The challenge (a throwback to BBB) involves pushing a large wooden cart around an obstacle course and retrieving keys and chests. Once 3 chests are collected, the carts must be disassembled, passed through a wooden fence, reassembled, and then 2 members must solve a puzzle. The losing tribe goes to Tribal… Duh.
The challenge is pretty close all the way through, not much to report other than JP ripping Spencer for a tiny mistake and then we get to see if Jeremy can grab the hidden idol. As he crouches behind the crate the idol is tied to, he’s able to rips the pouch off and is lucky to go unnoticed. Kimmi hands him a key to unlock the crate, and he pulls it off deftly. He’s got the idol!
Continuing the challenge, all 3 tribes are at the fence section and tearing their carts apart. Ta Keo has a slight lead, followed by Bayon, and then Angkor, who’s slipping behind… At the puzzle section, Joe and Kass begin solving for Ta Keo, with Angkor somehow passing Bayon and is now in 2nd place. At the puzzle, Peih-Gee/Tash and Monica/Spencer are the solvers. A few players swap in and out, but nothing’s stopping Joe and Kass from destroying this challenge. Ta Keo wins!
In a race for second, I’m just wondering why Stephen isn’t participating. I thought he was supposed to be smart? Despite that, Bayon squeaks it out before Angkor, and I’m just wondering if Woo is your best puzzle maker, Angkor? I guess we’ll never know. Guess who’s going to Tribal? The F**ked Tribe… That sounds fair, Jeff Probst…
And as the teams are celebrating their victories, Varner pulls a (someone help me recall who tried to signal another tribe) and mouths something to Kelly about Kimmi (?) but is caught by Tash who immediately announces to her tribe that “we’ve got a rat.” And this is exactly what Varner did not need to do just before Tribal. Bad Varner! Bad dog! Of course, Tash is the one who would need to jump on him and accuse him of anything, and it looks like it’s working. As Probst hands out immunity idols, he asks Angkor “whatup?” and Tash quickly alerts everyone to Varner’s exploits. As he tries to explain things away, he finds he’s quickly sinking in quicksand as now Woo is wondering why he’s making plans with other people, considering Woo thought he was in an alliance with Varner. As the tribes split for camps, Varner confesses that he f**ked up (true to his tribe’s nickname) and knows he’s “got some ‘splainin’ to do…”
Angkor returns to camp – and the graphic says it’s “Day 8,” so I guess someone in Survivor Post Production has got some ‘splainin’ to do. I’m thinking it’s Day 9, so clearly, someone isn’t doing their job in editorial – and everyone knows that Scramble Mode is in high gear. Savage grabs Woo and Peih-Gee and the 3 head off to “get water.” On the trip, he begs them to keep him around, since they all know the challenges are going to get harder, and he’s pulling his weight more than Varner is…and there’s that whole “you can’t trust Varner anymore” thing… Woo and Peih-Gee send him off and discuss which direction to go, since “desperate people do desperate things,” but what he said does make some sense.
Back at camp, Tash and Abi are also discussing the Varner Kill Plan, and have fingers crossed Savage is doing the same. When the groups come together, Woo, Peih-Gee and Abi are discussing what to do, and this is when Peih-Gee utters the most idiotic thing I’ve heard all season,
“…since we’ve gotten here, I thought we were really cool…”
Uh. Seriously? I mean, I know the show is all about lying, but not total f**king bullshit. Seriously, Peih-Gee? Not even a, “Hey, I know we’ve had our differences but at least we’re still here.” Nope, she went for full on BS Level 6. And when she heads over to Tash and Savage and proclaims she doesn’t like the way Abi speaks to her and she’s voting for her, that’s all they need to spin the attention away from them. Savage then takes a walk with Abi and tells her what Peih-Gee said, so then Abi goes to Varner to get him to vote Peih-Gee, and all-of-a-sudden, the guy who was throwing chatter to another tribe is sitting pretty. How does this s**t happen?
Off to Tribal we go and the F**ked Tribe enters. With Probst asking Savage for his initial thoughts on the tribe swap, I’m totally surprised he brings up the “Us Two vs. Them Four” scenario, but that’s an Old-Schooler for you. No need to remind anyone of that, just say, “We all got together and started working on our new tribe.” Don’t blow it for yourself now! Peih-Gee confirms for Jeff that’s what they’re looking at…
JP asks Varner to fast-forward to the challenge and recall his moment of weakness and how it came about. “It was all about being tired, and emotional,” and “Honestly,” he says, “I don’t remember it anymore.” But Tash remembers it, and compares it to “keeping your family business at home,” but that’s not good enough for Probst, he wants the dirt. He probes Varner a little more and wants to know what names are being mentioned (besides his) for the vote:
Abi
Peih-Gee
Himself
And, for good measure, he throws in that somehow Savage and Tash have worked their way from the bottom of the tribe to the top in the matter of 2 days. How the hell did that happen? Savage doesn’t seem happy that Varner called him out like that, but we’ll see how the vote goes. Abi is given the opportunity to stick her foot in her mouth one more time, and she complies.
