Buy One, Get One Free
Previously on Survivor - cracks began to form in the alliance of seven when Devon realized that Ryan was sharing knowledge of his idol all over town and the girls bristled at Ben's dictatorial ways. However, it was Dr. Mike who decided he was going to make his mark by trying to lure votes towards himself at tribal (which didn't work) and then playing his idol (for no reason). It was Cole who ended up on the jury, which was going to happen anyway, and Mike burned his idol still thinking he made a brilliant play.
Solewa - Night 24
He was disabused of that fact when they got back to camp and Joe starting giving him grief for going rogue and not talking to him about this "big move" beforehand. He lost his idol which no one knew about and they could have used to keep them around longer. Plus Joe was mad Mike was trying to steal his villain thunder. Mike was steadfast in his belief that he had taken his game in his hands and he was now playing his own way... but he did end up going off by himself so they couldn't make fun of him anymore. (Poor Mike).
REWARD CHALLENGE
-It's the monkey feet challenge - they are all sitting on stools and can only use their feet to release a rope which will drop a bundle of block - they then have to arrange the blocks with their feet in a three level circle ending with the placing of a flag in the middle - Just with their FEET! I would be so dead. Reward is a seaplane tour of the sacred islands, then a feast of cheeseburgers, French fries and beer.
-Off they go and Dr. Mike is surprisingly limber with his feet, as is Lauren and Ashley - they are the front runners early. Mike gets to the point of setting his flag but he knocked over one of the blocks that he had to reset - which allowed Lauren to take the Reward right out from under him.
-Of course being the singular winner of a Reward is she gets to choose people to go with her. First she chooses Devon (her Hustler brethren), then Ben (her buddy) and Ashley (that surprised me.)
-Ryan is bitter but he pretends he's fine with it. Lauren tells the camera that she picked these people for strategic reasons, she's ready to blow up their group of seven.
At Camp - the plane does a fly-by and Joe moons them (keeping with last episode tradition.) Mike is very salty that he lost that challenge and is stuck at camp with the sheep of the seven alliance (in his mind) JP, Ryan and Chrissy. He decides that he and Joe are going to have a fun afternoon by being two obnoxious jerks basically - they think they're funny but no one else does. They dub themselves the Coco-nuts, since Joe is kinda brown and Mike is a male genital doctor... oy, that is the level of their humour.
-Ryan & Chrissy take some time to figure out how they want to vote once they are down to the seven, because of course Joe & Mike are the next two - then they are thinking Ben, then Lauren. And they are 100% sure that they are going to get to the seven.
REWARD
While filling their faces, Lauren proposes that these four create their own alliance and use Mike & Joe to take out one of the seven - because Chrissy, Ryan and JP are fooling themselves if they think it's smooth sailing to the seven.
-Lauren wants them to put all their cards on the table and then they can use their combined knowledge against the others. Ben and Devon confirm that Ryan has an idol, Lauren tells Devon & Ashley about her extra vote advantage... Ashley is just blown away, she didn't know any of this stuff (welcome to the party, Ashley.) She realizes she has to step up her game (ya think?)
-Lauren tells Ben and Ashley they have to put their dislike of Joe aside because they need to keep him around for a while - this ain't personal, it's business. They all agree this is now their plan and cheers with beers to solidify it. Devon is shocked that Lauren is as good a player as he is (yes, I rolled my eyes.)
And then the find the letters from home hidden under the extra buns and it devolves into a cry fest as they read letters from their loved ones - and have even more reason to thank Lauren for picking them for this reward.
Back at camp
-Ben goes off on his own to read his letters (the one from his son in the huge childish writing even made me tear up) and on his way back he stumbles across a marked rock with a clue to the hidden immunity idol. Yup, Ben finds himself a hidden immunity idol because the Marine in him had a mission with a map and objective... that little clay pot up in the tree didn't stand a chance.
-He sticks the idol in his boot and says he's not telling anybody about it because nobody around here can keep a darn secret (ha, he's right there.)
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
It's the triangular float/balance challenge where they have their feet on tiny ledges on either side of the triangle, they move up at regular intervals and if they touch the platform with their hands or fall off they are out. This one comes down to very light Ryan, desperate Dr. Mike and Ashley who rode that top of the float like a surf board and took the immunity. Her fellow newly minted alliance of four actually sat out this challenge as Jeff offered a huge bowl of peanut butter and chocolate for those that sat out and Ben, Lauren and Devon took advantage of it - huh, that seemed a little too cocky to me, they just ate at the Reward... but whatever, it worked out for them.
