This week on Survivor… Ladies and gentlemen, Melissa has some personal issues that she’s dealing with in addition to all coping with all of the drama in the reality show of life so… I am going to do my best to keep calm and recap as usual, but I should say that it is so very funny how reflective Survivor is of actual reality. I would have to go on further to explain how everything is connected, but for now let’s just talk about what’s happening on that island, shall we? 😉
So the next day after Tribal, at camp in the shelter, Dan and Seirra are talking about Mike’s behavior with Tyler. They think that’s he’s gone crazy, but we know he is not crazy and I think it’s really funny how fully confident Dan is being because we all know that Mike’s paranoia is fully warranted. In this case, this will be Dan’s million dollar mistake. Meanwhile, around the fire, Shirin is sitting and Dan joins her; she is still upset about Will’s verbal insults and making the game so personal. Dan is very sorry that he didn’t know about the stuff that happened to Shirin when she was younger, and he is genuinely sorry that she had to go through it, buuut… Later, he’s not going to let it be an excuse for her to play the victim, which is what Dan says Shirin loves to do; she’s also a two-faced liar and a drama queen, according to Dan and he thinks that Will’s actions are Karma at work, buuut… I highly doubt that Karma is coming after Shirin this season on Survivor, but Karma is definitely with her on that island. I’m sure most of us can agree on THAT being the truth.
Come on in, guys! It’s time to play for reward. Up for grabs is a boat ride and burgers! The tribe is divided into two teams and must maneuver from one side of the three-section sand field to the other using four barrels, two planks and a piece of rope; no one is allowed to touch the ground, including the planks. Blue team: Mike, Shirin, Sierra and Rodney; Red Team: Carolyn, Tyler, Dan and Will. Mike leads the blues by putting the barrels on their sides and rolling them, using the planks for the rest to walk on to get to the fourth barrel. While they stand on the barrel, Mike pushes the rest forward and so on. The Red Team is taking a totally different approach. With the barrels on their ends, they use the planks to walk across then kick the last one to roll it to the front. Neck and neck it stays for awhile, but the Blue Team sets their planks on the ground in the last block so they have to restart the section. Red team takes the lead. Seirra decides to try her own thing and hops on the barrel to roll it herself to the finish and encourages everyone else to do their own thing; they all take her cue and this last ditch effort almost pays off, but Shirin falls, then Mike and they have to start over again. Obviously, Red Team wins. Dan feels bad for Rodney. He hasn’t been on a single reward and Jeff reminds that he can give his spot to Rodney if he wants to; Dan looks away. That’s okay! Rodney says he will get his and Jeff points out that Dan just got off the hook, but really… But first….
Back at camp, Mike is upset that he was doing all of the work in the challenge and that they lost, but whatever, he’s still enemy number one anyway. While Mike is off killing the last chicken, Seirra is talking with Rodney. Poor Rodney. He hasn’t been on any rewards and his beard is itchy; he needs “me time” and a shower. He’s hoping to win an individual reward. Seirra takes this opportunity toss Tyler under the bus to Rodney, but Rodney has no worries about Tyler, which makes Seirra nervous because he’s not willing to get him out sooner than six. He wants to target Mike and use Shirin to get Tyler’s torched snuffed, but Seirra thinks Tyler is much more of a threat than Shirin and they should take advantage of having her as a number. Everyone will give Tyler a million dollars; he’s a threat. Rodney thinks HE is the bigger threat, though. Rodney is the one in charge of all of the pieces on this game board; even though there are two against his six, he is the one in charge of the pawns. At the moment, Rodney is the King of Survivor on this island. Everyone is giving up all their good cards to him, like I do when I play Rummy w/ my friend Brett… It remains to be seen if he can work his magic, though.
