Secret Scene: Joe
Watch as Joe's final moments in the game unfold when he is told that he must be evacuated from the game.
Dr. Lucy: Is it actually causing you a whole heap of pain when you're walking and moving around?
Joe: I keep moving so it doesn't hurt, but when I get up and the blood rushes to it, is when it does that throbbing and...yeah.
Joe (solo): My knee infection just got real bad, it got a lot worse. Concentrated, got real...it's like on fire right now. It's not getting better.
Dr. Lucy: This is really swollen. It's getting worse. It's a dangerous place to be.
Jeff: What's your reaction, Joe?
Joe: It sucks, man. I'm really disappointed. It's tough, man. It's a lot of time. I would like to do some things for some people there. I think I have the immunity idol, so I'd like to hand that off to somebody.
Joe (solo): Literally I was just getting started. I had my thing going with Erinn, I think I had the hidden immunity idol. That was a hgue door opener. I was gonna hand to idol to JT. He needs it as much as I did or maybe more. I was feeling good about it. And I really, really, really wanted my knee to get better. And it didn't, so it's cool.
Joe: That's really it. Say farewell, y'know.
Jeff: You're gonna have to say farewell to me. We're gonna evacuate you to [didn't hear the word] City.
Joe (solo): I feel like I could have made it far. I don't know if I would have won or not but I feel like I could have made it a lot further.
Joe: I'm a little pissed at myself because I feel like I could have kept it clean.
Dr. Lucy: If it makes you feel any better, I don't reckon there's anything you could have done to prevent it. No matter how clean you kept it, there's so many bugs out here, it's so dirty, your body's under so much stress. If it happens it's going to happen. There's not much you could have done to prevent it.
Joe: Alright. That makes me feel a little better.
Dr. Lucy: Except not getting the cut in the first place.
Joe: We won the challenge though, so...
Jeff: Spoken like a true Survivor. Let's bring in the helicopter and get you out of here.
Joe (solo): I gave this game everything I've got, physically, mentally, emotionally, whatever. Not a lot of people can say they had a ten percent shot at winning a million bucks. When you start to taste it, when the numbers start adding up, it's really hard to walk away from it.
Joe's Final Words
Joe leaves his parting words before being airlifted out of the game.
"So overall I did what I could."
(cut)
"I have no absolutely no regrets for how I played the game. I played the game exactly how I wanted to. I really have no regrets and I feel like I executed the things I set out to do, so in that regard it was successful. I had some plans going forward that were going to be cool and I would like to just give myself an opportunity to do them."
(cut)
"The fact that you get blindsided literally by your own body just goes to show you that this game is, anything can happen. That's the main lesson I learned, that one, just generally speaking, Mother Nature's pretty awesome force, and two, pretty small, and three, this game is tough. I think I'm tough enough to win this game, but I got a little thing in my knee, and it took me down. It's everything. I don't know. It sucks, man. (fumes) I wish I could be there."
(cut)
"I was really starting to like the simple life, as funny as that sounds. Things are pretty simple. As much as your head's moving and you're strategizing, day to day activity is pretty simple. I kind of dig that. I'm gonna miss a little bit of that. Also, being around the same people all day every day, it's kind of cool. Back home, you're running around a million miles an hour, even your best friend you see once a month sometimes. I kind of like that."
(cut)
"I go home a changed man because I did have some doubts about myself out here, I did have some kind of uncertainty about how I played the game, and I played it how I wanted. I think in a way that kind of just changed me and let me know I can do what I set out to do in that regard. It's definitely...I'm a more confident guy right now."
(cut)
"It's really hard to have the opportunity to win a million dollars pulled out from under you. When everybody leaves and they're like, 'Joe, will you hang around,' you know what's going on. You know it's not going to be good. It sucks, again, I don't know. Yeah, it sucks. A million bucks is great, a hundred grand is great, whatever. A million bucks would have been awesome. Knowing you actually had a one in ten shot, a ten percent chance and then a couple factors you know about that other people don't know about, may give you a better shot than that, fifteen or twenty, then you really start to feel good. Not a lot of people can say they've had a ten percent shot at winning a million bucks. When you start to taste it, and the numbers start adding up, it's really hard to walk away from it."
Coach Chi
Coach describes the form of Tai Chi that he practices in the morning to get centered.
"What I was doing with my mind was a kind of combination. What I was doing with my mind was the most important part. It's a little tai chi, but mostly it's chong ran (?), which is a very esoteric Tibetan type of meditation. It's a way to feel all the fibers and muscles pulled tight like a bow string. When I'm coming this way (pulls his right elbow back), what I do is I hold it and try to tense every muscle, all the way down here (touches his left arm and goes across his chest), here, whichever muscle's flexing across here, and as I'm doing that I'm breahting in and I'm breathing out, and I'm doing that just to release. I'm also praying a little bit, but I'm releasing everything from my body. At the same time I'm focusing on a piece of rope that's been tied in a knot, and I'm untying it slowly with my mind. You've got to work on several different things. It really, for me it centers me quicker than anything else. If I'm really upset about something - I was really upset with Sierra, and I felt like I needed a little bit of time to myself to get centered. I made a comment that I'm gonna do that every morning, I'm gonna wake up every morning and do that. It's been a team game up to now. We've been Timbira. But on that horizon, in another day or two, it's gonna be an individual game. For me, my individual game has gotta step up. The asthma's a crutch, I've gotta stop using that. I've got to worry about me. I've gotta be who I am, and stay true to that. So that was kind of a combination of what I was doing out there. A couple of disciplines rolled into one."
