Survivor HvHvH - Oct 25/17 Episode Recap

The Past Will Eat You Alive

Last week they switched up the tribes and Healer Jessica got a secret advantage allowing her to block someone's vote at Tribal Council - this advantage caused a couple upsets in the episode when Cole used the knowledge of it to try and win over his new tribe mates, totally betraying Jessica - and then, when her tribe didn't go to tribal she used it against Devon, blocking his vote and allowing Slimy Joe to play his idol and take out Alan.

Levu - Night 11
-They get back from Tribal Council and Ashley, while not a total fan of Alan, he was her only past Hero tribe mate and she's feeling like Joe is now someone to watch out for.  He proved that he's not only a little crazy, he's also smart.  Yeah, I think Joe should be looking for another idol.

Yawa - Day 12
-Former Marine Ben was triggered by some bamboo in the fire that popped really loudly - he did not escape unscathed from his service, when it pops a couple more times he just has to go be by himself.  The rest of the tribe realizes that he may have some PTSD and he admits to the camera that it has been an issue for him but one of his goals is to show vets that they can come back to live life fully again.

REWARD CHALLENGE
Their feet will be bound together and their hands will be tethered to their sides, on Jeff's go they will have to slither through the send pushing the ball to the next person - there are three sections of the slither - once the third person gets the ball to the mat, the fourth tribe member must help them get untied and all must be on the mat before the fourth person can start throwing the balls into a very tall basket.  First tribe to get five balls in the tube win a huge Iced coffee/tea, pastries feast.  Second tribe will get a jug of iced coffee to share and the last tribe gets nothing.

Off they go and Desi is the star of this challenge, she gets Levu out to a huge lead early that they capitalize on and hold through the challenge.  Levu wins the huge feast.
The two that had the most trouble with the slithering were Dr. Mike and Ryan... oh, poor bell boy Ryan, he had to get up a hill and the ball kept getting away from him and rolling down into other lanes, he'd have to go get it... to his credit, he didn't give up and eventually did succeed but they were way too late - Yawa got the second reward and Soko were shut out.  Of course this was only for Reward so really, it didn't make much difference.

Levu - Day 13
They return with the spoils of their victory and start chowing down - covered in sand and all.  They appreciate this win especially since they were the first newly blended tribe to go to Tribal Council.  They are hoping this is the first of many victories but if not... this is still a very divided tribe.  Devon and Ashley confirm that they are voting together if it comes to that again and they assume Joe & Desi will remain together as former Healer tribe - so they should probably start working on Desi or the next vote could go to rocks (which is what happens with a deadlocked tie.)

Soko - Day 13
-Ryan apologizes for losing them the Reward, but all the girls are very supportive - it was only reward, don't worry about it, JP even tries to get him to open a coconut to build up his confidence but Ryan knows his strength is his social game and he's going to keep everyone smiling and laughing in order to make them want to keep him around.  JP is quickly required to open that coconut.
-Ali & Roark go to get some water and start to bond a bit - Roark is the sole Healer on this tribe now and she feels like she's in the swing vote seat so she's not nervous, but wants to start developing relationships with these people (Ali).  We haven't really seen much of Roark to this point and I think it's because she doesn't seem to have much of a personality... she also seems to think she's smarter than everyone and has it all figured out... which is not really fun to watch.  Roark tells Ali that she has the numbers when they merge because she has all the Healers with her, so they should want to stick with her... and Ali buys it, she goes back to Ryan and tells him she thinks they should stick with Roark and they could take out Chrissy & JP. 
-Ryan tells Ali he's down with this plan, but we know that he also has a bond with Chrissy so now it's Ryan who feels like he is in the middle and has to tread very lightly between Ali & Chrissy so he doesn't mess this up.

Yawa - Day 13
Ew, they treat us to Cole's gross eating habits - taking a big spoonful of jam and licking it clean, then the peanut butter, also licking everything clean and his hands - licking, licking, eating... it's grosses Lauren out.  She says he eats like a pig and he's very inconsiderate (Lauren has no patience for these millennial boys, it's hilarious) but she sees Ben also rolling his eyes at him so she hopes that Cole just keeps licking his own grave.
-Jessica and Dr. Mike go for water and she encourages him to keep digging while they're there - they know Joe found his idol near the water hole at their old beach (because Cole is a blabber mouth) so odds are good... and Dr. Mike finds the idol!  He's so happy, he's sure his kids will be proud and, though it's not ideal having someone else know about the idol, he thinks he can trust Jessica (as long as she doesn't tell Cole!)

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
This one has a lot of parts - first they have to swim out to a boat and retrieve three heavy bags of rice.  Then they have to smoosh the large rectangular bags through a round hole in a fence out in the water - once all the bags are through the hole and everyone goes over the fence, they then have to carry the bags across a balance beam to the beach.  Once all the bags are on the beach they have to cut them open and find three (smallish) balls.  Once they have all the balls, one person at a time will stand on a balance beam and maneuver the ball up a holey wall maze to seat them at the top using a pulley system.  First two tribe to get all three balls set win immunity and last team is going to Tribal Council.
-Off they go and they are neck and neck getting the bags of rice off the boat.  Levu has a bit of a hiccup trying to get the bags through the fence and they fall a bit behind, but then Devon brings them right back in it with his surfer balance, getting the bags across the balance beam quickly and teammate Desi is a star in this one too, she apparently is the quiet challenge beast.  Levu is the first to start opening their bags.  JP the fireman, the fireman, is getting the bags across the beam for Soko and Chrissy can't even seem to get herself across the balance beam.  Yawa is the second team to start getting their balls out of the bags and now Soko is bringing up the rear.
-All the teams are working on the maze, Ben gets the first ball in for Yawa, Ashley gets the first one in for Levu, Chrissy keeps falling of the balance beam.
Jessica gets the second ball for Yawa, Ali gets the first ball for Soko and Devon gets the second ball for Levu.
Chrissy comes back in after taking off her shoes and falls off the beam again - she asks if someone else wants to try and Roark asks back, "do you want me to try?" (just run up there and take it) but no, no one steps up and they leave Chrissy to it... and they lose. Soko is going to Tribal Council.

