This time on Survivor… When the tribe returns from their date with Jeff, Tai reminds everyone that it’s a game then Joe, Aubry, and Tai, quietly to themselves, celebrate how well Tribal Council went that night and Aubry is happy for Tai and Tai is happy for Aubry and it’s all good vibes there. By the shelter, though, the vibe is totally different with Jason, Julia, Michele, and Cyd is sitting there too. Jason tells the girls that there is no way they are getting rid of Tai now, but it was a good move on their part, but ARRR! Jason can’t believe that the one thing that could have gone wrong, went wrong, but that’s what happens when you break Rule #1 of Survivor: Don’t get too cozy. People say all the time that “the game can change on a dime” and when you forget that there are variables that remain constantly out of your control… BOOM! Blindside. Anyway… Jason tells Cyd that if she wants to get a little nutty – he’s the man to talk to and Cyd is definitely going to keep that in mind moving forward.
Later around the fire, Joe comments that Julia looks absolutely shocked and she communicates her frustration, which is Michele’s frustration as well, that she was left out of the plan because she’s been nothing, but loyal with her votes, including the vote that evening, but as Tai points out – both girls put his name down… Julia is frustrated, but whatever. Tai offers to explain why he voted for Scot, but Julia doesn’t care to hear it. At this point, Julia and Michele think they are done in the game just like Jason, but Aubry, Tai, and Cyd are feeling great. Jason definitely doesn’t have an Idol and they have a solid four; there definitely won’t be any blindsides now. Aubry is sooo happy with the way things are going in the game and the way she sees it, they should aim for Jason next then move along their merry way to the end. The next day, Tai is feeling guilty about backstabbing Jason so he decides to have a talk with Jason. He explains that he voted to remove Scot because he was scared of the bond between the Brawny Boys – he was afraid they were going to get rid of him so he had to make the first move, in the name of the game. Jason thinks it’s a half-assed apology and he wants revenge. He’s infuriated that he’s without an Idol and an alliance and Tai still has all his toys.
Come on in, guys! It’s time for Reward and up for grabs this week is a scenic ride in a helicopter and a lovely meal of fried chicken, corn on the cob, apple pie, soda, and WINE! Woohoo! For this challenge, the tribe will be paired off and tethered together in a random draw to create three teams; one person will not be able to play. Each pair much race through an obstacle course to retrieve three rings; the first team to land three rings on a three-pronged hook wins. Our teams are: Joe and Tai, Michele and Cyd, and Julia and Aubry leaving Jason on the bench. Survivors ready? Go! The ladies stay close to each other throughout the ring-gathering portion of the challenge with Tai and Joe running a little behind, but they catch up at the third and final, vertical ring retrieval station. Aubry and Julia are the first to start tossing rings, but of course, the other teams are quick to join them. Michele and Cyd are the first to land a ring, then Tai and Joe score, but Julia and Aubry are struggling with this portion of the challenge. And it should be obvious who wins this challenge because they had the BEST pairing – Cyd and Michele. They are both tall, athletic, young women and they were ahead for most of the challenge sooooooooo… They get to pick one person to join them and even Jason is eligible to be chosen, BUT they quickly choose Aubry because she hasn’t eaten and she should eat. Michele is really happy that Cyd agreed because she wants to secure her place with the girls since she wasn’t let in on the Scot vote.
As the ladies begin their decent to their private island and fried chicken feast, Cyd makes the connection that they are Brains, Beauty, and Brawn united and the girls are really excited about this Reward, but no one is as excited for reward as Aubry is for coleslaw! lol Of COURSE, I’m including a picture of Aubry’s face when Michele mentions the coleslaw is good. And as they eat, Michele laments that she is very close to Julia, but she’s just another person in this game and she wants to make sure she’s good with Aubry and Cyd. When she brings up the fact that she is loyal and wants to work with them, even if she’s sort of a pair with Julia, she’s with them, she trusts Aubry. And Aubry trusts her and thinks everyone wants to work with her too. When Cyd and Aubry have a few moments alone, they both don’t like to feel “on the mountain top”, but they both feel really good about Michele being with them moving forward and UP instead of forward and DOWN. Cyd points out that they don’t want to move forward with Tai, but they both agree they need to keep their bond with him strong and focus on getting Julia and Jason out of the game.
