Chappies Kitchen is still operating in full force. After his foraging was fully brought out into the open at Tribal, he decides there’s no reason to stop now. If he can keep giving himself small advantage after small advantage, he’s going to do that. And hey, it’s been working so far. Why stop now?
The next morning, he goes on a coconut-hunting binge. He finds 10 coconuts and 5 sugar canes, which he buries and hides, creating a secret stash.
Immunity Challenge
This is what I’m talking about. I love these big, physically taxing challenges late in the game. Give the players the biggest, toughest challenges when they’re the most depleted. Love it.
For this challenge, the players race out to a structure in the water to retrieve a key. Back on shore, the key unlocks a set of stairs, which they climb to retrieve a second key. Going back to the water, that key unlocks a bag containing a monkey’s fist. They use this to hook a lever which releases a ladder. Climbing the ladder, they pick up another key. Once again back to the water structure, they release a pole with a bag of puzzle pieces. They climb back up the structure once more to complete the puzzle.
They are also playing for a reward, getting to pick one jury member to have breakfast with the next morning. I actually like this, as a once in a while thing. It can be a huge advantage for whoever wins the challenge…if they pick the correct juror. There’s a lot of pressure there. There’s also no guarantee that player even makes it to the end. While it could be massive for the player here, it’s not certain to be overpowered.
Once again Chappies gets out to a lead. He’s first back to the puzzle, though Anela and Tyson aren’t too far behind. But Chappies’ lead is just enough, winning immunity yet again. Chappies makes history with this win, his fifth of the season. Just unbelievable.
Osindile
Back at camp, the food wars continue. Chappies brings his collection of coconuts to the rest of the tribe, offering to share. Nicole seems thrilled at his willingness to share now. And in a super surprising twist, Anela and Tyson view it in a negative light. They think his hoarding of food, and now only sharing with his spot in the final three guaranteed, as insight into his true character.
Reward Breakfast
Predictably, Chappies chooses Anesu to have breakfast with, which was the clear-cut right choice. Anesu tells Chappies his food antics may have actually swayed some of the jury members, as a smart strategic move in the “Outwit” portion of the game.
Regarding his chances against the rest of the three, Chappies would sweep against Nicole, and would win handily, maybe even another sweep against Anela. Tyson would be his toughest competitor, though it sounds like Chappies would still have the edge.
After Anesu leaves, Chappies opens a letter, containing another advantage. It’s a juror removal twist. Not a fan. Not a fan of this advantage in general, and certainly not a fan of someone receiving this on top of the information from Anesu.
Pre-Tribal
Tyson seems to be the consensus boot, which makes sense. He and Chappies are the biggest threats left, and Chappies is immune. It *should* be an easy, straightforward vote.
But Tyson is a gamer, so he’s not giving up. He speaks to Chappies about voting out Anela instead. He’s survived more Tribal Councils than anyone, he and Nicole were able to overcome an opposing majority. And he’s a coach, so he should be able to talk himself up in front of a jury.
Tyson’s points do make sense, but it’s probably too little too late. He’s the biggest threat to Chappies’ game, and Chappies knows this. This should be an easy 3-1 vote. But, this is still Survivor, so we’ll just have to see…
Tribal Council
Anela brings up an interesting point about the breakfast reward. He says he might have chosen someone he hadn’t necessarily gotten along with. Try to mend that fence. I get it, but I disagree. I would have gone the same route as Chappies, choose someone I know I can trust. Even if it’s not what I wanted to hear, I would want accurate information.
During Tribal, Nico drops a bombshell on the players: there is still one more immunity challenge left, meaning it’s a Final 2 rather than the assumed Final 3. Of course, we the fans knew this, based on the TV schedule. But for whatever reason, the players were seemingly all in agreement that this was it.
With that new information, Chappies reevaluates his plan. He thinks Anela is more of a challenge threat than Tyson, meaning Tyson’s game might not yet be over. After some discussion, he tells Nicole he’s going to switch his vote, and she agrees to go along with it.
Chappies removes Wardah from the jury. This was the smart and obvious decision. Of the current jurors, she would have been the hardest for Chappies to win over. While I think Chappies is the most deserving player of those left, I still hate this for Wardah. Not many things are sacred in Survivor, but your vote as a juror is one of those few things.
On the vote, Chappies did change his vote to Anela, but Nicole stuck to her guns and voted Tyson along with Anela. Tyson voted for Nicole, though, because he “misread the situation,” as he tells us in his final words. That’s interesting to me. I would have to believe the three guys view Nicole as having the weakest threat level.
Going into the final immunity challenge, Chappies’ situation likely remains unchanged. He needs to win. If he loses, Anela and Nicole would most likely take each other. That would be an uninspiring Final Tribal. That is only magnified after seeing Chappies’ breakfast with Anesu. Assuming what she said was true – and we have no reason to believe it’s not – the jury held Chappies and Tyson in much higher regard than those two.
You never know what can happen, but my initial instinct is that Final Tribal will not be very interesting or intriguing. Chappies either wipes the floor with Nicole or Anela, or Anela and Nicole try to talk up their rather unimpressive games. I like them both just fine, and neither played a bad game, per se. In my eyes, I just don’t think they’ve played a winning game. If it does come down to those two in the final, hopefully they’ll both take advantage of their opportunity and make a strong case for themselves. It sounds like they’ll need it.
