If you missed last week’s race war…uh…I mean rice war, check out my recap here.
The episode begins on Night 27 as Murlonio returns to camp after Tribal Council. Steve says it was a crazy Tribal Council. He approaches Phillip and shakes his hand, saying that he’s sorry if Phillip felt anything he said was racist because he’s not that kind of guy. Phillip confesses that he doesn’t think Steve’s apology is totally “genuous.” He figures Steve will go next. Steve confides that any man worth his salt would reach out to someone he argued with, but Steve did it instead. Steve tells the group that it was a nice blindside of Julie. Rob confides that Phillip is looking to Rob for protection. If Phillip keeps up his stupid antics, Phillip will be coming to Rob all the way to the end.
Day 28. Steve and Ralph talk about being the last Zapatera. Steve hopes Phillip will jump off the big rock he likes to meditate on. Phillip, for his part, had another premonition from his full-blooded Cherokee great grandfather that he would find his shorts. He is drawn to near the water and looks under a rock, but finds nothing. He digs under a second rock, and finds his shorts! (Maybe his premonitions are true?!?) “Don’t mess with the undercover specialist,” Phillip tells the camera, before misquoting A Few Good Men by saying, “You cant stand the truth!” After Phillip returns triumphantly to camp waving his shorts, Steve says Phillip is a different breed — “crazy.” He figures even the Ometepes must be getting tired of him, too. Phillip is excited to show Julie his shorts at…
…Redemption Island. Julie stokes the fire, saying she slept very well. Mike notes that Matt has had incredible strength to get through RI the first time. Now, he’s on a downward spiral after being betrayed the second time. Matt can endure a lot because of his faith, but Mike can tell he’s at his breaking point. Matt confides that this is unlike anything he has ever experienced. He misses family desparately. Matt says God wants him there, but he doesn’t know the reason why. He’s so beat up, and that it is God that has been carrying him for the past four days. Matt is just over the game. Will he possibly throw the Duel?
RI Arena. Jeff asks Matt about his 21 days on RI. “Where are you at?” Matt replies that he actually has an overwhelming peace about everything. Jeff notes that he’s seeing a very different Matt than he has seen before. “Are you ready to go home?” Matt says that he will try to win the Duel, but yes, he’s ready to go if that’s what God wants.
For the Duel, each player will have their own shuffleboard track with obstacles on it, and three pucks. The first two to get all three of their pucks in the end zone advance. In the first round, only Mike lands a puck in the end zone with a nice bank shot. In round two, Mike and Julie land their pucks safely. Leading off the third round, Matt finally lands a puck in the end zone. Andrea looks to Matt, but he sneers back at her. Mike and Julie both miss in round three. In round four, again, Matt makes, but Mike and Julie miss. Leading round five, Matt lands his final puck in the end zone, and wins the Duel. Mike is JUST short. Julie lands hers in the end zone, but knocks her first puck out in the process. Mike tries his lat puck again and lands in the end zone. Mike and Matt stay alive!
Julie says it was meant to be. Jeff asks Matt, “Are you frustrated with God now [for keeping you in the game]?” Matt responds that he has to be accepting of God’s will. Jeff says it is interesting that Survivor is 39 days when Jesus was in the desert for 40 days. Jeff asks Julie why she played the game. She answers that she wasn’t there to make friends. Her house is in foreclosure so this was an opportunity to make life better for her girls. Her life has changed because of the game and she has been inspired by Matt to find a church at home. Jeff tells Julie she is the second member of the Jury. She places her buff in the fire and departs. Jeff sends everyone else on their way, too. Andrea hopes that Matt stays in the game and comes back. She’ll try to talk to him, but she figures he can’t talk to her in this game ever again.
