Welcome back. I apologize for missing last week due to computer issues. Naturally, it happens on the episode with the biggest events transpiring so far this season. So, I guess we lost Terry and The Weasel Woo. The producers finally euthanized the Mellow Yellows and we’re back to two tribes. Kass decided to be the swing vote and may have single-handedly saved my Spencer pick…Thank you, Kass….Thank you.
I guess Stephen also had an emotional moment where he was upset he didn’t get to have the moment to make his big Survivor move with blindsiding Joe. I think Stephen needs to be careful as I don’t think we are too far away from him doing something rash and fully going into Fredo Corleone mode. Can’t you see him making an ill-advised move and then having to have this sort of conversation with Jeremy?
Stephen: I haven’t got a lot to say, Jeremy.
Jeremy: We have time.
Stephen: I was kept pretty much in the dark. I didn’t know all that much.
Jeremy: What about now? Is there anything you can help me out with? Anything you can tell me now?
Stephen: They’ve got Spencer. That’s all I can tell you. [Jeremy stands up.] I didn’t know it was going to be a blindside… I swear to God, I didn’t know it was gonna be a blindside. Kass bumped into me at the Porta Potty off camera, and she said that she wanted to talk. She said that you and – and Savage were in on a – a big deal together and that there was something in it for me if I could help ’em out. She said that – He said that you were bein’ tough on the negotiations, but if they could get a little help and close the deal fast, it’d be good for the tribe.
Jeremy: You believed that story? You believed that?
Stephen: He said there was somethin’ in it for me. On my own.
Jeremy: I’ve always taken care of you, Stephen.
Stephen: Taken care of me?! You’re my tribemate, and you take care of me?! Did you ever think about that? Huh? Did you ever once think about that?! Send Stephen off to do this Send Stephen off to do that! Let Stephen take care of some Mickey Mouse Survivor move like getting firewood! Send Stephen to pick up treemail over there! I’m an older Survivor player than you by like five years, Jeremy, and I was stepped over!
Jeremy: That’s the way Probst wanted it.
Stephen: It ain’t the way I wanted it! I can handle things! I’m smart! Not like everybody says…like dumb. I’m smart, and I want respect!
Jeremy: [unmoved] Is there anything you can tell me about this blindside? Anything more?
Stephen: The emo girl, Ciera… She belongs to Kass.
Jeremy: Stephen, you’re nothing to me now. You’re not a brother. You’re not a friend. You’re not a tribemate. I don’t wanna know you or what you do. I don’t wanna see you at the camp game nights again. I don’t want you near my thinking tree. When you see our Jeff Probst, I want to know a day in advance, so I won’t be there. You understand? [walks away.]
Stephen: [miserable] Jeremy…
Jeremy: [to Tasha] I don’t want anything to happen to him while my Joe is alive.
Okay– maybe that is a little extreme, but I think Stephen is the player to watch: specifically will he try to force a “big move”? He’s a big friend to this website, so naturally I hope he does figure it out. I just think he has the look of someone who is desperate to make a big move, which can lead to trouble for the person if the move is too forced. Jeremy clearly is in the power position in the game going into this episode and it will be interesting to see what the dynamic is with Stephen and him.
Bottom line, there are still some monster players in this game and it should be fun to watch how it all plays out. At the Tribal last episode they talked about how each player here in the game is playing at a high level and each of them has a plan. I think in a non-all-star season you can bank on maybe 5 players at best playing at a really high level strategically and having a plan, but this season with returning players, you have almost everybody playing at a high level and having a plan. I mean, look at Ciera. On pure principle, she completely altered the game from Spencer going to blindsiding Woo, all because she didn’t like how Savage nonchalantly proclaimed that Ciera would be the decoy. You definitely can’t feel confident this season as a player. You need to see the whole landscape and think of every scenario that could arise, because chances are the player next you is plotting just as much. The cream is starting to rise to the top as the next couple of vote-outs should give us a look at where we are headed and who is in the real driver’s seat to win this game. With that said, it’s 8 pm Portland, Oregon time and it’s time to watch!
8 pm
Previously on Survivor: We switched back to two tribes…thank god. I also missed the “Let’s eat gross things” challenge. If I were playing, I would be awful in that I would just refuse to participate, and it would probably submarine my whole game. Seriously, who came up with that idea first? Fear Factor?
8:02
We start the show with the Ta Keos and Savage, who is sporting a great gray beard. He kind of looks a little Michael Keaton-ish. He shares how fooled he was in thinking that he had the votes going the way he wanted.