Joe's Fake Idol
Taj shares a laugh as she reflects on the moment she realized that Joe discovered her fake immunity idol.
"Joe has the fake idol right now. He came back from Exile yesterday and he decided he needed some time to himself and he took a little walk and stayed away for about 10-15 minutes and came back with a lump in his pants. (laughs) I don't think it was anatomy."
(cut)
"If he was the first one to go, it would be hard to tell if he was lying or not, but because I've already been there and done that, he was very bad. (laughs)"
(cut)
"I'm not always checking pants, but it was just so clear that there was a lump in his pants, and it wasn't there before he left."
(cut)
"Joe has lost his entire alliance, mostly because they basically turned on each other. They first turned on Spencer, and then of course once they were outnumbered, he had to give up for Sydney. He actually didn't turn on, he voted for me last night, but he's outnumbered. Once they let one go it was just a matter of time before we could break up the whole crew."
A Divided Tribe
Debbie comments on the complications of being a united tribe when they originated from two opposing tribes.
"So right now with the merge, we're up 6-4. We're two tribe members up. This should be a piece of cake for us. We should be able to cruise right through, knock out all the Jalapao, and control the game. We're up two tribe members. That's huge. What we've got to do now is win individual immunities so we can, when we go to Tribal, knock out Jalapao. That's the plan, that's been our plan for weeks."
(cut)
"We raised a toast to the new tribe. It's not a new tribe. It's still Timbira and Jalapao. That's the way we've been out here. We've been fighting for our lives out here in two different tribes. You can't just (snaps fingers) lay down the hatchet and be, 'OK, we all love each other and we're gonna be one tribe now. That's not the way the world works. It's gonna take some tribe for this group to merge. No matter how much time we're out here, there's always gonna be that, I'm a Timbira tribe member, through and through, to the end."
(cut)
"You just don't drop all that immediately and lay down the staff and become all one happy family. No. We're still definitely two tribes that have merged."
Debbie's Hardships
Debbie discusses how much the game is wearing on her as time goes on.
"Day 21 has been really hard for me. I'm exhausted. Out of energy. Hungry. Didn't sleep last night at all. Worked all day on trying to stay dry under the umbrella, and then when I crawled into bed, there was a huge puddle where someone's water jug had glug-glugged onto the palms. My pants were soaked. Day 21 is hard for me right now. Like I said, we're tired, it's not real bright and sunny so we don't know whether to really get in the water. We're hungry. Trying to keep trudging on. Today is the tiredest I think I've been, and the most mentally exhausted I've been today."
(cut)
"It's getting to the part of the game where the physical elements are starting to take a big toll. Cuts, scrapes. Yesterday I was wrapped around a pole and I scraped up my inner thighs pretty bad. The elements - just wow. The rain was relentless yesterday. It looks like it could start the same thing up again this afternoon. It's really getting intense out here. And again the food supply, we haven't been able to catch fish for the last couple of days. We think the rain may have something to do with it, so we haven't had anything. Timbira tribe members haven't had any fish, except for Tyson, which he ate after the feast. We were all so full and I was physically sick. I made myself horribly sick after the feast. None of us have even had any fish. We're struggling today."
Iron Sharpens Iron
Coach reveals how his relationship with Brendan has helped to remedy his personality flaws.
"The relationship with Brendan, it's there, it's good, it's not great. I see qualities in him that I really like, and I hear about Brendan's world outside of here, and that makes me think that's something that's so foreign to me. Being a business background and a soccer and conducting background. I like hearing it. I'm actually trying to use the things he says to make those slight changes. To not be the old man on the tribe who complains about everything, y'know, beans and bedding. On that point it was refreshing to hear him say something about, 'I challenge you to one night of sitting in bed and not moving and not complaining.' I did, and then I did it again and I did it again. It was kind of like this mental banter. Although he just said it flippantly, iron sharpens iron, not because he's trying to sharpen me, he's trying to rib me and get my goat. I'm gonna take that. Anything anybody says to me that's positive/negative, I'm gonna take that, I'm gonna digest it, and I'm either gonna put it away or make a positive change in my life. So I think I get so used to being over people in the real world that when it's out here and everybody's equal, kind of, it makes you think. I liked that. It was iron sharpens iron for him to do that, inadvertently. I'm gonna take whatever I can get from this experience and make myself a better person and look at my life from another viewpoint."
Life at Forza
The new Forza members adjust to living at the old Timbira camp.
(JT, Coach , and Brendan try to put a tarp on the shelter)
Brendan (solo): Things are very different now. If Timbira were to stay as one, which would be smart, it really doesn't matter, because we can eliminate them one by one by one until they're weak. I'm willing to bet on that.
(Taj, Debbie, Erinn, JT, talk about how great the camp is, then talk to Joe about his knee)
Debbie (solo): Joe's in a bad place. When I looked at Joe's leg it looked like he had a hot pink red sock on. I think he has a bad infection going on in his body. That all of a sudden kind of raised some eyebrows with us.
