Each week, Scott Gallagher breaks down the show minute by minute in Survivor Pop Culture Recap. It’s live blogging complete with commercial breaks.
Survivor Pop Culture Recap: Laces Out
Welcome back everybody. Last week we got the Survivor gods to finally decide to play the last note of the Figgy and Taylor debacle and Taylor was sent packing. Again, I don’t think Taylor is a bad guy. He was just an exceptionally dumb Survivor player. I mean, he got into a full-fledged showmance and he was openly stealing food. It couldn’t have gone unpunished. Taylor was such an obvious target to go.
Now, the game feels like it’s moving up to the next level– like this season is now officially going to get a little cray cray. It seems like we are due this week for a big move. Someone, maybe unexpected or maybe one of the bigger threats, will go tonight. I feel like anything could happen tonight. Let’s try to take a look at where everybody stands in my eyes heading into tonight’s episode.
Chris: Some are saying Chris is like a fine wine, aging better with each episode of Survivor this season. It does seem like Chris is gaining steam as we get through each episode, seemingly building or sitting near the top of the majority in the last two votes. Is Chris the shot caller??? Will that start to rub someone the wrong way here? Will we get to see the horror of Chris getting really angry and looking like the bad guy from The Mask hulking out all over the place?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39wPZs2t1M4
I think Chris is going to be seen as too obvious of a target to leave in the game. I think he will be safe tonight, though, but long-term I’m still not sold that he can make it to the end.
Bret: Bret is in a good position. He’s not an obvious target and he’s friends with the right people. I can’t see anybody wanting to take a shot at him tonight. Do I like his long-term potential to win this game? No. Do I think he can continue to fly under the radar? Yes. I think it’s clear that Bret and Chris are ride/die with each other, so the question becomes, when will other people in the game start asking tough questions about their bromance? Can Bret play the role of the quite second fiddle? (Apparently not if he’s drinking). That looks like it will be his only path to success in this game. Safe tonight, though, I feel.
Jessica: Jessica has stayed away from me the past two weeks I guess in an attempt to get back in my good graces….Sorry, it’s not going to work, Jessica! I’m still not trusting you not to make a move that is going to screw over two or three players.
I actually like this season. I feel that Jessica is the person who has to try and force a big move at the absolute wrong time. It would also be interesting to see if Jessica has any clue that Sunday has put a hit out on her life, and if so, what her move will be. I have no idea where Jessica really stands in the game as far as how her peers view her, so I’m not sure: Is she is at risk for the Sunday hit job or is she fine?
Sunday: Speaking of Sunday, so yeah, after like nothing all season from Sunday, we learned last week that Sunday has some deep down hatred of Jessica. Sunday is apparently Ray Finkle and Jessica is Dan Marino
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NCOGH–E_80
wherein Sunday tried with all her powers, or lack thereof, to put the Taylor assassination on hold so they could gun for Jessica. Luckily this plan did not work. The question becomes whether Sunday has the swag to make that move this week. Or is Sunday just at the bottom of the food chain here? This will be an interesting subplot to watch tonight, unless of course, it becomes the main plot of the episode. I think Sunday is safe tonight?
Zeke: Zeke is still tough for me to read, just like I said last week and I think the week before that. I don’t know if Zeke is in one of the best spots in the game or if he is near the bottom of that current majority alliance. It seems that Zeke is not on anybody’s radar. He appears to be getting along with almost all of the players, so if that’s the case, I guess Zeke is completely safe tonight and maybe he has some chance here to be there at the end of the game. Is Zeke’s ride and die Adam? Hannah? Whom is Zeke rolling with to the end? That is the question I have right now. I feel safe saying Zeke will not be voted out tonight.
Will: Okay, Buffalo Bill voice in a 17-year-old skinny kid is still going strong.
Seriously, if responds to a Jeff Probst question with: “Oh, wait…was she a great big fat person?” I might break out in a cold sweat. Okay, anyways, Will seems to be on the bottom or I should say near the bottom of whatever Survivor food chain you want to use.