Back at camp, people say Matt was weird. Andrea feels bad for him, and she thinks he’s pissed at her. Rob says not to worry because they all put him there. Andrea takes little solace in this because she feels she took a big part in breaking him. Grant tells Rob they should get Andrea out first when the time comes. She’s good at puzzles and Challenges in general. Grant confides that he’s still concerned about Andrea and Matt’s relationship. Should they get her out before Steve and Ralph? Grant answers his own question by saying timing is important — it may come down to…
…the Immunity Challenge. The Challenge is a basic Log Roll. The first person to hit the water is out. They are also playing for Reward: chocolate cake and milk! Plus, there is another twist they will discuss later. They draw for match-ups and begin. First up is Grant vs Rob, and Rob goes out. Ashley defeats Andrea, and Ralph knocks out Steve. Natalie takes down Phillip to complete the first round. Grant takes on Ashley and disposes of her. Ralph faces Phillip and kicks the latter out. In the final, it is Grant vs Ralph. They actually have a great match, with both recovering from near falls, but Ralph loses his balance and falls into the water. “Grant wins Immunity and chocolate cake!” the cake is absolutely huge, so Jeff tells Grant to pick one person to share it. He selects Rob. Then Jeff says he can pick one more person, and Grant chooses Andrea. Jeff gives a wrapped package to Steve and tells him the Twist is to be opened at Tribal Council. Jeff then gives Grant, Rob and Andrea two minutes to eat as much cake as they can. After the abbreviated feast, Grant confides that he chose Andrea to make her comfortable so she doesn’t suspect anything if they need to vote her out.
It’s Day 30 and the players head back to camp after the Challenge. Andrea suspects the Twist will be a double elimination. Steve says the Twist package feels like a deck of cards. Perhaps if you pick the wrong one you go home? Andrea says the next two votes are easy votes: Ralph and Steve. Ralph tells Steve that he gave it all he had; he has to hope the Twist can save him. Steve replies that he is ready to go home again. Seeing Steve’s sad state (oooh, alliteration!), Rob confesses that Steve has had it, so Steve won’t cause any problems. Ralph, on the other hand, still has his head in the game, so he is dangerous and has to go. Rob figures the twist could be a second Immunity Challenge, or could be a second elimination but only one vote, so the person with the second most votes goes home. He will have to hedge his bets and have back-up plans based on the Twist. Maybe they should get rid of Andrea.
Rob asks Ashley and Natalie about Andrea. He says they should vote Ralph out first, and then Andrea if there is a second vote. Ashley confides that they are voting for Ralph, and then Andrea because of Andrea’s soft spot for Matt. Oh, and because “Rob is soooooo smart!” Steve tells Natalie and Ashley that he and Ralph are voting for Rob, because it is so clear he’s running the game. Ashley says they’ll think about it. She turns to Natalie and says Steve’s plan would work if they get Andrea on board, but they don’t want to do that. Ashley and Natalie then immediately run and tell Rob what Steve said. Rob confesses that maybe Steve caught his second wind. If so, Rob may have to keep Andrea after…
…Tribal Council. Jeff brings in the David and Julie on the Jury. Jeff asks Rob about voting out all of the former Zapatera. Is it going to happen again? “Yup, unless there’s something we don’t know about,” Rob simply replies. Steve said they tried to shake it up, but the former Ometepes are solid. Jeff tells Andrea that at some point someone in Ometepe has to make a move. She feels rock solid about how hard they’ve worked, so she is sticking with them. Ralph thinks it’s he who is going home, as does Steve because Ralph has been better in Challenges. Jeff asks Rob about Steve saying the perfect thing, that he’s not a threat. Grant chimes in and says Steve played in the NFL, so he’s not a quitter. Phillip thinks Steve can step up in the right Challenge, win it, and say “Gotcha!” Steve tries to show how Rob is going to backstab someone by bringing up Rob asking Lex to save Amber, then cutting Lex’s throat at the subsequent Tribal Council in Survivor: All-Stars. Andrea says if you trust Rob, he’ll take you all the way. Rob notes that he hasn’t abandoned Amber yet (as they are happily married with two kids).
It’s time to vote. They do, and Jeff collects the ballots. Does anyone want to play a Hidden Immunity Idol? No. The first two votes are for Rob. The next four are for Ralph. Jeff reads the seventh vote, “The twelfth person voted out of Survivor: Redemption Island…Ralph!” Jeff snuffs his torch and Ralph starts to walk into the Blue Light of Death. “Not so fast!” Jeff yells. Is this the Twist? No, Ralph just forgot his torch. “Grab your torch and head to RI.” With Ralph gone, it is now to the Twist. Steve unwraps the package and reads the top card: They will now compete in the next Immunity Challenge, and then immediately vote out a tribe member.
