This time on Survivor… When Gondol arrives at camp, Tai expresses his gratitude to the tribe for keeping him around and they let him know that he does so much and they are grateful for that. Tai feels bad about blindsiding Anna, but he’s still really happy to be in the game. Peter feels that everything is up in the air for him as far as alliances are concerned because the Brains he’s with voted out his alliance member and he’s thinking it might be time to turn on them. He approaches Tai that evening with his back story and proposes the idea of voting out Joe if they are put into a “Date with Jeff” situation. Tai listens, but doesn’t say much except that they should talk about it later. The next day at Chan Loh, Nick is pumped full of energy and ready to play this game. He’s ready to bond and do everything he needs to do to make it to the end and his first “target” is Debbie… and he knows exactly how to appeal to her. As if he even needs to because Debbie is gaga for Nick, the Greek God, and is sure that he’s going to get a modeling contract after this – she would know, she’s modeled for years and years… But she’s not gonna let the Greek God distract her from this game. No way! So… Debbie and Nick return to camp with Treemail and read for the tribe: The Most Boring Treemail Ever. No cute little poem, Probst? Did your Treemail writer quit? I can write cute little Treemail poems…
Come on in, guys! It’s time for Reward, but first… Anna joins her new tribe and both she and Michele are upset that Anna is gone. Moving on! Up for grabs? Survivor Picnic! In this challenge the tribes release buoys from the floor of the ocean and throw them into baskets – That’s literally what Treemail said. Thanks for writing my challenge description for me, Survivor Treemail Writer. One thing did get left out, though, that once the buoys are released, they have to be herded to the shore and stacked on shelves and THEN Scot and Nick, who is not going down without a fight, can start tossing buoys. First tribe with ten buoys in the basket wins reward – Survivors ready? GO! Aubry and Michele are on buoy release duty for their tribes and Aubry is successful first. Michele is struggling to pull out the pin that will unleash the buoys and by the time she does it, Gondol is about a third of the length of the course ahead of Chan Loh. (And watching those buoys explode through the surface of the water was really fun to watch!) Gondol is first to the beach and quickly stacks their buoys on the shelves then Scot goes to work shooting. The Chan Loh tribe has made up some really good time, though, and it’s neck-and-neck for the rest of the challenge. Scot scores, Nick scores, back and forth, Nick gets a few ahead, Scot evens it out – one of his buoys splits in half – then we’re in the homestretch 8-8. Gondol takes the lead and #winning, Scot’s basketball background pays off and Gondol will enjoy the picnic.
Julia could not be happier going back to her old camp with loads of food to eat. Well, maybe if Anna was still around she would be happier, but she’s glad she’s coming into the new Gondol after a tribe win and she’s ready to start the game anew. Peter instantly latches on to Julia, asking about her college and blah blah blah. Later, he talks to her alone in the water and it’s basically a repeat of his conversation with Tai except Julia is WAY more receptive and even though Joe is pissing him off, his target has switched to Aubry because she’s the “bigger predator”. Obviously, Julia is down with whatever keeps her in the game – as long as it’s not her! As the Beauty and Brain talk in the ocean, the other two Brains are watching them from the beach. Aubry knows it’s smarter to stick with the numbers, but Peter is obviously in the early stages of scrambling and it might be better to show him the business end of Jeff’s snuffer now rather than later when there are more numbers to be gathered… And here we are again… Before they’ve even lost the Immunity challenge, Gondol is talking about who they are going to vote out of the game as if they HAVE lost the challenge…
Over at Chan Loh, Nick is not happy with his performance at the challenge even though no one is bothered by it. Michele is disappointed that she couldn’t get that knot untied faster and bummed that Anna is gone. She feels like her head will be on the chopping block, but she’s gonna buck up and use her social skills to her advantage. And Michele has her eye on Debbie as well! She likes Debbie’s quirkiness and thinks she’s an honest, smart lady. The two gals chat in the jungle, which leads to Debbie revealing that she’d like to vote out Jason if it comes down to it and stating again that she wants the women to stick together to battle it out in the end. Then Michele chats with Nick… He tells her they are not going that way. Debbie is just being nice to make her feel good because Michele is definitely the target; Debbie and Neal aren’t going to be doing the two of them any favors. Michele does NOT like the way Nick is speaking to her at all. She’s not stupid, but Nick has this ego… Nick thinks he needs to coach naïve Michele on how to play Survivor – she’s young and doesn’t know how to manipulate. Michele may not like Nick’s attitude towards her, but she is MORE than happy to let him believe she’s the young, stupid, girl that needs to be under his wing and I love Michele. I hope you go far.
