Before we get started, a reminder of who has whom:
Second, 5 bonus points each to Carol and Angela for
knowing that Bang! Zoom! To the moon! Is what Ralph used to say to Alice on the
Honeymooners!
Previously on, Survivor by…Rome? For god’s sake, spare me with this guy!
We pick back up at Gata following Anika’s blindside, and Andy
thinks tribal was fun as hell. Rachel doesn’t
know which way is up and Sam has a useless idol because he chose not to play it
on the only night where it had power. It’ll
make a good fake though!
Boats arrive at all of the camps….
It’s time to DROP YOUR BUFFS!
For us, that means it’s time to redraft. We will each draft one player with the
remaining players going into the Lifeline pool.
I’ll send out a text with the draft order and remaining players.
Back on Fiji, Rachel couldn’t be happier about the merge as
she gets an entire beach of new people to play with (1 point for “Mention ‘in
this game’” [Rachel] to Dylan!). Teeny
is nervous but also excited (1 point
for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Teeny] to Angela!).
Tuku does the happy dance, and no one’s happier than Gabe.
He wants to be a Survivor legend and you can’t do that if you don’t make the
merge. Sue is worried the red paint in
her bag will give her idol away.
The other boats arrive when Tiyana notices a sign with a
note. There’s a challenge tomorrow and
there’s an advantage somewhere. Be the
first to find it. Go! They take off into the woods. Sam and Genevieve see a buoy out on the water,
which is strange, but neither thinks to check it. The rest search the jungle for like 10
minutes, according to Sol and then they head back to camp to get to know each
other. He can’t believe how quickly they gave up. After a while, Genevieve can’t
get the buoy out of her head, so she goes back out to check and whattya
know! (7 points for “Obtain a secret
advantage” [Genevieve] to Carol!).
A group comes upon red paint at the water well, remnants of
Sue’s idol, and assume it’s related to the challenge. Caroline, however, figures out Sue was lying
at the well and deduces she has the idol. Sue admits it to Caroline but when Tiyana also
figures it out, Sue says nothing.
Rome couldn’t be happier. He’s running this beach (1
point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Rome] to Angela!). He pumps Kyle for
information, and loose lips say Sam and Tiyana are the biggest threats. Being Rome, he immediately goes to Sue, Sam
and Tiyana and sells out Kyle’s loquaciousness thinking that will keep him
safe.
Knowing Kyle wouldn’t go against her, Tiyana follows Rule
#3: Trust But Verify and checks with Kyle, who said Rome said that to
him! When Sol confirms that Rome likes
to stir the pot, Kyle tells half the tribe…
They get to the merge challenge and because it’s Survivor, there’s
a twist. They are split into two teams for a two-stage challenge. They have to crawl through mud under a net,
use a hook to retrieve a bag with a ball in it. Climb an American Ninja Warrior
Warped Wall and then use the ball to complete a labyrinth. The team that wins
the first stage gets a merge feast and the opportunity to compete for individual
immunity. Genevieve’s advantage allows
her to skip to the 2nd stage, which is huge!
Yellow: Rachel, Sam, Sierra, Kyle, Sue and Teeny
Blue: Rome, Caroline, Sandy, Gabe, Tiyana and Sol
Andy and Rome take long enough to get out of the mud that
Jeff calls them out on it (3 points each for “Jeff says something negative
about you in a challenge” [Andy], [Rome] to Roberta and Angela!) but the teams
are tied at the ball retrieval. Genevieve,
clean and rested on the bench, says she feels guilty but she’s a lawyer, so I
don’t believe her.
It’s tough for the smaller Survivors to get up the wall but
Yellow gets up there first. Sam and Kyle
work on the maze in a slow and steady fashion.
