Well folks, we had a Survivor-flavored treat this week. That’s right, a double episode, an extra scoop of the crispy (shouts to Phillip Shepherd for that glorious phrase). With two hours, there’s a lot to cover, so let’s get right into it. There ain’t nothing to do but to do it.
Hour 1
Post-Tribal
This was a pretty predictable scene. The Davids celebrate their successful blindside of Dan. Angelina is not at all pleased that her name was, as Alison put it, a “contingency plan.” She may be ready to flip on the Goliaths.
Beach Time
Yet again the Davids get the jump on the Goliaths. Early risers Nick and Davie are up and ready to go idol hunting again. Eventually Nick finds a clue to an idol. Though it’s less of a clue and more of instructions. There’s an idol waiting for him. All he has to do is sneak out of camp in the middle of the night to retrieve it.
Reward Challenge
For the first Reward Challenge of the night, the ten castaways divide into two teams of five. They were to race out to a rope bridge in water which they then had to cross one at a time. The challenged finished by land three rungs on a ladder target. The reward was a Survivor picnic
Purple team: Davie, Carl, Angelina, Kara, Nick
Orange team: Alec, Alison, Gabby, Christian, Mike
Alec nailed the rung tossing to win it for Orange, winning them the picnic reward.
Picnic/Beach
While partaking in their reward, the winning players get an additional surprise: their letters from home. And that’s enough of that. I don’t particularly care for the letters from home. It’s the same thing every time. And it’s not like the loved ones visit, where you get the dynamic of the contestants actually seeing and interacting with someone from home. The letters just don’t do it for me.
Carl does Carl things decides to talk about his idea of voting out Alec right in front of Kara. Interesting decision. Carl might be getting a little too comfortable in his newfound power position.
Later that night Nick sneaks out of camp to retrieve the idol. Davie stays up to keep watch. Alison wakes up while Nick’s gone as she is still sick from overeating at the reward. At least from what we see, she didn’t notice Nick’s midnight escape, and nor did anyone else.
Immunity Challenge
This was a fantastic challenge. Each contestant balanced on narrow perch while holding a handle behind their head. Additionally, Probst gives the players the option to sit out and eat nachos. Angelina, Carl, and Nick opt out of the challenge.
The challenge might sound simple, but it was anything but. It turned into an epic five and half hour battle of wills between Alec and Christian. It was punctuated by Christian “regaling” everyone with endless stories as a way of maintaining focus. This was yet another example of dynamite editing, as we saw multiple cuts from a segment of Christian talking going right into Alec’s look of “oh my goodness this is so annoying.” The Survivor production team continues to kill it this season. As great as the cast has been, these behind the scenes efforts cannot go unnoticed for their part in this stellar season.
Tribal Council
Despite his efforts to push the vote to Carl, Alec is unanimously voted out. I do have to say I was pleasantly surprised by Alec. I (quite unfairly) had him pegged nothing more than your standard surfer bro. And while he still fit that mold, he proved to be quite a bit more. All that pregame Instagram nonsense was unfortunate. Knowing ahead of time that he had been disinvited from the finale seemed like enough proof that he could only last so long in the game. I cannot believe that a Final 3 contestant – or maybe even someone who makes top 6 – would be disinvited from the finale. And looking at his game by itself, he was in a position to potentially win. But knowing that information cast a cloud over him this season, as it was never a matter of if he would be voted out, but when.
And with that, hour one is done.
Hour 2
Reward Challenge
The castaways are again split into two teams this time of four. With nine contestants, that leaves one unlucky player left out. This time around, Christian draws the proverbial purple rock. The challenge saw each team swim out to tall ladder, climb it, and jump off. They then had to dive down to release two lines of buoys. They win the challenge. by jump off a platform to place/dunk/”George Gervin finger roll” if you’re Carl the buoys into nets. The winning team is rewarded with a cruise and a private island feast.
Purple team: Angelina, Nick, Gabby, Alison
Orange team: Kara, Carl, Davie, Mike
Orange wins, gifting us, the viewers, with some more fantastic footage of Drunk Carl.
Cruise/Beach
Carl again does Carl things, this time aided by beer, which appears to be his favorite thing in the entire world. Seriously, have you noticed how his eyes just light up at the mere mention of the word? And now, presented for your entertainment, a series of GIFs of what I can only imagine is running through Carl’s head when he hears he’ll get to drink beer.
As much fun as it is to watch castaways get drunk on a reward, I can’t help but think how (potentially) detrimental it can be to their game. If I am ever lucky enough to get on the show, I honestly don’t think I would have one sip of alcohol until I was back at Ponderosa. But until that time, I am here for Carl drinking enough for all of us.
It leads to him stumbling around, this time with partner-in-crime Davie in tow. And it also leads to Carl spilling his plans to Kara yet again.
Back at the beach, Gabby and Christian talk about the need to vote out Carl. They are worried about the fact that Carl is perceived as the leader of the Davids – known as “The Godfather.” They fear that as long as Carl sticks around, he will receive all the credit for any moves.
Immunity Challenge
Each contestant races over a ladder obstacle, spins around a post, crosses balance beam collecting three bundles of puzzle pieces along the way, and solves a word puzzle.
Before the challenge can begin, though, Angelina presents Jeff with an offer. The tribe is critically low on rice and she wants to negotiate for more rice. She offers a bunch of stuff in exchange for enough rice to get them to the end. Jeff counters her lowball offer. He says if one person is willing to sit out of the immunity challenge, he will give them the necessary amount of rice. Angelina volunteers.
As a general rule, I don’t like making this move. It puts a huge target on your back and gives everyone else a major reason to vote you out. It’s a move that you and you alone can take credit for and there’s no debate about it. And I think Angelina went into this knowing it would turn out this way. In situations like this, Probst always asks for a lot from the tribe, or in this case, from one individual. Angelina wanted it this. She is not in a great place. She probably feels desperate and thinks she needs something like this to give her a bump. If she’s on the outs anyway, what’s one more risky move? And if she does happen to make it to Day 39? Well then this one big feather in her cap.
Carl is the first to spell out an 11-letter word. Unfortunately for him, he spells out the wrong word. But he is close, which triggers the actual word for both Davie and Alison, leading a race to the finish won by Davie.
Tribal Council
Godfather Carl is ousted 5-4, after Christian and Gabby flip to vote with Kara, Alison, and Mike. Carl found himself in the pole position and got too big for his britches. He wasn’t the first and he certainly won’t be the last.
But the most notable moment of this second Tribal Council came from Angelina, as she slyly included a Friday Night Lights references by mixing in “Clear eyes, full hearts” into one of her comments. I can only assume this was intentional, so she definitely jumped up quite a bit in my book.
(I fully realize this has nothing at all to do with Survivor but come on. It’s Coach Taylor and a young Michael B. Jordan. One of the best scenes from one of the best shows. Texas forever.)
