Episode 9 Chat

Welcome to the conversation about episode 9 of season 46 of survivor!

“Spicy Jeff”

The show is now written out and ready for you to read. Enjoy! See you on Wednesday!!

Feel free to head down to the comments, that is where the fun is, the play by plays, the astute observations, and of course that’s where the friendships will hopefully continue. That said, as a shy, silent lurker on Jackie’s blog for over a decade, I can wholeheartedly state that lurkers are very  welcome here as well.

We’ve been promised that soon SueGee would return and make a blog pool for us for the players who remain in the game. However, SueGee has not yet returned to us, and we can only hope that her son is recovering okay. I’ve emailed her, and though I’m sure that you all agree that we can live without a blog pool this time, we’d sure love to have Sue Gee back! Please check the comments section in the next episode chat post, (click the link) because I’ve emailed SueGee to ask her to let us know how she is there. For this week only I will publish the episode 10 post (click the link) much earlier than the day of airing, just in case SueGee leaves us an update, then we all can see it.

I watched the show with the NY time zone, the night of airing, typing quick notes which display at the bottom of this post.

Did you miss something and want to see it written out? Or maybe you can’t view the show this season for some reason, but you still wonder what is going on? Don’t worry, I’ve got you. On Thursday and Friday, and sometimes on Saturday too I’ll spend about a dozen hours (between sleeping, driving a school bus, housework, and personal care) streaming and pausing the episode so that I can write out the juicy details for us to enjoy again:

• Who all was present for that conversation?
• What exactly was said by whom?
• How did the individual players perform in the challenges?
• Who voted for whom?
• What were the final words of the person voted out?
• What details were in the previews of the next episode?

On Sunday I will watch the show a third time, just for fun, with my late-watching Survivor pals. So, if YOU are also a late watcher, please don’t hesitate to add your comments to the conversation! The more the merrier!!

• BACK TO MAIN PAGE
• LINK to Episode 1 “This is Where the Legends are Made” Days 1-3
• LINK to Episode 2 “Scorpio Energy” Days 4-5
• LINK to Episode 3 “Wackadoodles Win” Days 6-7
• LINK to Episode 4 “Don’t Touch the Oven” Days 8-9
• LINK to Episode 5 “Tiki Man” Days 10-11
• LINK to Episode 6 “Cancel Christmas” The Big Merge
• LINK to “Episode Several” Days 13 & 14
• LINK to Episode 8 “Hide ‘n Seek” Days 15 & 16

previews for episode 9 shown at the end of episode 8:

• • Tiffany to Q in the darkness, after Tribal: “Why wouldn’t you give me a heads up? You —-.!” (I can’t lip-read the bad word she called him.)
  • Tiffany to camera the next day: “Are you stupid? Are you dumb?”
  • Kenzie to Q: “I’m mad!”
  • Kenzie to camera: “Everybody’s turning on everyone.”
  • Maria to Charlie on sunny beach: “I need her gone.” Charlie is wearing a dark green sweater I don’t remember seeing yet.
  • Charlie to camera: “This game is flipped on it’s head.”
  • Venus lays on beach with Q and Hunter. Says to camera: “These bumbling buffoons, these two dum-dum meatheads.”
  • Kenzie at camp, wearing glasses, whispers: “Spicy.”
  • Q walking on to beach, makes eye contact with Charlie, says to camera: “I’m a gonna give ’em hell. They can cancel Christmas.”

Survivor Fans Ready? Let’s GOOOO!

Recaps:

• Q sells his trendy new purse idea to his tribemates: The Q Skirt.
• Hunter digs up his Hidden Immunity Idol and tells nobody about it.
• Q tells Maria that Tiffany has a Hidden Immunity Idol.
• Maria tells Charlie that Tiffany has a Hidden Immunity Idol.
• Liz firmly sticks to her guns with everyone that she wants Tevin gone. Tells the camera that she doesn’t want to get lost in the shuffle, she wants to give a signal that she is here to play too.
• When Liz calmly and firmly tells Q that it’s Tevin, he is appalled that someone is making moves outside of his control or permission.
• Tribal Council, where Q, not liking how it feels to not be in control of every body and every thing, hi-jacks the Tribal Council to make it all about himself.
• In the chaos that ensues, Ben observes Q doesn’t like to be at the bottom, Charlie tells Tiffany that Q told him that she has an idol. Tiff tells Kenzie. Liz tells Q she is sticking with her plan.
• Tevin is voted out anyway. Surprised, he nevertheless proves himself again to be something of a classy dude.

Nuinui Night 16 (and morning day 17). New footage, from the night of the return to camp after Tribal Council, and in private sessions with the camera the next morning:

