This week on Survivor… Keith is NOT a happy camper after Missy and Baylor wrote his name down at Tribal Council. The day after Dale’s exit from the game, the mother/daughter duo explain what their plan was, but boy, it sure would have been nice if they had let Keith in on that plan. They should have sent out a memo, perhaps with a cover sheet and a TPS report, because Keith is done with them, he’ll leave them high and dry because Keith needs loyal people in his alliance that don’t lie to him.
Over at Hunaphu, Tree Mail is delivered that instructs tribe members to go to a location and wait for further instructions. Everyone assumes it’s the merge, (it is), and Josh has mixed emotions about it. He really wanted to get Jeremy out, but his new tribe never got the chance to go to Tribal Council to execute that plan. He and Reed discuss who they have on their side; Alec, Wes, Keith will definitely join them once the tribe is merged so that’s five, but five isn’t enough. Jeremy recognizes that Reed and Josh were running things at the new Hunaphu and he was happy to hop in the backseat and let them do that, but it’s the merge and he’s ready to crush on some gays, but not in a fun, experimental, what happens on the island stays on the island kind of way.
Word of the merge is met with much excitement from Baylor at Coyopa. Jon is also happy – he and Jaclyn can still date because they both made the merge! Yay! They never dreamed they would make it to the merge together and Jaclyn lets us know that they are going to keep their options open as far as alliances go when they unite with Hunaphu. Speaking of… As the blue team makes their way to the neutral zone for the merge feast, Reed explains the dynamics of Blood Vs. Water: some people are going in with a built-in alliance with a loved one, some are going in as singles so … It’s gonna get pretty interesting. Thank you, Captain Obvious! At the feast, everyone is excited to eat food, and there’s BOOZE! Woohoo! Julie is really the only one that’s not having a good time. She’s really missing The Rocker and would love to separate herself from the group to have a good cry.
After the merged tribe reads that they will be making the old Coyopa camp their new home, they pack up all the food that they can to take back with them so they can feast the next day too. Julie is told that she’s making a good call by dumping the rest of the trail mix in her bag… and Keith lets us know that he’s thrilled to be on a tribe with his son Wes after sixteen days. He could care less about Missy and Baylor now. Josh is pretty nervous, the game is crazy enough without all this merging business because now there are more people and merge time is make it or break it time as far as numbers go.
Jeremy also recognizes that the merge is a milestone; the first half of the game is just the preliminary round. Merge time is step up your game time and Jeremy intends to keep the numbers on his side by utilizing his fellow singles, now if he could only wrangle in a couple or two… And he’s got his eye on Jon and Jaclyn and Missy and Baylor, but Jon is the number one person on his list. Jon tells Jeremy that team Double J (Jon and Jaclyn) are still good with Baylor and that Wes is pretty much aligned with Josh. They both agree that Josh is running that show so he’s got to go, then Jeremy has a little chat with Missy and she’s so happy to be back on a tribe with him! Of course she and Baylor will stick by his side! Josh knows what he’s up to, though and while the tribe comes up with their new name (#Huyopa!), Josh is plotting against him.
The next day, Keith forgets that it’s his son’s birthday. Josh is the first one to wish Wes a happy one, but Keith soon remembers and brings his son a crab on a stick as a gift. After birthday crab breakfast, Reed and Josh are watching Jeremy gather firewood, wondering why no one sees how big of a threat he is and Josh hatches his plan of gathering up the couples, targeting the singles, so they can all go to the end with the people they love. He’s gonna guilt on Baylor, he saved before so she really does owe him one. If he can snag the mother/daughter duo, because Missy transfers over with Bayor, he and Reed will have the numbers since they are in good with Keith and Wes and Alec… I’m not sure how Alec counts as a couple, but he’ll be easy enough to get rid of when his time comes so it doesn’t really matter… I don’t think…
So Josh has a little chat with Baylor, but by the end of it he’s not feeling that great. Baylor wasn’t exactly as on board as Josh thought she would be. The reason for this is that Josh was/is Baylor’s only really strong alliance, but her mom, Missy has several strong alliances so this is pretty difficult for young Baylor. She doesn’t like that he protected her and now she has to turn around and vote him out. While she didn’t say this directly to Josh, he felt the vibe and was a little hurt by it and both he and Reed think she is a little sketchy. Baylor goes to talk to her mom and explains the conversation she had with Josh; she feels like she needs to have a talk with him. Missy is immediately on “damage” control. Baylor’s just going to have to be a little phony. She needs to suck it up and smile at everyone despite her need to please and her endearingly sweet heart.
Since Baylor isn’t exactly on board, Josh makes his next play on team Double J and totally throws Jeremy under the bus, (with Baylor he just said that staying with the singles would put a target on her). Who do Jon and Jaclyn think “they”, the rest of the merged tribe, are going to give the money to anyway? Two successful Broadway guys or the fireman with two kids… Come on. Duh! AND Jeremy is a strong competitor, he works a lot around camp and he talks to EVERYone. Team Double J go for a little walk away from camp to discuss. Josh does have a point, but he and Reed are broadway guys, they can make stuff up so they aren’t sure what they are going to do, but the know that whatever they do is going to be pivotal in the game. Such a power couple, they are and with so much swing.
