Hey, welcome back. We start our journey towards the second half of Survivor now that we have begun the jury stage of the game. Let’s take a moment to pour out a little bit of 40 in memory of Kass, who was kind of a victim of her own reputation. Past reputations definitely come into play on these all-star formatted seasons. If a player has the reputation of being a douche from before, then he/she is going to have to fight against that reputation when he/she comes back to play. We have seen prior reputation affect almost every player who came in with a polarizing reputation. With that said, we are at the point in the game where people can sniff the finish line and prior reputations be damned if you can work with somebody you think is going to get you to the finish.
What I think we all want to see now is some really good strategic gameplay…meaning in most seasons, it seems like when there is a group majority, the people on the bottom of the alliance never realize they are on the bottom and don’t do anything to change the dynamics. Like Ciera brought up at Tribal last week, whether it was genuine or just a cry for help because she knows she could be the next to go, people need to look out for themselves and “play the game”.
What I like is that there are players like Stephen and Ciera that are dying for an opportunity to shake up the game with big moves, but will they get the opportunity or will the status quo stay the same? Who will make or what is that “big move” to be made? Joe seems to be the poster child for the “big move”, but that only seems to be the case because he is good in competitions. Is he really the biggest target to get out of the game? Obviously not– it’s Jeremy. With Jeremy, there is the physical prowess and you have the social game, which yes, at times, you look over at him and he’s acting cray cray like he’s Hurley and talking to a ghost in Lost.
But Jeremy does seem more composed (so far at least) this season. Which leads to my next point:
We have two hidden immunity idols that we know are going to come into play at some point. Hate to sound like captain obvious, but having that hidden idol is so big. It must feel so freeing to play the game with that insurance policy in your back pocket. Jeremy, being a more obvious target than Kelley Went I’m guessing, will have to play his idol first, unless Kelley does something really stupid first that makes her targeted first. I do think Jeremy will get paranoid to the point of making a rash move at some point. So far, he has been chilling and lying low– it seems like from his edit– but I just have a feeling that he will, at some point, talk himself into making a head scratching move. With that said, right now if I had to bet money, he would only be behind Spencer regarding whom I think is going to win. I feel like Spencer weathered the storm and now is, maybe, off people’s radar. I could be wrong, but it feels like Spencer could be in this for the long haul and all of you that bet on Spencer this season and thought you would have this reaction when you saw I picked Spencer to win this season can calm down:
Someone commented last week that anybody but basically Abi you could theoretically see winning this season. While I think that could be true, I do feel confident in crossing a couple people off the list for different reasons:
Stephen: Just feels like, for whatever reason, he is not really respected by the other players. It feels as if he is seen as a pawn by the other players even though he sees himself like the Queen in a game of chess.
Ciera: Feels like there is too much ill-will towards her. Tough to see her making it to the finals.
Tasha: She feels somewhat pawn-ish to me.
Keith: Love him, but it just feels like he doesn’t have that all-star social strategy to win the game.
Kimmi: Pawn-ish.
Kelly Wig: Seems like the game is really overwhelming for her. Doesn’t have the look of someone that is going to be there at the end.
Then again, what the hell do I know? I’m wrong a lot. It’s 8 pm Portland, Oregon time. Let’s see what happens!
8 pm
Previously on Survivor, so far this season Savage has the most jarring facial hair growth out of everyone. Always a fun subplot to any Survivor season… whose facial hair growth becomes impossible to ignore. I was really hoping Spencer would sport a blonde beard…maybe when he comes back for Survivor fifth chance redemption season in 2034.
8:01
We don’t get the post-vote black-and-white cam scene tonight; we immediately join Savage the next day. Savage and Jeremy have a heart to heart. That would be quite the team, but I just feel like Jeremy is going to implode at some point and make a crazy move.
8:02
Ciera and Stephen have a heart to heart next. The two people who want to make big moves may be joining forces? Ciera says the name “Joe” to make a big move and that is music to Stephens’s ears. Stephen has had a hard-on to get Joe out now for some time. I think Stephen just wants in on the “in-crowd”. Maybe he can pay Ciera $1,000 dollars to date him for a month.
