First Look: Castaways Drop Their Buffs And Switch Things Up On This Week’s #Survivor: https://t.co/ZQyKwcr9Ns pic.twitter.com/mtyxSP7pQU
— SURVIVOR (@survivorcbs) 14 March 2016
Let’s see who gets a raw deal after tonight’s tribe swap. Beauty are in a strong position numbers wise and seem unlikely to self-destruct as quickly as the Cagayan Beauties did (remember Morgan, Jeremiah, LJ, Jefra and co?).
Please can we have an episode where we don’t have to watch people suffering in the heat. Perhaps Jeff could send them all on a spa reward and bring them fruity cocktails to sip.
It’s Day 12 and we’re at the Brain tribe. Everyone looks knackered. Joe, the retired FBI agent, looks to have an infected finger and doctor Peter sees it as an opportunity to ingratiate himself with the tribe.
He’s on the outs after his god complex got a full airing at the tribal council where his only ally, Liz, was voted out. Let’s hope that in real life he’s not as much of a a dick to the nurses and his patients as he is on Survivor.
Luckily, Neal the ice-cream entrepreneur sees right through him.
“We have four people that are aligned and we have one cancer named Peter,” Neal says, adding it’s now vital he finds the idol to keep it out of Dr Evil’s hands. And he does just that, finding the clue and the the map with the annoying information that it’s hidden at the top of the tree. Please, Survivor, enough of these treasure hunt-type idols. Just hide them like normal or do sneaky ones in public areas, as per the All Stars season – they were fabulous.
Neal does the stick-poking trick and gets the idol.
And now I’m worried that we’re seeing so much of Neal, when he’s usually a bit player in the edit. Is he on the chopping block in what we know will be a tribe shuffle? I was wondering what an ice cream entrepreneur was, so I googled Neal, and apparently he started his own business making organic ice cream and selling it at markets. The business grew and now he supplies restaurants and supermarkets in 50 states. Check out http://threetwinsicecream.com/ he has a coffee and dark chocolate one that looks delicious. According to insidesurvivor.com: “He is a keen adventurer that [sic] has climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, hiked the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, and driven an ice cream truck solo across the United States in 93 hours. He also lives on a 27′ sail-boat called The Incorrigible.”
Neal sounds like the perfect Survivor contestant, and not only because he has crazy hair and wears pants with an ice-cream pattern.
Come on in, guys! Jeff is wearing his green cap. Darn it – I thought he’d have the orange one on to cheer us up a bit after the trauma of last week. He does the “drop your buffs” and Cydney leaps for joy at the thought of getting away from the trainwreck that is the Brawn tribe. Everyone else looks gutted.
Jeff explains Caleb’s chopper flight to hospital but them in a tricky spot, as there is an uneven number of contestants in the game. So, there are six yellow buffs, six blue buffs and one red buff. OMG does red buff get to choose their tribe? Err, no. They have to go to Brawn beach by themselves!!
It’s like Exile Island (which always sucked as a concept), but with a shelter already built and, hopefully, fire-making tools. The benefit is they skip the next immunity challenge so are safe, but people who get exiled are out of the alliance loop, so it’s a disadvantage coinciding with a tribe swap. After the next tribal council the red buff exile gets to join the tribe who lost a member. They pick buffs and they’re showing a lot of a worried Aubry, but it’s a misdirect. It’s …
We haven’t seen much of Julia as Beauty never lost a challenge, so the narrative there was on Caleb and Tai.
Here’s the new blue tribe and it’s a fair split, with two of each BBB tribe.
But it’s a different story on yellow, where Scot is the only Brawn.
Beauty has two and there are three Brains, but Peter could well defect and turn on Aubry and Joe. Let’s hope Aubry gets to Tai and his fellow Beauty first.
The tribe swap has shaken some people up, not the least Beauty Michelle, who in what I’m sure is her first confessional notes her alliance of three is now on separate tribes.
You’re in danger, Michelle, because a) you’re a girl who will be seen as “weak” at challenges and b) you are on a team with fellow Beauty Nick who does not seem the loyal type and, c) you’re getting airtime when previously the edit ignored you.
The yellow tribe ends up on the Beauty beach, where there seems to be lots of fruit and one chicken left. Dr Evil is so relived to be in a new tribe, where the Brains have the numbers. Since they know Beauty Julia will join whichever tribe loses immunity, he correctly tells Aubry:
That would put Tai and, ummm, Anna ? in danger. But Aubry actually IS a Brain and knows he’s shady. Scot is hoping the Brains will do the logical thing and vote out a Beauty.
Still in blue and over at the old Brain beach Debbie grabs her new blue tribemate Cydney and shows her their tree branch “pull-up” bar.