Before we get to Immunity there’s a little matter of #TrailMixScandal that needs to be discussed. Remember that bowl of trail mix that Julie poured into her bag that was such a “good move”, well… Turns out, everyone forgot she did that and she hasn’t been sharing it and now everyone is all “hey, where’s that trail mix”? So a bag search that puts the TSA to shame begins around camp. I didn’t catch who said it, but someone is certain that someone else is hording the trail mix then Wes asks the question… Where is Julie? Oh… She’s just relaxing on the beach, getting some sun, resting her tired feet. So Jon takes the opportunity to look through HER bag and guess what he found! Trail mix! Wes thinks it’s one of the most selfish things a person can do out there and he also thinks that the rest of them are going to, ya know, eat it all. Jon is pissed! He can’t trust someone in his alliance who steals food! At home, whatever, take the trail mix, but out here… Nooope! When Julie gets back to camp, she’s totally feeling the vibe and she’s not stupid, she has a pretty good idea that they know she’s hording the trail mix and now she has a fire under her butt… Not a very hot one, apparently…
Immunity! Balls are involved so we know Jeff is thrilled about that. After taking back the Immunity Idol and revealing the Immunity Necklace, which has lovely accents in the new merged tribe color as my mom pointed out, Jeff explains the challenge. Players must balance a ball on a wooden disk that’s connected by ropes to a “Y” shaped pole. There will be several rounds, players must take steps back and move their grips on the ropes further back in each one and in the last one, the endurance round, two balls must be balanced on the disk. If you drop the ball(s), you’re out. Josh is really hoping to win; team Double J hasn’t given him the thumbs up on joining his couples only alliance and he’s pretty sure his name is going to be written down at Tribal Council. Much to Josh’s pleasure… Jeremy is the first one out, followed by Missy then Julie in the first round. Second round! First one to go? Reed, then Baylor (despite a great recovery), then a gust of wind takes out Alec, then Jaclyn drops and another gust of wind blows Natalie out of the challenge leaving Jon, Wes, Keith and Jon and they all make it to the final round. With two balls on the disk, I’m shocked that Jeff isn’t giving us any good balls puns and just like that, Josh’s hopes of wearing that necklace are dashed, then Jon’s balls drop leaving father and son to duke it out, but Wes is struggling, then Keith is, but Wes can’t keep his balls in line and his dad takes the first Individual Immunity win.
Before we head back to camp, Keith lets us know that tonight’s vote will draw a line in the sand as to who everyone has aligned with and when we get back to camp Jeremy is just disgusted with himself. He got beat by Julie! And a mom. And an old man! He sucks at these challenges. He feels like he’s safe tonight, though. He feels like he has the numbers. Then the trail mix scandal comes into play again. Alec just had to say something about wishing he had some trail mix and Julie acts as if she doesn’t hear him. Let the long, awkward silence commence! Then Julie walks off, telling us that she’s feeling lost and confused. Later she opens up to Missy, not about the trail mix, but about being unhappy because it’s sucks watching everyone with their loved ones. She thinks she’s toast and insinuates that she might quit the game. Missy lets us know that yeah, it’s obnoxious she was selfish with the trail mix, but her alliance needs Julie as a number so she does her best to convince her to stick it out. She’s her loved one when John’s not around. Everything is going to be okay, but Julie tells us that SHE can do something right now to fix her situation. She gets they need her as a number, but she controls her own destiny.
And ya know what… Let’s fast forward because everything that happens next doesn’t matter at all, but you should know that Jon decides that he and Jaclyn should take Josh’s side. That’s the only important bit of information that happens except… Julie calls in Jeff. She wants to quit. She just can’t handle being away from John. Back home they don’t go more than four days being away from each other. Jeff points out that little kids leave their parents to go to summer camp for longer than she has left in the game, but nooope! Julie’s toast. She’s throwing in the towel and she’s taking the trail mix with her! ::eyeroll:: Okay, I don’t know if she actually took the rest of the trail mix with her, but Survivor quitters don’t get any respect from me until the show is over so…. What a selfish, whiny brat. I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again. So many people want to be on that island to have a shot at winning the money and having the experience of a lifetime and when someone quits it’s a slap in the face to all of those people, ESPECIALLY when it’s the girlfriend of a famous baseball player. I’ll tell you Keith should be metaphorically spitting on…
And… I missed the scenes for next week’s episode. My local CBS station went all wonky so I couldn’t watch it as it aired so… I have NO idea what will be going down next week, but I’m really excited to see how everything plays out at the next Tribal Council. I don’t think it’s a great idea for Josh to round up all the couples, but I do agree that Jeremy has a better shot than he and Reed at winning the money if they were all in a Final Three situation. Hopefully I’ll catch a promo at some point, but I don’t watch many CBS shows anymore… If YOU do, You can read our Amazing Race recaps and there’s all of our Bravo show coverage in addition to loads more content all focused on your favorite reality shows. And oh! Please do your holiday shopping on Amazon via our link (just click that link to go directly to Amazon) – it’s a great way to support what we all do here AND it helps keep all of the content absolutely FREE to you. Thanks!
