Hey There, Readers!
This episode of Survivor had three basic components: drama, action and blindsides. Well, I guess this can be said about every episode of almost any reality series, but this episode of Survivor really had all three elements. There was a blindside that even Jeff Probst didn’t see coming until it happened! How does all of this happen, you ask? Well, read on, Readers, and you’ll see!
The episode began at Galang, where the Returning Players were sitting around enjoying each others’ life stories without a care in the world…everyone except for Colton. He really couldn’t take how laid back the rest of the tribe was at this point in the game. He wanted to strategize about what was happening at Tadhana, who to sit out at the next challenge, and he also wanted some drama to happen on his tribe. No one else on Galang wanted to deal with Colton’s “worries,” and Tyler told him to relax. Colton was going crazy with the amount of people telling him to relax. This was not the game Colton signed up to play, or the tribe he wanted to play the game with. Colton, no one gets to set the type of tribe you get to be on! An important part of this game is to go with the flow and adjust your game to how the game is going, not force people to play your way. Soon, you’ll get your wish when/if Galang fimally losses an Immunity Challenge.
Both tribes were instructed to go to Redemption Island to watch the end of another player’s game after losing a hard fought challenge. Tyson was really upset to not see Rachel with Tadhana. He said he thought Tadhana voted Rachel out to try and get rid of him. Rachel agreed with Tyson’s line of thinking. Jeff Probst asked Tyson whether he would like to take Rachel’s place and have her join Galang in his place. Tyson asked Rachel whether he should take her place. Rachel said he would have a better chance at winning the game if he stayed with Galang than to take her place. Tyson took her advice, and let Rachel stay. Tyson then issued a warning to Tadhana, saying that if Tyson ever ended up at Redemption Island that they’d better watch out for him, as he’d be taking everyone out and returning to the game.
Marissa then chimed in, saying that Tadhana was voting out its strong players in order to keep its tribe weak. She was directing her comment at Brad, and everyone knew it. Brad, feeling the heat of the situation and the target growing larger on his back, told Marissa that this was the game of Survivor, Babe! Marissa told Brad what to do with himself (If you didn’t know, I try to keep my posts as clean as possible, just in case younger eyes are reading.). Gervase told Marissa to keep focused on the up-coming task.
This is where the first blindside of the show happened. Colton began crying. Jeff Probst asked Colton what was with the water works, and Colton responded that he no longer wanted to be a part of the game anymore. After a commercial break, Jeff Probst asked Colton if he was quitting the game, to which Colton responded, “Yes.” Jeff Probst, taken aback, said Colton was doing the opposite of what he told the producers he wanted to prove in the game. Colton explained that he didn’t want to play the game with the tribe he was on, so he wanted to quit. Jeff Probst told Colton he was being selfish. Colton replied that this decision may be selfish, but it may be the best move for him to make to make himself happy. Tina then told everyone about how Colton shot himself in the foot by be over aggressive, and was worried he’s lost everyone’s trust in Galang, along with no one wanting to be catty like Colton was, so he no longer wanted to be a part of the game. Colton slightly agreed with what Tia said.
Jeff Probst then used Colton as an example of the type of person who thinks they want to play Survivor that should actually just stay on their couch at home because they’re not able to adapt to changes or different personalities within the game. Colton said he didn’t care about the insult Jeff Probst threw at him, and went over to Tadhana to say goodbye to his partner, Caleb. Jeff Probst then told Colton not to throw his buff in the urn because it was reserved for players that wanted to play the game, had competed and lost, not for quitters, and to leave the game. Well, Readers, I’m glad Colton left. All he did was whine about not getting his way, then whined when he knew he screwed up instead of trying to fix what he broke! I hope you are happier, Colton!
At the Redemption Island Challenge, the players had to stack bricks along a pathway that angled up and down while it lay on a huge spring and having trip bars along the bottom of it so players couldn’t race up and down the course. The first 2 players to have all of their bricks fall down, ad have a ball at the end of the platform break a plate at the end of the platform would get to stay in the game, while the last person would see their game come to an end. The person who finished the challenge first would also get to choose a person from any of the tribes to receive a clue as to where the hidden Immunity Idol was on their island. Just as before, Candice finished the challenge first, leaving Marissa and Rachel to battle it out for their Survivor lives. After some mistakes, Marissa pulled out a win over Rachel, sending Rachel to say goodbye to her boyfriend, Tyson, and watch her buff, as well as her chance at 1 million dollars, go up in smoke. Candice then gave her husband, John a second clue to the whereabouts of the hidden Immunity Idol.
