Hey, it’s Cho! And I want to thank everyone for posting their favorite Chinese takeout meal in the comment section of last week’s Survivor: Edge of Extinction recap! We found out who thought they were the puppet master in last week’s episode. Now, it’s time to figure out who’s actually taking control of the game tonight!
A Kama Catastrophe in the Works?
Tribal council was a natural disaster for most. Wardog revels in how successful his plan was. Ron Clark talks about how the viewers will think Kama is stupid for not voting out the Lesu members when they have the chance. He’s not wrong. Sorry to call you out Ron, but wasn’t it you who started this trend when you decided to vote Joe off first??? We get a confessional of Gavin Whitson saying Eric, who he just blindsided at the Final 12, was his closest ally in the game. This makes no sense to me and will probably continue to lead to most of the Kama members being picked off moving forward. The new top dog alliance is the young Kama kids joining with the Lesu 3: Julia, Victoria, Gavin, Wentworth, Wardog and Lauren. Let’s see how long they dominate after the last vote.
Survivors Begin To Unravel
David and Rick voted separately, so David Wright is trying to bring them back together while carving out a new alliance for safety. They are bonded by their desire to make their split idols into one eventually. They set their sights on Ron and Julie as potential new allies, because they were left out of the last vote. Julie Rosenberg is upset and breaks down as she realizes that there’s no one in the game watching out for her. Her homesickness is getting the best of her. She feels like she’s on the bottom of whatever alliance she joins. She struggles to figure out a pathway forward and seems to be on the edge of a breakdown.
Julie isn’t the only one having a rough time. Like most newcomers to the Edge of Extinction, Eric Hafemann is having an even rougher experience. He struggles with the contrast between the two worlds of this season of Survivor: one where there’s lots of distractions and stimuli compared to his current status where there is just everlasting stillness. He contemplates quitting. Joe Anglim let’s us know that even though the game is wearing on him, he thinks Eric will stick it through. We get a great shot of Chris Underwood catching a stingray. Eric Hafemann says one day he will teach his kids how not to quit.
Gavin Sets His Sights On David
The immunity challenge is a fun one that we’ve seen before. The most interesting thing is how cute I just noticed Gavin is when he’s not wearing his obnoxious pineapple shirt. Also, Jeff Probst has the worst pit stains on his shirt. Gavin Whitson ends up winning the immunity, and I’ve noticed there’s still 25 minutes left which means this tribal is going to be a complete clown fiesta!! He vows that he’s going to be the reason why David goes home. This means David is almost definitely NOT going home!
Right after the immunity, everyone literally scatters about to start scheming! Rick Devens starts throwing the Lesu 3 alliance under the bus to Gavin, Victoria and Julia. Meanwhile, the Lesu 3 are actually considering taking out Ron Clark, the leader of the “Kama Kult”. Lauren makes her pitch to Julia Carter that Ron should be the one to go home which simply sparks Julia to reunite the Kama crew.
Victoria Baamonde says Kelley Wentworth is the queen bee of Lesu, and she needs to go to break down the entire hive. Gavin is upset that the majority of his alliance wants to vote Kelley Wentworth off instead of David Wright, and calls it a dictatorship. I don’t think Gavin knows what that word means.
My Spidey Senses Are Tingling
The camp is eerily quiet to the point where everyone is going absolutely CRAZY! Both David and Wentworth are feeling the pressure. They’ve played this game before, and they both know that their heads are on the chopping block. This is where being a past Survivor really comes into play. Their spidey senses tend to be better than most. Rick has decided he will let David us their combined idol. If you ask me, Kelley Wentworth needs to play hers too!
There’s still a solid 20 minutes left for Tribal Council, and I’m already clutching my pearls at the thought of this being really dramatic. Everyone talks about how blindsides work in the game and how to react to them.We review how there are several small fractions within the two larger tribes. Rick Devens calls out Aurora, Gavin, Julia and Victoria as the movers and shakers that have all the power. Someone’s getting blindsided tonight.
Rick Eviscerates Kama
Julie breaks down once again for probably the 6th time that day. She speaks for her and Ron Clark not being able to trust the people they once did. Some of the others are visibly perplexed by her outburst. Jeff wants to know why Julia Carter is giggling. Julia explains that her giggling during Julie’s outburst wasn’t directed at her. She was reassuring Wentworth that their plan is still in motion. Rick CALLS JULIA OUT for having multiple plans! Aurora then retorts that Lesu is just trying to brew mistrust between Kama, but Rick is on fire and points out that the last 3 people voted out were Kama and Ron and Julia are currently in shambles. Rick Devens is serving bitter black tea and DRAGGING the Kama kids!
