By Survivor Guest Correspondent Cho
Hey y’all, it’s Cho! I don’t know about you, as I watch every scene in tonight’s episode, I will have a razor-sharp focus on Angelina and John AT ALL TIMES! If you didn’t read the tea on this rumored showmance, definitely go check that breaking news out. Let’s get right into this tribal swap and see what happens!
Too Long Didn’t Watch
Previously on Survivor: The David’s had a setback with Bi’s sprained MCL. Natalie on Goliath rubs people the wrong way, but Angelina changed everyone’s mind to get rid of Jeremy instead!
It’s only day 10, and we are walking right into a tribal switch! I don’t know why this is happening so early. Everyone is shocked to see Jeremy voted off. Oh my goodness, Bi tearfully announces that she has decided to leave the game due to her sprained MCL potentially impacting her very physical career outside of the game. Everyone is very supportive of Bi’s decision to quit the game.
New Vuku Tribe (Orange)
Kara, Elisabeth, Davie, Natalia and Alec
Davie admits that he hasn’t had the opportunity to befriend many Caucasians, because he has only been around black people his entire life, but he’s seeing this as an opportunity to meet new people. Elisabeth and Kara bond over their conservative backgrounds. Elisabeth is schmoozing over time. Natalia doesn’t look impressed at all, because she’s just awful. She gives a confessional spewing her jealousy about Kara becoming closer to Elisabeth. Kara tells us that Natalia is insecure for no reason, and they would be stupid to screw up this easy decision
New Jabeni (Purple)
Natalie, Mike, Lyrsa, Nick and Angelina
Mike tells us exactly what the audience is probably thinking: that this tribe is the Davids of the new tribes! Haha! Natalie is not welcoming whatsoever to the new Davids. She starts bossing everyone around immediately, she obviously hasn’t learned from last episode where she almost left the game. Angelina tells us that Natalie sits on her throne and bosses people around constantly. Nick and Lyrsa are surprised that it’s only been an hour before Natalie has grated on her fellow tribemates. Nick tells us that there’s no way a David can win without making alliances with Goliaths, so he is warming up to Mike. Nick calls their alliance “The Rockstars”. Mike says he has more to lose by aligning with Nick, but he’s hopeful they can make things work.
New Tiva (Green)
John, Dan, Gabby, Christian and Allison
There are lots of stylistic differences on this tribe as we see the biggest Goliaths and biggest Davids from both tribes get together. Christian says he’s going to bring the charmpocalypse into this tribe. He immediately starts asking about the population of “Slamtown”. He’s taking advantage of John’s public image by asking about it. He wants to apply to become a Pro Wrestler. This is hilarious! Could you imagine him being a wrestler?! While Christian mingles with everyone, Gabby is perpetually depressed and emotional. She’s having a total mental breakdown as she struggles to open up to people like the Goliaths, because they are intimidating. She sees Christian charming them, and feels like she’s the easy vote off on their tribe. Christian is a great support system, and it’s really touching to see him try to cheer her up. Gabby’s issues are all in her head as she compares the Goliaths to the cool kids.
The immunity Challenge
This challenge is a really interesting take on the classic blindfold challenge! They’re also playing for reward: coffee, pastries and desserts! Angelina, Gabby and Kara are being ridden by their blindfolded tribemates. If their feet touch the ground or they fall off the bike, they have to go back. Green gets to the second phase, because Gabby is being calm cool and collected. She unties the ball bag, and starts guiding the last blindfolded members through the ball maze. The purple tribe is struggling, and Natalie is losing her temper as Angelina tells her to calm down. Kara has caught up and is now on the ball maze. Angelina isn’t giving up. Orange tribe drops their ball and have to start over, giving purple a chance. The stacked green tribe come in first! Kara is rushing her tribemates as Angelina continues to miss the final hole. My palms are sweating as both ladies miss the final hole several times, but Angelina finally pulls through!
Exile Island
Carl
Carl is used to being alone due to his occupation as a truck driver, but he’s never felt it like this before. He receives a clue potentially leading to an advantage. Carl races to beach where there are tons of coconuts being washed away. The camera pans to an obviously marked coconut, and Carl eventually finds it. Carl has discovered an “idol nullifier”. Basically, he has to guess who’s playing an idol, and if he’s correct, he can nullify its use. What a play that would be!
Pre-Tribal Scrambling
Elizabeth is not quitting even though it’s really 50/50 between her and Davie. She takes Davie to look for the idol, and Davie pretends like he’s really searching. He goes back behind her back and rats her out. He even tells them that she’s planning to target Natalia. Of course, Natalia eats this up and now hates Elizabeth. She’s so vapid. Elizabeth then talks to Alec and offers to even vote Davie’s name down if need be. She tells him he needs to make a big move in the game to win. Girl, it’s day 12, calm down with that talk!
