Did you miss last week’s unbelievable (Marty, what are you doing?!?) episode of Survivor: Nicaragua? Catch up with a recap here.
This week’s episode begins at the La Flor camp after Jill’s ouster. With birds picking apart a carcass, Marty comments that the vultures are circling. He’s a “dead man walking,” and that without Jill or the Hidden Immunity Idol, he is totally exposed. Fabio arrives with Tree Mail. He unwraps it, and hands a key to Brenda. There is a map inside, and the note instructs La Flor to pack up all of their belongings and follow the map to their new home. It’s time for The Merge! Marty believes this to be amazing news because he thinks the original La Flor members of both current tribes will be jockeying with each other for position, making him possible safe. “I’m back in the saddle again,” Marty cheerily states.
Espada finds a large chest at their Tree Mail, with the instructions to not open it until they receive the key. Further, they should make room because “company will be arriving soon.” The tribe brings the chest back to camp while discussing the new phase of the game. Benry confesses that everyone needs to start fending for themselves. Of all, Alina needs to be the most worried because she is still the primary target of those on Espada. For her part, Alina suggests to the group that they try to oust Marty first, but no one seems to be digging her plan. As NaOnka explains it, Alina “is a one woman army.”
La Flor arrives, and Espada is surprised that Jill was voted out because they thought Marty and Jill were running the tribe. Marty confides to the camera that the game is starting over again; he’s got a new lease on life. The merged tribe opens the chest revealing new red buffs, bread, fruit, rum, and other items for the Merge Feast. Fabio, in particular, is beside himself with joy that it is time for the Feast. As he hands out the buffs, Marty suggests the name for the new tribe should be “Libertad,” which is Spanish for freedom and liberty. Everyone seems to be happy with that, so Libertad it is. The merged tribe enjoys the feast, but in a preview of what she is to do later, NaOnka takes some extra nuts and shoves them in her underwear and bra to eat later.
Later, Brenda tells NaOnka how happy she is to see her. The two take a walk where each tells the other everything that happened in the time since the tribal shuffle. NaOnka tells Brenda to be wary of Alina who has no alliance to speak of, so she’ll be looking to weasel her way in where she can. Brenda tells NaOnka all about how Sash was able to get Marty to give him his HII. This, of course, excites NaOnka because she has someone else she can call a fool. These two, however, aren’t the only people bonding. Chase and Jane go out for water, and realize that they have common North Carolina roots. They bond over lost loved ones, and their love of the South. Jane reminds Chase of his mom, and she tells him that any time he’s near her house back home, he should stop on by. After Jane mentions her .22 shotgun, Chase laughingly tells her, “I had no idea you’re such a bad ass woman.”
The next morning, NaOnka fashions tortillas out of the flour the tribe received in their Feast chest. When Fabio attempts to bite into one, NaOnka yells at him to not take too big of a bite. She then tells the camera that even though she made
all of the tortillas, she got stuck with the last and smallest one. Well, NaOnka will not stand for that. She proceeds to steal the flour, bowls, utensils, frying pan and assorted fruits, and hides them in the jungle. Holly, however, saw her take the first of these items. After NaOnka’s mission, Alina asks her if she (NaOnka) is sticking with the Espada Six. NaOnka replies that she is, but that Alina needs to watch out because everyone else is gunning for her. This makes Alina feel like a fool because everyone had said that they were staying true to the Six. NaOnka warns her that she better win Immunity, but Alina wants to come up with another plan. NaOnka takes Alina out to the jungle to share her stolen booty with her. Naonka confesses that she is treating Alina well so when Alina is voted out, she will be a guaranteed vote for NaOnka in the Final Three (a very shrewd move by NaOnka, I must say).
Back at camp, the tribe is searching for the missing tools and flour. Holly calls out NaOnka for taking the flour, but NaOnka says she put it back. Yes, she had it in her bag, but she put it back. She swears! Fabio finds this explanation to be utterly nonsensical (which is saying something for the guy who peed in the Challenge pool last week). Of course, since Fabio challenged her, NaOnka can’t take it anymore, so she curses and flees to the jungle. Alina, having enjoyed the fruits of NaOnka’s deception (get it? “Fruits”? Sorry, back to the recap.), remained quiet so as not to be exposed herself. She and Chase go find NaOnka in the jungle and tell her that she should just confess and say that she lied playing the game of Survivor — everyone will understand that. NaOnka goes back to camp and admits that she stole the items because she wanted to make sure that they didn’t use up all of the flour too quickly. Further, Alina had no part in the actual stealing of the items. Marty finds this all quite dubious, but he reasons that one person being on the block (which NaOnka, a confessed thief, now is), is another person’s advantage.