(Debbie jokingly tells Joe she'll carry him around)
Upset Stomachs After the Merge
The new Forza Tribe members feel a little queasy after devouring a large quantity of food at the Merge Feast.
Brendan: I feel so sick. My stomach is so full, like lying down, I thought it would make it better, but that just makes it feel worse, so I had to get up and walk around and get stuff moving. I went way overboard, but it felt good.
(cut)
JT: We've eaten more than we can handle right now. We gorged ourselves as soon as we got here, because we were all starving. There's still food left, but we can't eat it, because we've made ourselves sick.
(cut)
Debbie: (bent over in the shelter) I feel very sick. (cut) I ate way too much and now I don't know if I can keep it down. (cut) I think I gorged myself. (Debbie takes a breath)
(cut)
Coach: Nah, actually it was in moderation. I'm cool. I'm just taking a deep breath, I'm hoping I can get some of this stuff down a little bit, so I can go eat some more food.
(cut)
Taj: I got a bigger stomach, apparently. I can hold more. I'm full and stuffed to the hilt, but I just don't wanna leave anything behind. Tomorrow we're back to beans and rice.
Debbie Probes Taj
Debbie pries for information regarding whether or not Taj is in possession of the hidden immunity idol.
Debbie: Do you think Brendan has the immunity idol?
Taj: I don't know.
Debbie: He told us you have it.
Taj: I know. (makes a noise)
Debbie: He told us you came back from Exile, when you guys came back the first time, you got the clue, you went up, he didn't get the clue, but you got the clue, you went up and looked, and he never got to look the first trip.
Taj: I'm just gonna say I never got the clue. That's all I'm gonna say.
Debbie: OK. Well, you can say more.
Taj: I'm not gonna tell on anybody.
Debbie: That's what he told us. That he had the clue, that you looked, and that now Stephen and no one else has looked out there because they're all convinced you have it.
Taj: No! (something I didn't hear)
Debbie: When Spencer went, we thought you'd played the idol.
Taj: No. JT and Stephen were just in back of me, covering me.
Debbie: OK. So you don't have the idol.
Taj: I'm just gonna say I never had the clue.
Debbie: I believe you.
Taj: You figure that out.
Debbie: OK, then you know what that means. Our tribe has been lied to by one of our tribe members.
Taj: I'm not gonna cause anything, but I'm just gonna say I didn't get the clue. That's just between us.
Debbie: Can I share that with my tribe?
Taj: I just don't want it to put any more pressure on me. My head's on the chopping block. She's over there causing trouble.
Debbie: You've got to understand. Your head's not on the chopping block anymore.
Taj: Not today. (something about JT)
Debbie: Now that you're with us, don't worry. We love you. Your head's not on the block.
Taj: I just don't want to be messy. I don't want to do that. I feel like he's trying to put that on me. Twice I've had to escape Tribal Council with my life. If I had an idol...
Debbie: It's the craziest thing, seriously. This whole game is so insane. It's so insane. But OK, seriously, I do think my tribe needs to know you do not have the idol, and you never even had a clue. Let me tell Tyson.
Taj: I don't even think it will matter.
Debbie: Let me tell Tyson.
Taj: You can tell him. One thing is I don't even have a bag. Where would I put it? I don't have a bag.
Debbie: All our bags are all torn up and trashed.
Taj: My bag was destroyed a long time ago. That red bag has my glasses, my underwear, and I took one of the little treemail things. I have no clothes. Where would I put it?
Debbie: Exactly. Exactly.
Taj Slips Up
Taj admits to JT and Stephen that she accidentally tipped-off Brendan that he might be next on the chopping block.
Stephen: OK, they're...um...
(Taj walks towards them)
Taj: Can I join in?
Stephen: Please do. We think they want to scare you into...
Taj: Using my idol?
Stephen: So don't act scared.
Taj: I've been putting little bugs in Brendan's ear that they're trying to blindside him, so...
(Stephen and JT look concerned)
JT: Into Brendan's ear?
Taj: I told him that Coach and Tyson are definitely trying to say us. (she sees their unease) Oh no, did I mess up?
Stephen: They didn't talk to me about that.
Taj: Of course they didn't. I made it up.
Stephen: OK.
JT: If they keep us one more week, then we use our idol, if we have to, we tie them. I got Coach believing Brendan's a threat with the idol.
Taj: Well, he is.
JT: I know, but don't tell him and Brendan uses the idol and votes one of us off.
Taj: I didn't know, you didn't tell me this yesterday.
JT: I've been trying to get a chance.
Stephen: This is new information to me.
JT: Now if Brendan uses the idol, he can vote one of us off just by a single vote, if they do vote for him.
Taj: I just got up and walked away, I felt like the odd man out while they were all sitting under the umbrella whispering about us.
JT: You're looking at the final 3 right here. I promise, Taj, I've never lied to you and I'm not gonna start now.
Taj: I know. Gimme some. That's my dude. That's my dude. (they hug, and then Stephen, still looking on nervously, hugs Taj) I wanna go back to Jalapao. I feel so uncomfortable.
