Last week, twenty brand new castaways were thrown for a loop when it was announced that the two tribes would be separated by age. Despite their confidence, the elder Espada tribe went to Tribal Council first, and goat rancher Wendy was the first sent a-packing. Nineteen survivors remain… can Espada even the score?
Espada returns from TC, and Holly’s conscience is pricking a little bit. She realizes that she’s the first person this season to break an alliance, and feels vulnerable. I’m not sure why, really, since I don’t think anyone knew she was allied with Wendy, and there really was nothing Holly could have done to save her anyway. A vote for anyone else would have painted a target on her back, but it didn’t happen that way, so no biggie.
The next morning, the team meeting (led by Jimmy J.) has the tribe agreeing to work on the shelter, because the lack of anything even remotely approaching acceptable sleep-comfort levels is starting to wear on the older tribe. Tyrone and Marty agree, but Jimmy T. dissents, and would rather go fishing (well, that’s his expertise, so why not?).
At La Flor, P.E. teacher NaOnka is concerned that no one has sought her out so far. So she bonds with Sash, who confesses to her that despite his light complexion, he is “half black”, born of a Jamaican father. Together, they hope to rope in Brenda, the tribe’s other non-Caucasian, and both express concern about Kelly B. not possessing the requisite number of appendages to keep up. NaOnka even calls Kelly B. a “charity case”. Welcome to my doghouse, NaOnka!
Back at Espada, Holly has a beef with E.R. doctor Jill about the edible nature of the local snail population. It ends with Holly snatching the pot o’ snails away and dumping it out down the beach. One trip through the grapevine later, the rest of the tribe seems to be worried about Holly’s mental state. Things then get crazy childish as Holly singles out real estate exec Dan for special punishment by pilfering his alligator shoes (which cost $1,600, if you can believe it), filling them with sand and throwing them in the water. Okay, Evil Russell dumping people’s canteens out and burning their socks was one thing, because he had the sense to do it in secret. But still later, Holly’s conscience pricks again, and she comes clean about her evil deed. They seem willing to forgive and forget, except of course for Shoeless Dan.
Things get just as stupidly dramatic at La Flor, where NaOnka has noticed one of her socks missing. Naturally assuming that someone took it to mess with her, she grabs a pair of knee-highs from Jud’s bag and dons them without a thought. Then she has the stones to get in his face when he confronts her about it, following by her sermonizing to the camera about how hideously dumb he is. Which is true, but seriously? The line of eliminated castaways who got up in other people’s grills stretches around the block!
Immunity/Reward Challenge - In this challenge, four members from each tribe will crawl through mud to get to a series of haystacks. Inside each haystack is a ball. Once all four balls are found, three other members will use small wooden shields to pass them to each other and finally into a barrel. Winning tribe gets immunity and a choice between either a tarp or a chest of fishing gear. Espada elects to use the MoP this time, and therefore will only have to do three balls to La Flor’s four. This proves to be significant: La Flor actually makes up the one-ball deficit at one point, but club promoter Benry runs into terrible trouble with his aim on the last leg of the challenge, and Espada wins. Yay!
No doubt about it, Espada had to have this one. Giving up the MoP and still losing would have been devastating. Now Holly has a couple more days to get her mojo back, and the older tribe has a brand new chest of fishing gear. (Since they picked that over the tarp, I’ll have to assume the shelter is a little more up to snuff now.) It should also be said that Kelly B. was pretty awesome during this challenge, and her artificial leg didn’t slow down her slog through the mud at all. If La Flor sends someone home based on challenge failure, it sure won’t be her. If.
The celebration commences at Espada. And lo, what does the whole tribe find in with the fishing gear? The same clue to the HII that Kelly B. and Alina got last week. We get a better look at it this time, and it is a series of pictograms. The brain trust eventually ends with the tribe digging around scattered random trees, but Jill eventually works out that it’s buried near the treemail location, relays that deduction to Marty, and he promptly finds it. He and Jill call it a “game-changer”. To be continued.
At La Flor, the scrambling has started. The heat seems to be off of Kelly B. right now (whew!), and she and Alina agree that while NaOnka is the easiest target, they want to pick off Brenda because of her friendship with Chase. Jud, Chase and Shannon initially agree to sent NaOnka home, but Alina plants her seed of doubt in their minds, and soon the alphas are singing Alina’s tune… which is a source of consternation for Chase, because he likes her. (If only he knew that the feeling wasn’t mutual; she actually called him “clueless” to the camera.)
NaOnka, meanwhile, is plotting with Brenda to get rid of Shannon, who she is convinced is directing traffic. Brenda is confident that they can bring Sash, Kelly S. and Chase into their alliance. Chase then stirs the pot even further by telling Brenda that five people have allied to evict her: Shannon, Alina, Kelly B., Jud and Benry. He also says that he has no problem turning on Shannon, but if my math is right, that’s still 5-5.
Tribal Council - Well, that bombshell that was in the preview last week isn’t long in coming. Shannon throws caution to the wind and opens the Q&A by saying that Chase is disloyal and that if he’s not with him, he’ll be going home next. Ooh, bad move. Getting paranoid at the first TC is one of the worst mistakes you can make. Jud tells Shannon to cool down, not once but twice, but Shannon’s gone off the rails by this point. Sash tells Shannon that he’s digging his own grave, to which Shannon responds, “Are you gay?” Oh, HELL no, he did NOT just go there…
Well, the schism in this tribe has become a chasm. Benry looks puzzled. So does Alina. NaOnka then takes the opportunity to slam on Jud again, even going so far as to adopt her very own ghetto “Miss Thang” accent. My God, these people. Jud, looking fed up as hell, just pleads, “Can we vote?” Seriously!
Voting time. Jud, not knowing what time it is anymore, still votes for Brenda, who in turn votes for Shannon. Shannon votes for Brenda as well. Sash votes for Shannon. Jeff collects the urn and reveals the slips. Shannon. Brenda. Shannon. Brenda. Shannon. Brenda. Shannon. Shannon. And… Shannon. Wow. It’s a good thing I don’t have money on this show. (And in case you were wondering which member of Shannon’s so-called alliance turned? It was Benry.)
Well, let this be a lesson to you all: first impressions often mean nothing. I was convinced, based on their interview footage, that I was going to like Shannon and Chase and hate Jud and Sash. But Jud, while dumb and goofy, seems like an okay guy, and Sash is not giving me the arrogant vibe I was expecting. Chase, on the other hand, is a spineless jellyfish, while Shannon turned out to be a paranoid homophobe, and I’m glad he’s the first to go. I can only hope that Kelly B. can find some way to extricate herself from backing the wrong horse.
Next week: Jimmy J. hobnobs with the local primates, and NaOnka flaps her yap some more, this time at Kelly B.
