“Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen-X” (CBS)
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Watch Full Episodes of “Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen-X”
Last Week: Jay tasted forbidden fruit, Adam’s advantage was announced, and Taylor was knocked up…er…out.
39 Days, 20 People, 1 “Survivor Blog…
Let’s take a look at the tribe as it currently stands…
The Vinaka Tribe (wearing black)
Adam – 25, Homeless Shelter Manager
Bret – 42, Police Sergeant
Chris – 38, Trial Lawyer
David – 42, Television Writer
Hannah – 24, Barista
Jay – 27, Real Estate Agent
Jessica – 37, Assistant District Attorney
Ken – 33, Model
Sunday – 45, Youth Pastor
Will – 18, High School Student
Zeke – 28, Asset Manager
We kick things off back at Vinaka Beach where Jay smartly digs up the remaining food and returns it to tribe. (Anyone else get a flashback to Vern trying to dig up his jar of pennies?)
He lets us know that he hopes that the fact that he didn’t play an idol will lead people to believe that he doesn’t have one. I will give him that, not playing it last week was a gutsy move.
Later on, Chris and Bret decide that it’s finally time for Jessica to go home. Chris confesses that it’s 90% because she’s a good player and 10% because he owes her one. Ah…revenge is a dish best served in a jar that was buried on a beach by a surfer guy.
The next morning, Hannah admits to flirting with Ken. She doesn’t think he’s into her but she reallllly wouldn’t mind if he was. Join the club, Hannah.
Later on, Will tries to win Zeke’s trust by telling him about Jay’s idol. Will also makes sure to hammer home the point that if word gets back to Jay, he’ll know that he ratted. Zeke promises that he’ll keep it a secret.
CUT TO: Zeke tells David about Jay’s idol.
CUT TO: David tells Chris about Jay’s idol.
CUT TO: David tells Hannah about Jay’s idol.
CUT TO: Chris tells Bret about Jay’s idol.
CUT TO: David tells Ken about Jay’s idol.
CUT TO: Zeke tells Chris about Jay’s idol.
Quick Aside: I wish this had ended up like a game of telephone with everyone thinking Jay has a Billy Idol jacket pencil duck cat.
Eventually Zeke and Chris come up with a plan to make Jay think his number is up so he’ll play the idol, but they’ll really target Jessica.
Reward Challenge Time: The tribe will be split into two teams of five. They’ll then stand on a raft and use a rope to pull themselves to an obstacle course. There they’ll retrieve keys. When they return to the beach, they’ll use the keys to unlock a set of colored blocks. First tribe to stack their blocks so that there are no matching colors on any side wins a visit to a floating pizzeria.
Another Quick Aside: I’ve been to that pizzeria! It’s amazing.
The teams will be chosen by picking rocks. The odd person out will not be allowed to play. (I hate that, let them bet on the winner!)
David offers to sit out because he’s a bad swimmer and doesn’t want to be blamed for a loss.
The others give David a vote of confidence and poor David breaks down a little. It might be getting dusty in my living room too.
Our teams are Ken, Jessica, David, Chris, and Will vs. Bret, Zeke, Sunday, Hannah, and Adam. No pizza for Jay.
We start off and things are pretty even with Ken’s team only having a slight lead when they get to the blocks. (And David performed adequately, yay!)
The puzzle portion is Zeke and Adam against Chris and David with Zeke and Adam managing to pull off the come-from-behind win.
During the reward, the winners are treated to letters from home. Adam immediately starts crying because it’s a letter from his mother who is battling cancer. WILL SOMEONE PLEASE DUST MY LIVING ROOM!
Back at camp, Ken and David discuss how far David has come since the start the game. Just a real nice heart-to-heart between two people who seem like they’ve bonded.
Honestly, this is great. I feel like too much time is devoted to strategy and not enough time is devoted to relationships.
Later on, David lets us know that he’s uncomfortable with the Chris/Bret/Sunday alliance. He tells Jessica and Ken that he wants to get rid of Chris. Oh, we might see that Tribal strangling yet!
