Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Survivor Blood vs Water - Nov 6/13 Episode Recap

Skin of My Teeth

Last week Vytas survived a vote on the girl-heavy tribe by playing the women like a virtuoso and getting them to turn on Laura B.

Galang - Night 18
-Vytas thanks the girls and tells them (Tina, Katie & Monica) that this is his final 5, speaking for Aras as well ... (Yeah, his slick veneer is starting to come off a little slimy to me.)
-They start talking numbers and who's in what spot and Vytas tells the camera that he's basically telling the girls whatever they want to hear.
-Tina goes a little too far in campaigning for Monica... to be their number 5.  Monica tells the camera she's none too impressed with this ranking (though she thanked Tina and hugged her - Monica is so faky fake.)  If someone offers her better than 5th spot, she is open.

Redemption Island  - Night 18
-Laura B. thinks the girls made a ridiculous, non-strategic move in voting her out - she doesn't get it - the merge could be tomorrow and here are the girls letting Vytas join all those guys and they're going to pick the girls off. (Yup, probably - if you weren't such a wing-nut maybe you could have done something about it.)

Redemption Island - Day 19
-John, Laura M and Laura B read a scroll that tells them this is it, the winner of this duel will get back in the game. 
-The tribes come into the duelling arena and Jeff announces it's the final duel - the winner gets back in the game and the other two are out for good.
-Ciera's the only one with a loved one still there and Laura M.'s determined to get back to her daughter.
-Ciera has mixed feelings about her mom coming back, she says it could really ruin her game (Huh. I guess blood isn't thicker than the possibility of a million dollars.)

 Duel: They will hang onto a pole for as long as they can.  Any part of their body touches the ground, they're out, last person hugging the pole wins.
-Laura B. has issues right from the start, she has trouble finding a comfortable foothold. Jeff tells her not to panic, there are lower footholds... she settles a little but still, not loving hugging the pole.
-John also doesn't look very comfortable, but this is going to be a harder challenge for the tall, heavy guy.
-Laura M. looks like she could stay up there all day - light, petite...
-John starts sliding and is having trouble keeping his foothold so he kicks off his shoes thinking he'd do better with just his toes (not so much) his socks slip too and... big strong man - John is the first one out of the duel.
-Laura B. isn't using a foothold, she's just wrapped around the pole... and she starts sliding... she's only a foot from the ground and she can't stick it - Laura B. is also out.
-That means Laura M. is getting back in the game and the other two are burning their buffs.
Pool eliminations:
Laura B: Heather G, Bryon L, and Bernice R.
John C: Susan M., Jodi S., and Jeremy N.

-Before Laura M. can officially re-enter the game, they are all told to drop their buffs - they are merged.  She hands out new buffs to everyone and Ciera's crying (I don't think those are tears of joy).  Another piece of business, Jeff tells Laura that she has the power to give a clue to the hidden immunity idol to anyone that is still in the game... which includes herself.  He says maybe now that it's an individual game the clue may mean more... but... she also throws it into the fire. (Hmm, personally, I think she should have kept it - she's got a huge target on her back anyway being the person coming back in the game.  But what do I know.)

-Vytas & Aras hug, they are glad they both made it to the merge and Aras tells the camera his strategy is to stay original Galang strong - Gervase, Tyson, Tina, Monica, Aras + Vytas & Katie.  That's seven in a game of eleven, "we can't lose." (Until there are only seven... oh, and two of those want you gone.)

Merged tribe - Day 19
-They hike back to camp and crack open the Merge Feast box. Tina: Where's the food?
-They all start stuffing their faces but Hayden is thinking, how do I stay with the numbers?  He breaks it down, they had a five alliance at Tadhana with Hayden, Caleb, Tyson, Gervase and Ciera but will Ciera now want Laura M. to come with them or will Laura M. pull Ciera away or will the remaining loved one pairs all pair off leaving the rest to fend for themselves?
-Hayden says once the merge happens, Survivor really starts.

