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‘Survivor’ recap: Yet another self-destruction at tribal council

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Well, were any of us expecting all of that? I mean, if you’re a ‘Survivor’ fan and love the phrase “all that and a bag of chips,” you should be golden today around the watercooler.

This week’s episode gave us a bunch of crazy, up-in-the-air alliances, a close competition and then a flabbergasting tribal council where Emmy award-winning host Jeff Probst said they’ve “never had an opening question open that much [conflict]’ in 21 seasons. It all added up to an extremely entertaining hour of television.

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The show opens with the older gang in the Espada tribe, where Holly’s still smarting after her ally, the chatty Cathy Wendy, was the first voted off the island. She obviously has to rethink her game plan, and apparently decides to go for the mentally disturbed route. Holly throws away Jill’s (delicious? edible?) snails in the name of safety, and, after hearing Dan say she’s “crazy as [expletive],” she decides to really show him by putting sand in his shoes and putting them underwater.

If you think Dan got upset over the destruction of his $1,600 alligator shoes (?!), you missed the drama with the young’ns in the La Flor tribe, where NaOnka is trippin’ out over a missing sock.


Yes, while it seems obvious that another human had to have removed both of Dan’s shoes from inside of his bag, NaOnka is missing one sock, but is sure someone’s messing with her. It couldn’t have just been misplaced. Or, you know, been stolen by an animal in the jungle you’re now living in. Anyway, back at Espada, Holly tells coach Jimmy she wants to go home. Coach Jimmy, who’s probably my favorite player right now, has quite a tightrope to walk in this game. His tribe listens to just about everything he says, but that’s most likely going to end up hurting him at some point. But I agreed with him last week, saying his winning the whole thing is pretty much not going to happen, so maybe he doesn’t care.

At this week’s competition, Espada wisely chose to use the Medallion of Power, giving the tribe a leg up –- the players had to crawl through mud, find four balls in hay and then relay them into barrels. Espada only had to get three in, but Holly had a tough time in the hay, and then Tyrone dropped a ball at the end of their little assembly line. La Flor caught up and quickly took the lead, but Benry choked and kept missing the barrel at the end, and Espada won, gaining immunity and a fishing kit as a reward. That kit included the same hidden idol clues we saw La Flor get last week, but this time the whole tribe saw it, and after a helpful push from Jill (seriously, can she be my secret Santa?) Marty found it barely buried.

“I got it! I got the idol! … we, WE got the idol!” Marty says after Jill stabs him with her eyes. We’ll see what comes from that bit of teamwork, but Espada in general is doing well.

La Flor, on the other hand, now has to prepare for tribal council, and personality conflicts aside, it appears the group’s basically split in two, with Brenda and Chase in the middle. NaOnka’s annoying everyone, but Shannon and a majority of the group want Brenda gone, so Chase freaks out because he feels Brenda’s the partner he prayed for.

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Cut to the titillating tribal council, where Shannon goes after former ally Chase right from the get-go, saying he’s a liar and that he better hope his girlfriend’s still here next week to help him. Chase admits he’s been between two alliances, and I begin to think he’s going home for playing both sides. That is, until Shannon started to mirror Wendy’s self-destructive antics last week.

After Shannon says he’s just got to speak up for himself, Sash tells him he’s digging his own grave. To which Shannon then replies, “Are you gay?” It’s just out of nowhere, and obviously coming from a negative place. Sash and the rest of La Flor have lots of good stunned and or annoyed faces, and some begin to realize you can’t trust people playing this game so soon, if at all.

BUT WAIT! Probst jokes that Jud/Fabio (let’s stick with one name, please, people) and NaOnka have their heads in the trees with regard to team unity, riling up NaOnka. She said Jud’s always saying something smart to her like she’s dumb, even though she’s been calling him dumb for the whole hour.

“Fabio, she don’t like you!” Thanks for that, Probst.

In the end, Shannon was voted out 7-3 over Brenda. Watch the video below to see exactly how all the players voted.

And excuse me for not introducing myself earlier. I’m Anthony Williams, and I’m all the way in for this season. Hope to see you back here next week as it seems La Flor will continue to tear itself apart.


[Sidenote: Am I the only one that sees/hears “La Flor” and thinks of this?]

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-- Anthony Williams

@anthonyw_ent

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