Logan Saunders recaps Episode 4 of Survivor: Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers.
Survivor Heroes v Healers v Hustlers: Daffy Duck and Idol Hits
Heroes: Alan, Ashley, Joe, Desi, Devon
Healers: Roark, Chrissy, JP, Ryan, Ali
Hustlers: Cole, Jessica, Mike, Lauren, Ben
Previously on Survivor: On the Heroes tribe, Chrissy was running the show with Ben while Ashley and Alan were butting heads. At the Healer tribe, Cole and Jessica were in love and sharing secrets. At the Hustler tribe, Patrick and Lauren went after each other. At Tribal Council, Patrick lost the battle.
Fifteen are left; who will be voted out tonight?
NIGHT 8. OH WAIT. NOW ITS DAY 9
TRIBAL REWARD CHALLENGE #1
Unless it’s a Redemption Island format, we have spent the past several seasons having our first reward challenge in the fourth round. I wonder what made production decide to never deviate from this structure over the past several years?
Or remember that time in Survivor: Nicaragua where they held off doing any rewards until round five to ensure Dan Lembo didn’t quit? Those were good times.
Probst informs everyone that Patrick got his ass kicked. Levu (Heroes) are shocked.
Now let’s move on. Round four and we are switching tribes in the three-tribe format. Chrissy’s comfort is erased and proclaims it’s a brand new game. Ashely initiates a cross.
It’s indeed a three-tribe switch as I suspected. Let’s see how this plays out.
PROBST: Wow, big mix-up.
No kidding. Everyone got to grab whatever hidden buff they wanted.
Desi thinks Levu is in a great situation because everyone is extremely physically fit.
We get the usual “Roark, how do you feel about being alone on Soko? Ben, how do you feel about being alone on Levu?”
Probst doesn’t hesitate to refer to Ben as a lone soldier. Ben has to ask Lauren what her name is. Ben is secretly annoyed that his well-oiled machine with Chrissy is split.
We get the shortest intro ever. I think the theme song played for under three seconds.
For today’s challenge, three members will be tied to a tangled rope. They will work together to untangle it through a series of obstacles. They will then use that rope as a grappling hook to snag a sled. Snag the sled, then the two remaining members will put together a puzzle using the puzzle pieces on top of the sled.
First tribe to finish TAKES IT ALL. Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to eat right away then enough peanut butter, jelly, and bread to make more. Also, a bag of chips for each person. Tina Wesson hopes it is a bag of DO-RI-TOES.
BEN: I knew it! I knew it!
No, you didn’t, Ben. Please.
ALAN-ASHLEY-JOE
ROARK-RYAN-JP
COLE-BEN-LAUREN
Probst says this challenge is all about groups of strangers learning to communicate very fast. I don’t know if that’s the title of a Foo Fighters song or not.
Ryan and Roark do an unintentional dance around each other. Ben and Roark are launching themselves over the post.
It’s quickly turning into a two tribe challenge as Levu is not working well together. Who knew Joe and Alan would struggle at cooperative tasks.
Ben snags the sled first. The sled is very heavy as Lauren, Ben, and Cole are visibly worn out as they drag the sled back using the sand.
Jessica is coaching Mike on how to properly focus.
Soko snags the sled thanks to JP. He is good with ropes and hooks as a firefighter, I guess.
Alan cannot use the hook properly for Levu.
Probst repeatedly reminds us that Chrissy and Ali don’t know each other on the puzzle. Meanwhile, Mike has a puzzle piece and Jessica finger sandwich. It’s the worst finger bang ever.
The pair that knows each other wins the puzzle as Yawa wins reward!
We see an aerial shot after the challenge is over where Levu’s sled remains untouched. Embarrassing.
Ali says the game has stepped up now. Um, no. It’s only episode four. Let’s chill.
DAY 9 – YAWA
Ben is comforted by good teamwork and sandwiches on his new tribe. Although he still feels the target pinned on his tail.
We learn Cole is from Arkansas. They are socializing when–Jessica finds a secret advantage in her bag of chips! She is all that in a bag of chips! She nearly ate the advantage because it was disguised as a chip.
She realizes she is staring at her chip bag too long and rolls it back up.
We get another anonymous superpower twist. It’s the Vote Blocker. Regardless of which tribe loses immunity, somebody must be blocked from voting at this round’s Tribal Council. So, uh, producers really want a 2-2 to happen if Levu or Soko go to Tribal Council.