The next morning, Marty makes breakfast. Brenda confides to the camera that NaOnka’s actions were crazy, but Alina was involved too, which only made the target on her back bigger. Sash, Chase, Brenda and Jane convene to discuss who to vote out, and they all agree Alina should go. Sash confesses that NaOnka should go home for stealing those items, but since this made her so unlikeable, he wants to take her to the Final Three because she won’t get any votes (another shrewd move). He tells NaOnka that she is his “Number One Girl,” but that she should continue to act regretful for her deeds so they can keep the focus on Alina.
Meanwhile, Jane catches another fish. Marty confesses that the longer Jane stays in the game, the more complicated his game becomes. He goes on a walk with Brenda and tells her that Jane is dangerous because she has the saddest story ever, and therefore, will be impossible to beat in the Final Three. Brenda tells the camera that Marty has the wrong idea about Jane. Brenda fears that the longer Marty stays around, the deeper his infiltration of the tribe will become; perhaps it’s best to vote him out now. They need to make sure he isn’t victorious at the…
…Immunity Challenge. This is the first Individual Immunity Challenge for the newly merged Libertad tribe. Each player will grab two metal handles and pull them tight to create the tension necessary to hold up a steel rod over a tile. If the player loses the tension, the rod will fall and break the tile. The last male and female player remaining with intact tiles win Immunity. The players take their positions, grab the handles, lift the rods, and the tiles are exposed. Immediately, Purple Kelly and Dan drop their rods and are out. Alina quickly follow, as do Brenda, Benry and Sash. NaOnka breaks her tile, leaving Holly and Jane to fight it out for the women’s immunity. Holly’s arms start to shake, and she eventually drops her rod. Jane wins Immunity! But…she wants to keep going and beat the men, so Jeff tells her to keep going. Marty, Chase and Fabio remain for the men. Marty drops out, leaving the two young, strong guys and Jane. Chase’s rod falls halfway down, and quickly drops completely. Fabio wins Immunity! Jane finally steps off her platform and drops her rod, not wanting to break her tile. Jeff places the Immunity necklaces on the two winners and sends everyone back to camp, but not before Jane jumps into Fabio’s arms.
Libertad returns to camp, and Jane confides that she stayed in the challenge because she wanted to beat Marty; there’s no way he is going to beat her in an Individual Immunity Challenge. Purple Kelly, Alina, and Jane discuss voting out Marty, and when that proposition is brought to Chase and Dan, both men say they’ll do what they’re told. Sash then tells Chase and Jane that maybe they should wait until the next Tribal Council to vote out Marty so he can honor his word about giving back the HII. Jane finds this a bit odd and suggests that if Sahs is so worried, he should just give her the HII. Sash’s silence was deafening.
Jane then tells the camera that she refuses to vote for someone who doesn’t deserve to go home, so she is not voting for Alina. Dan then finds Marty and tells him that Chase suggested blindsiding Marty. Marty takes this information to Sash and Brenda and reasons that he is zero threat to them because he has no alliance and no HII. Sash says they are not voting for him, and Marty would be best advised to just lay low. Holly tells Marty that she is not going to vote for him, but then plots with Alina and Jane to vote him out. They figure they can get six votes for Marty but need one more. Perhaps they can get Fabio. Alina approaches Fabio, but he says he wants NaOnka gone. He then warns Alina that she is dangerous because she is always scheming. Alina points out that all she is doing is trying to save herself like every other Survivor player ever. Fabio insists that he likes Marty and gels along with him. Alina just walks away, leaving Fabio confused and frustrated before heading to…
…Tribal Council. Jeff asks Holly if the game is changing now that the tribes have merged. Of course, she says yes — people are now doing whatever they need to do to get to the end of the game. Does this mean that players will start making big moves, Jeff asks Marty? Marty replies that the window for big moves closes quickly, so now is the time to do it. Marty continues, saying he wants to clear the air about something. He has never said that he doesn’t like “Miss Jane,” but he does acknowledge that she made some bad moves early in the game. She is obviously a strong competitor with easily the most sympathetic story left in the game. Should the players be stupid enough to let her get to the Final Three, she will get most of the million dollar votes, including his, because everyone the other two people in the Final Three will have made the error in letting her get there.