• Gathered around a campfire in the dark are Kenzie, Charlie, Hunter, Maria, Venus, and Kenzie: “What was that?” Maria: “I don’t know.” Kenzie: “Q blew everything up.” Others around fire, Woman: “Wild!” Man: “Stupid!” Kenzie: “Were you expecting that, Hunter?” Hunter: “Uh, no!” Kenzie: “Okay, so EVERYbody was, like, blindsided by that?” Maria: “I don’t think anyone -” Hunter: “No one knew anything Q was gonna do.” Maria: “He just confused so many people and created, like, massive chaos for no reason.” Kenzie: “My jaw will not come off the floor, “I’m so perplexed.” Maria: “I know.”
• Q is alone at the beach, sitting on the boat, now laying on the boat, while over top Kenzie talks to the camera: “Tribal was bizarre because Q tried to quit. Everyone was so confused, but we had a plan to get out Tevin, and we weren’t gonna let Q mess it up.” Kenzie continues her private report, sitting in the sun the next morning: “If you want to leave, there’s the door, baby, like, walk out, don’t make us do it for you.”
• Back around the campfire, same group. Kenzie: “I’m so mad!” Maria: “Honestly, I was…I was…” Kenzie: “I’m pissed!” Maria: “I know. I’m upset too, and I was surprised, like that just put a massive target on him. Like, I don’t understand what he was trying to have happen.”
• Q laying on boat: “Going in to Tribal I was trying to switch all the votes at the alst second, and it caused everything to go crazy at Tribal. I felt guilty for screwing up everybody’s game, and in my every day life, when I make a mistake, I raise my hand and I own up to it.” In the background, we see more people gathering around the fire with the others: Tiffany, Ben and Liz. Q continues overtop of the images: “So, I tried to take the heat and kind of fall on my own sword, but in the end, they didn’t vote me like i asked them to. Damn. I guess I’m too hard to kill right now, hee hee.”
• Tiffany approaches Q on the boat, on the beach, in the dark. Tiffany sits by his raised knee, and sighs: “I really want to know what was the…point of you telling ’em about my idol?” Q: “The point of me telling them was because of the six. When we agreed, they said, anybody brings anybody name up within the core group of the six, we got to send ’em out. When you brought up Maria name, that’s when all that started.” Tiffany, alone to camera the same night: “I’m just pissed, man, I worked so hard for this idol, but people know I have it now because Q couldn’t keep his big-ass mouth shut.” Tiffany, animatedly, to Q: “The only reason I even knew you said something is ’cause Charlie told me in Tribal Council that you told them about it!”
• Sitting nearby in the dark, away from the fire, but almost within listening distance of Q and Tiffany, sit Liz and Venus. Venus: “Oh, she’s yelling at him.” Liz, quietly: “Mmm-hmm” Venus: “Family dispute.
• Tiffany yelling at Q: “And I had no idea you even told them about my idol. No, I didn’t find out until Charlie told me, bro!” Q covers his forehead with a hand. Tiffany to camera: “If you run around calling yourself my number one ally, why’s you spilling the beans about an idol that I possibly could have used to protect your dumb ass? Cause you couldn’t have your way? Are you stupid? Are you dumb?” Q to Tiffany: “Oh, my gawd, Tiff, do you realize ever since I’ve stepped on this beach, I’ve done nothing by try to put plans together to get us tot he final six?” Tiffany to camera: “Shut up, bro! Play your game! It’s so annoying, because now I might have to play my idol at the next Tribal Council because the longer I hold on to it, the bigger my target is gonna become.” Q: “At that point–” Tiffany: “Why wouldn’t you give me a head’s up? Like, now my game is sunk, bro!” Q: “But -” Tiffany: “My, like, I’m literally target number one, because of you opening your mouth.” Q, privately to camera: “Tiff is maaad tonight, oh my goodness, I’m in trouble. It’s like pie just blew up in my face. So I have to now work harder than I’ve ever had to work in this game to get back in charge, and if I do, it’ll be a miracle.”
• Liz and Venus still sitting nearby. Liz: “Tiff is so pissed, because he should have told her! And now–” Venus: “I think there’s something else going on with him, that he was willing to give up his whole game. He’s literally an idiot.” Liz, the next morning, privately to camera, very emotional: “I worked really hard all freaking day to get Tevin out, but now, my move is completely overshadowed by Q.”
• Kenzie and Liz together. Kenzie: “Are you okay?” Liz: “Yeah, I’m kind of on the edge here.”
• Liz, crying to camera the next day: “I’m just really super pissed! I was making this move so that I wouldn’t get lost in the game!”
• Ben and Kenzie walk a path, side by side, in the dark. Ben: “Q was, like, the biggest idiot.” Kenzie: “It’s like, cool, Q, you were a part of my PLAN!”
• Hunter and Charlie lay on their backs, side by side on the dark beach, Charlie: “Maybe we can have everyone just vote Q out?” Hunter: “He was begging to leave.” Charlie: “I mean, he never should have done that in the first place, you know?”
• Liz to camera: “I feel so mad! Because Q stole my thunder from under me. I wanted people to say, “Wow, Liz is a fighter, and she doesn’t need to be led. She is a leader. I will not get lost in this game. That’s NOT what I want to show my friends, my family, my daughter. So when I get the chance, I am gunning for Q.”

Opening credits: 6:29

Sunrise, Day 17

Ben and Charlie walk along a path together. Ben: “Dude, last night was so stupid. He’s just mad he got his game busted, and now I feel like if we take him out, there’s no weight to the resume, cause he blew his own game up. So, it’s like, who’s the real threat now?” Charlie: “MmmHmm” Charlie alone to camera: “Q doing that at Tribal is like, Hey, I’m a coward and don’t want to be at the bottom and reap the consequences of my actions, so please vote me out so I can look like I have a moral high ground even though I’m a total idiot.”

Charlie, Ben, Tiffany, Kenzie and Venus refill their water from the well. Ben: “You have no problem running other people’s games, but then when it comes to yours, there’s like a moral high ground?” Tiffany: “Yeah! I’m like, you flip votes on me because I don’t want to —” Kenzie: “Do what you say all the time?” Tiffany: “I don’t want to do what you say, I don’t want to protect you at all costs – Bro, I’m out here to play my own game, too!” Ben: “Yeah.”

Ben alone to camera: “What Q pulled last night was a poser move, trying to act like a noble saint, when really he just destroyed his own game.”

Tiffany, at water well, to Kenzie, Charlie, Venus and Ben: “Well, I tell you this: Even if he made it to the end, he’s not getting my vote.” Ben: “No, he’s not getting mine.” Tiffany: “He’s not getting my vote.” Venus: “You can’t just force a blindside last minute. Siga was never gonna side with them. Y’all weren’t gonna side with them last minute.” Tiffany: “The only people who — ” Venus, cutting her off: “Liz was never gonna side with them. All they had was Tevin and Hunter.”

Venus, alone to camera: “I love the mess, I live for the chaos. Tribal just played out perfectly. I got Tevin’s ass out of here, thank gawd, and no one’s gonna trust Q from now on. No one’s gonna work with the man. And Hunter, he was the king of the jungle and now is the village idiot because he was on the wrong side of the vote. They really shot themselves in the foot in this game.”

Hunter, Q and Venus recline or sit facing each other on the boat on the beach. Venus: “Come on, Hunter, Mr. Strategy. What are you, what’s your–” Hunter: “Yeah, that’s me.” Venus: “Well, I mean, yesterday you tried to pull off a move, so, what do you think should be the move?” Hunter: “No, yesterday, I didn’t try to pull off a move.” Q: “Yesterday –” Hunter: “Yesterday, I knew the ship was sinking, and I knew no one would get mad if I wrote their name down.” Venus: “I got mad.” Hunter: “Yeah, except you, but you’re always mad.” Venus: “That’s rude.” Hunter: “I mean, it’s true.” Q: “You’re unkillable, V.” over top of Venus: “No, I’ve been trying to work with you since the beginning–” Hunter: “I knew you weren’t–” Q: “V, you’re unkillable.” Venus: “And all you’ve done was stonewall me and write my name down, so what do I — What do you want?” Hunter: “I don’t know.”

Venus, alone to camera: “These bumbling buffoons, these two dum-dum meatheads, who think that they are running the show — they’ve been exposed as these two rats who are, like, trying for strategy, trying for power, but failing miserably at it. Honestly, they deserve what they got, and now the rest of their game is screwed.”

Venus to Q and Hunter, as she lays back in the sand and stretches out in the sun: “The peace of knowing you’re not going home is so sweet.” Venus to camera: “Guess what, Hunter? You write my name down, you best believe I’m gonna return the favour very soon. Karma is a bitch!”

Commercials break 10:01

Nuinui Day 17

Q and Hunter walk alone through the woods. Q: “You good man?” Hunter: “I don’t know, man. We had decided to keep, you know, the group together, and if anybody’s going against the group, we gotta try to do something about it, and to keep strong people in. And all of those things did not work last night. Like, I felt like we just kind of gave up on that.” Q: “You think I gave up on the plan? You didn’t think I did my due diligence?” Hunter: “No, I – I am, I believe you did. Like, I get, I get that, but, like, I had to play my game too, Q. Like, I, like, you got to respect that, right?” Q: “Yeah, yeah.”

Hunter to camera: “Last night my game was totally scrambled up because of what Q did. The three people that I trusted the most – Q, Tevin and Liz – like, they’re all done in my book. I don’t want to work with Q, I don’t want to work with Liz, and Tevin is gone. So, I feel like the target’s on my back because one, I wasn’t in the majority, two, people just seem to see me as a challenge threat.”

