This week on Survivor… Hunahpu returns from a gnarly, insane Tribal Council in which Jon’s ally, Drew was blindsided so Jon’s on damage control trying get in good with the rest of the tribe. He says he would have been on board to vote out Drew. They want to know what Drew said to him and Jon says that Drew was all “if you’re not with me, you’re against me and you don’t know what the bleep you’re doing”, which shocks everyone and boy, isn’t Jon lucky he’s gone? Jeremy isn’t buying what Jon’s selling though, not at all and he’s amused that Jon is coming up to apologize to him for not being down 100% to vote out Drew. Jeremy thinks this is beautiful though! Oh it’s just so great being where he is within his tribe…
The next day at Coyopa Tree Mail is delivered and Survivors are being called to the Arena; at least this time they will walk in first and won’t have to take the Walk of Shame as the second tribe to enter. One person; however, will have to see that their loved one has been sent packing… Speaking of Alec, he thinks that there is no way, absolutely no way that his brother Drew has been voted out first from the Hunaphu tribe. In fact, Alec is very much looking forward to dueling it out against Drew in the Arena… When Hunaphu walks in, though, Coyopa is shocked. Alec is convinced that Drew was a huge threat, Baylor thought everyone liked him, Josh is also shocked and so it Jeff – shocked that any of them are shocked and Jeff is about to shock them again because…
Drop. Your. Buffs. It’s time for a Tribe Swap! But first… Blah blah blah, being in a pair is dangerous, being without a loved one is kind of an advantage, but it would also be awesome to play with your loved one… How to feel about the switch is just so confusing! Jeff tosses bags to each tribe with new buffs in them aaand not sure I like how the tribes each got a bag. I think they should have all chosen from the same bag, but I guess it does address the Tribe Swap issue in All-Stars – remember when the tribes stayed exactly the same except for color and one member, Amber? No way that can happen with this method and look at that… Now one tribe has all couples and one single and the other has all singles and one couple! The new Hunaphu/Blue Tribe is: Josh and Reed, Natalie, Jeremy, Wes, Alec and Julie; the new Coyopa/Orange Tribe is: Kelley and Dale, Missy and Baylor, Jon and Jaclyn and Keith. All the coupled pairs are feeling pretty good about being with their loved ones, but Keith is really worried about being the only single on his tribe.
So it’s back to the Hunaphu camp where the newbies to the tribe realize thaaat… They have two meager scoops of rice left. The old Hunaphu tribe went a little crazy! They were eating twice a day – small portions, though, Natalie assures, small portions. Wes is positive that all the food intake is what lead to so many Hunaphu Immunity wins and can’t believe how little rice they had for as many days that are left in the game. Jeremy is more concerned about where he stands with this new tribe, which has three former Coyopa members one of which is on this new tribe with his loved one. All Josh has to do is pull Reed into the threesome and they can easily take over control of who goes home. Josh, though, is thrilled to be playing with Reed and he’s confident that together with their level of commitment to each other, they’ve been together for two years, they can go to the end. And oh yeah… They are waiting until they get married to, ya know, do the do.
At the Coyopa camp, Jon is so excited to be an orange man instead of a blue man. They have rice! They get to eat! Kelley is also pretty excited about it, ya know, since they were living like Survivor kings chowing down on rice over at Hunaphu.And of course there’s the fact that now Jon gets to suck face with his girlfriend, Jaclyn, which is great because it takes a huge weight off of his shoulders. Jaclyn fills him in on the goings on at camp and that she doesn’t trust Baylor. They are just so excited to be playing together because they are such a strong couple… That like to make out, a lot. Baylor is loving it though! It’s so cute how in love they are and her time will come! Her mom’s next time will come! Keith is definitely feeling like the odd man out in the tribe full of couples. He’s really between a rock and a hard place, but luckily he’s got that idol in his boot, his ace in the hole!
Back at Hunaphu, they are talking about how it takes a strong mind to play the game, you gotta be ready to be hungry and stuff. Alec is feeling really good about his new tribe, he thinks they are the most athletic. He’s also thinks Drew couldn’t rough it for very long, but he’s fine. He feels good! He’s not in his brother’s shadow, he outlasted him, he finally beat him! While Natalie and Jeremy go fetch some water, they talk about Alec and bringing him into an alliance with them. Jeremy wants to go with the “surround and drown” method firefighters use when they can’t even enter a building to put out a fire and after their chat, Natalie begins the process, telling Alec that the singles need to stay together. Jeremy contributes by playing to Alec’s ego – he’s just like his brother, just like a little Drew. Jeremy’s definitely going to keep working on him.
