Brain v Brawn II is off its rocker, but as fans, we are living! Alliances, deals, and rivalries are constantly changing and shifting between the tribes, but some things remain constant with this cast. AJ is still annoying, Myles is the jungle rat with unlimited lives, the Coven’s possibilities of reuniting are dwindling down to negative numbers, and half of the OG Brawns are still getting a purple edit. Be warned, this might be a long recap, my friends, but after that episode, it’s only fair to retell every second of it.
An extremely giddy Zara arrives at the Brawn’s beach, waking everyone up to reveal she’s now part of their team. As everyone is still rubbing sleep from their eyes, Zara tells them that she and Laura found an advantage, which is why she’s now joined their ranks. Zara then says in a confessional she secretly hopes she can band once again with the Graduates alliance (herself, Karin, AJ, and Myles).
As the sun rises at the Brains beach, an extremely pissed-off Laura vents to friends and foes about Zara’s betrayal in basically stealing her advantage from under her. For her part, Kate does damage control with Jesse to reinforce their alliance, in hopes word doesn’t come back to him she was planning on betraying him if Laura hadn’t found her advantage before the previous tribal council (silly non-elimination twists!) Also, Myles the unkillable finds another hidden immunity idol and plans to create chaos with it as he keeps getting underestimated in the game.
Back in the Brawn’s camp, Karin is ecstatic to be reunited with her former Coven bestie Zara and wants to inform her about AJ’s shenanigans in hopes Zara turns against AJ too. However, before Karin gets to talk to Zara, AJ swoops in, and an upset Karin leaves AJ and Zara to speak alone. AJ debriefs Zara about the idol fiasco to explain why Karin seems so upset with him but tells Zara he hopes the three of them can work together once more. AJ also warns Zara against Paulie, and both concur they don’t want Laura and Logan to reunite at the merge.
At the reward challenge, JLP twists the knife a bit when he asks Laura if the Brains team made the right decision to send Zara to the Brawns tribe. A seemingly nonchalant Laura replies it wasn’t what she had in mind when she found the clue but plays her part by pretending she’s okay with the decision. However, Laura’s façade doesn’t last long, as she’s evidently annoyed at Zara’s elated attitude throughout the challenge.
A shocking injury then interrupts the game, as in the last round between PD and Kaelan, a horrifying snap can be heard as both guys wrestle to score a point for their teams. The medical team swiftly intervene to help PD as he’s writhing on the floor in pain, and everyone is in shock as they can only watch their teammate suffer. A distraught Kaelan (who already felt responsible for cutting Zen’s game short in an earlier challenge) is comforted by the others as he feels guilty about the encounter, even though it was an unfortunate accident.
PD’s initial diagnosis is seemingly a torn bicep, which wasn’t the worst-case scenario everyone initially thought. While the majority is still reeling from the events, Laura tells Logan about Zara’s highjacking of her advantage, and Logan is furious to confirm Zara is only looking out for herself.
As the show must go on, a third round is still needed to decide the challenge, and Laura takes on Zara for the winning round. What better way to settle a feud than by playing a physical game? Anyway, Laura is victorious, winning a trip to the Survivor Spaghetti Shack for the Brains tribe and some vindication in the process. Just before the tribe leaves for the pasta feast, JLP hands a note to Jesse with instructions regarding their reward. PD stays behind, though, with an impromptu sling on his arm, and to await further medical advice.
At the Spaghetti Shack, the instructions state the Brains tribe can enjoy their prize, but only one at a time. After drawing sticks, Jesse goes first, followed by Ben, Morgan, Laura, Myles, and lastly, Kate. Myles’ turn is quite entertaining, yet downright disgusting, as he upheaves the pasta bowl while searching for an advantage and steps on the table, gobbling down copious amounts of spaghetti and meatballs. While Myles does find a clue saying, “Check the shelter,” he misreads it as “Check the shelf.” A stricken Kate is left with the remains of a food war, and one knows only an immense hunger could make someone eat in that place after four other people had a go at it first.
Later, sans meatball sauce, Logan and Karin chat at the water well regarding Zara’s shady actions and questionable bond with AJ. Logan wants to get rid of AJ now more than ever but hits a fence with Kaelan after he tells her he wants Paulie out before AJ. Fortunately for Logan, she encounters some solace when she finds an idol while out hunting with Karin and Kaelan, and the three make a pact to keep this finding between them. Karin and Logan also laugh about thinking of making the next vote close between AJ and Paulie, just to put the fear of God into AJ and not caring if someone slips and the vote turns out either way.
Once more, at the Brains beach, Myles ponders about the clue he found at the pasta shack. As he’s fixing the shelter, Myles finds a scroll hidden in the tribe’s shelter, saying he has the advantage of hijacking another person’s immunity idol. In other words, Myles got the Knowledge is Power advantage, meaning Myles must present the scroll to JLP and needs to mention who he thinks has an idol; if Myles is correct, then that person would hand their idol to him, making him the most powerful player in the game with two idols. (Max must be rolling around at his proverbial grave at the fact the jungle rat keeps on thriving).
Before the immunity challenge begins, JLP tells the tribes PD is allowed to continue in the game despite his injury, with some limitations. Everyone is happy, including PD and an incredibly relieved Kaelan. After a gruelling endurance challenge, the Brains tribes snatches immunity, leaving the Brawn team to return to tribal council.
The Brawns go into scrambling mode as the several factions within the tribe want to target either AJ or Paulie. Paulie talks with Kristen about playing her idol for him so both get to the merge. AJ proposes to Kaelan to target Logan instead to ensure his safety in case Paulie plays an idol, but Kaelan stops him in his tracks and says Logan can’t leave before Paulie. Dejected but hopeful, AJ concedes he’s gotten his way at the previous four tribals and can play nice for once. Before going to tribal, Kristen tells the group that Paulie asked her for the idol, leaving everyone wanting to target Paulie for being sneaky.
As the Brawns settle into tribal, JLP pulls the ultimate blindside by mentioning that Ben from the Brains tribe decided to leave the game and that no one will get voted out. All seven players left hug it out, relieved to be reprieved after the shortest tribal in Survivor history. There is no further explanation on why Ben decided to leave so abruptly, as we don’t see the moment happen, nor do we hear from Ben afterwards.
Next on Australian Survivor, the merge is finally here! As Brawns and Brains become one, who will ultimately be victorious? It’s on now as the former Coven is reunited, but with such a tremendous gap between Laura/Logan and Zara, perhaps not even a potent spell could mend that fence. OG duos such as Laura and Logan and AJ and Myles are reunited, which will undoubtedly create havoc. Will Paulie rise from the ashes, or has his time come? Will the audience finally know who half of the OG Brawns are, or will we be blindsided once more when they leave the game? (Ben, who, anyone?)
All that and more as the merge is officially upon us.
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