8:03
Commercial break: Not to get morbid, but I recently was watching a documentary on Serial Killers and isn’t it weird that it seems like all serial killers thrived in the 70’s and early 80’s? Like, why did the art of serial killing kind of stop? Not that I would ever want that, but can you imagine a Son of Sam type serial killer now in the Twitter, social media world? It just seems strange that we haven’t really had that happen in the last decade or so. Maybe we’re doing a better job in the mental health field with treating kids or something? I don’t know why I decided to share this thought with you…Let’s just move on.
8:06
Back from commercial and it’s time for the reward challenge. The winning team today gets to go to the “Survivor Café”.
8:07
Jeff tells us that they will decide the teams by “schoolyard pick”, but we don’t get to see who was picked when. I feel like I would have liked to see how people responded to when they were picked. Can’t you just picture a pissed off Abi being picked last and vowing revenge on someone…or getting to see a deflated Stephen being picked after half of the women were picked already?
8:08
I like during this competition how Spencer jumps off the boat heroically like he is auditioning to be in the open credits of Baywatch.
8:13
We get to the finish and the team of Ciera, Joe, Keith, Kimmi, Kelly Wig, and Kelley Went take the competition.
8:14
Stephen takes us to commercial talking about his concern of all the girls and Joe being able to conspire now. Who is Stephen’s plan B and when/if Stephen can take out Joe, when will he start dressing and acting like Joe, like The Talented Mr. Ripley?:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpByV15lQws
8:16
Commercial break:
I just saw a commercial for that Terminator movie that nobody saw which got awful reviews. At this point, can we agree that Arnold needs to hang it up? We all loved you Arnold, but you’re 89 years old now and I don’t think we can handle five more years of this…Please stop. We will always have Predator, Kindergarten Cop, hell even Eraser…Actually it will be interesting to see how Hollywood handles Arnold. I mean none of the movies he’s made recently have made any money, and I can’t really see Arnold turning into a character actor in dramas, so what will they do with him?
8:18
Back from commercial and I guess we are going to the Survivor Café. I wonder if they have Keno there? (Side note: lucky numbers for me 7, 11,24,33 and 44).
8:19
Ciera is focused, as she tries to do some damage control over her aggressive Tribal Council speech.
Joes shares with us that he knows he could be a marked man and is prepared to make a move first. Let’s see if that actually happens.
8:20
We get some comedy as Keith drives the motorcycle taxi thing called a tuk-tuk. He should take that thing back to camp.
8:22
We go back to camp with the losers as emotional piano music plays to signify that Stephen is sad. He shares his emo-ness over not being able to bond over a reward. He is smart as he points out that Joe is at the reward bonding with people that Stephen knows he needs on his side.
8:23
Stephen and Jeremy talk about getting Joe out at the next available time. Jeremy seems like he is on board now.
Next, Stephen shares his plan with Spencer, who also appears to be hearing Stephen out.
Then, Tasha gets the Stephen talk, but Savage hears this and is not happy. Savage is ready to commence in some snitching. Which Survivor law dictates that “snitches get stitches”? Savage should be careful.
8:25
Another damn commercial. Okay, let’s talk about online dating again. One thing that sucks is that if you go on like 5 online dates in two weeks. As a guy, you’re spending a lot of money, because I don’t care what anybody says, as a guy you have to pick up the tab on the first date no matter what. Even when I know within the first thirty seconds that I was catfished or that I know I pretty much want to flee the scene, like a big dope. I stay through it. In fact, most of the time what happens is that I try to take the high road and end up making out with the girl just because. This then leads to more self-loathing and regret. I mean, look, I work at a non-profit so it’s not like I’m rich; plus, I don’t cook and I manage my money like a 14-year-old boy at an arcade. On most dates I’m thinking like Dave Chapelle in Half Baked:
Trust me, though; I’m quite the catch…….yikes.
8:29
Back from commercial and we join Savage as he throws Stephen under the bus big time to Joe. Savage and Joe become blood brothers. Joe knows though that he needs to win this Immunity Challenge.
8:30
With that said, it’s time for the Immunity Challenge. The comp tonight is another balancing the ball game.
Right away, Kelley Went and Ciera are out within ten seconds.
Jeremy and Kelly Wig are out.
