If you missed last week’s episode, catch up with my recap here.
The episode begins on Night 18 at Zapatera. Mike says Sarita took he ouster like a champ. Julie thought Sarita was the weakest link and had to go. Ralph admits he was the one who voted for David, and tries to explain himself, but David said it was OK. Over at Redemption Island, Sarita arrives; Matt doesn’t think she’s too tough. He asks about the horror stories he’s heard about Zapatera. Sarita says they are all good people, and lists off her former tribemates’ attributes. Matt confesses that although Sarita is nice, he’s going to beat her.
The next morning at Ometepe, Tree Mail arrives. Rob tells the tribe that they are all to go to RI Arena. Immediately, the players figure it will be the final Duel, and Phillip believes The Merge is going to occur. He confides that it’s a whole new game because Ometepe has the numerical advantage. Further, he’s happy to stay with Ometepe. At Zapatera, David figures it will be the final Duel and then the Merge, as well. Mike says he is ready to sink his teeth into Rob. At RI, Matt is nervous about the Duel because he cut his foot pretty bad. He hopes that the Duel won’t be one where he has to stand for an extended time.
Cut to the Arena. Jeff welcomes all the remaining players, and informs them that the winner of this Duel will go back into the game. Rob confesses he is worried if Matt wins because Rob is the one who sent him to RI — he is very worried about defection. For the Duel, Matt and Sarita will use their arms to hold themselves self up on progressively smaller and smaller foot holds. Every fifteen minutes, they will step down onto a narrower foot hold. The Duel begins. The first fifteen minutes pass, so they move down to the next foot hold, about a quarter-inch thick piece of wood. Jeff asks Phillip how one can be successful in such a Challenge. Phillip begins a Coach-ian diatribe (complete with “lots of time is passing” video edits and shots of beleaguered players) on how the Bushido code told a samurai how to conduct his life in difficult situations. Phillip goes on and on. “Thanks Phillip,” says Matt when the former finally concludes his speech.
Another fifteen minutes passes, so it is time to move to the final foot hold. There is no time limit now. Zapatera cheers on Sarita. Jeff notes that women have traditionally done well in this Challenge. Matt readjusts his footing, but it is clear his injured foot is failing him. Sarita finds “the zone,” but eventually starts to droop. Sarita falls. “Matt seizes the moment and will reenter this game!” shouts Jeff. Sarita is bummed; she drops her buff into the fire and walks off. Jeff tells Matt that he has a new buff for Matt. He throws him a grey buff (Really? Grey?!?). In fact, he has new buffs for everyone because they are Merged. The merged will head to a new beach. Jeff makes one more pronouncement: with the next Tribal Council, Redemption Island starts all over again (a real surprise on Survivor! They must have been read my complaints from last week!). Matt confides that he has options because each person that came to RI told him the dirty secrets of the original tribe.
When the newly merged tribe gets to their new beach, it’s time for the Merge Feast! Julie says her whole body got happy at the sight of food. Steve says they had a great picnic. What about a tribe name? Someone suggests “Murlonio,” which is evidently some inside joke between Rob and his wife, Amber. The tribe starts off immediately after the Feast in building a shelter. Matt thinks construction was a good way to break the ice between the two tribes. Grants tells Matt that the only reason they voted him out was because they thought he was going to side with Kristina. Mike confesses that he needs to make a move to get Matt and Andrea to join Zapatera. Mike assures Matt that he and Andrea will go to Final Four if they join them in ousting Ometepe. In fact, Mike will gladly whittle down his original tribe to honor his commitment to Matt. Mike then tells Matt that he has access to a Hidden Immunity Idol and will give it to Matt if the latter needs it.
That night, there is a miserable storm. The shelter is leaking on Zapatera only because Ometepe is under the half of the shelter with the tarp (which Ometepe had won, so they figured they were the only ones allowed to use it). Steve hopes Matt and Andrea will switch sides. Matt and Andrea each say to the other that they are each other’s closest allies. Matt wants to take out Ometepe, much to Andrea’s shock. His plan is to take Steve out, and then Phillip so Ometepe thinks he and Andrea are on board. Then, he wants to blindside Rob. Andrea confesses that she’s actually quite wary of Matt’s plan: it may be too early to jump ship.
