Survivor 40.7 “We’re in the majors”

Congratulations, Yul.  You played yourself.

Last night’s episode of Survivor felt a bit disjointed.  Following around four tribes — Sele, Dakal, Yara, and the Edge of Extinction folks — means that there’s a lot to try to cram into just 45 minutes.  The first half of the show was dominated by the Edge of Extinction people looking for fire tokens and Sandra deciding to raise the flag and leave the show.  (Sandra is the first person to actually leave the game this season.)

“I’m still the queen,” Sandra said.  Yeah, Sandra.  The queen doesn’t quit.

As for last night’s Edge of Extinction fire token search, Tyson found one.  Rob found three.  Ethan’s looking really ill and I’m kind of worried about him.  The show is either setting him up for a big comeback or else he’s going to voluntarily leave next week.

Meanwhile, back in the main game, the Yara Tribe may be doing well in immunity challenges but they’re still the most consistently annoying tribe.  Ben, who really only won his season because the producers added that last minute fire-making twist, is acting like a jerk.  Adam is a whiny little brat.  Sophie and Sarah both think that they’re more clever than they are.  Bleh.  Let’s move on.

On the Dakal Tribe, Tony is trying to be everyone’s friend.  No one trusts Tony.  Sorry, Tony.

And on the Sele Tribe, it’s more Michele/Wendell relationship drama!  I will say right now that I cringe for everyone on that tribe.  If it’s awkward watching Michele/Wendell for a few minutes every week, I can only imagine what it must have been like to live with them.  The problem is that Wendell is overly emotional and takes everything personally while Michele is essentially the exact same way.  They’re like the couple who you invite to your party because you feel obligated but you dread the idea of them actually showing up.

The Sele Tribe again went to tribal council and there was never really any doubt that Yul would be voted out.  He probably could have gotten everyone to vote out Wendell if he hadn’t revealed his own deeply manipulative streak with his plan to trick Wendell into giving Michele and Yul his fire tokens.  Seeing that side of Yul obviously freaked out Nick and Nick sided with Michele and Wendell in the vote.  By a vote of 3-1, Yul was sent to Edge of Extinction.

Next week — it’s the merge!  And I’m going to assume that someone will soon be returning from the Edge of Extinction.

We’ll see what happens!

Lisa Marie

P.S. Is everyone taking care of themselves?  I hope so!  I look forward to watching many more seasons of Survivor with all of you!

Survivor 40.6 “Quick on the Draw”

Is everyone happy now?  I know I am.

Seriously, since this season started, we’ve all been wondering, “Why are they not targeting Sandra?”  Sandra does not help out around camp.  She does not compete in any of the challenges.  She spends all of her time bragging about how she’s going to betray everyone.  She’s already won the game twice.  Why was no one targeting her?

Well, last night, someone finally did target her.  Someone finally took out that Queen and the fact that it was the always underestimated Denise who did it made it all the more enjoyable.  When the Dakal Tribe went to tribal council, Sandra knew that Denise would be using an idol to protect herself.  When Sandra cast her vote for Denise, she even told the camera that it was just for show and that she knew Denise would be safe.

Denise proceeded to play an idol for herself.  And then she played another idol for Jeremy.  How was she able to play not one but two idols?  Denise bought an idol from Sandra.  She paid Sandra two fire tokens for it and allowed Sandra to believe that she would be casting her vote for either Tony or Jeremy.  In fact, during Tribal, Tony buried his head in his hands, convinced that Denise had probably voted for him and that he was about to get exiled as a result.  Instead, Denise voted for Sandra and a very shocked-looking Sandra headed off to Exile.  Sandra sent her two fire token to Yul before she left.

Seriously, I never expected that sort of ruthlessness from Denise.  But Denise can now claim to have taken out a “big threat.”  That’ll be good for her game if she makes it to the final three.  It’ll be bad for her game if any of Sandra’s former allies at the Edge of Extinction makes it back into the competition.

Last night, we got two tribal councils.  The other tribe to go to Tribal was the Sele Tribe.  On that tribe, there was never much doubt that the men — Wendell, Nick, and Yul — would stick together and vote out Parvati.  Parvati did try to convince the men that Wendell couldn’t be trusted but it didn’t work.  By a vote of 3-2, Parvati was sent to Edge of Extinction.

