Survivor HvHvH - Nov 15/17 Episode Recap

Playing With the Devil

Last week the Heroes and Hustlers came together to take out a Healer and, while Joe thought they would be voting for him and played his hidden idol for himself, they actually voted out Jessica (and we won't have to watch her make googly eyes at Cole anymore.)

Solewa - Night 19
-They return to camp and Joe is giving Ben props for blindsiding them with the Jessica vote - Cole is just pouty that everyone lied to him (grow up.) 
-Ben is still trying to downplay his part but he's riding high with his plan coming together.  He hopes he can keep the reigns on this Heroes/Hustler alliance and ride it to a seven but he's leery (okay, he said weary, but we all know that's wrong) of the individual part - all it takes is one individual to mess the whole thing up (uh, yeah, they're all out there for number one... and that ain't you.)

Solewa - Day 20
-Lauren's hammering a nail into the tree to hang something and it flies off so she goes to get another nail and finally notices the Secret Advantage that has been in with the nails since the merge.  She slips it in her pocket and slips away to read it.  The Secret Advantage will allow her to secretly not vote at the next Tribal Council, instead she will put the secret advantage scroll in the urn and take the blank voting parchment to vote twice in the future.  Her biggest worry is how to do this switcheroo without 10 other people noticing.  (My worry would be someone realizing there is one less vote than there should be - but that's just me apparently.)

Reward Challenge
They will be randomly divided into two teams.  On Jeff's go, one person from each team will race through a series of obstacles, up a tower to a huge slingshot where they will have to try and hit 5 targets.  Everybody on the team must go through the course at least once and then the people that are good at the target hitting can keep going until the targets are done.  First team to hit all the targets wins reward of: Spaghetti, salad, bread and wine.

There is one extra person as there are still eleven people so the odd man out will win the lottery, not have to participate in the challenge but still go on the reward.  And that winner is Joe (ugh, that guy doesn't deserve a reward - I'm hating on Joe tonight guys - if you like him, I'm sorry.)

We have the beefcake against the not so beefcake:
Blue: JP, Devon, Cole, Chrissy & Ryan vs  Red: Desi, Ashley, Ben, Dr. Mike and Lauren.
The blue team had people run through make one attempt at the target and head back down so that they met the everyone participating quota and could concentrate the ace shots to hit the targets.
The red team had everyone keep shooting until they hit a target before changing people out and this was their downfall when Ashley was up there a long time and Blue hit the fifth target before Desi even had her chance to try.

So Beefcake Blue won the Reward and Jeff tells them of another little twist in this Reward - the meal will be served family style - so all the food on one big plate or bowl - and they will eat one at a time (oh jeez, don't let Cole go first).  Joe, as the lottery winner, gets to choose the order that people get to eat as well.  Yikes.
-Joe doesn't want people to hate him even more so he chooses Devon to go first since it's his birthday and he says that he'll go last because he didn't do anything to earn the reward, he's okay with the scraps.

Devon gets in there and he eats a healthy portion, plus a bunch of salad and a pretty health glass of wine.  As he gets up to leave, they show us that there is just the bit of a letter peaking out from under the food - Devon ate all along one edge and didn't see, there is writing on the platter under the spaghetti.
JP gets there next and again proves he's not the sharpest tool in the shed - he eats a lot of the spaghetti but messed it up so he never saw the bottom of the plate - also missed the clue.
Cole was next and his first bite, he notices there is writing on the plate - he reads that there is a hidden immunity idol buried under the flag back at camp... then trying to figure out how to hide this from everyone else, he moves the food onto a towel and puts it over the plate so they can't see under the food.
Chrissy is next and she's immediately looking for a clue, eating is secondary (do you not think it's weird that the spaghetti is on a towel?) - finally she moves the towel and also reads the clue.
Ryan comes next and he finds the clue pretty quickly - he's not taking any chances on Joe reading it - he takes the platter and hides it in the bush under a log covered with foliage. 
Joe gets the dregs on a towel... but they don't show him eating - I'd be wondering what the heck?

-Chrissy can't help herself, she is whispering to Ryan asking if he saw the clue, wondering if Cole did (and he's right beside them) Cole knows they must be talking about the clue and asks them what they are whispering about - Oh nothing... (Chrissy just can't help herself I think.)  Cole's not too worried if they saw the clue, when push comes to shove he figures he can out-muscle these two and he'll go all out the an idol.

