Last week, the two tribes swapped, leaving the new members of Hunahpu at a disadvantage since the previous members failed to responsibly ration their rice. Tonight, we’ll see what they have to give up in order to get more to eat.
A Steep Price to Pay
After Tribal, Dale is upset that he had two strangers “slaughter his daughter in front of his eyes.” He also says that it’s the roughest thing he’s had to see his daughter go through. Um… earth to Dale. This is Survivor, not real life. If that’s the toughest thing she’s had to go through, then you should probably consider yourself lucky.
The next day he shows Jon a makeshift idol. He says that if they go to Tribal Council again, he won’t be going home. Jon buys it right away. As if Dale would have had an idol in his pocket and not played it for his daughter if he had the chance.
At Hunahpu, Jeremy’s upset that Reed brought a trade offer to Jeff. He just wants to suck it up without rice and keep their tarp.
Jeff comes to the beach lugging a bag of rice over his shoulder. He scolds them for being the first tribe since Australia (who lost their rice in a flood) to need rice replenishment. Reed says it’s because they had dominant personalities on their tribe who wanted to eat and no one wanted to put a target on their back for disagreeing.
Jeff says that he now thinks that the disproportionate amount of food they were eating compared to the other tribe contributed to their wins. So they’re going to make them pay a steep price for the rice (rhyme unintentional, but still awesome). He wants their tarp, hammock, bedroll, pillows, blankets, hatchet, hammer, one of their pots and the extra flint. They’ll be left with one pot, a machete, flint, and of course a new bag of rice.
The members of Hunahpu are all content except for Jeremy and Julie. Jeremy calls his tribe sissies for not holding out at least until the reward challenge. Julie is worried how she’ll survive being cold and wet without the tarp and blankets.
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Reward Challenge
Since the tribes are no longer separated by pairs, each tribe selects their strongest player to run through the challenge. Reed and Baylor volunteer for the challenge which involves them maneuvering blindfolded through an obstacle course to study a mask with their fingers and then re-create the mask on the other side of the course. The winner gets a Survivor barbecue for their tribe.
Reed goes through the challenge like an expert, almost like he wasn’t blindfolded at all. Baylor is disappointed she let her team down and Reed is just happy to eat.
At first, Reed chooses Julie to go to Exile Island with Baylor, but Natalie interrupts him to volunteer as tribute.
Exile Island
Natalie says that she volunteered to go to Exile Island because she’s aligned with Missy so she wants to do right by her daughter. She also thinks she’ll be an alliance with Missy and Baylor if they all make the merge, so it’s good to get to know and trust Baylor as well.
Baylor shows Natalie the hidden immunity idol clue. Natalie says she’ll tell Jeremy about it so they can find it together and use it for their alliance. Little does she know that Jeremy has an idol that he hasn’t told her about yet.
Coyopa
Natalie wasn’t wrong about her strategy. Missy is grateful that she volunteered to go with Baylor and takes it as a sign that they’re still strong in their alliance.
Jon tells Missy and Jaclyn that Dale showed him an idol earlier. So they might have to vote Keith off next if they don’t win immunity.
Hunahpu
Everyone is excited to feast but their glee is cut short by rain. Jeremy is annoyed that Josh and Reed act so couple-y. He says if his wife Val were still there, people would think they hated each other because they’d be doing their own thing. He claims that he feels this way because couples are a threat in this game and not because their unity makes him uncomfortable. I don’t understand; he’s still in a position where he can make an alliance with them instead of considering them enemies.
Julie is having a real hard time with the rain. After one day she’s already at her breaking point and wants to go home. Jeremy talks her down because he doesn’t want to lose her from his alliance going into the merge.
Immunity Challenge
For the immunity challenge, the survivors have to race up and over a tall wall, work together to push a wooden cube to posts where they have to uncoil puzzle pieces, and then put together a banner puzzle to win.
Hunahpu is off to a fast start, but Jeremy loses a lot of time trying to uncoil the puzzle pieces. This is the kind of mistake that could really cost them if they end up at Tribal Council.
Meanwhile, Jon from Coyopa is a pro at uncoiling puzzle pieces. But he’s not as good at putting them together. Despite their lead, Jon and Missy fail to put the puzzle together before Reed and Josh cooly and calmly catch up and then win it for Hunahpu.
Loser Camp
Dale doesn’t have a lot of cards left to play so he tells Jon that if he and Jaclyn save him tonight, he’ll give him his idol at the merge. He suggests that they vote out Missy, who will have the most ties at the other tribe. I’m not sure how that argument is valid because if that were true, that would be an advantage for Jon being part of Missy’s alliance and all. It also wouldn’t make sense because Jon would go from being in a four person alliance with Missy, Baylor and Jaclyn, to a three person alliance with Jaclyn and Dale.
So it’s obviously not a good move for Jon. Yet he is still confused. He tells the brains ladies of his alliance about Dale’s offer, suggesting they possibly vote for Keith. Missy doesn’t like that idea, but thinks they should still split the votes between Keith and Dale just in case Dale plays his idol.
Jon and Jaclyn still seem to struggle with the decision. What is wrong with them?! Jaclyn makes some comments about still not being able to trust Baylor ever, since she switched her vote at the first Tribal Council. If that’s how she felt, then she probably shouldn’t have chosen to work with her last week.
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Tribal Council
Jeff pokes at Baylor and Missy, trying to make them feel emotional about Baylor going to Exile Island. It works and they both start crying. Baylor said she felt sad and afraid at Exile Island and Missy feels bad she wasn’t there to protect her.
Dale says that after his daughter was voted out, his long term strategy had to immediately switch to a short term strategy. Jaclyn says it was good to talk to Dale to get his point of view, which immediately concerns Missy.
Dale says he’s a lone vote and he could be valuable (but if that were the case, someone should be trying to get Keith’s lone vote). He also affirms that he’s loyal and Baylor can’t be trusted. Jon says that he’s making his decision tonight based on who he thinks he can trust long term.
Missy is relieved when she sees that Dale doesn’t play his idol. That’s because it’s Dale who is going home tonight. Looks like you should have played your idol, Dale. Oh wait…
Next week: Everybody merge now!
The newest episode of Survivor: San Juan del Sur airs on Wednesdays at 8pm on CBS.
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(Image courtesy of CBS)
Contributing Writer, BuddyTV
