Dee is gone, the jury begins, and our final thirteen return to camp to assess the damage. Aubry’s idol got flushed when she didn’t even need to play it. Tiffany is so far on the bottom she’s under it at this point, but once again, she can’t let loose and chew out the people running the show (Coach and Jonathan) or she’ll only make it worse. Coach has positioned himself as the ringleader, but also a massive shield who’s getting votes left and right and needs to lay low like… now. Or else his entire alliance might pay the price, from Jonathan to Stephenie to Joe to Chrissy.
But little does the Honor and Integrity alliance know that the real alliance running things is Cirie’s Rizard of Oz, holding multiple advantages and playing the middle between all factions and both eras. Ozzy even scoops up a new ally in Tiffany by owning up to his vote against her, promising an eventual move against Coach’s side. And all the while, the Honor group believes Christian’s nerd alliance are the ones to worry about in terms of playing the middle, and the only thing to worry about in the coming day is coming to a consensus about which one goes next.
But… the vote won’t be so simple, as the cast will learn in due time. A boat arrives informing the tribe they’ll divide into teams of two, leaving one person on the outside. Cirie wins a draw to sit out of the whole ordeal, leaving everyone else to make their picks like it’s a speed dating event. Jonathan and Christian. Joe and Tiffany. Coach and Chrissy. Rizo and Emily. Ozzy and Stephenie. Aubry and Rick. Rick’s name starts floating around on account of his idol hunting skills, and everyone worries he’ll find the replanted idol Aubry just wasted. But Coach sees Tiffany as a force to be reckoned with and tries mending fences, saying he pushed Emily’s name instead but got outvoted. But the second Tiff asks who actually said her name, Coach just blanks. Yeah, he’s done. Bridge burned. Good luck, dude.
When the six pairs arrive for the challenge, the twist rears its ugly head. It’s Double Duo (aka Tied Destinies, the much cooler name I’ll be using instead), an international staple making its debut in US Survivor fifty seasons deep. One team wins immunity and a spaghetti feast, one team is voted out together. That’s right. One team. Both members. Gone just like that in a single night. So that’s gonna SUCK for whoever gets attached to the person who gets targeted first and foremost tonight. But what’s in it for Cirie since she’s sitting out without a partner? Turns out she’s instantly eliminated just to rub salt in the wound, because we gotta cut these numbers down fast. Just kidding. She goes to Exile Island with free immunity for the night. “No twist-screwing the queen out of the game this time,” I say staring ominously at Jimmy Fallon and Mr. Beast lurking on the horizon.
Moving onto the second stage are Tiffany and Joe, Steph and Ozzy, and Aubry and Rick. The nerds get a huge lead but struggle on the table maze itself, allowing Steph and Ozzy to pass them by, only for the old schoolers to rush their attempts and waste time. A last second push from Joe and Tiff after showing up dead last gets them the win, taking Tiffany off the board when she needed immunity the most. Additionally, idols and Shot in the Dark scrolls (limited to one per duo) will protect both members of a pair, so there’s potentially even less room to hide if things get messy.
But avoiding all the chaos tonight is Cirie, stranded alone on Exile… except for the two thousand of coconuts scattered about. One of them has a phoenix emblem on it, and if she can find it before the hourglass runs out of sand, she can return to camp and vote at Tribal with full immunity. If not, she’s stuck there overnight and has no say in the vote, missing out on crucial strategy talk as her allies might be in danger. Cooking in the sun and drained of energy, Cirie’s brought to tears. But Survivor is built to expose you, and every time Cirie plays, she proves herself in new ways, through ups and downs, across twenty years of playing the greatest game on TV. But this season is different. She’s a fully realized person and player… except for the lack of a win on her resume. And finding the phoenix, she rises from the ashes of Exile and returns to camp with her vote intact, ready to shape the game however she can.
Back at camp, the Honor alliance is going to stick together and everyone knows it. Emily calls her shot: Coach and Chrissy need to leave or their alliance will have the numbers for the rest of the season, turning it into Survivor 48 Part Two. But Rizo has a different plan: vote out Aubry and Rick so that nerd herd can’t take control, giving the Rizgod the option to play the middle instead of them. And with Aubry wasting her idol last night, she’s out of luck tonight and has to rely on her strategy to save the day, particularly with Tiffany. And speaking of Tiff, she’s eating spaghetti with Joe who owns up to his vote too. But unlike the rest of his alliance, Joe is actually willing to work with Tiffany for the time being and make some moves down the line. Despite Coach and Chrissy’s obvious game flaws and annoying behavior, they’re good shields for Tiff, and she’s willing to put the drama aside and stay on Rick and Aubry’s tails.
