UPDATING LIVE:
We left off last week’s episode with our castaways in an interesting place. 13 players remain after Dee Valladares became the first member of the jury and those who believe they’re responsible for orchestrating her exit were acting pretty high and mighty as they entered Tribal Council, so we have a pretty good idea they’re going to be on an even higher horse riding out of it.
But viewers at home already know something they don’t…there are a few spies on the inside of their alliance. And the key philosophy of Survivor is that when you feel the most on top, you’re usually about to fall. But longtime fans of the show also know, it’s easier to keep around the people no one likes because they aren’t real threats.
So as we go into episode 8, “Double the Fun, Double the Demise,” we’re wondering if the “honor and integrity” alliance is about to be corrupted, or if one of our early Cila power players—who’s been laying low strategically since the merge—might find themselves sitting next to Dee as Survivor 50’s second juror.
Credit where credit isn’t due
Coach Wade takes full credit for Dee’s elimination. He brags to Jonathan Young about they tried to come for him, but they’re never gonna get him because he’s running the game. Jonathan advises him to just maybe tone it down a bit in front of everyone else, which Coach doesn’t really know how to do, but he tells Jonathan he won’t run the next vote to appease everyone.
Jonathan, Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick, and Chrissy Hofbeck connect about the fear of their fourth ally Coach being too much and turning off the other players. They need to keep their core fourth and their additional allies of Ozzy Lusth, Cirie Fields, and Joe Hunter united in order to vote out the “middle people”—Aubry Bracco, Emily Flippen, Christian Hubicki, and Rick Devens—who are most likely to sneak their way to the end with great resumes.
While this is happening, Ozzy Lusth meets up with Tiffany to let her know he voted for her because he needs to stay on Coach’s good side to keep an in with that alliance in order to take him out. But he’s secretly working with Cirie and Rizo Velovic to flip the switch and control the game from the inside of all alliances. Tiffany trusts Ozzy, respecting that he told her what’s up.
Look! There’s a boat!
A boat approaches with a note for the castaways to divide into six pairs with one outlier. Devens, Cirie, and Aubry opt to sit out, so they put their shot in the darks in a bag for a blind pull and Cirie is randomly chosen to be out. Jonathan asks Joe how they did this in Survivor 48 where they kind of just chose their closest ally. So instead, they decide to network to pick their pairs.
They choose to pair up as:
- Jonathan Young and Christian Hubicki
- Emily Flippen and Rizo Velovic
- Aubry Bracco and Rick Devens
- Coach Wade and Chrissy Hofbeck
- Ozzy Lusth and Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick
- Joe Hunter and Tiffany Ervin
After everyone pairs up, Jonathan and Joe connect, wondering who to vote out tonight with Joe throwing out Tiff’s name. Ozzy approaches and recommends Devens because he’s the idol guy and there’s likely an idol back in play after Aubry flushed it at the last Tribal Council.
Chrissy tells Coach to just lay low, but recommends that he tells Tiff that he didn’t drive the plan for the Tiff split vote. He sits down Tiff and tells her that he was pushing for Emily, not her and when she asks who was pushing for her name, he doesn’t know what to say. She acts like everything’s fine, but it obviously isn’t.
New challenge, new twist
At the challenge arena, host Jeff Probst meets the pairs, letting them know he has another twist for them. The pairs they are in will run the challenge together, and they will win immunity together. At Tribal Council, everyone will vote individually, but they can only vote for a pair and a pair will be eliminated together.
Since Cirie isn’t in a pair, she isn’t able to play for immunity, but she also isn’t up for elimination as a pair. So she is sent to Exile Island, not able to participate in the vote, but remaining safe.