I don’t think he is exactly capable of leading people into a making a move he wants to make–not to be harsh on the kid, because he has made it far in this game and won a very tough Immunity Challenge. I think Will deserves a ton of props, but let’s just be honest, he has zero chance of winning the game. I could see him potentially being targeted tonight. We will see if the Millennial purge continues.
Adam: I like Adam, but let’s face the music here, he has completely made a mess of his whole game. Sometimes, good players get screwed because of circumstances outside of their control, but in this case, Adam has nobody to blame but himself. Sharing with Taylor was just such a bad move. I don’t see how he rebounds from this. He has too big of a target on his back. In a game where everybody’s goal is to find any excuse to get any target off their back and place it unto anybody else’s back, Adam looms as too easy of a target now. He needs something really dramatic to happen. He does have an idol, so somehow he has to play that at the right time and hope it can propel him to the finish, but I wouldn’t bet on it. Last week Taylor and Jay pretty much Can’t Buy Me Loved Adam:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iPvfRzyAK6w
Jay: Jay looked considerably better as a player those episodes that he was separated from Taylor, so will we get that Jay back or does it even matter at this point because the Millennials are getting eviscerated? Jay does have an idol, so presumably he could be safe tonight but long-term his chances aren’t great. It seems like Jay has Will and that’s it. Can Jay rebound, keep his head down, make friends with say a Chris or a Bret again, and hang around for a few more episodes? Or will he be the “on paper” target tonight? I don’t know.
Hannah: Hannah last week told us that she wants to “play Survivor” and make moves…That’s great, Hannah…We are at like at day 25 in the game, so maybe you should have woke up earlier? I’m also pretty much done with Hannah at Tribal doing the “I can’t breathe and I’m holding my hands up in the air because something unexpected is happening at Tribal tonight” move she has done every damn time she has been there. Hannah is just a secondary character on the show–someone who is a vote for the majority alliance in the game. She is having no real impact on any move. Maybe she can change that starting tonight, but I don’t see it. I don’t think she is a target, though, so I guess in a game of Survivor, that is always a good thing.
David: David in my mind is the favorite to win this season. He has come the longest way from where he started to where he is now and he is in a really good place it SEEMS. He has an idol, he has the trust of key players, and he doesn’t seem to be the target of anybody right now. I do think his biggest threat would be the Chris/Bret team. I feel like at some point those two may look towards David again with the “Hey, wait, aren’t you that anxious, nerdy, wimpy guy we wanted to take out in the first episode this season?” I think David and Ken need to stick together and ride this to the end. David is safe tonight, which leads us to….
Ken: Ken!!! Ken has been taking my advice and laying low, staying out of drama, and staying out of giving intense afterschool special speeches to everybody. While my head tells me that David will win this game, my heart is pulling for Ken. I’m not sure what the hell path it would be for Ken to win, but I do know that it would be by following David. I don’t think Ken would be a target tonight, but god knows his name does get kicked around a lot, so you never know. Keep fighting the good fight, Ken. Lay low, buddy.
Here we are, in my eyes, heading into tonight’s show. Will the Millennial purge continue this week? I feel like this week could be the week when somebody tries to make a very big move on a very big player. Maybe we will get to finally see who the top dog in this game is this episode, the one calling the shots. Is it Chris and Bret? Is it David and Ken? Is it Zeke and Adam? Who is it? Who is the top dog? I want to get a clear view of the power structure this season. It’s still foggy in my opinion. With that said, it’s 8 pm Portland, Oregon time, so let’s just dive right in!
8 pm
Previously on Survivor
Jeff nicely recaps who has an idol, because quite frankly, I have forgotten over and over again. It’s Adam, David and Jay. I have a feeling we are getting at least one of those played tonight; that is my big prediction. And then, we get to relive Taylor’s demise one more time before officially starting this week’s episode.
8:01
Back with everybody post-tribal, Adam formally apologies to the whole group for not snitching on Taylor about stealing food. Apparently, Adam was fearful of the adage “Snitches get stitches”. Bret decrees that the vote had to happen and Taylor had to go, so let’s all move on with our lives. Thank you for that, Bret.
8:02
Adam shares with us that he knows he might be screwed and that his number one goal now is to take Jay to hell with him.