So they head back to camp and Chrissy, Ryan and Cole are the last three straggling by the flag.  They can't very well just have at it right away so they continue on to camp and make small talk answering questions about the reward - when Cole goes to take a pee and Ryan ceases his opportunity.  He slips over to the flag and quickly digs up the idol.  JP wanders by and Ryan quickly tucks the idol in his shorts and walks away - Chrissy comes out and he tells her he has it and she should cover up his digging - but I don't know if she heard him.  She seems to start digging and Cole has come back and sees her there and he sprints over to her bowls her over and starts digging - she's yelling at JP to help her, then Ben gets in on the fray... and Ryan is just standing there with the idol in his shorts watching these grown adults writhing in the sand.
-It does break up and Ben announces that Cole got it, he just saw him shove it in his pants.  Cole didn't get it but no one believes him and he just doesn't know what to do about it - he's going to have to try and win immunity.
-Ben doesn't like Cole and this little stunt just makes him dislike him that much more - Ben's trying to blow out Cole's game, he doesn't care. (Better watch out, people can turn on you if you become too much of a bully.)

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
They will be standing on a narrow beam while balancing a small statue on a board in front of them at the end of a very long pole.  At certain intervals, they will have to move back on the beam, having to use more of the long pole to keep the statue balanced on the board.  If at any time they step off the beam or their statue falls, they are out.  Last person and statue standing wins Immunity.
-Off they go and Dr. Mike is out immediately (he should have just let his shirt do all the work - that thing looks like it could stand up on it's own - gross) - they do start dropping pretty regularly, this one is hard.  Joe is next off, followed by Devon (which surprised me, surfer dude usually has great balance) - At this point Jeff remarks that he can see Ryan's heart beating right out of his chest and you can - OMG! This guy is so skinny you can literally see his heart beating under his ribs, that's so crazy.  Lauren is next to drop, followed by Ryan.
-10 minutes elapsed and they move back on the beam - Ashley drops her statue, Chrissy drops and we're down to Ben, Desi, Cole and JP... with all the guys wobbling... but it's Ben who falls next and then Desi (darn it! I thought she'd go all the way) now it's Cole vs JP and somehow COLE was able to pull it out of his butt and win Immunity.

Solewa - Day 21
They return to camp and Cole is preening like peacock about his win, so humble.  Yes, he is ecstatic he won immunity and saved his own butt, but he knows that the Healers are a sinking ship at this point.
-The Heroes/Hustlers are still solely focused on taking out the Healers, with Cole off the table they decide to split their votes between Joe and Desi in case there is another hidden immunity idol among them.

-Cole tells Joe and Mike that he does not have the hidden idol so he's not going to be able to save anyone.  They figure that the two remaining hustlers, Ryan and Devon, are the key to all of them sticking around so Joe goes and tries to get them to turn on Ben.
-Joe goes and talks to Ryan and Devon - and the best part of this whole scene is Ben hiding in the foliage behind a tree listening to the whole thing - Joe basically tells them they're stupid to allow Ben to call the shots and if they go to the final three with Ben, he's going to win.
-Ryan does agree that Ben would be hard to beat, he's a former marine, he's got a great story and he's just a really nice guy - but now is not the time for Ryan to make a move on Ben.

-Ben just really doesn't like Joe now either - and he postures up to him, "Jo-jo, what ya going to do tonight man? Play another idol?"  Joe plays it cool, "maybe"... until he doesn't.  Joe starts pushing buttons like Joe likes to do, he casually says that he's heard Ben swear on the Marines to people... and that was it, he found the button for sure - Ben gets really angry that Joe is lying or someone is lying about him using the Marine Corps (I'm not really sure why swearing on the Marine Corps would be so bad but anyway it was a trigger and it got loud.) I can't stand people like Joe, just stirring up drama to throw people off their game.  Desi hopes Joe knows what he's doing - this could reflect heat back on her with the Healers on the bottom.

-Lauren has to fess up to Ben that she won't be part of this split vote because of her hidden advantage that is allowing her not to vote so she can vote twice in the future.  Ben is trying to be understanding and supportive of Lauren using her advantage cause it could be used to their advantage when they down to the nitty-gritty, but he's not happy she could be messing up his plans tonight.
-Ben decides they need a Healer to vote with them and goes to Dr. Mike saying he can't stand Joe any longer and he needs Mike to vote with them (for Joe) or Ben could be going home.
-Mike doesn't get it, the numbers don't add up - but this could also be his chance to get off the bottom with the Healers by showing his alliance to Ben.  Mike goes and tells Cole (yeah, cause he's a great sounding board) but they know if Joe goes tonight, Cole would be next, then Mike.

