Before we get started, a reminder of who has whom:
Remaining Lifelines: Mitch
Second, no one got bonus points for knowing the smug
jerk criticizing David for using all the muscles except the one that mattered
was Agent Smith!
We return to camp following Chrissy’s entry into the “Who? I don’t remember her at all” book of forgotten Survivor players. Alas, Poor Chrissy. We hardly knew ye! Shauhin, who Chrissy was targeting, seems non-plussed about her being gone. She barely mattered to him at all. David tries to smooth things over with Kamila, saying he was worried about Chrissy’s shot in the dark. Kamila flat-out calls him a horrible liar. He’s dead to her.
For the 10th time in a week, we hear that David
wanted Kamila to go (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [David] to George!) as he questions Kyle’s hesitancy to vote
for her.
The following morning, The Strong Six (which sounds like a name Stan Lee would cook up) ruin the beautiful sunrise by rehashing last
week’s “DUDE KAMILA!” vs “NO DUDE, NOT
KAMILA” battle. (1 point for “Mention
‘in this game’ [Kyle] to Kyle!). Kyle keeps Shauhin on his side, saying
David and Mary don’t trust him, which has the benefit of being true. Shauhin
thinks they’re afraid of his relationship with Kamila. I have to wonder how he feels watching this
back. They agree that Mary is a good
target.
David realizes they’re gone and takes that to mean they’re working together. He and Mary tell Eva about their worry, but she thinks they’re paranoid
Eva struggles to handle the tension between David and Kyle. Kyle tries to smooth things over with David, but
he can’t get past Kyle’s pushback on keeping Kamila. He knows there’s a lie there - but he’s not a
smooth enough player to exploit it. He’s a sledgehammer where he needs to be a
scalpel. Like Greek heroes he resembles,
it’s his Achilles heel and likely to be his downfall. Kamila’s 100% right when she said he was a
terrible liar.
That night, Eva sneaks out of camp to get her
advantage. She thinks she’s silent
enough, but Shauhin hears her leave. He
wakes up Joe who could not possibly care less, telling Shauhin to go back to
bed and we’ll talk in the morning.
Eva approaches a torchlit area and finds a scroll that says
she’s earned an extra vote (7 points for “Obtain a secret advantage” [Eva]
to Tom!) but if she risks it in a 50/50 chance, she can earn Safety Without
Power. I’d risk it here. That’s a BIG
advantage. Eva does risk her vote and
succeeds! (3 points for “Risk vote and succeed) [Eva] to Tom!). Finally, she has another choice – Risk
Safety Without Power in a 1/3 chance to gain a hidden immunity idol. I wouldn’t do that – and neither does
Eva. She smartly walks out, the proud
owner of a hidden immunity idol AND Safety Without Power. If she can play them right, she’s going to
walk to the final five.
The following morning, Eva immediately comes clean about her
journey and her advantage which raises her up in Shauhin’s eyes. While Kyle and Kamila try to figure a way
around David and Mary, he tells his secret partner about Eva’s advantage. It’s
Rule #1 for this exact reason. Kyle
and David both put Joe and Eva in the middle by telling them who the others are
working with, and that they’re flipping.
Joe’s a trustworthy guy, and David being a bullying jerk doesn’t make him wrong. Everything he says to Joe and Eva about Kyle and Kamila is right, but it doesn’t penetrate. David’s frustration increases to the point where he accuses Joe of going back on his word.
Joe’s not a guy that will take that well. Realizing he’s over the line David apologizes
to Joe but that’s going to sit for a long time.
He’s blind in his trust for Kyle, and Shauhin, but has lost trust in
David.
We get a bit of Kyle’s backstory as he and Joe watch Star
learn to swim. Kyle had a misspent
youth, which landed him in jail for a while.
I honestly did not see that in him at all. I don’t know if it was
vulnerability or gameplay, but that level of personal connection cements Joe in
Kyle’s camp against David. Joe sees
David’s demeanor has changed and is stressing out about working with him. Talking later with Eva, she sees their
paranoia breaking the alliance into open warfare, as she tries to be the glue
that holds them together. She has all the power, but she may have to rely on
Joe to tell her when to use it.
Considering the blind spot Joe has with Kyle and Shauhin, that could be
problematic.
At the Immunity and Reward challenge, they have to hold a
handle clamping a ball in place. If they let go, or step off the pedestal,
they’re out, which happens to Star faster than I can type it. (3 points for “First person out in a
challenge” [Star] to Stephanie!). She’s quickly followed by Mary, Kamila,
Mitch and Eva. Shauhin and Kyle follow shortly after as we get another Joe vs.
David showdown.
These two are dominant at this kind of challenge. 17 minutes
in and David again looks like he’s barely trying while Joe is close to dropping. Audacious braggart that he is, David tells
Joe he’ll pick him for reward.
