Survivor: David vs. Goliath

Survivor: David vs. Goliath — “Jacket Extortion and Eggsasterated Conditions”

Logan Saunders recaps episode 5 of Survivor: David vs. Goliath ahead of episode 6.

SURVIVOR: CHAMPIONS VS. DAVIDS

Episode 5 Recap: “Jacket Extortion and Eggsasterated Conditions”

Previously on Survivor: The Goliaths had the advantage on three new tribes while Carl was the odd man out. On Exile Island, Carl won an advantage. The Vuku tribe was facing Tribal Council, and the Goliaths were in charge. But Alec considered betraying one of his own while chewing on a piece of papaya way too much. At TC, Alec made a big move when he voted out Natalia. Afterward, Carl joined the Vuku tribe.

Fifteen are left; who will be nullified tonight?

 

VUKU

NIGHT 11

Carl meets Alec and Kara.

KARA: I feel naked and exposed; it wasn’t supposed to happen.

Daniel disagrees, Kara.

Kara says Alec jumped ship way too early and is playing too hard too early.

KARA: He full on blew it.

I agree.

Kara sucks up to Alec. He says they’re still together.

ALEC: I don’t look at them as strategically real players…I look at them as an extra vote.

After 37 seasons of Survivor, you should assume everyone has enough Survivor theory and an ounce of brains to know they have their own strategic sense and personal motive.

Alec isn’t reading the room at all.

 

TIVA

DAY 12

Everyone watches the funky clouds and loving the sunshine.

GABBY: The sun is a breath of fresh airI know at any moment it can be taken away from us.

They see a storm brewing and hope it blows over them.

 

JABENI

DAY 12

Natalie loves the storm because it means they are living and HOLY CRAP THERE’S LIGHTNING, THUNDER, AND RAIN! Natalie decides the confessional is over.

Mike is trying to block and protect the fire. Angelina is doing squats as she protects it.

Nick can barely keep his eyes open in a confessional. He is getting PUMMELED by rain!

 

TIVA

DAY 12

The tribe banner is being pushed over. Sand and rain are hitting the shelter. Their shelter is flooded. Somehow Jessica’s eye has been affected.

 

VUKU

DAY 12

Everyone is amazed and stunned by the storm. Carl reads tree mail. For the second time in Survivor history, tribes will be evacuated in the midst of a Fijian cyclone.

 

TIVA

DAY 12

CHRISTIAN: We’re all Davids today (pointing to the storm), that’s the Goliath.

So. . .no intro? No reward challenge? OK.

 

JABENI

DAY 14

They were evacuated for TWO days! Holy crap.

NICK: Holy crap.

I know.

They see how much devastation hit camp. The shelter was obliterated. They realize somebody would have been dead.

 

VUKU

DAY 14

Their camp is completely collapsed too. It’s like somebody set off a nuke in there. Even Barramundi is like “dayum.”

 

TIVA

DAY 14

Their shelter is completely fine!

Nah, just kidding. Somebody detonated a bomb there too.

 

TRIBAL REWARD CHALLENGE #1

DAY 14

Everyone is shocked to see Natalia was eliminated. Oooooh. Wowwwww.

It looks like the wind has been taken out of the sails this season after an extended evacuation.

They will use poles to knock sandbags out of an overhead net. They will then use a giant slingshot to aim to hit two targets using the sandbags they collected. First two tribes to finish wins reward.

Winning tribe earns live chickens. The vegetarian in me is upset.

Runner-ups earn a dozen eggs.

We begin the challenge!

There is so much poppin’ since Magnitude from Community as the sandbags pop with the poles.

Daniel and John did an amazing job for Tiva. Dan now gets to use the slingshot too.

Nick and Mike release the sandbags for Jabeni.

Davie is atrocious with the sandbags. Vuku eventually has the slingshots.

Lyrsa and Carl untie the slingshot for Jabeni and Vuku as Daniel is already flinging. Angelina flings sandbags for Jabeni. Alec flings for Vuku.

Alec hits the first target of the challenge. It took just one shot. For some reason, he has to rotate out.

Angelina hits a target for Jabeni. Nick jumps in. Elizabeth eventually connects and wins reward for Vuku!

Elizabeth references squirrel hunting with a slingshot. Yikes.

Dan connects with a target. John subs in to battle Nick. Instant reference to the David vs. Goliath theme by Probst.

Nick hits the target for Jabeni. The early lead was irrelevant for Tiva.