8:03
Savage next makes his case to the Ta Keos now that he feels like the camp pariah. Spencer now is somehow in a position to make Savage beg for his loyalty. That’s always fun, when the person on the bottom of the food chain immediately feels comfortable acting like the big swinging dick at camp again…Spencer looks like he his holding court with Savage and you know Savage just wants to shank him.
8:04
We join the Bayons as Kimmi reads a message that says it’s time to merge. They should just make the theme of this season be a 1970’s swingers club as there has been more swaps back and forth than I can ever remember.
8:05
The Ta Keos got word of the swap and the most excited is Savage, who in the rain, lifts up his hands like he just escaped from Shawshank prison.
Savage crawled to freedom through 500 yards of shit-smelling foulness. I can’t even imagine….or maybe I just don’t want to…
I got to say that Savage is pretty enjoyable to watch play the game. I missed his original season, so I don’t know how he played the first time around and whether he has changed his game dramatically, but he has won me over.
8:06
Commercial Break: I hope everyone enjoyed their Halloween. I spent my time dressed up as Dog The Bounty Hunter kicking it with teenagers at my work…We tried to show them Ghostbusters, which in my eyes is a classic, but it’s a tad dated for this generation. It’s weird. Some movies from the 80’s don’t look or feel that dated, but I think every movie from 1980 through 1984 looks really, really, really dated. I don’t know if it was the type of film they used in those years, but even movies from the 70’s feel less dated than movies in that ’80-’84 stretch of time. Some of my all-time favorites like Mr Mom or Teen Wolf feel like they’re seventy years old with the way they look. I think I’m going to write about this for Rob’s other site… Maybe four or five of you will read it ;).
8:08
Back from commercial, we join both tribes as it appears that we’re about to formally merge. Everybody is presented with food and drinks. I wonder how great it would be if they did a season where everybody had to be drunk at all times. Can you imagine the strategizing and the hook-ups that would happen? Granted, it would probably destroy four or five marriages, but you can’t argue that it wouldn’t make for good T.V.
8:10
Kelley Went talks about how important this is for her to win. Is it me or do super blonde Survivor players always look more creepy than other people when they play the game, start losing weight, and start looking grungy…They always look a little Children of the Corn-ish for my taste, which is never a good look for someone.
It’s kind of awkward how Kass and Spencer openly talk about their feud with the whole group; nobody knows how to react so everybody just overly laughs. There’s nothing worse than not knowing how to handle an awkward moment when two people who don’t like each other point out that they don’t like each other.. so you overly laugh, because you don’t know how else to react…I don’t do well in those moments.
8:11
Savage immediately goes to Jeremy, which is smart, to try to rebuild that relationship. These two aligning could be quite the force in the game if Jeremy decides to play ball.
Jeremy and Savage talk about forming a group of 7.
8:13
Kass and Kelley Wentworth talk about forming their own majority. We may have a Blood Vs Crips full-out gang war emerging here!
8:14
Commercial Break: Please tell me you guys have taken my advice and have been watching the second season of Fargo. Seriously, every frame, every second of the show has been perfect. As of right now, I have it right up there with Breaking Bad and The Wire as the best one-hour drama show I have ever seen. I don’t think I’m being overdramatic when I say that, it really is that good of a show and I demand that all of you watch it…even though this is a Survivor blog and who the hell am I to tell you what you have to watch, and you probably have a point there…but trust me, the show is that good.
8:17
Back from Commercial and we join Savage again. This has been the Savage variety hour tonight. He goes to Joe to try to persuade him to join his side. Joe, for right now, is going to stay on the fence. As a big target, he should probably join Savage and Jeremy and ride that wave for as long as possible.
8:19
Kelley Went tries to sway Spencer with her side. Spencer realizes that he and Joe are the swing votes.
Spencer and Joe meet to discuss their love of being swingers….or I guess you know what I mean. Spencer and Joe decide to illustrate their points in the sand…drawing lines and stick figures and maybe a stick figure with big boobs just for the hell of it.
8:21
It’s raining outside so everybody huddles together at the camp and listens to Stephen recite some poem. I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt that there was probably a backstory that led to Stephen reciting poetry to the group, and it’s not some internal dialogue that he had with himself where he thought: “ You know what? These guys just aren’t really seeing the real Stephen. I know what will win them over….poetry!”.
8:22
Kass and Tasha have an uneasy conversation with each other, where Tasha is trying a little too hard to fool Kass. Tasha’s problem is that she thinks she is a little too smooth with her social game. Anybody with a half a brain would see through her.