Bouncing back over to Coyopa again, it’s time to make some rice! Missy and Baylor get to it while Dale keeps a watchful eye on the rice supply. Missy is putting quite a few scoops into the pot, but Baylor doesn’t think it’s enough, but he’s telling Missy it’s too much. Both women agree that it’s not enough, but Missy is just going to do what she usually does and says she’ll make another batch. And she’s a little annoyed that Dale is being a total Rice Nazi. They made so much more back at her other camp… Baylor takes a moment to let her mom know that Dale is gunning for her and Missy is ready to protect her young! Blood is blood. Dale pouts in the shelter about the rice, happy that there will be one less mouth to feed in three days. As Missy scoops out the rice, Dale is bleeding at the lip to go over there and slap the bowls out of their hands. Because wasting the rice by throwing it to the ground after it has been cooked for you to eat is a really rational idea. Dale’s daughter Kelley is counting down the hours until the pot starts to boil over between her dad and Baylor’s mom. She can see it forming so she invites her dad to go for a walk to try to talk some sense in him. She worried because he’s so set in his ways and he doesn’t want a fight to break out over a scoop of rice. And then… Dale says something really not very nice at all about Missy… I won’t dare repeat it.
It’s company loving misery at Coyopa over the non-abundance of rice. Reed knows they need to do something to get some more food, but what to do… He’s watched season after season and what’s coming up is not going to be good. Josh knows they could have made their bag of rice last the whole 39 days at his old camp, but just three days of rice at Hunaphu?! The vultures on the beach are eating better than they are! He’s shocked – this whole episode is just shocking – He can’t believe how irresponsible the former blue tribe was with their rice. Some tribe mates contemplate throwing rocks at the vultures, but Alec and Wes are vocal about them not really wanting to do that because they are nasty. They really need more food though and wouldn’t you know it! Guess who suggests making a deal with Jeff to trade some rewards for food. Drew’s brother, Alec! Of course! He’s just a little Drew… Reed doesn’t think it’s going to be that easy, though. Whatever they gotta do, though, Alec says they should do it. Reed isn’t so sure, they always look foolish when they try to make deals with Jeff. This isn’t Survivor Market!
Which finally brings us to the Immunity Challenge where the Survivors will be getting down and dirty – literally! Each tribe must dig a set of keys in a bag from a sand pit, crawl through mud under a cage, open a gate then shake a pole with a basket on top of it to retrieve sand bags that must be tossed onto a hanging platform. First tribe to land ten sandbags wins Immunity. Hunaphu quickly finds their key bag and they hit the mud obstacle. As Coyopa digs and digs and digs some more, Hunaphu moves quickly through the mud and Wes uses the key to open the gate the sand bag basket. Finally, Coyopa finds their bag and they hit the mud and then Hunaphu really attacks that pole. They flung sand everywhere and it was worth it because they quickly gather their sandbags and get to tossin’. Meanwhile… Coyopa forgets that they are fighting for Immunity… And Hunaphu easily lands their ten sandbags before Coyopa even has a chance to toss one so the orange tribe will be hoofin’ it to Tribal, but first… Hunaphu wants to talk to Jeff about a food trade, Reed actually brings it up and Jeff says he will come visit them in the morning because he has a little matter of Tribal Council tonight…
At Coyopa, Keith feels as if he’s the one everyone is going to target because he’s the only single, BUT if one couple doesn’t like the other… Well… That would be really good for him. And let the war between Dale and Missy and Baylor begin! Dale is not a fan of the mother/daughter team and he is very well aware that he and his daughter Kelley should team up with Jon and Jaclyn to oust the thrice divorced mama’s kid. So… basically, everything leading up to Tribal Council is Missy and Baylor and Dale and Kelley working Jon and Jaclyn for a vote against the other pair. And Keith was worried he’d be the odd man out… So Jon and Jaclyn are the swing vote and they are promising loyalty to both, Missy and Baylor talk to Jon and Jaclyn about splitting the votes – in case Dale has an idol… So much idol paranoia in Survivor! Jaclyn doesn’t know what to do. Someone isn’t going to be happy when they go back to camp that night.
So Tribal Council… Basically it’s Dale vs. Missy and Baylor. Jeff is up to his usual bag of tricks, stirring the pot, asking leading questions, you know, everything he usually does at Tribal. Of course, he singles out Jaclyn and Jon, but it’s still Momma Bear Missy and Bear Cub Baylor vs. Dale. Baylor’s betrayal in the first Tribal is brought up and there’s lots of flattery for the “hot couple”, Jon and Jaclyn… And… By the time we get to the vote, I’m not sure who is going home; I have no idea who Jon and Jaclyn are going to swing with and I even tried the Eric Curto method of looking to see who’s crying. It’s HD and there is fire all around them – everyone’s eyes look watery. So when Jeff goes to tally the votes I’m on the edge of my seat! The votes shift between Baylor and Kelley then a Dale vote is thrown into the mix, but it’s tied with one vote left between Baylor and Kelley and… the last vote is for Kelley… NOOO! Dale doesn’t look happy about it either!
Next week on Survivor… Dale throws around a fake idol & the Hunaphu tribes sucks so much, according to Jeff. NEVER has a tribe needed so much help! We’ll see what happens next week…
