It’s time to watch episode 8! What will happen tonight? Will the whole tribe be able to vote? Who will win immunity? Will Kyle make himself safe again? Who do most players see as the biggest target? Will Sol reveal to Rachel that he was her saving grace at tribal last night?
Alone at Beka camp we find Rachel working at building a fire when she cannot find the flint. She is relieved to be safe and does not understand why someone rescued her. The tribe returns in the dark and they all talk about tribal. Sol and Rachel are talking among the others, but he has not yet revealed he was the one. They go off alone, then he tells her and she hugs him, saying that she knew it was him. They decide to work together, but Sol cautions her to please not “out” him. Sam tells Rachel what it looked like after she left and he told her that it looked to them like they were all planning to get her out and she really threw them for a loop by escaping.
The next morning Sol and Kyle chop coconut together. Talk about Karate Kid, Sol grimaces when he drinks his coconut water, it did not taste very good.
Caroline shows everyone something that she found on a walk, she leads them to a table with bowls, one for each tribe member, labelled. Survivor Auction! Everyone cheers. The Survivor Auction is always so much fun, I enjoy watching it too. Cash is scattered around camp, and they need to all go hunting to find it and bring one piece of cash at a time to their bowl. Money is hidden in bamboo tubes. Andy can’t find any. Gabe has found many. Gabe tells us that he hasn’t won any food rewards yet. Sierra has found lots too. Sam loves reporting on it with his pretend microphone. Camera shows Andy walking past tube after tube, wondering out loud why he can’t find any. Sierra has found the most tubes.
If you can’t remember why everyone is excited about Survivor Auction, this is what I remember: you can bid on plates of food and buy good stuff, bad stuff, surprises and disappointment. Everything bought usually must be eaten before the auction ends, you can’t take anything away with you.
Everyone counts their money. Sierra has over a thousand dollars. Andy has zero. Everyone else has at least a hundred dollars.
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The Auction begins. Players walk in to the auction area and sit on the benches provided. Sierra, Gabe, Sol, Kyle have the most dollars. Only the first five items are guaranteed to be available. The auction will end without warning and whoever has the most money at the end of the auction will lose their vote at tribal council. Jeff draws a number out of a bag so he knows how many items will be available.
- Sol buys a big bowl of potato chips and soft drink for $60.
- Teeny buys a huge bowl of mac and cheese for $660.
- Sierra spends $800 on a surprise: chips, salsa, guac and a margarita.
- Kyle bought a surprise for $560: A huge tray of buffalo wings, ranch dressing, celery and carrots. Kyle decides to eat the meat, his first meat in years. He is hungry, he is a bit disappointed in himself for caving, but he says if you’re gonna cave, this is the place to do it.
- Gabe bids $660 on a surprise. He is given the option to trade it. He sticks with the first choice. He bought a very fresh coconut filled with very cold water.
- Sol bids $540 on the item so that he will not lose his vote. He bought a giant apple pie with whipped cream that Sol can squirt on it himself. There was also $60 with the pie, cash back program, which means that there is a chance he might have money to lose his vote.
- Rachel bids $500 on a covered item. Rachel guesses that it might be a burger and sure enough, it is a huge burger and lots of huge fries, and a nice fresh beer.
Jeff teases Genevieve that if that was the last item, she will lose her vote cuz she has the most dollars remaining. He shakes his head no while saying that there is one more item. Everyone laughs, good joke!
Rachel sees a tiny piece of paper in her fries, she is sitting between Sol and Sue. She wonders if either of them noticed it. She meets Sol’s eyes.
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- Genevieve spends all her money on a covered item: Coookies and cupcakes and strawberries.
While everyone’s attention is on Genevieve, Rachel hides her paper in back of her bra.
- Jeff reveals another item that will not go to the highest bidder, it will go to whoever pays $200 to come up and compete for it. Its orange juice, waffles, bacon, blueberry pancakes. The first person to get down two grubs gets to eat the breakfast and Jeff keeps the $200 of the winner. Sierra, Sue, Sam and Caroline went up to compete but when Sierra saw the grubs, she left and Jeff gave her money back. Sam wins the breakfast.
- There is a giant burrito and iced tea that Sue buys with most of her money.
