Survivor: Blood vs. Water Episode 2 Discussion and Recap *Updated with Polls*

I don’t have a a llama but there is a new episode of Survivor to watch and discuss which as always you can do below.

I will be back later with my recap!

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Welcome to another busy Wednesday night of TV recaps at MJ’s. I’m here again to recap this week’s episode of Survivor. This week we will see the first Redemption Island challenge which will send the first player out of the game. That along with the regular Survivor goodness makes for what should be an exciting episode.

We start off the episode with a recap of last week’s episode where Rupert and Candice were sent to Redemption Island and Marissa was sent to join them.

Marissa walks into Redemption Island. She says she was blindsided and partially seems to blame it on her Uncle Gervase and his bragging. Candice says she was most likely targeted because she spoke out against Culpepper.

Over at Galang there is masseuses for everyone but Colton looks miserable. He says that he came back to play Survivor and not red rover. I think he is just a baby and needs to shut up. He tells Aras, Tina, and Gervase that he wants to actually go to Tribal and wants a strategy. Colton is pissed that no one is actually strategizing but Aras says that it is not needed at this point since they won. I do think people are strategizing. I just don’t think they want to play with Colton.

Culpepper is slinging some fish at Tadhana (Didn’t they use to have to actually win the fishing sling). Culpepper is happy that they have food and fire. Rachel is worried about her game since there is obviously a Guy’s alliance. She tries to get in with John to build trust but Ciera sees this and speaks with Katie about a Rachel/John alliance hoping that there will become a target on John’s back.

Tree Mail tells us that it is now time for the season’s first Redemption Island challenge and as the teams are bought in there are tears from Galang at seeing their loved ones safe. Except for Gervase of course. The competitors come in and Marissa stares down her old tribe. She says that the person who should have been voted out should have been the person who performed the worst and that was not her. She says that Gervase’s reaction to winning was what sealed her fate and Gervase says that they will have more coming to them.

For the challenge players will guide a block through a structure to place it at the top. If you hit the structure it can wobble and fall over forcing you to start over. The first two who finish first stay in the game and the first place winner will also be able to give a clue to the hidden immunity idol to any one still in the game. The loser will be the first person eliminated from Blood vs. Water.

Rupert tries to rush it and drops his first one and needs to start over. We get a flash forward with Candice and Rupert with seven and Marissa with six. Candice lands eight and so does Rupert but he places the eighth on the edge and when doing his next his stack falls.

Candice lands her tenth and final one and sticks it for the three seconds to stay alive. Marissa is at nine and Rupert is back to his fifth. Gervase coaches her from the side lines and she finishes in second sending Rupert packing. Going into the season I did not expect him to be the first person out. That is why the game is so unpredictable. Hopefully the burning of his buff is his Survivor retirement.

As Rupert walks out of the game Candice gives the clue to her husband John and the two ladies head off to Redemption Island.

We head back to Tadhana where they are congratulating John that Candice won. John is worried about how pissed Marissa is but he wants weak people at Redemption to make it easier for Candice. This is thrown in his face when his alliance decides Rachel would need to be next because with the extra twist they think Tyson would sacrifice himself for her. This worries John since Tyson would be tough for Candice to beat and get back into the game.

He opens his clue and has to decide if he should run and find it himself or share it with the tribe. This is an improvement over past seasons because he at least needed the clue to start his search.

We continue to see the return of Colton at Galang because he is annoyed that his tribe only wants to be positive and hang around the camp fire rather then start arguments apparently. He is rolling his eyes because Laura says that she will improve her game since she no longer needs to worry about Rupert.

He then makes the boneheaded decision to try to drum up some drama by twisting stories and lying about who people are targeting. He tells Gervase that Laura M has to go first and then tells Tina that Gervase wants to go after Aras which surprises Tina. He says he will rule the game with chaos but Tina approaches Kat. Kat tells him that he is over strategizing and Colton decides to confront Tina and then confront Kat as well.

Tina says that she doesn’t want the drama that is starting and everyone else seems on board. Tyson says what everyone is thinking, that Colton came out trying to be someone different and can’t fake it anymore.