Immunity Challenge Time: Players will stand on a beam while balancing a statue on a pole. At intervals they’ll move further away from the statue. Last person standing wins immunity.
We start off and Ken is annoyed because ants are crawling on him. Well, can you blame them?
Everyone survives the first round. Hannah is the first out in the second round. She’s joined by Ken.
Sunday is the first one out in the third round. We then lose Chris, Will, Kay, and Bret.
We’re down to Jessica, Adam, Zeke, and David.
Adam is the first one gone in the final round. Jessica is out next. It’s down to challenge powerhouses David and Zeke. They battle it out for a while and David eventually claims the win!
David’s afraid of death, but “Survivor” glory lives forever!
Politicking around camp has Chris, Bret, and Sunday wanting to pretend they’re going for Jay while actually voting for Jessica. Meanwhile, David pitches getting rid of Chris to Zeke.
David also clues Jessica in to the fact that Chris is gunning for her. As you’d imagine, she is not psyched about this development.
Zeke and Hannah realize that they’re the swing votes, but they don’t give an indication as to which way they’re leaning.
That night at Tribal, Jay says he was waiting for a crack to open, but he still feels like he’s on the outs.
David admits that there are different voting blocks.
Fun Fact: Stephen Fishbach gets a quarter every time someone mentions “voting blocks.”
Hannah doesn’t think it’s a voting block, she thinks it’s a “trust cluster.” Never change, Hannah.
Bret believes there are multiple trust clusters and the key word is “trust.”
Adam hints that there is a war brewing under the surface and they can’t all agree on a single threat.
Jay is still under the assumption that he’s the biggest target.
Jessica is worried that her run-ins with other Gen-Xers could get her in trouble.
Chris doesn’t think she has anything to worry about because you need to have a short memory in the game.
Jeff asks people how comfortable they are with how the vote will and everyone says, “100%.”
Voting Time: Jessica votes for Chris, Chris votes for Jessica, and no other votes are shown.
JPro tallies and returns. He asks if anyone wants to play an idol…and…nobody does! Jay!
Alright, we’ve got one vote for Chris, one vote for Jessica, one vote for Chris, one vote for Jessica, one vote for Chris, one vote for Jessica, one vote for Chris, one vote for Jessica, one vote for Chris, and the tenth person voted out “Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen-X” is…Chris.
On the way out Chris and Zeke share a “Boomer Sooner” chant. Adorable.
Also, Jay voted with the Jessica, Chris, and Bret trust cluster.
Back at camp, Jay reveals that he didn’t play his idol because nobody was talking about him. Good read.
Bret congratulates Zeke on the move and tells him that they would have had to have done it sooner or later. (Heh, SOONER or later.)
Zeke’s glad Bret isn’t mad at him because he’s preparing for the eventual showdown with David. Nooooo! Best Friends!
Sure enough, Zeke is on David’s hit list as well. He tries to get Bret on board, but Bret has already thrown is loyalty to Zeke. Bret tells Zeke what’s up and Zeke immediately outs David’s idol.
Well, that escalated quickly.
Zeke tries to rally Hannah and Adam to his side, but Hannah is torn because she wants to work with David too.
Reward Challenge Time: The tribe will be split into three teams. Each player will have their arms and feet bound together. They’ll have to slither through the sand, then put together a snake puzzle. The first team to complete their puzzle gets a helicopter tour and a picnic.
One person won’t get to compete, but they will get to go on the reward. LET THEM BET!
They pull rocks and it’s Hannah, Jessica, and Adam vs. Will, Ken, and Jay vs. Sunday, Zeke, and Bret. David automatically gets the reward.
The Survivor are ready, and they go. And…it’s hilarious. All the players have to wriggle on the ground like worms. It’s like the worst breakdance competition ever.
The Ken/Jay/Will team is the first one to the puzzle. Jessica is not doing well. Bret’s losing his shorts.
The other teams eventually make it to the puzzle team with Bret, Sunday, and Zeke managing to come from behind to win it.
After the victory, Bret screams, “I got naked on ‘Survivor!’” He wouldn’t be my first choice.
The quartet enjoys beers at the picnic. Oh man…more alcohol for Bret. He might have a problem.