-Chrissy, JP and Ryan didn't win and they don't suspect a thing.
Solewa - Day 27
-Ryan has a bit of a bad taste in his mouth with three of their alliance sitting out the challenge - but luckily Ashley won so they still can take out Joe or Mike.
-Six of them meet to discuss (where is JP?) who to vote for tonight and all are okay with either one of the two "Coco-Nuts" going tonight. They decide the boys will vote Mike and girls will vote Joe, because won't it be fun surprising them with Mike leaving first.
-Lauren, Devon and Ashley meet on their own and discuss who they actually want to take out first, JP, Chrissy or Ryan... it's time for them to take charge of the game.
-Later Devon talks to Ben and Ashley and proposes that Ben vote for Mike tonight so that he can pretend he's not with their rogue four and can act as a double agent. Ben is worried about this idea at first but he comes around and seems excited to play this role - but this also means that they need Joe & Mike to vote with them to actually take out whomever they decide to target tonight (they never tell us who it is.)
-When Lauren and Ashley approach Mike & Joe they act like of course this was going to happen, who doesn't love the Coco-nuts? Mike, "All of a sudden the court jester has become Merlin and I'm going to make them disappear, one by one." (No you're not.)
TRIBAL COUNCIL - Night 27
-Mike was hoping last tribal with him borrowing a page a Joe's book, maybe they would believe him saying the crazy things because he's a doctor. (what?) Then they do some more of their Coco-nuts routine, they are a package two vote deal, use us to break up the seven.
-Ryan is over their shenanigans and reiterates that it's just ridiculous, their seven is just too strong (oh realllyy?)
-Lauren knows this seven can only last for so long, but they aren't sitting around the fire discussing which of the seven will go first.
-When does this happen? Ryan says it's happening when you don't know it's happening. If you haven't been in on any of those talks, it could be happening to you.
-JP cautions that they can't get to Plan B before they get through Plan A and sometimes you can get caught looking too far ahead and end up the one going home (that would never happen to our in-the-moment firefighter - he's not two steps ahead of anyone, unfortunately.)
-They move on saying that you always have to be playing unless you can find people you trust and how can you trust people in a game with so much distrust (again, welcome to Survivor.)
Finally it's time to vote:
Chrissy votes for Coco-Joe
JP votes for Dr. Mike
Ben votes for Mike
But they don't show us how anyone else voted.
Tallying the votes:
No one plays a hidden immunity idol, though Joe jokes he might have one.
Votes:
Mike - 1
Joe - 1
Mike - 2, 3 - he looks around like, man.
JP - 1, 2, 3 - so that's who they targeted.
JP - 4 - Chrissy and Ryan are freaking out, what is happening. Devon and Lauren are trying to hide their smiles and Ben and Ashley are much better actors.
JP - 5 - and it's JP joining the jury. He doesn't say anything a his torch is snuffed but walking away he says, "damn, they got me good."
So with JP going, that takes Shane B., Sharon R., and Susan H. out of the pool.
And we jump right back in with our second hour... Yikes.
Solewa - Night 27
-They get back to camp and Chrissy is looking for answers, "Someone please explain what happened? How did that play out?" Joe tells her they're Coco-Nuts not idiots, they're not telling her anything.
-Ben even gets a lick in, "big talk for someone who said he'd never be a puppet." Oh yeah, he's loving the double-agent thing... and he was really good at it. No one had any idea that Ben knew about this.
-Chrissy is genuinely upset that the three she sees as flipping (Devon, Lauren and Ashley) will not answer her questions. (They don't owe you anything) she feels like they treated her, Ryan and Ben poorly when they got back to camp because they wouldn't go over everything that happened and explain how they out-played her (?)
-Ryan was trying to be gracious, thanking them for keeping him around. He was actually infuriated that they got one over on him but he is falling back on his meek persona to try and keep himself there - underneath he is a seething cauldron of rage.
-Ben's next goal is to stay in with Chrissy & Ryan and get Ryan to play his idol.
-Ryan goes and talks to Devon to find out what the heck happened, he thought they were in it to the end. Devon told him that he no longer trusted him because he told Ben about his idol - it's that simple. Devon's plan to win a million dollars no longer includes Ryan.
