The morning of Day 20 arrives and Savage and Jeremy have an exchange about last night’s vote and Ciera’s pronouncement to “play the game.” They assume that means “take out the guys (the two of them and Joe) so the plan is to stay the course and take out the girls, one-by-one, AFTER they figure out who the girls are targeting.
Ciera and Fishbach head down to the beach to change their tampons and share a moment of strategizing. She realizes she’s on the bottom, and just looking for cracks to exploit. Stephen is…Stephen…looking for any chance to take out a strong player. And when Ciera mentions it may be time to take out Joe, Fishbach may have found the situation he’s been crying about for 7 years.
Seeing the dense and lush jungle surrounding the beach is a stark reminder of how far the game is from civilization. What an amazing experience Survivor must be, huh? Probst calls everyone in and his black shirt portends something bad, I just know it.
The challenge itself calls for teams of 6 to paddle out in a skiff and collect 4 large floating crates. Once brought back to shore, the crates have to be stacked in a way there are no repeating colors on any side. We’ve seen a variation of this on the first Blood vs. Water – Vytas, Laura and Tina competed at the Redemption Island Duel where Laura won and then screwed over Vytas by helping Tina figure hers out. So you know this challenge was meant to give Vytas his Second Chance, but that didn’t work out, did it? – instead, since Kelly hasn’t said anything in six episodes, Jeff chooses to make this about her rowing challenge loss to Gervase in Season 1, but the show’s gotta do what the show’s gotta do, right?
The teams are playing for a visit to the Survivor Café, where iced coffees, sandwiches, desserts, cookies, and other sweets await the winners… A schoolyard pick results in the following teams:
Green
Kimmi
Wentworth
Joe
Wiglesworth
Keith
Ciera
Purple
Tasha
Savage
Spencer
Jeremy
Fishbach
Abi
By the looks of it, I’d say the Purple team has the advantage because they have stronger guys, but they also have Fishbach, so I’m picking the Green team to win… Plus, I wanna see Wentworth get all hopped up on caffeine and bounce around my television screen.
As they get underway, the challenge is a virtual tie as the teams paddle out and around a buoy. Joe does the best thing I’ve seen in a while and pushes the other boat off course with his oar, which is what other teams should be doing more often. I’ve petitioned for my Survivor: Sabotage idea for a long time now, and I’m glad to see Joe supports it…
Keith dives in to untie the first crate for the Green team and Abi (why?) on Purple. Keith returns first, spits, and climbs back in the boat. And after getting lambasted by Probst for untying knots slowly, Abi finally heads back to the skiff with hers. Keith jumps in for the second crate, while Spencer replaces Abi for the Purple team. He retrieves the crate faster, but loses any ground he made up by falling out of the boat after he climbed aboard. It’s the Cubbie Curse!
Keith retrieves the third crate but gets to take a breather as Joe jumps in to collect the 4th and last crate. While Spencer is busy untying the 3rd crate, the Purple boat begins drifting away, making his swim a bit tougher. Nice job guys…The Green team is now back to shore and lugging their crates to the structure to begin solving. The Purple team still needs to retrieve their last crate, so it looks like they’ll have a lot of ground to make up.
With all their crates in the structure, it’ll now come down to whether they can find the right combination of colors. And now that Purple has collected all their crates and begun placing them, the brain power of Purple (Fishbach, Spencer) may pay dividends. We’ll see.
And just as I type that, Fishbach raises his hands in celebration.
“Jeff, we got it!”
No, you don’t dummy. And you’re beginning to look like this season’s Dan Foley. And just as he’s got the apology out of his mouth, the Green team slides a few blocks around and finds the right combination. Green wins the Mocha Chocalata ya ya reward. And, naturally, before he sends them off to Survivor Starbucks, Jeff has to ask Wigles if this “rids the bad memory of losing to Gervase.” To which she replies “hell yes,” but it just seems like a Plan B rewrite since Vytas isn’t here. Whatevs…
As the Greenies head off to enjoy their reward in red cups, we hear Fishbach confessing how troubling this is that Joe is going to a challenge with the girls. He knows this could be problematic for his “Must Kill Joe” plan, and may lead to some shifting around. And that’s the one thing Sinister Pussy doesn’t need right now when he’s trying to get rid of Apollo.
