Week 2 Chat

Welcome to the conversation about episode 2 of season 46 of survivor!

“Scorpio Energy”

The episode is written out below. You can read it if you missed the show this week, or if you’re in need of a recap.

Feel free to head down to the comments, that is where the fun, play by plays, meaningful observations, and of course friendships are happening.

Don’t be afraid to add your comments even if you’re watching it late. Lots of us watch it late!

I’m posting pictures of the players to help us learn who everyone is.

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Links to past discussions:

• BACK TO MAIN PAGE.
• Episode 1 “This is Where Legends are Made”

 

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Episode 2 is beginning in the NY time zone, and thanks to trying a bunch of things over this past week, I have a way to watch it in the earlier time zone.

First the recaps:

• The forming of the “Charlies Angel’s” alliance in the Siga (green) tribe.
• The three tribe representatives (Nami -Teven, Siga -Maria, and Yanu – Jelinsky) on the sand bar trip (where Maria persuaded Jelinsky to believe it was his choice to tell the truth instead of try to win).
• Camp songs with Soda of Nami (orange). Tevin & Randen plot against Venus.
• Kenzie of Yanu (purple) outlines her alliance with Tiff & Q. Kenzie helps Tiffany follow the clues to claim her idol. Tiffany, Q, & Kenzie sort out their votes. Recap of Tribal council where Bhanu accidentally reveals that Jelinsky will be voted out. Torch snuffed.

 

Morning of day 4 breaks on rough seas and clear skies.

Bhanu, of Yanu (purple) tribe, sits on a low grassy cliff at water’s edge, meditating in the solitude of the morning air. He explains that the whole tribe voted out Jelinsky. He is happy everyone voted the same way, yet he acknowledges that he feels nervous and paranoid because his tribemates are more strategic than he is.

Kenzie joins him on the shore and he asks her how he can save himself to make it to the merge. Kenzie tells us that she loves Bhanu, but at tribal, he is not a good liar. “He shoots from the hip an dhe’s very passionate.” She can see “that being a liability down the line.  He can’t keep what needs to be kept secret, secret.” Kenzie believes that Jess or Bhanu need to go next, but she tells Bhanu it should go like this: win a few, then Jess goes, then the four of them go to the merge.

Meanwhile, Tiffany and Q discuss that Kenzie is cool and likeable but that she needs to go before them because after merge she will be a liability to them. They acknowledge that Kenzie probably knows that locking in with the two of them is her best bet. Q wonders how committed Kenzie is to HIM. Both know that Kenzie and Tiffany are friends. Q gets a weird vibe from Kenzie.

Bhanu works to start a fire while Jess tries to cut a green branch, both finding it hard. Kenzie helps with fire making. Everyone takes a break. Kenzie tells us about the lack of sleep, lack of food, and how hard this is on all of them, how discouraging. She sits in a beautiful cave arch, with the sea flowing in the background. “Do my eyes look really blue? good. They always look really blue after I cry.” she says to the camera operator.

 

Opening credits begin.

 

Nami (orange) tribe sits together in their camp: “For today’s challenge you’ll be diving down forty-five feet, blindfolded,” deadpans Tevin, “for a screw!” chimes in Liz. “For one screw, at the bottom of the ocean.” Tevin continues. “We have covered it with 2,000 nails! You have to feel for the–” adds Hunter, while they all laugh.   “First tribe to get the screw, wins…” continues Tevin, “air!” off camera, a female (probly Liz) concludes. Laughter all around.

Tevin tells us he is proud to be on the winning tribe.

• Tevin: “For today’s challenge. You’ll be throwing sandbags on toothpicks.”
• Hunter: “The first tribe to win, we don’t tear down your shelter.”
• Tevin: “Right!”

Right now, Tevin reports he is closest to Hunter and Soda, but since he is playing a very social game, he feels like he is attached to everybody. We watch him walk a path and talk with Randen. The only person he doesn’t get a good vibe from is Venus. Soda and Tevin walk the beach telling each other that Venus is untrustable and “as big a threat as people think.” Soda tells us that she and Venus connected at a heart level at first, but soon Soda learned that people don’t trust Venus, so she decided to distance herself from her.

Venus asks Soda to talk, Soda gives a weak excuse that Venus sees through right away. She sees how it is. Venus, too, acknowledges that they had an immediate connection, but now Soda has her game face on against her. “Soda’s not dumb, Soda’s with the numbers. Tevin right now is king, he is at the top. Tevin has a deep, personal connection with literally everyone but me.” She knows she is screwed. She can tell that she is not even being heard, no one in the tribe listens to anything she has to say. Video clips prove it. Venus is crying to the camera about how left out she feels that she has been unable to create an emotional bond with anybody. We listen to her back story, how her family immigrated from Iran to Canada to avoid raising a young woman in a place where the government was becoming more and more oppressive. Her whole life she has been trying to prove how capable and strong Persian women are. She doesn’t want to be seen as weak, she can’t let people see her struggle. This approach to life hurts her in the game, because they want to see you struggle and overcome. It hurts on a personal and on a social level that no one is even trying to acknowledge her existence. As she speaks, video footage illustrates her point.