Solewa - Day 28
Devon is feeling like his whole game has now become clear and honestly it seems to be going to his head. He's talking to Ben like he's now running the show - just one more vote and they'll have the majority and can be out in the open with Ben - Ben reminds him they have Lauren's extra vote so they do have the numbers - Devon, "Oh yeah." and then he tells us nobody knows he's as good at this game as he is... (Oh boy, this sounds like an invitation for Survivor Karma to bite him in the butt.)
REWARD CHALLENGE
-They are divided into two teams of four. They start out on a platform in the water - on Jeff's go they have to jump in the water and then get in a boat, then paddle the boat to three other platforms gathering very heavy bags of logs along their way in to shore. Once at shore they have to carry the heavy bags to their mat then start pushing the logs through a tunnel, pushing puzzle pieces out the other end. Once they have all the logs in the tunnel, and all the puzzle pieces out the other side, they can start on the puzzle. They have to arrange a bunch of narrow boards of varying lengths to form the picture and theme of this season - Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers.
The Reward they will win is Survivor Spa - a nice shower, massages and food of veggie wraps, chicken, fruit and pie.
The teams are not evenly divided muscle-wise, its:
Red: Lauren, Ryan, Mike and Chrissy
Blue: Ben, Ashley, Joe and Devon
Gotta give Lauren props, she was able to step up and muscle the logs into the boat and through the tunnel (the bag weighed more than Ryan and he couldn't lift it into the boat.) But the Blue team was just too far ahead and had more time with the puzzle - which brought them the win.
REWARD
They are filling their faces and Ben has to continue to play his role of betrayed king with his disloyal knights - Joe is eating it up. Secretly Ben is loving messing with Joe, especially since he doesn't even know it's happening. Any chance Ben has to mess with Joe he's going to take it.
-Ashley thinks Ben's performance is awesome, maybe too good though. He's selling it so well, she is realizing just how dangerous Ben really is... and it's kinda scary. (Uh oh - Ben is my guy in the pool, so this talk is not good.)
Solewa - Day 28
-Ryan decides he's got to talk to Mike and try to endear himself to him, with their similarities... but Mike is having none of it. He tried to worm his way in with Ryan a number of times and Ryan wouldn't give him the time of day, now the tables have turned and Mike could not be less interested in playing with Ryan at this point. "Isn't it just a buck late and a dollar short?" (Uh no, that's not the expression - A day late and a dollar short - but regardless, Ryan was Denied!)
-Chrissy found the same brick wall up when she tried to talk to Lauren. Everything she said, Lauren just uh huh'd her - she was not having any of it. Chrissy said that she and Ryan had talked strategy together prior to yesterday (how is that supposed to make Lauren want to talk to you now?) and they talked about going to the end with Lauren (no you did not) - but Lauren's no dummy - if Chrissy wanted to work with her she would have talked to her weeks ago, not after an epic blindside. Too bad, so sad.
Solewa - Day 29
It's a cold and rainy morning and Chrissy just can't seem to get herself out of bed - she's convinced that she, Ryan and Ben are the next to go and this game is just kicking her butt. She gets some rice and snaps out of it - she just had a moment because in her real life she is in control of everything and out there she is stripped bare and not in control of her own fate. This has been her dream for 16 years and she's going to use her actuarial brain to think of all the possible scenarios to keep herself there.
Day 30 - IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
This is a new one - they have to push what they call a Survivor driving wheel (kind of a plank with a wheel at one end, a handle at the other and a very small platform surface in the middle) they have to balance a clay pot with a key attached on this wheel, take it over a teeter-totter, over a zig-zag balance beam and then unlock puzzle pieces (12 of them) that they will then have to transport over a number of small mogul like triangles to the finish. Once they get all the pieces to the end, they have to arrange them vertically on a tall post and arrange them to spell a single word.
Ben and Devon were leading to the end, Ashley caught up by being able to carry more puzzle pieces to the end but then they had to solve a word puzzle and everyone caught up. It ended up being Chrissy who was able to figure out the word very quickly in a huge come-from-behind win. Chrissy just fulfilled a dream of winning individual immunity (so you can go home happy now?)