This is Roark's first tribal council and she says she's nervous but Chrissy definitely struggled in this challenge - she needs to go.  (Oh, so that's why she didn't step up, she wanted someone else to fail so she wasn't the target.)

Soko - Day 14
Chrissy does not feel safe and she starts playing hard when they get back to camp.  She takes Roark aside to start talking game and she listens but is not having it - the first and only time Chrissy talks to her is when they are headed to Tribal, too little too late in Roark's mind - she wants Chrissy to go home.
-Chrissy doesn't trust anything Roark says to her (rightly so) so Chrissy is thinking to create this illusion of an all girl alliance so she'll feel safe - but then she goes to JP and tells him she (Chrissy) wants the four of them to vote out Roark, he's thinking she's good in challenges but as soon as Chrissy mentions Roark wants an all-girl alliance he says immediately she has to go.
-Now she needs Ryan, she tells him that she has JP on board to vote out Roark and Ryan agrees that the three of them will blindside Roark tonight.
-Meanwhile, Roark & Ali are at the well badmouthing Chrissy and confirming that they are voting for her tonight.  Ali relays to Ryan that they are voting Chrissy and he tells her that he trusts her especially and they are still together... now Ryan has a swing vote decision to make.

TRIBAL COUNCIL
Roark lights her torch for the first time as this is her first visit to Tribal Council.
-Ali starts by trying to throw Chrissy under the bus - she says if she wasn't able to complete the task at hand she would step down and let someone else take over.
-But Chrissy isn't taking that - she pipes in that she did that, she asked several times if anyone else wanted to take over but no one stepped up so she had to keep going.  Chrissy says, "It's her version, my version, and the truth."
(So we started with a fight and Jeff is loving it.) He asks Chrissy what happened when they got back to camp after the challenge.
-Chrissy says she hadn't spoke with Roark previously and didn't want to come to tribal council without discussing with her what they wanted to do.
-And Roark piles on some more - I hope we can be more consistent about it because the day you needed me was the first day you talk to me...(and she has a nasty little mean girl grin).
-Jeff points out this is two strikes against Chrissy and she is no shrinking violet, she is shocked by Roarks passive aggressive bitchiness and points out that Roark didn't talk to her beforehand either, this is a two way street.  Chrissy points out she specifically talked to Ali, Ryan, JP... this doesn't have to be a Chrissy approaches Roark situation, she could have come to me.
-Roark points out that Chrissy just said she specifically talked to Ali, she didn't specifically talk to me. And Chrissy just rolled her eyes and said she had no comment. (I see both sides of it, but it was kind of an alpha female - catty argument - that Roark thinks she won.)
-Jeff asks the guys what they think - both Ryan and JP said they saw Chrissy and Roark go off talking and it made them uneasy, there are three girls and only two guys... and it only takes three votes to take someone out. (Chrissy smiles, her machinations seem to have born some fruit).
-Chrissy still feels the vote could be her but she's not going to beat herself up about it, she's doing the best she can.
-Roark feels the same comfortable as she did coming in, she thinks she's made bonds that will carry her through this vote.
-Ali says you can never really know who you can trust until you've gone to Tribal Council with someone, like she and Ryan or Chrissy and JP have. (Huh.)
-Roark thinks she's the swing vote which gets a little reaction from Ryan, but Chrissy says she doesn't necessarily think it's two, one and two, she thinks this vote could be any three people. (Whatever)

Time to vote:
Roark votes for Chrissy - says, "Next time, don't come for me."
Chrissy votes for Roark - says, "I'm outsmarting Miss Smartypants."

Tallying the votes:
-No one has a hidden immunity idol

Votes:
Chrissy - 1
Roark - 1
Chrissy - 2
Roark - 2 - that took the little smirk off her face.
Roark - 3 - First and last trip to Tribal Council for Roark.  B'Bye! Oh, and the Healers are finally down one.

With Roark leaving us tonight that takes Kevin C., Maria C., and Cindi C. out of the pool.

Next week: Ali is upset that Ryan didn't tell her he wasn't voting with her and Cole goes down like a ton of bricks at camp (hopefully just fainted briefly - yikes.)

Roark's final thoughts: says she had an awesome experience and would recommend it to any super fan.  She is bummed, felt she had a lot more in her but obviously she trusted the wrong people.  She's not going to blame it on being swapped, she always thinks there is something you can do and evidently she didn't do it, so she owns that. (She will learn and maybe grow a personality if she gets another chance?)

Have a great rest of the week everyone,

Coleen









 

Survivor HvHvH Oct 18/17 - Episode Recap

I Don't Like Having Snakes Around

Last week everything seemed to be coming together on the Heroes tribe with Ben & Chrissy quietly running the show and on Healers with the love birds Jessica & Cole but over on the Hustlers, Patrick just couldn't play well with others and he was voted out... like a red-headed stepchild (Oh, I'm the worst, but I couldn't resist.)

Day 9

This episode opened with the tribes showing up for a challenge and being told to...drop their buffs. Oh yeah, it's time for a little switch up (I think this will be a good thing, shake 'em up a bit.)