 

Siga (green) gets their first fire. The whole tribe gathers around Ben, cheering him on as he fulfills a dream by starting the fire from scratch, who cries at his own success. Ben shares some of his life history, why this matters so much to him: “I cried over making fire! I didn’t even cry over meeting Nicholas Cage!”  (I looked him up in Spotify – Ben Katzman DeGreaser – and will be listening to his music for the rest of this post until I get tired of it, its kind of screamo. My youngest daughter might love it.) He was a kid with so much energy that teachers couldn’t handle him. He describes himself as “not the sharpest tool in the shred”  He says he had a stutter and he had a lisp which lead to him being bullied. His dad had a guitar in his closet (old photo of two pre-teen boys made up like KISS, holding guitars and pulling rocker poses), with that he found the power of rock, the thing that helped him overcome his insecurities. He has played shows all over the world, big festivals, and he did so many things that blew his own mind. Yet, in his head he feels like he is still a little insecure kid, so starting the fire really moved him.

Tim tells us that he believes he is in a good place, that he’s got Charlie and Ben, and that overall he thinks the tribe is communicating in a good way. He talks about Maria’s idol as a benefit. Video shows Moriah, Jem and Maria heading out together to get water. Tim continues that Maria’s extra vote is a big deal to him. Video shows Tim talking with Charlie and Ben about it. Ben feels someone should approach Maria. Charlie says that Tim has a good connection going with her. Tim: The goal we should all have in common is Maria. Charlie: So if we could pull her in, then we’ve got four and she might have an extra vote too.

Charlie describes his alliances, using he fingers: “Tim & Ben…and then me. And they want to work with Maria.” Video: Charlie’s Angels gather.  “And then you have the three women and myself. Everyone is trying to count to four. The angels and Charlie, that’s four. But that leaves me on the bottom. If we lose three times, then it’s just the Angels. So I feel like I’m dancing without a partner out here, it’s just me on the dance floor and I want to waltz with someone, I want to tango with someone. That’s what I want to do out here, I want to have a ride or die. And it seems like Maria and I have built bonds with both sides. So if there’s is someone out here that I feel would be a good alliance partner for me, it would be Maria.”

Maria and Charlie solidify their private alliance, comparing themselves to Malcholm and Denise of season 25. Video shows Malcholm and Denise celebrating their own alliance, dancing and hugging in private.

It seems that there is nobody at the bottom in Siga (green) right now.

 

At Nami (orange) tribe, Venus ties an orange headband around their idol as Hunter and Tevin look on. Tevin says, “Oh, very nice!” as he scoffs at her with his facial expression without her seeing. Venus sees that she is on the bottom and it all comes back to Tevin who has too many links with too many people, and since there is nothing she can do to compete with that, she wants to double down and find that idol.

Meanwhile, Randen also searches for the idol. He believes that he needs it more than anybody, he feels that it’s he or Venus on the chopping block.

Hunter the firewood collector is also actively looking for the idol, searching behind the disguise of providing tonnes of firewood for the tribe.

Randen finds the BEWARE note, he opts to take the risk. He digs, finds the box, finds the lock on the box, finds the directions to find the key. Then he learns that he has lost his vote until AFTER they lose an immunity challenge.

At the bottom in Nami (orange) seems to be Venus, and then – if he is correct – Randen.

 

Over at Yanu (purple) Jess watches some ants walk by on a green branch, kills one, and eats it off her thumb. Mackenzie notices, “Are you eating ants?” Jess: “They don’t taste like anything.” Tiffany: “So why are you doing it?” Q: “For the protein. Bhanu smiles. Tiffany: “Girl, the amount of protein you getting from them little ants…”  Q: “If she eat a hundred and fifty of them..she’ll be alright.” Tiffany privately concludes that “Jess is a little weird, a little quirky and out there,” (I see her as sincere.) “but she’s such a nice person.”  Jess knows that she is going up against some very strong personalities, she is unable to be her natural social butterfly self.  She tells us that is why she eats the ants, so she doesn’t have to talk. In an attempt ot make more of a social effort, she talks with them about her recent marriage to her husband, who is from St. Louis. They met outside a bar in Hong Kong. Even her love story is complicated and Bhanu jokes that he cannot put all these puzzle pieces together. Jess laughs: “I am a puzzle!” She understands that these people can’t really see what she is like inside and that it doesn’t really matter, because she has a family that loves her, a husband that loves her and that’s what is important.  To avoid being on the outs, she makes more of an effort to let them get to know her, and everyone seems interested in knowing her.