Stephen: One of us has to go back. (to JT) Will you go back? (JT goes)
The State of the Exile Alliance
Stephen comments on the hopes and fears surrounding the future of his Exile Alliance.
"The reason I'm not too worried coming into a merge down numbers is I'm in this Exile alliance. That's me, Brendan, Taj, and Sierra. The 4 original Exiles. We have 2 idols in our possession, and 2 tribes. We think we can work within each tribe to pick people off here and there until we have indisputable control of the game."
(cut)
"My fear there is Brendan is certainly in charge of that alliance, and who is he gonna take to the final 3, probably Sierra and Taj. I don't know how I get from a foursome to winning the game. It's a good inroad to Timbira; I'm gonna try to make others. I think just from challenges, Tyson and I could bond. I've exhanged a few glances with him. I'm gonna try to recuit him. All the Jalapao members have someone they're targeting. I know Taj is gonna talk to Brendan and Sierra, I'm gonna talk to Tyson, JT's gonna talk to Coach."
(cut)
"The Exile alliance has never been together as one unit. I've never spoken to Sierra. I've never confirmed with her I'm even in an alliance. There's obviously something extremely ephermal about it. Meeting them, hugging them, eating with them, it does at least give a sense of camraderie with them, but everybody else was there, we certainly weren't, touching our noses or giving each other winks. We all played it very cool. I've gotta see what happens in the coming days."
Brendan on Individual Immunity
Brendan reveals how paranoia is heightened now that the game has shifted from the tribe level to the individual level.
"Now the immunity challenges are all on yourself. There's no blame game, there's no second-guessing strategy. It's all like what have you got in here (touches his chest) and up here (points to his brain) and maybe a little bit here (points to a bicep). You kind of go from there. It's an individual game. The dynamics of the individual immunity challenges immediately translated to tribe life as well, because it's an individual game now. Everybody's jockeying for themselves, everybody wants the million bucks."
(cut)
"I think it's important to win all the immunity challenges, if you can. The first one, definitely, takes the edge off a little bit, because I think within our own tribe, the former Timbira tribe, we had a strategy, but I think it's already breaking down. I can feel it. I don't necesarily trust people. I think it's a great safety net to have it. The other good thing is I have this (shows the hidden immunity idol), so I can use this if I feel the need to. Hopefully it won't be sitting in my pocket when I should have used it."
(cut)
"In order to pull the hidden immunity out, it's going to be a gut call. I think you just have to trust that because you can't trust what comes out of other people's mouth here. It's a gut call. It's eye contact, it's body feel. Are they looking at you a certain way, are they not looking at you a certain way? Have they asked you more questions than usual? Are they nicer to you than usual? All those little things, they're all kind of tips."
Sierra After the Challenge
Sierra explains how proud she is that she finished third in the first individual immunity challenge.
"At the end of the challenge today, I was very, very proud of myself for making it to the third spot. I had my eyes closed for the most part so I didn't even know who was dropping out unless I was listening. I thought I could get past Debbie, but I knew Tyson was gonna be the one who was gonna hold on the longest. A part of me knew I was never gonna win the challenge to Tyson, but I never would have thrown it. Just parts of my body were sliding and it's inevitable after a while when your lips start shaking. For the most part I'm extremely proud of myself that for the first immunity challenge we had individually, I made it that far. I don't even think my tribemates thought I could have made it that far."
(cut)
"Timbira busted our butts. We went from a cold-hearted losing streak to pulling the numbers, to pulling what counts. We didn't get any rewards, but we had full immunity the whole way through. And now we're reaping the benefits."
JT's New Alliance
Despite originating from the tribe with lesser numbers after the merge, JTs future looks bright.
"Tyson and I went fishing this morning. Tyson caught his first fish. I seemed to be giving everyone their first fish around here. He just reassured things Coach and I talked about, which was they're ready to make a big move, they want 2 people they can trust to the end. Steven and myself were their 2. I let 'em know Tyson and Coach wanted two more guys, warriors, they could trust to the end. They picked me not ever even talking to me, and i told 'em Steven is the only other guy I trust 100%. It fell right into us. I mean, it's perfect. They're ready to make a power move, and I kind of brought up to Coach yesterday that the power move to be made is to get Brendan out of here with his idol."
(cut)
"There's a lot of trust. Coach is basing this thing on trust and loyalty. I'm gonna have to be truly loyal to him. But I'm also not gonna be the fourth or fifth guy in this thing, so it's gonna be interesting to see how it goes."
(cut)
"Coach and I, we've been dying to talk to each other. It's been turning out just like I'd planned. They need me and Steven right now, and when they don't need us, there'll be someone else that does. This game could go really good right now if I just stick to my plan."
An Individual Game
Brendan comments on how the game has changed after the merge.
"The merge was kind of a honeymoon. That feast, everybody was just hanging out, but sitting back and taking it all in, like, 'Only one of these people wins the game.' You start to hone in on that at that point. That's particularly evident once we did the immunity challenge and you can see the dynamics start to really change. It's not something just because you had the merge didn't necessarily signal it or you couldn't feel it became an individual game, but once we did the immunity challenge, it clicked (snaps fingers). I was like, 'Oh my God, this game feels completely different.' Games aren't around anymore. They might be, but they're loose teams."