Vuku gets the chickens; Jabeni gets the eggs.

Gabby is worried about overconfidence by the tribe leading to her personal demise.

 

VUKU

DAY 14

Kara and Carl strategize. She tells him she trusts the Davids more than Alec. Of course, because she has no other alternative. This is such a shitty spot for Alec. Kara talks to Davie too. Then talks to Elizabeth. She snags a few crabs with her bare hands and compares it to wrangling an alligator on her farm in Kentucky.

Elizabeth is aware a Goliath needs to go and that Alec will need her much more than Kara will. Good call on Elizabeth’s part.

 

JABENI

DAY 14

NATALIE: Congratulations on your winour win.

C’mon Natalie, you contributedoh wait, you didn’t do anything in the challenge.

Angelina is a vegetarian like me. She loves eggs. She relies on eggs. She wants to pace the eggs.

Natalie wants to eat the eggs now because they will be terrible tomorrow. Lyrsa and Natalie feud over the eggs. Lyrsa doesn’t understand how Natalie is so egotistical in this situation. Lyrsa brings up she went to culinary school and graduated magna cum laude.

MIKE: Natalie has a Masters in Ungraciousness.

Mike does not have a degree in English.

MIKE: Natalie. . .is not attractable.

See above.

Mike is ready to eliminate Natalie.

 

TIVA

DAY 15

John inducts Christian into the Brochachos with Dan. They do the manliest splitting of wood I have ever seen and it is not a euphemism.

Christian wants to be Head of Awesome Stuff. Like HAS. John is CEO. Dan says Christian is accepted but Gabby shall be the first to go.

Dan decides to go into the jungle because he has seen enough three tribe seasons that a new idol will be hidden. We know how this goes. Dan has a clue. The idol is hidden at the next challenge.

 

TRIBAL IMMUNITY CHALLENGE #5

DAY 15

For today’s challenge, they’ll race up and over an obstacle. They’ll lift a ladder, climb up, and use a rope to raise a bridge. Cross the bridge, reach the finish, retrieve a ball (and an idol), and maneuver the ball through a snake maze because we love doing this final obstacle when we have three tribes every freakin’ time.

Survivors Ready–

ANGELINA: Yes!

Go!

Carl is first to retrieve the ladder for Vuku. Gabby has the rope for Tiva. Lyrsa has the rope for Jabeni. Bridges are raised and put in place. Jabeni are trailing but not by much at all. Natalie takes a big fall on the pole down. Gabby looks like she was released from a few spins on a dizzy bat.

We are at the snake maze.

John has the ball for Tiva.

Alec has the ball for Vuku.

Nick has the ball for Jabeni.

Dan casually strolls to the pole behind him and snags his second idol of the game. Hopefully, he doesn’t keep this one in his pants again.

John’s biceps are ready to pop out of his arm.

John stumbles halfway through the snake maze as the HAS gets subbed in. Nick has yet to mess up and is being very slow. Alec is aggressive with his maze. Christian has a very intense focusing face like some of my gamer friends. Total tunnel vision.

It’s a three-way tie they are 90% of the way through the snake maze. This is nerve-wracking. Now 97% through.

Alec guides it for Vuku. Vuku wins immunity! Christian saves Gabby as Tiva wins immunity! Jabeni is heading to Tribal Council.

Vuku and Tiva are immune. Somebody on Jabeni will become the fourth person voted out of the game (but Probst says sixth because of math). Lyrsa makes her target very clear.

 

JABENI

DAY 15

Natalie claims it is a debate between Lyrsa and Nick. The Goliaths decide on eliminating Lyrsa because she sucks at challenges.

ANGELINA: I want Lyrsa’s jacketI’m not sorry. I’m cold. I know it’s so wrong.

Angelina just wants Lyrsa’s jacket. She convinces Natalie to tell Nick the price of staying in the game is giving up either his jacket or Lyrsa’s jacket. Nick defines it as bullying. He intends to exit Tribal Council with a jacket in hand–draped over his shoulder like Coach Wade.

Nick informs Lyrsa about Jacketgate. He goes to Mike to revive the sleeper Rockstar alliance and wants to air guitar jam session together upon Natalie’s exit tonight. Mike is in as long as Angelina supports it. Both air guitar at the end of their conversation but it looks like they’re swiping at their crotches.

Nick and Lyrsa make their pitch to Angelina. Mike pitches it to Angelina too afterward.