Kenzie, Jess and Bhanu head down to the beach to find crabs, instead Kenzie shows them her lovely view from that cave she was in earlier. Kenzie suggests getting rid of the strongest people. “It’s either them or us, you know?” Neither Bhanu nor Jess did not commit to anything – both of them are sincere and neither are ready to commit to betraying anyone in front of Kenzie. Kenzie thinks that they are not very strategic players. Kenzie tells them, “You can’t go to Tiff and Q and tell them about this comversation, they will freak out.” Jess: “Yeah, yeah.” Bhanu: “I’m not gonna say that!” As Kenzie leads the way out of the cave arch, Jess lays a hand on Bhanu and mouths, “We should vote her.” Jess tells us that is the first time she has talked strategy with Kenzie in a meaningful way and she is playing really hard, she also reveals that Kenzie can make you feel like you are her best friend, but you just can’t tell if she is for real.  Bhanu privately wonder if they should get Kenzie out next. Soon Jess tells Q that Kenzie pitched the strong people and that Bhanu was there too. Q recognizes that Jess feels the fire from last nights tribal and might be trying to get the target off her own back, yet he still isn’t sure if he should trust Kenzie or Jess.

How long do you figure before Kenzie finds out that Jess already threw her under the bus and Jess becomes their next target again?

 

It’s still day 4 as the day draws towards night. Siga (green) enjoys their hot fire, big pan, and salt water papaya and coconuts. Ben is handing out nicknames:

• Tim is the Papaya Papa
• Charlie is Tarzan
• Maria is Lieutenant Mom
• Mo is Mochete
• Ben is Benevolence
• He doesn’t mention Jem, so she calls herself Jungle Jem, which is quickly accepted by Ben and the tribe.

Charlie shares a joke about the nickname Jungle Jem, which falls flat. “I love Jungle Jem, because it could also be Jungle GYM, so it is like a double pun!” There is no reaction. He shares with us how he is strategic, but he can be socially awkward. He tries to figure out a way to fit in. Since he is a massive Taylor Swift fan and loves Star Wars and Harry Potter, and all these nerdy things, he figures out a way to use it.

“Ben we can do our Taylor Swift versus your artist song battle today.” Whoever runs out of songs from one artist first, loses. Ben says he is an expert mostly on “Metallica-greatest metal band of all time” (though it is clear that no ones fandom on anything could compare to Charlies). Ben says he will put his Taylor Swift knowledge head to head against Ben’s Metallica knowledge. The two of them throw out song titles, one at a time. Charlie, then Ben, then Charlie, then Ben. After each of them have listed more than a hundred song titles, Ben finally runs out of Metallica song titles he knows, and they call it a win for Charlie.  Ben admits that “if they had tried this in any other setting, they would have been told to shut up” way earlier, but here, the whole tribe is listening and seem interested. Well, most of them are, I’m not sure about Tim. Jem admists she doesn’t listen to Metalica. Ben wishes he knew more of the really bad Metalica albums and Charlie brags that there are no bad Taylor Swift albums. Final tally:

• Ben: 106 songs recalled and named.
• Charlie: 108 songs recalled and named.

 

Nami (orange): Tevin and Liz talk about marriage and remarriage. Liz says she cannot imagine the person who would marry “Liz,” and she brags some more about she makes lots of money and does not need a man to support her. “There is a special type of man who can deal with someone making so much money an not actually needing them.” Then privately to us, “I own my own company, I’m an online entrepreneur, and I’ve pushed myself so hard because I came from nothing. And honestly I came into this game wanting the title.” (not the money) “I don’t need the money, the money would better my life, but it wouldn’t change my life. So winning this game is going to show my daughter and my family, wow, Liz really can do anything, maybe I can do something similar someday.” (I’m seriously gagging as I type this. I might never wear my rainbow glasses again!) Tevin attempts to boost what he thinks is poor confidence in her ability to attract men, “I think that there’s plenty of men out there who would want to be with Liz.” Soda nods, encouragingly, “Agreed.” Ramden nods too. Let’s build up Liz’s fFRAGILE self worth, everyone! Tevin continues, “So whether you’re looking at a range of men now…” Liz interupts, “Well, they want to, but CAN they?” Tevin: “Oooh” (realizing he misread the room) Liz: “Everybody WANTS to be with Liz. Trust me.” OMG Liz!