(cut)
"With 10 people around camp now, the politics, the landscape of the politics expands dramatically, so sleeping yeah, we don't have enough to cover everybody at night, but people can deal with that. I can deal with that, no big deal. The bigger deal for me is controlling the storytelling and controlling the messaging within the entire new tribe, because that could potentially cause issues."
Erinn on Joe's Departure
Erinn reflects on losing what could have been her greatest ally in the game.
"Jeff comes in, tells us Joe's out of the game. Every time I think I'm up in this game, I get smacked back down. Just happened again. I don't know. I'm bummed that Joe's gone. Genuinely bummed out about it. I didn't really need him much, but it would have been nice to have a friend out here, would have been nice to have somebody to bounce things off of. Sucks. I don't like it."
(cut)
"I don't think anyone is being callous in the way they're acting about Joe going home. If someone goes home you don't know, it's just another competition you were going to vote out anyway. In some respects I guess I could say the same thing. Every person that goes home is me being one person closer to winning. It's a good thing and a bad thing either way you look at it, but really, I'm concerned about my friend, and that comes first."
(cut)
"There's a huge difference between beating someone and having them taken out. Being taken out isn't fun for anyone. You don't get that satisfaction of oh that was a competitior, and I stomped them out. It's not, I plotted and I planned and the things I did made the course go this way. It takes things out of our hands and I don't think anybody likes feeling like that. We almost all had wished we could have voted him out because it could have been our decision. It makes this whole thing a little more real. You do realize we are playing kind of a dangerous game out here. It's not clean, it's not a nice environment, and things can go wrong really easily. It just makes you kind of take a step back and think about what you're doing. Am I keeping clean, am I doing all the things I'm supposed to, am I staying healthy out here."
Watch as Joe's final moments in the game unfold when he is told that he must be evacuated from the game.
Dr. Lucy: Is it actually causing you a whole heap of pain when you're walking and moving around?
Joe: I keep moving so it doesn't hurt, but when I get up and the blood rushes to it, is when it does that throbbing and...yeah.
Joe (solo): My knee infection just got real bad, it got a lot worse. Concentrated, got real...it's like on fire right now. It's not getting better.
Dr. Lucy: This is really swollen. It's getting worse. It's a dangerous place to be.
Jeff: What's your reaction, Joe?
Joe: It sucks, man. I'm really disappointed. It's tough, man. It's a lot of time. I would like to do some things for some people there. I think I have the immunity idol, so I'd like to hand that off to somebody.
Joe (solo): Literally I was just getting started. I had my thing going with Erinn, I think I had the hidden immunity idol. That was a hgue door opener. I was gonna hand to idol to JT. He needs it as much as I did or maybe more. I was feeling good about it. And I really, really, really wanted my knee to get better. And it didn't, so it's cool.
Joe: That's really it. Say farewell, y'know.
Jeff: You're gonna have to say farewell to me. We're gonna evacuate you to [didn't hear the word] City.
Joe (solo): I feel like I could have made it far. I don't know if I would have won or not but I feel like I could have made it a lot further.
Joe: I'm a little pissed at myself because I feel like I could have kept it clean.
Dr. Lucy: If it makes you feel any better, I don't reckon there's anything you could have done to prevent it. No matter how clean you kept it, there's so many bugs out here, it's so dirty, your body's under so much stress. If it happens it's going to happen. There's not much you could have done to prevent it.
Joe: Alright. That makes me feel a little better.
Dr. Lucy: Except not getting the cut in the first place.
Joe: We won the challenge though, so...
Jeff: Spoken like a true Survivor. Let's bring in the helicopter and get you out of here.
Joe (solo): I gave this game everything I've got, physically, mentally, emotionally, whatever. Not a lot of people can say they had a ten percent shot at winning a million bucks. When you start to taste it, when the numbers start adding up, it's really hard to walk away from it.
Joe's Final Words
Joe leaves his parting words before being airlifted out of the game.
"So overall I did what I could."
(cut)
"I have no absolutely no regrets for how I played the game. I played the game exactly how I wanted to. I really have no regrets and I feel like I executed the things I set out to do, so in that regard it was successful. I had some plans going forward that were going to be cool and I would like to just give myself an opportunity to do them."
(cut)
"The fact that you get blindsided literally by your own body just goes to show you that this game is, anything can happen. That's the main lesson I learned, that one, just generally speaking, Mother Nature's pretty awesome force, and two, pretty small, and three, this game is tough. I think I'm tough enough to win this game, but I got a little thing in my knee, and it took me down. It's everything. I don't know. It sucks, man. (fumes) I wish I could be there."
(cut)
"I was really starting to like the simple life, as funny as that sounds. Things are pretty simple. As much as your head's moving and you're strategizing, day to day activity is pretty simple. I kind of dig that. I'm gonna miss a little bit of that. Also, being around the same people all day every day, it's kind of cool. Back home, you're running around a million miles an hour, even your best friend you see once a month sometimes. I kind of like that."
(cut)
"I go home a changed man because I did have some doubts about myself out here, I did have some kind of uncertainty about how I played the game, and I played it how I wanted. I think in a way that kind of just changed me and let me know I can do what I set out to do in that regard. It's definitely...I'm a more confident guy right now."