Lo and behold, Alec’s wheels are turning and he wants to think about who’s the bigger threat between the two Davids. Did Elizabeth’s desperate manipulation actually work? Alec isn’t very smart. Natalia isn’t having it though, and wants to vote off Elizabeth. She doesn’t listen to Alec’s opinion whatsoever. Natalia is being a COMPLETE asshole! Natalia begins to bully Davie about voting Elizabeth off and tells Alec and Kara to shut up and go to sleep in order to shut the conversation down. Alec feels like Natalia is bossy with barking orders at people all the time on who to vote off.No wonder she doesn’t get along with Natalie. Davie sees the writing on the wall takes advantage of Alec’s annoyance at Natalia. Now he’s thinking about whether he should vote off Natalia or Elizabeth. He’d be really stupid to vote Natalia off to be honest, but Alec looks about as smart as a sack of potatoes. A very handsome sexy sack of potatoes, but yeah, not very smart.
Tribal Council
Carl returns from Exile Island and will be listening to tribal council. Elizabeth says she was ready to poop her pants because she’s nervous about the vote. Davie doubles down on why Elizabeth is a bigger target than he is reminding us that he was blindsided at the last tribal council while Elizabeth has allies. Natalia says she’s excited to play the game at tribal council. Elizabeth sticks with her narrative of “make big moves to build your résumé,”but Natalia says there’s a time and place to make big moves. Tonight might not be one of those times.
Suddenly, Alec gets up and starts whispering to Elizabeth, and Natalia doesn’t like that at all. Natalia is LIVID! She’s not okay with Alec whispering and makes that clear to the entire tribe. Alec whispers to Kara saying he’s just trying to make Elizabeth feel better. He’s an awful player AND an awful liar, but Kara eats it up and starts trying to reassure Natalia who is asking her allies if they’re voting her out. OH MY GOD, I just realized Alec is wearing the SAME SHIRT I WORE ON MY STREAM YESTERDAY! Who wore it better? Yes, I know he did, but anyway, moving on. I was already staring at how handsome Alec is, but now I can’t take my eyes off his shirt.
We get to the vote. Jeff asks if anyone wants to play an idol, and I would be playing mine if I were Davie. Jeff reads: Elizabeth, Davie, Natalia, Natalia and Natalia is blindsided. Alec apologizes and Natalia tells him to shut up. Alec has a smile on his face and Natalia yells at him before storming off. She is on a rampage. Honestly, her reaction is both hilarious and relatable. I’d be a raging asshole too.
Cho’s Top Takeaways
Trusting Others To Be Trusted
Okay, I know you all are thinking I’m being really hard on Alec. And you’re right, I do think he made the incorrect move in booting Natalia. However, after contemplating a bit longer and studying Natalia’s edit in this episode, I came to understand WHY Alec began to distrust Natalia: she didn’t trust anyone. Like Jeremy, we see paranoia reap its ugly head with Natalia: she’s so insecure and paranoid that she thinks Elizabeth and Kara bonding over their backgrounds could lead to Kara betraying her. Like the viewers at home, Kara finds Natalia’s jealousy to be ridiculous. Later on, she exhibits the same lack of trust in her ally Alec simply because he wanted to discuss whether Davie was a better target for their alliance. The fact is, Alec felt like Natalia would never trust him, and in the game of Survivor, mutual trust is the key to a great alliance. What are your thoughts on Natalia being voted off? Do you think it was stupid of Alec to betray her and Kara, or do you think Natalia deserved to be let go for her behavior?
Perception Becomes Your Reality
Gabby is not having a good time during this tribal switch. She’s watching Christian schmooze his way into being buddies with the Goliaths, and she is sitting there feeling left alone. When she mischaracterized the Goliaths as “the cool kids”, I really felt bad for them. John has shown himself as a surprisingly lovable guy despite the perception that he’s some tough jock. And while Dan is a tough SWAT team member, we know deep down, he’s just a girl crazy softie. What I’m getting at here is that Gabby’s mental breakdown was 100% self-imposed and speaks of the importance of taking a leap of faith by having confidence in yourself. I feel bad for her, but I’m also rooting for her to learn from this experience as she watches it play out on TV. It was only a few days ago that she helped to flip a vote onto Jessica based purely on people’s fondness of her personality. Never forget that, Gabby! We love you, but I want you to toughen up!