David asks if there is any more of the food stash. Jay, who also shares that he is screwed, figures that digging up the stash would be a goodwill gesture on his part with the group. Jay also hints that it might be time to drop that idol bomb tonight.
8:03
Next, we get Chris and Bret summarizing that Taylor’s leaving was the goal, even if he wasn’t stealing food. Chris, clearly calling the shots, tells Bret that Jessica is the new move to get out. He tells us that he “owes her one”. So I see I’m part of a pretty exclusive anti-Jessica club with Chris and Sunday. I think she just has an unlikable presentation…She emerges tonight as the early target.
Commercial Break
Last week, I was in a minor car accident, some dumb broad accountable young lady texting and driving didn’t observe that big red sign thingy that I believe is formally called a “stop sign”. Luckily, I saw said lady just rolling through that stop sign, so I was able to slow down a lot, and luckily like I said, the damage was small all things considered. But seriously, is there anything worse than dealing with somebody else’s insurance company? It’s always nice to be treated with an attitude from the insurance agent when you get hit by someone texting and driving. I think car insurance agent is now my least liked profession moving parking meter cop to second.
8:06
Back from break, we join Ken talking about the sunrise “passionately” with Hannah, who has sand all over her face and looks disheveled as if Ken literally dragged her seventy-six feet from camp by her legs, just so he could do his deep sunrise monologue to someone. Someday, hopefully long from now, Hannah is going to go to Ken’s funeral and remember the things he said, like he’s Eric Stolz in Mask:
8:07
Hannah shares that she is crushing a little bit on Ken and actually thinks he may like her too. Well, that would be quite the power couple….Let’s just leave it at that.
Next we get Will and Zeke talking. Will is trying to get intel from Zeke and trying to get into that group, telling us that he wants to get off the Titanic otherwise known as Jay.
Will proceeds to tell Zeke about Jay having an idol. Will tells Zeke that he knows Zeke won’t tell anybody, as we can literally see the “Why the hell is the kid telling me this? He knows I’m going to tell literally everybody left in this game about this” look on Zeke’s face.
8:08
Yep…Zeke runs and tells David about Jay having an idol….which leads to David telling Chris…which leads to David telling Hannah… which leads to Chris telling Bret… which leads to David telling Ken…which leads to Zeke and Chris telling each other.
8:09
Zeke tells us that he wants to run this game. He tells us that his plan is to play nice with everyone. Chris and he come up with the plan of saying the target is Jay, but really the target is Jessica.
8:10
Time for the reward challenge. We are splitting up into two teams. The challenge involves swimming, grabbing keys, and stacking boxes. The prize this week is a “floating pizza restaurant”.
David offers to sit out this challenge because he is a self-admitting crappy swimmer. In a rare nice moment, everybody encourages him to give it a chance…Also, nobody wanted to look like a dick.
Jay draws the random bad rock, meaning he has to sit out the challenge.
8:17
The team of Chris, Ken, Jessica, Will and David has dominated for most of the competition as they head to the last stage of building colored blocks up.
8:18
But out of nowhere, the team of Zeke, Adam, Hannah, Bret and Sunday makes a comeback, dominates the blocks, and steals the competition, and they will be dining on pizza in the middle of the ocean.
Commercial Break
Has everyone caught up on Westworld yet? This is the best show on TV currently and I never run into someone else who is watching it and I can’t have any conversations by the water cooler, as they say, to discuss it. I can’t imagine another show that people could be watching right now, and so much craziness is happening on Westworld that I need more of you to get into this please. Plus, it has Ed Harris who hasn’t been as good since he was General Hummel in The Rock.
“Well here and now the lies stop!!!!!!”
It’s possibly the most underrated movie of all time. I’ll just leave it at that.
8:22
Back from break, we join the victors at their feast. Hannah is concerned about them being too loud so the losing team can’t hear them pigging out. Bret, on the other hand, is disgusted by this sort of thinking of Hannah as he chugs down another beer and throws a chicken wing belligerently into the middle of the ocean.
8:24
Things get emotional as the winning team gets a letter from home. People start crying and Bret comically tells everybody to “take it easy”. Ha, I loved it…And then twenty seconds later I felt like a prick as Adam reminds us that his mother has cancer.