So the resulting reshuffled tribes are:

Levu/Blue: Two Heroes: Ashley & Alan, two Healers: Joe & Desi, and one Hustler: Devon (Oh, poor Devon, I like that guy and he seems to be more than just a pretty face so hopefully he can stick around.)
Soko/Yellow: Two Heroes: Chrissy & JP, two Hustlers: Ryan & Ali, and one Healer: Roark (who? I know she's been pretty invisible so far.)
Yawa/Red: Three Healers: Dr. Mike, Jessica and Cole (yes, she was very excited to still be with her boo), one Huster: Lauren, and one Hero: Ben (Ben is my guy and he said he's scared - so he better figure it out.)

And as a team building exercise they are going to have their first Reward Challenge right now.

First, three tribe members will be tethered together and have to unbraid their ropes, then unravel going over under the next obstacle then use the ring on the end of one of the ropes to hook a sled and pull the puzzle pieces to them.  Then the remaining two tribe members will have to use the puzzle pieces to solve an upright puzzle - spelling out Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers to win the Reward of a Peanut Butter and Jelly Bonanza - (I thought Jeff said Banana instead of Bonanza and I was wondering where the bananas were - oops) They get sandwiches (premade) and the fixin's to make more sandwiches to take back to their camp and individual bags of potato chips. 
This is winner take all, nothing for second or third place.

Off they go and Red and Yellow seem to be working pretty well together - Blue is pretty much a schmozzle from the beginning and they(Alan, Ashley & Joe) never get it together enough to even start the puzzle.  It's really between Red (Cole, Lauren & Ben) & Yellow (JP, Ryan & Roark) with  Dr. Mike and Jessica completing the puzzle first and winning the Reward for Red/Yawa. (Jeff is trying to make the tribe names happen but aren't the colours just so much easier?)  Also, we find out why Ben is always wearing the cowboy hat, that is quite the bald spot he's developing.

Yawa - Day 9
They celebrate by eating sandwiches and casually getting to know each other over said sandwiches.  While Cole drones on about himself (which I think is his favourite topic) Jessica looks into her chip bag and sees the words SECRET ADVANTAGE staring back at her.  To her credit she realized she was staring into the bag too long and casually rolled the top back up to take a closer look at later.

Later, Jessica steals away and reads that her secret advantage gives her the advantage to block one person from voting at the next tribal council - she will have to give it to someone at the next tribal council and they will not know it's power until they open it there.  If her tribe does not go to tribal council she will have to send it anonymously to someone on the losing tribe.

So Jessica decides she's going to share the knowledge of this secret advantage with Cole and Dr. Mike because she's just so happy about having this power and they are former Healer strong. 
-The next thing Cole is telling the camera is that Jessica gave him a huge gift of this knowledge (she didn't give it to you, she shared with her allies) but Cole is proving to be stupid and selfish and he's going to use Jessica's secret to win over the new people on the tribe so they will think isn't Cole the greatest guy sharing this with us.  (Yeah, I couldn't believe what a dumbass he was - I would think wow, you just betrayed your alliance to us, I'm not going to trust you with anything.)
-I'm watching him tell Ben that Jessica as an advantage that will cancel out his vote and I'm yelling at the TV, "What are you doing?"  It's unfathomable to me that he gives no thought to how he's blowing up Jessica's game and totally destroying any value that advantage would have had to them - doesn't even seem to cross his mind.
-He's telling Lauren and she's no nonsense asking him how she could believe this is true - because it's so completely stupid of him to share this knowledge with them, she thinks he's making it up... (nope, just that stupid.)  And Lauren is going to use this knowledge to her advantage now (you go.)

Soko - Day 9
Ryan was very happy to see that Chrissy is on his new tribe because he was the one who sent her the secret advantage for the first tribal council (though she didn't end up using it) - but he's got an in.  They show him divulging the fact that he was the one that sent her the advantage and she also seems genuinely touched to have been chosen by him for saving.  She asked why he chose her and we all know it was because she threw up and he figured she'd be the first target but he tells her he had a good feeling about her -(what else are you going to say? You were weak so I wanted you to stick around? Not the best strategy.)

Levu - Day 9
This tribe is not touchy feely - they're sizing each other up right away and the two Healers (Desi & Joe) are thinking they can use Devon as their swing vote and the two Heroes (Ashley & Allan - while not the best of friends are now allies) are also thinking that Devon is the key. So maybe it doesn't suck so much to be Devon right now.
-Joe is true to form and goes in with lies blazing, telling Devon that both Ashley & Allan had talked to him about voting Devon out first. (What?? Joe is playing too hard too fast.)
-It does make Devon suspicious of Joe but also makes him feel really nervous that he may actually be the next to go.  Desi was shooting Joe some major side-eye, if the guys didn't just ignore the women in this game, they'd probably know way more of what was going on.

Yawa - Day 10
Cole & Jessica head out on the raft to do some fishing, as usual, alone.  Lauren thought they were all going fishing but then ceases the opportunity to ask Dr. Mike if he had heard anything about this secret advantage someone found in their potato chips.  Dr. Mike knows how to keep a secret and plays dumb but then immediately headed out to the raft to ask who was the big mouth because Lauren and Ben know about the advantage.  Jessica of course is completely blindsided and Cole acts like a kid with his hand in the cookie jar - I didn't do it... and then he admits he told Ben. I would have lost my sh!t on him but Jessica, the kind-hearted virgin is devastated, how could he hurt me like that? (Oh honey, he gave zero thought to how this would effect you, what's yours is his apparently, good to find out now.) To her credit, she didn't show Cole how she felt, she went and cried to the camera later and was blaming herself for making a poor decision in who to trust (it's not your fault he's an idiot, but also good to know now he can't keep a secret.)