“I may be going home tonight…I’m not that naïve.”
Peih-Gee and Abi are given one more chance to state their intentions, but we know what they’re doing (I think). Let’s just vote…
Jeff reads the votes:
Abi
Peih-Gee
Abi
Peih-Gee
Peih-Gee
Peih-Gee
And with that, another of the players Jeff said had no shot to win bites the dust. As Peih-Gee leaves, she wishes Woo “good luck,” who’s obviously blind-sided when another of his allies goes home. Why is he so surprised all the time!? Abi throws some shade at him by saying,
“That’s the 2nd time you’ve written my name down.”
And I’m shocked he didn’t respond to her. Something like,
“Because you’re a f**king fat cow who’s delusional and thinks she’s more important than she is…” but no, he just stares, agape at losing another ally. I just don’t think Woo is cut out for Survivor… Should we plan on him leaving next week?
“Next time on…Survivor!”
The Angkor tribe is miserable (you think?) and the tribes are in for one hell of a challenge. Is medical evac the way you wanna go out on your Second Chance? We’ll find out next week.
Ok then, we made it this far. Just you, and me, and Burnett’s vodka. Happy to say you were here with me (speaking to Burnett’s, mind you) and I do hope we can do this again (speaking to you guys now)…
So we’re back to that time of year where I’m watching way too many shows: Survivor, TAR, SNL, Fear the Walking Dead, Gotham, and Sunday is the Season 6 premiere of The Walking Dead, so much to discuss next week. Actually, before we even open the whole TWD can of worms, I gotta say how much I love Gotham. It is seriously the best (current) show on television. I tweeted about it this week, in fact. Great writing, great acting, production design, costumes, it’s sexy, it’s gritty, it’s violent, the women are beautiful (and is anyone else watching the Ben McKenzie/Morena Baccarin relationship a little closer considering their real life situation?) Goddamn, she’s beautiful. And we haven’t even discussed Penguin or the Joker character (Cameron Monaghan, just fantastic.) Such a great show that really needs to survive for a long time. Let’s hope the bar stays raised on this one and we get an incredibly long arc for many characters.
Okay, enough about Hollywood. Let’s reconvene next week for another recap. I hope these players (and the show) provides the fodder I need to create Snark Factor Red. I think I’ll name a drink that… Burnett’s, Dragon Juice, Cran Raspberry, OJ…oh yeah…
Love your support. Love the interaction. Always love to hear from you guys. Peace out!
Go Doyers!
“El Pescado”
Email: bryan.fish.fischer@gmail.com
Twitter: https://twitter.com/BF_TheFish
AIM: bryan.fish.fischer@gmail.com or Bryan Fischer
I would pay good money to hear Probst include “let’s crack open this coconut” in his pre-challenge/pre-tribal speeches. Love it.
I’d like to say I’m smiling, but I’m a Yankees fan. No smiles here…I used to be a Cubs fan as a kid, but as I got older, baseball got boring and I stopped watching. Being a Yankees fan is perfect, I can say I’m a Yankees fan and never have to watch a game because they’re not televised here. So, if they make the World Series, I can just watch 10 seconds of each game to say I did and celebrate when/if they do win like I’ve been watching all season long…
Continuing on with a non-Survivor comment, I can say that I gave up on Gotham last season. It became too crime-of-the-week for me when I was hoping it would be more serialized like The Walking Dead is. Speaking of which, what did you think of Fear The Walking Dead? I’m confused on whether I like it or not. I’m leaning towards not, but mostly just because there weren’t enough episodes for me to care enough about the characters/story. I think I’ll only watch season 2 if they’re giving us 13 episodes. Any less and I’ll cut it from my watch list.
