Sure the World Season starts tonight but there is also a new episode of Survivor so I will be here watching since my Toronto Blue Jays can’t even make the playoffs let alone play in a World Series.
I will be back later with my recap and as always please feel free to discuss below.
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A quick recap of previous events that show Laura M being sent to Redemption Island with plans to have her try to take out Culpepper at Redemption Island.
We return back to Galang where Laura B is happy to have survived her first tribal council. Aras knows that Laura M was pissed at him and he is weary of looking like the ring leader.
The next morning Tyson and Gervase are talking about being worried about Aras teaming with Vytas. Tyson feels that the merge is coming and is trying to get Gervase on board with targeting Aras in an upcoming tribal council if they lose again before the merge. Gervase says he is more comfortable with the idea as the days go by and Tyson wisely “makes” it Gervase’s decision.
It’s time for the Redemption Island dual were Tadhana gets their first look at seeing that Laura M was voted out. Ciera has some tears seeing her mom out of the game. Ciera says that she had a weird feeling all day and is sad to see her mom out. Jeff tosses out the twist that Ciera could replace her and Laura shuts it down before Jeff finishes speaking. She says she’s got this.
For the challenge they will be racing across beams to get bags with numbers. They will then place numbered tiles from 1-100 to win. First two stay alive and the loser burns their urn.
Laura has the early lead finishing her first bag with John right behind her. Laura gets her second bag while John is having trouble falling off the beam twice giving Culpepper a lead for second.
John catches and passes Culpepper and Laura is off for her last bag while John and Culpepper working on the third bags. Laura runs away with the win and it is down to John and Culpepper and after a close race John finishes second.
Culpepper is out of the game. He says that Monica is free to play now and tells her something about sailing in the wind. Monica is crying as she says goodbye and now she just needs to think about herself.
As for the clue Laura M give it to Vytas because she knows it is a target on people’s backs. Vytas follows Jeff right to the fire and burns the clue. Personally I would be bringing it back to camp and “sharing” it with my tribe but at this point why not follow the tradition set and continue to burn it.
The evicted players head back to Redemption Island when Tadhana and Galang are told it is time to switch things up. I expected a cool twist to the shift but each castaway just picks a covered buff. Tyson asks to pick last so that fate can guide him. Let’s see how that works out for him.
New tribes are:
Galang: Tina, Monica, Laura, Kat, Katie, and Vytas
Tadhana: Calab, Hayden, Ciera, Gervase, Tyson, and Aras
With the tribe switch it instantly looks like both Aras and Vytas are in danger so we will see how they can play it. We head to the new Tadhana first. It’s split 3-3. Caleb wonders who will give out information and then proceeds to spill all the information. They share whatever they knew about the immunity clue John had and spill the tribal council information that had.
Tyson has a strategy to eat as much as Tadhana’s food as possible. So just so he doesn’t look selfish or lazy he will give the half of the coconuts that he doesn’t drink to the other five people to share. Tyson is the greatest mastermind ever.
Over that Galang Tina is happy to be playing with Katie on the same tribe. For his part Vytas is upset since he no longer has control of anything and he sees himself as the bottom of the totem pole since Katie is now with mother.
Monica is pushing to stick with the old Galang which annoys Kat that she is strategizing too much. I mean it’s not like they are playing Survivor or anything.
And apparently that is the most interesting thing that happened since we head back to Tadhana. Tyson starts trying to make Aras look like a bossy guy and starts apologize for Aras and acting like he is socially inept. He is trying to paint the target on Aras and I’m not sure but I think Aras is smart enough to realize that is what is happening. I just have this feeling that Tyson is over playing his hand.
Vytas is worried about being on the bottom on Galang so he opens up to them about his past and what happened to him to try to build a connection. It is a very smart move and really the old card he has. The other card is that he needs to let them know that they can use any strength he has for challenges. Laura B says that she likes Vytas but knows she has to keep her heart out of the game.