TRIBAL COUNCIL
-Joe starts immediately saying that Ben is running the show.
-Ben says apparently he is a threat to Joe but his is not a one person alliance, they sit at a round table and they have each others back.
-Cole knows that the Healers are the targets for sure, he is not buying into the lies that his former Yawa people are still with them.  And Joes uses this as another chance to throw shade at Ben, saying he told them that they shouldn't have trusted Ben and the Healers were strong until they let Ben call the shots... (jeez dude, read the room)
-And Ben brings up that this is coming from a guy who said he swore on the Marine Corps which he would never do - He said Joe was pushing buttons as he likes to do - Joe interrupts, "I wasn't pushing buttons..." Ben asks if he could let him finish and Joe is still talking finally Chrissy tells him to just stop talking, "no one wants to listen to you anymore" (Yay, Chrissy was my spirit animal at that moment.)
-Jeff is impressed that one guy can get so many people emotional - Ashley says it's very hard to say if Joe is really good at playing this game or just really good at being very annoying - and Joe even interrupts that to say it's a bit of both - which annoys her that she can't even get her point out without him talking.
-Desi says something really articulate but possibly over everyone's heads - basically she thinks that Joe has been very consistent in his game play and he manipulates words so they could have two meanings... (whatever, his crap is splashing all over you tonight.)
-Mike felt betrayed by his Yawa alliance not sticking together.
-Ben has struggled since leaving the Marine Corps and he apologized not for Joe pushing his buttons but for him allowing himself to get so angry about it.
-Desi again, the most we've heard from her, says you could look at Survivor pushing people to be the best version of themselves but most of them would agree that lying isn't being the best version of yourself and everyone there has lied to some degree - it's where you want to draw your moral line.
-Then we go off on a little existential tangent about being stripped down and not able to be the being of light you're meant to be... Seriously?

Time to Vote:
So my husband was wondering if Lauren put the advantage scroll in her front pocket, how's she going to do this without them seeing and I'm like, it's in her bra ... and it was, she pulls it out of her cleavage and puts the blank one back in her shirt (bra, the magic pocket.)

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

Votes:
Ben - 1
Lauren - 1 (who voted for Lauren?)
Desi - 1
Joe - 1
Desi - 2
Joe - 2
Desi - 3
Joe- 3
Desi - 4
Joe - 4 - so we are at a tie with 4 votes each for Desi and Joe... and no one notices that there are only 10 votes between 11 people. 

Anyway - they will be voting again - Desi and Joe cannot vote, everyone else can only vote for Desi or Joe... and Lauren still has to abstain so this time she just pushes the parchment off the back end of the table.

I'm figuring this is a no-brainer, good-bye big mouth...
Votes:
Desi - 1
Joe - 1
Desi - 2, 3 (what is going on?) 4... 5 and it's Desi voted out. WHAT JUST HAPPENED? I do not get it. How could they not have taken this opportunity to get rid of Joe?? Just flabbergasted.

So with Desi leaving, that takes Sunnie C., Trish W., and Yvette S. out of the pool. (You were robbed I say, gone too soon.)

Next week: Lauren is armed and dangerous with her advantage - and Ryan has loose lips, telling Devon and Ben about his idol, then Ben telling Devon about Ryan's idol... which blows up Devon's game.

Desi is crying in her exit interview - it didn't go as she had hoped and it's truly heartbreaking. She is not used to losing but she wasn't part of anybody's plan to go forward so someone had to go home... and she had nothing else to say.  (I'm sorry we didn't get to know her better, I think I would have liked her... but she was too smart and quiet to make good TV, I guess.)

Have a great weekend everyone,

Coleen





 

Survivor HvHvH - Nov 8/17 Episode Recap

Get to Gettin'

Last week on Survivor, Bellhop Ryan and Actuarial Chrissy made the decision to keep clueless Firefighter JP and send Personal Assistant Ali packing... in one of the most unsurprising Tribal Council's ever.

Soko - Night 16
-Chrissy is basically patting herself on the back, said she had to keep herself from smiling when Ali went home because it was sad, but she was so freakin' happy.  Chrissy tells the camera the next day that she has been dominating the social game and thinks she's in a very good position as both guys are closer to her than they are to each other.  She thinks where she is right now is setting her up for a nice future run... which is the kiss of death right there, why would you say that?

Yawa - Day 17
-Cole thinks they are five strong and will stick together going into a merge.  They all do discuss it and agree if they got into a merge five strong they'll do alright, but Ben is concerned about Cole... and Jessica.  They are sitting down there playing patty-cake all night long, and it's just hard to trust that (plus he just doesn't like Cole.)

Levu - Day 17
-This is a divided and broken tribe - it's Joe & Desi and Ashley & Devon... and they are starving.  There is no rice, no food other than a little bit of sugar which they all get a little of for breakfast.  Something has got to get better for them or they are done.

