Survivor Update - Week 7

 

We return to Merge camp following Soda and Tim’s departures.  I still can’t believe they had a shot at Hunter and didn’t take it.  Yeah, he has an idol but they don’t know that.  He has “run the immunity challenge table” vibes written all over him.  Q wants to talk game but everyone else is too wrung out from tribal to do it. Venus calls out Tevin’s “honesty” bullshit, saying she knew he voted for her. Tevin voted Venus so he could honestly tell Soda he never voted for her despite engineering her blindside (1 point for “Reference ‘in this game’” to Jay!). Liz laughs at that because tossing Soda was her idea in the first place. Like your intrepid gamemaster, Kenzie is shocked that Venus is still hanging around, and even more shocked that she’s taking credit for Soda’s ouster. 

 In the morning, Charlie notes that every important conversation happens at sunrise (1 point for “Reference “in this game”’ to Kristyn!).  Q finally decides Charlie is worthy to recruit into the wider alliance, as they see him too weak to turn against them. Maria tells him she wanted him in the whole time.  Charlie sees it as a good path forward but he’s not locking himself to them.  Smart move.

 Being bored, Q decides the castaways should play hide and seek, but he has ulterior motives.  He’s evaluating how hard people try in a game that doesn’t matter to apply that level of thinking to the real game, which Venus does as well. It’s a stretch but they’re working on no food and little sleep so I’ll allow it.  Ben and Hunter win the game.  Ben by covering himself in some deep grass and Hunter of course, by hiding in a tree directly above camp.  Q sees both of these as tremendously revealing. 

Sure, guy.  You’ve been there two and a half weeks and needed a hide and seek game to see Ben being quietly undercover and Hunter using smarts and physical gifts to outplay people. 

 

After the game, Venus wants to make sure Tevin knows she was the first person to pull off a blindside.  Building a resume is difficult, but it’s more difficult when you’re a self-aggrandizing dipshit.  Somehow, Tevin keeps a straight face and allows her to keep her moment of victory but as she walks away, he cackles like a villainous Axel Foley saying she needs to go.

 

Tevin may act like a mastermind but she’s playing too. Tiffany, approached by Tevin about Venus, doesn’t see the rush to get the self-aggrandizer out, as she’s more of a nuisance than a threat.  (1 point for “Reference ‘in this game’” to Brian!) Smart girl! When he presses for who else she’d target, she waffles saying she won’t know until after the immunity challenge. Not immediately conforming to Venus is “not aligning to what the Six wants”, according to Tevin and is a huge red flag for Tevin. Side note: EVERYTHING THAT ISN’T IN COMPLETE LOCKSET WITH TEVIN IS A RED FLAG FOR TEVIN.   When Tevin brings that to Q, the latter says he’s fine with Tiffany going because “she’s playing the old Survivor, and that’s not the Q game and you have to play Q’s game”.  One sees red flags everywhere, the other insists everyone plays his game.  That confrontation will be epic!

 When Q asks who she’d go after, Tiffany makes a mistake naming Maria (who is in the Six alliance).  That tells Q she’s not really with the alliance, which is all the push he needs to sell her out.  He immediately tells Maria about Tiffany’s idol, and she agrees with Charlie to go after Tiff.  It’s tough for Q since she’s been his #1 but that’s how easy it is to get whacked in this organization.

 

 At the immunity challenge, it’s a classic.  Hold onto the pole as long as you can.  Jeff offers  a bag of rice for four (4) sit-outs, or if two (2) give up their vote. Liz and Q would sit out but no one else offers, which really ticks Q off.  And if we have learned anything about Q, he does not control his emotions well.  Half the tribe drops in minutes, including Q.  Tevin and Tiffany drop about 15 minutes in and it’s quickly down to Charlie vs. (surprise, surprise) MacGyver.  Charlie is giving it everything he has, even holding on with his fingertips (10 points for “Jeff says ‘that’s how you do it on Survivor’” about your player to Kristyn!)  but he cannot outlast MacGyver (8 points for “Win individual immunity” to Roberta!)