Everyone is taking their jackets to Tribal Council. Angelina is nervous about eliminating a fellow Goliath because it brings original tribe numbers to 7-7. Are the Davids really gonna be that loyal to each other, though?

 

TRIBAL COUNCIL

(pat)-(JESSICA)-(JEREMY)-(bi)-(NATALIA)

X

(ANGELINA)-(LYRSA)-(MIKE)-(NATALIE)-(NICK)

#GoliathStrong becomes a debate as it transitions into Natalie saying she is -never- at the center of the drama.

Natalie corrects Probst on that she has DIFFERENCES not ISSUES with Angelina and Mike.

Now the jacket deal comes up about how Angelina states Natalie was leveraging jackets because she knew Angelina was cold. It came from a place of lovelove for fellow Goliaths.

NATALIE: You should see the jackets. Sorry. Just had to see it.

They are probably Columbia jackets.

LYRSA votes MS. NATALIE.

NATALIE votes LYRSA. She adores her hair and Members Only jacket.

NICK votes MISS NATALIE.

Nobody on this tribe has an idol or a nullifier so whatevs.

FIRST VOTE: NATALIE

SECOND VOTE: LYRSA

THIRD VOTE: NATALIE

FOURTH VOTE: LYRSA <3

2-2. one vote left. I think we know what’s coming. gg Lyrsa.

FINAL VOTE: NATALIE <3

Whoa. Mike flipped. I assumed he wouldn’t stick out his neck this far on his own. Angelina gasps and stands up to hug Natalie. She cries on top of it. Lyrsa is stunned too–

ANGELINA: Natalie can I have your jacket? Natalie?

(NATALIE pays attention to her torch being snuffed.)

ANGELINA: Nothing.

NICK: Guess it’s not worth a million dollars.

I am so sad. We only get five episodes of Natalie.

 

Next Time on Survivor: When the battle lines blur, friends become enemies and enemies become friends.

Natalie does not like all of the negative things attributed to her and didn’t feel obligated to give her jacket to Angelina regardless of whether or not she was loyal to her tonight. And that is that.

***

1) This has been a tough opening for the season. You can tell the whole cast had no choice but to feel reinvigorated after being brought back in from sequester for 36 hours or so in the game. So props to the cast for not being in a completely flat mood after having the momentum come to a screeching halt.

2) I think a record happened this week. Is this the first time each of the opening four Tribal Councils had a different tribe configuration? Davids. Goliaths. Vuku. Jabeni. All we need is Tiva to go to Tribal Council and then a merge to make it an unprecedented streak. It essentially makes it an extremely individual game from day one. Which leads us to. . .

3) . . .Natalie’s exit. For the second round in a row, a Goliath majority can be sacrificed. Last week I said Alec messed up by eliminating Natalia and would likely go at the next trip to TC due to a lack of trust and Davids no longer having a use for him.

As for Ned Schneebly? Short term I think he won’t be affected. Long term I see him getting screwed, though. If he eliminated Lyrsa, Mike preserves his Goliath/Jabeni bond with Natalie and Angelina, and also preserve his Rockstar alliance with Nick as a way to link with Davids spread out on the other two tribes at the merge.

However, by eliminating Natalie, I think most of the Goliaths won’t be too keen on keeping him and is giving more of the control to Nick. The only cover by eliminating Natalie is that she rubbed a lot of people the wrong way and her elimination can be seen as personal conflict rather than an extreme strategic betrayal.

So Mike’s position doesn’t really suck, but I think he didn’t make the best choice in this scenario.

4) Dan now has two idols. The quickest anyone has ever obtained two idols simultaneously in a season. It seems too obvious for him to be eliminated now, but I do see him being overthrown pre-merge. Otherwise, we’re in for a very boring season.

5) This has been a tough boot order to start out a season. Pat, the biggest David character, and Natalie, the biggest Goliath character, are gone in the first five rounds. Mix in Jeremy and Bi’s exits and I think episode six will determine if this season has enough legs to stand on to entertain the audience. These are huge characters to lose right off the bat.

6) Christian and John are two very unlikely characters to bond on Survivor who play extremely well off of each other. That will always be fun to watch.

7) Cheer up, Gabby. Geez. Become Assistant CEO or Assistant to the HAS. Crying in every confessional while your tribe racks up immunity wins is not the way to go.

8) Isn’t it hilarious that by next week everybody in the season will already have more confessionals than Chelsea did in Ghost Island? Poor Chelsea.

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