This time on Survivor… As the sun rises on Day Eight we are taken to the Brains’ camp where Joe is soaking a wounded finger in heated salt water. Paging Dr. Peter to the ER, says Neal. He’s so gentle, says Joe. Thank god we have you here, says Debbie. Of course, Peter knows that he’s the low hanging fruit on his tribe and of course, if he can use his doctorin’ skills to his advantage he’s going to play the part of the Good and Gentle Doctor. It’s definitely not his dedication to his profession of physician and an obligation to give medical attention to those in need when he is capable. Nope! Not that… Neal is hip to Peter’s game though, and decides to partake in a little hidden Idol hunt in the jungle if for no other reason than to keep it out of Peter’s hands. Moments later, Neal finds a tree with a long, thin slit down the trunk and a in the slit is a bright blue package… Yada yada yada… Neal has an Idol, knows about #superidol, and he fancies himself a front-runner in the game.
Come on in, guys! It’s time to rock everyone’s cozy, comfortable, Brains vs Beauty vs Brawn world. Drop. Your. Buffs. So, here’s the deal with this switch, it was supposed to blend the players into two tribes of seven each, but Caleb… So! Jeff uncovers the wrapped Buffs and explains that there are seven yellow, seven blue, and one red. Whomever draws the red Buff must go back to Brawny Beach, ALONE, BUT… They will stay there until the next Tribal Council is over and join the tribe that lost a member. So as Ricky from Trailer Park Boys would say, it’s a Catch 23 situation. And without further ado, the players randomly select Buff packages and when they are opened we have two new tribes and one odd woman out… The new tribes are as follows: the blue-wearing Chan Loh tribe is comprised of Debbie, Neal, Jason, Cydney, Nick, and Michele; the yellow-wearing Gondol tribe is comprised of Aubry, Joe, Peter, Tai, Anna, and Scot… Leaving young Julia all alone at Brawny Beach; she had a feeling it would be her…
With the players all good and shuffled, the tribes head to back to camp and we join the new Gondol tribe when they arrive. The newbies to the Gondol tribe are really impressed with how well the Beauties have been living – they’ve got one chicken left, there’s a mango tree close by, they have heart of palm, and if Scot can give Tai a boost, there are more mangos in a tree that he can climb with some help. Peter loves that he is with two other Brains; he’s back in the saddle again! He can coast easily to the merge with Joe and Aubry around. Scot isn’t too worried about being the only Brawn tribe member, he played for several teams in the NBA so he’s use to switching up the game; he just needs to figure out who is the most trust worthy in the new Gondol. Later, Peter and Aubry are discussing the possibility of going to Tribal Council; obviously, a Beauty has got to go because a Beauty will replace the person they vote out and the Brains like having the power of three against two and one, not three against three. But Aubry still doesn’t trust Peter, like, at all. Scot shuffles into the scene at this point and joins the conversation and learns of the Brains’ plan to vote out a Beauty. This is good news, but Scot is a smart Survivor, he knows everything can change so it seems he’s going to stay on his toes around camp so his view isn’t distorted. (And how about the KU win over UConn this weekend? Rock Chalk! … Of course I’m going to get in on some of this #MarchMadness hype…)
At the new Chan Loh, Debbie welcomes the noobs, but Michele is not happy about her trio of Beauties being broken up by the switch. Despite the fantastic camp around her, which has a pull-up bar that Debbie shows off to Cyd, Michele is nervous moving forward, but she’s going to try to put on a happy face and ride the wave until the time comes when she needs to make an alliance. Debbie likes the new Chan Loh tribe, but the mastermind is on the offense. She’s been wanting to work with Brawn for a long time and her target is Cydney because of her obvious strength and Debbie knows the girl is smart. Cyd likes Debbie’s motherly vibe and thinks they could be a good duo. Cyd is appreciative that Debbie picked up on her smarts – she went to an Ivy league school and no one would guess that about her. Cyd’s been playing the “dumb jock” role. Debbie continues her quest to recruit the Brawns to take out the Beauties and talks to Jason and he’s down with this group as well and Debbie is very happy with her masterminding.
Back the Gondol camp, Tai is ready to pick mangos and Scot follows him into the jungle for the assist and gives Tai the boost he needs to reach the fruit on the higher branches. Scot is super impressed, thinks Tai is great at so many things, and has a little man crush on him now. Scot also thinks Tai is the most valuable member of the tribe. Elsewhere, Anna and Aubry are talking about how exciting it is to be around new people, but Anna knows what the Brains are up to as far as the vote is concerned if they go to Tribal. The Brains would be stupid to keep her AND Tai around so Anna knows she needs to go to work so she nudges Tai towards to the bus by confiding in Aubry about the rest of the Beauties catching Tai looking for the Idol, twice. Peter joins the conversation, then we see Anna talking with alone with Joe about Tai… It’s at this point that I’m pretty sure Anna is getting voted out this week because if she was in real game mode as a professional poker player, she would have held the Tai Idol cards a little closer to her chest until after the challenge…
Over at Chan Loh, Nick is excited to play a new game and thinks he’s the smartest person on the island. He’s figured out that it’s pretty much two Brains vs two Brawns vs two Beauties and he decides to talk to Jason about forming an alliance between the Brawns and Beauties. Jason couldn’t be happier about his position in the game. Everyone wants him and Cyd on their side to form a foursome. Beauties on the left, Brains on the right – Jason feels really good because he feels he and Cyd are golden. And now it’s time to check in on Julia, who isn’t doing great, but doesn’t seem to be doing so bad. She’s really paranoid about what’s happening back at the camps and upset that her alliance has been torn apart, and she’s feeling physically weak, but she’s up and around trying to make fire and stuff. No one knows that she’s only 18 and she’s sure that the people with more life experience are struggling less than she is – this is the hardest thing she’s had to do in the game yet.