The Greenies are driven to the Tuk-tuk Café where they’re greeted by an enormous spread of Cambodian-style American fixins. Kimmi is especially pumped because she’s never won a reward that provided food. She’s pumped. The group commences stuffing their faces and eventually the food coma allows them to talk strategy. With Ciera and Wentworth on the proverbial outs in the tribe, one of them needs to speak up, and it’s Ciera who takes the soapbox.
She apologizes/clarifies for what she said at the previous time at Tribal (about wanting players to “play the game”) but is really just trying to throw some lines into the water and see who takes the bait. Her rationalization is that Jeremy/Savage/Tash/Fishbach (the Bayon 4) are all super tight, and will never break up, so if you’re not one of them, you’re only as good as 5th. And, Stephen is a shifty motherf**ker, so they’d all better watch out for him.
A few players concur with those comments, especially Joe, who is both in an alliance with the Bayon 4/5, as well as in agreement with what Ciera is saying. He confesses at some point he’ll need to make a big move, but the question is when.
Next, we get a fun little scene with Keith drinking and driving a tuk-tuk on the beach, and thank god there were no locals around at risk. Seriously, don’t drink and drive kids. But if you do, make sure you do it in someone else’s vehicle…
Back at the “Orkin” camp, the melancholy music we hear signifies that one of these pests is in a bad mood. Oh, it’s Stephen, who’s still lamenting the challenge loss. And while everyone else is saying “get over it,” he’s choosing to take it extra hard. He tells them not only does it mean the loss of food, but it also means the loss of not being able to strategize with his enemies, which seems like something you don’t want to be revealing to your own alliance. I don’t know, what do you guys think?
Later, he’s off with Jeremy and tells him he’s thinking of taking out Joe the first chance possible. Jeremy is on the fence with that plan, only because it conflicts with Jeremy’s idea of keeping Joe around as a shield to deflect any votes away from him. However, with every challenge that Joe wins, it makes him more worthy of winning, so Jeremy may have to adjust his own strategy.
Fishbach then shares a conversation with Spencer, where he spells out his “Must Kill Joe” plan, and of course Spencer is on board. Everyone knows Joe is a huge threat, and even if you don’t agree, you still tell the person you’re speaking with that you’re in.
Stephen then takes his plan one step too far, in my opinion, and has the same conversation with Tasha. But unbeknownst to them, Savage is walking close by, and overhears them speaking. Are you kidding me? You’re going to have a “blindside Joe” chat and you’re going to have it within earshot of the camp!
You are an idiot, Sinister Pussy. Go cry in the jungle some more…
Savage confesses to us that Joe is his boy, and he’s not going anywhere. Savage is ready to go toe-to-toe with Fishbach, and that’s something I’d like to see. Man, I can’t wait for the others to get back from their reward all hopped up on caffeine!
Day 21 arrives and Joe heads over to Savage for his morning hug and a kiss. But Savage doesn’t wanna snuggle, he wants to talk about what he found out yesterday. Okay fine, Andrew, you guys can snuggle it out later… Joe is not surprised to hear the news, and just hopes he can rally the numbers to combat the Bayon 4. Or, he’ll have to win another immunity, which is never guaranteed.
So let’s see what the players will be doing today. Jeff calls everyone in and it’s a flashback for both Jeremy and Keith from Blood vs. Water 2. Players must balance a ball atop a platform that’s attached to 2 parallel ropes which the players hold. At intervals, the players grab farther down the rope, making it harder to balance the ball. In B vs. W 2, Jeremy was first out and Keith won it, so the pendulum could swing both ways for the returning players.