 Back at camp, MacGyver wants Tiffany out and Q is indeed frustrated that they gave up rice, knowing they’d never beat Hunter.  Liz asks herself if she wants to be in the game, or to play the game (1 point for “Reference ‘in this game’” to Ricky!). She suggests going after Tevin to the former Siga’s (Maria, Charlie, Ben).  Venus is on board too, and Ben sells Tevin to Kenzie, who’s more than happy to take a back seat for a vote as Yanu had been directing the last few. (1 point for “Reference ‘in this game” to Marissa!). Tiffany is also happy to go after Tevin since he has an extra vote (1 point for “Reference ‘in this game’ to Brian!), but she has to tell Q about it and in a moment of complete self-unawareness, he’s aggravated that the vote changed last minute.  I think what’s truly eating at him is the complete dud of an “alliance he “formed”.   

 Let’s take a quick Six Alliance (Q, Tim, Hunter, Tevin, Tiffany, Maria) inventory:

•          Q and Tevin seem to believe in it
•          Maria and Charlie who will turn on them the second they think they can get away with it
•          Hunter, who can’t stand them
•          Tiffany who’s actively tossing alliance member names out
•          Tim, who’s already been voted out.

 

 

Tiffany puts a final knife in Q’s alliance telling him to get on board with Tevin or he could be next.   Liz tells Q to not tell Hunter or Tevin about the vote, but Q can’t keep quiet.  As Carol noted while watching, Q breaks rules #1 and #2  (STFU and Trust But Verify).  His game, the one EVERYONE has to play OR ELSE, is based on control and he’s not in control.  Upon hearing the news, MacGyver goes into damage control mode (1 point for “Reference ‘in this game’” to Roberta!).  While he’s trying to mend fences with Q, Charlie and Maria, Venus decides she wants to listen in but she’s completely rebuffed which leads MacGyver to ask why should the vote be between Tevin and Tiffany?  Why don’t they just don’t vote Venus out.  YES, PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF GOD DO THAT! THAT’S WHY I DRAFTED HER!   

 Anyway

 At tribal, Jeff starts with the rice negotiation which Q acknowledges caused a tempter tantrum.  Then, from out of nowhere, Q dusts off his cross, plants it firmly in the ground and climbs back up saying the only person going home tonight is him.  He wants everyone to vote for him because of the mistake he made. Henceforth, he shall be named The Martyr.   This is news to everyone and no one understands what’s going on.  Tiff says this is coming out of left field but this is at least the 2^nd time he's said it, and maybe the 3^rd.   Tribal devolves into brilliant chaos of side chatter and it’s completely up in the air.  After a few minutes, Charlie tells Tiffany she doesn’t need to play her idol which leads Tiffany to ask how he knew about it at all.  Another Q mistake.  The tribe all agree.... 

 

At the vote, no one votes for Q (and I wouldn’t have either).   My girl Venus gets 2 votes but it’s Tevin who gets the other 8 and is voted out, becoming the 2^nd member of the jury (2 points for “Received vote against” for me!) and (8 points for “Received vote against”, -2 points for “The Tribe Has Spoken”, and 2 points for “Jury Member” to Jay!).   ARE THOSE 8 VOTES A RED FLAG TOO, TEVIN?  Enjoy the rest of your vacation in Fiji.

 

His only alliance member he could count on was just voted out. Tough shit, Martyr.  If you want to quit, you’re gonna have to do it on your own.  I've got $10 that says he tries to play off as a brilliant strategic move. Any takers?

 Tevin’s expulsion rockets Jay into 2^nd place, while Charlie’s immunity challenge efforts push Kristyn nearer to the top as well, they being a mere 5 and 7 points behind Ricky respectively.  Roberta climbs from an 8^th place tie into a 6^th place tie thanks to MacGyver’s immunity win in the current scores:

 

1. Ricky: 73
2. Jay: 68
3. Kristyn: 66
4. Carol: 48
5. Dalphyne: 44
6. Jen/Roberta: 41
7. Brian: 37
8. Scott: 34
9. Marissa: 33

Survivor Update - Week 6

 

First, some housekeeping items.  Last week we DROPPED OUR BUFFS! Which means there was a redraft! Here are the new teams:

1. Roberta: MacGyver
2. Jen:  WTF JEN??!?!? TEXT ME BACK!
3. Kristyn: Charlie
4. Scott: Venus
5. Brian: Tiffany
6. Jay: Tevin
7. Marissa: Tim
8. Dalphyne: Ben
9. Carol: Maria
10. Ricky: Liz 

During the draft, (5 points each to Brian, Jay, Dalphyne and Carol for keeping the same player through a merge!).   Housekeeping completed.  Lets have a look at what happened last week!