Back at Galang, Tyson was sad about Rachel having to leave the game, and was being consoled by the others on his tribe. He vowed that he had to try and win the game to make up for not taking Rachel’s place, potentially keeping her in the game longer. Tyson also confessed that he felt weird not being around Monica, as it was her husband, Brad, who had sent Rachel packing. At the same time, he could not blame her because it was not her actually telling Brad to make the decisions he’s been making. He also felt that it was a good move Brad because, if Tyson was in Brad’s shoes, he would have done the same thing.
At Tadhana, Brad was confessing that it sucked being called out for the moves he made. He didn’t like Redemption Island because the people you vote out of your tribe have the chance to let you know how your decisions made them feel, and they have a chance to get back into the game to exact their revenge on you. He felt that he was taking some of the heat off of himself by making the others think voting certain people off was a group decision, not solely his. Uh, Brad, most of the Castaways actually see you as the proverbial head of the snake. They do see you as the decision-maker, not the rest of the tribe.
John felt as though he had an even bigger target on is back because Candice chose him to have another clue to the Immunity Idol. He felt that the smartest thing to do was to let Brad in on its location, and he liked Brad enough that he didn’t mind Brad knowing about where it was. John asked Brad not to let anyone else know where the Immunity Idol was. Brad agreed with John, but he was also testing John’s loyalty because of his past actions (originally not sharing the clue with him, and his ties to Rachel).
At the Reward/Immunity Challenge, it was a sumo wrestling-like battle where one member from each tribe had to try and push a member from the opposing tribe off of a floating platform over the water. For each win, the player’s tribe got a point. First tribe to 5 points won Immunity from Tribal Council, and the choice between a Luxury prize (pillows, blankets, a tarp, mosquito netting), or they could trade it for a fishing kit like the one Galang won at the last Immunity Challenge.
During one of the showdowns, Tyson popped his arm out of its shoulder socket, and could no longer take part in the challenge. He didn’t want to leave the game, though. In the end, Galang came away with a 5-3 with over Tadhana, winning Immunity, and taking the Luxury prize with them.
Back at Tadhana, they went about their regular consoling ritual, losing their 3rd Immunity Challenge in a row. The guys got together to talk about who should leave the tribe this time, and they spoke about how Katie lost to her mother who was well into her 60s. Then they went over what the last two women on their tribe bring to the table. Katie cooks all of their meals, while Ciera doesn’t do much of anything. After to the conclusion that Ciera was leaving, John went to go look for the Idol. Once out of ear shot, Brad got the rest of the guys together to talk about Jon becoming a bigger threat to their game, and getting rid of him. These were Brad’s arguments as to why John needed to leave sooner than later:
- John was a strong player
- John would be controlled by Candice should she return to the game and the tribes got to the Merge, not by them (by them, Brad really meant himself).
Vytas didn’t really trust Brad’s reasons as to why they should get rid of John. He felt Brad was acting a bit shady, and that Brad was making everyone do their dirty work for him. Vytas voiced his concerns to the ladies of the tribe, who seemed receptive to what Vytas was saying. Hayden was torn as to what he wanted to do, but was sure that someone would be leaving by way of a blindside at Tribal Council.
At Tribal Council, Jeff Probst and Tadhana brought up the following topics:
- Why the men were the only ones who scored at the Immunity Challenge – Katie said it sucked she was not able to beat her mom at two different Immunity Challenges (not sure if she was smart to have voiced her concern at that moment).
- What Trust meant in this game – Vytas said trust was the currency of the game. The more you ca trust someone, the further you could go in the game.
- John having 2 clues to the Immunity Idol – Candice’s comment about how John knew “what to do with the information” really wasn’t helping John’s chances at staying. Hayden said they had to trust that John was telling them the truth about not having the Idol. Brad chimed in, saying that at some point, you have to lie in the game, so how could they trust John now?
After Jeff Probst asked Tadhana to write down who they wanted to vote out, he went to count the votes. This was how it all played out:
Ciera – 1; John – 4 (we didn’t get to see the rest of the votes, as all a person needed was 4 votes to leave).
John didn’t see this happening to him, and he felt betrayed as he meet up with Candice and Marissa on Redemption Island.
Oh, Readers! I think Tadhana made a HUGE mistake, again! Or maybe this was Brad’s plan to weaken his tribe. This move, in the end, I think, will only hurt his game. He’s losing any trust with Tadhana, since they can’t trust him when they say they’re safe. Galang, besides his wife, are beginning to hate him because their loved ones are leaving the game at his hand. I think he is putting a huge target o his and his wife, Monica’s back for making these decisions. If, for some reason, Galang was to lose an Immunity Challenge, she might be the first player they vote out to get back at Brad. Will Tadhana finally win their first Immunity Challenge? Will Tadhana blindside Brad? Who will be the next player at Redemption Island to leave the game? We’ll find out in the next episode of Survivor: Blood vs Water!
Until my next post, Readers!
Reese.
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