Survivor 47: Final update

 

Before we get started, a reminder of who has whom:

Brian	Caroline
Iyasah	Gabe	Rachel
Angela	Teeny
Dylan	Genevieve
Lia	Kyle
Sheila	Sue
Roberta	Sam
Carol	Sol	Andy (AKA The Joker)

 

Second, 5 bonus points to Carol and Iyasah for correctly guessing that “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer” is from the Godfather 2!  That was a sneaky one!

Everyone is ecstatic to make it to the Final 4 and we immediately get our final immunity challenge.  They have to crawl under a muddy net and then use a pole to unweave a rope above their heads.  Use the rope to lower a gate and collect a bag of tiles. The tiles spell a word that unlocks a machete.  The machete cuts a rope that releases the puzzle.

First one to finish the puzzle wins immunity, decides who’s going to Final Tribal and who’s competing to make fire.

Sam finishes the mud and pole first, but Rachel is right behind him.  They all even out at the gate, but it’s Rachel who’s through it first, followed by Sue (!) as Teeny and Sam struggle.  Trailing the entire time,  Sam catches up and Rachel solve the anagram puzzle at nearly the same time. Rachel takes a lead on the puzzle leading Teeny and Sam to cheat off her. “If you’re doing that it means you’re trailing”, Jeff says.  Indeed.  In the end, they can’t catch up and Rachel takes home her 4^th individual immunity win! (8 points for “Win individual immunity” [Rachel] to Iyasah!), becoming the 5^th woman in Survivor history to win 4 Individual Immunity challenges.

Back at camp, Rachel is in disbelief on where she is in the game (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Rachel] to Iyasah!).  She recounts Jenna, Chrissy, Kim and Kelly, the other women who’ve won  4 individual immunities (5 points for “Mention previous season’s players” [Rachel] to Iyasah!) and tells Sam and Teeny they are going to compete in final fire-making challenge (5 points each for “Chosen to make fire” [Sam], [Teeny] to Roberta and Angela!), which means (5 points for “Chosen to be in the Final Three” [Sue] to Sheila!)

Sam is more than willing to make fire, which Teeny sees as arrogant despite him saying he doesn’t know how.  She thinks he’s lying and seems intimidated by him, so Rachel helps Teeny learn how to make fire.  On his own, Sam’s practicing shows he truly doesn’t know how to make fire but after reading his letter from home, he’s re-energized and ready to fight!

At the fire making challenge, Rachel quickly ends suspense saying Teeny and Sam will make fire, which Teeny sees as an opportunity for her (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Teeny] to Angela!).  Teeny reveals her one-sided rivalry with Sam, because he’s the stereotypical guy onto whom she’s projected her own insecurities.  That’s a remarkable level of self-awareness.  Good for you, Teeny!  Meanwhile, the jury chats amongst themselves (5 points each for “Shown talking while on jury” [The Joker], [Gabe] to Carol and Iyasah!).

Teeny’s fire catches first and slowly builds as Sam gets nowhere. She struggles but her flame slowly builds higher and higher.  It’s on the rope, and Sam still hasn’t caught fire yet.   She has an inferno going but the rope will not pop!  The wind catches her fire, blowing it away from the rope as Sam finally gets a flame. In an unbelievable turn, he catches up

I'll call this one: "*thisclose*"

The wind hurts Teeny but it helps Sam blowing his into the rope and from out of nowhere he wins the challenge, sending Teeny to the Jury. (10 points for “Win the fire making challenge” [Sam] to Roberta!) and (2 points for “Jury Member” [Teeny] to Angela!).  Teeny is heartbroken, while Sam primes his Final Tribal jury pump, talking about resilience.

Farewell

We get a bit of scoring as the final three enjoy their breakfast (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’ [Sam] to Roberta!) and the jury recounts Sam, Rachel and Sue’s exploits (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’ [Sierra] to no one!) as we head to Final Tribal.

This is Rachel’s game to lose.  If she’s anywhere close to / better than Sam/Sue at Tribal, she wins.

