Time for Season 33 of Survivor, but first…The Tribes (and their Twitter handles)!
Back Row (L to R): Justin “Jay” Starrett @Jay__Qs, Michaela Bradshaw @TheMichaelaB, Adam Klein @AdamScottKlein, Jessica “Figgy” Figueroa @hashtagfiggy, Michelle Schubert @MsShellSchubert, and Will Wahl @window2wahl; Front Row (L to R): Hannah Shapiro @HannahLilNessen, Taylor Lee Stocker @TayIsStocker, Mari Takahashi @AtomicMari, and Zeke Smith @zekerchief.
Back Row (L to R): Lucy Huang, Ken McNickle @kenofthejunglez, Chris Hammons @hamm0481, Jessica Lewis @jessicalewis89, Rachel Ako @Rachel_Ako1, and Ciandre “CeCe” Taylor @ciandre; Front Row (L to R): David Wright, Paul Wachter, Sunday Burquest @sundaysurvivor, and Bret LaBelle @BretLaBelle.
NOW it’s time for Season 33 of Survivor and the theme is Millennials Vs Gen X, which is a really cool idea, but I am 38 years old and don’t consider myself to be in either of these generations. So officially, the Millennials are ages 18 to 31 and Gen X is 33 to 52. The youngest, Will, is actually still in high school during the filming of this season, took off school to play Survivor – how cool are HIS parents? The oldest, Paul, and other Gen Xers describe his tribe as being the people who work hard, didn’t have things handed to them, they listen and ya know, it’s all stuff you’d expect to hear from the White or Blue Collar tribes… The Millennials are more like the No Collar tribe. Laid back, Peter Pan-types that just want to follow their dreams, have jobs they love doing what makes them happy, and go with the flow. Everyone is super excited about the twist, then Jeff releases them into the jungle to gather supplies, but of course, they have a time limit and there are stations at which each tribe will have a choice in taking either chickens or fishing gear, and cooking gear or a hammer. Gen X takes the fishing gear and cooking gear, obviously, because those the best advantages. The Millennials take the chickens and even Jeff’s commentary is like, uuuuhhhh oooookay… In the scramble, uh… Um… I can’t tell who it is, but I know she is from the Millennials totally doesn’t see an envelope that has fallen into view by a bundle of items by a tree she was messing with so when Jessica of Gen X comes by, she sees it right away and quickly slips it into the back of her pants. When time is up, Jeff warns that is it cyclone season and that there is a big storm headed their way; he emphasizes that it has NEVER been more important on Survivor to get a shelter built because they are gonna need it – TONIGHT. Uhhh… Maybe that hammer wasn’t such a bad idea then, buuut, how good is a hammer without nails out in the jungle?
So we bounce around from camp to camp as the tribes get to know each other and start work on their shelters. Everything is all happy happy at the Millennial tribe and little alliances are forming with the “cool kids from high school” as it is later put, between Taylor, Figgy, and Jay – they are calling themselves the “Triforce”, but I doubt any of them has played anything in the Legend of Zelda series… Zeke, one of my favs by far, is just not feeling at home with these kids who he doubts have ever had a normal job, but ya know… I’ve had normal jobs… I don’t like them! I’m very happy serving food, selling booze, and writing. 😉 The general vibe at the Gen X camp is very good for the most part, they know they can’t underestimate the young kids over there and they are ready to work, especially Ken, who I really like because he’s been living off the grid for five years AND – He’s from Kansas!!! And he is originally from a town that is very very very close to where I live now… So while the Gen Xers are getting along and building their shelter, Jessica sneaks off to look at her envelope and omg… It’s called the Legacy Advantage and if she’s still there on Day 36, she’ll get a major advantage; if she gets voted out, she has to will it to another player, but she intends on keeping it! And I LOVE this twist. I love it! It’s much better than that crap Idol twist that Tyler Perry’s genius mind dreamed up for Survivor, that, if I remember correctly, didn’t even get USED during that season, but I digress… It’s a cool advantage twist and I really hope Jessica makes it to day 36 just because SHE’S the one who found it so SHE should be the one to have it in the end.