As always, I’d think Joe has a distinct advantage, based on winning the last challenge that involved balancing a ball on a platform, and getting all that nourishment on yesterday’s reward should help. We’ll see. Players, take your marks… And even before they begin I’m thinking there’s no way that Stephen will drop out in the first 10 seconds, is there? Here we go…
And no, surprisingly it’s not SP that goes, it’s MB (Wentworth) in perhaps 2 seconds (really?) followed by Ciera a second later. And a few seconds after that, Wigle’s ball takes the plunge. Wow, these girls are not good at waitressing, I bet…
Jeremy then relives the horror of his past and drops out, and is almost joined by Kimmi, who makes a nice save to stay alive. Abi goes next, followed by Fishbach and Savage. After 10 minutes, the players adjust their hands farther down the rope and after a few nice moves, Kimmi is unable to save herself any more. She’s out. Next, Tasha’s ball drops into the mud and it’s clear we’re looking at a Joe vs. Keith showdown. I would include Spencer in that, but by the looks of his arms and the angle they’re in, I don’t think he’ll last very much longer.
Surprisingly, all three men are still alive as they make it through another interval and are now holding the very end of their ropes. A little wobble by Keith is overcome and then while Joe is attempting to steady his ball, Spencer loses focus for a second and his ball drops. It’s Apollo vs. the Cajun God of Spitting.
Sure enough, both make it through another interval so the next stage involves balancing two balls on their platform. Go ahead and make your jokes, you perverts, I like to keep it clean here on RealitySteve.com.
“Joe’s balls move a little more,” Jeff says without the CBS censors bleeping him…
With almost continuous movement by both balls on Joe’s platform, you can see how much he’s struggling. Keith’s look like they’re glued down (with spittle perhaps?) because they’re not moving AT ALL. Then, a slight wind kicks up and forces Joe to shift again, and it looks like he’s in trouble as his balls start rolling in opposite directions. But, just as it looks like Joe is going to lose the challenge, Keith has a moment of weakness and one of his balls “descends” into the mud. Let the wine and grapes flow for Apollo!
The look of disgust on Wentworth and more so on Fishbach’s face is apparent, as this means things are going to get interesting at camp. And once again, as the abfab necklace is placed around Joe’s neck, he confesses it’s time to go after Stephen, since he was gunning for him.
Good recap! I’m excited I get to be first in posting a comment. 🙂 The hidden immunity idol being played was epic! One of the best moves I’ve seen on Survivor (I haven’t seen all of the seasons but still….it was damn good!) I wasn’t a Kelley fan before that but I am now! I’m curious to know what happened, that we didn’t see, that led her to believe she was the one everyone would vote for, thus causing her to play the idol? I was kind of thinking Cierra.
The scene with Keith driving that bike thing around was so funny! I was so waiting for someone to fall off or out.
Joe is a friggin’ beast at the challenges! For real, there were about 5 times that he should have lost that challenge but someone the guy comes back every time! Love Joe!
Thanks again for the recaps – I look forward to reading them every Thursday! 🙂
Bonnie
TGIF Folks! Seriously…I need a weekend…or three….and more of this season of Survivor…I think I’m enjoying it more than most of the seasons past.
You once again reaffirmed my faith in your snarky wisdom by including my two must-have’s on your Crappiest players list. Dan and Abi. Dan was the most hurl inducing, completely self-unaware Ahole. Just moronic.
Abi I am embarrassed to say actually earned a point with me this week when she told SP to Suck it up Buttercup. But…She is still the survivor player I’d most like to shiv.
Once again this week SP continues to display his pathological need to rid his island of the Adonis. That desperation is disturbing. If he ever does manage to get rid of Joe…I worry what he will do when he realizes that he is STILL just a skeevy loser.
I cannot believe all of these experienced players decided not to bother splitting the vote. Are you freaking kidding me? I LOVED seeing Wentworth make the decision to throw down the idol. THAT was good television.
Other than losing a possible defender for the golden boy…I wasn’t sad to see Savage get his wish to make Jury. He is not the loyal nice guy he tries to portray…not.at.all.
Enjoyed the recap…great episode…looong wait until next Wednesday.
