This week on Survivor… Borneo Kelly, or as the tribe is calling her – “Wigs”, which I like, can’t believe that Jeff didn’t stick with the old school crowd to vote out Abi. Spencer and Shirin have totally set the pace for the game for Ta Keo and Wigs knows that her alliance needs to switch gears or they’ll be picked off one-by-one. The other Kelley is chomping at the bit to get the scoop on the idol she acquired at the challenge; she doesn’t even know what it looks like. When she finds some time, she goes out into the jungle, has a few happy moments with her new best friend, then buries the idol under a scattering of leaves. She’s really happy to have this little bit of safety because the game is already crazy for her tribe. Later, Kelley, Jeff, Spencer, and Shirin have a meeting of the minds to discuss their alliance – Spencer thinks none of them have any reason to worry, but… Even though Jeff is saying he’s onboard and loyal to them, the only reason he followed through with the Vytas vote was to light a fire under the butts of the other old schoolers to set the pace towards his real goal and for his real targets: Spencer and Shirin. They are playing smart and hard and Jeff wants to remove at least one of them. Even later, on the path to tree mail, Jeff lets Terry know that he’s all about Team Old School, but they all have to put themselves in a new school frame of mind if they hope to move forward. This isn’t 2001 Survivor. Terry is in agreement; he knows he has to play a social game this time or his torch and Jeff’s snuffer are going to get to know each other a little too well. They hug it out then Jeff jokingly starts scouting for a good spy shack location.
Over at Bayon, Joe is feeling crafty and he wants to seem less threatening so he puts on his “provider” pants and uses some netting they have to fashion some hammocks, which everyone finds surprisingly comfortable. Stephen calls him Survivor MacGyver – he builds things, he fishes, and he’s just the beautiful, golden boy of Bayon, but he’s too good for his own good. Joe is the dude you keep around in the beginning, but get rid of as soon as you hit the merge. Back at Ta Keo, Abi isn’t happy about the four votes cast against her, but she plans on being the new Abi she wants to be about it and not freak out on people… Cut to Spencer and Abi approaching Kimmie and Peih-Gee: Spencer wants to know how they made the chimney in China for the fire. Peih-Gee begins to explain, but Abi interrupts – “So, what’s going on, Peih-Gee?” she asks. A bit confused, Peih-Gee says that they are building a fire chimney, but then it clicks into place. Abi is paranoid. There is a bit of a tense moment when Peih-Gee gently tells Abi that she seriously needs to relax – they are JUST building a fire chimney. Spencer is terrified that he has to trust a drama queen like Abi. She’s such a liability. Abi is there to start fights; she’s cancer for a tribe and deathly cancer for an alliance. Later, Abi asks Spencer if she should go over to Woo, Terry, and Jeff and interrupt their little chat and be a little annoying. Spencer says why not? So she does and when asked what they are whispering about, Terry is quick to put Abi in her place – she’s not entitled to be in on every conversation and she can follow him around all day if she wants to hear more, but she’ll have to run pretty fast. Abi smiles and laughs this off.
And Jeff LOVES “The Abi Show”. There are all kinds of buttons you can push to provoke different levels of entertainment – who needs food when you’ve got Abi-Maria? Jeff thinks Abi is his tool to win a million dollars since no one likes her – and he’s right. Abi is the kind of player you keep around so you have the numbers, she’ll be loyal since she came thisclose to being voted out at the last Tribal Council, and because nobody will vote for her to win the game. Jeff may have felt out of place in the first few days, but he is in total Survivor-Mode now. Back at Bayon, Savage shares the story of how he met his wife, which tugs at Jeremy’s heartstrings so he walks away from camp to have a moment to himself. With Val at home, pregnant, being away from home is tough, but that’s why he’s doing this whole Survivor thing again. When Jeremy’s out shedding a few tears, everyone back at camp finally notices and wonders where he is; Stephen poses the question if he’s out looking for an idol… This doesn’t sit well with Savage because it shows that Stephen’s mind is in the game 24/7; it didn’t at all occur to Stephen that Jeremy needed some private time because of an emotional reaction to Savage’s story. So, Savage leaves camp to find Jeremy to make sure he’s okay… Then he mentions that Stephen thought Jeremy might be looking for an idol, which if you ask me, shows that Savage’s brain is just as much in game mode as Stephen’s. Savage definitely wants to limit Stephen’s time on the island because even if he likes the guy, he doesn’t stand for the same things he does – morals, loyalty, values, dignity, and yada yada yada… I mean, come on. This is a game in which people are supposed to out-wit, out-play, and out-last. If you want to play a game centered on loyalty and values go to Sesame Street and see what Big Bird has going on at his house.
That night, over at Ta Keo, Shirin and Peih-Gee are on the beach talking about Abi and how annoyed Peih-Gee is with her then all of the sudden, Abi walks over. She heard everything they just said and the drama begins. Abi’s upset that Peih-Gee talking about her behind her back, but Peih-Gee is quick to point out that Abi did the same thing to her when she found her bracelet in Peih-Gee’s bag. Abi also brings up the votes cast against her, which apparently she has brought up a LOT around camp. The whole altercation makes Shirin very uncomfortable so she walks away from the conversation. When the argument ends, Abi stays on the beach, alone, and Peih-Gee returns to the shelter and when asked about how she feels, she says she actually feels good. Everyone begins to laugh and Abi can hear them. She’s upset that her alliance member Shirin didn’t have her back, she feels alone, and she really thought that Shirin would be a good alliance since she felt alone during her season… Anyone else wondering what happened to the new Abi that was going to play smart and not be such a drama queen?