They arrive for a challenge and Jeff tells them first things first - Drop your buffs! IT'S THE MERGE! (and the challenge set up was just a ruse.)  They are all hoping for a feast and Jeff tells them this season is different... there is no feast.  It's better, they have the Outback Steakhouse there for them - and they lose their minds... they get to go have steaks made to order, however they want them... and apparently they want three each and lava cake.

Ryan says they have made the merge which is what they have all dreamed of - now it's the play-offs. 

But first they feast and drink and feast some more... Cole is just stuffing his face, before going there he was eating 8K calories a day (what?) so food has been a huge issue for him.  He feels though that he's halfway up the mountain making the merge and that's how you conquer a mountain, one step at a time.
-Joe is being Joe, boasting about how many steaks he ordered (2) and 3 lava cakes.  Chrissy tells the camera exactly what I would be feeling, this is her first exposure to Joe and she can't help but be thankful she has played all this time out there without Joe. (Ha!) He's loud and obnoxious and she is not a fan.  However she is always playing and she chats him up to get info - he can't help boasting about finding and playing a hidden immunity idol already - which gives Chrissy pause and more reason to want to vote Joe out as soon as she can.  He found one idol, he could have another - and he even says he's going to find idols at every camp.

Jessica is embarrassed as a virgin to say that she loved the Aussie waiter's Thunder from DownUnder chocolate cake (hoh boy) but she leads us to the game kicking back in.  She hopes they stay 5 Yawa strong and she's hoping they can pull the former Healers Joe & Desi over to give them the majority.

Chrissy starts talking to Ben and he's trying to keep their connection on the down low.  She's whispering that she's glad to see him and he keeps warning her they're being listened to - she continues that the only person she's worried about is Joe and Ben is telling her to shut it.  Okay, they'll talk when they get back to camp - he adds, Secretly. 
Ben does not want it to seem like he and Chrissy are in a tight alliance, he's in full on Merge mode - it's all about him and his family from here on out, none of this camaraderie - it's going to be blindsides, lies and he's sure someone is going to cry.

Merged Camp - Day 17
-They got a lot of supplies to help set up their new camp and they get to building a new shelter. Cole is telling the camera that they even got these big nails (they show the bundle) and Cole goes on that the thought occurred to him that he should be looking for some kind of clue in the stuff... he grabs a nail, and there is a clue in the middle of the bundle of nails, we see it, they enhance it on the screen - and Cole says, "but I couldn't find anything." (Oh sweet Jebus! This guy is the worst.)
-Jessica and Desi go for a little walk and Jessica was pleased to hear that she and Joe were still working together and were open to team back up with the former Healers - Jessica feels like the queen bee at this moment (oh jeez.)

-Devon & Ryan also come together and they talk about a Hustlers/Heroes alliance to take out the Healers.  Ryan's close with JP & Chrissy, Devon is close with Ashley and then Lauren is the other Hustler and Ben the Hero... They know this first merged vote will set the tone and decide who will dictate the rest of the game.  Ryan says a Hustler doesn't wait, a hustler goes out and makes alliances.

Solewa - Day 18
-Devon is talking to Lauren like she's going to be on board with the Hustlers coming back together, he tells her they are sitting pretty in the minority because everyone is going to want their votes. He tells her the plan to team up with the Heroes to take out the Healers but Lauren tells the camera that she doesn't want any part of that.  She is bonded with her Healer/Yawas, especially Dr. Mike and she wants to honour her pact and stay 5 Yawa strong.
-Lauren goes and tells Mike right away what Devon told her about the plan to take out the Healers, while assuring him that she's still with them.  Mike is now expecting a war.

-Devon is sharing his plan with Ben & Chrissy too, telling them that he wants the three Hustlers and four Heroes to take out either Cole or Joe, makes no difference to him.  Chrissy is all on board to get rid of Joe, she could barely get through a whole lunch with him.  Ben plays it close to the chest but we know he doesn't like Cole, though he has a pact with Yawa.
-Ben tells the camera he is listening to everyone and he's got options - he can go with the Heroes/Hustlers or he can try and get the Yawa five happening... but the question is, can he trust Cole... who they show is now eating cinnamon sticks (Dude! Come on) which disgusts Ben all over again.  He thinks Cole is selfish and has no respect for anyone... and Ben goes and tells Jessica and Lauren at the beach that Cole is up there eating cinnamon sticks.
-Jessica gets it, Cole has made a big mistakes, especially with food.  He goes off by himself and eats by himself - you can't do that in Survivor when everyone is hungry - she thinks it's time for her to talk to him again.  And when he inevitably comes to sit with Jessica she tells him that he can't be eating the cinnamon sticks, and he starts getting little kid defensive, Lauren chimes in and tells him they are just trying to help him out here, don't do it.  And they tell him Ben said something.