Abi is out and we are dropping like flies with this one.
Stephen is out.
Savage is out.
8:33
We go to the next round as they have to move back to make it harder–(that’s what she said).
Kimmi is out after my bad joke. We’re down to four.
Make that three– Tasha is out.
8:34
It comes down to Keith, Joe, and Spencer. Keith won this comp during his season. It would be pretty cool if he won again as this is such a random comp to excel in, but apparently it’s right in Keith’s wheelhouse.
Spencer is out.
8:35
It comes down to Keith and Joe and so they add a second ball into the competition.
Great to hear Jeff proclaim “And Joe’s balls move a little”.
8:37
Apparently Joe has really good control over his balls as Keith’s balls drop and Joe is the winner tonight.
This is not looking good for Stephen…It feels like he could be the target now tonight. Joe’s a beast in competitions, which will be his downfall in this game– just not tonight.
8:38
Commercial break:
While you’re reading this, I presume you already have watched this episode and you know who goes home already, but if I had to predict based on the edit of the show so far tonight, doesn’t it seem obvious that it’s going to be Stephen? It’s basically been his episode and it’s tough to see anybody other than Stephen or Ciera going home tonight. It seems like Savage is not going to stand for mutinies and is going to forget his Ciera hate and transfer it to Stephen.
8:40
We rejoin the players back at camp. Everybody is celebrating how well Joe managed his balls. Everybody but Stephen, that is, as he laments his archrival’s victory.
Savage indeed is ready to get rid of Stephen. Joe tells us that he is going to use the three girls on the bottom of the food chain to get him out.
8:42
Savage talks to Jeremy, Tasha, Spencer, and Kelly Wig about the plan. Jeremy tells us that he is not down with this plan. Jeremy throws out that Ciera or Kelley Went should go first.
8:45
Tasha tells Joe the plan not to vote out Stephen yet, so Joe goes to Kelley Went who now is worried and knows it might be idol time for her.
This is shaping up to be a good Tribal tonight.
8:47
Tribal starts with Kelley Went calling out people for being followers, pretty much the textbook defense when you know your name is in danger of being written down at Tribal.
8:48
Ciera once again questions everybody’s guts in the game. She makes some good points about people never really understanding when they are on the bottom of an alliance.
8:49
Interesting moment as Kelley Went gets the opportunity to throw Joe under the bus by telling everybody about his attempt to get Stephen out, but she doesn’t do it, probably because she knows she is about to play her idol and will have to work with him again…
8:50
We go to the votes. …but wait, Kelley Went plays the idol! Who is going? ..We go to the votes.
Kelley
Kelley
Kelley
Kelley
Kelley
Kelley
Kelley
Kelley
Kelley…Jesus how many people voted????
Savage
Savage becomes the second person of our jury….Wow! Bombshell!…What just happened?
8:57
On the way out, for good measure, Savage gives Abi the middle finger…Classy…Good way to go out.
Recap:
Okay.Wow…Savage, out of nowhere, gets the boot. It was tough for the old lion to go out like that. I mean, there can’t be anything worse than seeing a hidden idol being played and having to sit there thinking: “Please, for the love of god, don’t let it be my name that they wrote down”. While I think Savage played a good game, I never understand how the people who are playing the idol do not go after the very top dog in the game. Why wouldn’t they have gone after Jeremy? Am I crazy in thinking that it’s clear that he is the top dog at camp?
Regardless, this whole episode seemed to be foreshadowing Stephens’s demise, but instead we got a swerve. It was a complete bait and switch (I’ve wanted to use that phrase for the longest time…I think it works here), as Stephen appeared to be the focus. Savage, I guess, was also featured more than I think I noticed at first. Good game, Savage, but we have to move on. Where does this leave us? Is Kelley immediately going to be targeted again, or is she good now? It seems like Joe has to win-out the rest of the season on the Immunity Challenges or he is going to be gone. Let’s face it, though, this season is wide open. My power ranking:
- Jeremy
- Spencer
- Kelley
My power rankings suck. But gun to my head, I’m taking Jeremy or Spencer to win the game right now. Who do you guys have? Right now, with your money on the line, who would you put your money on?
Thanks for reading. See you next week.