(cut)
"It's really hard to have the opportunity to win a million dollars pulled out from under you. When everybody leaves and they're like, 'Joe, will you hang around,' you know what's going on. You know it's not going to be good. It sucks, again, I don't know. Yeah, it sucks. A million bucks is great, a hundred grand is great, whatever. A million bucks would have been awesome. Knowing you actually had a one in ten shot, a ten percent chance and then a couple factors you know about that other people don't know about, may give you a better shot than that, fifteen or twenty, then you really start to feel good. Not a lot of people can say they've had a ten percent shot at winning a million bucks. When you start to taste it, and the numbers start adding up, it's really hard to walk away from it."
Coach Chi
Coach describes the form of Tai Chi that he practices in the morning to get centered.
"What I was doing with my mind was a kind of combination. What I was doing with my mind was the most important part. It's a little tai chi, but mostly it's chong ran (?), which is a very esoteric Tibetan type of meditation. It's a way to feel all the fibers and muscles pulled tight like a bow string. When I'm coming this way (pulls his right elbow back), what I do is I hold it and try to tense every muscle, all the way down here (touches his left arm and goes across his chest), here, whichever muscle's flexing across here, and as I'm doing that I'm breahting in and I'm breathing out, and I'm doing that just to release. I'm also praying a little bit, but I'm releasing everything from my body. At the same time I'm focusing on a piece of rope that's been tied in a knot, and I'm untying it slowly with my mind. You've got to work on several different things. It really, for me it centers me quicker than anything else. If I'm really upset about something - I was really upset with Sierra, and I felt like I needed a little bit of time to myself to get centered. I made a comment that I'm gonna do that every morning, I'm gonna wake up every morning and do that. It's been a team game up to now. We've been Timbira. But on that horizon, in another day or two, it's gonna be an individual game. For me, my individual game has gotta step up. The asthma's a crutch, I've gotta stop using that. I've got to worry about me. I've gotta be who I am, and stay true to that. So that was kind of a combination of what I was doing out there. A couple of disciplines rolled into one."
Joe's Fake Idol
Taj shares a laugh as she reflects on the moment she realized that Joe discovered her fake immunity idol.
"Joe has the fake idol right now. He came back from Exile yesterday and he decided he needed some time to himself and he took a little walk and stayed away for about 10-15 minutes and came back with a lump in his pants. (laughs) I don't think it was anatomy."
(cut)
"If he was the first one to go, it would be hard to tell if he was lying or not, but because I've already been there and done that, he was very bad. (laughs)"
(cut)
"I'm not always checking pants, but it was just so clear that there was a lump in his pants, and it wasn't there before he left."
(cut)
"Joe has lost his entire alliance, mostly because they basically turned on each other. They first turned on Spencer, and then of course once they were outnumbered, he had to give up for Sydney. He actually didn't turn on, he voted for me last night, but he's outnumbered. Once they let one go it was just a matter of time before we could break up the whole crew."
A Divided Tribe
Debbie comments on the complications of being a united tribe when they originated from two opposing tribes.
"So right now with the merge, we're up 6-4. We're two tribe members up. This should be a piece of cake for us. We should be able to cruise right through, knock out all the Jalapao, and control the game. We're up two tribe members. That's huge. What we've got to do now is win individual immunities so we can, when we go to Tribal, knock out Jalapao. That's the plan, that's been our plan for weeks."
(cut)
"We raised a toast to the new tribe. It's not a new tribe. It's still Timbira and Jalapao. That's the way we've been out here. We've been fighting for our lives out here in two different tribes. You can't just (snaps fingers) lay down the hatchet and be, 'OK, we all love each other and we're gonna be one tribe now. That's not the way the world works. It's gonna take some tribe for this group to merge. No matter how much time we're out here, there's always gonna be that, I'm a Timbira tribe member, through and through, to the end."
(cut)
"You just don't drop all that immediately and lay down the staff and become all one happy family. No. We're still definitely two tribes that have merged."
Debbie's Hardships
Debbie discusses how much the game is wearing on her as time goes on.
"Day 21 has been really hard for me. I'm exhausted. Out of energy. Hungry. Didn't sleep last night at all. Worked all day on trying to stay dry under the umbrella, and then when I crawled into bed, there was a huge puddle where someone's water jug had glug-glugged onto the palms. My pants were soaked. Day 21 is hard for me right now. Like I said, we're tired, it's not real bright and sunny so we don't know whether to really get in the water. We're hungry. Trying to keep trudging on. Today is the tiredest I think I've been, and the most mentally exhausted I've been today."
(cut)
"It's getting to the part of the game where the physical elements are starting to take a big toll. Cuts, scrapes. Yesterday I was wrapped around a pole and I scraped up my inner thighs pretty bad. The elements - just wow. The rain was relentless yesterday. It looks like it could start the same thing up again this afternoon. It's really getting intense out here. And again the food supply, we haven't been able to catch fish for the last couple of days. We think the rain may have something to do with it, so we haven't had anything. Timbira tribe members haven't had any fish, except for Tyson, which he ate after the feast. We were all so full and I was physically sick. I made myself horribly sick after the feast. None of us have even had any fish. We're struggling today."
