Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Survivor 27.3

Mary Beth’s 2Cents: What’s Happening With Tadhana - I'm trying very hard to like the new folks that make up the Tadhana tribe. I do like that they are strategizing and thinking ahead. I think it's smart of them to make their votes count for their futures and that they aren't simply eliminating whomever messes up the challenges. So, I was thrilled when they voted Rachel off last time with the idea that Tyson would step up and take her place at Redemption thus weakening Galang.

But at Redemption Rachel tells Tyson to stay put and play so he does. He lets off some holier than thou threats at Culpepper because, horror of horrors, Culpepper was smiling...of all the nerve! Culpepper fires back with the truth. No one at Galang has had to make the difficult decision to send anyone to Redemption yet. This send Marissa into a fit of foul language, which prompts a scolding from her Uncle Gervase.

All of this drama sends Colton into a full on ugly cry and he tells Probst he wants to quit the game. Probst lets Colton have it and even calls him out for being a big crybaby quitter who faked appendicitis the last time he played so he could go home. Colton doesn't care and he leaps into his boyfriends lap for a quick cuddle and to wipe his nose on his shirt. Probst sends him packing and doesn't even let him throw his buff in the fire because that's reserved for real players and not whiny baby heads that give up when they realize they can't win. Bye bye Colton. Don't let the palm tree hit you in the ass as you leave the island.

After the “All My Children” moments were over the real work began and Candice, Marissa and Rachel competed to stay in the game. Now I had two Tadhana to one Galang in this horse race and I thought my odds were pretty good. They had to stack wooden blocks on angled planks making sure to avoid trips bars that would knock them all over. It was a glorified version of Dominos. In the 114-degree heat Candice made short order of this challenge and was the first winner. Marissa and Rachel were head to head until Marissa pulled it out at the end and was the second winner. Bye bye Rachel…time for you to go. Candice, of course, gives hubby John the second clue to the hidden Idol.

At Tadhana, Culpepper starts to wonder if he's doing too much and making himself a target but the others reassure him he is not. John goes Idol hunting. He shares the clue with Culpepper but then tells him he wants to find it on his own which makes Culpepper a little suspicious and not sure he can trust John.

Tree Mail announces a head to head battle, which starts Vytas talking about how he would dearly love to beat his brother Aras. The Immunity Challenge is like a one on one gladiator style pillow fight where the winner pushes the loser into the water. The score goes back and forth, one bout after the other. Hayden easily pushes in Tyson and he pops out a shoulder and has to sit out for the rest of the day. Vytas does get to go against Aras and it's a hard fight but Aras wins and revels in finally beating his bully brother. Vytas shows some class though in telling Probst he's proud of his brother.

The challenge is tied three to three and it comes down to Laura vs. her daughter Ciera. Laura seems like she might be weak, even crying before they start saying she doesn't want to hurt her child. Then the match starts and she veritably kicks her child's ass! So, once again, my Tadhana is off to Tribal Council.

Back at camp, the men review their plan to eliminate one of the two remaining women. Then, when John goes a-hunting for the hidden Idol, Culpepper hints that maybe they should pull off a major blindside and get rid of John. He explains that if John stays and finds the Idol and Candice, his wife, continues to dominate Redemption, once the teams merge those two might be unstoppable. This gives the Tadhana women a reprieve.

Later, Hayden points out that maybe Culpepper might be the better target and a major move and everyone seems to see the logic in that as well. He starts to question Culpepper's loyalty when Culpepper tells them he won't vote for John but wants all of them to vote for John. That doesn't sit well with them. By the time they get to Tribal Council, I'm not sure what's going to happen. There's been so much talk and strategizing it's impossible to tell which way they'll vote but there is a culpable feeling that something big is going to happen.

And it does!

In the end, John gets blind-sided and he never sees it coming. It's one of those true Survivor moments that I love so well. But some questions remain. Has Tadhana fatally wounded their tribe by voting off a very strong player? I guess only time will tell!