 

We pick back up at Merge camp following Moriah’s untimely departure, and Venus is none too happy to have received a vote.  With no proof, she immediately accuses Soda of voting for her and Tevin’s judgmental tut-tut-tutting of Venus’ outlash is so palpable he could be Meryl Streep from the Devil Wears Prada. 

 

For a reason known only to God and telepaths, Charlie cuts the act short and admits he voted for Venus.  This doesn’t directly  break any of the codified Rules, but it’s such bad game play that I’m adding an old adage as a new rule.  Rule #6:  When your enemy is making a mistake, let them.  To his benefit, Q calls Charlie out for coming clean.  Charlie sees this as Q running the show meaning…he has to go.  That’s all it takes to get whacked.

 

At the individual immunity and reward challenge, the remaining players are split into groups of 6.

• Purple: Soda, Liz, Maria, Charlie, Tevin, Venus
• Yellow: Tiffany, Kenzie, MacGyver, Q, Tim, Ben

 

In this comp, they have to balance while standing on a platform in the water.  The last person from each group wins immunity with the final person winning coffee and sandwiches as a reward for their group.  Also, there will be two tribal councils tonight!  Double the fun!

 

Last time they did this challenge it was a choppy day on the water and the whole thing lasted three minutes. This time, it’s calm seas and they get so bored that Q starts playing the alphabet game but no one else knows how to play.  He spends time teaching them but not a single one of them gets it, leading Jeff (and me) to laugh out loud.  He should have saved his energy though, as at the 25 minute mark, he’s the first one to drop. Soda quickly follows, with Ben right behind her.   They make it to 30m, and have to complete the rest of the challenge on one foot which spells doom for Charlie and Tim.  Venus, Liz and MacGyver follow meaning (8 points for “Win individual immunity” to Kenzie’s owner: NO ONE ).  It’s down to Kenzie, Tevin and Maria for reward.  Tevin drops meaning (8 points for “Win individual immunity” to Carol!)  but she can’t outlast Kenzie who wins reward for Yellow (3 points each for “Win Tribal Reward” to Brian, Roberta, Marissa and Dalphyne!).

 

For this afternoon, Yellow goes back to Siga’s old camp where MacGyver tells us he will play his idol. Q tells us he threw the challenge just to test if his alliance is true and strong.  Is he insane? Throwing immunity? I  wasn’t aware they allowed mind-altering drugs on Survivor! He deserves to lose just for THINKING about doing that, much less doing it!  Tim thinks MacGyver being alone is a gift-wrapped vote but Q isn’t ready to turn on him, and wants to go Ben instead.  Tim just failed Q’s loyalty test but Q failed the Survivor strategy test, breaking Rule #3 (Play to Win).

 

The game of musical votes begins with Tim and Tiffany, as Tim pitches MacGyver but Tiffany sees that as “Siga Strong” going after Nami because Siga (Moriah) went home last week.  Q pitches Tim to Tiffany and Kenzie and they’re all for it, despite Tiffany wanting to go after Ben since she sees him as a better player.  For his part, MacGyver still plans to play his idol.

 

Kenzie and Ben are friends now that she helped him through an overnight panic attack.  Ben thinks its either him or MacGyver, and for a reason known only to Ben and hunger, Ben pitches Q to have him convince MacGyver to vote Ben.  That make sense to you?  Me neither.  In the end, Kenzie and Tiffany are set on Tim but Q can’t stop flip-flopping which drives the girls crazy. So in the Yanu trio, they’re the duo and he’s the odd man out. Got it.