-Ben goes and talks to Dr. Mike and tells him the Devon was in for voting out Cole or Joe and Mike tells him that voting Cole would destroy their alliance of five.  They can't do it.  Ben backpedals, says this is just theoretical right now - and Mike points out that they should take this one vote at a time and Cole right now, is on his side.
-Mike goes and tells Cole that the Heroes and Hustlers are gunning for Cole or Joe and Cole is shitting bricks - he is such a child - "You still have me right?" Mike assures him that they are still Yawa strong but Cole's worried and yet hopeful that his alliances will keep him around.

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
This is the first individual immunity challenge and Jeff unveils the ugly necklace - oooh.

They will be standing on a narrow beam while spinning a ball in a circular wooden track.  At regular intervals they will have to move down the beam which gets progressively narrower, making it that much harder to keep focused and balanced.  If at any time the ball falls out of the track or if they fall off the beam, they are out.  Last person standing wins immunity.

Off they go and Ryan is out almost immediately.  This is not all that easy, if your rhythm of the spin gets out of whack, that ball takes off and then moving while doing it... yup, they fall off pretty consistently once they start moving down the beam - leaving the last two standing Ashley and Desi. They are both a little wobbly at the narrowest part but it's Ashley that loses her balance and DESI pulls out the first individual immunity win (has anyone else noticed that she is a challenge beast yet?)

Solewa - Day 19
Returning from the challenge Cole is feeling very vulnerable and decides he has to try and make up to Ben who he has offended with his eating habits.  Cole approaches Ben to apologize, basically saying he doesn't even think when he does stuff like eating all the food to himself and he wished that Ben would say something so he would know his behaviour was rubbing him the wrong way (he is not your mother, you should be able to pick up these things... I hate to say it, but fricken' Millennial man, you shouldn't need someone to tell you that the world does not revolve around you.) Ben tells him he appreciates him owning up to it but it doesn't really make him like Cole any better.  Ben knows that he has to think tactically and not emotionally and right now breaking with the Yawa five could backfire on him later on - so if he has to work with Cole to stay longer, he will.

-Joe goes and talks to Cole about the two of them being on the block tonight and Ben can never keep his fricken' mouth shut, he tells Joe that the Red tribe has a pact that all their votes will go to the same place.  Joe asks why they would have brought Ben in on that, he's going to flip on them - (Did Joe ever play with Ben?  I'm wondering why he would think that - unless he is just that good a judge of people, which he may be.)  Joe says he knows Ben is playing both sides and his former Healers have been compromised, "They seem to be sipping on the Ben juice right now" (ew.)
-Joe's not too worried, he has an idol and if he needs to, he'll play it at Tribal.

-Cole talks to Mike, Lauren and Desi to see what they are thinking. Mike says he thinks they should target Chrissy, she's way too smart and therefore a threat to them.  Mike thinks they will vote at least Healers strong and he trusts Lauren to vote with them.  The question then becomes, is Ben with them or against them.

-Lauren goes and talks to Ben saying they need to keep their Yawa five together for now - Ben says he thinks they need to take a Healer out but Lauren wants to keep their word to Yawa, this is the best way for them to look out for themselves in this game.

-Heroes and Hustlers meet up to discuss their voting strategy - their first target is Cole but Chrissy thinks they should make it look like they're voting Joe so he'll play his idol and then take out Cole... but what if Joe has an idol... and decides to play it for Cole - Plan B, take out Jessica - they want to split her and Cole up anyway.

-Ben is still torn - does he stick with his original alliance with Chrissy and take out a Healer like he wants to do, or stick with his new alliance with Yawa and vote out Chrissy?  Battle lines will be drawn tonight.

TRIBAL COUNCIL
This is the first time Cole, Jessica and Dr. Mike have been to tribal council so they had to light their torches (crazy, that's pretty far to get into the game without going to Tribal, good for them.)