Without recounting every point brought up in Final Tribal, we have (2 points for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Gabe], [Caroline] to Iyasah and Brian!).  Rachel tells a quality tale of how her game went from a flop to a threat, while Sam’s was a scrappy, never give up, find a way to stick around sort of game.

Sue tells everyone she’s actually 59 and would be the oldest woman to win Survivor. They’re shocked by this which, as a mid-50s person, shocks me.   She looks ok for 59, clearly having had work done.  But she said she was 45…yikes.

Sam does a great job in his storytelling, weaving a compelling case on why he had to play the game he did, while Rachel focuses on how her game emerged at the merge, how she tied the record for immunity wins, how her sneaking around led to her perfect idol play.  Sam reminds everyone that he attended 10 tribal councils, was voted for at 4 of them, and never once voted wrong. Sue is shown saying very little, which summarizes her game well.

Sam didn’t have as solid a game-story to tell as Rachel did, and while Rachel told her story well Sam told his better.  The only question is, was it enough to bridge the gap? 

As Jeff goes to get the votes, (5 points for “Shown talking while on jury” [Teeny] to Angela!). Jeff announces the votes and it’s a blowout win for Rachel, with Sam getting the only non-Rachel vote which means (15 points for “2^nd runner up” [Sue] to Sheila!), (20 points for “Runner up” [Sam] to Roberta!) and (35 points for “Winner” [Rachel] to Iyasah!)

Winnah!

So what does that mean for our final scores?  Brian and Caroline (95 points)  finish in 8^th. Sheila finishes in 7^th with 122 points despite Sue making it to the Final 3.  That’s more of a comment on Sue than you, Sheila!  Genevieve leaves Dylan in 6th at 131 points , as Kyle’s early ouster left early favorite Lia in 5^th with 151 points.  Carol finishes in 4^th at 170 points and could’ve been higher had The Joker stuck around another episode.  Sam wasn’t quite enough to get Roberta over the hump as she finishes in 3^rd at 176 points.

Going into the finale, Angela (with Teeny) had a 29 point lead on Iyasah (with Rachel).  In the end, Rachel’s continual immunity wins, referencing other seasons players and her victory proved to be too much for Teeny and Angela to hands.  With 227 points, Iyasah takes home the win in this inaugural season, leaving Angela in 2^nd with 207

CONGRATULATIONS IYASAH!  

Great game, all! I hope you enjoyed it and we will see you next season! 

1. Iyasah    227
2. Angela  207
3. Roberta 176
4. Carol     170
5. Lia        151
6. Dylan    131
7. Sheila   122
8. Brian     95

 

Survivor 47: Champion's League - Final Update

 

Before we get started, a reminder of who has whom:

Second, 5 bonus points to Carol for correctly guessing that “Keep your friends close, but your enemies closer” is from the Godfather 2!  That was a sneaky one!

Everyone is ecstatic to make it to the Final 4 and we immediately get our final immunity challenge.  They have to crawl under a muddy net and then use a pole to unweave a rope above their heads.  Use the rope to lower a gate and collect a bag of tiles. The tiles spell a word that unlocks a machete.  The machete cuts a rope that releases the puzzle.

First one to finish the puzzle wins immunity, decides who’s going to Final Tribal and who’s competing to make fire.

Sam finishes the mud and pole first, but Rachel is right behind him.  They all even out at the gate, but it’s Rachel who’s through it first, followed by Sue (!) as Teeny and Sam struggle.  Trailing the entire time,  Sam catches up and Rachel solve the anagram puzzle at nearly the same time. Rachel takes a lead on the puzzle leading Teeny and Sam to cheat off her. “If you’re doing that it means you’re trailing”, Jeff says.  Indeed.  In the end, they can’t catch up and Rachel takes home her 4^th individual immunity win! (8 points for “Win individual immunity” [Rachel] to Carol!), becoming the 5^th woman in Survivor history to win 4 Individual Immunity challenges.

Back at camp, Rachel is in disbelief on where she is in the game (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Rachel] to Carol!).  She recounts Jenna, Chrissy, Kim and Kelly, the other women who’ve won  4 individual immunities (5 points for “Mention previous season’s players” [Rachel] to Carol!) and tells Sam and Teeny they are going to compete in final fire-making challenge (5 points each for “Chosen to make fire” [Sam], [Teeny] to Ricky and Marissa!), which means (5 points for “Chosen to be in the Final Three” [Sue] to Dalphyne!)