 

At the feast. Venus is ecstatic that Maria won because food is life (1 point for “Reference ‘in this game’” to me!)  and she wants to vote for Charlie despite hating Tevin and having a chance to go after him.  She’s all over the place, and it could cost her because while Tevin is good with sticking to tribal lines and going after Charlie, he’d much rather blindside Venus.

 

They all have a very large post-meal MOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

Charlie lays out the “4 Nami, 2 Siga” breakdown, but he’s got the person he trust most with him (1 point for “Reference ‘in this game’” to Kristyn!)  but assumes he’s going home until he meets the truly dysfunctional Nami.  Soda would rather keep Charlie over Venus, and she trusts Tevin.  However, Tevin thinks she’s been distant recently and talking with Liz, Tevin compares her to Yam Yam “all she does is talk talk talk talk talk” (5 points for “Bring up a previous season’s player” to Jayson!) leading him to suggest blindsiding Soda to Liz, which Liz is totally down for since she’s a big social threat (1 point for “Reference ‘in this game’” to Ricky!) .  With Liz on board, he pitches it to Maria and Charlie.

 

Charlie is spinning 9 different ways but none of them seem to be landing on him. Welcome to “How to break up a dysfunctional tribe 101, your instructor Tevin will be here shortly”.   Not to be left out of the self-destruction, Venus pitches Tevin Maria leading the elder to notice how hard Venus is pushing (1 point for “Reference ‘in this game’” to Carol!) . Maria doesn’t think much of Venus, however, and isn’t buying it.  When Venus pitches either Tevin or Soda to Charlie, he finally sees just how easy it will be to bring down Nami. 

 

At tribal #1 (Q, MacGyver, Kenzie, Tim, Ben, Tiffany) Q is sticking with tribal lines but MacGyver wants to know when tribal lines disappear.  Funny how close the Yanu three (Q, Kenzie, Tiffany) are while Nami (MacGyver) can’t wait to get away from his tribe.  Kenzie questions whether going after MacGyver now makes more sense than keeping him as a vote, while Tim notes they’re in the individual portion now. Tim doesn’t like MacGyver’s implication that Siga is tight, and Ben notes how many people have been trying to drive a wedge between him and Tim.   

 

At the first vote, MacGyver is definitely on the line, and he’s told us he’s playing his idol, but it remains in his pocket.  Stupid? Gutsy? Your call.  He receives the first two votes, but the remaining four go to Tim who’s voted out. (2 points for “Received vote against” to Roberta!), (4 points for “Received vote against” and -2 points for “The Tribe Has Spoken” to Marissa!)

 

At tribal #2 (Liz, Charlie, Soda, Tevin, Venus, Maria) Charlie is clear that he feels the target is on him since Maria is safe and Liz, Soda, Tevin and Venus are all Nami.  Soda says the luxury of numbers is there was a lot less running around due to an easy vote, but Tevin takes Charlie off the hook though, saying things aren’t always that simple.

At the second vote, things truly aren’t that simple.  Despite having overwhelming numbers, Nami can’t wait to turn on each other.  Venus gets two votes, but it’s Soda who gets the remaining four and is voted out, becoming the first member of the jury. (2 points for “Received vote against” for Scott) and (4 points for “Received vote against”, -2 points for “The Tribe Has Spoken”, and 2 points for “Jury Member” to No one!) She’s shocked, and Venus takes credit for it, but this move was all Tevin

Dual tribals are always fun, but I hope we get a full 10 person tribal this week.  Bring on the chaos!

Jay gained some ground on Ricky, narrowing the gap from 16 to 12 thanks to Tevin’s constant callbacks to previous seasons. Carol gained a whopping 13 points thanks to Maria’s immunity win, jumping her into 4^th while everyone else treaded water in the Current Scores:

 

1. Ricky: 71
2. Jay: 59
3. Kristyn: 54
4. Carol: 47
5. Dalphyne: 42
6. Jen: 41
7. Brian: 34
8. Marissa/Roberta: 31
9. Scott: 30

Survivor Update - Week 5

We pick back up at Siga, where Moriah is bummed because she voted Ben but everyone else was in on the vote against Jem. She’s also conflicted – they left her out of the vote but didn’t vote for her. Clearly, she still has some room for growth (1 Point for Reference “in this game” to Kristyn!). Tim might be Siga strong, but Moriah is clearly a Pariah.