Fish do you watch Amazing Race? This has been a tough season to find someone to root for. Justin is that show’s Dan Foley. ugh. And…he’s engaged…seriously…why would anyone put up with that sort of asshattery?
-Hathor
Won’t lie, the end of the show last night left a bad taste in my mouth. I’ve no desire to watch Big Brother (where I imagine the contestants constantly flipping each other off and calling each other all sorts of deplorable rubbish imaginable [Guess who started listening to Christmas music]) and that’s what tribal felt like.
Beyond that, Cierra’s mother clearly never slapped her enough as a child. Nobody should be able to roll their eyes like that. Also, Survivor editors, are you out there? I also don’t need to see that creepy eye roll 3 or 4 times. Once was enough.
I can’t believe there wasn’t a splitting of the vote. Seriously shocked. When you have the kind of numbers you do, why not be prepared for a possible hidden immunity idol? Bunch of morons really think that this far into the game not a single idol has been found? Just because everyone’s been smart enough to keep that to themselves doesn’t mean they’re not out there. Bunch of idiots.
Hopefully this isn’t the start of a final 3 of Cierra, Wentworth and Abi. I wouldn’t mind seeing Wentworth pull a victory (especially with that idol play) but the other two being taken along? Horrible. Truly horrible.
Good morning fellow BBQ haters . A few of the sh*^tiest I would add . Gervase , aligning himself with Tyson and Monica ? Because he had a chance to beat them ? I also nominate the entire Hunahpu tribe . How do you run out of food after 14 days !? I am not a fan of Dan but he was just a jack ass . He tried to play I guess . Will was the most useless Survivor ever in my eyes . No social game (except loving him some Rodney ) terrible in Challenges and did nothing at camp . Rodney what a tool . An obvious Jersey Shore reject . On to last episode . I think the alliance was scared that the 3 girls might pull Super Joe , Clueless Keith and Mr Personality Spencer or at least 2 of them to their side . Kelley may have put a huge target her back . Great move playing the idol . Bad move going all Ciera and calling out the “Alliance ” . Shake your butt at Joe and Keith and try and turn them . Do not I repeat do not start running off at the mouth ( women feel free to heed this advice in your daily lives) . That was a joke no hate mail please . Scary that so many bad players are still in the game (sorry Keith you entertain me but ) Abi , Spencer , Kimmi you should not have been voted on and certainly shouldn’t still be playing ! Have a wonderful day everyone !
Holy smokes, folks, what a crazy world we live in, huh? Makes watching a reality show a bit less important. But…we still need our distractions, and I think we’ve got a nice little distraction in Survivor…
Bonnie: Thanks for writing in, and I’m glad you’re enjoying the recaps. Based on what I saw in the episode, it looked like Ciera was doing more of the talking at Tribal, but that could just be the edit. I thought Kelley made the decision to play the idol when Joe told her the Fishbach vote was off. The show wants to keep us guessing, but I’d say that’s when she decided she was gonna drop it. And yeah, Joe’s the man. He’s the kind of guy I like on Survivor. Strong, good looking, social, cool, athletic, all of it. I don’t like bad guys and Fishbachs…
hathor: What up, yo! Thank you for continuing to come back. I’m a little lost about the “suck it up” comment, cause I don’t recall Abi speaking to Fishbach, so can you clarify? And THANK YOU for mentioning Adonis because that’s who I meant all along. I kept typing Apollo but it never seemed right. I will correct that moving forward… I agree about not splitting the vote but from all the post-show interviews and videos I’ve seen, it looks like the group outside the 3 girls couldn’t trust each other to split, and fearing one or two would flip, their split would have sent one of their own home. In Fishbach’s post interview, he said that everyone was 100% sure no idols would be played (because 1, no one ever saw Kelley looking and 2, she evidently sold the fact she was going home pre-Tribal). He mentioned she was just lounging about, looking depressed for a couple hours, and really sold it that she had accepted her fate. Wish we would have seen THAT storyline in the episode! I’m neither here nor there on Savage. He does have a smuggery I don’t like, but at least he’s not annoying to me. I just wish they would have targeted Fishbach instead… Yeah, I do watch TAR (thought of recapping it at one point but decided against it). I’ve watched every season since 15 so I have less experience than others but yeah, that dude gets on my nerves too. There’s something about that New York stereotype that bugs me. Always has. I have friends from New York, and they don’t act like that. Just kind of a buffoon too. Like Dan…