Iron Sharpens Iron
Coach reveals how his relationship with Brendan has helped to remedy his personality flaws.
"The relationship with Brendan, it's there, it's good, it's not great. I see qualities in him that I really like, and I hear about Brendan's world outside of here, and that makes me think that's something that's so foreign to me. Being a business background and a soccer and conducting background. I like hearing it. I'm actually trying to use the things he says to make those slight changes. To not be the old man on the tribe who complains about everything, y'know, beans and bedding. On that point it was refreshing to hear him say something about, 'I challenge you to one night of sitting in bed and not moving and not complaining.' I did, and then I did it again and I did it again. It was kind of like this mental banter. Although he just said it flippantly, iron sharpens iron, not because he's trying to sharpen me, he's trying to rib me and get my goat. I'm gonna take that. Anything anybody says to me that's positive/negative, I'm gonna take that, I'm gonna digest it, and I'm either gonna put it away or make a positive change in my life. So I think I get so used to being over people in the real world that when it's out here and everybody's equal, kind of, it makes you think. I liked that. It was iron sharpens iron for him to do that, inadvertently. I'm gonna take whatever I can get from this experience and make myself a better person and look at my life from another viewpoint."
Life at Forza
The new Forza members adjust to living at the old Timbira camp.
(JT, Coach , and Brendan try to put a tarp on the shelter)
Brendan (solo): Things are very different now. If Timbira were to stay as one, which would be smart, it really doesn't matter, because we can eliminate them one by one by one until they're weak. I'm willing to bet on that.
(Taj, Debbie, Erinn, JT, talk about how great the camp is, then talk to Joe about his knee)
Debbie (solo): Joe's in a bad place. When I looked at Joe's leg it looked like he had a hot pink red sock on. I think he has a bad infection going on in his body. That all of a sudden kind of raised some eyebrows with us.
(Debbie jokingly tells Joe she'll carry him around)
Upset Stomachs After the Merge
The new Forza Tribe members feel a little queasy after devouring a large quantity of food at the Merge Feast.
Brendan: I feel so sick. My stomach is so full, like lying down, I thought it would make it better, but that just makes it feel worse, so I had to get up and walk around and get stuff moving. I went way overboard, but it felt good.
(cut)
JT: We've eaten more than we can handle right now. We gorged ourselves as soon as we got here, because we were all starving. There's still food left, but we can't eat it, because we've made ourselves sick.
(cut)
Debbie: (bent over in the shelter) I feel very sick. (cut) I ate way too much and now I don't know if I can keep it down. (cut) I think I gorged myself. (Debbie takes a breath)
(cut)
Coach: Nah, actually it was in moderation. I'm cool. I'm just taking a deep breath, I'm hoping I can get some of this stuff down a little bit, so I can go eat some more food.
(cut)
Taj: I got a bigger stomach, apparently. I can hold more. I'm full and stuffed to the hilt, but I just don't wanna leave anything behind. Tomorrow we're back to beans and rice.
Debbie Probes Taj
Debbie pries for information regarding whether or not Taj is in possession of the hidden immunity idol.
Debbie: Do you think Brendan has the immunity idol?
Taj: I don't know.
Debbie: He told us you have it.
Taj: I know. (makes a noise)
Debbie: He told us you came back from Exile, when you guys came back the first time, you got the clue, you went up, he didn't get the clue, but you got the clue, you went up and looked, and he never got to look the first trip.
Taj: I'm just gonna say I never got the clue. That's all I'm gonna say.
Debbie: OK. Well, you can say more.
Taj: I'm not gonna tell on anybody.
Debbie: That's what he told us. That he had the clue, that you looked, and that now Stephen and no one else has looked out there because they're all convinced you have it.
Taj: No! (something I didn't hear)
Debbie: When Spencer went, we thought you'd played the idol.
Taj: No. JT and Stephen were just in back of me, covering me.
Debbie: OK. So you don't have the idol.
Taj: I'm just gonna say I never had the clue.
Debbie: I believe you.
Taj: You figure that out.
Debbie: OK, then you know what that means. Our tribe has been lied to by one of our tribe members.
Taj: I'm not gonna cause anything, but I'm just gonna say I didn't get the clue. That's just between us.
Debbie: Can I share that with my tribe?
Taj: I just don't want it to put any more pressure on me. My head's on the chopping block. She's over there causing trouble.
Debbie: You've got to understand. Your head's not on the chopping block anymore.
Taj: Not today. (something about JT)
Debbie: Now that you're with us, don't worry. We love you. Your head's not on the block.
Taj: I just don't want to be messy. I don't want to do that. I feel like he's trying to put that on me. Twice I've had to escape Tribal Council with my life. If I had an idol...
Debbie: It's the craziest thing, seriously. This whole game is so insane. It's so insane. But OK, seriously, I do think my tribe needs to know you do not have the idol, and you never even had a clue. Let me tell Tyson.
Taj: I don't even think it will matter.
Debbie: Let me tell Tyson.
Taj: You can tell him. One thing is I don't even have a bag. Where would I put it? I don't have a bag.
Debbie: All our bags are all torn up and trashed.
Taj: My bag was destroyed a long time ago. That red bag has my glasses, my underwear, and I took one of the little treemail things. I have no clothes. Where would I put it?