If I have to add something about Survivor to this comment to streamline it, I’ll say this: Go Boobs! However, I’m more of a butt guy, so Go Butts, too!!
rex – Thanks for writing in! I just tweeted to Probst to use it. Fingers crossed…
Scotty – Just goes to show you how little I know you. Oops. “Upon Further Review” I now see the cap you’re wearing in your twitter profile pic is a Blue Jay cap. I just took it for granted and assumed it was the Cubbies. My bad! Those pics are small though…
I know what you mean about growing weary of baseball. I used to read the boxscores every day on every game, but now, I just wanna go to a couple Dodger games and hope they make the playoffs. It’s tough being a Dodger fan because 1) the stupid Time Warner deal that blacks out the games if you’re not with TW, and 2) the Boys in Blue (and the Angels too, for that matter) always seem to be “west coast tough.” As in, “if we don’t make the playoffs, no biggie, check out this weather…” So the teams always under-perform. Who knows, maybe playing for Vinny this year will inspire them… and 3) it’s so tough to love them when everyone’s ripping Donnie Baseball. I don’t like that he’s so blase, but the guy is a Yankee legend, lay off him.
-Dude, Gotham is so good. Last year, it was all about Don Falcone and the other mafioso and Fish Mooney. With them all gone, it’s all about the villains. That Joker guy was great, the Riddler (Edward Nigma) is starting to take shape, and there’s just a lot of evil starting. Plus, Bruce Wayne just found the Bat Cave, his squeeze is getting horny everywhere, and there are so many other characters who pop in for a scene here and there. And there’s some real violent shit being shown. You gotta check them out online…
-FTWD – the problem I saw (and I agree with you that we needed to see more) is that TWD is so ingrained in our psyches — the characters, what they’ve been through, what/who they’ve lost, where they’re going — that we went into FTWD with a lot of precognition of what was to come. So we almost have expectations of how the characters should react to the outbreak, since we know where the world is headed. I don’t know about you, but I’m almost “plugging the FTWD characters into TWD scenarios, and trying to decide if they mesh. Kinda sucks for the FTWD characters, since they have to play “catch-up” to their audience, but I’m sure those paychecks (and future ones) will ease the pain of a biased audience. I am hooked though, regardless of where it goes…
-Yeah, you Midwestern guys have much larger butts to look at, so you learn to appreciate them. We West Coasters live in “silicone valley,” so it’s all about the Tittays…
Thanks for the comments! Love it!
Fish
Finally catching up, Fish. Abi makes my skin crawl almost as much as Carl in TWD, almost.
You would think Probst’s man crush love for Savage would have saved him from a losing merge, I guess not – at least so far he hasn’t been burned by it.
Kershaw has one more chance to redeem himself, will he do it? If anyone can, he can. My WS hope is still the Cubbies – need that Back to the Future prediction to come to fruition.
Completely enjoyed FTWD, even if some of their reactions infuriated me (how many walkers do you need to see before you quit asking if they’re alright?), but cool to see the part we pretty much missed out on since Rick was in a coma during this time in TWD.
Erica – gonna throw it back to you since the Dodgers won and I wanna increase my comments and collect another .17 cents… (seriously, I don’t get paid…)
I’m with you on Carl. I want one of two things to happen: 1. Carl becomes a Super Star for a bus load of walkers, or 2. They just replace him with a “lighter skinned black woman.” Oh wait, that was “Fresh Prince of Bel Air.” Hell, that’d work in this case too. Just bring in some kid who can act. And I don’t care if you bring in another British actor, just find me someone who can act. What about Peter Dinklage? Just slap a “Carl mask” on him and tell him to push a baby stroller around… C’mon producers, we want thespians!
Funny, you and RealitySteve want the Cubs for that BTTF thing. I don’t even know who you are any more. What about Trout?! What about the Los Angeles Angels of Orange County and Anaheim in California!?
Kershaw comes through. Nice. And now we have Greinke (the best pitcher this year) at home. Can’t ask for anything more. Oh, yes I can. I can ask for a win. Tell ya what, I’ll trade you. Gimme a Dodger win and I’ll never look at Playboy again. Hmmm…seems like that’s not a big deal anymore.
Agreed on FTWD. Wonder where it’ll go. The world is their oyster, so let’s see where the writers go. Please tell me they won’t suddenly be encircled by an invisible, impenetrable dome…
XO
Well – here’s another penny (up to 18 cents?)
My Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in the OC of Southern California in these here United States blew it. So…I’m left with what I’m left with. Hey I might even make it to a Dodgers game if they’re in the NLCS or WS. Glad Kershaw got that monkey off his back.
My favorite part of FTWD is that the heroin addict is the smartest person in the world. Of course he is. His mom could use a little help in some of her reactions – she just does not freak out when you would think she would. Especially for a mom. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that actress does not have kids.
Well – here’s to Carl being consumed by a walker or the very least – shooting himself in the foot with one of his guns he twirls before he puts it in that damn holster.