Randen tells us he doesn’t understand what kind of game Liz is playing. “Nobody knows who Liz is. She wears rainbows, She is the CEO of five companies, She teaches everybody how to make a million dollars…it’s crazy!” Soda and Randen discus Liz. Soda: “Have you had any conversations with her? Like real ones?” Randen: “Yeah, a little bit. Well the problem with Liz is that she’s like a…it’s like talking to a billboard.” Soda: “She’s got a phrase for everything?” Randen: “Yeah. ‘I’m like a CEO I’m a company’, ‘I’m too good to do this’ and whatever.” He privately sorts through the people in his tribe, looking for someone to trust. He just doesn’t really trust any of them. Soda and Hunter are close to Tevin. Video cuts to the three of them on the beach together chugging  coconut water and talking about electrolytes. With Liz there are too many inconsistencies. Video cuts to Lizz telling Randen, “Ya, like I do a lot of podcast interviews. I’ve done like 300 in the last two years or something.” In his opinion Venus is the ultimate liar in this game. Video cuts to the two of them on the beach, where she has probably been searching for an idol with her saying, “If I go off and you see me, like, by the water, I’m just, like, Chilling. I’m just chilling. I’m not, like, looking around.” He knows that he doesn’t have many options, so he decides to trust Venus, the one person he originally thought not to trust, fully acknowledging that it could fail.

Though Randen understands that she could cut his throat, he tells her about what he has found and tells her that he wants to use her gifts and his gifts to get further in the gift. Venus feels much happier, more secure in the game. It makes a world of difference to have one person allign themselves with you. She considers Randen’s advantage to be her own, or at least an advantage that could be used in her favour, and she calls her alliance with him rock solid.

 

Day 5 – Challenge time!

It’s an obstacle course.

Siga (green) enters the challenge arena first, behind them, carrying the idol which still bears their tribal colours, comes Nami (orange), then Yanu (purple) brings up the rear, revealing who they voted out at tribal council last night. Massive reactions. Hunter (Nami) says, “Last name, first out.” Everyone reacts as though that’s a burn. (Which I don’t understand, but I’m not the savviest person around.) Charlie (Siga) jokes, “I guess, were there SEVERAL reasons you guys voted him, or…” everyone laughs. Kenzie replies, “There was, uh, more than several, there was more than seven – we’ll say that!” Q is frowning, doesn’t seem to like his tribe being laughed at. Jeff acknowledges that “it wasn’t fun to go to tribal and vote someone out, and now your tribe is down one person and clearly these other two tribes are having a little fun and joking about who was voted out and why that was….how does it feel?” Q:”Wel right now Jeff, in this game we’re the laughingstock, and their six has been better than our six. Right now we’re down to five, and we’ll see if their five is better than ours.” Jeff says to Soda, “He’s slinging it right back to you.” Soda is like, “I can catch it, that’s fine. If you wanna see five on five, that’s fine. (pauses) How’s the food?” Her tribe laughs. Q frowns. Bhanu: “Jeff, let me tell you one thing. I’m from India and we want freedom. Ghandi was on a hunger strike and he won freedom for India. Hunger is not closest to my mind. What we are hungry for is the challenge and to win the idol today.”

If anger and passion could make a person win, he’d totally win. If only, as leader of the tribe, he knew how to build easy communication and generous cooperation between his tribemates. Encouraging each other instead of always blaming someone else for not being enough.

Jeff collects the idols and notices the orange ribbon that Venus had tied around Nami’s idol is still there. “This is cute!” Venus quickly says, “He’s part of the Nami tribe now so we had to make sure that he had his own buff.” “Oh, nice,” says Jeff, and with great flourish, Jeff pulls out a large pocket knife and cuts it off. Soda yells that she’s not surprised he did that. Jeff: “You don’t own this idol, Nami, You got to win this idol.” Chorus of groans and laughter. “Scorpio energy, right there!” (I didn’t know that Jeff is a Scorpio, so am I!) Tevin points out that Jeff’s hat is orange, and thank you.

One person from Nami (orange) and Siga (green) will sit out. Who will they be?

• Nami (orange) sits out Liz. “The one and only Liz,” smirks Liz.
• Siga (green) sits out Moriah. “I’ll sit out, but I want first go witht he fishing gear.” Charlie: “You got it, Mo.”

“One person from each tribe is gonna race to release a machete. You’re gonna chop a rope and drop two wheels.”

• Nami (orange) sends Hunter
• Siga (green) sends Jem
• Yanu (purple) sends Q

“You’ll put those wheels on your cart. You’ll then dig up two chests, put the chests on your cart. You’ll then push your cart through the course, moving obstacles along the way. When you get to the end, you’ll use the pieces inside the chest to form a massive Survivor arch puzzle. the word will be “Persistence” and the letters on BOTH sides of the blocks must both be in the right order to spell the word. There are 3 E’s and 2 S’s which could end up in the wrong spots. First two tribes to finish win Immunity. In addition, you’re playing for reward: First tribe to finish win a massive Survivor fishing kit. (I’m no fisherman, but I see hooks, a manual, snorkelling gear including two masks, 2 snorkels, 2 sets of fins, a throw net, 2×6-foot poles with a loopy thing at the end, a basket trap, 2×3-foot in diameter round orange nets, fishing line on a spinner, hemp twine on a branch.) Second tribe to finish wins a smaller fishing kit: Mask, snorkel, fins, Hawaiian sling.” Last tribe to finish loses, must go to tribal council and, as a penalty for losing, Jeff will take their flint. Yanu (purple) is still trying to earn their for the first time.