Vag’s Evaluation: What’s Going On With Galang
– Wow! Splitting up the reporting duties is going to take some getting used to. Mary Beth’s Tadhana tribe pulled off a doozy didn’t it? Pretty exciting stuff. All my Galang tribe knows how to do is to quit, cry and beat their children.

I had better explain.

The show opens up at the Redemption Island Arena. Both tribes are seated as Candice, Marissa and Rachel enter, ready for a duel that will determine who will be the next castaway to be eliminated. However, before the duel takes place, Marissa decides to flip off Culpepper and shout out, “F*ck you, Brad Culpepper!” Classy niece you got there, Gervase.

Of course this causes a reaction from the other castaways. But not what you would expect. Not by a long shot.

Colton immediately bursts into tears! He whimpers something about not being able to take this anymore and that he wants to go home. An astonished Jeff Probst then asks him if this means he wants to quit.

Rubbing his tear-filled eyes, with a snot bubble in his nose, Colton sobs that he doesn’t want to play with these people. Again, Probst asks him if he is quitting. But this time he calls him out and says if he does quit it will be the second time. Probst then reveals that Colton feigned the appendicitis attack when he left Survivor: One World. Wow!

Colton, still blubbering, runs across the arena and jumps into his fiancé Caleb’s lap and does indeed quit. This causes Probst to chastise him even more vehemently, saying, “In see how it is, if things don’t go your way, you just quit.” He then banishes him from Redemption Island Arena without allowing him the honor of burning his buff in the Survivor fire. What drama!

The duel itself is sort of anticlimactic. Candice is the first to win the giant dominoes game, which leaves Marissa and Rachel to battle it out to see who else gets to stay. After several attempts by both competitors, the foul-mouthed Marissa is victorious. The sends Rachel packing, which makes boyfriend Tyson cry. At least Probst affords Rachel the honor of tossing her buff into the Survivor fire as she leaves. But Tyson was still crying.

The Immunity/Reward Challenge was a dandy. It was a physical battle pitting castaways in one-on-one sumo-style matches using padded bags. The first team to win five bouts wins the challenge. Here are the results:

#1 Culpepper over Gervase. Tadhana 1-0
#2 Laura M. over Katie. Tied 1-1
#3 John over Aras. Tadhana 2-1
#4 Kat over Ciera. Tied at 2
#5 Hayden over Tyson. Tadhana 3-2
#6 Tina over Katie. Tied 3-3
#7 Aras over Vytas. Galang 4-3
#8 Laura M. over Ciera. Galang wins 5-3

This was the third consecutive victory for Galang in Immunity Challenges. It also provided them with a reward of a tarp, pillows, blankets, a hammock, mosquito netting, comforters, maid service and valet parking. More importantly, they didn’t have to go to Tribal Council.

It should be noted that there were several significant occurrences in the challenge. When Tyson lost to Hayden, he dislocated his shoulder and possibly tore a muscle. This required medical attention. And, more crying from Tyson.

Speaking of crying, that’s what Vytas did after older brother Aras kicked his ass. That was despite Vytas pulling a blatant cheap shot. What were people expecting? Aras was a star athlete in college and Vytas was a no-good junkie. Sheesh!

The other notable thing that happened during the challenge, was that we had not one, but two cases of a mother beating their child. First, Laura M. showed some tough love by mopping the deck with daughter Ciera. At least she cried while she did it.

Tina shed no tears when she throttled daughter Katie. This one shocked me. Tina is pushing 60 years old and is not much more than 4-foot tall and her baby girl could do nothing against her. I don’t think Child Protective Services would even touch this case.

I will leave you with my Fellow Survivor Geek Question of the Week: Why didn’t Caleb of Tadhana and Laura B. of Galang compete in the challenge? Monica was the Galang member that sat it out. Hmm…

Until next time…from the booth.

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