More Whatnot

Welcome to MoreWhatnot.com, my personal blog where I’ll be posting “Survivor” episode recaps all season long. For exit interviews with all of the eliminated players and the RETURN of the “Survivor” Power Rankings with Owen Knight, be sure to check out my YouTube channel!

Last Week: Danny earned an idol and a fake, Carolyn found more than a snake, and Helen lost when her game was at stake.

39 26 Days, 18 People, 1 “Survivor” Blog

Let’s take a look at the tribes as they currently stand…

The Ratu Tribe (wearing orange)

• Brandon, 30 – Security Specialist
• Jaime, 35 – Yogi
• Lauren, 31 – Elementary School Teacher
• Kane, 25 – Law Student
• Matthew, 43 – Barbershop Owner

The Soka Tribe (wearing green)

• Claire, 25 – Tech Investor
• Danny 32 – Firefighter
• Frannie, 23 – Research Coordinator
• Heidi, 29 – Engineering Manager
• Josh, 34 – Surgical Podiatrist
• Matt, 27 – Security Software Engineer

The Tika Tribe (wearing purple)

• Carolyn, 35 – Drug Counselor
• Carson, 20 – NASA Engineering Student
• Sarah, 27 – Management Consultant
• Yam Yam, 36 – Salon Owner

Post-Tribal Wrap Up

Carson is downright giddy to get his first blindside under his belt, while Sarah is doing her best to distance herself from Helen and pretend that she’s not upset at all. Yam Yam tries to her assure her that this was a “no shots fired” vote, but…c’mon. Outside of a unanimous vote, there’s no such thing.

Sarah and Carson go for a little stroll where he makes the case for them working together again. But, she makes the point that his word carries a little less weight these days…unlike his body.

At Soka Beach

Team Mannie is planning a road trip while everyone else is planning on sending them on the pre-jury trip.

Meanwhile, Danny takes the powerless coin, wraps it in his idol instructions, and places it back in the birdcage. Then he hides the key. Yup, I’m sure this is the exact scenario production was hoping would happen.

Sure enough, Matt finds the key. Aww…hasn’t he been through enough?

He retrieves his prize and buys into it hook, line, and sinker.

Then, because this scenario can actually get funnier; Danny calls out Matt for finding something, which he denies. However, he eventually fesses up to it.

But, this complicates thing. Now Josh is more likely to want to work with Matt and Frannie.

At Ratu Beach

The tribe starts off the morning with Kane singing a rendition of “O’ Canada.” From there, he takes the immunity idol sword and goes all LARPer on us. OK, we see you, Celebrimbor.

Later, Brandon walks us through his laundry list of impressive skills including…magic tricks?! Well, he certainly made that idol disappear quickly.

Speaking of that idol, Jaime and Matthew find the new key while hunting for worms. Jaime retrieves the idol and is super psyched. 

Buuut…she’s holding the fake idol because Matthew found the real idol earlier and lured her into doing the ol’ switcheroo.

At Tika Beach

Carolyn calls out Yam Yam for his snoring, which concerns him because he doesn’t want to get voted out over it. She assures him that she’d never vote him out over snoring. Which is good, because my wife would have voted me out years ago.

Sarah is very worried about the next challenge because her little tribe has very specific skills. Meanwhile, Challenge Producer John Kirhoffer is scrambling to create a snoring competition. 

Immunity Challenge Time: Players will dive into the ocean and swim to a large cube. They’ll roll the cube toward the beach while retrieving keys. Once they arrive at the beach they’ll dig under a log and unlock a puzzle platform. The first two tribes to complete a cube puzzle will win immunity. The first tribe gets a large “Survivor” tool kit and fruit. Second tribe gets less tools and less fruit. The losing tribe get a date with Jeff.

Sitting Out: Lauren, Claire, and Heidi. This is Claire’s third sit-out. Isn’t there a rule against that?

Result: Ratu wins the challenge while Tika claims second place. As Jeff is giving Kane the sword, he asks Jeff to knight him. Jeff obliges and somewhere Coach is super jealous.

Pre-Tribal Politicking 

Danny is throwing around Claire’s name early on with Matt being a decoy. Frannie is against this because she wants to work with Claire. She pitches getting rid of Josh because she thinks he’s “cagey.”

Word gets back to Claire that she’s the actual target, so it looks like we have voteless Matt, Frannie, and Claire against Josh and Danny with Heidi as the swing vote.

Tribal Time

Claire does a fantastic job arguing that tribe strength isn’t always challenge based. Saying that she sat out for the tribe. With Frannie saying they need to focus on the whole game and not just the challenges.

Claire asks Heidi if she’s still in the place they were before Tribal. Heidi responds by saying, “I think so.” I tell ya, as a former copywriter that non-committal response would drive me nuts.

Voting Time: No votes are shown.

JPro tallies and returns. He asks if anyone wants to play an idol or an advantage and…Claire plays her shot in the dark. Claire is…not safe.

Alright, we’ve got two votes for Claire and the fourth person eliminated from “Survivor 44” is…Claire.

Hey! It was unanimous!

Verdict: I think the keys and the cage and the fake idols are all interesting, but I don’t need them taking up 90% of my screen time.

Also, it’s a little weird that these fake idols are provided by production. They should look like a face carved into a stick.

Power Rankings Result: We did much better this week as I had Claire in spot eight while Owen had her in spot fourteen. So, the current score is Team Holmes 11, Team Knight 16. Check out my YouTube channel for the full episodes!

	Matthew – He had a plan, he set it in motion, and it worked out perfectly. He now has the real idol and control of the person who has the fake idol. Well done. Danny – Danny’s in the same boat as Matthew. However, it’s very interesting that he knows where the fake idol is, but he can’t tell anyone how he knows it’s a fake.
	Frannie – There is no doubt that Frannie is the brains of the Mannie Alliance. Claire went home despite her best efforts. But she was able to avoid voting for someone who was sticking around.
	Sarah – Yeah, the Tika tribe isn’t going to blow anyone away challenge-wise. But, that’s OK. I think Sarah has some room to maneuver and Carson probably wants to get back in her good graces.
	Heidi – Your deception needs some work. You said so many non-committal things to Claire, that there’s no wonder why she rolled her die. Jaime – Matthew got the best of you, but there’s no reason for him to blindside you. You seem like a good person to keep around. Kane – It seems like the early Tribal shenanigans may have blown over.
	Josh – Wow, Josh is rubbing a lot of people the wrong way on his tribe. We would have known that if most of the earlier episodes weren’t spent on keys. Matt – It’s really rough watching Matthew play you like a fiddle. Carson – Sarah said it best; his word doesn’t hold as much weight. I think it’s a just matter of time until he’s viewed as a mega threat.
	Lauren, Brandon, Yam Yam, and Carolyn – I can’t grade you correctly if I don’t see your work.

Any Questions? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes

Tags: jeff probst, survivor

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