• Order the wheels dropped: Hunter-Nami(orange), Jem-Siga(green), last Q-Yanu(purple)
• Order wheels are placed on cart: Nami(orange), Siga(green), last Yanu(purple)
• Order in which cart is brought close enough that teams may start digging up their chests: Siga(green), Nami(orange), last Yanu(purple)
• Order the first chests are dug up and placed on cart: Nami(orange), Yanu(purple), last Siga(green)
• Order the second chests are dug up and placed on cart: Nami(orange), Yanu(purple), last Siga(green)
• Order teams push carts to obstacle course: Nami(orange), Yanu(purple), last Siga(green)
• Order teams move obstacle bags: Nami(orange), Yanu(purple), last Siga(green)
• Order obstacle course is completed: Nami(orange), Siga(green), last Yanu(purple)
• Order chests are removed to puzzle surface: Nami(orange), Siga(green), last Yanu(purple)
• Order puzzles are begun: Nami(orange), Siga(green), last Yanu(purple)

While teams are digging up the chests and loading them on the carts, Liz starts chatting (across about twenty feet) to Moriah:

• “What’s your name again?”
• “Mo.”
• “Mo?”
• “Yeah.”
• “I’m Liz.”
• “Nice to meet you Liz.”
• “Nice to meet you.”
• “Also I love your glasses, by the way.”
• “Thank you, I love your socks.”
• “Thank you.”

Liz sings a Nami chant during the obstacle course. While examining the puzzle pieces and figuring out what the word is, these are the people who seem to identify the word first for each tribe:

• Nami(orange): Venus
• Siga(green): Jess, I think. A man spoke it too, right after her.
• Yanu(purple): Q

The puzzle assembly drama:

• Nami(orange) and Siga(green) puzzles are almost finished.
• Siga(green) falls.
• Siga(green) and Nami(orange) almost have it.
• Siga(green) falls
• Yanu(purple) only now begins the puzzle.
• Nami(orange) and Siga(green) almost done.
• Nami(orange) falls.
• Siga(green) is almost done.
• Yanu(purple) and Nami(orange) almost done.
• Nami(orange) thinks they have it, it stands solidly on it’s own, they get on the mat…wrong spelling!
• Siga(green) falls.
• Yanu(purple) falls.
• Siga(green) falls.
• Nami(orange) falls.
• All is even, all can begin again.

Distorted screaming as we cut to commercials. When the commercials end and the show returns, Jeffs last words before commercial were replayed, but with an echo chamber effect. In our living room we seriously laughed out loud: Distorted screams “Yanu another disaster, blocks everywhere.” Distorted screams. “Siga loses half their puzzle.” Distorted screaming.” Nami loses everything. We are wide open again.”

• Nami(orange) is almost done again, but one letter is backwards.
• All tribes close to finished.
• Siga(green) falls.
• In Yanu(purple), everyone picks on Jess
• All puzzles are close to done.
• Yanu(purple) falls, and the scene promised last week happens, where Bhanu screams “Jess!” with great anger and passion.
• Siga(green) has 3 letters to go.
• Yanu(purple) has 3 letters to go.
• Nami(orange) tries to get it to stand alone, it does, they go stand on their mat, it’s spelled right, THEY WIN!
• Siga(green) and Yanu(purple) both have one letter to go.
• Jeff comments that Bhanu continues to bark out orders.
• 2 letters now left for Siga(green)
• tempers running short on both teams.
• Siga(green) has one more letter.
• Yanu(purple) has mispelled their word, but instead of noticing, they are yelling at Jess for not holding it up high enough.
• Yanu(purple) falls when Kenzie drops everything she is holding.
• Siga(green) is up, solid and the team stands on mat
• Siga(green) FINISHES SECOND!
• Yanu(purple) loses, is angry, but only angry at Jess. Idiots.

Jeff presents the bigger idol to Venus of Nami (orange). Soda tries to grab it from her again, but she holds on tightly to it, turning around herself to show it to the men behind her.

Jeff presents the smaller idol to Jem of Siga (green) who hugs it to herself as well. By the time Jeff send them off, Tim is holding the idol.

Their fishing kits will be waiting for them back at camp.