I know I’m kinda blowing through this episode, but I HAD to take a little, personal break after Big Brother 18… I knew it was going to be a lot more work, but duuude… I wrote about five pages in Word for every week AND all those pictures! I’m exhausted, but I love Survivor. Despite several people in my life telling me that I should take a break and work on my own writing projects… I couldn’t NOT write about this season! I’ve got my Kansas guy to support! Thanks, by the way, for all the support for the Big Brother blogs, by the way. I love my readers! You guys rock… So… To further recap the goings on at the camps and to dig a little deeper into the stories of the season… Figgy fancies herself a very good manipulator of men; she’s in that Triforce thing ya know, and then there’s Hannah, the nerdy, Jewish girl who tries to befriend the hottie Christian Michele. Over at the Gen X camp, Rachel is rubbing people the wrong way and David is just, like, lol, dude… He’s like me if I were to go on Survivor. He isn’t outdoorsy, hates bugs, isn’t athletic, he’s a writer, etc. He knows he’s the odd man out on his tribe and he’s playing way to hard way too fast. He’s kinda jokey with the other dudes about how he knows nothing about building a shelter, which is okay, but then he lets the paranoia set in fully and begins defensive moves. While working on chopping up bamboo, David is certain that Ken and Paul have found an Immunity Idol and he tells Chris and Bret about his suspicions; they, like me, highly doubt it. David lets them both know that he trusts them both and that he’ll be loyal aaand… He’s just coming off a little too desperate and Chris and Bret are nervous about his paranoia.
So… As the storm that Jeff warned about begins to blow into town, the Millennials have decided that it’s time for a little swim! Adam knows this is a bad idea, he sees the dark clouds rolling in towards them, and Mari seems to be of the same mindset telling the “kids” that “Mama” says it’s time to come back in… By the time the “kids” get “in”… it’s night vision time for the camera guys and their shelter… As they begin to climb onto their bamboo floor, it collapses under the weight of four people. Yes, Will, it IS one of the WORST shelters ever on Survivor because as the storm rages into the night, it only continues to collapse more in other places. The Millennials did NOT have a good first night of Survivor, but then again, the Gen Xers had just as bad of a time. This is THE WORST storm I have EVER seen on Survivor and I HAVE every season of Survivor at least twice. This is worse than the season two storm that totally destroyed one camp. It’s such a bad storm that Jeff GIVES the tribes a tarp on Day 2 – Just up and gives it to them, wants nothing in return, buuut… If he has to come to camp asking for it back after the weather clears, he’s gonna take more than the tarp. And it’s like Who’s Line Is It Anyway because the Tarps don’t matter. Jeff eventually speed boats up to the camps because the storm has been upgraded to a full on, fully, cyclone and they are evacuating everyone until the storm passes. Everyone is like, omg, whoa, wtf, this is crazy. Everything is all calm and peaceful seeming when Jeff retrieves the Millennials, but by the time he leaves the island with the Gen Exers… People are fighting to keep their footing on the beach to get to the boat… And like, seriously, Survivor? YOU WERE DOING INTERVIEWS BEFORE YOU LEFT??? They were doing interviews before they evacuated both tribes… What weather site ARE you using, Jeff Probst??? So it’s the first time they’ve ever evacuated the tribes on Survivor, but it’s no big deal. They all go back to camp the next day, Day 3, but seriously omg… A big tree fell on the Gen X shelter during the night and if they HAD been in that thing… Thank the Universe they were not…
So, the next day, Day 3, Gen X returns to their camp and they are so happy they were evacuated, but now they have to build a new shelter, but it’s okay… They get to work aaand David is even more worried now than he was before. He opens up to people about himself and even let’s Ken put a huge Walking Stick bug on his arm – NOT SOMETHING I WOULD DO, but he’s worried, he knows the paranoia is setting in… He decides to look for the Idol and he’s not very discreet about it. Brett, Chris, and Jessica notice; she says it will be him voted out if they have to go to Tribal. Meanwhile, the Millennials are returning to their camp and Zeke is THE MAN! He doesn’t know how to build shelters since he’s from Brooklyn, but he leads the tribe in building the shelter AND… HE STARTS FIRE!!! WITHOUT FLINT! Not many people have done that on Survivor and Zeke already feels like Survivor has changed him and I seriously love this guy… I hope you’re reading this, dude! Sooo there is still that Triforce of power on the Millennials tribe and with Michelle they are four, and this is when Hannah starts noticing that it’s getting very high school cook kids Vs the nerdy misfits sooo… She gets with Mari and they agree they need to keep the numbers over those people so Mari gets to work and talks to all the freaks and geeks on their tribe; misfits for life!
