'Survivor: San Juan del Sur' (CBS)
NOTE: XFINITY TV is the place to go for “Survivor: San Juan del Sur” coverage with “all the fixin’s.” We’ll have Power Rankings with “Cagayan” fave Spencer Bledsoe, every Wednesday evening we’ll bring you a recap of the most recent episode, and every Thursday you’ll be able to watch the previous night’s episode and read an interview with the eliminated contestant. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@gordonholmes) for immediate updates.
[xfinity-record-button id=”6034085997813089112″ program_type=”series”]
Last Week: Missy’s killer instinct started to waver, Jeremy asked Johnny Rock for a favor, and Val’s 34 pretend idols couldn’t save her.
39 Days, 18 People, 1 “Survivor” Blog
Let’s take a look at the tribes as they currently stand…
The Hunahpu (wearing blue)
Drew – 25, Sales Rep
Jeremy – 36, Firefighter
Jon – 26, Financial Assistant
Julie – 34, Owner of Spray Tan Business
Keith – 53, Fire Captain
Kelley – 28, Marketing Manager
Missy – 47, Owner of Cheerleading Gym
Natalie – 28, Crossfit Coach
Reed – 31, Broadway Performer
The Coyopa (wearing yellow)
Alec – 22, Student
Baylor – 20, Student
Dale – 55, Farmer
Jaclyn – 25, Media Buyer
John – 39, Former MLB Pitcher
Josh – 32, Actor
Wes – 23, Firefighter
We start off back at camp where everyone is shocked…SHOCKED that Val didn’t have a six-pack of idols. There’s only one cop that was ever able to pull off that trick, and he talked like a llama.
Baylor realizes that maybe she shouldn’t be so quick to trust the dude who keeps voting for her. Makes sense.
Later, Josh tells us that he realized that Val and Jaclyn were going to vote for Baylor and that they got that idea from Johnny Rock.
The next morning, Drew is leading the charge to fix the Hunahpu roof. Well, he leads it in that it’s his idea. Rather than join in the frond weaving, he decides to take a nap.
Keith does not approve of such laziness. He says that he’d like to whoop Drew like he whoops Wes. Aww…that’s something for him and Missy to bond over.
Natalie gives Drew grief over his nap time, but he claims to have other talents. HE DOES! Didn’t you see those pushups?
Anywho, this bums Jeremy out because he was hoping to drag Drew to the end as a goat.
Quick Aside: “Survivor” 101 says, “If someone is accusing you of being lazy…stop being lazy.” Drew’s bad at this.
Next up, we’re off to Hero Stadium (Home of the Fightin’ San Juan del Sur Heroes). Jeremy is not happy to see that Val is gone. He rightly assumes that there’s a bro-liance over at Boyopa.
Rocker apologizes to Jeremy and admits that he tried to save Val. This is news to Josh.
Reward Challenge Time: Players will race across a beam and use a paddle to move squares to the other end. First person to stack six squares wins a tarp, a hammock, and pillows or fishing gear.
They rock-paper-scissors and Boyopa finally wins something. Wes decides to take on his dad. I smell a whoopin’ comin’!
Not much to describe here except for some balancin’ and paddle handlin’. It’s relatively even (no pun intended) until Keith drops one of his squares. Wes pulls ahead and wins it.
When it’s over, Wes and Keith get emotional, being all proud of each other. They hug it out.
Wes picks Josh to go to Exile with his father. Smart move. Maybe these two can finally get a cross-tribe alliance going.
Coyopa decides to take the fishing gear. As Rocker gathers it, he whispers to Jeremy that he did everything he could. Jeremy doesn’t buy it.
Gah…stop making me feel kind of bad for John Rocker.
Back at Hunahpu, Jeremy tells everyone about John Rocker’s history. Natalie doesn’t think Rocker would even care if they voted Julie out.
Missy comforts Julie, but Julie knows that John just put a major target on her back. Which is a shame, because she was doing well.
