This week on Survivor… Shirin is pretty upset after getting home from Tribal; Mike is on damage control and Dan is creating more of a rift between himself and Super Fan. He STILL doesn’t understand how she cannot know the difference between a flip and blindside; Shirin concedes that he is so smart. The Shii-Ann/Christine of this season isn’t stupid; Shirin knows that eventually the blues are going to split so she plants the seeds to help this along and waters them. “Well, Mike, when you go to the very end, I’m voting for you to win so…” She is reminded that she will definitely be on the Jury. Oh yes! She will be on the Jury; she is aware of this and her vote will be for Mike! Mwah ha ha ha haaaaaaaa! Rodney doesn’t agree with Dan at all that flippers don’t win because that’s exactly how he plans to put the money in his bank account. Later on the beach, Jenn tells Joe and Shirin that she’s had it with this game; she’s ready to go, but Shirin doesn’t really want that to happen… She does; however, need to establish a new alliance.
The next day Shirin makes her move to align with Mike and Sierra; she knows her back is up against a wall. Mike thinks bringing Shirin into his corner is PERFECT because no one will expect it and he’s got some threats to remove so… Who would she target? Shirin wants to get rid of Carolyn because she knows for a fact that she’s working with Tyler, Rodney and Will; that’s four people. Mike has also noticed this and knows that Shirin is smart; there is definitely a group within his group and Shirin is willing to help him remove the foursome from the game. She will vote how he wants her to vote; Sierra remains silent this whole time. Shirin knows that she has to attach herself to someone else’s game at the moment and follow them along on the game board. As long as she’s in the car, she doesn’t mind not being the driver; she can help guide the game pieces from the backseat.
Come on in, guys! Time for a reward and this one is super sweet because it’s a trip the chocolate café… If they can survive this Bruise Cruise of a challenge! After a schoolyard pick, the tribe is divided into two teams. On the blue team: Mike, Dan, Tyler, Seirra and Shirin; On the red team: Rodney, Will, Jenn, Carolyn and Joe. Each player must swim to a ladder, climb up and slide down a ramp then swim to next obstacle – a mesh obstacle between two platforms then over a balance beam to the final platform. After each player has gone through the obstacle course, one at a time, a person from each tribe must toss a grappling hook to snag five rings; first tribe to pull all five rings back to the platform wins. Let the Bruise Cruise begin! Mike and Rodney do okay, but Mike and Will aren’t looking so hot as their skin screeches down the slide and besides a nasty crash by Tyler, this is pretty much the extent of the Bruise Cruise. Red team is first to begin dragging rings, but the blue teams is not far behind and soon the games is tied and the scores goes back and forth until… BLUE wins reward. Jenn is even more discouraged now and Joe is still grateful for signing up for this adventure.
Chocolate time! NO chocolate with peanut butter options!? For real, Twix, M&Ms and Snickers? This is Survivor. Girls have gone topless for chocolate and peanut butter on Survivor and these people just took a real beating out on the challenge course. They also have popcorn, because you need salt after eating so much chocolate of course, and it looks like lemonade??? WTF? Lemonade with chocolate? Gross. Why not just some ice cold water, Survivor? I’m sure they would have really appreciated that. But LEMONADE??? Anyway… Everyone loves chocolate and it’s great for everyone, but back at camp… The losers have decided they are going to eat one of the two chickens they have. Rodney just gots to have himself something other than rice and beans to eat! Everyone is on board for this except Jenn, because they are her chickens! She’s just over this game; she’s got nothing, but despair. Don’t look so glum, Jenn! Rodney has a GREAT Mike impression… Seriously… omg. I never thought that Rodney would be involved in one of my favorite Survivor moments ever. Joe said it best: he nailed it. And Joe is also very glad to see that Rodney isn’t a big fan of Mike; he wants to be able to use this to his advantage in hopes of staying a bit longer in the game.
No one on the winning side of the Reward Challenge seems to mind that everyone else ate a chicken while they were gone because nothing is said about it. Tree Mail is read and Joe is hoping his winning streak will be stretched to four. Jenn knows that she, Shirin and Joe are all on the bottom; she’s thinking that the more she asks the leave, the more likely it is that she will stay. Since they want to keep her around, she’s going to give them a reason to vote her out and she strikes a deal with Joe. She wants to win Immunity so if it comes down to them, she wants to win and she will give the necklace to him. Joe would rather win it for himself and would rather Jenn stay, but this does double his chances of staying so he’s cool with it.