At Yanu, Kenzie is elated that they finally got their act together while Tiffany thanks her biggest ally – Idolesha, the immunity idol she keeps in her bra.  They receive a message saying DROP YOUR BUFFS!  You all know what that means!

Nami is so overjoyed that the tribes are merging that they don’t think it’s weird when MacGyver runs away down the beach….to where he can find his immunity idol.  He has to find it before they arrive and whether it happened this way, or it looks that way by clever editing, he finds it in the staircase by the water just before they get there.  (6 points for “Finish final stage of Beware advantage” and 5 points for “Finding a hidden immunity idol” to Ricky! ).  Tevin is so excited that new people are coming that he turns into Cab Calloway and starts scat singing.

Later at the merge camp, Tim lies to Hunter that the Jem vote was unanimous, Venus can’t wait to talk to the other tribes, immediately flipping on Tevin and Soda.  Tevin’s in the same boat though, he drops Venus’ name to Q and Tiffany while solidifying their part in the Journey Six alliance.  Tim, however, seems to have forgotten to mention that alliance to Maria so she’s confused when Q asks her about it.  She tells Q that Tim isn’t the top of her list, which is a mistake. She should’ve just agreed and moved on.  Q then tries to confirm with Tim himself, but Tim’s non-committal.  

The next day, Venus tries to break Siga apart but Tim and Moriah won’t trade a name for a name.  Venus thinks she made a good connection with Moriah, but Moriah sees Venus as someone to get rid of.  Tim is also 100% out on Venus, and he finally gets around to talking to Maria about the Journey 6. Maria smartly agrees to it, but she definitely not “in”.  (1 point for “Reference ‘in this game’” to Carol!). Q recognizes that Siga is playing a close-to-the-vest game, and his radar goes bonkers when Moriah mentions the sneaky, backstabber Aubrey as her favorite player (5 points for “Bring up a previous season’s player” to Kristyn!).

At the challenge, they draw rocks to break into two teams of 6, with Tiffany sitting out (2 points to Brian for “Volunteer to sit out a challenge”!).  The winners are both safe at tribal council AND they earn a merge feast reward. The teams are:

Purple: Ben, Tim, Q, Hunter, Tevin and Kenzie

Orange: Charlie, Moriah, Soda, Maria, Venus, Liz

On paper, this might be the most lobsided challenge ever.  But they don’t play these challenges on paper, do they?  No! they play them in our TV sets.  Tiffany (wisely) chooses to join the fate of the Purple team.

Somehow, Orange leads through stage 2, thanks in part to Moriah’s bounding down the rope net (10 points for “Jeff says ‘that’s how you do it on Survivor!’” to Kristyn!) but Purple quickly makes up the time and takes the lead.  At the final stage puzzle, it’s MUCH closer than Tiffany can handle watching…

But it’s Purple who win Immunity and Reward (3 points each for “Win Tribe Immunity” and “Win Tribe Reward” to Dalphyne, Jen, Roberta, Ricky, and Jay!) Soda is freaking out over her first loss while Venus is happy they made it that close.  Earth to Venus…

At the merge feast, they all agree to throw out a name to target, but when Tevin offers Venus, Ben waffles and Tim eventually throws out Moriah, which he claims is protecting her somehow, but Tiffany sees their protecting of Moriah as a reason to vote for her.   I wonder if Moriah would consider it protection?

After they return, Tim tells Charlie about saying Mo, and thinks Yanu will vote Mo, so he’s ok voting for her because it means one more day on the island.  MacGyver is also good with Moriah going and convinces Q that while Siga is strong, Nami isn’t at all.

Tiffany tells Venus it’s her or Mo, but Venus tries to spin toward Charlie saying a man should go.  She tries to flip Soda and Kenzie but they don’t buy it.  Q is happy to vote Venus, and is mildly shocked that she has a problem voting Moriah since Venus herself should be happy it’s not her. He sees her move against Charlie as a guys-girls alliance move which pisses him off, and he definitely can’t trust her.  Macgyver definitely wants Moriah gone, but Q is all about Venus.