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE - Day 11More heavy sleds and puzzle pieces.  They have to pick up a heavy crate of pieces and manoeuver it through a table obstacle (where Devon gets it in the jumblies, ouch) and then under a tight net where they were kicking up huge amounts of dirt dust, that's got them choking a bit.  Once they get through the net they have to untie the knots holding down the tarp on the pieces, once that's done one person has to use a ring of keys to unlock two padlocks on the second set of puzzle pieces, once those are unlocked they can start on the puzzle, having to put the long pieces in a tic-tac-toe kind of configuration where all the intersecting pieces are the same colour (not as easy as it looked.)

So off they go and despite Devon getting the handle in the nards, Blue is the first tribe through the table obstacle.  Under the net though Red takes the lead and it's Yellow bringing up the rear.  Red gets the keys first and Red starts on the puzzle.  Yellow catches up here because Ashley cannot find the keys to open her locks. 

They are all working on the puzzle and the puzzle brains of Dr. Mike and Jessica get the win for Red/Yawa.  The Yellow/Soko tribe is the second team to get immunity and that leaves Blue/Levu heading to tribal council.

-Jessica reminds us that she has the power to block someone's vote at tribal council tonight and her plan is to help the Healers so she's going to try and mess with the Levu tribe as much as she can.

Levu - Day 11
Ashley and Devon go for water and she tells him just because he's the odd man out she doesn't want him to think he's on the bottom because those Healers got to go. 
-He asks if she's serious because Joe told him that they [she & Allan] wanted to take Devon out.
-She says that never crossed their minds, it would make no sense and Devon is awakened to how much of a sketchy dude Joe really is.... So now Devon and Ashley are on the same page, and Devon gives us the title of the episode, "Joe's a snake and I don't like having snakes around."

-Desi sees Ashley and Devon hug after their talk and she tells Joe that it looks like they lost Devon - Joe's got an idol and he's not afraid to use it but he's got to make sure they vote for him, because if they vote for Desi it will be a waste of his idol.  Joe's big plan to make sure this happens, pick a fight.

-Everyone's together at camp and Joe starts the conversation, are we not going to talk about this at all? And Allan falls for it, tells him he's the one that brought it up, who's he going to vote for?  Joe says he's voting for Ashley, he thinks she's the weakest and that gets her back up because she's never been called the weakest, ever.  They throw back why Desi is stronger than Ashley and it's getting uglier.  Alan just says he's not voting for Ashley or Devon and Desi says, so our names are on the block and Alan says, "Let your man do the math." (OMG, they are cavemen.)
-Desi cannot believe that Joe lost his mind and blew up camp like that, and now her name has been put out there.  Joe comes to her and tells her that he has an idol and he had to do that to take the target off her and make sure they vote for him.  She thinks he did the opposite - by being all cocky they are going to think he has an idol and vote for her. (Or you're giving them too much credit.)  Desi tells him that he threw her under the bus here so he should play his idol for her tonight and he'll have her loyalty for the rest of the game. 
-The other three are having a similar conversation, are they going to vote for Ashley or Alan? How is this going to play out - do they vote for Joe or Desi...and do they have an idol?  Joe definitely got the pot boiling.

-As they are about to go to tribal, Devon finds the Secret Advantage in his bag which tells him he can't open it until it's Time to Vote. (Woohoo! This is huge, he can block someone's vote now... and it seems like Jessica has a thing for the pretty boys.)

TRIBAL COUNCIL
-We get right into it with Alan telling Jeff about Joe sparking off but Joe takes over the re-telling saying he was just trying to have a conversation but Alan was getting upset and then Joe threw Ashley's name out there.
-Ashley says she's never been the weakest link in anything but he couldn't throw out the only alliance he has - but his actions may affect him tonight.
-Desi (probably liked hearing what Ashley had to say) but she says she was surprised by what Joe said and felt she got thrown under the bus in the process.
-Alan confirmed his vote was between Joe & Desi and with anything Alan says Joe has to redirect and throw it back at him saying that Alan actually made the divide with his words, so thank you Alan for clearing that up, continue.
-Devon knows he's the swing vote and says his vote is going to be based on who he thinks he can work with and move forward with in this game (might as well have just said, I'm voting for Joe.)
-Joe comes back with Heroes can't be broken so why would you keep two of them around but Alan gives as good as he gets - he points out that the Healers were undefeated and there are six of them out there so they should be trying to take a Healer out (touché Alan - would have been more impactful without the crazy eyes though, yikes.)
-Devon isn't changing his strategy, he's going to be voting for what's good for him at every tribal.

With that Jeff says it's Time to Vote and Devon pipes up that he has this Secret Advantage that says he can't open it until it's Time to Vote - so Jeff tells him to go ahead and I'm all excited thinking that this may be the end of slimy Joe... but then it all blows up when Devon reads that this secret advantage is being used AGAINST him to BLOCK HIS Vote (WHAT???) Jessica took away Devon's vote, Holy Guacamole! I totally thought that her giving it to Devon meant he got to block someone from voting, not that it was blocking him - wow, that's not an advantage for him at all - That sucks blue whales man! 

And this is how it played out.
The other four voted and when Jeff asked if anyone had a hidden immunity idol they'd like to play... Joe does get up and goes and plays the idol... for himself (of course he played it for himself.)

