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…

Brandon was a big football player,

And his plan for Fran was to slay her, 

But an idol play by Danny

Was enough to save Frannie, 

Leaving poor Brandon without a prayer.

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

Let’s take a look at the tribe as it currently stands…

The Va Va Tribe (wearing black)

• Carolyn, 35 – Drug Counselor
• Carson, 20 – NASA Engineering Student
• Danny 32 – Firefighter
• Frannie, 23 – Research Manager
• Heidi, 29 – Engineering Manager
• Jaime, 35 – Yogi
• Lauren, 31 – Elementary School Teacher
• Kane, 25 – Law Student’
• Yam Yam, 36 – Salon Owner

Post-Tribal Shenanigans

Danny breaks down last week’s blindside and everyone is psyched about it…except for Ratu.

Lauren claims that she wanted to split the vote, and while she definitely isn’t wrong about that instinct, that probably would’ve just changed how Yam Yam and Carson voted and the result likely would have been the same.

Sure enough, Yam Yam verifies that he was in on the vote and just stuck with Ratu to keep their confidence. Well done.

He also points out that Josh, Matt, and Brandon all put his name down and they all went home. Yam Yam insists this makes him like James Bond.

License to Yam? The Yam with the Golden Gun?

Idol Time

It seems like everyone is out hunting for the idol the next morning.

Danny has a pretty sound plan where he checks five trees, then returns to camp with firewood. Then he starts over again. But, it’s all for naught, because everyone knows he’s looking.

Jaime is relaxed though because she still has her idol. Oh…oh Jaime…

Quick Aside: Now that I have a kid, I watch “Frozen” on a friggin’ loop. Jaime reminds me of Olaf’s song “In Summer” where he wonders what snowmen do when it’s sunny out.

When it’s all said and done, Heidi finds the idol.

Carolyn’s Tale

Later on, Carolyn opens up about her battle with addiction and how she’s now been sober for thirteen years. I know we make a lot of jokes here, but in all seriousness I have so much respect for people who are able to identify a problem in their lives and take the steps to overcome it. I’m so proud of Carolyn and all of my family and friends who have been able to overcome addiction.

She transitions from this into talking about how everyone thinks she’s a goof off, but that she’s playing the game hard. I can’t believe we’re here; but she could win.

Let’s Make a Deal

Treemail arrives and it looks like we’re getting the Angelina Cardona Keeley Memorial Rice Negotiation Challenge. That’s what we’re keeping from her? We can’t barter for jackets?

Carson offers to sit out of the challenge because he hasn’t been feeling well. Danny, weirdly, hates the idea of anyone sitting out. Dude, the more people who sit out, the more likely you are to snag immunity.

Immunity Challenge Time: The players will stand on a block while pressing a ball against an overhead piece of wood. Last person standing wins immunity. 

The Negotiation: It seems like they had all agreed to play. But when push comes to shove, Lauren, Carson, Kane, and Heidi decide to sit out in exchange for rice. This all takes place after Danny and Carolyn say they won’t vote for anyone who sits out. Danny even claimed “Scout’s Honor.”

Results: It comes down to Danny and Frannie with the challenge being won by…Frannie.

Pre-Tribal Politicking

Soka and Tika seem to be pairing up early, with Kane being the name that’s being tossed around. However, flushing Jaime’s idol is also a priority.

Tika, being the swing tribe, also has a conversation with Roku. Their plan is to split the vote between Danny and Heidi.

There’s also a plan to give Lauren’s extra vote to Jaime and Jaime’s idol to Kane in case Knowledge is Power rears its cursed head.

And then, Frannie finally figures out that Tika is acting as a swing tribe. She pitches the idea of working with Ratu to target Yam Yam and Carolyn, but Danny isn’t willing to work with Ratu due to their many advantages.

When Tika tries to figure out who to vote for, Yam Yam wants Kane to go home due to an earlier vote. Don’t play personal, Yam.