Meanwhile, on Reward… Of course, Dan thinks it is so great to be on Reward with Tyler, Will and Carolyn because he wants to make sure that they know that he is solid with the six, which is great for Rodney’s trio because they WANT Dan to stick to the plan. As the burgers are consumed, Dan is being reeled in by Tyler and the postman is eating up the bait, hook, line and sinker. Tyler and Carolyn have no idea what made Mike snap, but he has lost his mind to paranoia. Dan agrees that everyone needs to stay the course with the Final Six; Tyler is very glad that Dan cannot see beyond that and he’ll do what he can to keep his focus on the “others”, the “flippers” that don’t belong. Aaand… I think Dan’s obsession with math and numbers is going to be his undoing in this game. For someone that is all about trust and loyalty, talking about how flippers never win, he sure was quick to turn on the guy that’s been his buddy since the very beginning. Where’s the trust, Dan? You’re hanging out with two strategic White Collars, who you KNOW are at the bottom of YOUR alliance, and the last remaining No Collar, who is also at the bottom of YOUR alliance, and you think they are looking out for you? Where’s the True Blue love and dedication that you keep talking about? Anyway…
Come on in, guys! It’s time for Immunity and this week there are two necklaces! The last man and last woman standing will be safe at Tribal Council because this week’s challenge is strength endurance. Each player will have to hang onto a bar connected to a rope that holds up a bag that contains 25% of their body weight – what they weighed at the BEGINNING of the game…Once they lose their grip on the bar and the rope unwinds from the middle of it, a bucket of water will help indicate that they’ve been washed out of this challenge. And it’s ON! Fifteen minutes into the challenge and everyone is still hanging on, but Seirra is struggling and she’s the first one to splash down and out, followed by Tyler then Will and Dan leaving this challenge with four people: Carolyn vs. Shirin and Mike vs. Rodney. Shirin is slipping though, and she can’t hang on anymore. Carolyn wins Immunity. As Rodney struggles to maintain his grip, Dan tosses on his shirtpants to be his cheerleader, but it’s not helping because his bag finally drops and Mike wins Immunity again.
At this point, I’m yelling at my television. “Give Shirin your idol, Mike! Give Shirin your idol!” Let’s do the math! At this point, I know, as a viewer, that everyone in that six-strong alliance is going to vote for Shirin. There is NO reason to split the vote because it’s too risky; they’d have to split it between Shirin and one of their own so THAT is not going to happen. So that’s six votes for Shirin, BUT if Mike plays his Idol for her, THEY control who goes home because all of HER votes will not count. Sure, they will both be vulnerable next week, but this will force one of the Six-Strong out of the game, they still have their duo and they have another chance to convince Dan and Sierra to come to their senses. Tyler is the perfect target in this case because it will not only rock Rodney’s foursome, but it will show Dan and Seirra that Mike is still True Blue. That’s just my thinking at this point in the show. SO! After the challenge, Shirin scrambles the best she can; it’s stupid for them to get rid of her when there is such a delectable morsel in Tyler because he’s a huge threat and Shirin is not. Everyone pretty much knows this and they would love to sit next to her at the end, buuut… They are NOT budging.
Later, Tyler cannot keep his hands to himself because he wants to know what Dan’s advantage is so he takes Dan’s bag and find out that he has an extra vote. Advice to Future Survivors: KEEP YOUR BAG ON YOU AT ALL TIMES or DON’T LEAVE NOTES TO IDOLS AND ADVANTAGES IN YOUR BAGS. Respect for personal property has gone seriously downhill in this game. lol Tyler immediately runs to Carolyn to share the information because he’s super nervous about this power. If Dan and Sierra realize how strong the “Fantastic” Four is, they can flip back over to Mike, vote with Shirin and use his extra vote to kick Tyler out of the camp. Meanwhile in the jungle, Mike is talking with Dan and the postman isn’t feeling great about Tribal because Mike and Shirin could easily whip out an idol and cut Dan out of the game. That’s definitely a possibility, says Mike who feels so awesome that he won Immunity, but he knows he might not win next week so he appeals to Dan to get Tyler out of the game. Dan doesn’t think he’d have a problem winning against Tyler in the end, though and Mike is really disappointed that Dan isn’t as loyal as he thought he was because Mike is still loyal to him. He does have that idol, though, and he is considering using it. WOOHOO!