VOTES:
Joe - 1 - and his douchebag celebrating begins.
Joe - 2 - they do not count and he's wildly gesturing to Desi, "I told you"
Alan - 1, 2 and it's ALAN voted out.  To which Joe tells Ashley he read her face so, "thank you baby girl." OMG, I wish someone could just punch him in the face.

So with Alan leaving us unexpectedly, that takes Jenn G., Lois L., and Ethan G. out of the pool.
You know, I was not a fan of Alan but this episode made me realize that I dislike Joe even more.

Devon was sitting there and then just said, "Whoa, what the hell just happened?"

Next episode: They have to wriggle through the sand pushing a ball with their face.  Looks like Chrissy tells JP that Roark wants an all-girl alliance and without missing a beat JP says then she's got to go and Devon & Ashley are in this together, the next vote is going to rocks.

Alan's final thoughts - I don't know where Devon came up with this thing, I don't know what he pulled but the whole thing fell apart (he didn't do it - it was done to him and you.) He blames a lot of this on that hidden immunity idol and he's got to give credit when credit is due, they got him.

Have a great rest of your week,

Coleen



















 

Survivor HvHvH - October 11/17 Episode Recap

My Kisses Are Very Private

Last week on Survivor, the Hustlers tribe went to Tribal Council and Simone proved to be too much of an odd-ball and was voted out - which was the obvious and most boring choice, bit of snooze-fest.

Hustlers - Day 7
The next day it was Simone's yard sale as they tried on all the clothes she left behind - Bellhop Ryan has himself a nice ladies pantsuit and knee high boots and he says in a way she's finally shown her worth (in leaving them clothes - ooh, that's cold.)

-The boys are talking about which of the remaining girls they are going to vote out (because of course the women have to go? Grr.)  They agree the young and approachable Ali has far more worth than the older, not as attractive, Lauren. (I'm feeling a little fem-Nazi tonight, this show is making me crazy.)
-Meanwhile Lauren and Ali are talking and it's no secret that Lauren is not a fan of Patrick and she is going to try and sway some of these younger tribe mates over to her way of thinking. She includes Devon in the talk and points out Patrick saying he trusts most of the people there... well who was he talking about? She's planted the seed that he's a loose cannon who can't help but put his foot in his mouth. (I'm not a fan of Patrick, ADHD toddler boy would drive me nuts too.)

Heroes - Day 7
Ben & Chrissy still have their secret alliance and they feel like they are driving the train.  Ben tells us they like Ashley, she's a hard worker and she's fun so they have to decide between the guys who they want to keep around - Alan is a hot-head and a loose cannon but then JP walks around like he doesn't know what's going on... although JP has taken to fishing for them and bringing in food, which is huge.

-Meanwhile Alan is trying to figure out how to open coconuts - and he's not having much luck.  In terms of providing, he's not a coconut master.  He's trying to laugh it off and pretend it doesn't bother him - but it does.

-Ashley has noticed that provider JP is dreamy and makes things happen to her downstairs - but she's got to keep it in her pants because of Alan's assertion that they are a power couple - it's dangerous for her game if she tries to cozy up to the pretty fireman. She's ready for Alan to go.
-Ashley talks to Ben about Alan & JP both trying to provide, how it's working for JP but not Alan. Ben is leery of any arguments Ashley makes to keep JP because Alan got in all their heads with the power couple stuff... now I'm thinking maybe she should just make that happen, it may be her best shot of sticking around to couple up with him.

Healers - Day 7
Joe is telling us how life for the Healers is great - they haven't lost a challenge and everyone is on the same page that Dr. Mike should be the first one voted out. (I don't like Joe either, he's so smarmy.)  Joe's one worry is that Cole knows he has the idol.  He doesn't think Cole has told anyone but he's worried about the lovebirds - Cole & Jessica, "that lovesick is worse than the flu."

-Speaking of the devils, Cole & Jessica are out fishing together again and I can't help it, these two are just so darn cute together, I'm kind of rooting for them.  Jessica opens up to us by explaining that she was brought up very religiously and she's a virgin - so the flirting is pure and innocent but she does like the thought of him thinking of her (oh, maybe not so innocent.)
-Cole has been thinking about the game and how he can bond with his dream girl Jessica by sharing some info with her, so Cole tells her that Mike doesn't have an idol and he knows this because he helped Joe dig it up. Joe has the idol. She is so excited that she ends up kissing him on the cheek (gasp! the Scandal!) This is where we get the title of the episode, Jessica says her kisses are very private, but this was huge!

Hustlers - Day 8
Everyone is hanging out around camp and Patrick just wanders away and starts searching for an idol.  They all know it, he makes no secret of it.  We find out that Patrick has a moving company which is appropriate since he never stops moving and he knows openly searching for an idol may bite him in the butt with his tribe but he's working harder than anyone [looking for the idol] and he hopes that pays off.  (He's right about one of those things.)

-Ali takes it upon herself to try and help Patrick's game by pulling him aside and telling him he's got to play smarter - being so idol crazy is hurting him with the rest of the tribe.  He hears her and appreciates she's trying to have his back but he thinks changing his behaviour would take away from his personality and he might not be able to make relationships if he's not being him. (OMG dude, you need to wake up and smell some self-awareness.)  And then he goes back to looking for an idol.

Healers - Day 8
Joe solidified my hate of him when he complained about some of the potato slices being raw (potatoes that someone else had cooked for him, mind you) and when Desi or Roark said she didn't mind, she'd eat it - he threw it in the dirt and told her to go ahead then. (What the Every Loving F%^&!?)  He continued to complain about raw food and spitting out the skin when food is scarce - total d*ck move. (This is where I would lose my cool and be the next one voted out.) 

