Pushed to their breaking points…
This week’s episode focused on a much-teased-about reward challenge that would lead to multiple players collapsing from heat and exhaustion. The challenge itself was not that difficult and has been played in numerous Survivor seasons, but the intense sun, scorching sand and 100 percent effort given by all proved too much for three castaways.
Everyone came running out of the gate at the start, navigating the obstacle course with no problem, even quickly sliding under logs buried in sand. However, it was digging to retrieve their bags for the final part of the contest that did everyone in. Fast forward 45 minutes later, and everyone had slowed down to the point where, as a viewer, I was exhausted just watching the action unfold.
Thankfully, the Brain group found their last bag and successfully rolled all their balls into the holes of their game board. After some time, the Beauty tribe found their bag and scored all but one ball on their board.
It was at this time that the medical team was called in to check on Debbie, who was suffering from heat stroke. Being doused in cold water and lying in the shade helped her temperature return to normal, so she was quickly in the clear. While she was being tended to, Brawn found their last bag and hurried to catch up to the Beauty tribe. Unfortunately, Caleb won it for Beauty, so Brawn came up short…again.
Immediately after, Cydney couldn’t move and started overheating. Caleb, meanwhile, had also collapsed in the shade as his temperature spiked. With three people down, Jeff Probst called for the entirety of the production staff to help take care of Debbie and Cydney (who weren’t in any serious danger) so that the doctors could focus on Caleb, whose condition worsened to the point where he had to be medivacked from the game. Everyone was obviously emotional as Jeff Probst delivered the news--Caleb especially--but this clearly wasn’t something they could chance.
The beginning of the end…
As Cydney tried to recover from her ordeal earlier that afternoon, Alecia decided to confront Scot about a comment he had made during the reward challenge. She was offended that he had said she was only good at cheerleading and nothing else. He explained that she had taken it the wrong way, but that didn’t stop Alecia from arguing on ad nauseam about it. Scot then lost his temper and told her she was lucky she was still in the game, but would definitely be the next person voted out at tribal council.
Cue tribal council… I mean, the immunity challenge…
Brains and Beauty won immunity, yet Brawn did not…again. When Probst asked Alecia how she was feeling after the challenge, she responded, “I tried,” while Cydney corrected her with, “We tried.” Scot and Jason were clearly disgusted by that slight and told Probst that they didn’t even need to go to tribal council, that they could just vote Alecia out right there. Probst said he didn’t mind, but Alecia had to agree to it. She didn’t because she felt that would mean she had given up. Instead, she made them wait until that night for the official Survivor ambience to have her torch officially snuffed out.
As the credits rolled, viewers learned that Caleb had recovered and was 100 percent healthy, and he hoped to be a contestant again one day. It’s moments like these which remind audiences that Survivor is the real deal when it comes to reality programming.