On the beach Ben, Maria, Hunter, Kenzie, Ben, Venus and Tiffany sit in two rows on the beach, watching the sunrise. Q and Liz come towards them, Liz waving a letter and calling out: “Tree Mail!”

Hunter continues to camera: “But nobody knows I have an idol in my pocket, and so I’ve got to maneuver how I can to try to just make it through this vote. I need to win the challenge today and get that necklace back so I can really push things to make moves that help Hunter’s game.”

Liz reads the letter to the others: “I knew it!” Everyone: “What?” Liz: “Three teams of three. You decide who’s who. Another joins the jury tonight. Just make sure it’s not you.” Groans and moans all around.

• Tiffany: “All right, me, Kenzie and Ben are gonna rock out!” Kenzie: “We’re gonna rock out!” Kenzie to camera: “Tiff and I don’t even want to look at Q, so when Ben was like, y’all want to rock and roll? we were like, perfect, as long as we’re not with Q, yes, let’s go! Like, we don’t even want to be on a team with the man right now.”
• Hunter: “I haven’t worked with Charlie or Maria yet, so I’m gonna work with them.” Charlie: “Yeah, so us three.” Tiffany: “Maria, Hunter and Charlie.” Kenzie to camera: “And then Hunter looked at Maria and Charlie, they said yes, of course, because Hunter wins everything. If Hunter would have asked me, I would have said yes too, doesn’t take much strategy there.”
• Liz: “That leaves us, Okay!” Tiffany: “Yeah.” Charlie: “Cool.” Tiffany: “That was easier than I thought it would be.” Kenzie: “Yeah.” Liz: “Okay.” Kenzie to camera: “So, the leftover team was Venus and Liz and Q. I’m sorry for them, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbled.”
• Liz: “Let the games begin.” Tiffany whoops. Charlie: “A trio of trios.” Venus to camera: “I was a little mad with how the teams got split up. I was the one stuck with Q, the man who tried to quit the game of Survivor, and poor Liz, who has been really suffering right now, like she’s on very low energy, and the girl hasn’t eaten in, like, 72 hours. So I’m on the underdog team by a mile, but I love being the underdog.”

A little later on in the morning, Q reflects in front of the fire while Venus, sitting close beside him, pokes at it. Q: “Who’s on Hunter’s team?” Venus: “Maria and Charlie.” Q: “Dang, this might be the only opportunity right now.” Venus: “For.. a win?” Q: “Well, no, no, no, not for…I’m saying just for a clear shot to get Hunter.” Image shifts to Hunter, sitting alone on a step, facing the water. Q continues: “Depending on how Charlie and Maria look at this challenge.”

• Q privately to camera: “At Tribal last night, it was a mistake to offer myself up. It was a mistake on their part now for not taking me up on that offer, because now, you’ve given me new life to play this game how I want to play it. I don’t have to worry about Tiff or Kenzie or Hunter. Now that I’m here, I’m gonna give ’em hell. They can cancel Christmas!”
• Q to Maria: “I don’t know if Hunter can win the game just by winning challenges, but if you let Hunter get to the end, they’ll vote for him.” Q to Charlie: “Y’all control it today. You and Maria. Because this three-person challenge, you have to compete against Hunter at the end.”
• Q to camera: “I am aware that a target might be on my back. That’s why I have to make sure anybody but Q goes home. Hunter is a physical threat, and they want him out way worse than they want me out.”
• Q to Maria: “Y’all control whether or not Hunter has a shot at Immunity.”
• Charlie to Q: “And depending on what it is, I don’t know if I can beat him.” Q: “Yeah, so…” Charlie: “I mean, what are, what are your thoughts?” Q: “If you don’t think you can beat him at the end in a challenge, you want to just give him another necklace? I know we don’t want to throw challenges and lose, but Hunter has to go home.”
• Charlie to camera: “Q is telling me to throw the challenge so Hunter loses? That does not jive with me, not at all. Throwing a challenge, that’s just yuck to me, you know? Yuck! I’m not gonna do it.”
• Q to Charlie: “We’ll talk, man, Just-just keep me in the loop.” They attempt to complete a secret handshake, but neither understand how the other wants to do it. A handshake so secret, neither of them know it.
• Charlie to camera: “I don’t want to just be nestled in behind Q and do whatever he wants. After what he pulled at Tribal Council, Q is just a total wild card AND someone who I don’t really trust.”
• Charlie to Maria: “Q–when we were talking, he was like, you should think about throwing it. And, I don’t know, that’s just not really my jive.” Maria: “That’s not my jive either.” Charlie: “I was, I think…” Maria: “I’m not opposed to working with Hunter.” Charlie: “Neither do I, I like Hunter a lot, uh, I think he’s solid.” Maria: “I mean, and I think that’s why he called us in.” Charlie: “Yeah.” Maria: “He’s like, I want to work with you and Charlie in the challenge.” Charlie: “Yeah, and I don’t want to throw something to make him lose.” Maria: “Yeah, yeah, yeah.” Charlie: “Part of me is just, like, Q, after last night–” Maria: “That was just stupid, I’m sorry.” Charlie: “I was, it was stupid. It made, just left the worst taste in my mouth.” Maria: “Yeah. Me too. Me too.”
• Maria to camera: “Obviously, Hunter’s a threat because he’s physical, but I like Hunter as a person. And then Q, with the antics that he pulled last night, nobody’s gonna want to award him the million dollars. And so, for me, there are bigger fish to fry right now.”
• Charlie: “And I think Tiff wants to have another conversation with me about her idol.” Maria: “Tiff doesn’t tell me anything, yet she says she wants to work with me, yet she’s lying to me.” Charlie: “Yeah, yeah.”  Maria: “And that’s why I CANNOT work with her. Like, I need her gone with her idol.”
• Maria to camera: “To me, Tiff is the biggest threat, and I know she’s talking about me behind my back. And we know that she has an idol.  That’s dangerous, so, she’s got to go. She’s got to go! This is absolutely the time for a massive blindside.”

I wonder what would happen if people KEPT the people they trust, respect and like, REGARDLESS of how things MIGHT play out in the very, very end of the game, and voted out the ones that they really don’t trust or respect or like? Wouldn’t a season like that be a ball to watch? How do players get duped into voting out people they like? Thus giving the people the players don’t like time to up their game and target the players who kept them and voted out friends, simply because the friends might win a physical challenge or two? Oh, wait, I see. The strong players are the annoying ones who out-wit and out-smart everyone else into keeping them around long enough to win, even though they are annoying. Smart plays, Q and Venus, smart plays.

Commercials Break 15:47

The challenge for Individual Immunity is a game in three parts. The first stage is designed for three teams of three to compete against each other. The last team to complete the first stage is out of the game. The second stage is designed for two teams of three to compete against each other. The first team to complete the second stage continues to the third stage. The third stage is designed for three individual to compete against each other, no longer working as a team. The person who endures the longest, wins Individual Immunity.

At the beginning of the challenge, Jeff bets against the trio containing Liz, Q and Venus. Then he challenges them to prove him wrong, which they do. They make it through the second stage before they lose. Well done. The Trio that goes out at the first stage is Ben, Kenzie and Tiffany.