I should note the message for the secret advantage is REALLY long. I count six paragraphs. Producers want to make this twist really really clear.
Jessica tells Mike and Cole about the Secret Advantage.
COLE: When I shared with Jessica that Joe has an idol, her next reaction was to give me a hug, kiss me on the cheek, and say “I trust you now Cole”. I plan to do this with the advantage for other people.
. . .So you want to get a hug and a kiss from Lauren and Ben? A fishmonger and a soldier? I don’t think sharing everyone’s secrets will reward you with the nookie.
LAUREN: Cole could have just been telling us that to believe in him. . . I’d rather put my own faith in my hands and will be using [Cole’s] little secret to my advantage.
Lauren. Is. Ruthless.
DAY 9 – SOKO
Ryan and Ali think the beach is pretty. Roark appoints herself as The Lone Healer.
Ryan reminds us of the Super Hidden Immunity handoff to Chrissy. They wander into the jungle together. Ryan discovers Chrissy is from Jersey too. Chrissy’s face lights up more and more as Ryan explains to her the Super Hidden Immunity Idol. Chrissy admits to feeling more loved than when Cole tells her a secret.
CHRISSY: Maybe he thought I looked like his mother. Maybe he wanted to play the game with his mother.
Well, it explains why Ryan has never had a date.
DAY – LEVU
Joe and Desi compliment the beach. I guess Levu has the best beach, Soko is second, and Yawa’s was terrible.
Ashley and Alan awkwardly talk strategy. Obviously, Ashley is nervous to be relying upon Alan to survive. She thinks Alan is as nervous as she is and will feel obligated to stay together and oust a Healer.
Devon is alone with Joe and Desi. Joe’s confidence is waning as he wants to sway Devon. He deceives Devon by lying to him that Alan and Ashley already approached him to vote Devon out.
DEVON: Was it both of them?
JOE: Both.
Hasn’t it been only twenty minutes?
Devon is paranoid. Something about being on a tribe with Joe and Alan. . .
YAWA – DAY 10
Lauren, Ben, and Mike watch Cole and Jessica fish together in the water. Lauren tells Mike about the advantage that he already knows about. He opts to play dumb.
MIKE: I know it was Cole ’cause he sometimes doesn’t know when to keep his mouth closed.
Mike immediately goes out into the water to tell Jessica that the outsiders know about the advantage.
MIKE: Jess, if you guys are playing me, I’m gonna f–king kill you.
Thank goodness for malpractice protection.
Jessica says everything in her body crashed.
COLE: How would she know about that?
Then we cut to a confessional.
COLE: In my head, I was like crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap.
After Mike leaves, Cole and Jessica have an awkward silence.
COLE: It serves me no benefit to telling Lauren.
JESSICA: Somebody told her.
COLE: . . .
JESSICA: . . .
COLE: I mentioned it to Ben.
(JESSICA’s head plummets.)
JESSICA: Ohhhhhhhhhh
COLE: I’m sorry. I thought he would extend trust to me.
Nah, he’s just gonna use that to have your allies turn against you because he is desperate to stay alive.
JESSICA: Cole burned me bad. He can’t even keep a secret for a day. He hurt me. I would never admit that to him. When I get hurt, I always wonder was it me and did I choose to form a relationship that I shouldn’t have and that’s why I got hurt. . . Did I make a poor decision from the beginning and how do I move forward in this game?
Man. Cole did damage to himself both in and outside of the game. Foo Fighters should write a song about it.
DAY 11- TRIBAL IMMUNITY CHALLENGE #4
For today’s challenge, they’ll race out to pick up a large crate of puzzle pieces. They’ll maneuver the crate through a table obstacle and under a net. Once you reach the finish, they’ll unlock a second set of puzzle pieces, and arrange those pieces to make sure each intersection is the same colour.
First two tribes to finish win immunity. Losers go to Tribal Council to get vote blocked by Jessica.
Ben nearly tips the crate onto himself. Cole hits himself in the junk with the crate.
Levu are first into the net. Yawa are second. Soko are third. Probst comments on everyone getting dirty while promoting Dave Grohl in the process.
Yawa is first to the puzzle pieces, Levu is second, and Soko is third. Soko makes up time. It is practically a three-way tie. Lauren has released the pieces with the keys. Chrissy unlocks it for Soko. Ashley is unlucky as only the final key she tries is the one that unlocks the pieces.