Yanu (purple) Bhanu is trying to identify what is missing in their team, to be honest, so am I. I don’t understand why everyone, including Jess, is blaming Jess. And if, as Bhanu says, planning was the problem, then it is the bossy people with the loudest voices who are to blame for this loss if they want to aim their blame appropriately. Tiffany is pissed. I recall Tiffany, the tallest of the three women, standing on the short end of the arch holding up her puzzle pieces and yelling at Jess, the middle height of the three women, who was standing near the middle of the arch, to hold the blocks up higher. Tiffany seems real judgy and not very useful or helpful in challenges. This tribe is toxic for Jess, she deserves better.

 

Nami (orange) comes home (singing the same Nami chant that Liz sang during the obstacle course) to find their new fishing gear, and they are super excited about it. Venus seems on the edge of the fun, acting like she feels left out. Tevin invites everyone to go out fishing together, and Venus wants to hang back because her toe was hurt during the challenge. She’s angry, because while she was yelling at the team to point the cart to the left during the obstacle course, no one listened to her and as a result the cart crushed her toe. Tevin is kind of quietly laughing at her, where she can’t see him, acting as though she is a whiner, a victim and not to be taken seriously. He tells us that she brings the tribe moral down. Venus brings her issues to Soda. Soda nods and listens, but she thinks that Venus plays the victim too much. Soda brings her report on Venus to Tevin while Venus sits alone in the shelter. Venus reminds us that every time Jeff hands her the idol, Soda immediately grabs it away from her and hands it to behind her. Video footage confirms it, kind of funny to watch, Soda is so grabby!

 

Yanu (purple) comes home to sad music. Man, I love the creative and playful way they edit this show! Tiffany is crying with frustration, surrounded by Bhanu, Jess, Kenzie, and Q. Bhanu reassures her: “You kicked butt there!” then after she and the other two walk away, Bhanu says to Jess, “Well, its gonna be either you or me.” Tiffany tells us that she worries that the other teams think that she is an angry black girl. She said she was crying because of that and because she is frustrating that people are is not taking her seriously and she cannot work with people like that. She bemoans how Jess kept dropping the blocks, kept walking instead of working. Hmm, I didn’t notice Jess not giving her all, but the edits don’t show us everything.

Kenzie wants to make and hide a fake idol and make Jess find it so that she thinks it is a real idol and will not play her Shot In The Dark. Tiffany invites Jess to go idol hunting with her, and then leads her to where the fake idol has been hidden. Jess isn’t seeing it. Tiffany can lead a horse to water, but she cannot make it drink! Hilarious. Q is in on it. This situation is showing that she is a different kind of smart than they are, and I see why they might be frustrated with her. However, I think that Jess comprehends what people are saying based on more than their words, I think she senses part of what people want to communicate, and I think she finds their lying to her (acting like they want to help her find an idol when really they only intend to trick her because they all intend to vote her out anyway) makes their directions difficult to comprehend because what she senses doesn’t match what she is being told. I think this confusion would make a person appear slow or dense, when really she is simply confused. Q concludes that the only way they are going to get the fake idol in her hands is for him to hand it to her. So he tells Jess that he wants to work with her, but he wants no one to know about it. He hands her the idol that Tiffany made. She hugs him. I hate how they are ganging up on her. I understand tricking a player who can’t be beat, but why be so cruel to the obvious outsider of your little clique? It’s just mean.

Bhanu is looking for the idol too, he doesn’t know about their scheme. Q wants Kenzie or Jess out.

Later, the Yanu (purple) tribe chats together about how hungry they are. Bahnu tries to open a coconut with the machete, but cuts his hand. Kenzie and Tiffany observe Jess for a while saying this feels like clown school, then Kenzie jabs, “but you have to be smart to go to clown school!” Jess suspects that the idol Q gave her is not real, she recognizes that what makes it up is present on all the Survivor ornaments that they arlready have. She asks Q to confirm it is real, “Can you look me in the eyes and tell me that the idol is real?” Q gaslights her and comes at her with insulted aggression: “I found the idol on day t-…I tell you what, just give it back. Cuz I’m risking my idol for you to stay. For you to question it…” Oooh, he’s just nasty. Nasty! I’m not sure if she really believes him, or if she recognizes his trick, but she knows that regardless, she doesn’t have a lot of choice but to play it. She knows that Kenzie is a huge threat who is is just gonna sail to the final three if they don’t get rid of her. She also sees that Tiffany and Q are working together, so Q wouldn’t pull off a blindside tonight without Tiff. She decides to put Kenzies name out there as a last ditch effort to distract their attention from herself.

Kenzie and Tiffany pretend to Jess that they don’t want any girls to go. Tiffany wishes she had gotten Jess out first. Jess told Bhanu that Tiffany told her that she thinks that Bhanu is too emotional (which is true), Jess tells Bhanu and Q that they need to vote out Kenzie in order to save themselves. Q asks Jess: “what did they say about me?” Jess tells him that they want him to stay because he is strong.  Q says, “That does it, I’m voting out Kenzie.” Q goes to tell Tiffany that he wants Kenzie out, they start talking about Kenzie. Kenzie is loyal to Tiffany. Tiffany and Q are loyal to each other.