Sam is more than willing to make fire, which Teeny sees as arrogant despite him saying he doesn’t know how.  She thinks he’s lying and seems intimidated by him, so Rachel helps Teeny learn how to make fire.  On his own, Sam’s practicing shows he truly doesn’t know how to make fire but after reading his letter from home, he’s re-energized and ready to fight!

At the fire making challenge, Rachel quickly ends suspense saying Teeny and Sam will make fire, which Teeny sees as an opportunity for her (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Teeny] to Marissa!).  Teeny reveals her one-sided rivalry with Sam, because he’s the stereotypical guy onto whom she’s projected her own insecurities.  That’s a remarkable level of self-awareness.  Good for you, Teeny!  Meanwhile, the jury chats amongst themselves (5 points each for “Shown talking while on jury” [The Joker], [Sierra], [Gabe] to Jay, Ricky and Jen!).

Teeny’s fire catches first and slowly builds as Sam gets nowhere. She struggles but her flame slowly builds higher and higher.  It’s on the rope, and Sam still hasn’t caught fire yet.   She has an inferno going but the rope will not pop!  The wind catches her fire, blowing it away from the rope as Sam finally gets a flame. In an unbelievable turn, he catches up!

I'll call this one: "*thisclose*"

The wind hurts Teeny but it helps Sam blowing his into the rope and from out of nowhere he wins the challenge, sending Teeny to the Jury. (10 points for “Win the fire making challenge” [Sam] to Ricky!) and (2 points for “Jury Member” [Teeny] to Marissa!).  Teeny is heartbroken, while Sam primes his Final Tribal jury pump, talking about resilience.

Farwell

We get a bit of scoring as the final three enjoy their breakfast (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’ [Sam] to Ricky!) and the jury recounts Sam, Rachel and Sue’s exploits (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’ [Sierra] to Ricky!) as we head to Final Tribal.

This is Rachel’s game to lose.  If she’s anywhere close to / better than Sam/Sue at Tribal, she wins.

Without recounting every point brought up in Final Tribal, we have (2 points for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Gabe], [Caroline] to Jen!).  Rachel tells a quality tale of how her game went from a flop to a threat, while Sam’s was a scrappy, never give up, find a way to stick around sort of game.

Sue tells everyone she’s actually 59 and would be the oldest woman to win Survivor. They’re shocked by this which, as a mid-50s person, shocks me.   She looks ok for 59, clearly having had work done.  But she said she was 45…yikes.

Sam does a great job in his storytelling, weaving a compelling case on why he had to play the game he did, while Rachel focuses on how her game emerged at the merge, how she tied the record for immunity wins, how her sneaking around led to her perfect idol play.  Sam reminds everyone that he attended 10 tribal councils, was voted for at 4 of them, and never once voted wrong. Sue is shown saying very little, which summarizes her game well.

Sam didn’t have as solid a game-story to tell as Rachel did, and while Rachel told her story well Sam told his better.  The only question is, was it enough to bridge the gap? 

As Jeff goes to get the votes, (5 points for “Shown talking while on jury” [Teeny] to Marissa!). Jeff announces the votes and it’s a blowout win for Rachel, with Sam getting the only non-Rachel vote which means (15 points for “2^nd runner up” [Sue] to Dalphyne!), (20 points for “Runner up” [Sam] to Ricky!) and (35 points for “Winner” [Rachel] to Carol!)

Winnah!

 So what does that mean for our final scores?  Jen picked up a few thanks to Gabe’s jury-chatting, as I did with Kyle but we remain in 8^th and 7^th.  Dalphyne must be shouting “#WAKEUPSUE!”, as having a player in the final 3 lands her in 6^th.  Similarly, I can hear Marissa shouting “#WAKEUPTEENY!” as her 4^th place finish lands Marissa in 5^th.  Forever-champ Kristyn had a good run, but she ends in 4^th. If Andy had made it to the Finals, I’d have liked Jay’s chances but he ends in 3^rd. 