Solewa - Day 30
-Now they just have to get to gettin' and figure out who they are voting out next. Ben, Lauren, Devon and Ashley get together and Ben wants to vote out Joe next, they don't need him anymore and let's face it, Ben just doesn't like him much.
-So they all agree it's Joe tonight but what are they going to tell Mike & Joe? Devon devises the plan to tell them that Lauren is going to use her extra vote and they will split their votes three for Ben and three for Ryan... and they'll just vote for Joe.
-Joe is ecstatic hearing this plan, they will flush out Ryan's idol and Ben going home... and getting rid of Lauren's advantage - things could not look better for him right now. (Oh, they really could.)
-Mike is looking forward to Ben going home, he's the biggest threat out there and he's betrayed Mike numerous times - fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me... (Shame, Mike, Shame.)
-Chrissy, Ryan and Ben are talking and she's telling Ben whichever way they slice it, she's pretty sure it's going to be Ben tonight. He's playing up the "oh shucks, why me" while urging Ryan to play his idol - it'll make sure to get him to day 31. Ben says the play acting is taking it's toll on him but it will all be worth it when he can sit like a kid in a candy store and watch Joe get his torch snuffed.
-Lauren goes and talks to Ashley and they are thinking that maybe this could be the time to vote Ben out (WHAT?? Noooooo! Okay, it would be smart, hell even they would vote for Ben to win in the end - but he's my guy in the pool.) Ashley talks to Devon and tells him they are considering taking Ben out tonight and he's shocked... and intrigued. It's between Ben & Joe and it's not an easy decision to make - you want to be bold, but smart.
TRIBAL COUNCIL - Night 30
JP got a haircut since the last tribal council and Ashley is eye-banging him as he comes in, keep it in your pants lady.
-Mike and Chrissy are just loving living their Survivor dream. His tribe is vibing him and he's vibing his tribe (is that a thing people say?) For Chrissy she's been trying to get on Survivor since 2001 so finally being there is a dream come true and winning individual immunity will let her stay a bit longer so she can't help but be joyful.
-Joe says Tribal is exciting because you want to see how strong alliances are; see if they are going to play it safe or be risky.
-Ben plays along that he, Ryan and Chrissy were blindsided by his three rogue knights and the two court jesters forming up - and it looks like he's probably going home tonight.
-Ryan starts talking about that happening because maybe they became complacent but Joe is shaking his head and lays it all on Ben thinking that he was King, when he had kings and queens around him. He put his guard down and look what happened. He's taking a lot of joy in this.
-Ben wants to point out that Joe had made a habit of calling everyone else puppets and goats and sheep when now he's calling his alliance kings & queens when he's still on the bottom.
-Mike and Joe are just on the other side now - just because they are the newest members doesn't mean they are the least important, everyone has an equal say... and they are best sticking together.
-Ryan points out that is exactly what they criticized about the alliance of seven.
-Mike says he looks at it like two surgeons performing the same operation - the outcome is different because the surgeons are different. Just because the old alliance didn't do it right, doesn't mean the new alliance won't do it right. (Boom.)
-And they keep talking (why???) gotta keep vigilant, lots of ups and downs, gotta look for cracks, Ryan says it's like prom. Joe says this is the most comfortable he's felt, he trusts his alliance and Ben says that is what every comfortable alliance says, and yet they all get blindsided like he was.
Let's just vote already.
They don't show how anybody voted.
Tallying the votes:
Anybody want to play a hidden idol? Yes, Ryan does. He hands over his idol and plays it for himself.
Votes:
Ryan 1, 2 - does not count.
Ashley - 1, 2 (who voted Ashley?)
Joe - 1, 2, 3, 4... That's right, finally JOE is out and the Ben stuff was just a red herring, phew.
So with Joe leaving us, that takes Scott M., Lynne B., and Robert L. out of the pool.
Next week the loved ones will be visiting and Ben gets the feeling that there is something going on in his alliance of four, when he comes upon the other three at the waterhole, without him. He's making a fake immunity necklace and giving it to Devon (oh yeah!!)
Joe's final thoughts: It was a good call on their part, we had an alliance of five and obviously they didn't want me in that alliance. But he played how he said he was going to, gave 120%, found some idols and he played his game, he didn't play anyone else's game (until the end there).
