"Survivor: Worlds Apart" (CBS)
Quick Note: We’re going to be bringing you all kinds of “Survivor” fun this season including episode recaps, exit interviews, and Power Rankings with Josh Canfield and Reed Kelly. Be sure to follow me on Twitter (@gordonholmes) for up-to-the-minute news and info.
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Last Week: The tribe was named Merica, Joe’s challenge prowess proved to be mazing, and Kelly isn’t in the game nymore.
39 Days, 18 People, 1 “Survivor” Blog…
Let’s take a look at the tribe as it currently stands…
The Merica Tribe (wearing purple)
Carolyn – Corporate Executive, 52
Dan – Postal Worker, 47
Hali – Law Student, 25
Jenn – Sailing Instructor, 22
Joe – Jewelry Designer, 25
Mike – Oil Driller, 38
Rodney – General Contractor, 24
Shirin – Yahoo Executive, 31
Sierra – Barrel Racer, 27
Tyler – Ex-Talent Agent Assistant, 33
Will – YouTube Sensation, 41
The evening’s festivities kick off at Merica beach after Jenn’s big idol move. Rodney takes Will aside and assures him that they have Carolyn and Tyler in their alliance. The plan is to stick with Mike and Co. until the No Collars and Shirin are gone.
Meanwhile, Mike gives Jenn props for her savvy maneuver. Jenn doesn’t feel bad for sending Kelly home, in fact, she wants to annoy the Blue Collars some more. This might not be a person who’s thinking about future jurors.
The next morning, Shirin and Rodney are debating over how much of the leftover merge food they should be eating. Rodney tells us that when he gets frustrated he goes out and punches trees. Stupid, trees!
They then get into a weird fight over peeling the skin off of salami. So…salami with skin is like chicken parm and salami without skin is like tuna fish?
Reward Challenge Time: The players will walk across a balance beam while untying bags of puzzle pieces. The first three people to retrieve all of their bags will have a chance to complete a puzzle. First person to complete the puzzle wins a zipline trip and a pizza picnic. Probst says that sounds like fun. It certainly does.
The challenge starts and Shirin has a pretty epic wipeout. Maybe if she had more salami skin in her system it’d help her stay balanced.
To nobody’s surprise, Joe dominates the first part of the challenge. He’s the first one to advance to the final round. He’s joined by Mike and Hali.
Not much to describe in the puzzle portion except for puzzle piece arrangin’. Joe manages to win it in the end. I know, I’m shocked too.
Joe gets to take some folks with him, so he chooses Will, Carolyn, and Tyler. Smart. Take the people you need on your side. You don’t have to win over Hali and Jenn.
Probst lets Joe take a fifth person and Rodney wants it to be him. However, Joe thinks he eats enough already. Rodney is not amused by this accusation.
Dan and Shirin both think they should go because they’re super fans. In the end, Joe chooses an ecstatic Shirin.
At the picnic, Joe notices that there’s an idol clue in Carolyn’s soda. That doesn’t seem sanitary. He says he’s thirsty, and she hands him her soda without knowing. Hilarious.
Joe chugs the whole bottle and puts the clue in his mouth. This kid is a genius. However, Tyler saw what he was up to.
Back at camp, Joe shares the information with Tyler. Mike knows something is awry and follows them. Before they have a chance to start searching, Mike approaches them to break them up.
Later, Tyler tells Mike about the clue because he doesn’t want Mike to think that he’s now aligned with Joe.
Then, it’s a mad dash to find Joe before he finds the idol. Mike watches Joe for a while, but he doesn’t see him find anything. Mike wants to put a bigger target on Joe’s back. Sooooo, he congratulates Joe on finding it in front of everyone.
Next up, Dan calls Shirin out for being one of Joe’s minions and being on the short end of the numbers. She claims that Dan doesn’t appreciate what she’s trying to do.
He then tells us that he wishes someone would slap her because she’s so annoying. So, annoying people should be struck?
Dan then says that calling Shirin out was his way of being nice. Wow…his being nice is very similar to his apologies.
Quick Aside: I make a lot of jokes in these recaps, but know that this whole exchange was very disturbing.
Away from that unpleasantness, Mike is on a hardcore idol hunt. After what seems like months, he finally finds it. He celebrates with a hilarious happy dance. Hmm…that looks like the Escameca idol. I wonder if there’s a second one out there?
Immunity Challenge Time: Players will have to maneuver a puzzle piece through three different mazes. Then they’ll place the piece in a slide puzzle. The first person to complete the slide puzzle wins immunity.
Before the challenge gets underway, Shirin is very excited to have an all-puzzle challenge. She also points out that she’s a super fan.
Quick Aside: I know some of you are drinking every time Shirin mentions she’s a fan. DO NOT DO THIS.
The challenge starts and there isn’t much to describe except for Rodney being bad at the mazes.
Joe and Shirin are the first two to the slide puzzle, but Mike, Tyler, Sierra, and pretty much everyone except Rodney and Hali are right behind them.
Twice Dan thinks he has the right answer, and twice he is way off. Joe…to amazement of millions around the world…wins it to claim immunity.
Before we head off to commercial, Rodney thinks they’d be in better shape if his Bash Bro Joaquin was still here. Awww…somewhere out there…beneath the pale moonlight…someone’s thinking of me…
Back at camp, Shirin says she isn’t concerned because everyone thinks she’s weak. Oh…famous last words.
Sure enough, Shirin is the target. However Mike thinks that Shirin can’t win and they should target Hali.
Meanwhile, Sierra is interested in a ladies alliance…and she wants to target Dan Dan the Apology Man.
That night at Tribal Council, Sierra says that she can go with whichever alliance she wants. Oh, her alliance must love to hear that.
Mike knows what he’s doing tonight, and some pizza wouldn’t sway him.
Dan expects bombs to drop, he just hopes they don’t drop on him. He then says that flippers never win.
Shirin the “Survivor” Encyclopedia then cites times where flippers have won.
Hali says the colonists were flippers and they won independence. Wow, that was…wow. That might be my favoritest* thing ever said on this show.
*Totally not a word.
Voting Time: Mike votes for Hali, Shirin votes for Dan…and no other votes are shown.
JPro tallies and returns. We’ve got one vote for Dan, one vote for Hali, one vote for Dan, one vote for Hali, one vote for Dan, one vote for Hali, one vote for Dan, two votes for Hali, and the eighth person to be eliminated from “Survivor: Worlds Apart” and the first member of the jury is…Hali.
Verdict: Aww…Hali… You’ll always be my Miss Merica.
Well, it’s seven to three and the dominant alliance has all the idols. Here’s hoping we don’t have three episodes of obvious boots. Surely, Carolyn and Tyler will realize they need to make a move before that, right?
Who’s Going to Win? It’s looking bad for my girl Jenn. But, with an idol and a less-likable wingman, it’s looking really good for Carolyn.
Power Rankings Results: Josh and Reed had Hali in seventh place while I had her in eighth. The current score is Team Josh 58, Team Reed 62, and Team Gordon 63.
Any Questions? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes
Tags: jeff probst, survivor, survivor worlds apart
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