Devon stares at the puzzle.
DEVON: I’m lost.
Probst is spinning around and running while a dirt tornado follows him like he is the Tasmanian Devil. It’s hilarious.
Yawa wins immunity. Back-to-back challenge wins.
Soko puts in the final piece. That’s it. Levu had the physical power but couldn’t do anything on the puzzle. Alan is exhausted.
Both challenges finish in the same order. Jessica reminds us of her advantage and will do what she can to protect the Healers.
In other words, a 2-2 vote is inevitable. Sigh.
NOTE: If Joe uses his idol, and it’s a 2-2 deadlock, Healers are safe no matter what from Tribal Council. Two of the other three players will be drawing rocks and screwing themselves out of the game.
DAY 11 – LEVU
Devon says a lack of cooperation led to their loss. Oh, and Ashley’s bad luck with the keys. It ain’t even her fault.
Ashley and Devon walk together to the water well. Devon rats out Joe’s lie. Ashley confirms it’s a lie.
DEVON: That’s scary.
Not so scary when you know the guy is lying to you.
DEVON: It’s like talking to a used car salesman.
Let’s pause before making any legendary Brian Heidik comparisons.
Devon and Ashley agree to vote out a Healer. Desi saw Devon and Ashley hug. She tells Joe about this. He thinks Devon and Ashley have an emotional connection because of their professions, and now wants to draw attention to himself in order to play the idol.
Joe holds an open forum as to whom they should vote out.
JOE: Are we gonna move forward as a strong tribe or. . .
ALAN: Somebody gotta go home.
JOE: Are we gonna acknowledge it that somebody is gonna go home–
ALAN: It’s acknowledged! Somebody is going home tonight!
JOE: So we’re not gonna talk about it?
ALAN: You brought it up! So who’s going home?!
Devon pipes in to ask Joe who would make the tribe stronger. Joe throws out Ashley’s name.
JOE: I think Desi is stronger at puzzles. You’re not good at puzzles!
ALAN: I’m not voting for Ashley. I’m not voting for Devon.
DESI: So you’re voting for one of us?
ALAN: You just blew your whole spot up, B.
DESI: That was an idiotic move.
Not Joe’s most brilliant idea.
Joe and Desi talk privately. He is really really confident the target is on him. Desi thinks the target is on her and wants Joe’s idol to solidify their trust permanently.
JOE: I’m willing to give you the idol. . . an extra three days for us to work on cracks together.
Alan, Devon, and Ashley talk about the idol in the water. Alan is really regretting being so paranoid about power couples that Ashley and JP were too scared to search for the Levu idol over the past eleven days.
Devon sees the Secret Advantage in his bag. Trace amounts of potato chip grease on it.
DEVON: It could be an extra vote. With being the swing vote, all the power is in my hands.
TRIBAL COUNCIL #4
(KATRINA)-(SIMONE)-(PATRICK)
X
(ALAN)-(ASHLEY)-(DESI)-(xDEVONx)-(JOE)
Probst comments that Alan already looks disgusted. It’s been a long day.
JOE: I want to discuss it because I like to speak my mind.
Yes, because Ashley and Alan both internalize everything in comparison to Joe.
Everyone is very open about their vote.
PROBST: Joe, it’s like a movie.
JOE: It’s better than a movie.
PROBST: It’s like the movie where they go after the bad guy by getting his wife.
JOE: I got a lot of information just knowing he was supporting Ashley. The division was actually made by him. So thanks, Alan and I appreciate that.
Ummmmmmmmmmmmmm
Devon owns up to being the swing vote. I don’t think he’s gonna get Christy’d here.
JOE: You can’t penetrate the Heroes where there’s literally no cracks.
ALAN: Heroes can’t be broken? The Healers were undefeated. . . Joe is like a person hanging off a cliff with each finger peeling off because he’s scratching and clawing at whatever he can.
Alan’s always gold at Tribal Council.
Devon says he is going to do what’s best for his game.
Probst is ready for everyone to vote but is held by Devon’s Secret Advantage. Devon puts on an ultra seductive voice as he narrates the note.
DEVON: That is not an advantage.
PROBST: The advantage is being used against you.
He just got Voteblocked, and boy it does not feel good when you can’t perform your duty.
The other four vote. We’re going to have a bizarre rock pull scenario on our hands if Joe doesn’t play his idol on the right person.
Probst asks for the idol. Joe plays it. Desi nods for it to be played on her. Joe opts to play it on himself.