Got all that?

At tribal, they all play the “deflect, defer and spin” game which makes me wish Bhanu was there.  It would be awesome to watch him saying “Kenzie told me this, Q told me to say that. Tiffany, who should I vote for?”.  Unfortunately, the only real action comes when Moriah, hoping to show herself as a free agent, tells the truth about the non-unanimous vote for Jem. She’s telling the truth but Q doesn’t believe her, asking if she’s playing for Siga or for herself,  Moriah confidently says “herself” and Q absolutely destroys her asking “Then when didn’t you tell us the truth before?”  

Ouch.

Meanwhile, Venus does her level best to put votes onto herself saying things like “If they are as smart as I think they are, they’ll want to keep me around”

At the vote, Tevin finally finds out that he has an extra vote (7 points for “Obtain a secret advantage” to Jay!) while Moriah plays her Shot in the Dark (3 points for “Play your shot in the dark” to Kristyn!).  It doesn’t help her though, and she’s voted out by a 10-1 vote, with Venus, looking like a smug little asshole, getting the other vote (10 points for “Received vote against” and -1 point for “The Tribe Has Spoken” to Kristyn!).

Kristyn, our multi-time champ, takes a HUGE jump from wallowing near me at 27 points to a 2nd place tie with Jay at 49 points thanks to Moriah’s antics and dismissal, but Ricky takes almost as big a jump thanks to Hunter completing the beware advantage and finding a hidden immunity idol.  The rest of us are trying to keep pace here, Rick. Don’t play hide and go seek!!!

Current Scores:

1. Ricky: 66
2. Jay/Kristyn: 49
3. Jen: 41
4. Dalphyne: 40
5. Carol: 34
6. Brian: 33
7. Roberta/Marissa: 28
8. Scott: 23

Lastly, we are officially merged meaning the Redraft begins now!  The order for this draft is:

1. Roberta
2. Jen
3. Kristyn
4. Scott
5. Brian
6. Jay
7. Marissa
8. Dalphyne
9. Carol
10. Ricky

Lets go!!!

Survivor 46: Week 4

With Bhanu’ s brief, pathetic stay in Fiju finally turned into the vacation it should have been, we pick back up at Yanu where they’ve still got no fire, and get rained on despite having a tarp.  Q is losing it while Tiff and Kenzie share some gallows humor while Q half-jokes about quitting, keeping firm grasp of his role as Tribe Martyr.

At Siga, Ben is hurting in the “shelter of pain”, which is not the name of Motley Crue’s latest album. Despite his pain, he’s trying to connect with Charlie and Moriah notices it, which makes him a target.  The girls think Ben or Tim has the idol, and Tim does himself no favors when he starts talking to the Immunity Idol (that’s not a typo).  The whole tribe has landed on the idea that someone moved the Beware advantage and while they haven’t sussed out Jem just yet, Tim does think it was her. He probes at Jem but she wards him off (1 point for “Reference ‘in this game’” to Brian!)  for now.

At Nami, Everyone except for Liz searches for the idol.  I say this with love, as someone who gains points from her activities.  GET THE FUCK UP AND LOOK FOR THE IDOL YOU LAZY ASS!  Not having Randen to follow around anymore, Venus latches on to Hunter but he refuses to search while she’s following him.  Good call too, because he finds and opens the Beware advantage soon after!  (2 points each for “Find Beware Advantage”, “Open Beware Advantage” , and “Complete stage 1 of Beware Advantage” to Ricky!)

At the Immunity and Reward challenge, they have to go through a 3-level obstacle course, collect 3 keys, unlock a pole and use it to unlock sandbags.  Then use the sandbags to hit the targets. First two tribes win immunity and reward, while first overall gets to choose one person from each tribe to go on a Journey.  Jeff also notes that Yanu’s 11 days without flint is a (dubious) record.  Lowercase yay.  Soda, Liz, Tim, Moriah, Charlie and Ben choose to sit out (2 Points each for “Volunteer to sit out challenge” to Scott, Jen, Kristyn, Marissa and Dalphyne!)