I’m worried that if she goes deep into the game Debbie is going to end up a walking skeleton like Trish of Cagayan.
Debbie is quick to decide she wants to align with Brawn, and goes on a coconut-gathering walk with Cydney. Cydney reciprocates. “I’ve been playing the dumb jock role,” she says in confessional. She hasn’t told anyone she went to an Ivy League school. Smart move, Cydney, because Jason and Scot might have targeted you. Then Debbie talks to Jason, who also doesn’t want another Beauty joining the tribe. Yep, Debbie’s in the swing of Survivor.
No matter how she fares this season, she’ll be a returning player, for sure.
Over on the yellow beach Scot is suddenly much more likeable because he’s enjoying being around jovial and capable Tai. “I’ve got a man crush right now on Tai,” he jokes. Join the queue behind Caleb, Scot. “In my opinion he’s the number one most valuable member of the tribe right now,” he says, referring to Tai’s food-gathering, survival and social skills.
Anna, who was kind of the girls’ leader at Beauty, knows she’s in trouble as she is outnumbered and not seen as an asset.
She puts her professional poker player skills to use by telling everyone about Tai’s idol hunting. Surely everyone’s been out hunting idols, though – that’s what you do in Survivor.
At blue beach, finally we get to hear from Beauty Nick. He know he and Michelle need allies, so fetches water with Jason. He tells the confessional: “When it comes to being manipulative, I think I’m the most intelligent person out here.” Whoa – touch of the Dr Evil there, Nick, but at least you didn’t announce it at tribal.
Jason is happy everyone is approaching Brawns wanting to team up and pretends to consider both options. But he has to be thinking about Julia over at red buff exile. Speaking of Julia, she wakes up lonely and feeling crook as from dehydration.
“People don’t know that I’m actually 18,” she says. Is she the youngest-ever Survivor contestant?
It’s immunity challenge time and Jeff has his cheery orange cap on. They start with a swim, diving to untie knots underwater and Scot proves he’s a physical powerhouse. Partner Aubry gets to hear the condemning Jeff commentary: “(Scot) Basically doing this first stage all by himself.” Come on, Jeff – the dude is a giant. He was only waist deep in water that Aubry couldn’t touch the bottom in. Please can we have a less-elaborate balance-type challenge soon where a girl has a chance at shining.
Still, once it gets to the puzzle stage they are pretty much even, with Debbie and Neal on puzzle duty for blue and poker player Anna and Dr Evil (who nailed the last puzzle) for yellow.
The win goes to blue, which means my fears about Neal’s sudden increase in airtime earlier were unfounded.
Over at yellow, Anna knows she has to scramble, while Tai says he doesn’t want to join to list of players who’ve been voted out with an idol in their pocket. If he does play an idol and the others haven’t split the vote at all, one of the Brains will be in danger. Joe and Aubry want Tai gone, Pete wants it be Anna because she’s more divisive. They shoot him down but once he’s gone privately decide it may be better to keep the main provider around.
Later at camp Anna asks Peter what’s going on and, in front of Tai, he says it’s one of them. I like Tai even more when he tells confessional he can’t stand Peter’s arrogance. He tells the camera: “We can take Peter out. I can do it because I have the idol.”
And then he tells Anna and Scot his plan, and shows them the idol. Ballsy move, Tai – Probst is going to love this!
But will he actually do it or is he expecting Scot to tell Aubry so she will vote for Anna. I don’t know! How exciting.
Aubry then tells Scot they are voting for Anna. He’s relieved because – and I hadn’t thought of this – he has allies in Tai and Jason who both have idols. If they join up they can make a super idol. Wouldn’t that be cool? He tells Tai none of this but advises him to hang on the idol. But there are eight minutes to go, so it can’t be that straight forward.
It’s tribal council time and Anna shows that, while she can rhyme, she doesn’t know it’s incorrect to say “Tai or I”. Vote her out immediately! Tai sells his work ethic and food-gathering skills. Joe tells Jeff he thinks the season’s twist is there are no idols. Really, Joe, the hostage negotiator? Tai grabs a hold of this coat tail and agrees. Aubry proves adept at answering Jeff’s questions without giving anything away yet making it clear to her tribemates they should not make a stupid move.
Time to read the votes and … Tai does not move!! Anna looks concerned. One vote Peter, rest for Anna!
Everyone – except Anna – is happy with the outcome. So next week Julia will take her place and be on the bottom.
Great episode and no footage of people on the verge of death – hooray!
Next week on Survivor: We see Debbie flirting with Nick and suss Joe accusing Dr Evil of being a turncoat.
