It’s Day 21 and an Immunity Challenge. Jeff calls everyone in and takes the necklace back from Desi. He describes the challenge, which is like the one that caused Joe to pass out back in Second Chance. In it, players will stand on a beam, holding a pole while keeping an idol balanced on a piece of wood. As they move back on the beam at intervals, the idol will be harder to keep standing. Last person with their idol up wins Immunity.
Natch, we think Ryan will drop out in two seconds again but it’s Chrissy with the early distraction. A poisonous bug is crawling up her arm and wanting to feast on saline. The thought of fake boobs must’ve distracted Mike, as he’s the first one to drop out.
Let’s cut to the chase…
-Joe surprisingly steps off the beam.
-Devon’s height seems to have burned him, as he wavers and steps down.
-With a tiny extra push, Lauren shoves her idol off the front of its perch.
-At 5 minutes in, Ryan’s heart finally beats too hard and he drops out…
-At 10 minutes, everyone’s moved back on the beam, and Ashley loses her idol. 5 are left.
-Desi starts teetering, but recovers, and then Ben wavers, and saves it. As does J.P.
-Cole also teeters, saves himself, but Chrissy is not so fortunate. We’re at 4.
-Ben loses his balance, and we’re down to 3…
-J.P. appears to be struggling, both balance and idol-wise, but it’s Desi who drops next.
-While J.P. seems to be fighting through every second, Cole seems locked in.
-But then he also wavers for a second.
-Despite Jeff’s color commentary, J.P. finally loses focus and drops his idol, meaning Cole wins Immunity, and Jessica will have to wait another 3 days (at least) to lose that V-card…
As we head to the break, Chrissy informs us that even though Cole won, they have three other Healers they can go after, so things are not as bad as they seem.
When everyone returns to camp, Cole is naturally on a high, but realizes the Healers are in a bad place if they can’t make some magic happen. When Ben, J.P. and Ashley head off together, Ben suggests “the girls vote for Joe and the boys vote for Desi.” Easy-peasy…
Ben also mentions the split vote to Chrissy and Ryan, who both seem to not hate it. And I’m wondering why they don’t go for a Plan B again and vote out Dr. Dick, but I guess he’s not a serious threat, so let’s see what they’re thinking…
The Healers convene and Cole tells Joe and Mike he doesn’t have an idol. That means Joe’s gonna have to actually play the game, and begins to run the math. With 4 Healers and 4 Heroes, he needs to get to work on the Hustlers.
It’s Cole who speaks the voice of reason – again, did I just type that? – and tells Joe that if everyone thinks he has an idol, then the Hero/Hustler alliance may split votes, meaning all the Healers must do is get one person to change their vote.
It actually makes a lot of sense, and why didn’t Cole exhibit this knowledge earlier in the game? Oh, wait, I know. Jessica was around, and he was thinking with his d**k. No worries, bro, you’re good. She had a great ass. My apologies…
When Joe pulls Ryan and Devon aside to tell them Ben is running the show, he’s unaware Ben is actually a few feet away, lurking in the bushes, and can hear everything Joe is saying. But, Ryan thinks Joe is making a lot of sense right now, considering Ben’s backstory and the fact he’s a Marine but right now may not be the best time to take him out. Methinks this is just a misdirect, and it’s either Desi or Joe going home.
When Ben has the opportunity to push Joe’s buttons and ask what he’s doing tonight, Joe plays the only card he has left and that’s to state Ben “swore on the Marine Corps” about this or that. That’s the one thing Ben can’t stand, and starts to get seriously defensive about why Joe would say that.
Um, it’s a game for a million bucks, Mr. PTSD, you shouldn’t let this douche get the better of you. But, it’s clear Joe has revealed a darker/weaker side of Ben, and now the others in the tribe are seeing it too.
Lauren decides it’s a good idea to tell Ben about her Secret Advantage, because if she plays it tonight, that could throw a huge wrench into the monkey works of tonight’s vote. If she withholds her vote, that would mean it’s 3-3 vs. the Healers 4 votes, and everyone’s plans could go awry. Ben confesses they still need to split the vote because Joe may have found an idol, but he’s gonna go seek out a potential Healer flipper…
He finds Mike, and with Ryan present, tells him to vote for Joe, because if it ain’t Joe, it’s Ben tonight. Mike is not sure where this angle is coming from, but he knows if he votes out Joe, it’s then Cole, and then himself, so maybe tonight is the perfect night to take out “the strongest threat” in the game…and that’s Ben. Regardless, night has fallen, and it’s time to head to Tribal to figure this s**t out.