Jeff asks Alina if Marty is hurting himself by being so vocal. Not surprisingly, she thinks he is. Apropos of nothing, Dan tells Jeff that Alina and NaOnka stole items from the camp. NaOnka says that it was she who stole everything, and Alina just happened to be there. Jeff asks if they were “punished” in some way. NaOnka says that she was punished because no one talked to her for a little bit. This made everyone present laugh at its ridiculousness. Jeff asks Alina how she gets the target off her back. She responds that she is a vote, a number that can be used to someone’s advantage. She is a pawn waiting to be played by a smart player. With that, it’s time to vote.
Jane and Alina are shown voting for Marty, while Sash and Benry vote for Alina. Benry says something totally douche-y (Honestly I forgot to write it down because I turned to my wife and said, “Ew. This douche is the guy who convinced women to take off their shirts for Girls Gone Wild. What a jackass.”). Jeff collects the votes and reads them out. The first two votes are for Marty, the next two for Alina. Votes five and six are for Alina as well. Votes seven and eight are for Alina, and everyone can see where this is going. “The ninth person voted out of Survivor: Nicaragua and the first member of our jury…Alina!” Alina wishes everyone good luck as Jeff snuffs out her torch, and she walks off into the Blue Light of Death. Jeff remarks that it appears the tribe is still voting as a group, but that can’t last forever. “Something’s gotta give.”
Next time on…Survivor!!
Sash and Brenda seem to be losing their power positions, as often happens with those who think they have complete control of the game. NaOnka, according to Jeff’s narration, “let’s her freak flag fly,” as she is shown flipping off someone at Tribal Council and Jeff says, “NaOnka…I’m speechless!”
I have a feeling that next week is going to turn into the Marty and NaOnka show even more than the season has been to date. Marty is clearly in the majority alliance’s sights now that Alina is gone, but Marty is a crafty guy. I think he might be able to mobilize Dan, Benry and Fabio against Sash and Brenda, but once NaOnka starts doing NaOnka type things, he might be able to bring more people over to his side. If I had to predict anything, it would be that Marty somehow wins Individual Immunity, proving Jane prescient when she worried about such a scenario this week, and NaOnka has to figure out whether to play her HII. Could be good times next week!
Odds to Win
La Flor’s enemy number one is gone, so it looks like Marty will be the target every weeks he’s left in the game. With The Merge, however, he has a chance to be the pawn Alina fancied herself to be. Will he be successful and get to the end? Let’s see how the Odds stack up. Remember, these are odds to win the whole game. As a bonus, though, I’m going to predict now who the Final Three are going to be. Why not, right?
Brenda: 2-1. I don’t think I’ve seen a smoother Survivor player since the original Sole Survivor, Richard Hatch. Seriously, Brenda hasn’t drawn any undue attention to herself, and has been manipulating things perfectly. She even lets Sash
think he’s leading the alliance. I think Brenda is smart enough to realize that she will have to cut Sash’s throat, and will do it before he gets to her. I predict Brenda will be in the Final Three.
Sash: 5-1. Sash still holds an HII, and seems to have his alliance in tact. The problem for Sash is his own hubris: he knows he’s a good player, and he’s starting to let it get to his head. Sash is so confident in his own ability that he’s not going to see Brenda gunning for him. If he can get to the Final Three, he will have a great chance of winning thanks to the moves he has made, but I believe Brenda will recognize this before they get to the endgame.
Chase: 8-1. God do I hate players that don’t actually assert themselves. Chase has no reason to be a floater other than the fact that he is bewitched by Brenda, and now Jane. I suppose if there were any strength challenges, Chase would have played a more important role up to this point, but he has done absolutely nothing. He just keeps telling people that he will vote how he is told. Finally, this week, the Immunity Challenge was relatively strength-based, and he still lost (albeit to Fabio who is pretty strong). I have a feeling though that Brenda will continue to use Chase as a vote she can manipulate and realize that he stands no threat to her in the Final Three. Plus, if he were to win a final Immunity Challenge, Brenda could convince him to take her instead of Sash to the end, so, I predict Chase will be in the Final Three.