Meanwhile, Carolyn wants Danny to go home due to the muscle-bro conversation at the Sanctuary. Don’t play personal, Carolyn.

Tribal Time

Nobody who sat out of the challenge thinks that they’re safe. And Danny admits that he wasn’t even a scout. Well, that’s not very trustworthy…loyal, helpful, friendly…

And the rest is all vaguey-vaguerton.

That is until a live Tribal breaks out. But, true to editing form, there is no clear indication on which way the vote is going.

Voting Time: Jaime plays Lauren’s extra vote, but all of the votes are sooper secret.

Quick Aside: Could you stash your idol in the voting booth? Nobody could take it from you.

JPro tallies and returns. He asks if anyone wants to play an idol or an advantage and…nobody does. We’ve got one vote for Kane, one vote for Heidi, one vote for Jaime, one vote for Kane, one vote for Heidi, one vote for Danny, one vote for Kane, one vote for Heidi, one vote for Kane, and the tenth person eliminated from the game and the third member of the jury is…Kane.

Oh no! He has Jaime’s fake idol!

Verdict: Even when it isn’t in play, Knowledge Is Power is still messing up people’s games. Is that a sign of a good twist or an amazing one?

That being said, I still can’t believe that we’re barreling toward an inevitable Carolyn victory.

Power Rankings Result: “Survivor 43” Finalist Owen Knight and I both had Kane in spot six. So, the current score is Team Holmes 63, Team Knight 76. Check out my YouTube channel for the full episodes!

	Carson – Carolyn and Yam Yam both want to target people for past slights. Good on Carson for being the voice of reason. Frannie – Kudos for being the first person to realize that Tika is the real threat.
	Heidi – Finding an idol and keeping it to yourself? Genius! Hopefully that vote was a wake-up call to be more careful. Carolyn and Yam Yam – You’re both doing great, but you’re not getting a full A because of your reasons for targeting people. Winning a million is the best revenge.
	Danny – My “Survivor” rule is; you can be a sneaky jerk, as long as you’re a lovable sneaky jerk. It’s the difference between Russell Hantz and Tony Vlachos. I think Danny is on the “lovable” side of things.
	Lauren and Jaime – All of your advantages are gone. But, the good news is you’re both much smaller threats now.

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

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: True love died.

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

Let’s take a look at the tribe as it currently stands…

The Va Va Tribe (wearing black)

• Brandon, 30 – Security Specialist
• Carolyn, 35 – Drug Counselor
• Carson, 20 – NASA Engineering Student
• Danny 32 – Firefighter
• Frannie, 23 – Research Manager
• Heidi, 29 – Engineering Manager
• Jaime, 35 – Yogi
• Lauren, 31 – Elementary School Teacher
• Kane, 25 – Law Student’
• Yam Yam, 36 – Salon Owner

Post-Tribal Shenanigans

Yam Yam gives us a little recap of what happened last week, and he points out that he has been to every Tribal except for two. Heidi eventually tells Yam Yam that she was just trying to not ruffle feathers. Um…did you have to play the advantage at all? I would’ve forgotten to take it to Tribal.

Heidi pitches the idea of everyone teaming up against Ratu because they have so many advantages. Yam Yam agrees to her face, but it seems like the Three Stooges are gonna become a swing tribe. 

Swing tribe!

Frannie is not psyched about Matt going home, although I argue that it’s absolutely the best for her game. Takes a target off of her back and she has someone politicking for her on the jury.

Later, Brandon and Kane discuss the upcoming war. Interesting that Kane is still close with Brandon after everything that has happened.

Oof…Carson is really sick the next morning. Apparently the peanut butter and jelly did not sit well with him.

Treemail arrives and it says the tribe will need to divide into pairs for the immunity challenge. Which, is very interesting considering one of the tribe members is hunched over on the ground due to a case of severe sandwich regret.

Carolyn steps up and decides to pair with Carson. That seems like a very noble move until we find out that the challenge is projectile vomiting. 