Rick Devens throws out the idea that the Lesu 5 should reunite with Ron Clark and Julie Rosenberg to get rid of one of the young Kama kids. THIS is why it was a horrible idea for every Kama member to vote out Eric last vote!! This is a fucking mess! Refer to my comments last week as a receipt. Julia Carter calls Rick a “passenger” as a huge insult. Those are fighting words. It only sets Rick on fire even more as he is ganged up on by Julia and Aurora McCreary. Julie says Rick’s proposition sounds wonderful to her and Ron! Jeff Probst admits he doesn’t have to ask them any questions this tribal council. Haha!
When Soccer Moms Lose Control
You’d think everyone would be whispering, but no, everyone is talking with clear voices about who they want to vote off. I’ll spare you the play-by-play, but just know, a lot of names are thrown out, and people are now yelling at each other. Julie Rosenberg has completely lost her fucking mind as she screams bloody murder about being betrayed while pointing in Julia’s face! Wardog and Rick do an awesome job of manipulating Kama to turn on each other.
Julia Carter tries to reassure Julie that Kama can regain control. But, Julie shouts back that she’s on the bottom of Kama before literally running away from her!! Aurora says she can’t stand soccer moms, referring to Julie Rosenberg . Julie has really gone off the deep end this episode! Julia Carter spits some vitriol towards Rick and Wardog. She exposes that there are many plans that they aren’t a part of. The jury is gagging. Have we seen a tribal like this on Survivor before?
Jeff Probst, afraid to interrupt the fireworks, asks if everyone is ready to vote. I need to watch this tribal at least three more times. Rick and David reveal their combined immunity idol and play it on David. Wentworth doesn’t play her idol, and I’m gasping for her life! Jeff reads the votes: David, Wentworth, Julia, Julia, Julia, Julia, Julia and Julia is voted off. Wow, leader of the Kama kids is blindsided! Everyone turned on her. She obviously makes the decision to stay.
I’m speechless… As always, don’t forget to follow me on my social media platforms to stay in touch with me throughout the entire week: Instagram, Twitter, Youtube and Twitch!
Great recap! This tribal was one for the books! I need to watch it again–so much going on. I loved watching Aubry’s reactions on the jury side. Love how Survivor keeps evolving and yet stays true to the intial premise.
Aubry’s reactions were absolutely hilarious! I was right there with her gasping for air!
Thanks a lot for contributing in the comment section btw. I really appreciate it!
I thought the EXACT same thing when Gavin stormed off saying the group was a dictatorship.
The worst type of Survivors are the ones who vilify others for things that they do. Especially if they aren’t self aware about it.
Oops hit reply too fast. I was nervous for Ron but was happy that he realized he put himself in huge danger of being voted out. I hope he changes up his attitude and his gameplan.
I don’t really get why Julia was voted off, but I was glad she was after her passenger comment to Rick. Someone needs to tell Rick that plans are not driven much and mostly pilots fly.
I still don’t understand everything that happened in that tribal. Why didn’t the group of seven that randomly formed take the opportunity to get rid of Wentworth? Why didn’t David suggest that? Perhaps because that would make him the last returning player still on the island?
The soccer mom needs to win a cheeseburger in a reward challenge ASAP.
All I could think of during trial was “How the heck is Cho going to be able to recap this? And yet, another great recap as usual.
omg I actually felt really bad for Ron, because he seemed to completely shut down. Go back to the scene where Kama id discussing things and Ron’s just like “I was apparently too strategic before, so I’m just going to go along with whatever y’all want. Please just keep me.”
Julia was voted off, because she was deemed the biggest threat out of her/Aurora/Gavin/Victoria. Additionally, Julia and Aurora were the most aggressive at TC. If you notice, Wardog kept asking JULIE who she wanted off, because obviously Julie/Ron were the surprise decision makers of the night. Based on Julie waving her fingers in Julia’s face at tribal council, I imagine she pulled the final trigger.