Meanwhile, Chrissy puts Coach in the hammock, tells him to shut up and lay off the haikus for the day, and goes to work putting Rizo’s name in the firing line. All they need is a simple majority with the Honor alliance and the EOE duo working together, and Rizo can get blindsided with the idol in his pocket and Emily joining him out the door. Unfortunately for this plan of hers, Queen Cirie is back and ruins Coach’s epic Dragonslayer daydreaming session in the process. Learning Ozzy is looking to vote out Rick and Aubry, Cirie course corrects him and lays down the law: Coach and Chrissy leaving will weaken this Honor alliance, leaving them struggling without mom and dad around to call the shots. And you know what? Ozzy’s down for some revenge, basically. Coach stole his key on day one, and that’s not even considering all their messy history in South Pacific. So this payback’s been a long time coming.
Cirie gets to work bringing Aubry into the loop too as a rekindled connection and informs Rizo that Chrissy is gunning for him. Not good for her given the track record of previous Rizo voters. And then there’s the Joe of it all, now a sort of swing vote tonight as he’s caught in the middle of betraying his honorable allies again or sticking with a sinking ship. Cirie and Rizo pitch hard for Joe’s vote, but it’s hard to swing him away from Rick after their early season blow up. It’s not looking good for the nerd herd, even with Cirie going to work in their favor… So perhaps it’s time to whip out a nuclear weapon and use that fake idol Rick planted many moons ago. It might be his only shot at staying, and as Coach composes a bizarre swan song with Tribal looming, the final thirteen head into battle yet again…
At Tribal, Aubry says the twist isn’t on trial and they have to deal with the hand the show dealt them, even if it sucks. Didn’t expect a Wardog quote on Survivor 50, but okay, sure, whatever. Anyways, everyone approached this vote differently. You have the people laying low and hiding, those trying to direct the vote from a place of implied safety, and those in the firing line like Rick… who goes for that fake idol in the firepit and sends shockwaves through the entire tribe, sparking a live Tribal. Well, so much for knocking out those nerds tonight. Even if he won’t show anyone the idol (or even play it, lying that he has to get it back to camp to activate it), it’s too much of a risk to play against, and the votes fall against Chrissy and Coach in a landslide instead. Coach plays his Shot in the Dark as a last resort to save his duo, but it’s a dud, and out the door they go, betrayed by almost their entire alliance except for Jonathan in the process.
It’s a bittersweet sendoff for Coach, one of the show’s most iconic characters who brought his A-game on 50 and redeemed himself from that weird cult leader persona he flaunted the last time he played. But it’s a downright shameful sendoff for Chrissy, screwed by yet another twist nobody asked for as her final words get cut off mid-sentence, one last awful part of an awful edit. Final Four Firemaking then, Tied Destinies now. What’s next? They bring back the Hourglass and knock her out with that one in Survivor 60 where she’s even less visible? That being said, while nobody asked or voted for this twist… it’s not that terrible. There’s an element it adds to the vote that’s actually compelling and gets you thinking about your long term strategy, unlike the Blood Moon where it’s just a random swap with extra steps designed to screw three people out of good positions. Granted, Tied Destinies screwed Chrissy hard. That’s really hard to deny. Even Coach might’ve been safe tonight without the twist making the two of them a double target too juicy to ignore.
But at the very least the twist is interesting and doesn’t rely on stealing half the cast’s votes to be dramatic. They just need to inform the cast about the twist in advance so they choose pairs with full production transparency and it would actually be good. Hate it all you want, but at least they didn’t draw rocks for teams and screw someone by random draw again. Then it really would’ve lit the fandom on fire (though Jeff continuously saying we asked for these twists with the voting numbers as “receipts” already did that, don’t worry).
So with the Honor alliance dying out fast, the stage is set for a middle man showdown between Christian’s nerd herd and Cirie’s Rizard of Oz, assuming the defanged remnants of the Honor alliance can become crucial swing votes here… or they’ll just be picked off because nobody wants to take all the loyal challenge beasts to the endgame. But first they’ll have to beat the ultimate challenge beast in an endurance classic next week… Jeff Probst, making his challenge debut for some reason. I don’t like Jeff making Survivor into his self-serving power hour, but hey, as long as he’s not rapping this time, I’ll let it slide.
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