8:25
The losing team back at camp is obviously not as exuberant about the state of things right now.
Ken gives David a pep talk about the amount of respect David has earned this season from the other players. I want Ken to be my life coach, follow me around all day, and give me perils of wisdom and perspective. David and Ken solidify their final two together.
8:27
After that emotional moment David had, he now tells us that this is the moment he needs to take control of the game and zero in on taking out the threesome of Chris, Bret, and Sunday. He tells us that Ken, Jessica, and he need to make a move. David zeroes in on Chris as the target. Ken points out to make this move they need Zeke, and Zeke has been getting pretty cozy with Chris. David feels like Zeke will vote with them on this one. Jessica shares that her “arch-nemesis” is Chris. I had no clue so many people had arch-nemeses this season.
Commercial Break
One of the worst developments around the internet and social media is that any idiot can post any article or video somewhere deep in the bowels of the internet to back up their idiotic point, no matter what the topic or view is. Like during the election, the pro-Trump people could say: “Yeah, well, Hillary Clinton murdered seven hitchhikers in Rhode Island in 1986” and then find some article from god knows where online to support it. People wanting to justify awful choices now have a full neverending library to support their ridiculousness. I’ve noticed mothers that have separation anxiety from their kids are the best at this. “I want to breastfeed my child until he’s five years old (creepy). Let me just pull up this sketchy article I found online to justify that”. “I believe it’s okay to let your kid watch The Exorcist at seven years old. Here’s an article to back me up”. That is my rant for this week.
8:32
Back from break and it’s time for the Immunity Challenge. It would seem like Jessica, Chris, or Jay would produce the most interesting results if they won.
We get another balance challenge this week. Bret, with a blood alcohol level from the reward of 2.7, probably is not the favorite in this comp. Here’s a video of the producers testing to see if Bret is able to compete in this challenge:
8:35
Hannah drops within two seconds…
followed by Ken…
followed by Sunday…
followed by Chris…
followed by Will…
followed by Jay…
followed by Bret….(who did better than we all thought)
followed by Adam.
It comes down to David , Zeke, and Jessica.
Jessica drops.
It comes down to Zeke and David…..
8:38
Zeke drops and David has won immunity. I’m telling you, David might win this whole thing.
8:39
Jeff forces David to make a “I’ve come a long way speech”…It’s the fourth time this episode that David has made this speech….We get it!!
David sends us to commercial telling us that Chris is the target.
Commercial Break
We get a preview of the new Brad Pitt movie, and boy,does it look like a turd.
Brad Pitt is always better when he is playing a supportive role. I never like it when he’s carrying the whole movie. Dare I say Brad Pitt is overrated? Every good movie he’s been in, it’s been as a supportive role: Twelve Monkeys, Oceans 11, Inglorious Bastards…I’m sticking to that. Brad Pitt is overrated.
8:44
We are back from break, and let’s get down to business, this should be a good final chapter of this episode.
Jay interrogates Hannah about whether he is the target. Hannah doesn’t give him any information and Jay is looking borderline hostile.
8:45
Next, we get Chris, Sunday, Bret, and Zeke plotting to get out Jessica. They want Jay to play his idol to flush that out. Zeke appears to be the key to whatever happens tonight.
8:46
Next, we get David making his pitch to vote out Chris to Zeke. Zeke seems to be on board with this. Zeke tells David the plan Chris has to vote out Jessica.
Jessica reminds us of the advantage she has if she makes it to day 32 or 33, or whatever the hell it is, and also reminds us that if she gets voted out that she can “will it” to someone else, but that she won’t be needing to do that because she is a “fighter”. Okay, since you’re a “fighter”, you never have to worry about being voted out in Survivor….because that’s how it works (Now I’m getting hostile).
8:47
Adam and Jessica talk about the Chris vote and they also point out that the swing man is Zeke and nobody knows if they can really trust him.
8:48
Perfect timing, we get Zeke and Hannah talking about which side they want to choose. Right now is the fork in the road for them. Will they go with #TeamChris or #TeamDavid?
We are heading to Tribal!
8:49
We head to tribal as jury members, Michelle and Taylor, join the party. I can already tell you I’m not going to trust this jury when we get to the end to make the right choice of choosing the right winner.