-Laura is thinking that the couples definitely have to stick together - she wants to talk to Ciera.  So they take off down the beach and Ciera's alliance is watching, they hope she can work Laura to their way of thinking.
-Ciera lays it out for her - she's in an alliance with the others that had no loved ones left - Caleb, Hayden, Tyson and Gervase - Mom coming back has made her place there tenuous - she has to play along with their next vote - Aras.
-Laura thinks she and Ciera are in a power position, they are deciding if it's singles or doubles... Ciera just tells her not to talk to anyone and not to play hard.

-Now that the tribes have merged, Tyson has decided that he needs to find the hidden immunity idol.  Hayden told him what info he had from John via Brad... he figures it must be at this certain tree... and he finds it, just sitting on the ground it seemed (I may be getting cynical, but that seemed too easy.  Survivor producers, really?)  Tyson's excited, he's never had an idol before - he's not going to share it with his alliance unless he needs to use it to save someone (uh huh.)

-Brothers unite!  Aras & Vytas get together and talk about their strategy going forward.  Vytas says they have Tina & Katie and Monica, if Aras has Gervase they're good with that six.  Aras says they definitely need to keep Tyson too - Vytas is not so sure.
-Aras doesn't trust Laura M. at all - she would be his next vote.
-Vytas knows if the rest of the tribe was smart they would be gunning for the brothers big time, but they won't - he's going to try and deflect any blood mistrust onto Laura & Ciera.
-Vytas says Blood vs Water should really be called Vytas vs Aras - no one can win against them in a final three. (Don't get ahead of yourself - cocky = gone in this game.)

Merged Tribe - Night 19
-Tyson talks to Monica alone in the dark - she tells him she's #5 and not happy - so he has to show her some love.  He tells her he's tight with Gervase and they are going to take Aras out then she will be with them (he's presenting it like she's top 3 without spelling it out in so many words) and they can start picking everyone else off.
-But Monica will not stop talking, she wants constant reassurance and guarantees of placement... it's taking all Tyson's patience not to tell her to just shut up already. (I can just imagine her and Brad, constantly talking, talking, talking - that must be why it works, cause they drive everyone else completely crazy.)
-Monica even tells the camera if he would tell her he's 100% with her she'd relax, but how do you do that in Survivor? (exactly!)

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
-It's a memory challenge - Jeff is going to show them a series of symbols, then they have to repeat the series back to him using a cube with the different symbols on each side.  Get it right, you stay alive, get it wrong and you're out.  Last person standing wins immunity - and it's a pretty necklace this time.
-Monica's out on the second symbol.
-Caleb & Katie out on the third symbol.
-Tyson & Tina out on the fourth symbol.
-Hayden misses the fifth symbol.
-Last item the five remaining get it all right and we move on to the second round. (Whew, that first round was a bloodbath!)
-Laura M is eliminated on the 2nd symbol.
-Ciera out on the third symbol and we are down to Vytas, Aras & Gervase.
-Gervase is out on the fourth symbol and its down to the brothers.
And the first winner of individual immunity is VYTAS!

Kasama - Day 21 (I guess they named the tribe)
-Vytas says if you go into a challenge needing immunity you've already made some mistakes in this game.  He didn't need immunity today but he needed to beat his brother and he did that so he's happy.  In his mind, he and Aras have this beach on lock and he'd be very surprised if anyone had the guts to do anything about it. (Oh man, he's just asking for a huge Survivor karmic blindside isn't he?  You are my hope of winning this year, shut it!)
-Aras tells Katie, Tina, Monica, Hayden, Caleb, Tyson and Gervase that he doesn't trust Laura M. and they have to get her out - they agree to split the votes: girls vote for Ciera and guys vote for Laura.  They all agree but not everyone is making eye contact.

-Laura M. and Ciera are off talking and Laura's worried that Aras has an idol so if they put all their votes in one basket it could blow up, Laura wants to throw four votes Tina's way and three Aras' so if he pulls an idol Tina goes home (but if he doesn't pull an idol Tina still goes home and you've tipped your hand.)  Ciera says she is usually her mom's biggest supporter and she wants to listen to her - but she also wants to play her own game (don't listen to her Ciera...)