The morning of Day 21, Mike reads passage from the Bible to Matt and Andrea. Matt confides that he wants to make a big Survivor move, but his heart is telling him to stick with Ometepe. Rob, surveying the Bible study, thinks that any time a group of people likes and bonds over one particular thing, he wants to break them up. Rob sees Mike trying to win over Matt and Andrea, so he wants Mike to go. He just needs to prevent Mike from winning the…
…Immunity Challenge. Jeff displays the new Individual Immunity Necklace, which is similar to the HIIs, and nowhere near as huge as most IINs have been during the series (remember that monstrosity from Survivor: Tocantins? The one that looked like it was from a production of The Lion King?) For the Challenge, each player must stand on a small log, balance a ball on a tray (the out-of-work-actor/waiters should be the best at this). After a few minutes, a ball will be added. The players have five seconds to place each ball. “Survivors ready….Go!” Phillip immediately starts wavering, but has a nice recovery. “I’ve got rhythm baby,” comments Phillip. Julie goes out pretty quickly. Jeff instructs the players to add a ball. Ashley doesn’t last long, and neither does David. Jeff tells Ralph to dig deep as his tray begins to waver. The second round is over; the players must place the third and final ball. Andrea goes out, as does Grant. Matt falters, and is quickly followed by Rob and Phillip.
Ralph starts whistling at his balls for them to come back to the center of his tray, but one slips off and Ralph out. This leaves Steve, Natalie and Mike, who looks like a freaking statue (seriously, the dude, nor his tray or balls, move a centimeter). Steve goes out, leaving just Mike and Natalie. A fly lands on one of Mike’s balls. This doesn’t seem to shake Mike, but the numbness in his feet is too much to bear. Mike falls off the log. “Natalie wins Individual Immunity!” (See! Out of work actress!) As Jeff sends the tribe back to camp, Mike confesses that he talked to Matt about flipping, but if Matt chooses Ometepe, it will likely be Mike going to RI.
Back at camp, Natalie gets congratulations on her win. Mike notes that the first vote is a big one and that he might be on the chopping block. Mike tells Steve that it will either be him or Ralph. When Ralph joins the conversation, Mike asks if they will they use the HII to wipe out any votes against Mike, to which Ralph says yes. They decide to go after Rob’s right hand man, Grant (why not Rob himself, I have no idea).
Matt tells Rob about his RI experience. He then proceeds to tell Rob all about how he constructed this plan to blindside Rob, but God is now telling him to not flip on Ometepe. For good measure, he concludes by telling Rob about Mike’s HII. Rob thanks him for the information, and then confesses his incredulity that Matt had the audacity to try to vote Rob out, and then tell him about it. All that information is getting Matt nothing except a one way ticket back to RI. By this point, Andrea has joined Matt and Rob. She flips out in her confessional about Matt throwing her under the bus as part of Matt’s master plan to blindside Rob. Matt suggests to Rob that they vote out Steve as Zapatera is unlikely to give him the HII.
Rob immediately heads back to camp and informs Natalie about what Matt said. He then tells Grant it has to be Matt voted out. Rob appreciates that Matt is a good, honest Christian guy, but he can still be a good Christian guy at RI. Mike can see paranoia getting to Matt. He tells Matt that he and Andrea need to jump over to Zapatera. Rob tells Phillip they’re voting for Matt. With everyone around, and it looking suspicious if Mike was to pull Matt aside, Mike passes Matt a note. Matt walks off alone to read it. It says if Matt votes for Grant, Mike will take him to Final Three. Matt informs Andrea of the note, but Rob notices they are missing. When Andrea returns, Rob instructs Andrea to vote for Matt. Andrea confides that she trusted Rob once and was screwed over. On the other hand, Matt is flighty and evidently can’t keep a secret. Andrea’s vote may be the deciding one at…
…Tribal Council. Jeff asks Ralph what it is like with twelve people in one camp. Ralph says there hasn’t been a lot of mixing of the two tribes. Rob says no one is saying anything to each other. David complains that they weren’t under the tarp during the rain storm. Ashley pipes up that Ometepe had won the tarp so they deserved to sleep under it. David admits that the only reason Ometepe won the tarp was because Zapatera threw the Challenge. Jeff asks Phillip to respond to that news, but David interrupts Phillip. When Phillip goes on one of his rants about being interrupted, the girls (i.e. Natalie and Ashley) laugh wildly at him. Jeff asks Ashley about the division within the tribe. She says that while she doesn’t dislike anyone from Zapatera, they are being loyal to their original tribes. Jeff asks Mike about the numbers and Matt’s vote. Mike responds that they will find out where everyone stands after the vote. Ralph flat out says Zapatera will take Matt farther in the game if he flips. Matt admits that he is on the bottom of the Ometepe alliance, so that may inform his vote. Jeff says that this vote is big, and Matt is in the middle.