The other pairs are Danny and Lauren, Yam, Yam and Frannie, Heidi and Jaime, and Kane and Brandon.

Immunity Challenge Time: The challenge will consist of three stages. In the first stage they’ll have to crawl through a net then dig up planks. The first four teams will advance. 

In the second stage they’ll race up a cargo net and use the planks to cross a rope bridge. Two teams will advance.

The final stage is individual with all four players standing between two walls with only tiny footholds to hold them up. The last person standing will win immunity.

And everyone else is eligible to be eliminated? Revolutionary!

Results: Carolyn and Carson are gone first after it took Carolyn forever to get through the net. (Russell Hantz is gonna love that.) Jaime, Heidi, Yam Yam, and Frannie don’t make it past the second round. It comes down to Danny and Lauren in the final endurance section, with Lauren picking up the win.

Quick Aside: During the final portion, Danny got Jeff’s attention and then intentionally passed gas. I don’t exactly know what to do with that information, but I thought you needed to know. And no, I will never admit that that moment was the inspiration for this article’s headline.

Pre-Tribal Politicking

Classic Ratu wants to target Frannie right off of the bat. And Brandon is confident they can make it happen because he’s sure they have Carson on their side. But, he goes the extra mile and tries to get EVERYONE ELSE to go with it. We watch him talk to Yam Yam, Carolyn, Danny, and Heidi.

Heidi and Danny obviously don’t love this idea, so Danny confesses to Heidi that he has an idol and he plans to play his idol for Frannie so they can blindside Brandon.

Heidi seems to lead the charge to get the Stooges on their side. Swing tribe!

Carson and Yam Yam are very worried about making enemies with Ratu. So, Heidi tells them about…Danny’s…idol.

We now take a break from our regularly scheduled recap so I can bang my head against this coffee table.

CUT TO: Carson telling Danny that Heidi told him and Yam Yam about his idol. Rightfully, this freaks Danny out.

Tribal Time

Things are mega vague, but at least it was entertaining when Heidi told everyone to not vote for her until final Tribal Council. That’s a heck of a strategy.

Voting Time: No votes are shown.

JPro tallies and returns. He asks if anyone wants to play an idol or an advantage and…Danny plays his idol for Frannie.

We’ve got six votes for Frannie, two votes for Brandon, and the ninth person eliminated from “Survivor 44” is…Brandon.

Verdict: So…Carson and Yam Yam voted for Frannie and Carolyn voted for Brandon. It remains to be seen if all their ducks were in a row and that was to keep the members of Ratu from realizing that the Stooges are working with Danny.

That being said; hooray for an actual post-merge episode! Hooray for no advantage Easter egg hunts!

Power Rankings Result: Oh! Owen and I both nailed it, having Brandon in spot ten. So, the current score is Team Holmes 57, Team Knight 70. Check out my YouTube channel for the full episodes!

	Carolyn – It’s breaking my brain to say this; Carolyn can win. She’s coasting with an idol and she’s doing little things like stepping up to be Carson’s partner.
	Heidi – She was making a lot of moves tonight! Only thing keeping her from the “A” was Danny’s reaction to her telling Carson and Yam Yam about the idol.
	Carson and Yam Yam – I’m preeeeetty sure they were in on that vote, so this grade could be a bit higher. This is just in case they weren’t.
	Frannie – The game seemed to happen to Frannie this week. We didn’t see much of her driving the votes. But, the heat should be off of her for now. Danny – Whoa…why’s Danny so low? He played his idol and saved an ally. Yes, but I feel like this is a wake-up call to alert the tribe to how dangerous he is. And, Frannie wasn’t really loyal to him in the first place.
	Kane, Lauren, and Jaime – We didn’t see much from you strategy-wise, but it’s never good news when someone from your side gets blindsided.

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

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: Three tribe members fought for survival! Two were in big trouble as they didn’t have an idol! Who was going to go home?! It was some other dude, he was hurt.

