Probably not how you expected this recap to start, huh? But I can only assume this is what was going through Des’s head when she gives us the title quote “Fate is the homie.” And any time I get to include a Coolio reference, I’m coolio with that (okay, yeah, that was bad, but it was just right there). And a quick aside to the aside, I was definitely surprised it was Des who gave us the title quote. I would have put the odds heavily in favor of either Chris or Sea Bass. Anyway, on to the episode itself.
Not wasting any time at Malolo after the previous Tribal Council, we head right into the beach, but not for a challenge. No, no, no. Probst gets down to business and announces a tribe switch pretty much as soon as they settle on the beach. But this time, they’re swapping into three tribes of five. Personally, I would have preferred having them go to two tribes of seven, with the odd person out going to Ghost Island to join whichever tribe loses the next Immunity Challenge. But you can’t have it all. After the switch we’re left with these tribes:
Malolo
Michael
Angela
Des
James
Kellyn
Naviti
Domenick
Donathan
Bradley
Libby
Chelsea – Poor Chelsea I forgot about her. I wrote down all three tribes and double checked to make sure they were right. I was one person short, and could not for the life of me, think of who it was. Then we see a shot of Naviti, and of course it was Chelsea.
Yanuya
Sebastian
Wendell
Chris
Laurel
Jenna
We don’t get a reward challenge this time around as Probst sends the three tribes off to their respective camps.
At the new Yanuya, Wendell gives Sebastian a shell Sebastian found early in the game. He must have either forgotten it or not had the chance to pack it after the switch. Wendell saved it and it possibly made him an immediate ally. I like this move because on the surface, it might seem pretty innocuous. But we hear a confessional from Sea Bass shortly after and you can tell he truly appreciated the gesture. Wendell may have just slid right into that Sea Bass/Jenna alliance. We get a few shots of Chris trying to ingratiate himself with the rest of the tribe. They’re all being polite, but each seem to have more or less the same feeling about Chris. They’ll tolerate him if they keep winning. But if and when they lose another challenge, he would be the vote. Which makes sense. I know the show can be edited to make anyone seem like anything the producers want, but Chris really does come off as over-the-top arrogant. It can’t imagine it was too easy for anyone to live with him for an extended period of time during the game.
And of course we get some classic Chris moments again. Laurel and Sea Bass talk about volleyball and Chris of course inserts himself into the conversation and brags about his own volleyball prowess. He also can’t help but bring up his modeling when talking to Laurel. It goes something like this.
“Actually I do model too. I haven’t told anyone. Well, I told Libby I used to model. But I still do.”
Why did I take the time to lay out the actual conversation? That’s a great question. Because it gives me a great chance to throw in a classic joke from one of my favorite comedians, Mitch Hedberg.
What’s that? You want more? Well if you insist.
(Lots of good stuff but posted for the joke from 7:26-7:50)
Alright, enough with the jokes. Back to the serious stuff.
At Naviti, Courtney, wait that’s not right. Casey? Chrissy? Um… Chelsea! That’s it. She cries because she gets to drink coffee. She continues to produce a thrilling storyline this season.
In actual, worthwhile events, Dom wants to target Libby, or as he so affectionately calls her, “The devil in an angel’s body.” We’ve gotten a few people who see Libby as this sort of femme fatale. And while she’ obviously super attractive and appears to be at least fairly smart, she hasn’t done much to back this up; not that we’ve seen anyway. I really hope her game starts to open up and we get to see this side of her. Dom pitches her as a possible vote to Bradley and he’s seemingly on board with it as the “strategically smart decision.”
Meanwhile, nothing too exciting at Malolo. James and Michael are worried they’re right back on the bottom, being two original Malolos now teamed up with three original Navitis.
Let’s get to the Immunity challenge: One person will call to the tribemates who are blindfolded in pairs of two. They need to retrieve three bags of puzzle pieces. Caller then leads one pair of tribe members (still blindfolded) to solve the puzzle. I’m all in for blindfolded challenges like this. Sure, it’s fun seeing the way they work through these, especially this week as there was the added wrinkle of having the caller guide one of the still-blindfolded pairs through the completion of the puzzle. But what I’m really here for is the unavoidable physical comedy of it all. We’re guaranteed to see at least one or two “laugh at their pain” type of hits. And this week didn’t disappoint. We had Libby not ducking at taking one on the chin. Chelsea (Big episode for her, coffee tears and pain) banged her head on a part of the caller’s tower.
The challenge itself had Dom, Des, and Wendell calling for Naviti, Malolo, and Yanuya, respectively. Des gets Malolo through the retrieving portion lightning fast as they start the puzzle with a big lead. Yanuya and Naviti get to the puzzle at basically the same time and Malolo has done next to nothing with the puzzle. In what could be a challenge-losing mistake, Wendell left two of the three bags back at the caller station. He has to sprint back and get the two bags before they can start on the puzzle. Yet it still made no difference. He leads Yanuya to a victory, and pretty easily too considering how much of a time advantage the other tribes had. Once again the puzzle is the great equalizer.
This point is where my two big complaints come in with this week’s episode. First, no reward for the first place tribe? With no separate reward challenge, and no extra food at camp for the new switch, shouldn’t they have gotten something? Second, and more importantly, nobody got sent to Ghost Island? What’s up with that? Hopefully someone in the press will ask Probst that in one of the many post-episode interviews to be published. I’m very curious about the reasoning there. Maybe Probst and the producers thought there was just too much happening in the episode that they didn’t want to be forced to cut too much out with having to squeeze in a Ghost Island outing. Whatever the reason, let’s hope it’s just a one time thing. I mean, it’s the theme of the season. They would be well-served to go right back to it next week.
Malolo is pretty somber back at camp. Des laments her performance in the challenge and her perceived failure, clearly worried she’ll be a target. Kellyn suggests James as whom they should vote out. Des is on board, obviously. but Angela looks like she might not be on board. We are left heading into Tribal with seemingly two solid twosomes in James & Michael and Des & Kellyn, with Angela stuck in the middle as the assumed deciding vote.
James’ final pleas fall on deaf ears as he is voted out unanimously, 4-1. I liked James from a personal standpoint, he seems like a great guy. But he wasn’t exactly a riveting player, so I’m not too sad to see him go. I’m really looking forward to the merge, as we should be left with mostly a group of fun, energetic players…and probably Chelsea and Angela. I’m not seeing any clear favorites emerge just yet, but those two have to have the bottom all to themselves.
That does it for me, what do you think? Is Libby really Parvati 2.0? Is Bradley as amazing of a player as he says he is? How many more times will I forget about Chelsea this season? Lots to uncover and I’m excited for the rest of the way.
