It’s Wednesday which means another installment of Survivor. It’s been an amazing season and if it’s not careful will enter my personal to five favorite seasons.
There are still so many story lines that can play out. Front and center is Lisa’s internal battle between good and evil. Skupin has given her every reason to jump ship now that he has helped out out Artis yet she still seems attached to Abi and Pete even though Abi treats her horribly. The only saving grace for Lisa is that everyone will target Pete and Abi before her and once we are down to the final six the game will change again.
Of course based on this season the alliances change every week and power keeps swinging. I just can’t see Pete and Abi recovering from this one. People just seem to not like them and while it would feel easy to want to take them to the end I think Penner is the only one smart and crazy enough to try it but he’s need to bring Skupin back over to that side. I’m not sure he’d take that approach to get to the end since you never know if it will be a jury that votes based on their hurt feelings or how the game is played over all.
There is also still two idols in play and as we get closer to the end it becomes harder to blindside someone with an idol. I can see Abi being fooled or everyone splitting the vote to flush hers but I can’t see them fooling Malcolm into not playing it if needed. Also at some point Malcolm can go on a Immunity challenge tear as we get into the more physical challenges that tend to pop up in this stretch of ever season.
It should be a good end to the season and I look forward to everyone else’s thoughts and opinions.
Recap
Right from the start we have Abi wondering what happened. She says that Tandang was supposed to stick together to make it to the end. Skupin says he needs to start making multiple big moves. He has made his first move. He wants to take Penner, Carter, Denise, Lisa, and Malcolm to final six and then say game on.
Lisa says that she can say she never wavered on her commitment to Tandang. She has trouble breaking up with people and she starts by trying to break up with Abi. Abi asks her why she would want to align and be at the bottom of the other group but Lisa counters that she would rather be sixth and be with people who won’t call her out at tribal and she can feel good about herself. Abi also leaves out the fact that Lisa was at the bottom of Tandang so it wasn’t exactly helping her there either.
Seven minutes into the hour and we are already off to the reward challenge. There are three circles with two drums in each. Teams must work to flip their three drums at the same time to score a point. First team to three wins reward which is a Spa day for the winners.
The Yellow team is Penner, Lisa, Denise, and Skupin and the Red team is Abi, Malcolm, Carter, and Pete. We start with Carter out hustling Penner for a point. Malcolm is out hustling Skupin but forgets to flip a yellow back over so Skupin scores the point. Round three has Abi flipping a yellow drum for them giving the point to Lisa. Jeff asks Abi if she knows what is happening in the challenge and she admits she doesn’t really know. It’s amazing how poorly she plays in challenges. Pete takes out Denise to tie it. We end with Malcolm vs. Skupin. This time Skupin flips the wrong drum and helps Red win the challenge.
We head over to Spa day and Malcolm quickly tells the rest to kill any strategy talk. This is due to the fact that everyone he wants to work with is back at the camp. We are then treated to Carter feeding Malcolm grapes as he is taking a bath. Abi comments on how she is going to spurge on the food since she hasn’t eaten in 26 days.
They get back from the challenge and Abi starts to brag about the reward instead of trying to be humble about it. The low point is when even the people who went on the reward start looking uncomfortable. Abi overhears them taking about her lack of social grace and commits to never cook again. She’s leaving soon so she’ll enjoy her time. Of course she’ll eat since Penner commits to keep feeding her. He also reminds her that since she has the idol she has at least 5 more days in the game. That’s Ok with her but she’s staying out of the kitchen.
We come back and Skupin and Malcolm are hashing out a final four deal between Skupin, Malcolm, Lisa, and Denise. Lisa says she trusts Penner more which is crazy of her really. They approach Penner for final three but Penner doesn’t want to commit to anyone. He says they need to take out Abi and Pete and then see where the chips lie. I see one side of his argument that he doesn’t want to be forced to break any promises but on the other hand it forces people to go look for something concrete so they don’t feel like they are out in the cold. This proves true as Skupin and Lisa make a commitment to go to the final four with Malcolm and Denise even through Skupin doesn’t fully trust Malcolm. I’ll never understand how anyone playing Survivor ever fully trusts another player. At some point for just have to commit to the numbers and cross your fingers you don’t get blindsided.