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
• Carson, 20 – NASA Engineering Student
• Lauren, 31 – Elementary School Teacher
• Kane, 25 – Law Student

The Soka Tribe (wearing green)

• Danny 32 – Firefighter
• Frannie, 23 – Research Coordinator
• Heidi, 29 – Engineering Manager
• Jaime, 35 – Yogi
• Matt, 27 – Security Software Engineer

The Tika Tribe (wearing purple)

• Carolyn, 35 – Drug Counselor
• Josh, 34 – Surgical Podiatrist
• Yam Yam, 36 – Salon Owner

At Tika Beach

After a heated debate over the proper way to pronounce the word “bag,” Josh lets us know that he is super ready to get away from Yam Yam and Carolyn. 

Bite your tongue, friend. We only get five minutes with them a week if we’re lucky.

Merge-atory Is Upon Us

Tika and Soka are given ten minutes to collect their things because they’re taking a one-way trip to Ratu beach.

Carson takes this opportunity to tell everyone on classic Ratu that the idol that nobody knew about doesn’t have any power anymore. He figures, what’s the point of hiding it if it’s powerless?

You could use it as a pretty convincing fake idol. Or now people know you’re capable of keeping a secret for two cycles. Just two ideas off the top of my head.

All of classic Ratu starts spilling their secrets with Lauren admitting she has an extra vote. The truth about Jaime’s fake idol comes out as well.

The tribes arrive and it’s all hugs around Ratu beach.

Once again, Jaime tells us how valuable she is because she knows everything about Ratu and Soka. Yeah, but you don’t know about your fake idol.

Brandon and Josh have a chance to talk, with Josh continuing his lie about having the Soka idol. C’mon, buddy. Yam Yam already called you on that being a fake.

He tells Jaime the truth about his fake idol, but she doesn’t believe it. She tells Frannie and Heidi that she knows he has an idol. But that she doesn’t actually know. 

Quick Aside: That would drive me insane. Don’t tell me you know something unless you know it for a fact. 

Later Josh makes fun of Yam Yam in front of everyone for betraying him during Tribal Council. This rightfully concerns Yam Yam because he’s just meeting most of these people.

Fortunately, Matt lets Yam Yam know that the rest of Soka wanted to get rid of Josh before he swapped and he’s still on the top of their hit list.

From there, we’re treated to a montage of Carolyn feeling awkward while trying to fit in with new people and I’ve never felt more seen in my entire life.

Later that night, Carson, Yam Yam, and Carolyn reunite as the “Three Stooges” alliance. Carson is clearly the Moe, as he seems to be running things. Carolyn makes wacky noises, so that makes her Curly. Which leaves Yam Yam as Larry, for no reason other than the process of elimination.

Matt actually has some sound strategy as he tells Frannie he wouldn’t take her on reward if given the opportunity. She rejects this hypothesis. Literally. That’s what she said. Nerd foreplay, everyone.

He also reminds us that he doesn’t have a vote at the next Tribal, which I totally forgot about!

Earn-the-Merge Challenge: The tribe will be randomly split into two teams of six. They’ll dig up a boulder, push it through obstacles, and retrieve a key. They’ll then scale a wall and use the key to unlock puzzle pieces. The first tribe to complete the tree puzzle will earn the merge along with a merge meal. They’ll get to vote at Tribal, but they will be safe.

Quick Aside: The boulder part really leans toward a physically strong tribe.

Another Quick Aside: There’s no way Carson hasn’t done this puzzle a million times.

The Teams: Purple is Matt, Frannie, Carson, Carolyn, Jaime, and Brandon. Orange is Heidi, Danny, Lauren, Yam Yam, Josh, and Kane. That division does seem pretty even.

Result: Jaime had some real trouble with the wall, but Carson is able to tear through the puzzle (called it) and win it for purple.