Come on in, guys! Time for Immunity and it’s a balance endurance challenge. Each player will stand on a narrow board with their heels in the air while they use their heads to wedge a block of wood to a beam above them. They aren’t allowed to touch the sides of the structure and it’s on! Joe struggles early for a change, but he recovers and the first one out is Carolyn, followed by Will and Shirin. Joe teeters on the edge of disaster again, but recovers again and the next one out is Rodney, then Dan. Joe’s block is not in a good place now, but he hangs on and the next one out is Seirra leaving Joe, Jenn, Mike and Tyler, but Joe finally looses his grip on the block and his only chance at Immunity is Jenn. As everyone begins to shake, Mike takes the dive and it’s down to Jenn and Tyler. After thirty minutes, Jenn and Tyler are still battling it out for the necklace, but Jenn’s block falls and Tyler wins Immunity. Jenn is really disappointed she didn’t win Immunity; everyone wants to vote for Joe, but she hasn’t given up on make an effort to get everyone to vote her out instead.
Back at camp, Joe tells Shirin and Jenn that he has the Immunity Idol and he’s going to play it. Shirin has been running the numbers and she found a loophole in the system. She just knows that the Blue Collar Seven is going to split their votes between Joe and Jenn with three votes for Jenn and four votes for joe; Jen can’t vote for herself, but she won’t vote for Joe so if Joe votes for Jenn it will even out the votes giving Shirin the swing vote! Whew! Jenn loves this and with a dreamy look in her eyes asks if Shirin could please vote for her she can leave, which she thinks is pathetic, but she doesn’t care. Meanwhile, the Blue Collar Seven decides to split the votes with four to Joe and three to Jenn. Mike instructs everyone to keep on eye on him; they should all be attached to his hip whenever he wanders into the jungle. Later Mike tells Shirin that they will be splitting the votes and he would like her to vote for Joe; he’s gotta trust her because Joe could vote for Jenn… If they want to make it to the Final Four, they need to get rid of Joe. Shirin is conflicted because her friend Jenn really wants to go, but… She wants Jenn to stay in the game.
Joe Patrol begins… Joe wants to construct a fake idol; he’s a jewelry designer so he has a plan. He asks Dan if he wants to go out for a walk and of course he does! In the jungle, Joe makes his play with Dan; he really wants to stay, Dan says there’s no way he can sway anyone then Dan walks away! And Joe makes a run for a quiet place deeper in the jungle to assemble his fake idol. When Dan gets back to camp, Mike asks where Joe is at and Dan says he’s gone. Just like that, Joe is suddenly gone… So Mike and Dan go barreling into the jungle and Mike finds him. Joe tells him that he has the Idol and he’ll give it to him tomorrow if he keeps him; he knows they are splitting the vote. He says he will vote Jen, but he wants the vote to swing in his favor. Mike is having none of it. If he doesn’t have that idol in his hands tonight, it’s a no go and Mike would totally swing his vote if Joe gives him whatever idol he has… Maybe…
To Tribal! So… Joe DOES give Mike the fake idol, as everyone is filing into the area and before Hali is brought in to take her seat on the jury. No one seems to notice, but if I were Joe, I would have made a big deal about it to show everyone on the BLUE tribe that Mike was willing to make a deal with me because ya know, he lied to the tribe about my having an idol and put an even bigger target on MY back… That’s how you truly and effectively use a fake idol – to cause dissension among the ranks of those with the numbers – before they vote you out of the game. Oh man, Joe… If only you weren’t such a wholesome dude… Let’s cut to the chase: Shirin votes for Joe and he is voted out this week, which could or could not be the move that puts Shirin in the winner’s circle. Jenn needs to get her head in the game; if this whole “I wanna go home” thing is REALLY just a strategy – it’s brilliant, but I don’t think that’s what she’s doing. I don’t know WHERE Tyler’s mind is, but next week…
It looks like Rodney’s plan has been exposed in a more defining way and he flips OUT on Mike; next week’s episode is called “Bring the Popcorn” so… We should be in for some real fireworks next Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS! (And don’t worry, Joe, if you don’t make it to the third Fans Vs. Favorites season I’ll be shocked). If you like The Amazing Race… If you like Hell’s Kitchen… Bravo! If you like reality TV and if you like to laugh and make light of the world’s problems, stick with me and with Your Reality Recaps. And use this link to buy stuff on Amazon! It really helps us out!