To Tribal Council! Jeff brings up the altercation between Will and Shirin and she explains how her life back home is very different from everyone else’s. Dan disagrees. He was adopted and all he has is his mother so it’s really no different. Jeff asks if there was domestic violence involved and Dan just says “I am an adopted child”. Jeff says that is a HUGE difference and Dan reiterates that he’s not trying to “take anything away” from Shirin, who reiterates that Will was verbally abusive and no one seems to have a problem with it because no one is saying that Will should apologize. They have not patched up this problem and Will has NO intention of making an effort to do so; it wouldn’t be a sincere apology. Even if Shirin’s vote could win him the million dollars, he’s not budging. ::eyeroll:: Shirin takes this opportunity to let everyone know how stupid they will look if they vote her out tonight; she’s not a threat, but Tyler is and he will take a million dollars from everyone except for Mike. Jeff says Shirin’s argument is solid and Seirra agrees, but she’s just one vote… Which DOES speak volumes of her place within her alliance, but Carolyn and Tyler are really speaking up for the Six-Strong… OF COURSE.
Mike takes this time to ask Seirra, Dan and Rodney to think about what they are doing with this vote and he says that if they are smart, they will write down a name that starts with a “T” and it will be a good move for them. Tyler questions Mike’s loyalty over the last week, Rodney laughs then Tyler blathers on about how good it is to sit and wait to make the Final Six with blinders on, which… How is it not OBVIOUS to Dan and Seirra that both Tyler and Carolyn are feeling VERY confident when they are only TWO people in an alliance with three Blue Collars? Don’t worry, Tyler. They’ve got those blinders on! lol Dan says desperate people will say anything to stay in the game, Shirin rolls her eyes then Jeff asks if the bottom two, Mike and Shirin, have anything to say and MIKE says, yeah… I got something to say. Actually Mike has something to show and something to tell! He knows he and Shirin are NOT going home tonight. Mike whips out his idol and says he’s going to play it for Shirin. Shirin is voting for Tyler and he’s going to throw his vote to a random person in the foursome, just for fun, because he wants to see how this group of six is going to divide.
YES! The jury is LOVING this and SO AM I! These are exactly the kind of big moves we want to see in this game. The looks on the faces of the Six-Strong are priceless. This is definitely on my list of best Tribal Councils ever. Yes, Jeff, this is going to make for a VERY interesting vote. Before the votes are read… Mike does NOT play his idol for Shirin, which is upsetting, but it would be stupid for him to play it. He does tell Shirin that he loves her when he puts it back in his pocket and she isn’t upset at all. The votes: Tyler, Shirin, Dan, Tyler, Shirin, Dan, Shirin and… Shirin. And as the rest of them all breath a huge sigh of relief and smiles become bright, Mike reminds that Dan got two votes! lol And Shirin really isn’t that upset; she’s a super fan and Jeff is about to snuff her torch! So awesome! So next week… Tyler is scrambling to explain why he voted for Dan and Rodney is so frustrated that he wants to throw down his torch. YUP! The Six-Strong is not going to be strong for long! I LOVE SURVIVOR!
All of my Survivor blogs are HERE. Don’t forget about BIG BROTHER CANADA 3! (There are video recaps too). And if you like it, you should check out our Amazing Race blogs, we cover Bravo Shows, Hell’s Kitchen and MORE here at YOUR Reality Recaps. (Don’t forget about King of the NERDS! – And click here for my new open letter to “TBS”.) As always, if you’re shopping on Amazon, use THIS LINK because it really helps us out and it doesn’t cost you more!Peace! One Love. Be excellent to each other. And yes, party on, dudes – With my sister’s band’s CD – Good Time Charley: Cautionary Tales