Back at camp, Julia and Jason are lounging in the shelter discussing how they can squeeze through the other alliance to get closer to the end. There’s gotta be a way and they both think that way is through Tai – meaning, getting Tai out of the game. They need to get four votes for him so he will play his Idol or go home with it. They think they have Michele, but they still need a fourth and it won’t be “puppy dog” Joe because “Aubry told him to sit while she was gone and not move” – Jason’s words. They decide to set their mark on Cyd – she likes to blindside, she likes to make big moves and maybe she can be swayed to make big moves with him, Julia, and Michele… but they’ll have to wait until she gets back from Reward to talk to her. When Jason scores a good moment alone with Cyd and Julia, he asks her if she’s ready to get nutty and vote Tai with them and Michele. The rest of her group is going to vote for either him or Julia so worst case scenario for Cyd – Tai plays his Idol and one of them still goes home – she’s safe in any scenario. And Cyd loves her position in the game right now and she wants to play this right – she’s not afraid to jump ship on her alliance if it will get her further in the game because it’s a “me” game, not a “we” game. What’s happening now is a win-win no matter what she does next. Julia thinks this blindside of Tai could definitely change the game and she tells Jason that as soon as Tai is gone, they are eating Mark the Chicken and she can’t wait.
Come on in, guys! It’s time for Immunity. In this challenge, players must swim race out into the water, over an obstacle to a platform where they must memorize symbols and numbers, swim back and use the symbols and numbers to solve combination to release a key that will unlock blocks to solve a scrambled word puzzle. First person to correctly solve the word puzzle wins Immunity. Survivors ready? GO! And like bullet from a gun, Jason is moving fast towards that symbol number wheel, which is a looooooooong ways away from the beach. You do NOT want to have to go back out there to take another look at that wheel. Jason’s haste really isn’t necessary because at the platform everyone swims UP… And then they stay there. 😉 When Jeff announces that Cyd is the first to head back to the beach, Jason turns away from the wheel just as her feet hit the water. Julia and Michele are next to abandon the memorization portion of the challenge; Aubry is right on their heels, but Joe and Tai linger for a few moments more before heading back. As everyone very slowly makes their way up and over the bamboo obstacle, Jeff is droning on about how difficult this is to do the physical work while trying to remember the symbols and numbers, which HAS to be even MORE distracting… lol
So everyone except Joe is starting settling into their spots at the combination puzzle and Michele displays how smart she is by putting sand underneath the symbols so she can draw the numbers that correspond with them in the sand. BRILLIANT! So Aubry and Cyd have to head back out to look at the wheel again just as Joe’s feet hit the beach, but Jason thinks he has it and so does Julia – she does, he doesn’t and Jason heads back out to the wheel as Julia collects her letter blocks. Michele has her key now, and she has the correct key as well and DAMN ladies! I’m super impressed with Michele and Julia’s memorization abilities and everyone else should find that very threatening because we are down to the nitty gritty and they like to throw memory challenges like this at the players at this point in the game. ANYWAY… As the Jeff expresses the same sentiments as I have about Julia and Michele, both girls are quickly trying to unscramble the letters then Michele gets an idea and runs with it – her word? Blindsided and she is CORRECT! Michele wins Immunity. And she deserves it! She memorized all the numbers. Jason is disappointed he didn’t win, but he’s hoping he can get the plan to get rid of Tai in motion with Cyd and Michele – or he’s screwed.