When David and Sunday sneak away, Bret admits to Zeke that he’s a homosexual and they bond over it. That was a nice moment. “Survivor” can be great.
Sunday returns and it’s back to strategy talk. They want to target David, but have to be sure that he doesn’t see it coming.
Back at camp, Hannah lets us know that he has decided to target Zeke. She tells David about Bret’s betrayal and David rightfully freaks out. She tells David that Zeke still trusts her and she’ll look out for him.
Jay’s gonna sneak through again, isn’t he?
Immunity Challenge Time: Each player will stand behind a cage door and maneuver a handle through a blind maze. Once they release themselves from the cage they’ll have to complete a slide puzzle. First person to finish the puzzle wins immunity.
We start off and there isn’t much to describe except for people wiggling handles.
Jay is the first one out. And before anyone else can open their door, Jay completes the slide puzzle. Well done.
Politicking around camp starts off with David telling Jessica that Zeke is gunning for him. Both Jessica and Ken say they’ll vote with David.
Later, Zeke lets us know that he realizes that Hannah can’t be trusted. He tells her that she has to decide if she’s working with him or with David.
Zeke realizes David’s idol is bad news for him, so he tries to switch the vote to Hannah. It looks like he has Will, Jay, Bret, and Sunday on his side.
Hannah tries to get Adam to vote with her, but he isn’t sure.
Before the vote, Hannah asks David to play his idol for her.
It feels like new people are in trouble every episode. This season is crazy.
That night at Tribal, Probst again asks them how confident they are about the vote. Nobody is confident and only Jay is sure that he’s safe.
David compares himself to a fruit bat because everything looks upside-down. Good analogy.
Adam and Hannah are whispering, but we don’t know what’s being said.
David refers to it as as trust cluster-muck, which sets Bret off. Bret says it’s every man for himself.
Adam tells Jeff that the vote is still very live.
Jessica claims that she doesn’t know what’s going on.
More whispering makes it sound like Ken is in trouble.
Bret believes the whispering is all just smoke and mirrors.
Voting Time: No votes are shown, but a giant bug lands on Taylor.
Probst tallies and returns. He asks if anyone would like to play an idol…and…David does!
As he’s doing it, Hannah tells him to wait. Adam tells him that the others are whispering that they’re voting for Ken. So, David says the idol is for Ken.
We’ve got one vote for Zeke, one vote for Hannah, one vote for Zeke, one vote for Hannah, one vote for Zeke, one vote for Hannah, one vote for Zeke, one vote for Hannah, one vote for Zeke, and the final vote is for Hannah. A tie!
Wow…
Voting Time Part Deux: No votes are shown, but Hannah begs Jessica to vote for Zeke. Jessica is very worried about drawing rocks.
JPro tallies a second time (the third tonight!) We’ve got one vote for Hannah, one vote for Zeke, one vote for Hannah, one vote for Zeke, one vote for Hannah, one vote for Zeke, one vote for Hannah, one vote for Zeke! Another tie!
The eight non-Hannah and Zeke players have to unanimously decide who should go home. If not, it’s rock time.
Will doesn’t want to go home for Hannah or Zeke. Jessica doesn’t want to draw rocks. Everyone else can’t come to a consensus.
ROCK TIME!
Ken, Jay, Zeke, and Hannah are safe. The other six have to draw.
They reveal their hands and the eleventh person eliminated from the game is…Jessica.
Wow. Just wow.
Jessica stays true to her word and wills her legacy advantage to Ken.
Verdict: Why aren’t more people loving this season? Every episode is a roller coaster. It seems like there are two new people on the outs every week. Remember when Jay was in trouble? Or Adam? It feels like people aren’t playing just to get to the end, they’re playing to win.
Like McDonalds, I’m loving it.
(I don’t really love McDonalds.)
Power Rankings Results: Michele Fitzgerald had Chris in spot 3 and Jessica in spot 11, while Shirin Oskooi had Chris in spot 7 and Jessica in spot 11. So, the current score is Team Fitzgerald 93, Team Oskooi 86.
Any Questions? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes
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