In the end, no one could stop Rache’s train.  With 231 points Carol takes home the win, and Ricky comes in 2^nd at 199. 

CONGRATULATIONS TO CAROL!  Great game, all! See you next season!

1. Carol       231
2. Ricky      199
3. Jay           184
4. Kristyn    168
5. Marissa    152
6. Dalphyne 149
7. Scott        123
8. Jen            97

Survivor 47: Finale Night Scoring

As you get ready to find out who wins the real game, here is a reminder of our scoring categories that only apply on Finale night:

Good luck to everyone who still has Championship dreams!

Survivor 47: Update #13

 

Before we get started, a reminder of who has whom:

Brian	Caroline
Iyasah	Gabe	Rachel
Angela	Teeny
Dylan	Genevieve
Lia	Kyle
Sheila	Sue
Roberta	Sam
Carol	Sol	Andy (AKA The Joker)

 Second, 5 bonus points each to Carol and Angela for knowing that it was Dustin Hoffman, playing Captain Hook in Hook who commented on Teeny’s bad form.

Sorry for the long-ish update today but the penultimate episode is a 2-hour job with two tribals and two new jurors as we rush toward Wednesday’s finale! The Final Four will be set tonight!

We pick up back at camp following Operation: Italy’s successful blindside of Caroline, and Sue thinks it sucked.  Everyone knows it was The Joker that flipped, and Teeny realizes he was better at the game than they thought.   Sue thinks no one has ever flipped as much as he has. She may be right, but he’s doing it to form positions of power and it’s leading vote after vote.  In that way, he’s unique.

The group gives Teeny an explanation that splitting Caroline and Sue was a priority, and when Teeny presses The Joker about flipping, he laughs it off.  Fiji is in the tropics, but it’s snowing around Teeny and she’s totally buying their snow job.  They convince Teeny to flip with them against Rachel and Caroline – so much for that all-women foursome, I guess.

AND RACHEL CHANNELLED TONY AND SNUCK UP AND HEARD THE WHOLE THING.

Spymaster

 She knows Teeny flipped and totally believes in Genevieve’s idol.  All this knowledge leads her to believe her idol will flip the game. 

She joins Sue who’s idol hunting and their newly bonded trust leads Rachel to break Rule #1 and tell Sue about her idol. WHY??? She wants to gain Sue’s trust?  Sue’s got nowhere else to go!  (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Rachel] to Iyasah!) Sue also has an idol no one knows about but keeps her mouth shut about it. I guess she doesn’t need to “gain Rachels trust?”.

At the individual immunity and reward challenge they have to swim to a platform, move a buoy through an obstacle course and solve a Survivor logo puzzle. 

Sam takes an early lead, but Genevieve passes him in Stage 2 and is first to the puzzle.  Rachel quickly catches up and takes the lead on the puzzle, but Genevieve flies through the 2^nd half of it and wins! (16 points for “Win individual immunity” and “Win individual reward” [Genevieve] to Dylan!).  That’s the fastest Jeff has ever seen any one do the logo puzzle, and that probably includes Season 45’s Carson who 3d printed and memorized them!  As opposed to Sam, who left his enemies alone to plot against him, Genevieve picks Teeny and Sue to go with her. (3 points each for “Chosen by someone else to go on reward” [Teeny], [Sue] to Angela and Sheila!)

5 points if you can tell me the movie this came from.

1 guess per player 

Message me directly. Tell no one else.

No internet sleuthing!

 At the Sanctuary, it’s a social game for Genevieve and she’s open about voting out Rachel.  Teeny’s fine voting out Rachel but too much wine leads the 23-year-old to spill Genevieve’s idol news to Sue.  (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Teeny] to Angela!). Genevieve tells us she’s more than happy for Teeny to keep spreading that news.  This is up there with the best fake idols in Survivor history. They have everyone fooled.

Back at camp, Sam and Andy come clean to Rachel about the Caroline blindside (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Sam] to Roberta!) and flat out tell her she’s the next vote.  To her credit, Rachel plays it well. They have no idea she has an idol. This vote is going to be brutal.