It’s time to vote. They do, and Jeff collects the ballots. Steve whispers, “This is going to be good.” Jeff asks if anyone wants to play an HII. Ralph gets up and says he does for the benefit of Mike. Jeff accepts the HII and says any votes for Mike will nto count. He reads the votes. The first is for Grant, as are the second, third, fourth and fifth. Vote Six is for Steve. Vote Seven is for Matt, as are Votes Eight, Nine, Ten and Eleven. At this point, it is clear Zapatera all voted for Grant, Matt voted for Steve, and Andrea’s is the pivotal vote. “The eighth person voted out of Survivor: Redemption Island…Matt!” Matt, in utter disbelief, grabs his torch and brings it to be snuffed for a second time. David mutters under his breath, “Genius is what that was.” Julie says, “Oh my God, that poor kid.” Matt marches off into the Blue Light of Death. Jeff notes that Matt is headed back to Redemption Island to await at least one more person. That person should beware as forgiveness will not be on Matt’s mind.
Next Time On…Survivor!
Rob cements control of the tribe, or does he? Grant voices that he is his own player. Phillip gets a make over with a new headdress. Phillip says he asked for a sign and the feather, now part of his headdress, appeared out of nowhere.
Well, well, well. That was quite the great episode, wasn’t it? I complained last week that the show and CBS constantly spoiled us by telling us when The Merge was going to happen and other plot points, but they surprised me this week by keeping RI open after The Merge. Then, Matt was completely blindsided by Ometepe, and moreover, by Andrea. How does the guy recover from that? He clearly has a home field advantage at the RI Arena, but damn. Plus, Zapatera’s HII is now out of play, Rob still has his HII, and Ometepe still has a numerical advantage. All in all, that was a pretty exciting episode of Survivor, and the season has been kicked up a notch.
One note: the season finale is scheduled for Sunday, May 15. Assuming there is a Final Three, and on the traditional Sunday two-hour Finale, they start with five players, eliminating one player per hour to get to the Final Three, there are going to have to be two double eliminations during the next few weeks. Now a triple-header RI Duel sounds pretty cool, but two double eliminations? Sounds pretty rough to me. This will obviously have a major effect on the game, I’m just not sure what yet. At least any double eliminations didn’t occur when there was still tribal Immunity — there is nothing worse than a tribe winning a Challenge, and having to eliminate someone anyway.
Odds to Win
So, how does the retention of RI, the loss of an HII, Andrea’s staying loyal to Rob, and Matt’s second elimination effect the Odds? Well, first off, I think there will be two eliminations on RI, with the winner of the second Duel heading back into the game with ten players remaining (nine non-RI participants and the RI winner). Therefore, Matt will only have to win two more Duels. Can he do it? Methinks he might have some much tougher competition than Sarita coming up next (see below). I figured Ralph and Zapatera would figure out some way to screw up using their HII, so I never gave it much weight to begin with. Andrea’s loyalty is interesting. She is clearly still at the bottom of the Ometepe alliance (except for maybe Phillip), and seems to be a candidate for switching; however, she is not adverse to flipping. Could she peel away Grant and make a play against Rob? So many interesting questions to be answered in the coming weeks. Let’s take a look at the new Odds to Win:
Grant: 5-1. It’s interesting: Zapatera wanted to wound Rob by taking out his top lieutenant, instead of going right at Rob. Maybe there was an explanation, but if so, I missed it. Grant will be in Zapatera’s sights, but with a numerical advantage, the chance to go to RI if does get voted out, likely a couple Individual Immunity Challenge wins coming, and, apparently, waking up to the fact that he needs to make some sort of move, I still think Grant is in a good position. Cut to Grant being eliminated next week.
Andrea: 8-1. In perhaps the smartest move of the season so far, Andrea ditched Matt and voted with Rob, after Matt threw her under the bus (unintentionally) when Matt spilled his plan to blindside Rob. By voting with Rob, she retains him as an ally in the majority alliance. Further, she gives Rob no reason to target her before anyone on Zapatera, and after the next elimination, her dalliance with flipping may be forgotten. I am a bit worried about her Immunity Challenge performances, but for now, Andrea is relatively safe.