Skupin says he needs to win Immunity so he can be in the driver’s seat which takes us to the start of the Immunity challenge. It looks like a physical one. First five to remove a buoy through a first obstacle move on. After second leg three move on to final leg which is in the water and first to maneuver buoy through final challenge wins immunity. Pete says he needs this win since Abi has the idol and is most likely safe.
Malcolm moves on first followed by Penner, Denise, Skupin, and Carter.
Second leg is on a balance beam and cannot fall off. Penner and Malcom fall off which gives Denise, Skupin, and Carter a fairly easy win.
Third challenge involves swimming to and flipping over and under a boat to clear the buoy. Carter takes an earlier lead but gets caught up and Skupin passes him. Later Skupin gets caught up on the final knot and Carter pushes through for the Immunity win.
Really it should be an easy end to the episode ending with Pete going home after forcing Abi to flush the idol but you never know with the way this season has gone. Back at camp Abi is drinking the wine again. She’s kind of a drunk based on this episode. She always seems to be holding the bottle.
Penner proposes splitting the votes 3 for Pete and 3 for Abi. If she doesn’t play the idol they can then vote out Abi in the re-vote. If she does then Pete goes home. Everyone is smart enough to agree to this since it makes perfect sense.
Of course Abi and Pete discuss the fact Malcolm has power with his idol and Pete says he won’t just lay down without a fight. Pete wants to focus on Skupin and Lisa. Pete says that Skupin makes moves without thinking them through so he should be an easy target.
For some crazy reason Pete lets Abi try to talk Lisa into flipping back to Tandang. She approaches Lisa, Lisa says she has committed to the new alliance. Carter turns down Pete saying he’s in a good spot where he is. Penner says that he doesn’t trust any of the other people but they trust him so he’s gonna play off that. He tells Abi she went far and played well but she’s not going to win this one. Pete makes a last ditch effort to try for Skupin. Skupin is such a loose cannon. He switches his opinion to what people tell him. I mean can he really think for himself. Last week he followed Penner and this week he’s considering following Pete.
Penner plays it smart and informs everyone of what Abi and Pete has been trying. So if Malcolm plays the idol and someone flips it’ll kill their game. Hopefully Skupin realizes this fact but I have little faith in his game play overall.
Tribal Council starts with Abi smiling at Artis. Jeff mentions jury management and Malcolm says at this point the focus needs to be on just staying in the game. Pete openingly pushes for someone to flip and vote out Malcolm.
Jeff then gets Abi to admit she regrets how she handled the last tribal. She has that she has trouble since English is not her first language. Denise basically calls Abi a bitch by pointing out that she has worked with a lot of people who were not English first that those people are Kind and helpful which Abi is not. Abi says this she doesn’t feel understood by anyone and she is holding back tears since she feels alone.
Jeff points out that maybe Abi is someone you want to take to the end of the game. Denise counters with the fact that every season you see an unlikable person who won’t get votes taken to the end and that is a good strategy if that is the game you want to play. This confuses Abi since she didn’t know she was unliked by everyone. Apparently the fact that everyone was laughing at her just moments before didn’t clue her in. Denise says bringing dead weight to the end is like bring someone who never played poker to a poker game just to steal their money. Denise tries to explain to her how she acted after the reward but Abi cuts her off repeatedly until Denise gives up.
Jeff finishes by pointing out that when you are at the bottom of an alliance it is a great time to try to shuffle the deck. Clearly he is hoping for something crazy to happen like Malcolm going home. With that it is time to vote.
Abi votes for Malcolm. It’s the only vote they show. Abi plays her idol on herself and Malcolm holds his showing trust in his alliance. Skupin holds firm and votes out Pete. Jeff tells Abi her back is against the wall but in this game anything can happen.
I really can’t see Abi recovering from this and she should be gone next. Not only would three people need to pull her into a four person alliance but they would need three people who wants to work with her. Also they would need to keep it quiet that it is happening and so far this season everyone has been really vocal when they are approached with plans.
Next time on Survivor … Penner seems to confront Lisa about a new alliance and Abi pledges to fight to stay in the game.