There are only three episodes left people - the final episode is the week before Christmas so someone's going to have an extra happy holiday ;)
Have a great weekend,
Coleen
Previously on Survivor - cracks began to form in the alliance of seven when Devon realized that Ryan was sharing knowledge of his idol all over town and the girls bristled at Ben's dictatorial ways. However, it was Dr. Mike who decided he was going to make his mark by trying to lure votes towards himself at tribal (which didn't work) and then playing his idol (for no reason). It was Cole who ended up on the jury, which was going to happen anyway, and Mike burned his idol still thinking he made a brilliant play.
Solewa - Night 24
He was disabused of that fact when they got back to camp and Joe starting giving him grief for going rogue and not talking to him about this "big move" beforehand. He lost his idol which no one knew about and they could have used to keep them around longer. Plus Joe was mad Mike was trying to steal his villain thunder. Mike was steadfast in his belief that he had taken his game in his hands and he was now playing his own way... but he did end up going off by himself so they couldn't make fun of him anymore. (Poor Mike).
REWARD CHALLENGE
-It's the monkey feet challenge - they are all sitting on stools and can only use their feet to release a rope which will drop a bundle of block - they then have to arrange the blocks with their feet in a three level circle ending with the placing of a flag in the middle - Just with their FEET! I would be so dead. Reward is a seaplane tour of the sacred islands, then a feast of cheeseburgers, French fries and beer.
-Off they go and Dr. Mike is surprisingly limber with his feet, as is Lauren and Ashley - they are the front runners early. Mike gets to the point of setting his flag but he knocked over one of the blocks that he had to reset - which allowed Lauren to take the Reward right out from under him.
-Of course being the singular winner of a Reward is she gets to choose people to go with her. First she chooses Devon (her Hustler brethren), then Ben (her buddy) and Ashley (that surprised me.)
-Ryan is bitter but he pretends he's fine with it. Lauren tells the camera that she picked these people for strategic reasons, she's ready to blow up their group of seven.
At Camp - the plane does a fly-by and Joe moons them (keeping with last episode tradition.) Mike is very salty that he lost that challenge and is stuck at camp with the sheep of the seven alliance (in his mind) JP, Ryan and Chrissy. He decides that he and Joe are going to have a fun afternoon by being two obnoxious jerks basically - they think they're funny but no one else does. They dub themselves the Coco-nuts, since Joe is kinda brown and Mike is a male genital doctor... oy, that is the level of their humour.
-Ryan & Chrissy take some time to figure out how they want to vote once they are down to the seven, because of course Joe & Mike are the next two - then they are thinking Ben, then Lauren. And they are 100% sure that they are going to get to the seven.
REWARD
While filling their faces, Lauren proposes that these four create their own alliance and use Mike & Joe to take out one of the seven - because Chrissy, Ryan and JP are fooling themselves if they think it's smooth sailing to the seven.
-Lauren wants them to put all their cards on the table and then they can use their combined knowledge against the others. Ben and Devon confirm that Ryan has an idol, Lauren tells Devon & Ashley about her extra vote advantage... Ashley is just blown away, she didn't know any of this stuff (welcome to the party, Ashley.) She realizes she has to step up her game (ya think?)
-Lauren tells Ben and Ashley they have to put their dislike of Joe aside because they need to keep him around for a while - this ain't personal, it's business. They all agree this is now their plan and cheers with beers to solidify it. Devon is shocked that Lauren is as good a player as he is (yes, I rolled my eyes.)
And then the find the letters from home hidden under the extra buns and it devolves into a cry fest as they read letters from their loved ones - and have even more reason to thank Lauren for picking them for this reward.
Back at camp
-Ben goes off on his own to read his letters (the one from his son in the huge childish writing even made me tear up) and on his way back he stumbles across a marked rock with a clue to the hidden immunity idol. Yup, Ben finds himself a hidden immunity idol because the Marine in him had a mission with a map and objective... that little clay pot up in the tree didn't stand a chance.
-He sticks the idol in his boot and says he's not telling anybody about it because nobody around here can keep a darn secret (ha, he's right there.)
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
It's the triangular float/balance challenge where they have their feet on tiny ledges on either side of the triangle, they move up at regular intervals and if they touch the platform with their hands or fall off they are out. This one comes down to very light Ryan, desperate Dr. Mike and Ashley who rode that top of the float like a surf board and took the immunity. Her fellow newly minted alliance of four actually sat out this challenge as Jeff offered a huge bowl of peanut butter and chocolate for those that sat out and Ben, Lauren and Devon took advantage of it - huh, that seemed a little too cocky to me, they just ate at the Reward... but whatever, it worked out for them.