Steve: 10-1. I’m jumping Steve up mostly based on the fact that I don’t like the prospects of the other players. Mike seems to be in Rob’s cross-hairs, and I could see Ometepe wanting to rid themselves of Ralph and David before Steve, too. Plus, I think Steve may have a well-timed Individual Immunity win in him. Next week will be interesting to see how Steve reacts to being in the minority alliance.
Mike: 12-1. Mike is in trouble as he is Rob’s number one Zapatera target. For that, I have to drop Mike down; however, the guy is clearly excellent in Challenges, and if anyone can beat Matt in an RI Duel, it’s Mike. He clearly has sway over his alliance, as he got Ralph to use the HII on him quite easily. The question remains: can he maneuver that alliance into a position to take out Rob and break the Ometepe alliance? We’ll have to see.
Rob: 14-1. Seriously, I don’t want to move Rob up the Board, as I really think he has little chance of winning. The problem is, he is playing a perfect game so far (if he wasn’t in his fourth time playing the game, I would be a little concerned), and the players around him might just be dumb enough to let him get to the Final Three. If that’s the case, Rob wins. I’d say he might lose if Matt makes it too, but I don’t think either of them makes it to the Final Three with the other still in the game.
Natalie: 20-1. Alright Natalie, I will give credit where credit is due. You won the first Individual Immunity. Kudos. You are clearly there to win and not just get a tan. One more Immunity victory and you will be a real threat to win the game because you will have done something to put yourself there, instead of just riding Rob’s coattails. Here’s to you.
Julie: 32-1. FLOATER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ashley: 38-1. Admit it: there is no way Ashley wasn’t the Mean Girl in high school, right? I have a sneaking suspicion she might make it to the end of the game. This will bother me to no end.
Ralph: 48-1. Ralph, it was one thing to tell your alliance you had an HII. It’s a complete other thing to actually give it to someone else, and not even hesitate when doing so! I’m sure there is some scenario where Ralph makes it to the Final Three, but for the life of me, I don’t see it. Maybe I just don’t want to see it.
David: 50-1. I know I’m swinging David violently up and down the Board, but I really thought he was dead in the water after last week. He managed to deflect all attention this week, except for his admission during Tribal Council. That, I don’t believe, will have much bearing on the rest of the game. What will, however, is David’s realization that Rob is a badass Survivor player. David was clearly awed by the move to oust Matt, so he will be on his guard. I figure David will end up out-thinking himself, with his brain exploding trying to figure out the permutations of Rob’s next move, but if he can keep it together, David might be able to get to the end.
Matt: 100-1. I was right that the show was creating fake tension in last week’s preview of this week’s episode by pointing out Matt’s injured foot. There was no way he was losing that Duel. Anyway, players that are that honest, and can’t keep their mouths shut are doomed in this game. Knowledge is power in Survivor, so when Matt spilled his guts about his plan to vote out Rob TO ROB, he was done then and there. If he somehow makes it back into the game again, there is no way in Hell that he is allowed to make it to the Final Three. He will need an Ozzy plus Fabio plus Colby level Individual Immunity performance to stay in the game because the first time he is unprotected, he is gone. If Matt makes it to the Final Three, he wins, likely unanimously.
Phillip: 400-1. Like some of the worst floaters in Survivor history, Phillip is going to be around for a while. He’s a guaranteed vote in Rob’s pocket, and though he thinks he’s outwitting everyone, at least a couple players are streets ahead of him (shout-out to all the Community fans out there!). I am now at the point that I will not be surprised if he makes it to the Final Three, but there is no way he is going to win. All of the other players clearly have no respect for him, so I can’t see him garnering any votes, especially in a Final Three where there is still another option for a protest vote.
Alright, that was Survivor: Redemption Island for this week. What did you think? Do you feel bad for Matt that he has to go back to RI, or is it deserved for being such a numbskull and telling Rob about his plans? Was Andrea smart in voting with Rob to oust Matt? Can you see Zapatera peeling anyone off from Ometepe? What do you think of the new Odds to Win? Please leave your questions, comments and theories below. I’ll be back next week with another recap. Until then, I’m off to form a group of Oreo cookie lovers.
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