol, those chauvinistic pigs…

The 2nd round involves a longer series of symbols and everyone’s using their best mnemonic device to remember the sequence. However, Natalie is not and she drops out on the first symbol. Next, Baylor falls, and then Jaclyn. Only Josh, Jeremy, Missy and Keith are left. I guess the “old folks” are making a statement in this challenge, huh? Oops, I guess not, Keith and Missy fall out on the next symbol. We’re down the 2, and oddly it’s the two “leaders” of the competing alliances. Maybe there’s something to be said for all the mental work they’ve been doing over the first 21 days. Maybe it’s kept their brains sharp?

The next symbol is Temple and one of them has it right and one doesn’t. And wouldn’t you know it…Jeremy wins immunity. Let the scrambling begin…