8:24
Commercial Break: Am I hallucinating or did I just see a preview for a Moby Dick movie starring f**king Thor? What? They couldn’t get Justin Bieber for the part? I’m just not going to the movies until the new Star Wars movie comes out, although my god, tickets are almost sold out for the first two nights it premieres. I take it this is going to be the biggest movie event, literally ever. I wish you could buy stock in movies before they come out. I feel like I would be awesome at picking winners and losers…although I would have put my life savings into Big Trouble in Little China:
Granted the movie is fantastic and in my all-time top ten…but it didn’t make any money…
8:28
Back from commercial, we join a very tense camp. Everybody is trying to keep their poker face on. Kass and Tasha decide to engage in talks again. Kass confronts Tasha about her lying. They both agree that they don’t like each other and both agree to openly attack and sabotage each other every chance they get…Okay then. They take the debate back to camp.
Out of nowhere, Ciera decides to drop some gasoline into the fire when she decides to throw Savage’s name into fray. I feel like they are not showing us so much of what is going on. They need a 24-hour feed for us to watch. There is just too much happening from the social game standpoint.
8:32
We go to the Immunity Challenge. The comp this week is a balancing game where you have to stand on a narrow beam while balancing a ball on a little stick thing.
Stephen has a bad case of premature survivorlation as he drops from the comp in under ten seconds. Not sure if he did that on purpose or if he really is this unathletic?
I always feel like this comp is biased against people like me with big feet…am I wrong in thinking it’s not fair?
8:37
It comes down to Spencer and Joe. Shockingly, Joe wins it..not really a shock at all. Joe understands that the more he dominates these comps, the more people are not going to want to keep him around, right? I mean, yes, he is going to be a target no matter what, but people can be impulsive. If you remind them over and over again that you kill these comps, it makes it way easier to say: “Instead of this mental warfare we’re all dealing with out here, why don’t we take a break today and vote out Joe the first time he doesn’t win one of these comps?”
8:40
Commercial break: Your little-did-you-know Online Dating FAQs for this week: Online dating is incredibly favored toward women, because when it comes down to it, there are more guys than girls on those sites, so most guys on the sites are just horny creeps. The rest of us are already starting behind the 8 ball, having to start from a place where you have to convince the women that you’re not a registered sex offender. You have women, who in the real world are 5’s or 6’s at best, but because the pickings are so slim, they get this false confidence where they carry themselves as if they’re Jessica Alba or Scarlett Johansson since they have so many creepy guys blowing them up all the time. Basically, if you are a really hot woman on an online dating site, you’re stuck weeding through probably thirty messages a day, and as a normal guy you have to come up with some forced, contrived ice-breaker to try to separate yourself from the pack…Not fun.
8:42
Back from commercial, we join everybody back at camp. Savage is ready to take Ciera out, but it sounds like Stephen and Joe want to take out Kass.
8:43
Spencer and Jeremy bro-out on the beach and they too are leaning towards a Kass execution. Everybody in that majority decides to split the votes between Kass and Ciera.
8:44
Kass, Abi, Ciera and Kelley Went see the writing on the wall and are trying to come up with a counterstrike. It looks like they are going to vote out Tasha, but they need Spencer.
Spencer is looking like the swing vote and where will he go with this???
8:47
We head to Tribal Council. Jeff points out this is the largest Tribal we have ever had in Survivor….good to know.
8:48
Kass and Tasha immediately get into it about who is starting the most drama. Really, nobody’s hands are clean here.
8:49
Ciera tells everybody to “play to win”…Everybody else looks at her confused.
8:51
Everybody goes to vote. Is it possible that Spencer actually votes with Kass to 86 Tasha?
8:52
We go to the votes:
Kass
Ciera
Tasha
Kass
Ciera
Tasha
Kass
Ciera
Savage
Kass
Ciera
Kass
Seventh person voted out and first member of the jury: Kass.
Wow. Who was the random Savage vote?
I guess Ciera was. I love a good F.U. vote out of pure principle.
Recap:
So Kass, who had been virtually unseen prior to last week’s episode, is the one to go tonight. It seemed like she really couldn’t have done anything to stop it. Would things have been different had she gone with Savage’s plan last week to vote out Spencer? I guess we will never know.
Maybe Survivor is changing where there are no long-term alliances, players going day by day. I guess we will see next week if the majority from this episode sticks together and weeds out the rest. I really don’t think they will. I think people will wise up and I have a suspicion that Joe is not going to make it past the next couple of episodes. With everybody at one camp, the scheming should be taken up a few levels next episode. Right now, I think Jeremy is in the best place with his idol, and more importantly, he appears to have his crazy locked down, but my Spencer pick is looking better and better. I think my top 3 right now:
- Jeremy
- Spencer
- Kelley Went (only because she an idol)
Who are your top 3? Thanks for reading. See you next week!