The winning trio makes it to an endurance competition, which Maria drops out of first, then Hunter, making Charlie the unexpected but much cheered for winner of the the challenge, and of Individual Immunity, leaving the uncheered for Hunter exposed and alone.

Charlie expresses how winning feels to him right now, first to Jeff: “This feeling is something you can never get on Survivor. Never, never, never. All of a sudden all of the gears in your brain can stop moving for a second. So, it lets you get some clarity. And safety.” Then privately to the camera: “I’m so proud of myself for beating Hunter, the top physical threat in the game. I didn’t know if I was gonna get one of these things, like, that was awesome! We’re on day 17 in the final nine on Survivor. No more quitting talk, none of that. Let’s play the game and let’s play it hard.”

They walk along the shore, back to camp. Looks like Q is in the lead, walking alone about ten to twenty feet ahead of everyone else.

Upon returning to camp, Charlie receives many congratulations. Venus to camera: “Today at the challenge, Charlie beat Hunter, in the back of my mind I’m like, this is perfect. This is exactly how I wanted it to play out, because it gives us many options as to how tonight can go. We can vote Q, we can vote Hunter, or we could pull a blindside off. And I love having options, you know? I love a world of possibilities.”

All gather around the firepit, Kenzie speaks, playfully, into a long period of thoughtful silence: “So does anyone want to volunteer to go home tonight? Or…” Chuckles all around. Q doesn’t laugh, though, he knows she is pointing her finger at him. Q to the camera: “I think the writing’s on the wall. After last Tribal, everyone here either don’t respect what I did or don’t like what I did, and it’s really my own fault. If I’m here tomorrow, it’s a miracle.”

• Tiffany to Liz: “Since, you know, Q wants to be Captain Big Mouth Pants, I want Q out, and I’m gonna keep saying it until he’s on the jury bench.”
• Q to camera: “So, I have to now somehow come back and rekindle everything, because I still want to have this adventure. This is fun. I want to cause some more chaos tomorrow probably, if I’m here.”

Kenzie follows Q down a path. Q stops and tells her things she doesn’t know about the plotting he did with Tiffany that she wasn’t part of, how Tiffany never told her about it, trying to make a wedge between the pair. Kenzie sees right through it and gets mad at him. “You didn’t include me either!” Then she goes on to tell him off for what he did last night. They argue back and forth a bit, cutting each other off more than I feel like typing right now. Q tries to explain why, and she is not interested in what he has to say, and doesn’t want to work with him right now. She’s mad.

• Kenzie summarizes: “I don’t care what Q is telling me. Q doesn’t feel in control, so he’s grasping at straws to get control back.”
• Kenzie tells Tiffany about the conversation: “It was like he was telling me all of this so that I would get mad at you and go back to him.”
• Kenzie, to camera: “Q, no one wants to work with you right now.”
• The picture showing is of Q and Hunter sitting comfortably, side by side, leaning against a log and watching the ocean. Q to Hunter: “We’re target number one and two, we don’t know which order we’re in.”
• Kenzie to camera: “So, tonight could be easy, but this is a perfect opportunity, because everyone is so distracted by Q being a mess and by Hunter being vulnerable, that it’s like the perfect time for a blindside.”

Kenzie, Venus and Ben sit huddled together around the fire pit. Venus: “I’m willing to bet someone here’s gonna have the thought that, if everyone’s distracted on Q, and everyone’s distracted on Hunter, it’d be the perfect time for a blindside. And if they can pull the numbers, then..” Ben and Kenzie: “Yeah.” Kenzie to camera: “I want to spice it up, to hopefully drive something that’s a little risky, you know? That’s how I want to play, is calculated risk, and this is a good time to grab it by the horns and make a move.”

Kenzie approaches Maria, Hunter and Charlie who are sitting on a log near the shore.

• Kenzie: “I have a plan.” Maria laughs: “Okay!”
• Kenzie: “But it cannot leave right here.” Maria: “Okay.”
• Kenzie: “How do you feel about Tiff’s idol?” Maria: “Any idol in the game makes me nervous.”
• Kenzie: “Tiff’s feelling so comfortable, that now we could pull off a blindside. Easy.” The others nod and make noises of interest/approval.
• Kenzie to camera: “Tiff has been my number one this whole game, I understand that, and her and I are very competetive people. I love her so much for it, and I respect her for it, but it’s always gonna be like, you or me first, girl. And, so, I would rather go out swinging than eating popcorn on the sidelines.”
• Kenzie to the others: “But please, do not tell anyone outside of this.” Maria: “Yep, nope.” Hunter: “I’m not going to, I have no option.”
• Maria, counting on her fingers and pointing at each of them: “One, two, three, four, we need one more.” Kenzie: “Ben.”
• Maria: “Is Ben down?” Kenzie: “Ben would do it. And now is a good time.” All agree.
• Kenzie, standing up: “Tiff is so mad at Q and so distracted, that there’s no way she’d play her idol tonight.” Maria: “Okay.”
• Kenzie: “But I swear I will get sent home if this gets out.” Maria: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, nope, nope.”
• Kenzie: “Like, please, because Tiff and I have been like this.” Crosses her fingers.
• Hunter: “No, I think I go home if this gets out. It’s like, most likely me if not this.
• Maria: “It’s gonna have to, we may have to pretend it’s you. I’m super down.”
• Hunter: “And I’m fine with that, I’m fine with that. Do you want me to act like I’m scrambling super hard? Would you say?”
• Kenzie: “Probably.” Maria: “Yeah, yeah.”
• Charlie: “Yeah, you should, you should.”
• Hunter to camera: “Oh boy. When we get back from the challenge, there was just kind of this miserable feeling of, oh, like it is 100% gonna be me.”
• Hunter to Kenzie, as they walk along the sandy beach together: “I thought I was dead in the water. Seriously.”
• Kenzie snorts: “Not yet. War is on, baby, let’s go!”
• Hunter to camera: “Now my gut feels like there’s actually gonna be a Tiffany blindside. That sounds great to me, because, like, I may have to play my idol tonight. I don’t want to. It’d be great to have it later and keep it a secret.”

Charlie and Maria walk through the sand together, chuckling about what is going on around them.

• Charlie: “Oh, my goodness!” Maria: “Okay, can we talk about this?”
• Charlie: “Yeah.” Maria: “Gawd, I love this so much!”
• Charlie: “Listen, yeah, I’m like, I’m like, I knew, I was like, this is music to Maria’s ears, so I’m in.” Maria: “Oh my gawd.”
• Maria: “You know I’m gunning for her, hard.” Charlie: “Yeah.”
• Maria: “But, like, it’s Kenzie’s plan, which is fine.” Charlie: “This is better.” Maria: “This is way better.” Charlie: “Because it paints such a big target on Kenzie, too.” Maria: “I know, it’s way better.” Charlie: “Yeah, this is wonderful.”
• Maria to camera: “You know, I’ve had this thought of, like, I need to get Tiffany out, she came for me, and then in comes Kenzie saying, I want to get Tiffany out.”

Kenzie and Ben sit face to face on rocks in the shallow water, feet soaking.