For the Challenge, each player gets a stack of cards. On the cards are a series of symbols. Jeff will give them a pattern using the symbols which they then have to repeat back using their cards. If a player gets one wrong, that player is out. The last remaining player wins Immunity. Jeff gives them the pattern: Canteen, Hook, Pot, Fire, Canteen, Pot, Fire. All of the players get the first and second symbols correct. Everyone gets the Pot right. Phillip and Natalie then go out on Fire. Grant and Andrea go out on the Canteen, putting up a machete and a knife, respectively; two symbols that were never shown. Steve and Ashley then go out on the second Pot symbol. “Rob wins Immunity!” (Of course he does….it was a puzzle!)
There is no deliberation — it is time to vote. Rob nods at Grant and they individually head up to the voting booth. Andrea votes for Steve. Steve votes for Grant. Jeff collects the ballots. Anyone want to play the HII? No. The first vote is for Grant. The second is for Steve. Did the rest of Ometepe vote for Steve or Andrea? Vote Three is for Steve, as are Votes Four and Five. “The thirteenth person voted out…Steve!” Steve has his torch snuffed and walks into the Blue Light of Death. Jeff congratulates the Ometepe Six in eliminating all of the Zapateras. The bad news? There is nowhere left to hide. With that, he sends them back to camp.
Next Time On…Survivor!
The Ometepe Six have dominated the game, but are now forced to turn on each other. A massive Challenge leaves everyone depleted.
Well, I can’t say I’m surprised that the Ometepes stayed together this long to eliminate all of the Zapataeras. Ashley and Natalie are too star-struck with Rob to turn against him. Andrea is too scared to try to make a move. Grant thinks he’s waiting for the opportune time to backstab Rob, but I think that time might have just passed him. Phillip will be in the Final Three, so he has no reason to rock the status quo. How does Rob not make it to Finale Night? He already has everyone ready to vote off Andrea next week, and I’m sure he can turn Natalie and Ashley against Grant (or Phillip) in a heartbeat. Plus he has the HII that no one else knows about. Rob is golden.
Let me take a minute to address Redemption Island. At the beginning, I actually thought this was an intriguing idea. I liked the Duels. I liked players having a second shot to win. I liked how the whole thing played out with Matt going on his streak and reentering the game. Then the show kept RI alive. I was wary of this, but was willing to go with it. Then they put three players on RI, and to make it worse, only one of those three people was eliminated after the Duel. My enthusiasm began to wane. Now, there are four people on RI, and to make the numbers work for the finale, there will still be four people there come Finale Night. (Jeff has said there will be eight people still alive in the game come Finale Night: with two regular episodes before then, and six players currently still in the main part of the game, that means there will be two Tribal Councils, bringing down the six to four, and four players on RI).
This is now bordering on ridiculous. The drama of seeing the numbers dwindle and people have to make hard decisions about who to vote out and who to align with has been lost. Perhaps, Rob will decide to turn on Grant, in hope that he will eliminate Matt and Mike from RI, which could be intriguing. Otherwise, the main part of the game will just move ahead without any sense of drama because we know that person will just get another shot amongst a whole group of people over at RI. I suspect Matt will win the remaining Duels, or lose the last one, just based on the way they have edited his story (which is, admittedly, pretty remarkable), but for me, Matt’s redemption is not sufficient to bring back RI in the future.
