Know-It-Alls Recap the Thanksgiving Eve Survivor Blood vs Water

LIVE after the WEST COAST edition of Survivor Blood vs Water Episode 11, Rob Cesternino and Stephen Fishbach recap all of the action and take your questions on a special Thanksgiving Eve edition of Survivor Know-It-Alls.

Rob and Stephen are both thankful for a great episode of Survivor this week, but the departure of Vytas Baskauskas led to heartbreak in the Fishbach household on what Stephen is calling “Black Wednesday”. Rob brings up Laura Morett’s cheating at the Redemption Island truel and Stephen says he loved the move, announcing that she will get this week’s Fishy for helping Tina, thus giving her an easier path back in to the game.

But the top story tonight: Caleb and Hayden tried to rally the newbies against Tyson, only for Ciera to blow up the plan, and Tyson was forced to make a choice between getting rid of Caleb or Katie. Rob asks if Tyson made the right move, and like Gervase said, Stephen feels it was a gut decision – it could have really gone either way, as it’s impossible to know for sure during the game who you can trust. He says that getting rid of Caleb splits up the Caleb/Hayden voting block and locks in Ciera’s loyalty, and this was ultimately a good move.

Rob thinks he made the right move, but playing the idol makes no sense if Tyson was going to vote for Caleb. Rob was excited when he saw Tyson play the idol because he was sure that meant Ciera was going home (aka, Tyson was getting rid of the Christy Smith-type swing vote, a favorite move of Rob’s). While Rob acknowledges that Tyson would have regretted being voted out with the idol far more than playing the idol at an imperfect moment, there was a fairly simple way to ensure he didn’t need to play the idol. He explains to Stephen that Caleb and Hayden might have only been trying to get Tyson or Gervase to change their votes so they would have had the votes to get rid of Tyson – therefore, Tyson knowing Caleb and Hayden wouldn’t vote for Caleb meant he shouldn’t have had any reason to play the idol unless he was voting off Ciera. Stephen counters that when you’ve heard that many people bring your name up, you have to play defensively, and it was still probably better safe than sorry. Rob also wonders if revealing the secret idol will hurt Tyson’s game. Stephen was in this situation in Survivor: Tocantins and was worried about the same thing, but this will probably be less of a concern for Tyson because he’s such a character.

Rob Cesternino & Stephen Fishbach recap Survivor Blood vs Water Episode 11 — The Know-It-Alls recap all of the Drama at the Survivor Blood vs Water Final 7

Rob and Stephen then discuss Ciera and her current place in the game: was it smart of Ciera to tell Tyson the plan? Stephen says the move was very wrong for many reasons, not the least of which is that she only stuck with Tyson and Gervase based on their experience. Stephen says this discounts that Tyson, in particular, and Gervase have both lost in catastrophic ways, and Ciera probably should have gone with Hayden considering he’s won a game like this before. Rob believes Ciera has dropped from a decent spot in a final three alliance to a bad spot in a final 4 (though she doesn’t realize Monica is ahead of her). He asks plain and simple – would you rather be in the finals with Caleb and Hayden, or Tyson and Gervase? Both Rob and Stephen feel she’s still less of an ultimate jury goat than Natalie Tenerrelli, as Ciera has proven herself untrustworthy to her new allies, while Natalie’s moves only cemented her loyalty. Stephen claims that people who make such a move are often the next to go: their new group doesn’t need her, and their old alliance wants her gone. Stephen has been having trouble determining what the distinction is between Hayden flipping on Tyson and Gervase, versus Ciera flipping on Hayden, Caleb, and Katie. Rob feels that Hayden trying to overthrow the power is a good move, while Ciera is only putting herself in a worse situation.

Overall, Hayden impressed Rob in this episode, even if the plan didn’t work. Rob and Stephen were torn over the outcome of this episode because while they are both Tyson proponents, they would have loved to see Hayden and Caleb pull off their coup d’etat. Stephen feels that Caleb and Hayden were ultimately too honest – they could have throw Ciera under the bus by telling Tyson she was trying to put herself between the four guys.

Rob and Stephen also touch on tonight’s “eat or compete” immunity challenge: Stephen was very baffled that Tyson chose to eat, and Rob was surprised that Ciera chose to eat because it very clearly telegraphed her allegiances. They then discuss a dynamite night for Jeff Probst, who was extremely excited about almost everything happening. He once again tried to hype the relatively non-existent rift between Aras and Vytas, which Stephen thought he was hitting way too hard. He also put on a very bizarre British accent during the immunity challenge, and did a good amount of directing at Tribal Council tonight.

Before RHAP-ping up the show, Rob and Stephen take your questions. Did trying to read Probst’s questions at tribal council backfire on Tyson? Did Ciera unfairly peg Caleb as the mastermind of the Tyson blindside? What’s the difference between Laura helping Tina on Red-I vs. Sophie wanting Albert to help her during Survivor: South Pacific? Is Monica becoming too much of a challenge threat? And is it weird that the preceding question is an actual thing to be discussed? These answers and more on Survivor Know It Alls!

Special Thanks to Brendan Noel for an outstanding job with tonight’s podcast recap!