The most interesting thing about the Sele Tribe was seeing just how much Michele and Wendell hate each other.  They used to date and obviously, they had a very bad breakup.  I’m expecting we’ll see a lot more pettiness next episode.

And that’s it for now!  Sandra and Parvati are out of the game.

Lisa Marie

Survivor 40.5 “The Buddy System on Steroids”

Hey y’all!

I’m back!  After my two-week vacation (and thank you, Erin, for filling in! — didn’t she do a wonderful job?), I have returned to discover that all of my favorites keep getting voted out of Survivor.  First Ethan.  Then …. well, I’m not really a huge Tyson fan but still, he could be entertaining.  And now, Boston Rob.

To be honest, I kind of knew Rob was going to be voted out last night.  From the start of the episode, there were way too many scenes of Rob talking about how he was in control of the game for him to be safe.  Whenever you start getting the “cocky edit,” your days on the beach are numbered.  It’s interesting.  Rob has played this game several times.  Once, he came in second.  The other time, he won.  Every other time, he’s been blindsided.  It’s never taken an immunity idol or any other twist to get rid of Rob.  Instead, he just gets too cocky and people end up taking advantage of it.

At least Rob gets to join Amber in exile now.  I’ll be interesting to see how the two of them being together changes the group dynamic over there.

The other big news from last night’s episode is that we now have three tribes instead of two.  New buffs were drawn and new tribes were created.  Here’s how it all breaks down right now:

Yara:

Boston Rob — Voted out last night

Sophie — Has half of an immunity idol

Sarah — Has a steal a vote advantage and half of an immunity idol

Ben

Adam

Dakal:

Jeremy

Sandra

Kim

Denise

Tony

Sele:

Nick

Parvati

Yul

Wendell

Michele

Michele is now on a tribe with her ex-boyfriend, Wendell.  We had to hear a lot about that last night and I’m sure we’ll hear even more about it as the game progresses and it’s going to probably get kind of annoying, truth be told.  Along with the Michele-Wendell relationship drama, we got to watch as everyone on the Sele Tribe tried to get on Parvati’s good side.  Nick announced that he had a crush on Parvati which was maybe one of the most awkward things I’ve ever seen on Survivor.

Meanwhile, on the Dakal Tribe, Kim is thinking about changing sides and working with Denise and Jeremy to take out Sandra and Tony.

This week, only one tribe went to tribal council.  Next week, two tribes will go and we’ll have two more people joining the Rob and the gang in exile.

We’ll see what happens!

I’m happy to be back.

Lisa Marie

Survivor 40.4 “I Like Revenge”

Have you ever felt like everyone was out to get you?

Well, remember:

Tyson should have been paranoid last night because everyone on the Dakal Tribe wanted to vote him out when they went to tribal council.  Tyson was the biggest threat on the tribe and everyone thought that he would hook up with his friends on the other tribe after the merge.  Everyone was after Tyson but Tyson was too arrogant to realize it and he thought that everyone was going to vote Nick just because he told them to.

By a vote of 7-1-1, welcome to blindside city, Tyson.  Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.

Tribal council was boring but the Immunity challenge and Edge of Extinction were both interesting last night.  At Edge of Extinction, each exile had to carry 20 logs across the island in order to earn a fire token.  The catch was that they could only do it one log at a time, they had to go up and down a mountain, and they had to get it all done by sunset.  Ethan nearly fainted and I almost had a panic attack watching him.  Medical had to be called to make sure that Ethan was okay but he was finally able to get up and keep going.  Go, Ethan, go!

Ethan getting up was the first time that I cheered last night.  The second time was when the Sele Tribe managed to come from behind and win the immunity challenge!  It looked like they were going to be heading to Tribal Council for the third straight time but then Adam and Rob stepped up and they came back and finally won!

Next week, there’s a tribal shakeup and Michele ends up on a tribe with her ex-boyfriend, Nick!  Thanks for reading, everyone.  Lisa will be back next Wednesday and will be covering the rest of the season.