It is time for this week’s immunity challenge and it looks like a crazy one. They will race out in pairs to a cage, release a fish trap and race back. There are three cages and once all three cages are back they will release puzzle pieces. First team to put together the puzzle wins immunity and reward and the losers will go to tribal council. The reward is a picnic of turkey, roast beef, ham and other food treats.
Gervase and Aras go for Tadhana against Tina and Laua B. Gervase is swimming better and they have their first trap. Tina and Laura B head back without the first trap and have to go back to it as Tyson and Caleb have their second fish trap. Vytas and Monica head out for trap two while Hayden and Ciera have the third and final trap. Kat and Katie go for the last trap as Tadhana work on the puzzle with Tyson and Aras putting it together.
Tadhana has a huge lead as Kat and Katie get back with the last trap. The puzzle is bringing them back with Tyson and Aras falling apart on the puzzle. Galang thinks they have it but are wrong. They go at it again and start celebrating as Jeff tells them they are wrong again. This allows Tyson and Aras to finish it off and win it for Tadhana. They were so close to blowing a huge lead. It would have been crazy if they lost and I was kind of hoping for it since I think a Tadhana Tribal Council would have been more interesting and drama filled.
Galang is in for a long afternoon. They are great puzzle makers and that mistake was huge that Tina and Laura B made. Vytas is pissed that the mistake was made and it takes all his energy to not say anything because he says that he is at the mercy of the women. Tina apologizes for the mistake and says if it is her she will understand and is sorry to whoever goes home.
Kat says that Vytas will be leaving but now wants to target Monica since she feels Monica is over strategizing in front of her alliance mates. Kat is the opposite of Colton since she doesn’t like people who talk too much. Kat approaches Tina about taking out Monica and Tina is against it since she is worried about having too many guys in the game at the merge.
Tina informs Monica of Kat’s plan and Monica says that if Kat is ready to turn now then he can turn later. Monica confronts Kat who lies about it. Monica is ready to take out Kat now since she is targeting her. Tina is unsure since it makes sense to send Vytas but Kat is ruined her reputation for loyalty.
Kat and Monica are discussing trust issues between themselves. Kat is trying to say they can trust her but Monica voices her doubt in Kat. Vytas is building on this saying that if someone is ready to flip now then she will flip later. Personally I think they are doomed no matter what because either Kat or Vytas will most likely flip at the merge if they get the chance.
Vytas says that all he can do is be honest and open and hope that they give him the chance to earn their trust. He throws Kat under the bus for not really having anyone’s backs and making mistakes that he hasn’t made. He says that if he stays they will remain strong and honest. Kat is left almost in tears as she basically begs to stay in the game.
The whole situation reminds me of last season and not knowing who you can talk to. So many people made the mistake of trying to work with Dawn and tonight Kat made the mistake of trusting Tina too much. Even if she stays her game is basically over unless she has the chance to flip later.
Vytas and Kat split votes and after all the votes are revealed Kat is voted out 5-1. Kat buried herself by trying to make an unnecessary move with players who were never going to be open on making the move with her. It’s a case of not noticing who is really close with each other and I think he Kat had her eyes open she would have known Monica and Tina were close to each other. She’s not the first player to share a strategy with the wrong person and she won’t be the last. Great players learn how to read other players and it is a skill Kat will never have.
I do think that Kat was the best choice. She ruined her game by trying to target Monica. Sure Monica was talking game a lot but at no point did she sway from the plan to go all girls for this vote. Kat made the mistake of over thinking the game this early. I do think Vytas would be likely to flip later but Kat lost any trust she may have earned in 14 days when she shows she wanted to target Monica now. She was at the key point of the game where trust is everything in the game and she lost it.
Next week it’s the tale of two brothers as Vytas seems to be making quick friends on his tribe while Aras is losing his friends as everyone seems to be ready to target him. And in the extra scene for Redemption Island Kat says that she is more worried about embarrassing Hayden so much that he will no longer date her then she is about being voted out. I’m embarrassed for her.
