Survivor Recap: Mass Confusion Causes a Live Tribal Council to Erupt
In Wednesday’s episode of Survivor, plans were aplenty, but which plan was the plan remained a mystery until the very last second.
Leaked info and badly kept secrets led to a Tribal Council that was perplexing in the best possible way… at least for us watching at home! Who said what to whom, and which player saw their torch get snuffed? Let’s recap.
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An early segment homes in on Andy and Rachel — two Gata players who have kinda-sorta liked each other from the beginning, but never got the chance to properly align. Andy’s shaky start to the game and Rachel’s tight connection with the ousted Anika put them on opposite sides of their original tribe, but now, both of them are floating in the wind as outliers looking to make connections and solidify allies. While the rest of the episode doesn’t pick up this planted seed elsewhere, we can only guess that something big might be brewing down the line.
IMMUNITY IS BACK UP FOR GRABS | Should the castaways be concerned when Jeff greets them with his very best Mr. Burns impression? The answer to that, my friends, is a resounding YES.
The group pairs off into five duos: Kyle/Gabe, Andy/Sam, Rachel/Caroline, Sue/Genevieve and Teeny/Sol. It’s a stage-by-stage eliminator in which the final two duos will compete as four individuals in an endurance test. Those final four will also earn some tasty grub back at camp. If that wasn’t enough to chew on, the first two duos out will lose their vote and go on a journey together to attempt to win it back.
Sigh.
The whole crux of this game revolves around the players putting pen to parchment. It’s why Tribal Council is always (hopefully) dramatic and final. Removing that voting capability too often robs them of their ability to strategize and counter others’ moves with their own. This new era has been far too reliant on these lost votes, and really, it’s the viewers who lose out. STOP STANDING IN THEIR WAY AND LET EVERYONE PLAY, ALREADY!
Anyhoo, Sam, Andy, Rachel and Caroline become the unlucky foursome to lose votes, and after Stage 2 of the challenge, Genevieve and Sue are out, leaving Teeny, Sol, Kyle and Gabe to fight it out. Will anyone be able to defeat the challenge beast that is Kyle? This time, yes! Gabe narrowly pulls it out and wins himself that highly coveted necklace.
SOL OR SAM? | While noshing on some BLTs, the reward winners all agree that Sam is the perfect target for the night’s vote. But Genevieve has something else in mind. After talking it over with Sue, she approaches Gabe about possibly voting Sol out, saying that she overheard Sol and Teeny discussing Gabe’s elimination. Kyle doesn’t seem to mind, as long as he stays. But it all depends on who does or does not have their vote…
JOURNEY | Four compete. Only one will lose his or her vote. It’s a reverse Jenga of sorts, and the person to knock over the tower will be the one without a vote at Tribal. I don’t want to say it’s like watching paint dry, but it’s not the most exciting television Survivor has ever produced. When the house of cards topples, Caroline is the one to lose her vote — just the person who Genevieve needed to enact her Sol plan.
STRATEGY | Needing one more vote to boot Sol, Genevieve approaches Rachel, who then leaks that info to Sam, a man with a thirst for revenge! He blabs to Sol and kickstarts his own plan: Sue. She’s the most insulated, he says, and taking her out will upend everybody’s game. (How is Kyle just sitting pretty here? No one’s talking about Kyle?!)
Oh, wait! What’s that? They are talking about Kyle! It’s Kyle! No, it’s Sol! It’s Sue? It’s… an absolute “s—tshow,” as Genevieve will later call it.
THE TRIBE HAS SPOKEN | While Genevieve discusses having a “007 license to kill,” paranoia is running rampant. Sam and Teeny have no idea what’s going on. Andy starts questioning things, too. Tiny conversations sprout up, as Jeff tries to maintain control of the conversation and the players try to decipher “news” from “noise.”
It’s absolute pandemonium leading into the vote and who’s actually going to be walking down that dark path behind Jeff is anyone’s guess. No advantages are played, so Jeff gets right to it… and Sol is unanimously booted from the game. (Read our Q&A with Sol here!)
What did you make of… all that? Hit the comments section and as always, go full tilt boogie!
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