-Chrissy, JP and Ryan didn't win and they don't suspect a thing.
Solewa - Day 27
-Ryan has a bit of a bad taste in his mouth with three of their alliance sitting out the challenge - but luckily Ashley won so they still can take out Joe or Mike.
-Six of them meet to discuss (where is JP?) who to vote for tonight and all are okay with either one of the two "Coco-Nuts" going tonight. They decide the boys will vote Mike and girls will vote Joe, because won't it be fun surprising them with Mike leaving first.
-Lauren, Devon and Ashley meet on their own and discuss who they actually want to take out first, JP, Chrissy or Ryan... it's time for them to take charge of the game.
-Later Devon talks to Ben and Ashley and proposes that Ben vote for Mike tonight so that he can pretend he's not with their rogue four and can act as a double agent. Ben is worried about this idea at first but he comes around and seems excited to play this role - but this also means that they need Joe & Mike to vote with them to actually take out whomever they decide to target tonight (they never tell us who it is.)
-When Lauren and Ashley approach Mike & Joe they act like of course this was going to happen, who doesn't love the Coco-nuts? Mike, "All of a sudden the court jester has become Merlin and I'm going to make them disappear, one by one." (No you're not.)
TRIBAL COUNCIL - Night 27
-Mike was hoping last tribal with him borrowing a page a Joe's book, maybe they would believe him saying the crazy things because he's a doctor. (what?) Then they do some more of their Coco-nuts routine, they are a package two vote deal, use us to break up the seven.
-Ryan is over their shenanigans and reiterates that it's just ridiculous, their seven is just too strong (oh realllyy?)
-Lauren knows this seven can only last for so long, but they aren't sitting around the fire discussing which of the seven will go first.
-When does this happen? Ryan says it's happening when you don't know it's happening. If you haven't been in on any of those talks, it could be happening to you.
-JP cautions that they can't get to Plan B before they get through Plan A and sometimes you can get caught looking too far ahead and end up the one going home (that would never happen to our in-the-moment firefighter - he's not two steps ahead of anyone, unfortunately.)
-They move on saying that you always have to be playing unless you can find people you trust and how can you trust people in a game with so much distrust (again, welcome to Survivor.)
Finally it's time to vote:
Chrissy votes for Coco-Joe
JP votes for Dr. Mike
Ben votes for Mike
But they don't show us how anyone else voted.
Tallying the votes:
No one plays a hidden immunity idol, though Joe jokes he might have one.
Votes:
Mike - 1
Joe - 1
Mike - 2, 3 - he looks around like, man.
JP - 1, 2, 3 - so that's who they targeted.
JP - 4 - Chrissy and Ryan are freaking out, what is happening. Devon and Lauren are trying to hide their smiles and Ben and Ashley are much better actors.
JP - 5 - and it's JP joining the jury. He doesn't say anything a his torch is snuffed but walking away he says, "damn, they got me good."
So with JP going, that takes Shane B., Sharon R., and Susan H. out of the pool.
And we jump right back in with our second hour... Yikes.
Solewa - Night 27
-They get back to camp and Chrissy is looking for answers, "Someone please explain what happened? How did that play out?" Joe tells her they're Coco-Nuts not idiots, they're not telling her anything.
-Ben even gets a lick in, "big talk for someone who said he'd never be a puppet." Oh yeah, he's loving the double-agent thing... and he was really good at it. No one had any idea that Ben knew about this.
-Chrissy is genuinely upset that the three she sees as flipping (Devon, Lauren and Ashley) will not answer her questions. (They don't owe you anything) she feels like they treated her, Ryan and Ben poorly when they got back to camp because they wouldn't go over everything that happened and explain how they out-played her (?)
-Ryan was trying to be gracious, thanking them for keeping him around. He was actually infuriated that they got one over on him but he is falling back on his meek persona to try and keep himself there - underneath he is a seething cauldron of rage.
-Ben's next goal is to stay in with Chrissy & Ryan and get Ryan to play his idol.
-Ryan goes and talks to Devon to find out what the heck happened, he thought they were in it to the end. Devon told him that he no longer trusted him because he told Ben about his idol - it's that simple. Devon's plan to win a million dollars no longer includes Ryan.