Farewell to Bi
We started this blog post off talking about Bi’s decision to quit the game, and we’re going to end it discussing it. I feel like Bi has been a pretty positive albeit quiet edit this season. We’ve seen her highlighted in many of the challenges and seemed to be well-regarded in terms of her performance. It’s unfortunate that she was faced with the decision of whether to live out her dream on Survivor or to risk permanently ruining her career as an MMA fighter. What would have you have done if you were in that situation?
Next Time On Survivor: Kara is upset about being blindsided by Alec. Mike says Natalie has a master’s degree in ungraciousness, and he’s ready for Survivor without her. And for like the thousandth time, there’s another huge storm that rocks all the camps!
Did I miss any important takeaways from this episode? Are you as unsatisfied as I am about John and Angelina being split on to separate tribes? Do you believe the conspiracy theories that CBS is trying to bury Jeremy’s accusations? What about Natalia’s explosive exit? Tell me all of your thoughts in the comment section below and don’t forget to follow me on my social media platforms: Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and Twitch!
I totally needed this recap to figure out exactly how the heck Elizabeth was able to get out Natalia. I STILL DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE VOTE.
It appears, if I recall correctly, that Davie voted out Natalia, despite seemingly campaigning for Elizabeth to go, DID I GET THAT RIGHT? But then Alec whispered to Elizabeth, presumably telling her to vote out Natalia. So did Davie know all along he was voting for Natalia?
And then, I still don’t see why Kara and Natalia voted for different people? Is that correct? I need a list of who voted for whom. Because none of it makes sense.
Also, Bi quitting seemed a bit drastic. It wasn’t a medical evacuation. It would seem like she could have played this entire episode since it didn’t seem like everyone had a role. Take sour face Natalie for example she just seemed to stand around looking pissed off the entire challenge. Bi could have done that.
I read somewhere that they split their votes in case one had an idol.
I think you’re mostly right! Despite Elizabeth and Davie NOT working together, they definitely worked on Alec in tandem. Elizabeth planted the seeds in Alec’s head and Davie watered them to fruition! I believe going into tribal council, Davie was voting Natalia, Elizabeth was voting Davie and Alec’s vote was up in the air. I think once he decided to vote Natalia out, he needed to let Elizabeth know to switch her vote.
I was confused at why the girls split their votes as well, but it makes sense, because they thought they could have faced an idol. I think they knew that Elizabeth and Davie weren’t working together, but that it was still possible for one of them to play an idol.
I’m a bit intrigued by Bi’s situation. She’s obviously been seen by medical, and they are allowing her to stay in the game. I would be interested in seeing what the story is behind there and why she actually quit. It never looks good when you quit, but I have to think that her injury was more severe than they’re letting on?
Gabby did so well in the challenge. They can thank her for all that caffeine and sugar! I think it is not so easy to flip on the self confidence if you have been the underdog all your life. And this season’s theme just exacerbates the problem.
I have read Natalia’s interview and, unlike Jeremy (who I never want to hear from again), she at least sees where she goes up her game.
As for Bi, she made the right decision and I think they did her a dirty by labelling her as a quitter, by not taking her out.
I hope Natalie is gone soon.
Three tribes, pfft!
I was really impressed with Gabby turning on the FIRE during that challenge. She’s definitely proved herself to be a competitor in the challenges!
I will need to find some time to read the stories and see if there’s any juicy stuff to report on. I hope Natalia has been humble about her experience. She definitely seemed like a brat during her entire time out there.
I agree with you on Bi. For her to be labeled a quitter. There has to be something else going on there…
Natalie is the WORST!
Holy sh*t, does she not hear herself?
I could not believe how horrible she was when they were making that fire! I would have had to get up and walk away. I really hope they do throw the challenge to get rid of her next week.
I really hate people like her.
I really like Christian, and I now like Elizabeth.
That was one of the funnier blindsides.
Even though I hate the themes, and the early swaps, this one did work.
I don’t think that Idol Nullifier is that great of an advantage….I would have rather have an idol.
Let’s hope he does get to use it.
Agree, they should not be calling her a quitter. She needs that body part for the rest of her life!
Natalie really is socially deaf. You would think after the very real and constructive criticism she received from Dan and Kara, she would change up her act just a little but, but it looks like she’s going to continue to be a negative force on every tribe she’s involved in.
I was surprised that this switched worked out, but we still have a few episodes to go to really gauge its success! I think the other tribes will be rattled to see that Natalia was booted. I’m sure Natalie is happy to see her go.
The nullify advantage is either going to work MAGICALLY or fail drastically. I’m hoping on the former but expecting the latter. lol
That was a great episode! I understand Alec wanting to get rid of Natalia, but doing so put Carl back on the tribe and now the Davids have majority! Bad move dude. Also, since Natalie has zero allies why hasn’t anyone told her to get off her ass and do some of the work she demands everyone to do herself? She is no threat to anyone so I just don’t get it. One person was pissed that Bi quit, and that if Probst. He made sure to say she was quitting, twice! We know how he feels about that. This season is on track to be one of the best!
