Survivor Recap: Votes Become a Hot Commodity, as the Battle Between Reba and Belo Intensifies
Why is Jeff Probst so against voting at Tribal Council?!
On Wednesday’s episode of Survivor, not one, not two, but a whopping three castaways lost their votes at Tribal after being the first three players cut from the immunity challenge. No Beware Advantages here: In addition to taking a big L and being vulnerable at the vote, Emily, Austin and Katurah then had to contend with not having a say as to who went home.
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But aren’t more votes at Tribal better for the game and its unraveling drama and possibilities? Isn’t it a little too late for this tomfoolery, Jeff? Regardless of my (lighthearted) griping, our hostmaster general did give the losing three a chance to earn back their vote. But did they? Let’s break it all down.
With Kellie out of the game, a brokenhearted Kendra wants to target Dee, who she perceives to be Reba’s biggest threat. (Meanwhile, two-idol holder Austin’s over here dodging bullets like he’s Neo in The Matrix.) What Kendra doesn’t know is that Katurah is The Mole, and if this had been a certain other reality show, Kendra would for sure be next in line for execution. But since old Belo hasn’t done much for Katurah thus far, she’s fine to go all Nina Myers and feed the Rebas info from the other side. It’s devious as hell, but that’s Survivor for you!
UNCLE B’S SOUL SEARCH | Love him or hate him, you have to admit that Bruce is a fascinating character to watch. Yes, he just may be the definition of a polarizing Survivor player, but doesn’t it feel like Christmas (or your celebrated holiday of choice) has come early whenever he’s on screen? While he seems able to handle Kellie’s blindside OK, he doesn’t seem able to live with the fact that his No. 1 ally may have found him “overbearing.” It cuts him deeply! The dude may be a bit of a goofball in the game, but he seems like a great guy, IRL. It hurt to watch Uncle B. question his real relationships with his wife and daughter back home. But his willingness to change himself if this perception turns out to be reality speaks volumes for his character. Needless to say, his demeanor early on in the episode really bummed me out.
While Bruce takes a mini Time Out from the game, Emily approaches allies Austin and Drew about potentially cutting Dee. They’re hesitant! Why cut a member of their former tribe when they can continue playing both sides and targeting Belo? Emily’s right to be cautious about their Dee connection, and they’re right to be hesitant to make a move this early.
IMMUNITY IS BACK UP FOR GRABS | The tribe is instructed to break into three groups of three. Julie teams up with Bruce and Kendra, while Katurah, Emily and Austin become a unit, leaving Drew, Jake and Dee as the last threesome. The challenge runs in stages. In the first stage, players will walk a beam, while balancing a ball on a disc. The last group to finish is out. In Stage 2, they’ll use rope rungs to build a bridge, then toss three balls onto small rings. The first group to finish that moves to the final round, where they’ll compete individually in an endurance challenge. (Oh, and they’re also playing for reward — rotisserie chicken at the Sanctuary.)
Lastly — and here’s the real kicker — the first group out will lose their votes at Tribal Council. But, they’ll head out on a journey for a chance to win it back. After a tough first round, Emily, Austin and Katurah become the unlucky trio that must fight for their right to vote. Julie, Bruce and Kendra destroy Stage 2, but after another tense battle, Jeff puts the necklace around Bruce’s neck once again. The winners head off to chomp on some chicken, while the losers head out to face their fate.
JOURNEY | A logic puzzle is all that stands in their way of participating in the night’s vote, but Emily, Austin and Katurah must complete it within a given set of time. (THE PRESSURE!) Using three plus signs and one minus sign, they must solve an equation so that it equals exactly 100. Austin is the only one to win back his vote, leaving the two women utterly powerless.
STRATEGY | At the Sanctuary, Kendra admits that Austin and Dee both worry her, but Julie floats Jake’s name. Since he wrote her name down once before, he’s more or less dead to her. Kendra and Bruce agree to this, but it wouldn’t make sense for Bruce to go after the one other guy people want to take out, right? (Jake seems like the perfect shield for Bruce.) Elsewhere, Drew and Jake discuss Kendra as the best bet to cut loose. But unbeknownst to Jake, the Reba four are still super tight and with Austin’s vote, they have the absolute majority. Julie and Dee’s agendas seem to be going head-to-head, but it doesn’t seem like Dee wants to budge.
THE TRIBE HAS SPOKEN | First off, the look of disgust on Kellie’s face once she sees Bruce has immunity: Priceless!
Alright! Jeff grills everyone about the emotions of a true blindside, before pivoting to Bruce’s back-to-back immunity wins and ever-growing target. Drew also discusses the lost-votes twist. It’s not clear how many votes will be played because as he mentions, everyone could be lying. Drew Barrymore Kendra is floored that people could possibly be lying in the game of Survivor and once she realizes how ridiculous that sounds, she laughs. (The power of malnourishment in action, ladies and gentlemen.)
It’s all up in the air until Jeff grabs the urn and starts reading the votes. Unfortunately for Kendra, Dee gets her way and Kendra becomes the third member of the jury. (Read our Q&A with Kendra here.)
Would you have kept Kendra around and ditched Jake instead? Are you over all of these lost votes this late in the game? Go full tilt boogie in the comments and let us know!
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