After a controversial and upsetting Blood Moon Triple Tribal, we’ve finally reached the real merge and the start of the jury phase. Eleven more boots between us and the final three, and the last two weeks of the game are bound to be cutthroat as eras collide and playstyles go to war.
Jonathan blindsiding Kamilla left Tiffany enraged and hungry for revenge in honor of her fallen friend, but she’s staying composed to avoid putting a target on her back. Genevieve’s exit comes as no surprise, but Aubry holding onto her idol for one more round definitely did, and her excuse that she somehow “forgot” to play it isn’t fooling anyone. And finally, Colby’s boot is a sad one for Coach’s honorable alliance of true warriors, but they’ll carry the torch for him and target Dee as retribution in the first step in a war between rival alliances.
The next morning, Dee wakes up and immediately gets in a fight with Jonathan in front of the entire tribe. Dee blindsided him at the Charlie vote, and now he blindsided her allies at the Kamilla vote. Blow for blow. Jonathan reveals to us at home that this is all a ploy to get Dee in the firing line, though, that he forced an argument knowing she’d struggle to bite her tongue.
Meanwhile, Coach is feeling the burn and calls out all the liars and manipulators in the tribe, swearing honor and integrity will win this season as everyone else just stares in disbelief at his unhinged Coach-isms. But this is why we love Coach. He’s weird and delusional, but he’s kind of in on the joke and pulls dramatic poetry out of his ass for the fun of it. The Tidewalker has been left at sea, and The Dragonslayer is back, baby!
Ozzy and Rizo return from Exile in the wake of the triple massacre and subsequent crashouts, and Coach is quick to pull in Rizo as a replacement for Colby in the honorable Four Horseman. Wow, a replacement? Such a great pitch that definitely doesn’t imply he’d be fourth place. But he’ll say yes to whatever and go hit up his actual ally: Cirie. With Ozzy and Rizo bonded by Exile, the trio of Cirie’s Rizzard of Oz has a strong connection and three advantages… and out of nowhere, Emily tells them she knows about Rizo’s idol, which points all fingers to Dee. Loose Lips Flippen strikes again, and I love to see it. Turns out Dee’s been spreading this info everywhere. To Emily, to Tiffany, to Jonathan. Turns out Emily isn’t the only Season 45-er with loose lips here, and it’s not a good look.
As all the chaos rages, a Journey looms, and by a random Shot in the Dark draw, Stephenie is sent off to Advantage Island against her will to compete in god knows what. But when she arrives, it’s a return of a Survivor classic: When It Rains, It Pours. If Stephenie can endure holding her arm above her head for a whole hour, she wins an advantage. If she fails, she loses her vote. Simple stakes. But her history of shoulder issues on the show forces her to use her weaker left arm, putting her at a serious disadvantage. Flashing back to her old seasons, she reminds herself she’s a beast who’s endured worse, and now she’s a mom fighting for more than just herself out here. Surviving the full hour, Steph proves herself after fifteen years away from the game and wins a Vote Steal as her reward.
The downside? Steph is a terrible liar (please watch her all-time trainwreck performance on Snake in the Grass if you haven’t, because it’s hilarious), and her attempt to lie about losing the challenge falls flat as nobody thinks she couldn’t go the full hour. Especially Cirie, who corners her and forces her to reveal the truth to someone who’s seen her play firsthand on three different reality shows at this point. And of course, Cirie runs straight to her ally Rizo to spill all of Steph’s beans. It’s huge news for this duo since they know where every advantage is now, and fully armed with that knowledge, they decide it might be time to snipe Dee out to make sure their secrets stay just that. And you know, removing a proven champion from the tribe can’t hurt anyone else’s chances.
But to get Dee out, they have to beat her in the immunity challenge, and today’s challenge is a two-parter: a typical Mergatory challenge for a Chinese takeout feast and a shot at the individual portion, then a generic balance challenge you’ve seen a million times for the necklace itself. It’s a close race and a closer puzzle. The team of Christian, Ozzy, Joe, Dee, Rick, Stephenie, and Emily takes the win and moves onto the individual portion, where Dee’s super toes can’t seal the deal against Joe and Ozzy, and it’s ultimately Ozzy who takes the win. It’s been a long time since his last solo win, but he’s still got it after all these years. And Dee’s still got that huge target on her back tonight unless she can shake it.
While the winners feast, the losers discuss the names for tonight: Dee and Aubry. Tiff isn’t happy at all. Awful news. Both her allies on the block? And a big shield going home as the first juror because Coach and Jonathan want it to be so? Not her dream situation for sure, but there’s nothing she can really do except keep her head down and survive. Meanwhile, Aubry tries removing her target from her back and promises she’ll play the idol tonight so her game can actually change after the fact. But if Aubry is totally safe, that means voting for her is a total waste of time, meaning Tiffany can be the backup vote in a 7-4 split.
When the winners get back to camp, Coach (aka General Dragonslayer) is pushing the votes the way he wants, hoping to vote for Dee so Tiffany won’t come back to camp pissed at him. But as Coach breaks his word to himself and starts loudly calling shots, he lets it be known that Christian is flip-floppy in his mind, and that info gets in Christian’s ears via Rick Devens, and then Christian tells Coach he’s heard about the split, so now Coach is mad that Christian is involved in the plan at all. And as the messiness spreads, Steph is annoyed, Rick is annoyed, Rizo is annoyed.
All eyes are aimed at Coach, who dissed “the middle people” to their faces in a classic foot-in-mouth Coach moment. Rizo clues in Coach to the chaos he’s causing, reminding him he can’t slay dragons in the middle of camp and needs to keep his mouth shut. So instead, Coach just pens haikus in the middle of camp, looking absolutely nuts even to his own allies.
So… do they just turn the votes on Coach to remove the agent of chaos if he’s so desperate to control the votes at everyone else’s expense? Emily pitches such a plan, and Tiff and Dee are down. Ozzy might be down. Rick might be down. The votes might actually be there if they can cause chaos at Tribal and exploit this split vote plan for their own gain. Well, sorry to the Coach haters out there; he’s sticking around for another week to dish out more spoken word. Because even after Dee’s chaotic attempt to save herself and slay the Dragonslayer himself at a live Tribal, including playing her Shot in the Dark, the votes go as planned, and she’s sent to the jury as the Mayor of Ponderosa. And Aubry finally played her idol and negated no votes with it. Good for her.
But so falls the final winner of the bunch, and now the cast is on a level playing field. And after a fairly straightforward merge round, we have another twist incoming. Yay. It’s probably another double boot because production remembered they still have thirteen people left with so few days remaining, so who will take the fall next? Is Coach slaying his own game? Has Aubry really shaken the target off her back? Could Stephenie’s advantage put one on her own? And why is Cirie crying in the preview, and who do I have to blame? It was a fantastic night of Survivor, and hopefully, next week keeps the streak going (potentially terrible twist be damned).
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