Wednesday, October 23, 2013

Survivor 27.6

Mary Beth’s 2Cents: So, Galang returns from Tribal Council, where they have blindsided Laura M. with the idea that she can win at Redemption Island, and while most of them are feeling pretty low about what they just did, Laura B., Rupert's wife, is secretly celebrating the fact that it wasn't her that was voted off.

Aras realizes there may be a target on his back now since he was the kingpin of that blindside. Tyson and Gervase discuss when might be the right time to dethrone King Aras. Gervase even goes so far as to call him and Tyson the “new power couple” of Survivor. Now, I'm not sure what power they yield just yet because so far the only thing either of them has done is steal coconuts from the rest of the tribe.

Over at Redemption Island, John, Culpepper and Laura M. go head to head in a race that consists of walking along a balance beam, stopping to untie bags of number tiles and then quickly putting the tiles in order at the end from 1-100. Laura M. gets a quick lead and manages to hang onto it to easily win this one. She said she was confident and she didn't lie!

John and Culpepper duked it out for second place. John was making it easy for Culpepper by falling off the beam and not being able to untie a knot or two but Culpepper didn't seem able to count to 100 so John caught up and blew past him. Culpepper was sent home much to the whiney Monica's dismay.

Laura M. gave Vytas the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol but he promptly tossed it in the fire. That clue means there's a target on your back and nobody wants it. Then Probst announces that it's time to “switch things up” a little. Usually this means a merge but this time, instead, they were given new buffs and rearranged into two new tribes. Vytas, Kat, Monica, Katie and Laura B. are the new Galang and Tyson, Gervase, Aras, Hayden and Ciera are the new Tadhana.

Back at camp they set to welcoming the new people to the camp. Tyson begins making new friends and influencing people, but pretty much amping up his “assholeness.” He eats more food whenever he wants and starts making snarky comments on what bad decisions Aras makes. He wants to put as much bad juju on Aras as he can so he can make the others think Aras is in charge. Hayden, the quiet one so far, is watching this and doesn't like what he's seeing in Tyson. I think Tyson is a twitload of twattle. He never played a very good game before and this time he's just a major jerk.

At the Immunity Challenge, it is a swimming challenge where two people from each tribe swim out to release a fish trap and return to shore. They have to bring back three traps and then they can complete a puzzle. Tina and Laura B. go out first for Galang and they do something so idiotic that I can't believe either one of them are still around! They swim out and release the trap but then swim all the way back without the fish trap. When their tribes yells and tells them to go back they stand there like they have no idea what the heck they're supposed to do.

Finally they go back but Galang loses a major lead and Tadhana is way ahead. The other members of Galang haul ass though and they do catch up. Three time…yes, THREE times… Galang, again with Tina, thinks they have the puzzle completed and all three times Probst tells them NO! They can't get it together and Tadhana sweeps past them for the win. Tina is no rocket scientist, that's for sure. Sheesh!

At Tribal Council, Galang is all a shambles. The plan was to vote off Vytas so the women's alliance stays strong but before they get to council, Kat tells Tina she's worried about Monica who “talks too much.” Tina, the brain trust that she is, runs right off to tell Monica who then turns the tables and sets the voting sights on Kat. Kat begs for her life at Tribal and Vytas sees his chance to throw some gasoline on the Kat flames. In the end, Vytas survives another day and Kat and her pouty face is sent to Redemption Island.

Quote of the week: Tyson - “I don't believe in anything. Except magic. Because that stuff's real!”

Vag’s Evaluation: Okay, it was a little better than last week. But just barely. Mary Beth and I decided to cover both tribes because of the highly publicized tribe swap. Big deal.

At the Redemption Island Duel Laura M. finished first and Candice’s wife, John came in second. That meant Culpepper had to go home. Great, another castaway with a bit of a personality is eliminated. Great. Just great. Oh ya, Probst asked Culpepper to compare Survivor and playing in the NFL. Dumb ass question. I used to like Probst…

Laura M., because she finished first, was allowed to award a Hidden Immunity Idol clue to someone. She handed it to Vytas who promptly tossed it into the fire. Yawn. Getting tired of the routine. In fact, I have pretty much had it with the whole Redemption Island concept. It pretty much sucks.

After John and Laura M. leave the Redemption Island Arena, Probst tells the two tribes to sit still. After everyone oohs and ahs for a moment, they draw buffs to establish new tribes. Aras, Gervase and Tyson join Caleb, Hayden and Ciera on the freshly configured Tadhana tribe. This leaves Monica, Vytas, Katie, Tina, Kat, Monica and Laura B. to form the new and not-so improved Galang tribe.

Here’s the Reader’s Digest version of what happen between the reformation of the tribes and the Immunity/Reward Challenge:

At Tadhana the old tribe members told their new teammates anything they wanted to know. Tyson acted like a real jag-off, eating all the food, which really pissed Hayden off. Over at Galang Kat led the new group in prayer and Vytas told everyone what it was like to spend eight months in prison. Zzzz…

When they finally got around to the Immunity/Reward Challenge, Mark Burnett, Probst and the other Survivor bigwigs really blow it. The reward for the challenge is turkey, roast beef, cheese, fresh bread and all the fixings. Probst kept gushing about what a great picnic these sandwiches would make. But did Survivor have Subway® or Jimmy John’s sponsor the challenge? NO! This season is really disappointing me on so many levels.

The challenge required the castaways to swim out in pairs to an underwater wooden cage where they must collect fish traps containing puzzle pieces. After all three fish traps are recovered; two members have to assemble the puzzle. Imagine, another puzzle!

For me, the only highlight of the challenge was when Laura B. and Tina of Galang swam all the way out to the underwater cage and back without retrieving a fish trap. Talk about a major brain fart. This gave Tadhana a huge lead, which they almost squandered, but not quite. The loss earns Galang a trip to Tribal Council to vote someone off to Redemption Island. Not off the show, but to friggin’ Redemption Island. Remember, people don’t get eliminated until the first ten minutes of NEXT week’s episode. Talk about anticlimactic…

Speaking of anticlimactic, that’s exactly what Tribal Council was. Kat was a liar and everyone knew it, so they sent her to…Redemption friggin’ Island. The part of Tribal Council that I found entertaining was the spectacles that Katie was sporting. Too nerdy! Hey, Burnett and Probst, are you listening? Get LensCrafters® to sponsor Katie’s glasses! You already blew with the sandwiches.

Until next time…from the booth.

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