Following Last Week’s Vote…
Woo’s blindside was probably a bigger shock for Savage, who thought he was calling the shots on the team. More importantly, he was disappointed that he had misjudged his tribemates. The morning after tribal council Savage told everyone that he would have been OK with their decision had they just told him beforehand, but all he wants now is to make it to the merge, and he’ll do whatever they want him to do. Which is exactly what Chaos Kass wants to hear because yeah, she was officially unleashed last week.
Cue The Merge…
Making history as the largest merge ever, Ta Keo was told to pack up and head to the Bayon beach. As soon as they finished gorging themselves at the feast, everyone split up to strategize. In a group of 13, a majority of seven is needed to control the game, so the battle lines were quickly drawn. On the one side was the original Bayon crew: Jeremy, Savage, Kimmi, Tasha, Fishbach, and Wiglesworth – Wiglesworth not being with them from the beginning, but Savage felt confident that she is loyal and can be trusted. And on the other side stood Kass, Kelley, Abi, Keith, and Ciera.
That left Joe and Spencer as the swing votes. Kass’ side felt that Joe and Spencer were with them since Joe had initiated a final 5 deal with Kass, Kelley, Keith, and Ciera a couple of weeks back, and Spencer “owed” Kass since she had just saved him from elimination. However, the original Bayon felt the same way: Joe had been with them from the beginning and Spencer had bonded with Bayon and was thus spared at a previous tribal council.
This led to a not-so-funny hashtag moment (#JoeLanguage) as Spencer outlined the situation to Joe by drawing plays in the sand and talking to him like he was an airhead. Not cool Spencer.
Blame It On The Rain…
Downpours confined the new Orkun tribe to the shelter, and after a stimulating poem recitation from Fishbach, conversations broke out. Kass tried to look for any cracks in the Bayon alliance to manipulate. So Tasha decided to make up a story for her since Kass couldn’t be trusted. She told Kass that Bayon was not as strong as everyone thought, but Kass could tell that Tasha was lying.
Of course, this prompted a confrontation the next day when Kass threatened to tell the tribe what Tasha had said. Not being one to back down, Tasha told everyone what had happened. Most didn’t care for the drama, but Ciera swooped right in to throw Savage under the bus, alleging that he was scheming against Joe and Jeremy. Isn’t it amazing how people can twist the truth and start to believe their own versions? #OneHotMess
The Immunity Challenge…
Usually in the first couple of individual immunity challenges, two winners are crowned, one man and one woman. However, that didn’t happen here, making the stakes that much higher. This week’s immunity challenge was first run during Survivor: Cagayan which Spencer, Tasha and Kass had all competed in, with Tasha ultimately winning. It sure looked like it was going to be a repeat performance, but Joe emerged victorious instead. PS – The individual immunity necklace is very fancy this season!
The Scramble Back At Camp…
With tribal council looming, everyone except for Kass, Ciera, Abi and Kelley agreed that this first post-merge vote would be for Kass on account of how ruthless and troublesome she was around camp. But they decided to split the vote between Kass and Ciera just in case either one of them had a hidden immunity idol. Spencer was conflicted since Kass had saved him at the last tribal council, but there wasn’t much he could do considering he didn’t have the numbers. In a last-ditch effort to avoid her fate, Kass reached out to Spencer and told him that if he voted with her, they would have enough votes to get rid of Tasha.
Tribal Council…
Tasha, Kass, and Ciera became the focus of discussion after Kass told Probst that she wasn’t playing the chaos card this year, but that everyone else was. Cue several heads whipping around in disbelief. That’s when Ciera decided to chime in and repeat what she had said about Savage, as she urged the rest of the tribe to “play to win,” not to play someone else’s game. That still doesn’t explain why she cast her vote for Savage knowing full well that she, Kass and Tasha were the main targets, but there you go. Thankfully, common sense prevailed, and Kass became the first member of the jury.
Until Next Week...
The pace of the game this season has been insane, and things don’t look like they’re slowing down next week. It’s highly unlikely that future votes won’t play out as neatly as this one did, since everyone is thinking of making big moves. But who will strike first?
What did everyone think about this week’s episode?