Based on the TC and the voting results, it seems like Wentworth was the original target of Kama with them also throwing votes on David. The group of 7 that formed was AGAINST Aurora/Julia/Gavin/Victoria, so it wouldn’t make sense for them to go after Wentworth yet.
Wentworth and David have been going after each other all season. They need to fucking realize that these players don’t want them in the end and stick together.
Thanks for the compliments!
What a great recap. It felt like I was rewatching the show. Thank you for doing a great job!
I paused the show and yelled at Gavin, “that’s NOT a dictatorship!” Haha
How does Survivor just get better each season?
Hey Sapphire, thank you so much for commenting and sharing such positive things about the recap! I LOVE doing them!
Gavin is silly but at least he’s cute… when he’s not wearing that pineapple shirt.
Cho, I love how you call out Ron for voting out Joe. Yes, I am a dirty old woman…..I love watching Chris catch fish! Tell him to stop pulling his underwear down, we enjoy it when it is up. What an exciting episode. I too am surprised they all voted out Julia. If they can come together as a group and vote out one their own, why not as group pick off the other group? I am afraid Aurora is next.
Well it was Kama’s fault for cannibalizing right out of the gate. Kama has gone home every single TC this merge. Coincidence? I think not. They have no one to blame but themselves.
Julia and Aurora played that TC terribly wrong where as Rick and Wardog really laid the strategic smackdown on Kama. They deserve trophies.
I was so happy Julia was voted off. What a horrible arrogant twat saying You’re just a passenger to Devens.
As if he had no right to speak or play. See ya bitch.
Julia was vicious at TC. Especially with the way she told Wardog to shut up. What made it kind of ugly was that her anger and viciousness was borne from desperation. She knew the tide was turning, so she resulted to insults instead of regaining control of her imploding alliance. I liked her contribution to the season overall though. She seemed like a decent player until the the Eric vote. That really sealed her fate.
I was shocked that Kelly did not play her immunity idol as I was sure she was on the chopping block as well as David. I did not see the Julia blind side coming. I wanted Julia to go but I was so sure she was safe! I also thought WarDog would be targeted as he keeps ducking under that radar. P.S. Wardog sucks at all of the competitions. Blows my mind how bad he is considering how great he thinks he is. What a tribal council! I was loving the jury reactions to everyone going into a feeding frenzy. All sharks trying to find a minnow.
I am amazed at Wentworth’s spidey senses. Remember that she and Lauren both know they have idols, so expect several more blindsides in the near future. Kama is toast.
Wardog really does suck in the competitions, but he has surprisingly helped to turn this entire game around over the last two votes. I give a lot of credit to Wardog. I’m SURPRISED and SHOCKED. Ron and Julia got into a spat on Twitter where Ron basically said she was stupid for letting Wardog of all people manipulate her.
Cho- Awesome recap. It seems like this season the young newbies are so focused on padding their resumes so they can have a claim to big moves at the final tribal council that they are forgetting that alliances and the game can change minute by minute. Vote to get yourself to the end with people you think you can beat but play to get to the next day.
Congrats to Joe on his engagement to Fellow Survivor Sierra.
Thanks as always for contributing, Kerry!
You are totally right about the Kama Kids getting too hungry for big moves. It’s a short-sighted strategy that I’m glad isn’t paying off for them. And with both Lauren and Wentworth having idols, you can expect a few more Kama kids to be blidnsided. They really deserve it. It started with Joe, but it got WAY worse with Eric being blindsided. That make no sense. They needed to just vote off David first.
I saw the engagement! Sierra has always been really pretty. I liked her.
I really appreciate your recap, Cho. Too deep in IRS forms to say much fit to print, but I was worried for Kelley, too, when she didn’t play her idol, but she still has it!
I think David sees Kelley as a shield for now.
Thank you for your compliments. I really appreciate you taking time to actually comment. It means a lot to me. Kelley keeps not playing her idol, and I’m literally always afraid for her life. She knows better than us obviously! haha David should definitely see Kelley as a shield. They keep going against each other, but they need to recognize that they’re both threatening players that will be a target for the remaining of the game.
Good luck with the IRS. No one likes dealing with them!
Thanks for making sense of all this for me Cho! I loved last Season, and was worried that this Season wouldn’t match up. So far so good, so yaaaay for that, but must admit I have to read through the recaps to sort out the dynamics.
I don’t think I put my name on my comment so it’s in oblivion…kinda like me, lol.