Tim and Hunter blow through stage 1, taking a huge lead on Yanu.  Q makes up the time in Stage 2, passing Tim.  Hunter, of course, destroys the Sandbag challenge winning immunity and reward for Nami (3 points each for “Tribe Immunity win” and “Tribe Reward Win” to Ricky, Scott and Jay!).  It comes down to Q vs. Tim again, but this time Yanu pulls out the victory, sending Siga to tribal council!  (3 points for “Tribe Immunity win” and “Tribe reward win” to Roberta!).  How’s it feel to hold the idol, Tiffany?  All she can picture is not waking up cold.  Great answer. Nami chooses Hunter, Q and Tim to go on the journey.  (3 points each for “Go on a journey” to Ricky and Jen!)

At the journey, Q feels great and creates an Alpha Male alliance with Hunter and Tim, and suggests each of them choose one other person to make it a 6-person alliance.  The Cookout called, Tiffany wants her idea back. In this journey, only one person can play and (of course) it’s Hunter. Q and Tim are sent packing with nothing but memories of a nice boat ride and a potential alliance should they make the merge. 

Hunter’s game is to arrange each of the 20 Survivor logos in front of him, in order. HAAHHAHAHAHA. He’s so screwed.  Ricky, however, gains some more points when Hunter mentions players from previous seasons (5 points for “Bring up a previous season’s player” to Ricky!).  Unfortunately, Hunter can’t complete the task, meaning he loses his vote (1 point for “Risk your vote on a journey and fail” to Ricky!)

Back at the camps, Kenzie and Tiffany destroy the food they won like it’s a frat house at 2 AM and the Taco Bell just got there.  They do manage to save 1/3 of it for Q though, which means they’re better people than the frat bros I knew.

At loser camp, aka Siga, Ben is genuinely happy for Yanu but Moriah is concerned about how many advantages or idols might be in play.  Having finally lost a challenge, Jem is desperate to go idol hunting.  Her clue instructs her to measure things like the boat, and the tribe sign in “machete lengths” and gives her a formula to compute those lengths. That distance will lead her to where the idol is buried.  I immediately think “Running around with the machete will get me caught. I should hold the machete at one fingertip and see where it gets to on my shoulder”  so you don’t need to run around with it like a ruler.  She doesn’t think it, however….but she gets away with it and finds her idol!  (5 points for “Find hidden immunity idol” and 6 points for “Finish Stage 3 of a Beware Advantage” to Brian!)

The girls talk about splitting the vote to avoid idols. Should they use advantages?  Jem tells Ben she knows he and Tim have a good relationship, tells him who to vote for and she’s promising she won’t flip.  She’s been quiet and clever til now, so this level of aggressiveness really sticks out.  Meanwhile, Charlie and Maria debate on siding with Ben and Tim or Moriah and Jem.

At tribal, this is a long time to wait to get to tribal but now it’s time to rip off the band aid which hurts because they gel so well.  There was a lot of talk about idols and extra votes, and Maria clearly says someone else must’ve found and replaced the Beware advantage.

At the vote, Maria plays her extra vote and no other idols or advantages are played. Ben gets 2 votes, and Jem gets the other 4, meaning she got voted out holding the immunity idol!  Sorry Brian!

(2 points for “Received vote against” to Dalphyne!)  and (4 points for “Receive vote against”, -1 point for “The Tribe Has Spoken”, and -5 points for “Voted out with an idol or advantage in your pocket” to Brian!)

Brian chooses Tiffany as his lifeline.

So, how does this affect the scoring?  Much like Nami, Ricky is riding Hunter’s gameplay to a big lead as he’s 13 points ahead of Jay who’s moved into 2^nd place.  Jen, Dalphyne, Carol and Brian are close behind. Kristyn and Marissa remain in earshot while Roberta and I bring up the rear in this week’s current scores:

1. Ricky: 48
2. Jay: 35
3. Jen: 34
4. Dalphyne: 33
5. Carol: 32
6. Brian: 30
7. Kristyn/Marissa: 27
8. Scott: 22
9. Roberta: 20