At Siga, Moriah is feeling the heat after the Jem vote. She was left out of the plan, and still voted for Ben. Moriah is trying to find the silver lining in that she was not voted for. There was no vote split with her as the backup. It might not mean much, if anything, but she needs something to grasp onto at this point. But still, her entire tribe still lied to her, soooo… But then a potential saving grace comes in the form of the (almost) merge.
At Nami, Hunter gets to work on finding his idol. He had been given another clue, that if they were informed of this before they lose a challenge, then he can return to where he found the Beware Advantage to find his next clue. He manages to find the key, and sprints to get back to the idol, securing it before the other tribes arrive at the Nami camp. Having lost his vote at the last journey, this could potentially be what keeps him in the game.
With five Nami and five Siga, the three remaining Yanu could be the collective swing vote for the new merged tribe.
Venus wastes no time and goes right to Q, telling him she wants to work with Yanu. On the flip side, Tevin goes to Q and Tiffany to tell them to specifically look out for Venus. The three also discuss the Journey 6 (weak name but w/e). Q, Tiffany, Hunter, and Tevin are all on board, but they are all a little less certain about Tim. So Q talks to Maria, who Tim had said he was going to bring in. However, Maria is surprised by this, telling us Tim would likely be her #3.
Venus makes her inroads with Siga as well, talking to Tim and Moriah about potentially crossing tribal lines. She pitches “a name for a name,” which could be great for her, considering she doesn’t really care at all about her supposed Nami numbers. But she might be coming on too strong, at least as far as Moriah’s concerned. She views Venus as a strong player, but in a way that would not be beneficial to her game. Tim feels the same, and this seems to motivate him to finally talk to Maria about the alliance of 6.
Here’s the thing with what’s happening now, though. As has become the norm, this is a cast of fans. And what that means at this point in the game is they all know what’s coming. They know they’re not officially merged, that the stupid mergatory is right around the corner. They have to be very careful talking strategy right now, because half of the players are going to end up being safe at the next vote. You can’t plan or play too hard just yet.
Mergatory
I’m just kind of numb to this at this point. So dumb. But, alas, here we are.
Purple: Kenzie, Tim, Tevin, Hunter, Ben, and Q
Orange: Charlie, Moriah, Soda, Maria, Liz, and Venus
Tiffany draws the gray rock, and she backs the purple team.
One at a time, the castaways race under muddy net to cart. Once all players have reached the cart, they push in through a field, collecting sand bags. They use sand bags to climb to top of tower, where they get a bag of keys and slide down the other side. Next they climb massive boulder, where the final puzzle awaits. Two players at a time use one crate to solve one section of a three-section puzzle.
Purple, as expected, gets to the puzzle first with a decent lead. But as we all know, it all comes down to the puzzle. No lead is guaranteed to hold. This one does, though, making the Purple team + Tiffany safe.
Pre-Tribal
With the losing tribe equally split between Siga and Nami, one of them has to take the first hit. At the feast, Tevin is quick to throw out Venus. After pussyfooting around it, Tim finally gives in and says Moriah for the Siga name to give to the Nami players. But with how reluctant Tim and Ben were to even give a name, and how open Tevin and Hunter were with offering up Venus, Tiffany thinks Moriah might be the better target.
Tim talks to Charlie about the vote, and wanting to protect their tribe numbers. But Charlie is more willing to vote Moriah; he just wants to make sure he ends up on the right side of this all-important first vote.
However, Venus doesn’t want to vote Moriah. She wants to send a man home next. She thinks Charlie and Ben are close, and since Charlie is the only man who can catch votes, he’s her de facto target. This rubs some of the others the wrong way, especially Tevin and Q, who both would have no problem voting Venus.
Come on Venus, you gotta just bite the bullet here. If the vote is coming down to you or someone else, and the numbers are on your side, I think you just need to roll with it. Live to fight another day. Sure, maybe Charlie is actually a bigger threat than Moriah. But all she’s doing is giving the other players just another reason to vote her outside instead.
Tribal Council
Moriah plays her Shot in the Dark, but it comes up Not Safe. And she voted out nearly unanimously, with one vote for Venus coming from Charlie. Either he was completely left in the dark (unlikely), or he threw one rogue vote in case Moriah’s Shot in the Dark had hit (much more likely).
Would have liked to see a little something about how things swung so decidedly against Moriah. I get the show wanted to keep us in the dark about the vote, but come on. Give us a taste at least.
This actually would have been a pretty dang good episode, if not for the terrible Mergatory twist. But still, easily the best episode of the season, so maybe things are looking up (but with the dreaded split Tribal seemingly looming next week, that may be short-lived).