8:50
Hannah has a crazy laughing, hysterical breakdown while explaining what a “trust cluster” is. Apparently it’s somewhere between an “alliance” and a “voting bloc”.
Even though the two sides are in a clear Cold War with each other, both sides are pretending that Jay is the target to get him to flush out the idol, and Jay so far seems clueless that he is being played like a pawn right now.
8:53
All the main players are doing a great job of acting, not wanting to give away anything. This should be good….
We go to the votes!
8:54
Jeff goes to tally the votes….It feels like Chris is going….
Wow! Jay didn’t play the idol…I give him credit…That took some serious stones on his part.
Votes
Chris
Jessica
Chris
Jessica
Chris
Jessica
Chris
Jessica
Chris
Tenth person voted out and third member of our jury is Chris! Wow. Chris goes out with his head held high….and I didn’t know that we had a two-hour episode tonight. Okay, I guess I am digging deep tonight. The second hour is going to be way lighter, though…(as you all happily nod like the jerks you all are).
8:57
We join everybody post-vote back at camp.
Bret and Zeke talk. Bret, so far, is taking this well or he’s acting really well. He tells us that he knew Chris had to go and so he is okay with the move. Zeke and he shake hands. Zeke feels like he now has Sunday and Bret on his side and that he is secretly building an army to go up against David…Very interesting.
8:58
Next we get David doing damage control with Bret and Sunday. David shares with them that the next move needs to be Jay and then Will, and then he shares that Zeke needs to be the next after that to go. Bret is nodding, but he tells us that he doesn’t trust David and that he will be rolling with Zeke.
9:00
Bret shares with Zeke what David said. Wow. Could David be the target this episode?
Commercial Break
Not going to lie. I’m running out of steam with these commercial breaks. All these commercials are blending together….
9:05
Back from break and back at camp, there is a clear battle now between David and Zeke whom David says are two very similar players. Who can seize control here????
9:06
Zeke goes to talk to Adam and Hannah. Is Adam really going to be on team Zeke??? I wish Adam was rolling with Ken and David.
Hannah shares with us that she is somewhat conflicted between Zeke and David. It seems like she is more pro-Zeke…..
9:07
We have a reward challenge for the second time today. We get three teams of three. They have to slither in the sand and then complete a snake puzzle. The reward is a helicopter ride and then a Survivor picnic. There is a twist, where one player doesn’t have to compete but gets to go on the reward. They draw rocks for this.
David drew the rock, so he is going on the reward.
9:11
The team of Jay, Will, and Ken is way ahead and starts working on the puzzle.
In second is Sunday, Bret, and Zeke.
In third, Adam, Jessica, and Hannah.
9:13
It’s a massive comeback as Zeke, Sunday and Bret win. David will join them, which should make this victory quite impressive. Adam contemplates stealing the reward from David, but then decides against it. I don’t think he will ever use it…It seems like it would be tough to use.
Commercial Break
Another unpopular trait about me you ask? Well, I don’t like Thanksgiving food…There. I said it…I don’t like Thanksgiving food. I don’t like stuffing, I don’t like cranberry, and I don’t like pumpkin or pecan pie. I would rather have an In N Out burger for Thanksgiving. How about that?
9:18
We join the reward winners on their helicopter. Bret is happy that he gets to drink again. Bret declares Zeke as his “drinking buddy”. Bret and Zeke make plans to hang out in August. Bret shares that he is gay, which was actually kind of a cool moment that I didn’t see coming.
9:20
Zeke, Bret, and Sunday talk about blindsiding David. Is Zeke really the head honcho in this game?????
Commercial Break
I don’t want to see David go. I’m using this commercial break to make my plea to the Survivor gods to protect David and Ken the remainder of this episode please!
9:26
Back from break, we join everybody back at camp.
Hannah tells us that she has thought about things and she has decided to roll with David, so now Hannah is telling David everything. I’m kind of liking Hannah now. Maybe the Survivor gods are teaching me a lesson here…I’m not sure what that lesson is, though.
9:28
Time for the Immunity Challenge. Wow. How could they combine these two episodes tonight? So much has happened. Why didn’t they do this for one of the earlier two episodes that were more obvious and less tense???