• Kenzie: “Tiff’s playing a great game.”
• Ben: “That’s why we got to get her.”
• Kenzie: “Yeah, so…” Ben: “I’m into it.” Kenzie, getting up to walk away: “Okay.”

Maria to camera: “Kenzie’s here to play. I think Kenzie feels that Tiff was never gonna take her very far. Kenzie wants a big move on her resume, and I’m like, damn, like, that’s my move, like I wanna get Tiff out, but I do worry if Tiffany gets wind of something, maybe she tries to play her idol.”

• Maria to Charlie: “If we focus on Tiff tonight, because of the idol, and obviously, like—“
• Charlie: “I want to talk to Tiff, if that’s okay, cause I want to try to make her feel comfortable.” Maria: “Okay.”

Charlie and Tiffany walk a pathway together.

• Tiffany: “All right, so here, let me throw this at you, right? Cause obviously, y’all know I want Q, cause Q spilled the beans in front of y’all. Here’s my only thing. I will gladly write Hunter’s name down tonight because I know he’s a big physical threat, but I also, I gotta burn this idol out of my pocket.  I have to play it. I just don’t want to be blindsided. Like that was my only fear because I don’t, I’m fine with flushing it. At this point I don’t want it in my pocket anymore.” Charlie makes encouraging, listening sounds throughout her speech.
• Charlie: “Becuase it’s, because it’s a threat.”
• Tiffany: “It’s a threat now, I don’t want it.”
• Tiffany to camera: “I don’t want this idol anymore, I will play it. I don’t trust nobody on this beach. Once people know about the idol, you can’t lie about it, because then that’s gonna make your target go from this to this.”
• Tiffany to Charlie: “You don’t think Maria will try to flush the idol prematurely, right?”
• Charlie, pauses first: “I don’t think so.”
• Tiffany to camera: “My biggest worry tonight is that everybody lying to me and they gonna get me and this idol out of here. But, the only reason I wouldn’t want to play this idol is because, as Survivor fans, we know when the idol is played, it’s coming back to the beach, baby. And i do not want Hunter or Q to get it.”
• Charlie to Tiffany: “So, I’m-I’m gonna…yeah. Just, um, that sounds good. Um, all right.” Tiffany: “All right, cool.” Charlie: “Um, I guess we should head back.” Tiffany: “Good chat.”
• Charlie to camera: “Unbelievable. I was trying to make Tiff feel like she’s safe and vote her out tonight. All of a sudden, Tiffany says she’s gonna play her idol.”

Tiffany, Maria and Charlie sit around the fire pit. Tiffany: “The idol has zero value to me now that people know about it. I don’t even want this thing anymore. I’m ready to burn it on the spot. Maria: “Right, right.” Tiffany: “I don’t even want this thing in my pocket, get it away from me.”

Charlie to camera: “An idol is scary,it’s unpredictable, and it leaves Tiff with a lot of power. So now, this game is flipped on its head, and we’ve gotta figure out what the heck we’re gonna do. Plans change faster than the wind changes in Survivor, and the playing field is wide open.”

Commercials Break 41:48

Nuinui Day 17

Sitting together on a log on the shoreline, Charlie, Ben and Maria talk together. It looks like Tiffany is in the tree line behind them, gathering sticks, and it looks like Q is about 50 feet away from them, sitting on the beach alone.

• Charlie: “Did Kenzie talk to you?” Ben: “Yeah.” Maria: “Okay.”
• Ben: “Well, the Tiff idol thing is huge.”
• Maria: “Yeah, so that plan is shelved because she may use her idol. She’s like, I don’t even want this thing.”
• Ben: “Wow, okay. The obvious choice would be to get Q out, but when the time’s right, I’m not, like, blood hungry. So, we do…”
• Maria, glancing sideways at Q: “Sh sh sh.”
• Ben, quieter now: “So we do, we do, uh, Hunter.” Maria: “Hunter tonight.” Ben: “Yeah.”
• Ben: “And then we try to get Tiff tomorrow.” Maria: “I’m okay with that.”
• Hunter appears in the treeline, standing. He watches the three of them, his innocent heart assuming that the three of them are talking about getting Tiffany out. He watches them from maybe 25, 30 feet behind them.
• Ben: “And we can literally drop this plan an hour beforehand.”
• Charlie: “Or less.”
• Ben: “Or less, and be, like, Boom, boom, boom.”
• Maria: “Okay. Because Hunter doesn’t have immunity, this is the right time to get Hunter.” Ben: “Totally.”
• Charlie hushes them as he sees Hunter walk to directly behind them, maybe 15, 20 feet away. Possible the wind could carry their words to him. Hunter walks to a stone right behind them, maybe 15 feet away, and sits down.
• Ben to camera: “The plan to take out Tiff fell apart, and now we’re in a position where we could take Hunter out, but I know if Hunter goes, I have more of a chance of winning something, because he has crushed most of the challenges.”
• Charlie to the two: “We have to make sure Kenzie’s cool with it.”
• Ben: “If you guys want me to talk to Kenzie, I will.”

Ben to camera: “It presents, like, a golden platter. You only get, like, the T.Rex in Jurassic Park back in the cage one time, and we’ve already done that. I’m not trying to have a Jurassic Park sequel right now. I’m trying to get him out so the playing field is even.”

Ben to Kenzie, as they sit together on the upside down boat on the beach: “I’m just trying to weigh the options. My worry is if Tiff plays her idol, I just think the consensus is people kind of want to get Hunter tonight.” Kenzie gently shakes her head. She doesn’t say it, but she and Hunter have bonded equally to how she and Ben have bonded.

• Ben: “We’ve been talking about the Hunter thing for so long, let’s just go with the obvious one now, and let Tiff feel comfortable.”
• Kenzie: “Yeah, yeah, so you and Charlie and Maria want to do Hunter?”
• Ben: “Yeah, that’s the way I view it.”
• Kenzie: “I mean, I think the Hunter vote’s boring, but…”
• Ben: “It’s boring, but it opens up the insanity.”
• Kenzie to camera: “I really wanted to blindside Tiff, but you can’t blindside someone with an idol when she would just play it. Now everyone wants Hunter gone, because, let’s be real, Hunter has dominated everything here.”

Venus and Charlie sit together on the boat on the shore.

• Venus: “Everyone’s locked in on hunter?”
• Charlie: “Yeah, Everyone’s in, but we’re not telling Q and Liz, we’re not telling them.”

Kenzie to camera: “I would rather vote for Q, ’cause I can’t stand him, but I can’t speak for the whole group. If the whole group wants Hunter, fine, we’ll do Hunter. Fiiiiine!”

Kenzie, Tiffany, Ben and Charlie sit together in a row in the sand on the beach as the shadows lengthen.

• Charlie: “I do love Hunter.”
• Tiffany: “I do too, he’s sweet, but, like, damn, I can’t beat you, buddy. I can’t even come close to beating you.”
• Charlie: “That’s part of the thing, too”

Throughout all of these conversations, Hunter has been alone. Watching the conversations from a polite distance, sitting alone and thinking. Surely he can sense that he is on the outs again.