Q tells us that he has to decide between keeping Kenzie or Jess: “Keeping Jess means I have a loyal number. She’s someone who can vote with me, but I have to babysit a lot more. If we keep Kenzie, I don’t have to do much work. She’s a self-starter.Kenzie’s gonna go on the other sideand bring in numbers, but those numbers might not benefit me.”

 

Night 5 – Tribal Council

As Yanu (purple) approaches the tribal council area, the sun has set and it is softly raining, just a mist really. Jess sits in the centre of the group, with Kenzie behind her to the left and Bhanu beside her to the left, and Q behind her to the right and Tiffany beside her to the right.

Jeff: “Jess, how difficult it is to live and work with people, who under normal circumstances she might not even want to be around?” Jess sweetly and smartly describes how they pull together as a tribe and rely on each other’s resourcefulness. “Bhanu even cut his finger today when he was trying to feed us.” Jeff stops her, “You mean Bhanu fed you part of his FLESH?” Jess laughs and says, “I wish! I really need the protein!”

Jeff: “So Kenzie, you’re always relying on each other, even though you’re voting each other out, and that’s part of what makes it so complicated.” Kenzie: “Yes, because we all genuinely enjoy each other, but now we’re having to choose who can we work with long-term in gameplay. It’s hard, but that’s the reality of the game.

Jeff: “Tiffany, Kenzie was very specific in saying, “Right now we have to decide who we can play this game with long-term.” Tiffany agrees with Kenzie because Tiffany is “a person who acts off data and if we look at the data, we have lost every challenge we have competed in so we would be fools not to think about who can we play this game with beyond the tribe stage of the game.”

Jeff and Jess discuss how frightening it is that people are basing their decision of relationships that won’t benefit them strategically until days from now and how it’s a dog-eat-world out here. Jess doesn’t know if they have their stuff together to win the next immunity challenge. I totally agree with her. It’s a co-operation and blame problem, not a strength or capability problem.

Jess calls out Kenzie: “Kenzie and I have not talked strategy, we’ve kind of been tip-toeing around each other, dancing without touching each other, it’s really weird! It’s weird cuz we’re BOTH like the smallest people on the tribe…” Kenzie is looking at Jess as though she is thinking, ‘stop calling me out! I am not the target! While Jess points out their physical similarities. “and everybody thinks that you are their BFF and you’re just amazing.” Kenzie can’t decide to thank her for the compliment or stab her back. “Like you’re going to eat everybody going forward.”

Kenzie: “Yeah. I love that you pointed that out to everyone. It’s fine, it’s okay, but it doesn’t make me want to be like, ‘So what do you want to do? Throw me under the bus? Beautiful. Love it. Let’s dance.’ So, no, I didn’t want to talk strategy with you today.” They nod and smile at each other today.

Jeff addresses Q and Q responds, “Jess in her mind thinks she is in trouble, so now she’s saying, ‘okay if I’m going out I want everyone to be aware of what is a hidden threat within this camp.’ and if that’s her truth, that’s her truth.”

Jeff pulls the conversation towards the challenge addressing Tiffany: “When you lose like that, if you’re not frustrated or a little angry, then you’re not in it!” Ya says Tiffany, “I was devasated after that loss. I willed myself through that challenge. I gave everything I had. So to still do that and lose, it broke me.”

Jeff: “Bhanu you had no problem releasing your emotions today.”

Bhanu: “Jeff, I’m a very passionate person. What’s in here” (he gestures his chest) “is here” he gestures the room. He goes on to defend that he is emotional, still smarting from when Jess told him what Tiffany told her about Bhanu. “Do you know how much courage it takes for someone to just show their emotions? I’m showing all my courage. I’m showing my true self. I’m authentic…blah blah blah”

I think that when expressing your emotions looks like lashing out in anger at your team mates, maybe you need to learn a little emotional self control.

Bhanu goes on and on defending himself, in the process also revealing to Tiffany and Kenzie that Jess told him what they told her their opinion about him is. Jeff asks if he thinks he is in trouble tonight. Of course Bhanu says absolutely. “But tell me where I am failing in this tribe? They know that I am reliable. They know that I am trustworthy. They know that I’m honest. They know that I’m disciplined. They know that I’m hardworking.” That’s five points that he was counting out on his fingers, then he thrusts out his open hand and dramatically closes his fist. “And when you close this, what? It’s a strength, it’s a power.” I’ve told them! I’ve had these conversations with Tiffany, with Q and of course Kenzie as well.” He has now revealed to Jess that this is his alliance and she is not in it.