Day 16, Gondol Camp… Peter and Scot are walking along the beach and Peter is telling Scot, in not so many words, that he’s the crack in the Brains alliance that can be taken advantage of, buuut, again, Joe is watching Peter talking and he’s had enough of this crap. Joe is going to confront Peter and his FBI training will be very useful in figuring out what Peter is up to. Later, he asks him point blank – Are you trying to take me out? Peter asks him to repeat the question. NOOO, bad move, Peter… You should have prepared for this! Time for Rule #3 of Survivor: Always plan ahead! If you know you’re gonna flip on people, get ready to be confronted! Plan what you’re gonna say if asked the question – Are you trying to get me out? My response: <laugh> “Hell no! I’m not trying to get you out. You’re getting paranoid. I’d be stupid to flip on you guys. We have the numbers and I want to at least make the merge. I’m just talking to those people because I’m sick of listening to your stories! Hahahaha. Just kidding… Tell me the one about your grandma again”. See? Easy. Instead, Peter just gives Joe the ol’ “deer in the headlights” look – well, maybe some of you don’t know what that is, but if you’re from the type of area where I am from, you know what a deer in the headlights looks like because you’ve probably slammed on your breaks a few times to avoid hitting one… They just STAND there, like, what? Oh? Hi, I’m a deer. I’m, uh, standing here? Yeah… I’m standing here. What’s up with you because I’m just standing here because I’m a deer and that’s what I do… ANYWAY… Joe knows Peter is dancing around the issue and wants to take him out if they lose Immunity…
Come on in, guys! It’s time for Immunity! First the tribes will have to help each other over a series of obstacles then two tribe members will push blocks out of an overhead net. The blocks must then be stacked one on top of the other; first tribe to stack all the blocks and maintain a sturdy tower for three seconds wins Immunity. Survivors ready? Go! And it’s a pretty even race to the block-stacking area, but Gondol is first to start and they seem to be pulling ahead. You see, Peter has taken control of the strategy, but it’s not a good one because as Jeff says, it’s risky and as Scot lifts it up, the top of their tall tower topples over, Joe takes a block to the head, and Chan Loh has narrowed the gap. As both tribes dwindle down to their last blocks, Tai is standing on Scot’s shoulders and Debbie is perched on Nick’s but Debbie finishes a few seconds faster, the Chan Lohs dash to the mat and Jeff counts it out – 1, 2, 3! Chan Loh wins Immunity, Peter angrily knocks down the Gondol tower and Jeff instructs Joe to have medical look at his head.
Back at camp, Aubry let’s us know that she and Joe would love to vote out Peter, but they don’t want to lose the numbers. As she talks to Joe, she explains that if they vote out Peter, Tai, Scot, and Julia will have the numbers over them. Aubry suggests that Joe talk it out with Peter as guys, which he does and it goes relatively well because Peter isn’t feeling up to blindsiding the Brains since his plan to do so blew up in his face. He tells Joe that his vote is for Julia and he can assure Aubry of that. Later, Scot asks Peter what’s going on and if he wants to talk – Peter tells him that he’s sticking with the Brains for now and they are voting for Julia. Let down and no longer wanting to work with Peter, Scot has a chat with Julia and Tai – Julia thinks that Joe and Aubry are stupid to keep Peter around, the boys agree, and they come up with a plan to talk to Aubry about voting out Peter with them since they think Joe is too loyal to the Brains. Julia tells Aubry that Peter originally targeted Joe, but switched to Aubry when he talked to her – all three of them want to vote out Peter, that’s who they are voting for and they would love to have her on board for a blindside.
Aubry is definitely oh the fence now that she knows Peter was targeting her too, but she doesn’t say much about her vote to Tai, Scot, and Julia. Her silence on the issue makes Tai and Scot so nervous that they decide to deviate from the plan to vote out Peter; they’re better off voting for Julia with the Brains. Meanwhile, Aubry is expressing her heightened concern about Peter to Joe and Joe isn’t having it. He blames her neurosis, says she can’t keep changing her mind, and tells her that he’s not switching his vote – He’s voting for Julia. Aubry doesn’t know what to do at this point and feels that no matter what her decision, it’s going to come back to bite her in the ass. She doesn’t want to waste the opportunity to get rid of Peter, but she doesn’t want to lose Joe’s trust either. And as we go into Tribal Council, everything is up in the air and Aubry’s vote will be the one to bring everything down and into focus.
At Tribal Council, Jeff immediately jumps to Julia for her take on the tribe vibe at Gondol camp since she’s the newbie. Definitely interesting dynamics, Jeff! Aubry agrees that the dynamics are complex since there are old tribal lines and new alliance options to consider. Jeff brings up the challenge and Peter takes all the heat for losing it based on his strategy, which Aubry says is enough to vote him out, but there are more reasons because no one really knows where Peter stands. And this leads to a lot of talk about everything being up in the air and something that’s said prompts Tai and Scott to change their votes back to the original plan. Joe says that some interesting things have been brought up at Tribal and that he has no idea who’s going to go home. As he’s speaking, Aubry is whispering with Scott and Tai – Their vote is for Peter. Not one to let whispers go unnoticed, Jeff asks Peter how he feels now that people are chattering about in their seats – he says it’s scary. Then Scot just up and tells Julia that they are going with the original plan. Jeff is thrilled that the game is so alive and asks Julia if they should keep talking or vote. She says vote and vote they do, but Aubry is STILL conflicted even AFTER writing down Julia’s name. So Jeff reads the votes: Peter, Julia, Peter, Julia, Peter and the final vote, Aubry’s vote…
So Aubry switched her vote to Peter at, literally, the last second, which I think was a smart decision because little does she know… Next time on Survivor… Merge?! We’re merging already? Seems a little early, but I guess we are at the halfway point in the season. Sooooooooo… It’s a good thing Aubry switched her vote because if Peter had gone to the merge… Who knows, but I doubt it would have been good for Aubry and Joe so he best not be all up in that girl’s face in the next episode! As always… 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! OH YEAH! One more thing before I wrap this up… Hey, Probst… This took me 5 minutes… Untie and release your buoys fast, and corral them quick, if your shooter sinks ten first, you’ll feast on a Survivor Picnic. 😉