• Hunter to camera: “I’m beginning to feel pretty nervous. I’ve been trying to really get a good read on what’s going on. You know, is this plan to blindside Tiff actually happening?”
• As he says this, camera shows Kenzie, Tiff, Ben (laying down) and Charlie sitting together in the sand while Tiff smiles at Charlie about something.
• Hunter continues: “These people lied straight to Tevin’s face, and he believed it till the end, and had me fooled. And so, maybe they’re doing the same thing to me.”
• Kenzie walks up to Hunter, carrying wood for the fire. Kenzie, smiling: “How’s it going?”
• Hunter walks past her: “Maybe I’m just stressed out.”
• Kenzie, turning towards him after he passed: “Why?”
• Hunter stops and turns towards her: “Just, like we’re sure about Ben and them?” Kenzie: “Yeah!”
• Hunter: “Like, I fully trust you, but I’m just, like, cause they could easily just switch.”
• Kenzie: “I mean, as far as I know, we’re good.”
• Hunter: “I know, Okay. I know, but….yeah.” Kenzie: “I know, it’s uneasy.” Q walks along the treeline towards Kenzie as Hunter continues on his way.
• Hunter to camera: “I’m not naive to the fact that it can still be me,  which is really, really frustrating. And so, I am constantly running the numbers,” Camera shows him dressed for Tribal Council, mumbling possibilities to himself while writing  in the sand. “and I’m thinking about what has to happen. I feel like the target is on my back for a multiple of reasons, so I am 100% playing my idol. Tonight is about surviving. If I’m gonna play this game to win, I think the idol has to be a tool that I can use not just to save myself to make another vote, but to use it to gain potential allies.”

The only thing is, Hunter makes his big moves very late in the day, so close to Tribal Council time. Yesterday it looked to Venus like he made a last ditch attempt at making a move. It made no difference for Tevin. Today, again, it’s late in the day, everyone has had their conversations and left Hunter out of a lot of them, and only now he decides to do what Tiffany did, without Hunter knowing, hours ago with her idol. Tiffany used her idol to succesfully create an alternative plan. Hunter brought his out of the blue far too late. Firstly, no one knew about it, so he should have kept it a secret until he played it. Secondly, he was too late to build trust with anyone using it as a threat. and Thirdly, he was not strategic about how he broke the news of his idol. Tiffany offered an alternate plan that no one else had to come up with, Hunter seemed to expect others to come up with an alternate plan, when they already had one in place.

• Hunter to Q: “Wanna go get water or anything?” Q and him walk. Hunter: “Listen, I have an idol and I’m playing it tonight, okay?” Q: “You do?” Hunter: “Yes. I think they’re gonna come at me, so I think we need to vote for someone like Ben, okay?” Q: “All right, Ben.”
• Hunter to camera: “I think people are lying to me, and it seems like Maria, Charlie and even Ben are kind of in the heart of it. Me and Ben don’t have a huge relationship, like we haven’t talked a whole lot, and so he can go.”
• Q: “You need to talk to Venus, bro.”
• Hunter: “I know I do, ’cause I gotta get her trust.”
• Q to camera: “The guy with the glasses right now is on a mission. And if I can survive this vote, I think we’re gonna swing it back into our favour. I’m ready for a big move, I’m ready for a change. I’m ready to get the power back.”
• Hunter to Venus and Liz: “I think they’re voting for me. I’m, like, ready to play ball with you.”
• Venus: “Wait, I’m so confused, are we not voting Q? Because I think it’s basically set right now. Like, you’re not gonna have –“
• Hunter: “It’s not, it’s not.”
• Venus: “But you don’t, what number?”
• Hunter: “Okay, you promise you’re not gonna freak out? I have an idol. I’m playing it.”
• Venus: “I mean, okay.”
• Hunter: “You look like you’re unimpressed.”
• Venus: “No, it’s not that I’m unimpressed, so now I’m re-thinking the numbers.”
• Liz: “I wish you would have told me this earlier.”
• Venus: “Yeah, this is like, so last minute.”
• Hunter: “Would you be fine with Ben?”
• Venus: “I think the smartest thing is to just stick with Q, and be in the majority.”
• Hunter: “Just play ball with me this time, right? and then we’ll, we’ll own it together tomorrow.”
• Liz to camera: “Last freaking minute, Hunter approaches me, tells me he has an idol, he wants to vote for Ben. No! I’m sticking with voting for Q. I think Q is an absolute liability.
• Charlie to Q: “What’s, what’s going on right now?”
• Q: “I really don’t know, nobody’s talking to me, so, I mean…”
• Charlie: “I don’t know what, I don’t know what’s going on.”
• Hunter to Kenzie: “I have an idol.” Kenzie: “Okay.” Hunter: “I’m playing it tonight.” Kenzie: “Okay.” Hunter: “But if they ARE playing me, the votes will still fall on somebody else.”
• Venus to Ben: “The vote is Q.” Ben: “Wait, what?” Venus: “This is so last minute, but the vote is now Q, ’cause Hunter has an idol and he’s playing it tonight.” Ben: “Hunter has an idol?” Ben looks across the firepit towards Maria and Tiffany: “Is he bluffing?”
• Venus to the camera: “Hey, mayday, mayday, Hunter has an idol, current plans are in jeopardy, and it’s just pandemonium.”
• Tiffany to Charlie, Ben: “I’m voting Hunter.  Hunter says he has an idol now, but he could be bluffing.” Ben: “I think he’s bluffing.” Tiffany: “I think he’s bluffing too.”
• Tiffany to camera: “I think he’s bluffing, but if Hunter breaks out his idol, I’m breaking out my idol, because, just in case all hell breaks loose, I’m gonna be here tomorrow.”
• Hunter to Kenzie: “You’re my number one. I trust you 1,000%” Kenzie: “Yeah.”
• Kenzie to camera: “Hunter drops this bomb, whoa, this is bad, because we are all about to vote Hunter, and it’s complete madness.”
• Tiffany, Kenzie and Venus walk a path huddled together. Tiffany: “Listen, if we got to get up and talk at Tribal, we got to get up and talk at Tribal.” Venus: “There ya go.”
• Maria and Charlie. Maria: “So are we changing the vote now to Q?” Charlie: “I don’t know.” Maria: “Okay.”
• Kenzie to camera: “It’s a disaster. We literally have two idols in play, and everybody’s turning on everyone, everyone’s throwing everyone’s name. This is messy, and dramatic, and emotional. We don’t have a clear-cut plan. Tonight is going to be wild.”

Commercials Break 48:07

Walking to Tribal Council in the dark, and it’s hard to see what order they are walking in. Once they sit down at Tribal Council, they walk in and then sit in this order, Left to Right: Maria, Liz, Q, Charlie, Ben, Venus, Tiffany, Kenzie, Hunter. Soda and Tevin, all clean and spiffy, watch them walk in without any expression on their faces. Slow blinks that look judgmental and almost bored.

Jeff starts Tribal Council with a bit of cuteness. “All right, so, last Tribal was one of the most unique Tribals in all my days on Survivor. I’m still not entirely sure what all happened, for a large part of the Tribal, I didn’t think there was gonna be a vote. Q, I thought you were gonna just leave. Clearly, I was wrong, because not only was there a vote, it was a massive blindside on Tevin. Great gameplay, very entertaining. But after you all left, I did some thinking, and I realized it could have been better. I just, this is on me, I just wasn’t fully prepared. I-I never anticipated it could go like that. So, on the off chance that it happens again tonight, I’m very prepared.”