9:30
The competition tonight is untying a handle and working that handle through a maze. Come on, David!
9:31
Jay finishes the maze first and now can work on the second part of this competition, which is completing a puzzle.
9:32
Wow! Jay wins the competition before anybody else even completed the first part of the competition. Big comeback for Jay tonight. Taylor’s leaving really was the best thing for Jay.
Commercial Break
Will any of you admit if you watch Code Black? I really want to know. I just can’t see any rational person taking time out of life to watch that show. I swear to god, I can write a plot for that show without ever watching a single second of the show or knowing who any of the characters are. Medical procedural shows need to go away for a little while.
9:37
Back from break, we join everybody back at camp. The time has come to see who has the power in this game.
David tells Jessica the problem with Zeke and what he has done. Jessica and Ken vow to stay loyal to David and will join him to vote out Zeke.
9:39
Zeke makes his David pitch to Hannah. Hannah, unfortunately, can’t keep a poker face and now Zeke has caught on to Hannah choosing David over him and tells us that Hannah might be the target now….
Zeke goes to Will and then Sunday and then Bret and then Jay to vote out Hannah. Zeke feels good with his five.
9:41
Hannah and Adam talk. Hannah tells Adam to vote out Zeke. Adam is not sure if he can go along with this…Come on, Adam!!!! Let’s do this…Let’s get out Zeke!
Hannah makes the pitch to David for him to play the idol for her…Will this happen? This could be a crazy Tribal tonight.
9:43
Speaking of which, we head to Tribal and I feel tense and tired and I have no idea which way we are headed tonight.
9:44
It’s turning ugly with David and Bret and Zeke all lashing out at each other.
9:45
People are whispering to one another….everybody except for Bret, who keeps randomly yelling and lashing out at everybody.
Hannah asks Sunday what the plan is (away from the main convo going on), and Sunday with her quick thinking, says “Ken” which doesn’t seem believable to Hannah. I think David might actually give this idol to Hannah.
9:47
We go to the votes, but not before a gigantic unidentifiable bug attacks Taylor…I felt like I needed to share that.
9:48
Jeff asks about playing an idol. David plays the idol, but Adam talks him out of playing it for himself and to play it for Ken. Adam takes the advice…NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We go to the votes.
Zeke
Hannah
Zeke
Hannah
Zeke
Hannah
Zeke
Hannah
Zeke
Hannah
We get a five-five tie. Wow. I’m going to have a stroke. We go to a revote.
Jessica looks like she is going to break. (I knew it…Please prove me wrong, Jessica).
We go to the revote votes.
Hannah
Zeke
Hannah
Zeke
Hannah
Zeke
Hannah
Zeke
Wow! We have another tie!!!!!!
It gets left with them to decide unanimously on who goes home or they will draw rocks.
Everybody breaks into an huge argument and yeah…We are drawing rocks.
Wow! I can’t believe this…Please be Zeke…How they could have combined these two episodes I will never know!!!!
9:54
Jessica draws the black rock and has been eliminated. Jessica leaves her advantage to Ken. Hey, it’s the one move she made all season that I like. She did get royally screwed here.
Recap
Wow! I don’t even know where to begin….I mean again, why the hell did they combine these two episodes????!!! It was too full with too much important stuff going on.
God, why did David play the idol for Ken and not Hannah? Wow. I guess this leaves us with David and kind of Ken being in the minority now.
Zeke got way too full of himself, and hopefully, this will tone down his swagger now. David, on the other hand, made some bonehead moves and now his chances have been crippled. So much has changed in these two hours it’s amazing! So much changed from the first hour to the second hour, that I feel like I need a couple days to process all of this. Does my boy Ken actually have the best chance now to win this game???? Could it be??? I mean, do I need to also consider Bret now?? I thought Bret was a “nobody” in this game and now everything is crazy. Cats and dogs living together..Mass hysteria.
I’m too flustered. Somebody please comment below and tell me who the favorite is now to win this game…Please help. Thanks for reading and have a great Thanksgiving!
For the complete schedule of Survivor blogs: RHAP Survivor Blog Schedule.