In an effort to keep her idol safe one more night, Rachel tries to flip The Joker, saying Sam would beat him, jury won’t see him as a winner and people underestimate him.  She’s playing him and he’s getting played badly. (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [The Joker] to Carol!).  It’s easy to envision Andy flipping again.

After the winners return, Genevieve tries to ensure Rachel is still the vote as The Joker recounts how Rachel let him, and Sam have it.  In a last-ditch effort to flip him, Rachel tells Andy she can block Sam’s vote and promises to keep him if he votes with them today.  Rachel is looking for a reason to keep her idol, but Sue knocks sense into her – don’t trust The Joker.  That’s some sage advice right there.

In their final conversation before tribal, The Joker feels safe enough to do some jury management.  He tells Rachel he’s voting for her and lays out his entire game.  Rachel was planning to get Sam, but now sees Andy as a bigger threat, recognizing that he’s fooled her three times.  The evil genius has finally made his mistake. Pride goes before the fall is a saying for a reason, I suppose.

At tribal, Caroline still looks angry.  I wonder if production tells them to look mad at the first night on jury?  Teeny admits to not knowing why Caroline went home, and that she didn’t know what was going on in several votes. The jury is right there, Teeny. This isn’t a great story for them to hear.  I can only imagine what it’d be like for her to watch this back.

Rachel explains how Andy flipped and today was a do-or-die comp…and she died, so today was her funeral.  Genevieve told Rachel the truth too – they were opposites the whole game and neither would bend.  Every question comes back to why everyone’s voting for Rachel, and she plays it perfectly.

At the vote, Rachel blocks Sam’s vote (2 points for “Use a secret advantage” [Rachel] to Iyasah!) and uses her idol (2 points for “Play a hidden immunity idol on yourself” [Rachel] to Iyasah!).  The look of awe and shock is fantastic!  Outplayed, indeed.  Rachel received three votes, and would’ve been going to jury, but instead it’s time for the Joker to return to Arkham. 

'nuff said

His gameplay was great, but The Joker’s need to brag about it finally undid him and he’s voted out becoming Juror #6.  (3 points for “Received vote against” [Rachel] to Iyasah!), (2 points for “Received vote against” [The Joker] to Carol!), (-2 points for “The Tribe Has Spoken” [The Joker] against Carol!) and finally (2 points for “Jury member” [The Joker] to Carol!). 

Sol and Kyle are caught talking about it on Jury so (5 points each for “Shown talking on jury” [Sol], [Kyle] to Carol and Lia!)

The tables turned, and this time Sue and Rachel walked out of tribal triumphant

Back at camp, Rachel tells everyone about how she found her idol while Genevieve smoothly lies about how she “found” hers.  (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Genevieve] to Dylan!).  Genevieve and Rachel are the nemesis of the season and are openly against each other, but in a weird frenemy sort of way.  Yes, I used the word frenemy. I’m old, not dead.

Rachel goes idol hunting and Genevieve babysits her, following her around. Meanwhile, Sam and Sue dump Rachel’s bag looking for another idol. (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Sue] to Sheila!).  Those back at camp are bothered at how Genevieve and Rachel assume one of them will win but can they come together and vote the other two out?

At the immunity challenge, they have to race in from the ocean, dig sand out from under a log. Then they have to stack 6 balls on a stand while balancing on a wobbly beam.

They all get to the beam about the same time, but adrenaline works against them here. The stacks get to 2,3, 4..and drop. And drop. And drop again. And again. And again. And again...

Legend has it they wobble still

Finally, and I mean FINALLY, Rachel and Genevieve come down to the 6^th ball and when Genevieve drops, Rachel places her 6^th and VERY SLOWLY backs away taking home the win! (8 points for “Win individual immunity” [Rachel] to Iyasah!). God, that was a frustrating challenge.

Back at camp, Sam sees himself as the likely target and with Rachel immune he tries to shift focus to Genevieve, telling Teeny about Operation Italy, that her idol is fake and that’s why Andy flipped.

Teeny’s reaction

Teeny has fallen for every trap and feels like a fool.  She tells Sue and Rachel that it’s fake, but they don’t believe her. If you recall about 800 words ago, Rachel secretly listened to Teeny flipping on her. II wouldn’t buy it either, as the two women invent theory after theory on how it’s just another play. 