Back at camp, it’s congrats for Michele; everyone is super impressed with her performance and Michele knows her family is going to be sooo excited. A voice over from Aubry let’s us know that she is aware that Jason is a ticking time bomb, but voting him out may not be the best move right now. When the majority alliance has time together, Cyd says they should vote Jason because he’s really good at water challenges, but Aubry notes that Julia was right behind Michele today and she’s great at balance. This changes Cyd’s mind – she didn’t know Julia was so close to Michele in the challenge. Aubry is pretty sure that Jason won’t win with the Jury they have, but Julia has a good shot because she’s been playing very well. Sooo they decide that it’s time for Young Julia to join the Jury. Michele is conflicted by this decision – it sucks because she would love to move forward with Julia since they’ve been together since the beginning, but she doesn’t try to pull the votes away from her. She does ask the group what she’s supposed to tell Julia because they should know that Julia is going to ask Michele what’s up sooo should she say Jason? Cyd pipes in to say that if they ask either Cyd or Michele – they are going with the Tai thing… Tai’s ears perk up at this point. He doesn’t want to hear his name because it’s never good and he feels very uncomfortable with this group. He’s going to bring his Idol and his advantage to Tribal tonight – he is NOT going home with either one in his pocket.
Later, Julia and Michele are in the water talking about the plan for the two of them plus Jason and Cyd voting for Tai. Michele is so torn because she told the other group she would vote for Julia, but if Cyd really is on board to vote out Tai, she will be too because she really would like to keep Julia around. At the campfire, Jason and Cyd are sitting alone together and Jason asks Cyd if she’s down for the Tai vote and she tells him that she is, BUT, she and Michele have all the power tonight in who will be blindsided. They can swing with Aubry’s crowd or they can swing with Jason and Julia. They just have to do what’s best for them and make moves with a purpose. Michele doesn’t want to backstab anyone, but she has to and as always, everything is all up in the air before the tribe’s date with Jeff. Julia and Jason are very excited, though, they think they definitely have Cyd and Michele, Jason is happy that Tai is either going to play his Idol and lose it or go home with it – it’s the revenge he was looking for, but there goes that confidence again, nipping at his heels as he picks up his torch…
Time for Tribal Council! After the Jury shuffles in Jeff asks Julia where they are at in the game – they are at a crucial point. Every decision and conversation counts and the only person who should feel safe is Michele. Jason agrees and adds that you have to weigh all options because someone in the five is number five. Julia voices that she believes Cyd and Michele are at the bottom of that five, Aubry is holding Joe’s hand to the Final Three, and Tai has an Idol, an advantage, and HUGE potential to win the game sooo you gotta shake that up and do something about it. Of course Jeff asks Tai to talk and he asks his alliance not to rock the boat, there is no reason to get on the sinking Jason Julia ship. Why mess up a guaranteed shot at the final five? And how does Aubry feel since her name was brought up – it’s scary, but you have to trust and rely on your relationships. Jason jumps in to try to cause some chaos by mentioning what a flip flopper Tai is and Scot is sitting over there because him, but Tai reminds AGAIN that he was just jumping the gun that had the bullet with his name on it that Jason and Scot were holding. And yada yada yada… There’s talk about the Jury and getting votes, and it’s a typical conversation for this point in the game so let’s just skip to the votes to see where Michele and Cyd decide to swing. When Jeff leaves to tally the votes, Tai leans down to whisper in Aubry’s ear – should he play his Idol? She says that she thinks he’s fine, but that he should go with his gut. When Jeff asks if anyone wants to play an Idol, Tai looks around and doesn’t play it; Julia and Jason smile then Jeff reads the votes: Tai, Julia, Tai, Julia, Julia… aaand Julia. That’s four, that’s enough, Michele is in tears and Jeff announces that FEAR has entered the game.
Next time on Survivor… No one wants to play with Jason until the majority alliance begins to show a crack, which reduces Aubry to tears. Man! This has been such a great season of Survivor and it only seems to be getting better and better. As always… If you like my blogs, check out other stuff around the site! We’ve got Amazing Race recaps, Big Brother Canada Coverage Galore, Hell’s Kitchen, Bravo Shows, The Bachelor, video recaps… We do a lot. You should really surf around. 😉 And if you’re shopping on Amazon, use this link – it doesn’t cost you more and it helps us out a bit! And if you really love us, join our Patreon program.