Come on in, guys! It’s time for Immunity! First of all, both tribes come with the tarps Jeff gave them; he’s very happy to see this and I have to wonder what he was going to do if one of them HADN’T brought their tarp with them to the challenge… 😉 IN THIS CHALLENGE, tribes will go through series of three obstacles, but they can choose to take shortcuts in two of them, BUT… The Great Equalizer is the final stage of this challenge – a puzzle – and if they take shortcuts, their number of puzzle pieces increases. In the first obstacle, they have to untie a war club, but it’s a free-for-all obstacle so one tribe can hinder another in retrieving these things. The next obstacle is a rope tunnel, but if they smash through the mask and take the short cut, it will be easier. The last obstacle is a balance beam, and again, if they smash through the hanging mask, they can make the balance beam easier by making it wider, BUT, like I said, if you take shortcuts, you gain more puzzle pieces. If they take both, the tribe will have to solve a 70-piece puzzle, one short cut equals a 60-piece puzzle, and if the tribe doesn’t take any shortcuts they will get the easiest 50-piece puzzle to solve. AAAND… Gen X takes BOTH short cuts. The Millennials take one, the second with the balance beam. AAAND… Gen X just cannot get the puzzle together fast enough. The Millennials catch up QUICKLY and they win Immunity – and flint, as if they need it! Even though Chris did his best to block the Mills from getting their clubs, even though they took both short cuts, the Gen Xers have a date with Jeff.
Back at the Gen X camp, of course, everyone is disappointed. Some people are blaming Rachel since she claimed to be so good at puzzles, but totally failed at being good at THAT puzzle. David still feels left out since no one is including him in strategy talks so he approaches the people that were talking about Rachel, even though he doesn’t realize they were doing that. The people David is talking to are Jessica, Bret, and Chris. He admits he went looking for an Idol because he got paranoid, but he didn’t find one. He hopes they don’t write his name down, and if they don’t, he’ll be loyal to them. Bret doesn’t buy it – He thinks he has an Idol and he thinks he has most of the numbers with him, Chris, Paul, Sunday, Jessica, and Lucy. He’s not too keen on Rachel right now either, buuut… He think he can pretty much do what he wants with the votes with all that support he thinks he has. CeCe, Ken, Rachel, and David will be left out of the majority vote… CeCe and Rachel notice this alliance being formed, though. People are telling her they don’t know what’s going on and she knows that’s not good. David knows he’s his worst enemy in this game and he’s hoping that everything he said to the powers that be in the Gen X tribe made an impact, but he won’t know until Tribal Council sooo… Let’s go to Tribal Council!
At Tribal Council, we learn that Jessica, finder of the Legacy Advantage, suffered a sand injury to her eye during the evacuation that resulted in a bacterial infection to one eye that she gave to the other. When Jeff addresses David he admits that he’s his own worst enemy and admits that he’s afraid of being voted out, but when Jeff asks who is afraid of going first – more than half the tribe, six people, raise their hands – Dave, Chris, CeCe, Rachel, Jessica, Sunday, and Ken… Then Paul right at the end. Chris says he rationalized that it was all in his head, just game paranoia, so he wrote it off, but Rachel… She noticed people not talking to her and she feels that she’s been too upfront and outspoken. She apologizes if anyone felt negatively about things she said, then Idols are brought up and Jessica speaks about David… Again, yes, David… And from Jessica! Jessica who DOES have an advantage… What a good game she is playing, eh? So the votes are cast and Jeff goes to tally them up; Jeff asks for hidden Immunity Idols to be played, but none are and then the votes. David, Rachel, Sunday, CeCe, Rachel, CeCe, Rachel… Looks like you’re in the clear David! Next votes, CeCe, Rachel, aaand… Rachel. Sooo… David survives. And next week… OMG! Romance is blooming on the Millennials tribe and someone on Gen X might have had a heart attack?! OMG!
And that’s it for my first blog of Survivor 33: Millennials Vs Gen X! If you love Survivor like me, check out ALL my Survivor blogs for Your Reality Recaps – If you like the Amazing Race and King of the Nerds – check those out too! AAAND… Big Brother 18! I won’t be blogging about Big Brother Over the Top, but I will be watching and chatting in the YRR live feed chatroom as “dolphinpoet”. Be sure to watch Eric’s video recaps of the Survivor season AND all of his post-season Big Brother interviews and join the Patreon program if you really love what you see here at YRR! Love you all! xoxox