Teeny comes clean to Genevieve who tells her the truth. Teeny buys it, but Sue still believes it’s fake and Rachel is caught in-between. They don’t know which way is up and it’s brilliant.  Their heads are spinning around.

As Jeff asks what Camp was like, Teeny calmly recounts her afternoon:

Teeny

Adding fuel to the fire, Sam tells everyone that if you want a “secret” to get out there, tell Teeny.  Ouch. Teeny takes it in stride, saying none of her friends would be surprised to hear this and the one thing she’s certain of is that she’s completely uncertain.  Sam and Genevieve laugh at how their plans have played out and how the truth doesn’t matter any more than what they say. Well, it will in a few minutes… 

Sam’s voting for Genevieve, Teeny tells Rachel she’s going for Genevieve but Rachel cautions that the idol ricochet could land on Teeny.

I'll call this one "Certainly uncertain"

As this is the last vote, Sue plays her idol for herself (3 points for “Play hidden immunity idol for yourself” [Sue] for Sheila!).  Sam gets two votes, but Genevieve’s fake idol doesn’t save her. She catches the other three votes, becoming Juror #7. (2 points for “Received vote against” [Sam] to Roberta!), (3 points for “Received vote against” [Genevieve] to Dylan!), (-2 points for “The Tribe Has Spoken” [Genevieve] against Dylan!) and (2 points for “Jury member” [Genevieve] to Dylan!)

So, what does this mean for our scores?  Angela remains in the lead thanks to Teeny titling the episode, getting chosen for reward and some bonus points.  Iyasah is 29 points back, but with powerhouse Rachel, she’s a serious threat to win our game.  Now 3^rd place Carol passes now 4^th place Lia, but her game will end there as Andy was sent to Jury.  5^th place Roberta is not quite out of it, if Sam can have a huge final episode.  Unfortunately, I don’t think the same can be said for 7^th place Shiela, who is still alive but too far back to win, or for 6^th place Dylan and 8^th place Brian who’ve lost their final players.

1. Angela  195
2. Iyasah   166
3. Carol    150
4. Lia        146
5. Roberta 139
6. Dylan   131
7. Sheila   101
8. Brian     94

Survivor 47: Champions League Update #13

 

Before we get started, a reminder of who has whom:

Scott	Kyle
Carol	Sol	Rachel
Dalphyne	Sue
Ricky	Sierra	Sam
Marissa	Teeny
Kristyn	Genevieve
Jen	Gabe	Caroline
Jay	Andy (AKA The Joker)

Second, 5 bonus points each to Carol and Kristyn for knowing that it was Dustin Hoffman, playing Captain Hook in Hook who commented on Teeny’s bad form.

Sorry for the long-ish update today but the penultimate episode is a 2-hour job with two tribals and two new jurors as we rush toward Wednesday’s finale! The Final Four will be set tonight!

We pick up back at camp following Operation: Italy’s successful blindside of Caroline, and Sue thinks it sucked.  Everyone knows it was The Joker that flipped, and Teeny realizes he was better at the game than they thought.   Sue thinks no one has ever flipped as much as he has. She may be right, but he’s doing it to form positions of power and it’s leading vote after vote.  In that way, he’s unique.

The group gives Teeny an explanation that splitting Caroline and Sue was a priority, and when Teeny presses The Joker about flipping, he laughs it off.  Fiji is in the tropics, but it’s snowing around Teeny and she’s totally buying their snow job.  They convince Teeny to flip with them against Rachel and Caroline – so much for that all-women foursome, I guess.

AND RACHEL CHANNELLED TONY AND SNUCK UP AND HEARD THE WHOLE THING.

 

Spymaster

 She knows Teeny flipped and totally believes in Genevieve’s idol.  All this knowledge leads her to believe her idol will flip the game. 

She joins Sue who’s idol hunting and their newly bonded trust leads Rachel to break Rule #1 and tell Sue about her idol. WHY??? She wants to gain Sue’s trust?  Sue’s got nowhere else to go!  (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Rachel] to Carol!) Sue also has an idol no one knows about but keeps her mouth shut about it. I guess she doesn’t need to “gain Rachels trust?”.