Joe's behaviour did not go unnoticed though. Roark very calmly told him that he was free to cook next time then and Desi told the camera she found his behaviour challenging - I believe these Healers have had tactical communications training ;)

Joe's behaviour has also gotten Cole thinking that it's not fair that Joe has the idol and all the power - so he proposes to Jessica that they blindside Joe and send him home with the idol in his pocket - if they end up going to Tribal.  She is all in for that idea... but then Cole doesn't stop there, when they get back to camp he tells Roark and Desi too that Joe has an idol. Jessica is stunned that he would go ahead and tell everyone without discussing that move with her first.  He's lost their advantage by telling so many people especially before the challenge when they don't know what may happen. Also the  more people that know, the more chance that Joe could find out he told, which could potentially put Cole on the chopping block (uh oh, trouble in paradise.) Jessica is very upset with her Survivor Boyfriend.

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
They will race through a series of obstacles then use sandbags to knock blocks off a ledge.  Once all the blocks are knocked down, they will have to stack all the blocks in a single tall tower which will require them to lift someone to be able to stack them all up.  First team to stack all the blocks and run back to their mat without them falling wins Immunity and a crate of four chickens (oh, they finally get chickens!), Second team to finish will get a dozen eggs from said chickens (Jeff said, "They work." Ha!) and last team is going to Tribal Council.

Healers sit out Dr. Mike. 

Off they go and the Heroes get out to an early lead with Alan able to leap up to the rope net so they get throwing first.  But here is where it all goes wrong for the Hustlers because selfish Patrick refused to let anyone else throw the sandbags and he took forever to get all the blocks off the ledge.  Lauren asked him many times to switch out, apparently she plays softball (of course she does) but nope, Patrick looked like he would have switched out until he saw it was Lauren and you know he thought she wouldn't be able to throw so he had to finish it himself.  The Hustlers never caught up on the tower build.
Healers thought they finished first but they missed one of the blocks which let the Heroes steal the first place finish and the chickens.  Healers came in second and got the eggs (better than nothing - but they better let Joe cook them or he will complain) and the Hustlers are going to Tribal Council.

Hustlers - Day 8
-Lauren's not able to hide her anger at Patrick who does apologize for taking so long to hit all the blocks off but then he tells the camera, "by looking at her I don't think her coming in for me would have really changed much." (Boys! This guy needs a good swift kick, by a woman who can kick.)

-Lauren goes to get water and Patrick asks the rest of them how they stand.  Devon says that Lauren wants him out but not to worry - Ali confirms that Lauren has mentioned voting out Patrick and he's not happy - but they reassure him.
-Smarty-pants Patrick thinks he has to go talk to Lauren and keep her from freaking out - the thing is, he has no skills at talking to people.  When she tells him she knows he wants to vote her out he fumbles, "uh, I don't know that's true." So she asks if not her then who are they voting out and he can't say anything, "uh well uh..." and smiles at her like a dope... Oh man, this is his idea of damage control?  Lauren is smarter than him and is quite frankly insulted with this ridiculous performance.  She says redheads don't lie well and she knows for sure he's writing her name down. (yeah, that did not go well.)

-Lauren goes and talks to Ali and tells her she felt like Patrick was laughing at her - Ali is already questioning if Patrick has outlived his usefulness because he's supposed to help them win challenges not cost them the win.
-Lauren goes and talks to Ryan and tells him, "no offense, but you're the oddball and I'm the old woman - I trust Devon and Ali but not Patrick" - and Ryan is listening... but kinda did take offense.  -Ryan talks to Devon and he didn't like the oddball and old lady speech but Devon gets him back on track - the important thing is that people are coming to them and they can decide who they want to go with - either Lauren or Patrick. (I think that Devon may be more than just a pretty surfer dude.) 
-Ryan wants to save Pat and take all the boys to the merge but Devon would rather go to a merge with steady reliable Lauren than Pat... of course they don't know if they'll make the merge, who better to get them to that point? 

TRIBAL COUNCIL
-Lauren comes out swinging calling out Patrick for taking the challenge on himself and losing it for them.
-Patrick agrees that he shouldn't have taken it all on himself but it was adrenaline... she tells him that's no excuse, there were five of us but he made it all about him and it lost them the challenge.
-Ali doesn't immediately agree, "who knows, if he had switched out it may have taken longer" - she doesn't like dwelling on the past, they need to look forward from here. (Lauren didn't like hearing that.)
-Patrick says it is comforting hearing Ali say he won't be held accountable - he was trying, he wanted those chickens.
-Lauren pipes in again that they do still need to work as a team from here and Patrick proved today he is not a team player, but he is definitely a good idol hunter - that's all he does.  He is trying to play strategy and trying to cover his back, that should make us worry.  When she said she hasn't even looked for an idol Patrick lights up and says that's a relief because he was worried she had one.
-Lauren says, "I have two."
-Patrick goes on about trying to talk to her today but she told him she didn't want to hear his bullsh!t - and she cuts him off, she's going to tell the story her way.  She's never believed a redhead a day in her life (well that's unfair) and when she said she knew he was voting for her he just sat there and grinned.  She tells Jeff that she can say one thing, someone is going to be blindsided tonight.
-Patrick agrees, someone will be blindsided tonight.
-There is some more filler talk - Ryan tells Jeff he's never been in a relationship. Jeff, "Uh, okay." Ryan, "Do you know someone?" 
-Devon is hoping this vote will get the chemistry of the team back on track and get them moving forward.  Lauren says her vote tonight is also to help make the tribe better.
-Patrick thinks that he is good with people and will help them make friends in the merge but Ali points out how good is he with people if he can't get along with Lauren who they've been with for 8 days.  Patrick takes these pointers as a wake up call, he knows he's not perfect but he welcomes the criticism and will learn and grow from it.
-Blah, blah, hustlers, blah blah, unity... finally...

