After last week’s split Tribal saw Tiyana get brutally twisted out of the game, we’ve reached the jury phase at long last, and Rachel barely survived by the skin of Sol’s lucky advantage find. He’s quick to inform her of his big play, and the two form an alliance Sol dubs the beginning of “Sol’s Secret Agents.” He’s been playing the goofy older guy all laid back and not taking the game seriously, but he’s ready to play harder moving forward. Meanwhile, Gata reunites, and Rachel learns that Tuku was going to snipe her, making it a Gata vs Tuku war in the coming days.
But war is not very fun, and we need more fun in our lives right now, so in comes the Survivor Auction for another appearance! The rules are the same as before. Run through the jungle to find money (unless you’re Andy, who finds literally no money, making Bruce look like an Easter egg-hunting god), bid on a random number of items, and the person with the most money left at the end loses their vote.
However, there are some new wrinkles. Some items come with extra money to sabotage you, just so you can never truly rely on the “dump all your money” strategy to save you from losing your vote. An item might require players to put up money and compete in a gross food challenge for it, and taking notes from Australian Survivor in a twist we all said should’ve been used in the auction’s return, one item contains a secret idol clue.
Highlights of the auction include Kyle breaking his vegetarian streak when he buys a covered plate of chicken wings and can’t resist, Caroline pulling an Austin and digging into giant fish eyes for the fun of it, Gabe blowing all his money on a coconut, Jeff attempting an impromptu Shakespeare reading for some reason, and Sam, Sue, and Caroline competing in Borneo’s classic grub eating challenge for a breakfast platter which Sam wins… ironically leaving him with the most money at the end and costing him his vote.
And then there’s Rachel, who dodged a bullet last night and lucks into an idol clue in her bowl of fries. It’s definitely fun to see new mechanics thrown into this auction, but… we still don’t need all the gamey qualities to it. Auction 2.0 is better than no auction at all if you ask me, but it still needs fine-tuning if they’re not going to ditch the twisty elements and just let people bid for food like in the old days.
Back at camp, Rachel reads her clue and finds out her idol is sewn into the tribe’s tarp, conveniently on top of the shelter where everyone could just stumble across her ripping it apart. She eventually finds the perfect opportunity to snag some safety, but the talk of the town is that she’s becoming a big under the radar threat. While Lavo and Gata are still eager to cut Tuku down to size, especially if Kyle loses immunity, Genevieve has other plans. Why ostracize Tuku when she can work with them instead, aiming to take out a Gata member like Rachel before it’s too late and she sneaks into the final three over more obvious threats. Sue and Caroline are down, so there are two rivaling plans heading into the challenge.
This week, it’s a two for one sale on immunity as men and women will compete separately in the Mike “Doing it for Alaska” Gabler memorial endurance challenge. No inspirational tributes this time, but Sue dominates for the women and shows age is just a number while Kyle takes his third necklace in a row. Suddenly, Tuku might be off the table with two of their members immune, and Gata could end up catching strays instead. But for now, Gabe and Caroline are Gata’s targets, focusing on Gabe and his reputation as a bold player over Caroline’s subdued approach.
But little does Gata know that their games are being unraveled as they speak. Not just by Lavo. Not just by Tuku. But by Andy. Last week, he realized Sam and Sierra were playing him like a pawn, and now, Sam and Sierra are openly gloating about writing him off and dragging him further as a goat in their confessionals. It’s cockiness at its most dramatically ironic because Andy whimsically explains his journey from hot mess to hot shot as he puts the wheels in motion to break them up and break free of their leash. His goal is simple: unite Lavo and Tuku against them, and it quickly pans out as everyone on board to break up the fauxmance power couple while Sam has no vote.
Yet, with three Gatas up for elimination, nobody can actually decide which one should be cut. Genevieve is set on sending Rachel home before she sneaks to the end. Teeny really wants Sam out but won’t push too hard for fear of exposing their game to the others. Sol wants Sierra out instead of his loose allies Sam and Rachel, and so on. It’s a case of too many cooks in the kitchen, and the broth is being spoiled because everyone’s got an opinion. And to make things complicated, Rachel is growing uncertain about her place in the game yet again, and rightly so. So an idol could be in play too.
But instead of using her idol, Rachel plays her Shot in the Dark. Interesting choice. It doesn’t work out, but her fears were for nothing as her name never shows up on the parchment, plus she gets a clear read of the room to see if she was actually in trouble. As a bonus, perhaps nobody will suspect she has an idol moving forward if she was so willing to play her “last resort” option tonight. With Sam and Rachel being voteless, that’s nine votes to decide tonight’s unlucky loser, and lo and behold, the kitchen full of cooks cooked up a tied vote between Sam and Sierra with Sierra throwing a lone vote on Gabe.
The writing’s on the wall, but there’s fine print, too. Since Sam doesn’t have a vote and Sierra’s vote wouldn’t be canceled out, the revote will proceed with Sierra voting again. Her only option is Sam, but the rest of the tribe piles on Sierra, viewing her as the bigger long-term threat and head of the snake compared to the huge meat shield of Sam. It’s another blindside to add to the pile as Sierra tearfully vows to be a tough judge on the jury, and with that, we’re down to ten.
It was a big week for Andy as he blew the game wide open again and emerged from his cocoon to become the pivotal player of this post-merge, even without a single dollar in his pocket. It’s a real rags-to-riches, zero-to-hero story on so many levels. But when you make big moves, you make big enemies along the way, and Sam’s looking for revenge after a big betrayal. And all kinds of names are flying next week, with Tuku back on the chopping block and Sol’s name floating around just as he was making some plays, proving that nobody is safe this season, even if they end the night in a great spot.
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