When Blue begins it’s Gabe and (of course) Rome on the labyrinth. Rome
and Gabe keep dropping, to the point where Sol asks if there are swap
outs. Nope, you’re stuck with what you
have says Jeff. Both get near the center
but it’s Yellow who pulls out the victory! (3 points each for “Win Tribe
Reward” [Sam], [Sue], [Rachel], [Teeny] to Brian, Sheila, Dylan and Angela!),
(6 points for “Win Tribe Reward” [Kyle], [Sierra] to Lia!).
Rome always insists on doing the challenges and he ALWAYS
fails. Shooters shoot, I guess.
At Stage 2, they have to balance a ball on a wooden bow
while standing on a beam. An aside – this is the challenge I almost won at Survivor
GenCon, which would’ve put me in Final 3. Alas….
Anyway, Sierra and Sam drop immediately while Kyle looks
locked in. At stage 2, Rachel and Genevieve
drop. When Jeff says “A little movement by Sue”, which distracts Teeny just
long enough for her to drop. Finally at
Stage 3, Sue gives in! Kyle wins! (8 points for “Win individual immunity”
[Kyle] to Lia!)
At the feast, everyone agrees: It’s Rome. Genevieve is the only ally he had but she
said nothing. Back at camp, Andy,
Caroline and Teeny decide to play their shared idol publicly to get away from everyone
knowing they have an advantage. Sol is
thrilled at the idea Rome is the target.
But it’s Rome. He’s not going down quietly.
He tells Andy, Caroline and Tiyana how he has self-esteem
issues that were made worse by Sol who was mean to him. No one – and I mean NO ONE – has less self-esteem
issues than Rome. Deion Sanders is humbler than Rome.
And because he’s so full of himself, Rome feels like he’s
the mastermind because everyone’s yes’ing him to death while sharpening their
knives. “The fact that there were 13 people
playing the game and I can corral most of them to vote my way says a lot about
how I’m playing this game”.
At tribal, they talk about the twist, and how they agree
with whatever plan is put in place. Sol laughs
at how little people searched for the advantage, leading Jeff to ask Rome if some
advantages are disadvantages. He invites Rome to take over his chair and talk
about why the amulet advantage is a negative.
The tribe looks back on him as a joke.
Back in his own chair, Jeff asks Gabe about blindsides. If you know where
the votes are, you’re good. Andy thinks
blindsiding Anika was fun as hell.
He wants to be known as someone who made an impact, and he
fears the FOMO (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Andy] to Roberta!), (5
points for “Say the title of the episode” [Andy] to Roberta!).
When it’s time to vote, the camera shows everyone voting Rome. The camera does not show me singing “NA NA NA
NA. NA NA NA NA. HEY HEY HEY. GOODBYE!”.
It also shows Rome voting for Sam because he “knows it’s Sol so he wants
to shake things up a bit”
Paying her back for
giving up her vote, the three amulet holders agree to play the idol for Teeny. (2
points for “Play hidden immunity idol on yourself” [Teeny] to Angela!), (5
points each for “Play hidden immunity idol on someone else” [Andy], [Caroline]
to Roberta and Iyasah!).
In the end, Rome is voted out, with Andy the backup plan
getting two votes and Sam getting a hinky vote. (9 points for “Received vote
against” [Rome] to Angela!), (2 points for “Received vote against” [Andy] to
Roberta!), (1 point for “Received vote against” [Sam] to Brian!), (-2 points
for “The tribe has spoken” [Rome] against Angela!)
Yes, you did.
So, what does that mean for our scores? Leader Angela picks up a huge 24 points thanks to Rome’s big mouth and overdue departure. Roberta picks up 17 to remain in 2nd while Lia rides Kyle’s immunity into 3rd! Dylan drops to 4th as Tiyana hasn’t done much but scowl. Carol explodes out of the basement and into 5th thanks to Genevieve finding the advantage, pushing Iyasah, Sheila and Brian into 6th, 7th and 8th.
- Angela 128
- Roberta 94
- Lia 88
- Dylan 82
- Carol 77
- Iyasah 74
- Sheila 72
- Brian 68