- Caroline is given fish eyes and $60 that she spent all of her money on.
- Sierra spends the rest of her money on chocolate and peanut butter, She can invite 2 friends and they have 2 minutes to eat it. she chooses Gabe and Caroline to join her.
The auction is over, Sam has the most money left and will lose his vote tonight at tribal council.
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Back at BEKA camp, the group talks about the auction and Sam losing his vote. Rachel reads her note as soon as she can get off by herself. “There is a hidden immunity idol sewn into the corner of her tarp.” Rachel visits the tarps and feels a tiny little lump on the first corner she touches. She begins to plan how to work it lose when there are always people around the area where the tarps are mounted.
In the water Sierra, Rachel and Teeny talk about who to vote against. They decide to work against TUKU, specifically the males, and specifically Kyle if he doesn’t win immunity.
Genevieve, Sue and Caroline chat about who they want to vote against. Genevieve wants to target Rachel over Sam. Caroline is thrilled with that suggestion, they agree that Rachel is the biggest threat. Caroline calls Rachel the sneaky dangerous one.
When everyone was chatting inside the shelter, Rachel left the shelter and ripped the tarp from underneath so the rip won’t be obvious. It makes noise, but no one hears. She gets it and she hides it in her bra.
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Immunity Challenge. As Kyle returns the necklace to Jeff, Jeff explains the challenge. The buckets are filled with 25% of their pre-game body weight. If you drop your bucket, you are out of the competition. The last woman and last man left standing will each win immunity. Grab your handles, pull it back towards you. You will feel some clicking. The string that holds the pail keeps unwinding, players wind it back up again.
Sam is the first person out, then Genevieve. Teeny drops. Less than one minute into the challenge, 4 women left and 4 men left. Sierra out. Gabe out. Caroline out. Sol out. Rachel out. SUE wins of the women, she is very strong. Andy and Kyle remain in the competition. Andy drops. KYLE wins his third individual immunity challenge.
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Though everyone congratulates Kyle, he knows that they’d rather be voting him out. Sam tells the GATA&LAVO alliance that Gabe is a bigger threat than Caroline is. Sierra dismisses Andy as a competitor as she tells the private camera person that they might as well keep dragging him along with them. Andy knows that they look at him as an expendable piece. Andy talks with Caroline about it and he is thrilled that Sam, Sierra and Rachel will not see him coming. He talks to Sol, and then Gabe as well. Gabe tells Kyle and Sue that Andy will work with them, he targets either Sam or Sierra. Gabe is pretty sure that he has eight people. Teeny is in a bit of a pickle hearing Genevieve and Sol target Sierra when she is tight with Sierra. Teeny tries to shift their focus to Sam instead of Sierra. Genevieve tells Sue and Caroline that she would rather send Rachel home over Sam or Sierra. Rachel and Sierra tell each other that something is off and they both feel kind of out of it. Gabe wants to go Rachel. Sol wants to protect Rachel. There is a lot of confusion and I wonder which target they will ultimately choose.
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Tribal council. This is the first tribal council of the season where eleven people will vote and the person that they vote out will be the first member of the jury. Comparisons are made to wars and to ceasefires and back at war again. Everyone is very careful to speak vaguely yet specifically while not give away their plan.
Time to vote. Caroline saw Rachel pull the idol out of her bag and put it in her pocket. Rachel decides to play her shot in the dark, not her idol. She is not safe, any votes cast for Rachel will still count.
Sam, Gabe, Sam, Sierra, Sam, Sierra, Sam, Sierra, Sierra. It’s a tie, so there will be a revote. Since Sam has no vote tonight, only he and Rachel will not vote in the revote. Sierra can still vote. Sam, Sierra, Sierra, Sierra, Sierra, Sierra. Sierra is out. I can’t really tell who voted which way, what do you think?
- Andy – ? then Sierra
- Caroline – ? then Sierra
- Gabe – ? then Sierra
- Genevieve – Sierra then Sierra
- Kyle – ? then Sierra
- Sierra – Gabe then Sam
- Sol – Sierra then Sierra
- Sue – ? then Sierra
- Teeny – Sam then Sierra
I’ll be watching again on Friday night for our weekly Survivor Supper and if it gets any clearer to me at that point, I will update this post.
