‘Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers’ (CBS)
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Last Week: In haiku form…
Mike leaves them shell shocked
Lauren and Idol both burn
Marine stays serene
39 Days, 18 People, 1 “Survivor” Blog
Alright, let’s take a closer look at the tribe…
The Solewa Tribe – Wearing Purple
Ashley, 26 – Lifeguard
Ben, 34 – Marine
Chrissy, 46 – Financial Analyst
Devon, 23 – Surf Instructor
Mike, 43 – Urologist
Ryan, 23 – Bellhop
We kick things off with Ryan hilariously saying that Ben’s move might have been better than his idol play. That was a joke, right? It’s hard to tell sarcasm at night and through subtitles.
Ben tells everyone there are no hard feelings, then he goes looking for an idol…AND NOBODY FOLLOWS HIM!
Wow…Ben deserves to win.
Seriously, they hang back and agree to work together and come up with the brilliant plan of “someone needs to win immunity.”
Ow…my head.
Immunity Challenge Time: The players will be paired off and tethered to a rope. They’ll follow the rope through an obstacle course, then compete in a ring toss game. The first duo to land five rings will win a chopper trip to a private resort for an overnight stay.
The teams are Devon and Chrissy, Ashley and Ben, and Mike and Ryan.
Quick Aside: I’m not loving Mike and Ryan’s chances here.
Result: Chrissy and Devon win the reward. They agree to let Ryan come along. This displeases Ashley. And not…like…a subtle she’s annoyed during a testimonial moment…like she calls them out in front of Probst. She says that she knows who made the decision not to take her.
Yikes.
Marine Psychology
Back at camp, everyone is annoyed that they get to go on the reward. Mike, seeing himself as a swing vote, can’t believe that they didn’t try to…you know…swing him.
Ben tries to use this as a way to get back in their good graces, but Mike flat out tells Ben that he’s on the chopping block.
Ashley on the other hand, seems a little more open to talk to Ben. But, she smartly realizes that Ben is an unreliable source due to his place in the game.
Ben eventually gives up and goes on another idol hunt…AND NOBODY FOLLOWS HIM!
Last Resort
Devon, Chrissy, and Ryan all agree that Ben is the biggest threat and Mike is right behind him. They also agree that they should go to the final three together.
However, Chrissy is also entertaining the idea of getting rid of Ashley first because she has better relationships with the remaining players. Oof…stay on target. (That’s for you “Star Wars” fans.)
Immunity Challenge Time: The players will run through an obstacle course, then complete a cog puzzle. The first person to figure out the cogs and raise their flag will win immunity.
Result: Chrissy takes yet another immunity. She’s like an early 2000s Colby Donaldson.
Pre-Tribal Politicking
They get back to camp and Ben immediately goes on an idol hunt and…say it with me…NOBODY FOLLOWS HIM!
Seriously! It’s like they don’t even know who Andrea Boehlke is!
A grown man should not scream at his television as much as I did tonight.
Sure enough, he finds a clue. Apparently the idol is tied to the bottom of the shelter. We don’t know if Ben is able to retrieve it before they leave for Tribal. But seriously, how could he not?
In other news, Chrissy is changing her mind about targeting Ben first. She tells Devon, Mike, and Ryan that she wants Ashley to go first.
Tribal Time
Ben calls out the alliances; Ashley and Devon, Chrissy and Ryan, and Mike as a swing vote.
Probst wonders why Devon didn’t take Ashley on the reward. Chrissy did not like the way Ashley called her out.
Ryan admits that everyone is trying to get to their final three. Probst asks who has a final three deal and everyone says they do except for Ben.
Then Ben tells Probst that he’ll be playing the game tomorrow because he has an idol. He then makes an explosion noise.
Chrissy does not appreciate the theatrics. I’m OK with them.
Devon reminds everyone that Ben might not play it.
Ashley thinks Ben should play it.
Ben tells Ashley that she can go back to camp with him if she votes for Mike. He tries to get Devon on board too.
Devon says he isn’t sure because he doesn’t know if Ben’s even going to play it.
Sure enough, Ben stands up and hands the idol to Probst. Wow…baller move.
Voting Time: We’ve got one vote for Mike, three votes for Ashley, and thirteenth person voted out of “Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers” and the sixth member of the jury is…Ashley.
Ooo…and Ashley totally dissed Devon when she was leaving.
Verdict:
“Why I Love Ben’s Move” by Gordon Holmes
So, let’s say Ben had four decisions…
1. Don’t tell anybody about the idol, play it, and probably vote out whoever he wants.
2. Tell everybody about the idol, hope they scramble, don’t play it, and hope they voted for someone else.
3. Tell everybody about the idol, hope they scramble, and play it.
4. Play the idol before the vote.
The first three are all solid plans. The reason I love Ben’s unprecedented move of playing the idol first is because it forced the alliance to turn on each other. If they’d all voted for Ben and he idoled out Mike, who cares? It doesn’t hurt how Mike feels about the others. By letting them know that a vote against Ben is useless and making them show that there is intent behind their votes, it turns a future juror against the alliance and makes them show their cards.
Well done, Ben.
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Power Rankings Results: Aubry Bracco had Ashley in spot four, I had her in spot five. The current score is Team Bracco 101, Team Holmes 110.
Any Questions? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes
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