He reaches behind himself to pull out…. “I have a cushion.” He stands up to place it on the wooden stool he sits on, then sits down again. Jeff, laughing: “I should have done this years ago. So I can really sit back and enjoy, and – forgot the best part -” Reaches behind him again to pull out a small yellow bowl holding maybe two cups of popcorn. “I brought some popcorn.”

• Ben: “Oh, come on! You are such a Scorpio!”
• Charlie: “That’s ridiculous!”
• Venus: “That’s messed up!”
• Charlie: “You’ve gotta pass that around now.”
• Ben: “That does not rock!”
• Jeff: “All right, I invite you to my home and I eat in front of you. You’re right, okay.” Jeff gets up and hands the bowl to Hunter, who takes a few pieces, then passes it down the line.
• Liz: “Please save me soome!” while the bowl is still between Hunter and Kenzie.
• Venus: “Oh my gawd, okay!”
• Liz: “Please, y’all.”
• Tiffany: “Everybody will get some.”
• Kenzie and Tiffany: “Wow, Jeff, Wow. Wow, thanks, Jeff!”
• Jeff: “Hey, I-I’m ready for a show.”
• Venus, munching popcorn with a happy face, moans: “Oh my gawd!”
• Liz: “I’m about to have, like, a heart attack.”
• Jeff: “Liz, can you eat popcorn?”
• Liz: “Yes! I haven’t eaten in over 72 hours.”
• Jeff: “Let’s all just take a moment. Liz can eat something on Survivor.” Everyone claps.
• Liz: “Thank you guys, thank you Jeff. Oh my gosh! I think that’s the nicest thing Jeff’s ever done on Survivor!”
• Ben: “I thought spicy Jeff was back in season.”
• Jeff: “Oh, spicy Jeff is back.”
• Liz: “Spicy Jeff.”

Now they have enjoyed some comedy and a snack, they are ready to get down to the real Tribal Council. Just a gentle reminder from Jeff, that this is just a game that they play, and the money comes to them because it is sold as entertainment to us.

• Jeff: “All right, so let’s talk about last Tribal. Charlie, there had to be some discussion about what happened, when you all got back to camp or the next morning?”
• Charlie: “Yeah, there was plenty of talk. There was a lot of emotions and feelings and questions. And everyone wanted to know the why and how it happened.”
• Jeff: “Tiff, that’s really the big question, right? Is the why behind it.”
• Tiffany: “Yeah. So, we came into Tribal with one plan, that we executed: the blindside on Tevin. However, Q took it upon himself to try and go and sink my game and it backfired on him.” Q is shaking his head fast. “Q and I exchanged words, it got a little heated when we got back to camp, and we haven’t said a word to each other all day.”
• Jeff: “Wow.”
• Q scoffs.
• Jeff: “Q, you’re smiling. Jeff, I’m happy. ‘Cause I’m over the situation. The way she explained that story is not how it went down. She sunk her own game when she started throwing out names, and she got caught.”
• Tiffany: “Okay. Oh, by the way, he has been throwing my name out since two days ago, because he’s jealous of something that I have going on, that he doesn’t have going on for himself, but in the interest of protecting my own game right now, I’m-a keep quiet. So. Keep it going.”
• Q: “She’s a liar because at Tribal yesterday, she was all happy and she didn’t get upset until someone whispered in her ear that I told everybody she had an idol.”
• The whole time he’s talking, she is punctuating it with sarcastic rebuttals. Holy cow, the argument just goes on and on and on. Jury just sits there watching, thinking their thoughts. Most of the tribe outside of Q and Tiffany, just sits there, silent, listening, not listening, bored, waiting. Jeff just sits there, looking from one to the other, unable to get a word in edgewise.
• Tiffany: “Okay, this story where he told everybody I had an idol to save my game was total bullcrap, because he was mad that I didn’t want to vote for Venus, because that wasn’t a big enough shield.”
• Q: “The vote was never Venus.”
• Tiffany: “See, these the lies, Jeff, these the lies.”
• Q: “The vote was never Venus yesterday.”
• Tiffany: “He been pushing Venus, just like you were pushing Venus this morning, you were pushing Hunter name this morning.”
• Uh oh. Kenzie looks at Hunter, Hunter looks at Kenzie. Kenzie shrugs, with drama. Hunter had better play his idol, here is proof he is being lied to, just like he suspects.
• Liz: “What?”
• Q: “I ain’t say Hunter name one time.”
• Liz: “I didn’t know that!”
• Q: “I haven’t said Hunter name one time.”
• Venus: “Yes, you have.”
• Ben: “Yeah. Okay.”
• Q: “I haven’t said Hunter name one time.”
• Venus: “Yes, you have.”
• Tiffany: “Come on now, please. You not gonna sit up here and tell these lies, Q, you not!”
• Liz: “He’s nuts!”
• Q: “I’ve been at the beach by myself for most of the day, talking to no one.”
• Ben: “It’s been nice.”
• Q: “It has. So, for the first time in a long time, Q hasn’t talked much at all.”
• Jeff: “Wow. Ben, I’m glad I brought the cushion, my instincts were right! We’re right back where we were last Tribal.”
• Ben: “Listen, crazy’s gonna reveal crazy, and that’s exactly what happened. It’s one thing if you mess your own game up and you have to work back from the bottom. That’s Survivor. But then to make a comment saying, I’m gonna give y’all a fresh start so now y’all can play a real game? was the biggest slap in the face, as if nobody’s been working together, as if he’s the only guy running the show. This, even right now, is a show. There’s a way to play the game. There’s a way to deceive, outwit, outlast, outshred, whatever you want to call it. And now, it’s like, here we are, giving him just as much time as he had yesterday, when we’re all trying to play a game.”
• In the background while Ben speaks, Hunter and Kenzie communicate with each other with a series of gestures and silent mouth movements. Kenzie assures him that she is voting Q. Hunter asks if that is what everyone is doing? Kenzie says she thinks so. Charlie watches them.
• Jeff: “Hunter, weigh in.”
• Hunter: “Uh, I was confused last time and I was on the wrong side of the vote, and I’m still trying to figure it out. You know, last time, it was a little more okay to be on the outside of it ’cause I had a necklace on, and so if crazy happened, at least you’re protected from that. But now the crazy’s happening all over again, and I’m just like, what is going on?”
• Jeff: “Who does the crazy benefit?”
• Hunter: “The people that feel like they’re on the bottom. But, it’s so hard to know if you’re on the bottom, that’s the thing – is if the crazy happens and it puts the target on somebody else, that’s awesome. But other times, the craziness is just a facade, and the group still votes the same way.”
• Jeff: “Maria, do you think this is a facade? Is Q just playing a sophisticated game of crazy?”
• Maria: “I don’t think so.I think that Q tells you what he’s thinking, shows you what he’s feeling, and that might rub people the wrong way or it might benefit people, and I think that the group has to decide either we live with the tension and live with the chaos or we don’t “
• Hunter and Kenzie are at it again, same silent questions, same silent answers. Venus leans over and whispers at Hunter: “Do you see what’s happening right now? I’ve been telling you all day, it’s Q.”
• Jeff: “Ben, how is it that Maria’s posing a question like that at Tribal, when you’ve had all day to decide if you want tension or no tension?”
• Ben: “Because sometimes you have players that are chaotic, and you can just let them be chaotic, ’cause you know they’re just gonna keep doing their thing. So it’s like, you either deal with it or you take it out, and I think the game’s been chaotic enough that we’re kind of operating on that chaotic frequency to begin with.”
• While Ben speaks, there is more whispering in the peanut gallery behind him. Venus, Tiffany, Kenzie and Hunter. Hunter says, “I just don’t want to be played right now.” He should just relax, let the votes fall where they will, and use his idol like he planned. Hunter to Tiffany: “We’re for real?” Tiffany: “Yes, it’s Q.” Hunter to Charlie: “Are you doing Q?” Charlie nods.
• Jeff: “Q, does this conversation concern you? Or are you comfortable living in this space of turbulence surrounding you?”
• Q: “Jeff, I am so comfortable to the point of it don’t bother me at all. So, whatever’s going on around me, it don’t matter.”
• Jeff: “So if everybody right now is talking and saying, let’s just vote out Q, you’re fine with that?”
• In the background, Hunter asks Charlie to get Liz. Charlie reaches behind Q to touch Liz on her shoulder. “Everyone is saying Q.”
• Q: “If that what it comes to, I will take my torch, I will put it down, and you will snuff it, and I’ll be happy for the opportunity.”
• Jeff: “Tiff, it’s fascinating. I don’t know what Q’s real motive is, but he said that last Tribal, and you didn’t vote him out, so…”
• In the background, Hunter looks at Liz, “Okay?” Liz, impatiently: “Okay.”
• Tiffany: “‘Cause we had other plans. We ain’t letting him hijack our plans, we had other plans.”
• In the background Hunter whispers, “Is that actually the plan?” Charlie: “I just told them.”
• Jeff: “So you don’t mind the chaos?”
• Tiffany: “The chaos has been the chaos. The chaos is going to be the chaos. People are annoyed, people are fed up, and is being annoyed and fed up affecting my game or not? And if it is, what am I going to do about it?”
• Jeff: “Kenzie. Tiff said, this happened at the last Tribal and we had a plan. Does that hold tonight as well? If there’s a different plan, then Q can say whatever he wants, but if he’s not the vote, he’s not the vote.”
• Kenzie: “Yeah, 100%. But I think it’s very apparant that a lot of us are annoyed and very apparent that a lot of us are frustrated, and that’s kind of where everyone’s at tonight.”
• Jeff: “And it’s telling that the Yanu three are no longer together. Unless it’s a real smoke screen.”
• Kenzie: “Yeah, no.”
• Tiffany: “Been dead, six feet under.”
• Q: “It’s dead, yeah.”
• Jeff: “Dead.”
• Kenzie: “We’re about to get breakup bangs, like, that’s what’s happening right now. Like, we’re all getting weird haircuts to deal with it, like, that’s what’s going on.”
• Jeff: “So, Charlie, where are we?”
• Charlie: “I’ll answer your question with a question: Can I stomach more Tribal Councils like this? But the game changes incredibly fast, and there’s all sorts of stuff being whispered. Everybody knows it, I know you see it.”
• Kenzie leans over to Hunter and he whispers: “It’s not, like, a big ruse…”because people know about my Idol, is it?” Kenzie: “No.” Hunter: “I’m just terrified.” Venus: “Do you see what’s happening? It’s Q.”
• Jeff: “That’s why I brought the cushion.”
• Charlie: “I know! I feel like I’ve aged about 50 years in two nights.”
• Jeff: “Hunter, I think a lot of times when people watch Survivor, they question if Tribals are live. Any doubt in your mind?”
• Q: “Oh, it’s live.”
• Hunter: “I don’t know,” Chuckles, “Like, like for real.” Laughs. “Like, cause last time, there were lots of whispers then, and someone other than Q went home. That’s terrifying, and so I’m, like, trying to, like, really read into what people are saying to say, hey, is this the case?”
• Hunter did not hear the question, he merely explained what he was doing in the background of the official questions.
• Jeff: “Okay, so now to the big question: Do we need to talk more?”