-Gervase and Tyson confirm that they are still on with their plan, Tadhana is going to vote for King Aras... but they demote him to Sir Aras.
-Gervase says this is when it gets tricky, when people have split loyalties.  He isn't sure how this is going to shake out but he hopes it goes how they planned.

TRIBAL COUNCIL
So Tyson, you merge and there are original tribal lines, new tribal lines and then there is also blood vs water with three pairs of true blood.
-Right, I'm sure the couples want to work together as long as they can...
Are you sure?
-Well, if my brother were here I'd want to work with him as long as I could. (Aras just nods at that.)

Aras, is that a fair statement?
-It's absolutely fair.  Right now there are eleven people here, that means six people have to come together tonight.  Vytas and I can't just trust each other we have to find four other people that we really trust to get the majority in this vote tonight.  So I think it's more about making relationships with everyone, not just Vytas and I.

So Hayden, if we just look at the numbers, there are three pairs of loved ones and there are five individuals - the one hiccup is that one of the pairs includes Laura M. who just got back in the game and if you look at the history of Survivor that person is usually voted out at the very first tribal council - which would be tonight. (Was there a question there?)
-No doubt - if you look at past seasons, you come off Redemption, you tend to head right back.
Does that potentially make Laura and Ciera swing votes?  She may not be welcome back in this game.
-For sure, and not just Laura & Ciera, you have to assume the pairs are going to work together so any one of the pairs could potentially be a swing.

Katie, why would that make sense if you and your mom could go over to the individual side and make it a seven - four game.
-Right now I don't know if it would.  We came into the merge with an idea of who we wanted to play with, and I don't want to over-complicate things right now especially right after the merge.

So Tyson, Katie's basically saying, I'm going to stick with the loved ones and if Laura & Ciera bite on that it's game over for the individuals. (Umm, I don't think that's exactly what Katie said...)
-It's definitely a threatening thing to see that there is six of them and five of us individuals.  But you could do that with the guys too - there are six guys and five girls, in the end, it's who you trust the most.  There are lots of roads to go, it's however you cut the pie and I hope to get the largest portion of the pie Jeff.

Laura, what's your best play right now, having just come back into the game?
-Yeah, it's like being home sick with chicken pox for two weeks then coming back to school and no one wants to play with you.  The advantage of having my daughter here is I can filter things
through her, she's a great social player, and she can keep me in check. (Ciera's just looking at her like, shut up - stop telling them anything.)

Ciera, is that a role reversal or is that how it's always been?
-"No, it's a total reversal out here."  She has to tell her mom to relax and calm down, she's freaking her out.

Gervase, what do you think is going to be different after tonight's vote?
-I think for the smart player, nothing.  For those that aren't, a lot.  If you're buddy-buddy with someone and you don't have a loved one, it's foolish to act crazy - you need to stay calm.  Every second of every minute makes a difference in this game and it could change [with the snap of your fingers] and you need to be ready to take advantage of it.

Alright, it's TIME TO VOTE:
Katie - votes for Ciera
Gervase - votes for Aras
Aras - votes for Laura

TALLYING THE VOTES:
No one plays a hidden immunity idol.
Laura - 1, 2
Ciera - 1, 2
Aras - 1, 2, 3,  Aras still looks calm but Vytas raises his brow... 4,  Aras looks resigned to it now... 5... and it's ARAS voted out.  (Sweet blindside!)  Aras goes to Redemption Island though, so they will still have the chance to come back. (Boo - I hoped Redemption would be done.)

Next time: It gets nasty when they go back to camp - Tina and Vytas on the war path.  And they will have an eating challenge - get ready for some gagging and grossness.

Redemption Island: Aras is in shock, he's never been voted out before.  But what pains him most is that Vytas is in a very tough position now and he wouldn't be shocked if his brother is the next to join him on Redemption.

Have a great long weekend everybody,

Coleen

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