Odds to Win
Zapatera is finally gone. Matt is broken down but still triumphant. There are four freaking people on RI. Andrea seems to be in Rob’s crosshairs, but has no idea. How does this all effect the Odds to Win? Let’s find out:
Rob: 5-2. He’s done it, he’s made it to the top of the Odds. To think, I had him so low because I figured, who the hell would keep Rob around in this game? Well, he landed on the perfect tribe and has played a perfect game since. He is going to oust Andrea or Grant next week (barring Immunity wins by those two), and then eliminate the other the following week. He has the HII, and unless he is completely blindsided, he will be able to keep himself safe. As I have been saying for weeks, if Rob makes it to the Final Three, he wins. It is possible he could lose the final Immunity Challenge, but even if he does, he is going to have people there that have practically sworn a blood oath to him. Who would vote him out? Grant and Andrea, likely, but what are the chances the two of them are in the Final Four together? Even with the returning player from RI who will almost definitely vote out Rob, who is going to want to keep the RI winner around, especially if it’s Matt? Rob is, as he has been this whole season, in the driver’s seat.
Grant: 4-1. Perhaps this is just wishful thinking, but I have to believe Grant is going to attempt to oust Rob in a blindside. I don’t think he has many opportunities to do it. Really, his only chance (because I think Rob will get to him before the Final Four when I suspect the RI winner will reenter the game) is this upcoming week. He needs to tell Andrea that Rob is plotting her demise, and then try to pull Phillip to create at least a tie vote, and roll the dice with the re-vote. The only problem with this is that Phillip seems to be truly aligned with Rob because he figures Rob will take him to the end because Phillip is acting crazy. If Grant can pull it off, he could win.
Andrea: 10-1. Poor Andrea. She just does not see the train that is about to run her down. She knows everyone will have to turn on each other next week, but does she have an inkling that she is the target? It doesn’t seem like it. Further, even if she does know she is next on Rob’s hit list, can she do anything about it? I’m not so sure. She better come up with a timely Individual Immunity win. If somehow she can stay though, she can beat Tweedle-Dee and Tweedle-Dum, and Phillip in a Final Vote, so that’s why she doesn’t drop down further.
Natalie: 17-1. Did Natalie speak this week? I really don’t think she can win, but as they say here in New York City for the state lottery, “Hey, ya never know.”
Ashley: 28-1. Ashley may be, hands down, the most annoying person to ever play this game. Seriously, does she have one redeeming quality? Is there anything about her that would make you want to spend more than two minutes talking to her? She is the definition of a Mean Girl, immediately mocking people as soon as someone turns his or her back. I know the show is being edited, and she’s likely not as horrible in person, but come on.
Mike: 40-1. Mike seems in good spirits, and certainly has the ability to win a few more Duels and a Final Immunity Challenge. He’s smart enough to maneuver his way into the Final Three, and from there, I bet he could make an argument that surviving on RI for as long as he will have is grounds for a victory. It’s still a long shot, but Mike could move up the board pretty quickly.
Matt: 60-1. This poor guy. I’m actually feeling sorry for him. It is obvious that he is just spent. He looks emaciated, and clearly, has no vim nor vigor. I will not be surprised in the slightest if he continues to win Duels, but the Final Immunity Challenge has moved from a stamina Challenge in earlier seasons, to, usually, a grueling physical challenge. If it is one of the latter, how does Matt have enough in the tank to win? And he will have to win that final Challenge to make it into the Final Three because it would be insanity to let him see that Final Vote.
Phillip: 75-1. For the first time in a long time, Phillip’s Odds are in double digits. Let’s face it, he’s going to make it to the Final Three, especially if Rob is there. As I said above for Natalie, once he makes it to that last vote, there is always the possibility he will win. It’s not a large possibility, but it is a possibility nonetheless.
Ralph: 90-1. Ralph really had no shot once he gave up his HII. He’s a dud in Challenges (though had a nice showing in the Log Roll), so I can’t see him winning a number of Duels and making it back into the game. Sorry Ralph, but you’re going to Ponderosa soon.
Steve: 110-1. Steve’s renewed energy lasted exactly half an episode. I think this game just came at him harder then he ever expected. Nice guy, but now being in the RI part of the game, I can’t see him reigniting his desire to win.
Alright, that’s this week’s Survivor: Redemption Island. What did you think of the episode? Are you upset no one on Ometepe has even attempted to oust Rob yet? Do you feel for Matt? Do you think he can make it back into the game, or is he just too wasted? Please leave your comments below. I’ll be back next week (from San Diego!) with another recap. Until then, I’m off to my Saturday Log Rolling league.
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