Time to vote:
Lauren votes for Pat, Patrick votes for Lauren.

Tallying the votes:
No one has a hidden immunity idol.

Votes:
Pat - 1
Lauren - 1
Patrick - 2 and finally that huge grin is gone from his face
Patrick - 3 - that's enough, the big Ginger Baby is out, and he's mad. He tells his tribe that they are awful. (Really?) 
And with Patrick leaving that also takes Bob L., Lindsay J., and Kim H. out of the pool. (Sorry guys, but I'm glad to see him go.)

Next week:
They are told to drop their buffs - and there is going to be a switch up. (Yay, I'm ready for a shake up.)

Patrick's final rant: "this is the worst sting I've ever felt" - he had total trust in Ryan, Devon and Ali, he hopes they don't have a very successful game because they are liars and it really hurts him that they didn't keep their word.  It's too early in the game for him to leave, this has been devastating. (Wow, hopefully he does learn from this cause - as my husband said, you can't be an attention-seeking douchebag and expect to do well in this game.)

Have a good rest of your week,

Coleen






 

Survivor HvHvH - Oct 4/17 Episode Recap

I'm a Wild Banshee

Last week the new Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers season of Survivor started in the beautiful Fiji.  We saw a new twist with the super idol that could only be played at the first Tribal Council - skinny bellboy Ryan had the idol but had to anonymously give it to someone on the Heroes tribe as they were the first to go to Tribal.  He gave it to one of the Mom Squad, Chrissy, and she didn't use it because she was safe, the other mom went home - Katrina.

Heroes - Night 3
Fall out from that first tribal council was that Alan called out JP and Ashley as a "power couple" and all Ashley could do was whine about the fact that they weren't a couple.  JP is a man of little words, he just thought it was ridiculous and refused to give it any more energy than that... but he and Ashley are also keeping their distance.

Chrissy, the actuary, has taken all of this as a great thing for her.  She has a decoy idol now, that has no power but she can use it to bluff.  She also saw the cracks in the tribe and being someone who weighs the possible outcomes for the best course of action, she's coming up with the best plan to keep herself there.

Alan thinks he got what he wanted, whether he was right or wrong, he's created the suspicion he wanted within the tribe. (Ugh, why you got to be like that? It feels like it's too early to stir up the drama... but some would also argue it's never too early in Survivor.)  What he did succeed in doing is fracturing the tribe so no one trusts anyone at this point - let's start over shall we?

Hustlers - Day 4
Everybody's working, gathering wood, fishing, doing laundry, getting water... everyone that is except Simone - who is sitting in the shelter swatting at flies and assuring herself she's okay.
-Bellhop Ryan tells us he's made a connection with everyone on his tribe... except Simone.  He says, "Simone... she's weird." She is not trying to make any connections and she's not blending in which is usually pretty important, especially in the early days.
-She successfully takes an "aqua dump" and announces it to the tribe.  She tells us she is not an outside person so this whole experience is a huge challenge for her.  She's trying new things and looks at this as an adventure... but she's also whining to the camera that it's hot all the time and there is no air conditioning. (Oh sweet jebus.)  She did volunteer to gut the fish Devon caught, she'd never done it before but she read up on it - (uh, how bout we let the fisherman do it? Just me?) To her credit, Simone gets through it, whatever.  She said she has 10 brothers and sisters so she's been fighting to prove herself her whole life (why isn't she better at getting along with people then?)

Healers - Day 4
-Jessica and Cole are out fishing and he's crushing on her - even though she's older than him (I did roll my eyes at that.) They are all flirty - I'm thinking that's going to get old fast.
-Back at camp Probation Officer Joe is getting to know and like Dr. Mike but not enough to keep him around.  Joe's kind of painted himself into a corner by planting the idea that Mike has an idol with everyone... because Joe wants to go looking for it but can't be seen looking for it because they'd know that Mike doesn't actually have it.
-Joe gets his opportunity to head out looking for an idol anyway, and he finds a clue painted/carved into a tree.  It's a map of sorts with a symbol he can't identify, the ocean and then 5ft with an X marking a spot.  We find out that Joe's not a rocket surgeon when he can't figure it out.  He thinks the symbol might be a raft and Cole's been fishing on the raft - so Joe goes and jokingly accuses Cole of having the idol but explains he found a clue and then he shows Cole the clue... and Cole knows right away and blurts out, "that's the symbol for the well." (DUDE! This guy is too nice - I don't think it even crossed his mind to try and get the idol for himself.) 
-So these two geniuses head to the well and start digging and Joe has himself an idol... and I'm betting he's going to try and get rid of Cole as soon as he can because he knows too much.  Joe is celebrating his idol while Cole has the presence of mind to go cut the clue off the tree.