Joe takes a deep breath.
FIRST VOTE: JOE
SECOND VOTE: JOE
Joe does the biggest arm pump I have ever seen like he is starting a lawn mower.
JOE: Told you!
It didn’t matter. You and Desi were automatically safe the second you played that idol. It doesn’t matter who received the votes.
THIRD VOTE: Allen
Ashley is stunned. Joe golf claps.
LAST VOTE: ALAN
JOE: Detroit, holler back baby.
ALAN: You got it.
JOE (in full on Daffy Duck mode): I read your face. Thank you, baby girl.
I don’t think Ashley wants you to call her baby girl ever again. I got you. I read her face.
Alan’s torch is smuffed.
(XXXX)
DEVON: That was a crazy one. What just happened????
If Joe played the idol on Desi, Ashley and Devon would be pulling rocks. We would have a pre-merge deadlock on a five-person tribe.
Next Time on Survivor: To win you have to get dirty, be ruthless and have a willingness to risk it all.
Alan blames his fate on the idol. That’s about all it was. He did nothing wrong. If only Alan spent the first eleven days finding the idol for himself.
Just imagine that scenario. Alan plays an idol, Joe plays an idol, and you either get a one-person rock draw or a really messy no vote situation.
Because Joe played the Soko idol, three idols are now back in circulation waiting to be discovered. Oh, joy.
I don’t know what producers were thinking by making this Tribal Council have only four people vote. My opinion is they were aiming for that first ever pre-merge deadlock and see how stubborn the tribe would be pre-merge.
Again, I am not a big fan of this twist since Jessica penalized somebody she had never met before in the game. She and Devon haven’t had a single conversation. That’s insane to me.
Ryan and Chrissy’s bond is significant. The past three rounds have built up to this moment. Considering Chrissy has had no desire to protect JP, JP is going to be royally screwed if Soko goes to Tribal Council. Roark doesn’t seem like a Healer Cheerleader, and Ali has been close to Ryan since the beginning.
Ryan and Chrissy are also the type who would target a physical likeable threat right before a merge. Chrissy sees JP as an obstacle to being everyone’s #1 ally from the Heroes tribe.
Mike will likely find he has a lot more in common with Ben and Lauren than he does with Cole and Jessica over the next couple days. Lauren doesn’t trust a guy with a ridiculous smile, and Cole is her grinning nightmare.
Cole could have found other ways to bond with Lauren and Mike on a personal level that didn’t involve him divulging everyone’s secrets. That’s such a Dreamz thing to do. Next thing you know Cole will be telling Ben that Ms. Slippy’s car is green.
Every time I see Joe for the rest of the season I will always think of Daffy Duck. He may have overdone it by just a tad with taunting Ashley at the end of Tribal Council. These antics may be enough for Desi to just say “screw it” and vote him out if Levu loses again.
These three tribes are far more interesting than what we had on day one. I know Joe and Alan could only interact for one round because of the nature of their personalities, but it was totally worth it just for this one episode. Hopefully, Joe can find somebody else who bounces off of him just as well.
Seeing Lauren scoff at the Healers’ BS is entertaining as she still finds a way to own everyone while in the minority.
Soko should be fun if the right person gets paranoid. Roark’s quirky pre-season bio should set us up for that very soon.
These tribes need to stay intact for three more eliminations. While I assume Joe, Cole, and JP will be the next person eliminated on each tribe, I am really curious to see how people balance short term and long term options on tribes that have loyalties spread out on the other two tribes.
And poor Alan. He was such a great character in all four episodes and was definitely the one that kept the Levu tribe interesting from day one. It’s such a shame to see him go down this early. I wanted to see a proper payoff with all of his antics heading into the post-merge phase. I feel like we were mildly let down.
P.S. Of course, Joe is going to say he read Ashley. I mean, he had a fifty percent chance of being right. It’s not like he correctly read the answer to a murder mystery of a game of Clue after Ashley peeked inside the envelope. I KNEW IT WAS HEADS! I READ THAT IT WASN’T TAILS ON YOUR FACE, BABY GIRL!
P.P.S. Yes, if Joe played his idol on Desi (a.k.a. misread Ashley), we would have seen Ashley and Devon draw from a bag of two rocks. Think about that one for a minute.
P.P.P.S. Both challenges had too similar of builds. At least we got a unique puzzle in the immunity challenge, I guess.