And Terry is on top of this situation. Abi is annoying and she’s an emotional train wreck, but she’s still a human being so he joins her on the beach to talk. Abi expected so much more from Shirin; Terry’s two cents is that Shirin and Spencer are totally out for themselves. This conversation leads to Abi telling Terry that she’s open to whatever is going to protect her – Terry loves this. Things are clicking with them both personally and strategically and he’s so happy that Jeff lit the fire under his butt to get him to jump up and play the game. The next morning, Abi finds Jeff on the beach; he wants to know how her chat with Terry went and isn’t he such a nice man? Jeff mentions that he wants to align with Terry; Abi says she does too and Jeff is most certainly having party in his head at this point in the conversation. He likes Abi, loves her little outbursts, and he knows he can get Terry, Woo, and Borneo Kelly to vote with them, which is five, which gives them the numbers advantage and opens the door to getting rid of Shirin or Spencer. And Abi feels sooo much better. She’s got a new alliance and they actually think she’s a joy to have around – when her old alliance realizes what’s going on they are going to freak out and have field day.
Come on in, guys! It’s time for the Immunity challenge. Each team will race up and over a series of three A-Frame obstacles while carrying coils of rope that they will use to pull a heavy crate containing puzzles pieces over wooden rails to the puzzle station where two people will put the puzzle together. They are also playing for reward – a Survivor tool kit and materials to help them build a better camp. And OMG – Jeff forgot to take the Idol back before he explained the challenge! I don’t think I’ve EVER seen him do that! So the challenge begins both tribes stay pretty close to each other over the obstacles, but once they start pulling the crates, Bayon takes the lead and Kimmi and Kass get a big headstart on the puzzle. Finally, Ta Keo pulls their crate to the end of the rails and Peih-Gee and the other Kelley get to work, but Kelley soon taps out and Spencer takes her spot. A lot of switching happens during this portion of the challenge; Joe taps in for Kimmi, Jeremy takes over for Kass, then Shirin joins Spencer – and they are frantically trying to get this puzzle together while Jeremy and Joe are calm, cool, and collected. When Shirin and Spencer think they have it, they don’t and this challenge is over because Jeremy and Joe finish with a correct puzzle right behind them.
So, Ta Keo heads back to into camp and we hear that Spencer is glad to have someone like Shirin around because he knows he can trust her, which is very different from his last Survivor experience. Elsewhere, Peih-Gee and Borneo Kelly are having a sand scrub down in the ocean and Jeff wades in to ask if they are willing to vote Spencer or Shirin – Peih-Gee says she’ll go with the majority. Jeff talks to the other Kelley – she’s on board with the majority too, even if she doesn’t like it. Later, Shirin and Abi find a quiet spot to talk; Shirin thinks she’s in a good spot with her alliance and wants to make sure Abi feels good. After Shirin apologizes, Abi expresses how hurt she was by her alliances lack of concern for her and brings up Terry’s two hour talk with her. Shirin desperately tries to reassure her that their alliance is solid, then Abi drops the bomb – some of their alliance wants Spencer and Shirin out of the game and that they are no longer playing the game together. Shirin informs Spencer of this and they hit up Woo for support, but he’s not going to flip on the people he’s aligned with – absolutely not. Shirin and Spencer are devastated – their only option is to vote for each other, which they do not like at all.
To Tribal Council we go… There is talk about how tough the game is and how once people are off the island, it’s the greatest experience ever, but then you go play again and BAM – Oh yeah, this kinda sucks. Shirin kicks off discussion of the drama that has played out at camp by telling Jeff about her current situation and that’s it not good. Jeff asks Kelley to illuminate him about the fighting that has been going on, Abi talks about how Terry is the only one who showed her some compassion, which Jeff likens to Mike taking Shirin under his wing last season. Terry chimes in to share his feelings of being on the upper half of the chopping block list, but after talking to Abi he’s feeling much more optimistic. Spencer is questioned and he just lets it all out – he knows he is at the top of the new chopping block list along with Shirin. Jeff, who I will not refer to as Varner because it’s easier, confirms for Jeff that yes, the vote tonight is between Shirin and Spencer. Spencer takes advantage of being the focus of the Jeff’s questions to address the tribe – he wants to lessen the strategy talk and start forming better relationships with people and he will do that if they keep him around. And it’s time to vote… And it’s Shirin… And I’m not happy about it.
Next week on Survivor, everyone that’s feeling all safe and comfortable is going to have a curve ball thrown at them – two tribes will become three. No one seems very happy about this and I can’t wait to see how people are shifted around. Don’t forget to check out all of our awesome reality show content here at Your Reality Recaps. We’ve got lots of post-season Big Brother things, Amazing Race stuff, Bravo shows… The list goes on and on so get to clicking and we’ll keep you entertained.