-Ryan agrees they have the original tribe division still but they also have the other tribes they've been in for the past 8 days as well.
-Mike said the simple move would be to start taking out Healers tonight but what he saw is that people are thinking beyond to the second and third move and people are scrambling.
-Joe is having none of the pussy footing around - he only heard like, three names today, it's BS to think everyone is nervous.
-Jeff leads Cole into saying that he trusts his alliances and he's not worried (I also smell BS) Joe is laughing at him.
-Lauren said everyone was sizing everyone up, determining who was a threat, who they could play with and who just got on their nerves.
-Chrissy agrees that it's usually the physical threats that are targeted after the merge but this season they are looking at much more than just physical threats. (I rolled my eyes at that.)
-Joe hates the non-answer crap - and he basically says he's been honest, he's smart, he's physical but he's honest.  These people just talk and they may have your back this vote but next time your deuces (I don't know what that means.) 
-Mike says Joe is talking like he has all the Healer's back but he didn't have Mike's he's not reassured - he had everyone thinking Mike had an idol when it was Joe that found the idol - Deuces.
-Joe then stands up and says, my bad, did I say I found an idol, I found IDOLS - and then he pulls out the idol he found at the last camp and he babbles some more nonsense I didn't understand - and puts on the idol so they can all figure it out.
-Cole is thinking that Joe just put the nail in his coffin by revealing he actually has an idol, Cole says this could be his first and last tribal.  Joe says we'll figure it out (trying to save Cole too, like he might give it to him...)
-Jessica is hoping that she and Joe are still good - Cole says he's still thinking in his head, we're still good, I trust you.
-Ben decides this is a good time to speak up (why?) Battle lines are being drawn Jeff, we're going to find out who is aligned with who and someone is going home.

Time to Vote:
They didn't show how anybody voted.

Tallying the Votes:
Anyone want to play a hidden immunity idol now is the time... Joe makes it look like he's not going to play it but then does stand up and plays the idol for himself.

Votes:
Chrissy - 1
Jessica - 1 - she was shocked to see her name - Cole is confused and even Joe was surprised.
Chrissy - 2
Jessica - 2
It goes back and forth with them remaining tied to five votes each and the last two votes are for JESSICA! Cole still looks relieved that it wasn't him (yeah, great boyfriend you are) and Joe looks pissed that they didn't fall for his manipulation and actually voting out one of his.

So with Jessica leaving, that takes Cindi M., Brandon L., and Katie L. out of the pool.

Next week: The Healers future looks grim but they are not going down without a fight - and they show Cole digging under the flag with Chrissy physically trying to stop him and calling for help... oh man, this game makes you a little cray cray.

Jessica's final thoughts - She experienced the biggest blindside of her life, who knew a game could crush you, she thought only a guy could break her heart (ugh!) She will miss Cole, she hopes he makes it far and they can go on a date when this is over. (OMG, she needs to let that go - she is the girl that went to college to find a husband but probably took a chastity pledge and then went to an all girls school... thirty year old boy-crazy virgin. Hmm, jaded much.)

Enjoy your long weekend.
Lest we forget.

Coleen








 

Survivor HvHvH - Nov 1/17 Episode Recap

This Is Why You Play Survivor

Last week Soko went to Tribal Council and Bellhop Ryan voted with Chrissy (the Hero he gave his advantage to on the first episode) and betrayed Ali (his Hustler cohort) to take out Roark (the first Healer to leave this season)... and Ali did not take it well...

Soko - Night 14
- They get back to camp and Ali is openly, in front of everyone, berating Ryan about keeping her in the dark.  (I think Ali has 'pretty person' syndrome, she's not used to people not including her in things and things not going her way.)  Ryan tries to say he didn't trust Roark and how close Ali was getting to her and that's why he didn't tell Ali how he was voting... but really, he chose not to play with Ali and she knows it.
-Ryan's whole game is based on everyone liking him so with Ali's open hostility after this betrayal, he says she may have to go.

Yawa - Day 15
- They show someone swimming without flippers trying to do some spear fishing... oh, it's Dr. Mike and he successfully catches a couple little fish.  They may be little but they make Mike feel mighty!  He has provided for the tribe, maybe only a thimbleful each, but it's still food.
-While Mike is trying to cook his two little fish one drops in the fire and they all say "oh well" but not Mike, he is not losing that fish - he is able to pull it out of the ashes and he still eats it.
-Ben loves Mike's attitude.  He's out of his element but he's constantly trying his hardest and he's a genuinely giving person - he catches small fish and still shares them with everyone - unlike Cole, the pretty boy, who catches a big fish and eats it all to himself.  Cole's showing his true colours, and they're not good.
-Cole is not endearing himself to anyone with his constant state of hunger and his belief that he should be given more to eat because he has to keep strong to win them challenges. (No one deserves more food than anyone else in these situations, really dude?)
-Ben, Lauren and Mike are bonding over their disdain for Cole. They are just sick of him throwing fits when he doesn't get his way and the fact that Jessica and him are so close.  Lauren & Ben are hoping Dr.Mike will be more inclined to vote with them to take Cole out, if it comes to that.