At the individual immunity and reward challenge they have to swim to a platform, move a buoy through an obstacle course and solve a Survivor logo puzzle. 

Sam takes an early lead, but Genevieve passes him in Stage 2 and is first to the puzzle.  Rachel quickly catches up and takes the lead on the puzzle, but Genevieve flies through the 2^nd half of it and wins! (16 points for “Win individual immunity” and “Win individual reward” [Genevieve] to Kristyn!).  That’s the fastest Jeff has ever seen any one do the logo puzzle, and that probably includes Season 45’s Carson who 3d printed and memorized them!  As opposed to Sam, who left his enemies alone to plot against him, Genevieve picks Teeny and Sue to go with her. (3 points each for “Chosen by someone else to go on reward” [Teeny], [Sue] to Marissa and Dalphyne!)

5 points if you can tell me the movie this came from.

1 guess per player 

Message me directly. Tell no one else.

No internet sleuthing!

 At the Sanctuary, it’s a social game for Genevieve and she’s open about voting out Rachel.  Teeny’s fine voting out Rachel but too much wine leads the 23-year-old to spill Genevieve’s idol news to Sue.  (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Teeny] to Marissa!). Genevieve tells us she’s more than happy for Teeny to keep spreading that news.  This is up there with the best fake idols in Survivor history. They have everyone fooled.

Back at camp, Sam and Andy come clean to Rachel about the Caroline blindside (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Sam] to Ricky!) and flat out tell her she’s the next vote.  To her credit, Rachel plays it well. They have no idea she has an idol. This vote is going to be brutal.

In an effort to keep her idol safe one more night, Rachel tries to flip The Joker, saying Sam would beat him, jury won’t see him as a winner and people underestimate him.  She’s playing him and he’s getting played badly. (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [The Joker] to Jay!).  It’s easy to envision Andy flipping again.

After the winners return, Genevieve tries to ensure Rachel is still the vote as The Joker recounts how Rachel let him, and Sam have it.  In a last-ditch effort to flip him, Rachel tells Andy she can block Sam’s vote and promises to keep him if he votes with them today.  Rachel is looking for a reason to keep her idol, but Sue knocks sense into her – don’t trust The Joker.  That’s some sage advice right there.

In their final conversation before tribal, The Joker feels safe enough to do some jury management.  He tells Rachel he’s voting for her and lays out his entire game.  Rachel was planning to get Sam, but now sees Andy as a bigger threat, recognizing that he’s fooled her three times.  The evil genius has finally made his mistake. Pride goes before the fall is a saying for a reason, I suppose.

At tribal, Caroline still looks angry.  I wonder if production tells them to look mad at the first night on jury?  Teeny admits to not knowing why Caroline went home, and that she didn’t know what was going on in several votes. The jury is right there, Teeny. This isn’t a great story for them to hear.  I can only imagine what it’d be like for her to watch this back.

Rachel explains how Andy flipped and today was a do-or-die comp…and she died, so today was her funeral.  Genevieve told Rachel the truth too – they were opposites the whole game and neither would bend.  Every question comes back to why everyone’s voting for Rachel, and she plays it perfectly.

At the vote, Rachel blocks Sam’s vote (2 points for “Use a secret advantage” [Rachel] to Carol!) and uses her idol (2 points for “Play a hidden immunity idol on yourself” [Rachel] to Carol!).  The look of awe and shock is fantastic!  Outplayed, indeed.  Rachel received three votes, and would’ve been going to jury, but instead it’s time for the Joker to return to Arkham. 

'nuff said

His gameplay was great, but The Joker’s need to brag about it finally undid him and he’s voted out becoming Juror #6.  (3 points for “Received vote against” [Rachel] to Carol!), (2 points for “Received vote against” [The Joker] to Jay!), (-2 points for “The Tribe Has Spoken” [The Joker] against Jay!) and finally (2 points for “Jury member” [The Joker] to Jay!). 

The Joker: Return to Arkham

Sol and Kyle are caught talking about it on Jury so (5 points each for “Shown talking on jury” [Sol], [Kyle] to Carol and me!)