Heroes - Day 5
-JP catches a lobster for the tribe - this is his strategy, to keep them fed and happy and stay out of the drama.  He's not happy being labelled a power couple with Ashley because he's not hooking up with her or anything (?) I think he meant to say he's getting the negative without the positive but it could have been phrased less... rape-y.
-Chrissy meanwhile is on her actuarial mission to find out her best option to move forward in the game.  She's talking to JP posing the hypothetical if they were to team up and he laughs, "No one would ever think we were a power couple." (Why, because she's older than you? No one would ever believe you'd lower yourself to be with her??  I'm really not liking JP, it's probably best that he doesn't talk very much.)  Chrissy's take - JP will be helpful in challenges, but she doesn't think he's that smart.
-Chrissy talks to Ashley but she's not going to team up with her because Chrissy's not convinced Ashley and JP aren't actually a power couple.
-Chrissy is also concerned about Alan after his blow up at Tribal council and therefore, Chrissy has concluded that Cowboy Ben is the best option for her.  She thinks they will compliment each other - him being socially charming and her able to think three steps ahead.
-So Chrissy sells Ben on the thought of her and him partnering up and then they can decide to go with Alan or Ashley... who knows what JP's thinking.  Ben thinks this is crazy how it's shaping up but he seems to like it.  After Alan's antics at tribal Ben doesn't know if he can work with him, so he's all in with Chrissy, she's smart and wants to work with him - he thinks they can rule.

Hustlers - Day 5
-Patrick is letting his freak flag fly... and he should probably have kept it under raps for a while longer.  The big ginger is afraid of crabs and addicted to attention - he is like an ADD toddler on sugar - He says he's a wild banshee wanting to have fun all the time.  Meanwhile his constant look-at-me behaviour has fisherman Lauren ready to strangle him.  She's used to working alone and having to deal with someone like Patrick is driving her crazy.
-Ali is also double-thinking her early alliance with Patrick, his constant noise and childish behaviour doesn't bode well for his longevity in the game and she'd like to stick around.  If people decide to vote Patrick out, she doesn't think she needs him in this game anymore.

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
They are out on the water for this one.  On Jeff's go, three tribe members will jump in the water and swim out to a floating net ring.  They will have to swim the ring over to a buoy were one person at a time will have to dive down and untie a bundle of puzzle pieces inside a sunken cage, then work the bundle of pieces along the cage to the opening then bring them up to the net so the next person can go.  Once they have all three bundles of pieces they will swim them back to the raft and the two remaining tribe members will have to use the pieces to complete a spinning signpost puzzle.
Along with immunity they will be playing for reward - First place tribe will get a deluxe fishing kit, second place gets a smaller kit with line and lures and the last place tribe is going to Tribal Council.

Healers sit probation officer Joe and Hustlers sit fisherman Lauren.

Off they go and the deciding members in the first part of the challenge are Surf Instructor Devon who apparently can hold his breath for a really long time - he got all the puzzle pieces for the Hustlers and gave them a great lead on the puzzle.  JP does a pretty good job for the Heroes where I thought lifeguard Ashley would shine but, not so much.  And the Healers brought up the rear in gathering the puzzle pieces... but in the end it was the puzzle solving skills of Dr. Mike and Desi that allowed the Healers to come from behind for the win!  The Heroes, Chrissy & Alan were able to work out the puzzle to come in second and the Hustlers blew their whole lead and blamed Simone for not being able to complete the puzzle (though Ali was working with her as well.)

Hustlers - Day 6
They return from losing the challenge and Simone apologizes for her role in the loss - she knows that she would be an easy vote so decides she has to start shaping the narrative of this tribe (too little too late.)  She knows that Patrick gets on Lauren's nerves and decides he's the best target for her to get the girls to vote for. Lauren is in of course but it's trying to get the guys to vote him out.
-Meanwhile the guys are all solid that Simone is their weakest link and she's got to go. Patrick is leading the charge against her and he knows he has Ali on his side so there should be no problem getting her voted out.
-Ali knows she has the power now to make this decision - should they take out Pat because he's so unpredictable and keep Simone because she's easily controlled.  OR, keep Pat for his strength and get rid of Simone because she's useless in helping them win challenges.  Ali talks to Ryan and they're talking about their three, Ali, Ryan and Devon... wait, when did that happen?  Ryan likens Patrick to a newborn baby, you want to like it but it requires constant attention and is really annoying (oh man, he should not become a parent any time soon) but then Simone scares him because she's really smart... and in the end, smart is more of a threat than annoying.

TRIBAL COUNCIL
This tribal was a little boring they were all towing the Survivor line - it's about physicality and winning challenges but it's also about building trust and keeping people around that can benefit the tribe but also your own game.  Yes, we all know these things.

-Then Patrick says he knows he can trust MOST of the people here.  And that stirs things up a bit - but he backpedals and says he meant to say ALL. 
-Ryan jokes, "Well I'm sold."  (We know he said exactly what he meant, but it didn't help his cause any, especially with Lauren.)
-Simone pleads her case by saying this is 100% real, she comes from a city, she's never been camping before and she's terrified 100% of the time but the good thing about being a hustler is that you challenge yourself - "so send me back to the bugs, I don't want to go home." (Whatever.)

Time to Vote:
Simone votes for Patrick

Tallying the Votes:
No one has a hidden immunity idol.

Votes:
Patrick - 1
Simone - 1, 2, 3, 4... and Simone is sent packing - B-Bye.  They took out the low hanging fruit, how boring.
Oh and with Simone leaving that also took Trish J., Tori K., and Jamie S. out of the pool. (Is it really that much of a loss?  She had no social game whatsoever.)

Next week:
A war erupts between Lauren and Patrick on the Hustlers tribe and Cole spills the beans about Joe's idol to Jessica over on the Healers, trying to wrest that power away from him.

Simone's exit speech was as reasoned and unemotional as everything else she's said - she's proud of herself for trying something she was uncomfortable with.  Her Survivor adventure is over and she's sad, but she's living with it. (Bye Felicia, you will not be missed.)

So, second episode, no surprises - I hope they do something to spice this up (am I just jaded?)

Have a great Thanksgiving weekend everyone,

Coleen