Come on in, guys! It’s time for Immunity! In this challenge, two tribe members will race into the water to retrieve heavy fish puzzle pieces attached to a long net. Once they are back a shore, another two tribe members must untie the puzzle pieces then the remaining two will put the puzzle together. In the water for Chan Loh are Nick and Jason; Scot and Aubry for Gondol. The pairs can’t start untying the net until both tribe members are there – Nick and Jason are at their buoys first; Scot is waiting for Aubry to catch up since he basically walked the whole way out to their fish net… Scot catches up to Nick and Jason and has the Chan Loh net released first, but Jason is right on his tail with the net for Gondol so it’s now a race back to the beach with puzzle pieces that way around 100 pounds. And Scot pretty much drags the net back for Gondol single-handedly and Nick and Jason aren’t far behind him and soon, Michele and Cyd, and Tai and Joe are untying. The girls finish first, but the boys carry the fish the puzzle station slightly faster. It’s still neck and neck when the puzzle solvers get to work; Peter and Anna are battling Debbie and Neal who quickly begin to widen the gap between the tribes and just like that! Chan Loh wins Immunity.
Anna is devastated that Gondol is going to Tribal because she knows the vote is between her and Tai. When the Gondols get back to camp, Peter apologizes for not being able to get the puzzle done, Anna pipes in to say they had a strategy. Tai also knows that he’s on the chopping block, but he has that Idol and he doesn’t want to go home with it in his pocket… Alone on the beach, the trio of Brains talk about the vote; Aubry says Tai. Joe agrees even though Tai is the main provider. Peter argues that Anna is more divisive and Joe can’t argue with that. Peter thinks Anna is too smart and too pretty to have around. When Peter leaves, Joe continues to rally in favor of the Anna vote; they gotta play smart if they want to make it to the merge. If she wants to stick with the Brains, they have two more on the other side; Aubry says she will go with Joe on this one. Later, Tai, Anna, and Peter are sitting around the fire and Anna asks Peter what’s up with tonight and he tells them honestly – it’s going to be a Beauty. This jumps us to a confessional with Tai in which he tells us that he doesn’t like Peter, there’s something arrogant about him, and Tai could use his Idol to get rid of him…
Even later, Scot has joined the group by the fire, and when Peter leaves, Tai asks him to stick around then tells both Anna and Scot that he has an Idol, he shows it to them and says he wants to use it to help introduce Peter’s torch to Jeff’s snuffer. Anna loves this idea and so does Scot, but Scot loves Tai’s Idol even more and once he hears from Aubry that the Brains are voting for Anna, he’s not loving the idea of blindsiding Peter so much anymore. Why burn an idol that can be turned into a Super Idol especially when you know someone else that has an idol… So when Tai asks Scot for advice, he tells him that he’s safe, Anna’s a schemer, everyone likes Tai and that he should save his Idol. Tai is nervous though. He really doesn’t want to go home with the Idol in his shoe. He decides to bring his Idol with him to Tribal and see what comes up in conversation with Jeff before making any more decisions.
To Tribal Council we go! Jeff immediately points out that there are three Brains and obviously, they are gonna stick together right? Aubry says YUP because they are the devils they know. Scot is the lone wolf on his tribe, an interesting position for sure, but people have approached him and he at least feels good about the people around him. Then we talk to Anna so Jeff can get confirmation that the vote is between her and Tai, which leads to Anna pointing out her assets. Tai isn’t shy about doing the same for himself. When the topic of Idols comes up, Joe says he doesn’t think there is an Idol. Tai “doesn’t think so either” and says he actually went out looking, got in trouble with the Beauties for it, and “never found one” so he agrees with Joe – there are probably no Idols floating around. BRAVO, TAI! There’s only one thing wrong with your performance, dude. When you said you weren’t good at searching for things and something about not being good with directions or something, Aubry raised her eyebrows and looked a little suspicious/confused. I mean, you have displayed those kinds of skills and you’re a tree guy, Tai… It might not matter, but that look…
Moving on, Jeff asks if there are any cracks to take advantage of within the Brains; Peter says not this week. And he’s not nervous at all. He, the rest of the Brains, and Scot hold all the power. Jeff points out that Peter doesn’t know who could be lying or not and there are three other people in the tribe who could band together to break up their little Brainy party, but Peter doesn’t think anything blindsidey will be happening to the Brains tonight. And with that the votes are cast, Tai doesn’t play his Idol, everyone votes for her, even Tai, and Anna goes home. Called it! I usually don’t pick up on editing cues, but I totally did this week. They were highlighting Anna’s scheming ways and I knew it would be her undoing. You just needed to chill out and bond, girl! 😉 Next time on Survivor… Debbie is crushing hard on Nick and can’t help, but use a little flirting in her strategy and Joe is suspicious of Peter. I’m sure it’ll be a good one! As always… Check out what everyone else at Reality Recaps is doing! We’ve got Amazing Race recaps, Big Brother Canada Coverage Galore, Hell’s Kitchen, Bravo Shows, The Bachelor, video recaps… We do a lot. You should really surf around. 😉 And if you’re shopping on Amazon, use this link – it doesn’t cost you more and it helps us out a bit!