Solewa - Day 28
Devon is feeling like his whole game has now become clear and honestly it seems to be going to his head. He's talking to Ben like he's now running the show - just one more vote and they'll have the majority and can be out in the open with Ben - Ben reminds him they have Lauren's extra vote so they do have the numbers - Devon, "Oh yeah." and then he tells us nobody knows he's as good at this game as he is... (Oh boy, this sounds like an invitation for Survivor Karma to bite him in the butt.)
REWARD CHALLENGE
-They are divided into two teams of four. They start out on a platform in the water - on Jeff's go they have to jump in the water and then get in a boat, then paddle the boat to three other platforms gathering very heavy bags of logs along their way in to shore. Once at shore they have to carry the heavy bags to their mat then start pushing the logs through a tunnel, pushing puzzle pieces out the other end. Once they have all the logs in the tunnel, and all the puzzle pieces out the other side, they can start on the puzzle. They have to arrange a bunch of narrow boards of varying lengths to form the picture and theme of this season - Heroes vs Healers vs Hustlers.
The Reward they will win is Survivor Spa - a nice shower, massages and food of veggie wraps, chicken, fruit and pie.
The teams are not evenly divided muscle-wise, its:
Red: Lauren, Ryan, Mike and Chrissy
Blue: Ben, Ashley, Joe and Devon
Gotta give Lauren props, she was able to step up and muscle the logs into the boat and through the tunnel (the bag weighed more than Ryan and he couldn't lift it into the boat.) But the Blue team was just too far ahead and had more time with the puzzle - which brought them the win.
REWARD
They are filling their faces and Ben has to continue to play his role of betrayed king with his disloyal knights - Joe is eating it up. Secretly Ben is loving messing with Joe, especially since he doesn't even know it's happening. Any chance Ben has to mess with Joe he's going to take it.
-Ashley thinks Ben's performance is awesome, maybe too good though. He's selling it so well, she is realizing just how dangerous Ben really is... and it's kinda scary. (Uh oh - Ben is my guy in the pool, so this talk is not good.)
Solewa - Day 28
-Ryan decides he's got to talk to Mike and try to endear himself to him, with their similarities... but Mike is having none of it. He tried to worm his way in with Ryan a number of times and Ryan wouldn't give him the time of day, now the tables have turned and Mike could not be less interested in playing with Ryan at this point. "Isn't it just a buck late and a dollar short?" (Uh no, that's not the expression - A day late and a dollar short - but regardless, Ryan was Denied!)
-Chrissy found the same brick wall up when she tried to talk to Lauren. Everything she said, Lauren just uh huh'd her - she was not having any of it. Chrissy said that she and Ryan had talked strategy together prior to yesterday (how is that supposed to make Lauren want to talk to you now?) and they talked about going to the end with Lauren (no you did not) - but Lauren's no dummy - if Chrissy wanted to work with her she would have talked to her weeks ago, not after an epic blindside. Too bad, so sad.
Solewa - Day 29
It's a cold and rainy morning and Chrissy just can't seem to get herself out of bed - she's convinced that she, Ryan and Ben are the next to go and this game is just kicking her butt. She gets some rice and snaps out of it - she just had a moment because in her real life she is in control of everything and out there she is stripped bare and not in control of her own fate. This has been her dream for 16 years and she's going to use her actuarial brain to think of all the possible scenarios to keep herself there.
Day 30 - IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
This is a new one - they have to push what they call a Survivor driving wheel (kind of a plank with a wheel at one end, a handle at the other and a very small platform surface in the middle) they have to balance a clay pot with a key attached on this wheel, take it over a teeter-totter, over a zig-zag balance beam and then unlock puzzle pieces (12 of them) that they will then have to transport over a number of small mogul like triangles to the finish. Once they get all the pieces to the end, they have to arrange them vertically on a tall post and arrange them to spell a single word.
Ben and Devon were leading to the end, Ashley caught up by being able to carry more puzzle pieces to the end but then they had to solve a word puzzle and everyone caught up. It ended up being Chrissy who was able to figure out the word very quickly in a huge come-from-behind win. Chrissy just fulfilled a dream of winning individual immunity (so you can go home happy now?)