Over at Exile, Keith and Josh agree to share the clues. Keith says that he needs to get to the idol before Jeremy gets in his way. Aren’t they in an alliance?
Josh and Keith bond, but Keith assures us that there won’t be any spooning. Well yeah, Josh is in a relationship.
That night, Baylor is working hard to get Alec and Wes to partner with her and Jaclyn. It doesn’t seem to work though, they brush her off with the classic, “Let’s wait and see what happens at the challenge.”
Immunity Challenge Time: A pair from each tribe will race through an obstacle course to recover a ball. They’ll then try to shoot it into a basket. First tribe to do this three times wins immunity.
Keith will sit for Hunahpu, Dale will sit for Coyopa.
Round 1: Jon and Natalie beat Baylor and Josh. But, at least Josh managed to not vote for Baylor during the race.
Round 2: Wes and Alec defeated Missy and Julie in super-quick fashion.
Round 3: John and Jaclyn got the best of Drew and Reed.
Round 4: Jeremy and Kelley topped Baylor and Josh. Rocker tried to distract Jeremy with the classic “Caddyshack” chant, but it didn’t work.
Round 5: Jon and Natalie won the challenge by hitting the final shot against Alec and Wes.
After the challenge, Natalie starts yelling at Rocker. She accuses Coyopa of following a racist.
It then blows up with Natalie accusing him of saying racist and homophobic comments and that Coyopa should vote him out.
Quick Aside: Remember when Rudy said homophobic things and America thought it was adorable?
Dale says that Rocker is their tribe member and they have his back.
Rocker then tells Natalie that he’d knock her out if she was a guy. This does not make the situation better.
I’m assuming Rocker is probably just angling for one of those Brandon Hantz/Jeff Probst back rubs.
Back at Casa de Coyopa, Baylor wants to get rid of Rocker because she’s shocked that a professional athlete could be a bad sportsman. Well, this was filmed before the recent NFL awfulness.
Rocker doesn’t think he’s a homophobe because his closest ally is a gay man.
Later, Johnny Rock pitches getting rid of Dale to Baylor and Jaclyn because Dale’s a challenge liability. However, he’s really gunning for Baylor.
Josh and the other guys seem on board with it. Then Rocker tells Josh that if it doesn’t go his way, he has an idol…which is also news to Josh.
Rocker’s strategy is like blowing out a candle with shotgun.
Wes and Josh contemplate getting rid of Rocker. They bring Baylor in on their plan. Wes pitches this idea to Alec, but he thinks Rocker is too much of a physical asset.
That night at Tribal Council, John admits that he was trying to protect Val, but she lied to him.
Wes isn’t psyched that a member of his alliance was making side deals.
Jaclyn thinks she’ll have a target on her back at the merge because she’s on Rocker’s side. She then says that the guys might not be solid anymore.
Wes thinks his alliance is going to stick to their game plan.
Baylor thinks they need to get rid of the dark cloud that’s over their tribe. Aww…like Eeyore.
Voting Time: Rocker votes for Baylor, Baylor votes for Rocker, and the rest might be shown during the credits.
J-Pro tallies and returns and looks darn good doing it. We’ve got one vote Baylor, one vote Rocker, one vote Baylor, two votes Rocker, and the third person to be eliminated from “Survivor: San Juan del Sur – Blood vs. Water” is…Rocker!
Fun Fact: Jimmy Johnson went out in the third episode too.
Verdict: I’m not sure if that was the smartest move, but Rocker proved he couldn’t be trusted and that he had a big mouth. That being said, I doubt that move is going to help Coyopa in challenges.
Also, poor Dale…he voted with Rocker.
As far as the season goes, I’m ready to learn more about Hunahpu. Get them to Tribal!
Who’s Going to Win? The way Keith was talking about Jeremy has me a little nervous, but Jeremy is still my guy.
Power Rankings Results: Spencer and I both had Rocker in nine. So, the current score is Team Spencer 25, Team Gordon 24.
Any Questions? Drop me a line on Twitter at @gordonholmes.
More Whatnot 