The tables turned, and this time Sue and Rachel walked out of tribal triumphant

Back at camp, Rachel tells everyone about how she found her idol while Genevieve smoothly lies about how she “found” hers.  (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Genevieve] to Kristyn!).  Genevieve and Rachel are the nemesis of the season and are openly against each other, but in a weird frenemy sort of way.  Yes, I used the word frenemy. I’m old, not dead.

Rachel goes idol hunting and Genevieve babysits her, following her around. Meanwhile, Sam and Sue dump Rachel’s bag looking for another idol. (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Sue] to Dalphyne!).  Those back at camp are bothered at how Genevieve and Rachel assume one of them will win but can they come together and vote the other two out?

At the immunity challenge, they have to race in from the ocean, dig sand out from under a log. Then they have to stack 6 balls on a stand while balancing on a wobbly beam.

They all get to the beam about the same time, but adrenaline works against them here. The stacks get to 2,3, 4..and drop. And drop. And drop again. And again. And again. And again...

Legend has it they wobble still

Finally, and I mean FINALLY, Rachel and Genevieve come down to the 6^th ball and when Genevieve drops, Rachel places her 6^th and VERY SLOWLY backs away taking home the win! (8 points for “Win individual immunity” [Rachel] to Carol!). God, that was a frustrating challenge.

Back at camp, Sam sees himself as the likely target and with Rachel immune he tries to shift focus to Genevieve, telling Teeny about Operation Italy, that her idol is fake and that’s why Andy flipped.

Teeny’s reaction

Teeny has fallen for every trap and feels like a fool.  She tells Sue and Rachel that it’s fake, but they don’t believe her. If you recall about 800 words ago, Rachel secretly listened to Teeny flipping on her. II wouldn’t buy it either, as the two women invent theory after theory on how it’s just another play. 

Teeny comes clean to Genevieve who tells her the truth. Teeny buys it, but Sue still believes it’s fake and Rachel is caught in-between. They don’t know which way is up and it’s brilliant.  Their heads are spinning around.

As Jeff asks what Camp was like, Teeny calmly recounts her afternoon.

Teeny

Adding fuel to the fire, Sam tells everyone that if you want a “secret” to get out there, tell Teeny.  Ouch. Teeny takes it in stride, saying none of her friends would be surprised to hear this and the one thing she’s certain of is that she’s completely uncertain.  Sam and Genevieve laugh at how their plans have played out and how the truth doesn’t matter any more than what they say. Well, it will in a few minutes… 

Sam’s voting for Genevieve, Teeny tells Rachel she’s going for Genevieve but Rachel cautions that the idol ricochet could land on Teeny.

I'll call this one "Certainly uncertain"

As this is the last vote, Sue plays her idol for herself (3 points for “Play hidden immunity idol for yourself” [Sue] for Dalphyne!).  Sam gets two votes, but Genevieve’s fake idol doesn’t save her. She catches the other three votes, becoming Juror #7. (2 points for “Received vote against” [Sam] to Ricky!), (3 points for “Received vote against” [Genevieve] to Kristyn!), (-2 points for “The Tribe Has Spoken” [Genevieve] against Kristyn!) and (2 points for “Jury member” [Genevieve] to Kirstyn!)

So, what does this mean for our scores?  It means WE HAVE A NEW LEADER!  On the strength of Rachel’s incredible 23-point performance (and some bonus points), Carol claims the top spot, passing both Jay, whose game ends with The Fall of the Joker leaving him in 2^nd, and alive-and-kicking Ricky who is 19 points off the pace into 4^th.  Kristyn moves into 3^rd thanks to Genevieve’s immunity/reward win (and some bonus points) but like Jay, her game will end here.  5^th place Marissa is still within striking distance, as is 6^th place Dalphyne who could sneak out a win with a big final show from Sue. Jen and I, unfortunately, will be watching the final from the sidelines in 7^th and 8^th.

1. Carol       176
2. Jay          174
3. Kristyn    168
4. Ricky      157
5. Marissa    140
6. Dalphyne 128
7. Scott        118
8. Jen            90