SURVIVOR: BLOOD VS WATER 2 – 11/19/14

So let’s get to tonight’s episode, sponsored by Nestlé Crunch and the American Podiatric Medical Association…or your local Vietnamese nail salon. Something tells me the contestants’ feet are going to be pretty gnarly by now, so all those close-ups in tonight’s immunity challenge is going to be nasty. Let the games begin…

The recap reminds us how pivotal Jonclyn’s flop was against the Joshes. With everything looking like Jeremy was going home, the boorish behavior of the Honey Boo Boos coupled with Jeremy winning Immunity spelled doom for Josh. Now that Jonclyn have made it clear they’ve sided with the Jeremys, the gloves are off as the two alliances will fight it out for camp supremacy. We’re (currently) looking at:

“The Jeremys”
Jeremy
Natalie
Missy
Baylor
Jon – has hidden immunity idol
Jaclyn

Vs.

“The Other Joshes”
Reed
Wes
Keith – has hidden immunity idol
Alec

The tribe returns to camp (Night 21) and the impact of Josh’s departure is evident. Reed is furious, but doing all he can to hide it from the others. It’s not like showing everyone you’re pissed is going to help, and he’s watched enough Survivor to know when to shut his mouth. He decides he’s on his own now, even thought he’s still part of an alliance that could help him get through another Tribal. But, whatev…

Jon apparently took his stupid pills because he doesn’t know what to do anymore. “How do I go about talking to people now?” he says, before sticking his thumb back in his mouth. The trio of Missy/Baylor/Jaclyn has to seemingly coax him into relaxing, because he’s so worked up about how heavily they lied to Reed. He might just cut his wrists tonight. Another Survivor first!

What troubles Jon is that the only reason he decided to flip to The Jeremys was based on how Jaclyn was treated by the Honey Boo Boos when he was at Exile. To me, this indicates she wears the pants in this relationship, which may work in real life, but probably not in Survivor. (Uh, Jon, you do know she’s going to see all these secret confessionals, right?). His big realization is that he went against his instincts on this one, and that’s also not a good thing in Survivor.

Who am I kidding? That plan would work in Survivor, especially if you want to keep your lady after the show airs. Maybe Jonclyn should have discussed it more BEFORE Tribal Council, since it’s evident he wasn’t totally on board with the flipping. We’ll see if he has an epiphany later…

The game’s new big “strategizer,” Keith (did I actually just type that?!) is quick to point out that with Jonclyn’s flopping, and Missy not bonding with him, The Other Joshes can be picked off one-by-one. But since Keith has a secret Hidden Immunity idol, he’s thinking about having everyone target him so he can play the idol and take out one of the Jeremys. Sounds like a good plan. I wonder if the show has just spoiled what’s going to happen tonight?

Let’s talk about that later, we’ve got a Reward Challenge to run! And if the photos released yesterday are any indication, this is going to be a muddy one. The tribe will split up and face off, one on one, on a wobbly beam of wood. First one to throw the other in the mud wins a point. Right now, I’m anticipating a clip of Steve Martin in “The Man With Two Brains,”

“Into the mud, scum queen…”

But no one on Survivor is cool enough to include that, so let’s just get to the challenge. The winning team will get to spend the day on a luxury yacht, eating sandwiches and throwing down cocktails and champagne. In other words, a typical Saturday for Jeff Probst…

The Blue Team:
Keith
Jaclyn
Jon
Missy
Wes

Vs.

The Yellow Team:
Natalie
Jeremy
Reed
Baylor
Alec

I’m rooting for Jon vs. Jeremy II and Baylor vs. Missy II, but let’s see what transpires. With ominous clouds above and a perfectly timed rainstorm, this challenge is getting wet and under way…

Reed vs. Wes – Broadway vs. Boo Boo, surprisingly Reed wins the point
Natalie vs. Jaclyn – There’s more smiling than competing in this one as Jaclyn’s long reach is a clear advantage, until she falls in first. Natalie wins the point…
Jeremy vs. Jon – With Jeremy getting Flo Rida low-low-low-low-low, Jon merely pushes him in and even manages to stay on the beam. Man, Jeremy sucks at physical challenges. 2-1, Blue is up.
Baylor vs. Missy – No tears this time as Baylor is able pull her mom into the sludge. 3-1
Alec vs. Keith – After playing footsie on the beam for a while, Keith tells Alec to “Hey, look over there” and then pushes him in when he falls for it. And I don’t want to make this a theme this season, but can the Christy boys show up less? Seriously!? 3-2, Blue is up.
Reed vs. Wes – When Reed gets some “spooge” in his eye…oops, sorry…MUD in his eye, he’s overjoyed and jumps into the mud willingly. We’re tied at 3…
Natalie vs. Jaclyn – Again, Jaclyn “tries something” and fails, miserably…4-3 Blue
Jeremy vs. Jon – An epic battle of Titans results in a slap & tickle fight. Jeremy falls in, giggling as his face hits the mud. Tied at 4
Baylor vs. Missy – for all the marbles. Or all the sandwiches. Baylor is noticeably the only one not covered in mud and Missy’s sporting a poopie diaper for the audience at home (poopie Depends?). After some good back and forth shufflin’, fake ID beats out AARP and Missy goes in the pit. Yellow wins!

But this season of Survivor wouldn’t be complete unless some crazy trade comes up. In this one, Natalie interrupts Jeff’s instructions and tells him she wants to give her reward to someone on the other team. “Go for it,” Jeff says, and she chooses to give her spot on the yacht to Jaclyn. Jeremy requests the same and gives his place to Jon. When asked why, Natalie says Jonclyn really stepped up at Tribal and chose their side, so they simply want to reciprocate. Jon and Jaclyn are near tears when they realize this means they can shower – on a yacht! – together, because how many other places can they “do it” in Nicaragua over the next 3 weeks?

Now that the “reward team” has been determined, they also get to decide who goes to Exile Island, and they pick Jeremy, for no apparent reason. I guess he’s strong enough to take it, which is the same criteria when Jon went last time. He trods off, probably wondering if he made the right decision two minutes ago… And as we go to break, Baylor tells us that they chose Jeremy because it’d be good for their alliance if he found the hidden immunity idol on Exile. Don’t really know if all that thought went into it, considering the decision was made with members of the OTHER ALLIANCE, but you go girl, you’re playing the game. Besides, it’s a Sticky Situation…