Colton says he wants to lose the immunity challenge so that they can realize it is a game and not a horrible vacation. What Colton doesn’t realize is that they all know it is a game but it actually makes sense to work together and get as many people to the merge as possible. His whole game plan really just pisses me off.

The next morning Colton says that everyone is now being super sketchy, I mean is he really wondering why people are acting weird around him. He approaches Monica and asks her if being are now after him and she says no and that he needs to calm down the game play.

In the woods there is a tribe meeting without Colton and everyone is onto his antics. Tyson tells everyone that anytime Colton says a lie to let others know and Monica lets everyone know that Colton is worried that his plan to have Kat as the target backfired.

Aras comes him a gay Russell Hantz and a bully. Colton got his wish that people are playing the game because we now have a final five alliance of Aras, Gervase, Monica, Tina, and Tyson. With that out of the way we are now off to the immunity challenge.

Three members will be tied together and roll another member in a barrel. They will need to roll to four bags of balls and the remaining tribe members will roll balls to land them in six holes. They are playing for immunity as well as a huge fishing gear reward.

Tyson, Monica, and Aras are rolling Laura M for Galang while Culpepper, John and Vykas are rolling Katie for Tadhana. Galang has a lead early but Tadhana gets to the ball rolling first. Hayden throws first and lands 2 quickly when Gervase starts tossing. They tie up at three and Gervase hits the fourth first. Hayden ties it but Gervase lands two more for the win and reward. Gervase says it was for Marissa and Galang are off in victory. Tadhana will be going to Tribal again where someone will be send to Redemption Island.

Culpepper is feeling angry at Gervase and his showboating. He is hoping for a physical challenge to take out Gervase.

Katie says that she wants to stick with girls but sees that they are outnumbered by the guys. The guys alliance pushes for Rachel because they are hoping that with the new twist Tyson will eliminate himself to save her. I don’t actually see Tyson eliminating himself but that is just me. The plan does make sense.

John plays a little selfishly trying to safe Rachel because he doesn’t want to make it harder for Candice at Redemption Island. The rest of his alliance sees this as he is working with Rachel rather than thinking that he is trying to help Candice. If I was John I think I would be upfront with the guys that he is trying to help his wife and he thinks she would help them when she re-enters the game.

Of course he never says this so it leaves everyone else to think he has a secret alliance with Rachel which Katie jumps on to push even more doubt. Katie questions whether John has the idol to which the guys say they don’t think he has it.

The plan is to tell Rachel that Ciera will be going home and when John tells her she freaks because she is also worried about a possible idol. They seem to have a plan to throw two votes at John to protect Ciera.

John is obviously searching the idol and now the guys are even more worried about John’s trust. They are considering a possible blind side since John seems to be playing his own game already.  Personally I think going after John is way too early. They need all the strength to compete at future challenges.

Jeff tosses out the idea of guys vs. girls and Hayden says that the guys have bonded but does not reject the idea of a guys alliance. Ciera and Katie admit that they are worried with the closeness of the five guys and talk turns to John getting the clue for the idol. John says it puts a target on him and Caleb says they are worried because they have seen what the idol has done in the past.

Jeff now talks about sending someone to Redemption Island and John mentions that not only is he sending someone to Redemption Island but their family member could take their place to face Candice. Hayden says that it is twisted because they can possible weaken the other tribe based on who they vote out. With that it is time to vote.

With five votes Rachel is the second person voted out of Blood vs. Water. Katie and Ciera did play it safe and threw two votes at John. Jeff tells them that they need to start winning. I like the plan to send Rachel packing. There is no real advantage about who is sent out between the girls on the tribe and the possibility to get Tyson to sacrifice himself makes sense for the tribe. I am really liking the twist of having the option to replace a loved one. It adds so much more to the game and a season like Blood vs. Water is the only season it would really work on.

Next Week on Survivor it looks like Tyson will be taking Rachel’s place and Colton may be quitting the game because he is the worst Survivor player ever.