Fabio (Jud): 10-1. Perhaps I was wrong last week when I said Fabio could lead some counter-alliance against Brenda and Sash, but I do think he will be around for a while. He is obviously strong (see his Immunity Challenge win), so he will continue to perform well in Challenges. He is obviously well-liked by everyone except NaOnka. With her possibly on the outs with the tribe, however, I can see Fabio mobilizing people to get rid of her. I think Fabio will make maybe the Top Six, but other players will realize that he is too well-liked to take to the end. Sorry, Fabio.
Benry: 20-1. I hate moving Benry up because of the Douche Factor, but this guy is slimy enough to keep working his was into advantageous situations. If anyone will be the true pawn in this game, I think it will be Benry, because he re really has no loyalty to anyone but himself.
Marty: 28-1. Marty is a survivor, little “S.” I know he is getting by on the tribe’s hatred of other players, but somehow, after two weeks of being the known power player that he is, Marty is still there. At the beginning of the season, I thought Marty was a cocky ass whom I would love to see shown the door, but I have to admit he has grown on me, and I’m rooting for him to continue advancing. Maybe it’s my love of the underdog, but I want Marty to just keep going, if anything, to keep the season interesting and Sash and Brenda thinking. I don’t think it will happen, but if by some miracle Marty gets to the end, he will likely win.
NaOnka: 47-1. I move NaOnka up again mostly because the others have to move down. I have no idea what she was thinking when she stole the food and cooking utensils, but it was a dumb move. Yes, everyone has seemed to forgive her, but I am sure they have not forgotten. If NaOnka gets to the end, she might get the begrudging “at least she played the game” vote, but more likely, people will just remember what a nutcase she is.
Jane: 50-1. As Chase said, Jane is one bad-ass woman, but she is obsessed with getting Marty out. There are only so many times one can go against his or her alliance before it burns you. Yes, everyone loves her, but I believe Marty has deeply implanted the idea that Jane will win if she is in the Final Three. Unless she wins the final two Immunity Challenges (which is clearly not out of the realm of possibility), I think Jane will be cut before the Final Three. She’s just too much of a threat to win.
Purple Kelly (Kelly S.): 80-1. There’s still no chance Purple Kelly will win. Unlike other floaters who have managed to win the game (I’m looking at you, Natalaie from Samoa), Purple Kelly has done absolutely nothing to advance herself. She’s done poorly at challenges (seriously, three seconds? Three seconds??!?!?!), doesn’t offer strategy, and is clearly so boring that she’s had one camera confessional the entire season. All that being said, I predict Purple Kelly will be in the Final Three. Brenda and/or Sash are smart enough to bring someone with no chance of garnering a vote to the end, so there you go. Yes, Purple Kelly may be more valuable as a voter, but in such a situation she is unpredictable. As a Final Three vote void, the other Final Three members know what they are getting.
Holly: 100-1. Oh, Holly, you’re still in the game. Right, I had forgotten about you until you called out NaOnka about the flour. Hmmm…what to say about you. I mean, I guess you’ll last a few more weeks because Marty and NaOnka are drawing more attention, and your vote can be easily manipulated. Sure, if you make it to the end, you’d be somewhat of a threat because you would have made it that far without a true alliance (you’re like a barnacle on the hull of the S.S. Brendasash), but likely someone will have cut you off before that point. Make a move next week, and I’ll move you up.
Dan: 1000-1. Another week, another three days for Uncle Dan. Honestly, this guy is going to make it to the Final Four. I just have a feeling. He still won’t win though. I mean, you have to do something to win the game, right?
Alright, that’s what I’ve got for this week. What did you think of the episode? Did The Merge bring about the kind of play and strategy you enjoy? Did it give the season some life? What did you think about the Immunity Challenge (personally, I thought it was pretty cool)? Who do you think will be the Final Three? Please leave your questions, comments and theories below. I’ll be back next week with another recap. Until then, I’m off to swear on the South Dakota Word of Honor.
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