Last Week on ‘Survivor’: Coach promoted Tyson to Assistant Coach, imitated Erinn, and was offended when Jerry suggested Brendan would make a good leader. Taj and Brendan decided to include Sierra and Stephen in their cross-tribe alliance. And, Erinn was saved from elimination by Jerry’s mysterious tummy ache.
This week: Sydney flirts, Tyson strips, Taj schemes, and Sandy continues to say things that make me question my dedication to this “Survivor” recapper gig…
39 Days, 16 People, 1 “Survivor” Blog
Here are the tribes as they currently stand…
Timbira (wearing black)
- Coach – 37 – Soccer Coach
- Brendan – 30 – Entrepreneur
- Debra – 46 – Middle School Principal
- Erinn – 26 – Hairstylist
- Tyson – 29 – Professional Cyclist
- Sierra – 23 – Model
Jalapao (wearing red)
- Joe – 26 – Real Estate Sales
- JT – 24 – Cattle Rancher
- Sandy – 53 – Bus Driver
- Spencer – 19 – Student
- Sydney – 24 – Model
- Taj – 37 – Former Pop Star
- Stephen – 29 – Corporate Consultant
We meet up with the Timbiricans as they’re returning from their second consecutive Tribal Council. I think Coach was starting to compose a haiku when he said, “Sultry, sulky night.” However, I think he was distracted and lost his train of thought. I can only imagine the rest of it went a little something like this…
Sultry, sulky night.
Socks riding up to my knees.
Erinn, you are next.
The following morning, the ghost of the previous night’s Tribal Council rears its ugly head as Brendan is doing everything he can to suggest that Coach or Tyson should be named leader. Coach tells the least convincing lie in “Survivor” history, saying that he thinks Brendan should be the leader. Oddly enough, nobody suggests a woman should be the leader. This is in keeping with what Jerry told me last week about Coach wanting an all male alliance.
Meanwhile at Jalapao, Taj takes Stephen aside to discuss the cross-tribe alliance. Taj tells Stephen that if Jalapao wins reward, they’ll send Sierra to Exile, and she’ll chose Stephen to go with her. Stephen is tickled pink to be included.
Reward Challenge Time: Yes! It’s the return of one of my favorite challenges: the make someone hold bags of sand on a pole challenge. Each team will have three players standing on a platform. Each player will have a pole across their shoulders. The opposing team will then decide which opposing team member will have heavy bags of sand added to their pole. The last team to have a player standing wins reward.
And what’s reward? A tribe raid! Is this Christmas? I love tribe raids! The winning tribe will get to swipe two things from the losing tribe.
Joe, Taj, and JT are holding poles for Jalapao, while Debra, Brendan, and Tyson are playing for Timbira. Mr. Probst lets us know that the current “Survivor” record is held by Rupert from Pearl Islands at 220lbs. Sorry, for my money this challenge belongs to Australia’s Michael Skupin. “Kuuuuuucha!”
Brendan drops out first just as 220lbs is added to his pole. JT has 220lbs added to his pole and manages to hang on. Tyson drops out at 140 lbs. JT eventually loses it, tying the record set by Rupert and his beard. Out of nowhere Joe drops out too. It’s down to the ladies as Taj and Debra both have 100lbs. Debra puts up a good fight, but eventually succumbs to the weight. Jalapao wins their fourth straight challenge.
To keep the cross-tribe plan going, Taj sends Sierra to Exile (not an) Island. However, Sierra chooses Taj to go with her. In a bit of a shock, Brendan lets us know that he hasn’t had a chance to fill Sierra in about the plan.
I’m sorry, what?! He didn’t have time to let her know about the most vital aspect of his game? And how will that make Stephen feel when this new alliance isn’t working out like he was told it would?
Later that day, Joe and JT swing by to raid the Timbira camp. They decide not to decimate their opponents (in case they end up being traded to Timbira) and choose not to take all of their beans. Sex Kitten Sandy disagrees with this strategy. However, she does agree that the beans they took are “Farting beans.” She makes a point of repeating this phrase several times. Fortunately, she stops short of explaining why those beans are a “Musical fruit.”
When Sandy’s not busy extolling the virtue of beans and the affect they have on your gastrointestinal chemistry, she’s noticing the way the gentlemen in the camp are reacting to Sydney’s aesthetically pleasing appearance. This point is illustrated by a scene where Joe and Spencer refer to Sydney as “The hottest ‘Survivor’ chick this season.”
Editor’s Note: I like how they qualified that with “this season.” And even then, I think my girlfriend Candace might have something to say about that.
Meanwhile at Exile, Taj has to make up for Brendan’s stupidity and explain the genius that is the cross-tribe alliance. Fortunately, Sierra’s all for it.
Back at Timbira, Tyson shows off the loin cloth he’s fashioned from his buff. During Tyson’s tribal dance, Erinn lets us know that she doesn’t understand why she’s having such a hard time connecting with her tribe. Look, if you can’t connect emotionally with a grown man in a loin cloth, then you’re clearly not trying.
Immunity Challenge Time: One at a time, team members will run across a zig-zag course to retrieve puzzle pieces. Once all of the puzzle pieces are brought back to the start, they’ll have to be put into a frame, then rotated to create a phrase.
This challenge was pretty even (and pretty boring) with neither team really gaining much of a lead. Timbira was able to break their four-challenge losing streak by managing to solve the puzzle first.
After the challenge, Probst handed Erinn the immunity idol. She hugged it passionately. Aww…I’m glad to see she finally has a friend.
Politicking back at Jalapao mainly focused on Joe and Syndey wanting to get rid of someone whose “name rhymes with Andy” and Sandy (whose name happens to rhyme with “Andy”) and Taj pushing to boot Syndey.
That night at Tribal Council, Sydney’s flirting is a hot topic of conversation. Sydney doesn’t think it’s a big deal, saying she flirts with everyone, including women.
Wait? Sydney’s flirting with women and we’re not seeing it?! Coach needs to use his eye power on the editing team.
Voting Time: Sydney votes for Sandy, Sandy votes for Sydney, and the rest of the votes are all hush hush.
J-Pro reads the votes: One vote for Sandy, one vote for Sydney, one for Joe, two for Sandy, three for Sandy, and the fourth person voted out of “Survivor: Tocantins” is…Sandy.
Verdict: OK, I’m thinking the editing folks are having fun with us. Missing Sydney flirting with girls is excusable, but not giving us the reason for Taj voting for Joe is unacceptable. What happened there? That seems like a pretty significant development to not shed any light on.
Other than that, I’m still loving this season.
Who’s Going to Win? I’m still the captain of Team Taj, but I’m starting to question what’s going on with her. What happened with Joe?!
Next Week: We finally find out what’s up between Taj and Joe, and Tyson figures out about the cross-tribe alliance. Don’t miss it!
Tags: survivor, Survivor: Tocantins
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