Day 15 - REWARD CHALLENGE
- They will race out two people per tribe at a time, to a set of poles which they will have to use to carry a buoy between them across balance beams - if they drop the buoy at any point before they hit the mat, they have to start over.  Once at the mat, they have to put the buoy in tube that will release the clamp on the rope to their boat.  Then the second pair has to got through the obstacles (without the buoy) to meet them at the mat and they all race out to the boat.  Once in the boat they have to untie the knots holding it there and then pull the rope to propel the boat out to the platform where they will use a large slingshot to knock down two targets farther out in the water.  First tribe to knock down both targets gets 10 pizzas back at camp, second tribe gets one pizza to share and the last place tribe gets nothing (Oh, I hope that's Cole after the whiny baby had a food tantrum.)

Off they go and everyone looks solid, until Ashley & Desi drop their buoy and have to start over... more than once.  Unfortunately this puts them way behind... but everyone kind of catches up when they get to the sling shot phase...then the surf starts kicking up and it's almost impossible to hit the targets when the platform is moving up and down with the waves.  JP shows great patience and is able to win the 10 pizzas for Soko!  Cole is lucky that Ben won one pizza for Yawa.  And Levu is skunked.

JP voice over as they head back to camp is him saying he doesn't like to be in the limelight that much but after this challenge they have to realize they need him 100%, without him they wouldn't be able to get through any challenge. No way. (Oh, that is tempting Survivor karma right there.)

Soko - Day 15
- They return from the challenge and fill their faces and glory in their win, the women pumping up JP's ego reliving the ease with which he knocked down those targets when everyone else struggled. 
- Ryan realizes that JP is a tank in challenges, no only because he's a firefighter but he's also naturally athletic.  Coming to the merge though, JP's prowess is that much more of a threat to guys like Ryan and the fact that JP has no social game at all may make it easier for Ryan to get him out before the merge.

Levu - Day 15
- This is a divided tribe, with Joe & Desi on one side and Ashley & Devon on the other.  Ashley & Devon are hoping they can work on Desi to flip on Joe if it comes to that.  Ashley does talk to Desi who says she trusts Joe to a point but she also says she'd definitely vote him out as well, because he could win this game if they don't take him out. Desi tells the camera that if Levu has to go to tribal council she is considering voting out Joe at this point.
- Joe, meanwhile, found an idol before at the Healers tribe so he has an idea where another might be at this beach... but he wants to find the clue and make sure.  Devon is keeping an eye on him to try and make sure he doesn't get another idol... but he doesn't do a very good job of it.  Joe does spot the clue on a tree while he's foraging with Devon, but he doesn't let on - then goes back to the well when everyone is sleeping and digs it up.  This time, no one is going to know that he has the idol - that power is his alone.  When he digs up that idol in the dark he gives us the title of the episode, "This is why you play Survivor."  He also humanizes himself saying that this isn't a game to him, this is work, he's there to win the money for his family and reinforce for his kids that nothing comes easy, you have to put in the work and it will pay off. (See, that's a good lesson, I wish he wasn't so ready to manipulate and step on people to win.)

Yawa - Day 16
- They are sitting around in the shelter, Cole lying on the ground, when his hand starts shaking - no biggy.  Then Cole stands up and passes out, cold - lands like a ton of bricks, almost looks like he smashed his face on the bamboo and he stuttered out some nonsense words... luckily for him he has a doctor and nurse practitioner on his tribe who jump into medical mode right away.  They get him to stay laying down, raise his feet, give him water and Jessica jumps on making him some food.  And I know the guy just passed out and everything but he seemed to love the attention and when she gave him her portion of rice, it kinda grossed me out how happy he was about it.  
-Jessica was worried for him and just wanted to hold him, she realizes she cares for him more than she let on and isn't ready to play this game without Cole. (I just want to slap her and tell her to snap out of it.)
-Dr. Mike, on the other hand, while wanting to make sure his patient is going to be alright, realizes that Cole has become a liability to the tribe and if he has to eat all their rice just to get along, they have to get rid of Cole.
-Then Ben wanders back to camp - where the heck were you? Dr. Mike is like, nothing happened while you were gone, Cole didn't pass out or anything.  Gasp! Ben tells him to take it easy and drink some water.  But then Mike & Ben go have a chat about getting rid of Cole - when he fell over he sealed his fate.

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
Oh - this was a new one and it looked hard - I hope I can explain it.

So, four people per tribe, arranged in a half circle which kind of looks like spokes of a bike wheel - they will each pull on a rope suspending a disc in the centre, then working together to stabilize the disc. One by one, they will have to walk blocks into the centre and stack them up on the disc to spell IMMUNITY.  If the blocks fall, they have to start again.  Oh, and they are also balancing on beams, I forgot that part - so if they fall off the beam they could also make the blocks fall - yeah this was a hard one.
-Soko is the first to drop but it was early, learned a lesson there.
-Levu was the next to drop and they were close to finishing so that was harder.
-Then Yawa, looked like they were going to win, Cole just had to walk back after placing the last letter but he didn't make it, the stack dropped and they had to start again.
-Yawa had it figured out by then though, they had the three that were not placing the block hold the disc tight so the person laying the block could just keep their rope slack... and they were able to catch up. 
-All three tribes had the whole word complete and the last three that placed the I's just had to make it back to their places - Jessica was able to go fast with her slack rope and Yawa won the first immunity, this seemed to rattle JP and Soko's stack dropped, allowing Devon to take his time slowly inching back to his place and Levu also won immunity.  It was Soko heading back to Tribal Council for the second time in a row.