Loser’s Lounge

Immediately, Yam Yam throws out Josh’s name and vice versa. However, Danny is very noncommittal to Yam Yam, saying that he’ll go with whoever the winners want to eliminated. Nevermind, that Yam Yam should already know that Danny wants to work with Josh.

Merge Feast Fun

Jaime is pretty proud of herself for manifesting the merge victory and feast. Yeah, that’s way more important than Carson studying a puzzle.

Josh’s name is tossed around, but nobody is sure if he has an idol or not. Kane is brought up as a possible plan B.

Carolyn assures them that Josh doesn’t have an idol, but everyone still wants to act as if he does. Uh-oh…we know how Carolyn reacts when she thinks people aren’t listening to her.

Pre-Tribal Politicking

Once the teams are back together, Frannie tells Josh that they’re going to be targeting Kane. This leads to Josh (smartly) deciding to smooth things over with Yam Yam since he’s going to be around for a bit longer.

Yam Yam goes along with this, even hilariously trying to get Josh to hand over his idol. Hey, you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Michael Scott told me that.

Brandon is cool with Josh going home, but he’d really like to see Kane get the boot. He’s confident that things will go smoothly as long as nobody tips Kane off.

CUT TO: Carson telling Kane that he’s a target.

CUT TO: Kane telling Brandon that Carson told him he was a target.

So, Kane starts pitching Yam Yam’s name around camp. But, this all might be a moo point because Josh doesn’t have an idol.

“Moo point, it’s like a cow’s opinion. It just doesn’t matter.” – Joey Tribbiani.

Quick Aside: Look at me with my NBC Thursday Night comedy block references.

Tribal Time

Everything is mega vague with the highlight being Yam Yam trying to bribe Probst to let them just go back to camp.

It didn’t work.

Voting Time: No votes are shown. But, it seems like Yam Yam considered playing his Shot in the Dark.

JPro tallies and returns. He asks if anyone wants to play an idol or an advantage and…nobody does. We’ve got one vote for Yam Yam, one vote for Josh, one vote for Kane, one vote for Yam Yam, one vote for Josh, one vote for Yam Yam, three votes for Josh, and the seventh person eliminated from “Survivor 44” is…Josh.

Hey, they voted out a dude!

Verdict: I actually don’t hate the merge-atory. Probst should play it up bigger. The biggest team challenge of the season! The winners are guaranteed to be jurors or finalists!

Power Rankings Result: We both survived the merge episode relatively unscathed. Owen had Josh in spot eleven and I had him in spot ten. So, the current score is Team Holmes 40, Team Knight 51. Check out my YouTube channel for the full episodes!

	Danny – For a big, strong guy to be vulnerable after a faux-merge and not have his name brought up once? Well done, sir.
	Matt – I tend to give Frannie all the credit, but he navigated not having a vote really well. Now sleep next to someone else at night. “Boston” Rob said that’s the best indicator of who’s working together. Brandon – He handled Carson telling Kane about the vote perfectly. It could have been a mess. Carolyn – You did a very good job of not letting people know how annoyed you were. That’s a step in the right direction. Also, very interesting that you had no intention of saving Yam Yam with your idol.
	Heidi and Frannie – I love how they handled things. Hang back, let the game happen for a bit. No reason to toss out names when you’re safe at the merge. Kane – You were in trouble and you managed to get yourself off of the block. But, you’ve still got a ton of work to do. Lauren – I like her reminding everyone about her extra vote. And I’m aware that it flies in the face of how I feel about telling people about your advantages. But, it makes her just a little bit more valuable without it being an advantage you need to flush.
	Carson – You deserve a high grade for navigating your time on the other tribe and for your puzzle prowess. But, I’m gonna ding you for not telling Kane to keep your name out of his mouth.
	Yam Yam – You were in a hole and you didn’t do much to dig yourself out. Luckily, those were treemail beads.
	Jaime – You know so much, but you don’t know that your idol is worthless.

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