thatguy: I totally get what you mean with the flipping the bird stuff. It just doesn’t belong in society anymore. If you’re pissed at someone, tell them to fuck off, but flipping the bird is lame, especially Kass’s who did it purely for television and not because she’s still pissed. At least Savage did it in response to Abi’s stupid comment. I agree with you on Ciera, I’ve just never been a fan of hers. Don’t know why. Just comes across as someone who complains about everything when it doesn’t go her way, but whatever, I’ll never meet her. And hell ya, they were idiots! Stupid that NO ONE said, “but even if there is an idol, we should have a plan B.” I just wish they’d get rid of Abi, because the longer she stays, the better the chance she’ll be dragged to FT, and none of us wanna hear her try to justify how she deserves to win the game. I just wish once there’s a contestant who says, “I know I was dragged here, so I won’t even bother trying to justify why I deserve to win. I’ll just sound stupid…” My wish for Final 3: Joe, Kelley, Jeremy…game on! But it’ll probably be: Ciera, Kimmi, Wigles, and we’ll all throw up in our mouths a little…
Rick: Welcome back, sir! Thanks for the kind words. A few comments: Gervase, I never really thought of him as an ass, but I see your points. Hunahpu, yes, I should have given them Honorable Mention. And we’re in agreement on all the rest. I just wonder if Kelley’s big move will finally motivate some players to start pulling moves of their own. I see a lot of fracturing the rest of the season. Players will have to compete with what Kelley just did, so I think the game just started… Have a great week!
So, in case you follow me on Twitter (and if you don’t, why not?!) I tweeted a link to an interesting comment from Savage. In it, he said something like, “in the rest of the season, something happens that’s NEVER happened before in the history of Survivor.” I have no idea what that is, but it makes me wonder. Yesterday, I received an email for a reader who had a theory, and I had one of my own. Would love to know what you folks think…
Reader theory: Joe goes on an Immunity string and wins every challenge, guaranteeing him a place in the Final. His theory was based on following Joe on social media, and it seems Joe hasn’t worked since returning from Cambodia so that means he “doesn’t need the money.” Not sure I totally buy that, because Joe doesn’t know if he’s won or not, unless he’s in the Final against Keith and Abi. We’ll see…
My theory, which I suggested a few weeks ago, is what if the show played around with the format and we have a 4 person Final Tribal? There’s a rationale for it since the merged tribe was so large, and since these are “favorites” playing, the show wants us to get our fill. I’m probably wrong, so let’s hear what you guys have to say…
And for the record, every time I think how hot some women are on Survivor, I then realize that they’re unshaven, bug bitten, no teeth brushed, monkeys flying, and pooping in the bushes or the ocean. And it’s almost enough to stifle my chubby. Almost…
I don’t follow you on twitter because I don’t tweet. 😛
Final Four would be very interesting.
Joe going on a win streak wouldn’t really qualify as “something never before seen on Survivor” (OK, yes the length would be new, but the event itself isn’t new.)
Fish…the moment I’m referring to is when they go back to camp after losing the reward challenge. SP is languishing in the shelter and says says something whiney to the effect of “I can’t deal with losing that challenge…I’m having a low moment”…something like that…and Abi comments back “Get over it”. THAT made me laugh…truly. So she earned a point. But that’s one point against literally hundreds of bitch points she has already earned in her two stints on this show.
I don’t do twitter or any of the other stuff…but you will always get support from me here for doing these re-caps! Keep on keepin on.
-Hathor
Stay classy Kass…. Guess she’ll be introducing herself that way at tribal the rest of the season. Disappointing to say the least.