- Ali knows after her blow up at Ryan after last tribal that her name may have come up, she's more nervous than she's ever been.

Soko - Day 16
- Things are simple in JP's world - to him losing sucked but it just wasn't a big deal. Ali is next and there is nothing she can do about it.
- Ryan knows that Ali is the obvious next choice to go, but he also knows that JP is a huge physical threat and maybe this is his chance to get him out.  In order to do that though, Ryan has to make up with Ali.  So Ryan goes and apologizes and tells her everything she wants to hear so Ali is 100% in with voting out JP - and she goes to talk to Chrissy.
- Chrissy isn't stupid though and she knows what Ali is up to.  Ali goes a little too far, in my opinion, telling Chrissy that she is extremely loyal and thinks she can put the loyalty she previously had for Ryan onto Chrissy. (In what world is Ali loyal - her first alliance was with Patrick, who she voted out as soon as he became unpopular - now her Ryan loyalty is up for grabs too... sheesh.) Chrissy doesn't trust Ali as far as she can throw her.  She trusts Ryan and together they will make the decision on which of the two will go home tonight.
- Ryan doesn't understand why everyone wants to work with him, he thinks he's a weasel (pretty good judge of his own character there), "but the closer you are to someone the less they see you and the easier it is to go behind their back and backstab them." (Yikes, watch out for Ryan.)

TRIBAL COUNCIL
-Ryan tells Jeff how Ali wasn't pleased with him after the last Tribal.
-Ali agrees that she thought Ryan should have told her about how he was voting but they have both apologized and she thinks it's been swept under the rug.  JP smiles behind her back, thinking she's dumb if she believes that (he is kind of clueless.)
-Chrissy says they all know there is a merge that is imminent and they all want to make it.
-Ali agrees that they have to look at the merge coming and decide who they can trust moving forward and who will bring you numbers and fight for you as well as themselves.
-JP says he knows that traditionally this is around the time that the bigger physical threat guys start to get voted out (really? You realize that?) He said he is nervous they could be thinking about taking him out (no he's not... who wrote this stuff for him?) JP is cool as a cucumber but he's paying lip service to making the decision tonight on what's going to move your game forward.
-Jeff calls him out on his laid back nothing answer - and Ali bites, saying he's not making a case for himself, she has no idea what JP is thinking.
-Chrissy says she's played with JP since day one and he plays a very quiet game.  JP nods agreeing with that.
-Jeff again, prodding them along - my husband hates when Jeff drives Tribal Council like this, to the point where he can influence the vote sometimes - but anyway, Ryan says he agrees JP plays a quiet game but he sees him winning everything and does have to ask himself if he wants to go up against that.
-Jeff points out that JP is still sitting there like the piece of granite he appears to be chiseled out of, and JP says if it is him walking down that path tonight he may think that he should have played a better social game, opened up in the game more - but maybe this is a wake up call for me.
- And the wind sweeps through and there is thunder...
- Blah, blah, blah... Ali hopes she's done enough, Chrissy can think of ways everyone can help and hurt her game going forward.  And finally it's...

Time to vote:
JP votes for Ali - You have your game, I have mine, let's see who wins.
Ali votes for JP - Just have to get rid of the strong.

Tallying the Votes:
No one has a hidden immunity idol. (How cool would that have been?)

Votes:
Ali - 1
JP - 1
Ali - 2, 3 - and it's ALI leaving us tonight.  She says, "You're kidding me." and puts her head in her hands - I almost thought she wasn't going to leave - have a little millennial meltdown.  But finally she gets her torch and says, "good luck beating him." then tearily shuffles off into the night.

And with Ali leaving, that takes Shelley A., Alexis G., and Stacey L. out of the pool.

Next week - it's the Merge!  Battle lines are drawn and it's a scramble to gather troops.  Ben is gunning to take out Cole and everyone is taking sides. Fun!

Ali's final thoughts: She's pissed she let a twerp like Ryan ruin her game.  She called Chrissy the liar of all liars and, she wanted to play with her head but might have let her heart in too much and that's what got her. (Whatever - she proved inconsequential and now she's gone.)

Have a great weekend everyone,

Coleen










 

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