Just as I start thinking how they’re done with him, David loses
his balance and steps off the platform! Joe wins! (16 points for “Win individual immunity”
and “Win individual reward” [Joe] to Jo!).
Two stories at the end of this – the smile on Joe’s face and the despair
on David’s, who openly says he should have won that because he’s got more in
the tank. Personally, I think the Ghost
of Rudy Boesch pushed him off that platform for being so arrogant.
Joe gets to pick three people to go on reward. David’s smugness probably costs him here too,
because strategically he’s a good choice. Instead, Joe takes Mitch (who hadn’t
had a single reward yet, and was clearly promised to be taken), Shauhin and
Eva. (3 points for “Chosen to go on
reward” [Mitch, Shauhin, Eva] to Will, Tom and no one!)
Mary comforts a nearly inconsolable David back at camp. This is a cracked mirror image of how Joe
comforted Eva earlier in the season. No one started targeting Eva and Joe
because of how close they were, but everyone’s talking about Mary and David for
that reason.
They decide to vote Mitch because “He’s the only other clear
target”. I wonder why Kamila is off the
table now. Wouldn’t a “We did what you
wanted and voted Chrissy, now it’s your turn” conversation be worth having? As Star approaches them about voting Shauhin,
David again turns into a sledgehammer in search of something to smash rather
than a scalpel and immediately shoots her down due to Shauhin’s idol.
Author’s note: Let’s all recall why David thinks
Shauhin has an idol. Because Kyle
and Kamila told him so. The same
Kyle and Kamila he’s been “questioning” for two weeks and is now working
against. His belief in their lie led him to “Shauhin and Kamila are working
together”, which led to “We should vote out Kamila”, which led to the blow ups
with Kyle. Their play destroyed his game, and he’s not smart enough to put it
together. They Outwitted and Outplayed
him BADLY.
While Mitch starts gathering the troops, telling Joe, Eva
and Shauhin that David should be the target, Sahuhin is ready to take the
credit for planting the seeds (5 points for “Say the title of the episode”
[Shauhin] to Will!)
David tries again to convince Eva that they can’t trust Shauhin and Kyle, but Eva’s not ready to hear it (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Eva] to Tom!). Mary thinks Shauhin will flip, and they pitch Eva about Shauhin playing his idol for Kamila. He doesn't even have an idol! And even if he did, his reaction to that would be something like...
When Kyle approaches Eva about voting for David, her heart
breaks. She doesn’t want to turn but
Shauhin is all over it. When Eva and
Joe hash it out, they land on “We aren’t going back on our word because David
already went back on his when he started going after Kyle. Tell yourself
whatever helps you sleep at night, I guess
At tribal council, Joe talks about knowing your own
strengths and weaknesses. That level of self-unawareness is shocking. Between David’s Greek Hero level fatal flaws,
and Joe’s faith in people who’ll certainly be working against him in the next
day or so, the two of them are completely blind to their own faults. Add in Eva, who’s so locked in with her
people she can’t see that they might work against her, and its…
Mary channels Chrissy’s mistake from last week and talks
about the need to earn credibility with the jury. And while it’s great to
strike first, what if you do and the other person was never going to strike?
David thinks open honesty can still win this game, which
Kamila thinks is a bold statement. Star
openly laughs at that, saying “Kamila’s here saying ‘you’re playing your own
game, and that’s cute, but I don’t care what game you’re playing. If you put me over there, you’re not getting
my vote.” Kyle simplifies it – you can’t
win if you’re don’t get to the end.
At the vote, Mary is chosen to go first (5 points for “Chosen
to vote first at tribal council” [Mary] to Bobby!)
David and Mary stick to their plan and vote for Mitch, along
with Star. Everyone else is tired enough
of the paranoia to break up the Strong Six, enlisting Mitch and Kamila to join
them in voting out David, who becomes Juror #3
(3 points for “Received vote against” [Mitch] to no one!)
(6 points for “Received vote against” [David] to George!)
(-1 point for “The tribe has spoken” [David] against
George!)
(1 point for “Jury member” [David] to George!)
But what does that mean for our scores?
Tom had a 16-point lead coming in. Thanks to Eva’s finding advantage, and
risking her vote to get another, his lead has exploded to 29 points! Kyle remains in 2nd place, but thanks
to Joe’s individual immunity and reward win, Jo’s almost caught him. Jo’s got a
way to go to catch Tom but there are still a lot of points out there! I remain in 4th thanks to Kamila….doing
nothing. Will remains in 5th but he cut my lead over him in half.
George remains in 6th, keeping pace with Will while Stephanie and
Bobby wonder if their players are even on the show anymore.
George lost David, and takes Mitch as the final Lifeline. From here on out, we’re playing without a net!
|
1. Tom |
142 |
|
2. Kyle |
113 |
|
3. Jo |
109 |
|
4. Scott |
91 |
|
5. Will |
85 |
|
6. George |
79 |
|
7. Stephanie |
69 |
|
8. Bobby |
65 |
