In the post-Tribal post-mortem, Angelina is trying to smooth things over. She says in a confessional that she didn’t expect Elizabeth to “drag her through the mud” like that, which was an…interesting? reaction. What else would she have expected Elizabeth to do in her situation? Anyway, she starts spinning her web of lies, saying Elizabeth was following her and badgering her. And nobody is buying it for even a second. Looks like Angelina’s hole might have just gotten a little bit deeper.
Beach Time
Christian and Mike firm up their places in the Strike Force. But Mike is worried by Gabby’s actions at Tribal. His worries lie with the possibility the Davids might be playing him, using him to take out a few Davids before turning on him too.
Feeling the heat, Nick and Davie go idol hunting. They find a clue, in the form of the same picture they saw at the merge feast. Remember? The on that said “Everything you need for the merge is right here.” Nick finds not an idol, but an advantage, allowing him to steal a vote at Tribal Council.
Reward Challenge
This was a fun one, if only for how it ended. The castaways are split into two teams of six. Each team has eight 10-pound sand bags which are connected to a trough filled with water. The bags are held above the players’ heads and if a bag drops, the trough tips and spills water. There is the extra added wrinkle that one player has to drop out every 15 minutes, adding more weight for the remaining players to hold.
We get about a half hour in and Dan decides to get arrogant. He is holding three bags, all with one hand. He begins taunting the other team, trying to goad them into doing the same. Because they are smart (or at least smarter in this instance), they don’t take the bait and Dan’s bags drop, giving the other team the dozen pizzas as a reward.
Post Reward
Mike is still second-guessing the Strike Force. He talks to Alec about potentially targeting Christian. Mike then talks to the rest of the Goliaths about taking out Christian. Everyone agrees that Christian has proven himself to be a big threat and needs to go. If this is starting to sound familiar, that’s because it’s the exact same plan Angelina brought to the Goliaths just last week. Angelina is predictably upset and annoyed that everyone rejected it when she brought it up, but now that Mike does the same thing, everyone is on board.
And I think this points a little to one of Angelina’s blindspot. It’s not always what the plan is, but how the plan is presented to the group. Angelina put forth the idea of voting Christian as her idea that the group should go along with. Mike was able to float Christian out there as a possibility and allowed the group to come to a consensus together. That’s they key, something that (based on the edit at least) Angelina is unable to see.
Now she also didn’t hesitate to voice her opinion in a confessional that she was ignored because she was a woman, and Mike’s idea was welcomed because he was a man. Obviously I wasn’t out on the island so I can’t say for sure whether that was completely true, partially true, or not true at all. I would like to think that had nothing to do with it, but you can never know for sure. But either way, I think Mike’s vastly better approach was ultimately what got the idea to go through.
Anyway, Angelina is going to be used as the decoy vote. From the outside, the reasoning makes sense. After the last Tribal, Angelina would be an easy sell to the Davids, a name they would seemingly believe with ease. And hey, it’s not one of them, right? Sometimes that’s all you need. But as so often happens, the person being used as decoy gets paranoid that something bigger may be going on, including them being the actual target rather than just the decoy.
Immunity Challenge
Each person has to balance on a narrow perch, holding a buoy between two handles. Drop the ball or step off your perch, you’re out. It’s fine to watch, it’s always good when the physical strain and pain is visible, but there’s just not much to say about this one. A bunch of people drop out quickly, eventually leaving Dan and Angelina as the final two. Dan wins.
Pre-Tribal
Angelina is still worried, especially with the possibility of an idol being played for Christian. Dan tells Angelina if that happens he would play his idol for her. He does have two, one of which only Kara (I think?) knows about. Amidst all this, Alec makes a decision that gets the ball rolling for everything that is about to happen at the upcoming Tribal Council.
He decides to tell Nick about the Goliath plan to vote out Christian. He frames it in such a way that there is nothing he can do to stop it, but he wanted to tell Nick to keep the trust and relationship between these two. Nick quickly consults with Christian before going to Davie. They discus the possibility of using their newly-found vote steal advantage. The only problem there is this would only get to a 6-6 tie, rather than giving the Davids at outright advantage. Nick doesn’t believe that the Goliaths would go to rocks for Angelina, but of course he can’t be sure.
Davie, you’ll remember, also has an idol that nobody yet knows about. That secrecy could play to his advantage if he decides he wants to use it to save Christian. But he’s not quite certain that now would be the time to make a move like that, as he would prefer to save it for himself. With that, we head to…
Tribal Council
Tribal has the usual fun back and forth, including a golden quote from John; a quote that would have made for possibly the best episode title of all time:”If you give to the wrong person, then you’re boned.” Anyway.
After the voting, Davie does indeed play his idol for Christian. At this, Angelina looks to Dan, pleading for him to play his idol for her. Watching this, I honestly had no idea which way he was going to go. There is sound reasoning for both playing it and not playing it for her. Eventually though he does pull one out and play it for Angelina.
Now we have two idols played, one for each person likely to receive all the votes. So either we have zero valid votes – in which case a David would be likely to go home – or we see a great strategic play by the Davids here. In a simultaneously luck and unlucky turn for the audience, we see the Davids did indeed split their votes. Sadly, though, those extra three votes went against the Major of Slamtown himself, Johnny Nitro, Ab-raham Lincoln, the Shaman of Sexy, John Hennigan. And in a perfectly John-esque move, John smiles and laughs it off as he leaves the game.
I am so sad to see John go. He was such a fun, positive force on the season. I have no doubt he would have continued to be a great cast member for as long as he would have remained. But what a way to go. It sucks for him, but it was a fantastic display of strategy on the Davids part, so at least he went out by way of a perfectly executed move.
The Davids are still down in the numbers in a 6-5 minority. But they’re fighters. They have two advantages at their disposal, neither of which any Goliaths know about. And two idols have just been played. At least one, maybe both, should be re-hidden, waiting to be found again. If the Davids find them first? The power could continue to shift towards the perceived underdogs. The Thanksgiving episode is next week, and like the merge episode, this one is also typically quite strong. And we are well set up for another fun, explosive week of Survivor.