The first vote:

• Hunter: Q
• Liz: Q
• Venus: Q
• Kenzie: Q
• Tiffany: Hunter
• Maria: Hunter
• Charlie: Hunter
• Ben: Hunter
• Q: Ben

A tie between Hunter and Q. A revote will be cast, and you can only vote for Hunter or Q.  The second vote isn’t identified: Q, Hunter, Hunter, Hunter, Hunter … Tenth person voted out, and the third member of our jury, Hunter, that’s four, that’s enough, need to bring me your torch.

• Hunter: “Good job, guys.”
• Venus: “You had a great game.”
• Tiffany: “Love you, Hunter.”
• Kenzie: “Sorry Hunter.”
• Venus: “You played such a good game, my guy.”
• Tiffany: “Love you Hunty.”
• Ben: “Hunter, you rock.”
• Venus: “You rock.”
• Kenzie: “You’re the best.”
• Hunter, sighs heavily: “It’s kind of hard to take all that right after y’all voted my name like that.”
• Venus: “You’re a fierce competitor, my guy.”

Hunter lowers his torch into the stand by Jeff. “There we go.”

• Jeff: “Hunter, the tribe has spoken.”
• Hunter: “Yes, they have.”
• Jeff, snuffs torch: “Time for you to go.”

Torches are grabbed, remains of the tribe heads back to camp.

Next time, on Survivor:

• Liz sits by the firepit with someone’s leg and hand in the foreground. She is sobbing. She tells the camera: “These people are making my mind crazy.” Liz walks out of the ocean onto the shore screams “Aaaah!” at the sky. Sit’s in the private spot where she talks to the camera: “What the heck, you ho-bags?”
• Venus: “Q is causing chaos.”
• Ben: “I want him the hell out of here.”
• Liz, screaming: “Q blew up my whole game!”
• Maria to Q, as they quietly rest on the sandy beach in the shade, Q laying down, Maria sitting beside him: “Everybody’s coming for you. But you could change that.”
• Maria to camera: “This could be a game-winning move.”

Hunter’s last words:

“There it is.” Holds up his Hidden Immunity Idol. “In all of it’s splendour. I had convinced myself that I was playing my idol going into this, but I was lulled into my own doom, is what happened, and it’s so irritating. I loved the experience, but not how I wanted it to end. Ooooh!”

At first I was real sad that Hunter got voted out, just because he is considered a physical threat. But upon a rewatch, I see that he had a hard time relating to people, and knowing when to trust and when to withhold trust. There was more strategy involved than I thought, and, as likeable a fellow as he seems to be in a general sense, he was not playing a very strategic game. He was socially awkward with people he thought were beneath him, like Venus, Ben, and Liz, who he could likely have worked with if he had chosen to trust them sooner.