Jeff: “Bhanu, I’ve got to say something, because you’ve done this twice, so I don’t feel like I’m stepping into your game too much. You appear to be very forthcoming about who you’re tight with. At the first Tribal Council, you were blurting out lots of things and saying, “Let’s just vote, ’cause it’s Jelinsky.” And just now, what I’ve gathered is you have an alliance with Kenzie, Q, and Tiffany. So how about Jess?”

Bhanu: “Jess and I, oh how can I explain this? I only connected with Jess yesterday. Yup.”

Jeff: “So Q, what do you make of Tribal now?”

Q: “Jeff, we have to be very, very careful of what we say when we sit in this seat. The emotions don’t have to come out all the time. Being able to control them is just as powerful as letting them out.”

Bhanu: “Jeff, the only reason why I said this is because this is OUR tribe. If we’re in a merge, I’m not gonna say, “oh they said this” This is just OUR tribe. This is Yanu. Once I say it, I’m done with it.”

Jess is mortified. Tiffany, Kenzie and Q are uncomfortable and angry. Kenzie: “But what Q is saying…” Q: “Right, but it’s gonna come a time where you can’t say it.” Kenzie zips her mouth. Q continues: “It’s gonna have to stay here.” Q gestures his head. “It can’t come out of the mouth.”

Bhanu: “I can do that too, I’m training myself.”

Q: “If Jess now feels like we’re all in an alliance and she’s going home, what if she pulls out an idol and write my name down? You see how that kind of plays itself?”

Bhanu: “Q, I understand that, but I also trust in my connection with Jess.” Jess opens her eyes so wide, they could have popped out. Tiffany is practically laughing at the situation. She can’t believe the words Bhanu dares to say.

It’s time to vote because Q has said so. Bhanu turns to Kenzie and infront of Jess asks her how he should now vote. Kenzie tells him to vote however he wants to vote “this is your game too.” Bhanu, “I know, I know, but who are you voting for?” “I’m sticking to the plan.” Jess stares at them, looks behind her at the other two and understanding dawns on her: she never had a chance. She nods to herself. Feeling abandoned or insecure, Bhanu visits each person in his not-so-secret alliance and begs them to tell him what to do. Bhanu asks each person if they are good. Not sure how the team feels. I can see that Jess feels horrible. I feel horrible for Jess, this was awful.

Everyone votes, Jeff goes to tally, Jess plays her fake idol for herself. Jeff identifies it as fake and when Jess looks back at Q, they laugh together.  Jeff reads the votes out.

• Bhanu, (he immediately puts his purse on to loud laughter in our living room)
• Jess
• Jess
• Jess

I think they made a mistake on choosing her, she looked like a dark horse to me, but again, we don’t see everything, the editing is art. Jeff asks Jess if she is ok, she confidently assures him that that was surreal and that she is ok.

Yanu (purple) tribe heads back to camp. Good gracious, I want them to keep losing, I don’t like any of them. I seriously wonder who Yanu will use as their scapegoat next time they lose, to avoid facing the reality that the problem is themselves.

 

Previews of the next episode:

• Three Nami (orange) tribe members are in the water, fishing. Two are in the boat and Hunter is in the water. Venus’s voice sounds over the scene which slowly shifts from the fishing scene to a close up of her eyes: “People think Hunter is a really sweet dude, I can see right through that facade.”
• Nami(orange) is shown succeeding at a water task in a new challenge.
• A boat carrying an unfamiliar person heads towards shore.
• The Siga (green) tribe sits together as Ben says, “Oh my god, this is out of control!”
• Bhanu, wearing a cozy looking pink fisherman sweater, cries pathetically, “I need some help, Kenzie!” In a different setting, dressed the same, he describes her: “Kenzie is like this mermaid dragon!” He punctuates it by moving his hand in a gesture of cat claws.

While Jess speaks her final words, we see that everybody voted for her and she voted for Bhanu.

Final words from Jess:

“I got got. Those people are masterminds. That was incredible. So, if there’s anything I could take away from my experience, it’s that I should have started strategizing at the very beginning. But I had an amazing time playing survivor. I really enjoyed getting to know everybody. I’ve had a blast out here, even though, like, my face might not convey it. I don’t have enough calories to smile.”

She laughs. Gosh, I loved her.

 

Thanks everyone for watching together! For you late watchers, keep commenting your observations and opinions, you don’t have to be an early watcher to be part of the conversation! I’ll keep checking the comments and if you’re new, I’ll add you to SueGee’s ever-growing list of pool participants. I watched it night of airing with my husband, I also want to watch it once alone so I can pause it to get some details written down properly, and then on the weekend I’ll watch it at a survivor party where I will just enjoy the show with some late viewing pals (and also, unfortunately, I’ll be noticing all the glaring errors in my reporting, ha ha!).

Have a great week!