Solewa - Day 30
-Now they just have to get to gettin' and figure out who they are voting out next. Ben, Lauren, Devon and Ashley get together and Ben wants to vote out Joe next, they don't need him anymore and let's face it, Ben just doesn't like him much.
-So they all agree it's Joe tonight but what are they going to tell Mike & Joe? Devon devises the plan to tell them that Lauren is going to use her extra vote and they will split their votes three for Ben and three for Ryan... and they'll just vote for Joe.
-Joe is ecstatic hearing this plan, they will flush out Ryan's idol and Ben going home... and getting rid of Lauren's advantage - things could not look better for him right now. (Oh, they really could.)
-Mike is looking forward to Ben going home, he's the biggest threat out there and he's betrayed Mike numerous times - fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me... (Shame, Mike, Shame.)
-Chrissy, Ryan and Ben are talking and she's telling Ben whichever way they slice it, she's pretty sure it's going to be Ben tonight. He's playing up the "oh shucks, why me" while urging Ryan to play his idol - it'll make sure to get him to day 31. Ben says the play acting is taking it's toll on him but it will all be worth it when he can sit like a kid in a candy store and watch Joe get his torch snuffed.
-Lauren goes and talks to Ashley and they are thinking that maybe this could be the time to vote Ben out (WHAT?? Noooooo! Okay, it would be smart, hell even they would vote for Ben to win in the end - but he's my guy in the pool.) Ashley talks to Devon and tells him they are considering taking Ben out tonight and he's shocked... and intrigued. It's between Ben & Joe and it's not an easy decision to make - you want to be bold, but smart.
TRIBAL COUNCIL - Night 30
JP got a haircut since the last tribal council and Ashley is eye-banging him as he comes in, keep it in your pants lady.
-Mike and Chrissy are just loving living their Survivor dream. His tribe is vibing him and he's vibing his tribe (is that a thing people say?) For Chrissy she's been trying to get on Survivor since 2001 so finally being there is a dream come true and winning individual immunity will let her stay a bit longer so she can't help but be joyful.
-Joe says Tribal is exciting because you want to see how strong alliances are; see if they are going to play it safe or be risky.
-Ben plays along that he, Ryan and Chrissy were blindsided by his three rogue knights and the two court jesters forming up - and it looks like he's probably going home tonight.
-Ryan starts talking about that happening because maybe they became complacent but Joe is shaking his head and lays it all on Ben thinking that he was King, when he had kings and queens around him. He put his guard down and look what happened. He's taking a lot of joy in this.
-Ben wants to point out that Joe had made a habit of calling everyone else puppets and goats and sheep when now he's calling his alliance kings & queens when he's still on the bottom.
-Mike and Joe are just on the other side now - just because they are the newest members doesn't mean they are the least important, everyone has an equal say... and they are best sticking together.
-Ryan points out that is exactly what they criticized about the alliance of seven.
-Mike says he looks at it like two surgeons performing the same operation - the outcome is different because the surgeons are different. Just because the old alliance didn't do it right, doesn't mean the new alliance won't do it right. (Boom.)
-And they keep talking (why???) gotta keep vigilant, lots of ups and downs, gotta look for cracks, Ryan says it's like prom. Joe says this is the most comfortable he's felt, he trusts his alliance and Ben says that is what every comfortable alliance says, and yet they all get blindsided like he was.
Let's just vote already.
They don't show how anybody voted.
Tallying the votes:
Anybody want to play a hidden idol? Yes, Ryan does. He hands over his idol and plays it for himself.
Votes:
Ryan 1, 2 - does not count.
Ashley - 1, 2 (who voted Ashley?)
Joe - 1, 2, 3, 4... That's right, finally JOE is out and the Ben stuff was just a red herring, phew.
So with Joe leaving us, that takes Scott M., Lynne B., and Robert L. out of the pool.
Next week the loved ones will be visiting and Ben gets the feeling that there is something going on in his alliance of four, when he comes upon the other three at the waterhole, without him. He's making a fake immunity necklace and giving it to Devon (oh yeah!!)
Joe's final thoughts: It was a good call on their part, we had an alliance of five and obviously they didn't want me in that alliance. But he played how he said he was going to, gave 120%, found some idols and he played his game, he didn't play anyone else's game (until the end there).
There are only three episodes left people - the final episode is the week before Christmas so someone's going to have an extra happy holiday ;)
Have a great weekend,
Coleen
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