I was pretending that girl I was that girl working on the fire, and shouting at my TV, “We are a tribe, working together, you are not the damn chief, so if you are not going to do a damn thing around here, keep your mouth closed while the rest of us are pulling your weight.”
I would not be able to hold my thoughts around Natalie!
Same thoughts here! It’s ridiculous that Natalie, a woman on an island by herself, has the ability to boss them around the way she has been. It really just means they don’t want to have conflict. I feel like if Lrysa wasn’t in direct trouble, she would have cussed Natalia out by now! LOL
Hey Superfly, thank you so much for stopping by and commenting.
I’m also of the opinion that short term, Alec made a ridiculously awful move. I understand why he began to twist in the wind, but the fact is that Natalia was loyal to him. He backstabbed an ally for Davie, who is an obvious wildcard with few allies and Elizabeth, who has many allies with the Davids. Alec was already in cushy with the Goliaths like Kara, John, Dan, Natalia and Allison. Why he rocked the boat SO early is beyond me. We’ll see if it works out though…
And yes, if I were them, I wouldn’t be taking Natalie’s shit. She has no allies and no influence, so there’s no reason for her to feel the gumption to be bossing people around the way she is.
I love this season! I didn’t understand the vote either. Alec may have done the wrong thing for his game, but he did the right thing for my entertainment! Natalia escaped my notice until this episode, but once I noticed her, I wished I hadn’t. So annoying. Yet another player completely lacking in self-awareness.
I like Gabby more than ever. I am much older than Gabby and quite confident, but even I would have been intimidated by her new tribe mates. Her moment with Christian was so touching! And her win had me cheering! Seriously, I love this season.
Agreed! I understand the philosophical reason why Alec booted Natalia, but it just didn’t make sense for the reality of the situation. I’ve noticed how annoying Natalia has been all this time. She just seemed like such a spoiled brat. She’s super smart, beautiful and young, so she’s used to getting her way I’m sure. Not in this game though!
Gabby definitely pulls at the heart strings because her story is so easy to relate to. I hope she is able to find immense growth from this experience.
This season has been really good so far! I’m happy you’re enjoying it and choosing to spend your time commenting here. I really appreciate it!
Christian was asking about applying to be a comptroller not a wrestler. Good recap.
Alec now has the 2 David’s who trust him , I think. Leaving Kara as the 4th wheel on that tribe. Carl coming in may flip numbers onto Alec as bigger threat. It may not have been smart to get rid of Natalia, but I’m not sad. Felt bad that all 3 teams stacked against David’s 3:2. Great line -Natalie has a master’s in ungraciosness. Charmpocalypse..classic! Christian is a smart dude, hope he’s in for a long time. You have sympathy for Gabby, OK I’ll try. My first thought was are you flipping kidding me??! Crying again? I like her, she seems sweet, but really?
Thanks for the feedback. I also think that alec’s move was not without huge risk, unnecessarily so. We shall see soon enough if it pays off at all.
I DO have sympathy for Gabby, but I’m also ready for her to dry away the tears. I feel like she’s been hyper emotional in every episode, which is natural, but it’s getting old to me now already! lol
Great recap Cho!!!! I am loving this season. It’s already so exciting this early. I was so happy they ditched Natalia – she was a monster, and I love both Davie and Elizabeth. She was so dismissive to Alec, I don’t blame him for turning on her. And her exit was totally ungracious!
Natalie’s new tribe jumped up and started doing her bidding immediately. Ugh, she’s so tedious. Can’t wait to see her gone.
It was so cute when Gabby brought her team to victory! She was really great at that challenge. Her crying jag was a little extra, but I’m sure it gets stressful out there.
I’m also loving this season so much so far! I think everyone is bringing it! Natalia really was a monster, and I imagine she was difficult to live with.
Gabby winning that challenge for her team must have been a big confidence boost. Hopefully she took it as such and will give us less tears next episode! haha I believe in her, but she needs to believe in herself!
i can’t explain it but I’m getting into Natalie. She’s so interesting to watch as she’s so tone deaf. I wish they’d feature her more.
I’m totally on the “let’s watch a trainwreck” train! LOL I’m all aboard and tucked in for the ride. I also think there’s something innately interesting about Natalie as a character and how people respond to her. I just wish we got a bit more introspection from her in the form of confessionals. That would make her more of a complex character instead of the Over The Top one we’ve been seeing thus far, which is still entertaining.