Debbie: Exactly. Exactly.
Taj Slips Up
Taj admits to JT and Stephen that she accidentally tipped-off Brendan that he might be next on the chopping block.
Stephen: OK, they're...um...
(Taj walks towards them)
Taj: Can I join in?
Stephen: Please do. We think they want to scare you into...
Taj: Using my idol?
Stephen: So don't act scared.
Taj: I've been putting little bugs in Brendan's ear that they're trying to blindside him, so...
(Stephen and JT look concerned)
JT: Into Brendan's ear?
Taj: I told him that Coach and Tyson are definitely trying to say us. (she sees their unease) Oh no, did I mess up?
Stephen: They didn't talk to me about that.
Taj: Of course they didn't. I made it up.
Stephen: OK.
JT: If they keep us one more week, then we use our idol, if we have to, we tie them. I got Coach believing Brendan's a threat with the idol.
Taj: Well, he is.
JT: I know, but don't tell him and Brendan uses the idol and votes one of us off.
Taj: I didn't know, you didn't tell me this yesterday.
JT: I've been trying to get a chance.
Stephen: This is new information to me.
JT: Now if Brendan uses the idol, he can vote one of us off just by a single vote, if they do vote for him.
Taj: I just got up and walked away, I felt like the odd man out while they were all sitting under the umbrella whispering about us.
JT: You're looking at the final 3 right here. I promise, Taj, I've never lied to you and I'm not gonna start now.
Taj: I know. Gimme some. That's my dude. That's my dude. (they hug, and then Stephen, still looking on nervously, hugs Taj) I wanna go back to Jalapao. I feel so uncomfortable.
Stephen: One of us has to go back. (to JT) Will you go back? (JT goes)
The State of the Exile Alliance
Stephen comments on the hopes and fears surrounding the future of his Exile Alliance.
"The reason I'm not too worried coming into a merge down numbers is I'm in this Exile alliance. That's me, Brendan, Taj, and Sierra. The 4 original Exiles. We have 2 idols in our possession, and 2 tribes. We think we can work within each tribe to pick people off here and there until we have indisputable control of the game."
(cut)
"My fear there is Brendan is certainly in charge of that alliance, and who is he gonna take to the final 3, probably Sierra and Taj. I don't know how I get from a foursome to winning the game. It's a good inroad to Timbira; I'm gonna try to make others. I think just from challenges, Tyson and I could bond. I've exhanged a few glances with him. I'm gonna try to recuit him. All the Jalapao members have someone they're targeting. I know Taj is gonna talk to Brendan and Sierra, I'm gonna talk to Tyson, JT's gonna talk to Coach."
(cut)
"The Exile alliance has never been together as one unit. I've never spoken to Sierra. I've never confirmed with her I'm even in an alliance. There's obviously something extremely ephermal about it. Meeting them, hugging them, eating with them, it does at least give a sense of camraderie with them, but everybody else was there, we certainly weren't, touching our noses or giving each other winks. We all played it very cool. I've gotta see what happens in the coming days."
Brendan on Individual Immunity
Brendan reveals how paranoia is heightened now that the game has shifted from the tribe level to the individual level.
"Now the immunity challenges are all on yourself. There's no blame game, there's no second-guessing strategy. It's all like what have you got in here (touches his chest) and up here (points to his brain) and maybe a little bit here (points to a bicep). You kind of go from there. It's an individual game. The dynamics of the individual immunity challenges immediately translated to tribe life as well, because it's an individual game now. Everybody's jockeying for themselves, everybody wants the million bucks."
(cut)
"I think it's important to win all the immunity challenges, if you can. The first one, definitely, takes the edge off a little bit, because I think within our own tribe, the former Timbira tribe, we had a strategy, but I think it's already breaking down. I can feel it. I don't necesarily trust people. I think it's a great safety net to have it. The other good thing is I have this (shows the hidden immunity idol), so I can use this if I feel the need to. Hopefully it won't be sitting in my pocket when I should have used it."
(cut)
"In order to pull the hidden immunity out, it's going to be a gut call. I think you just have to trust that because you can't trust what comes out of other people's mouth here. It's a gut call. It's eye contact, it's body feel. Are they looking at you a certain way, are they not looking at you a certain way? Have they asked you more questions than usual? Are they nicer to you than usual? All those little things, they're all kind of tips."
Sierra After the Challenge
Sierra explains how proud she is that she finished third in the first individual immunity challenge.
"At the end of the challenge today, I was very, very proud of myself for making it to the third spot. I had my eyes closed for the most part so I didn't even know who was dropping out unless I was listening. I thought I could get past Debbie, but I knew Tyson was gonna be the one who was gonna hold on the longest. A part of me knew I was never gonna win the challenge to Tyson, but I never would have thrown it. Just parts of my body were sliding and it's inevitable after a while when your lips start shaking. For the most part I'm extremely proud of myself that for the first immunity challenge we had individually, I made it that far. I don't even think my tribemates thought I could have made it that far."
(cut)
"Timbira busted our butts. We went from a cold-hearted losing streak to pulling the numbers, to pulling what counts. We didn't get any rewards, but we had full immunity the whole way through. And now we're reaping the benefits."
JT's New Alliance
Despite originating from the tribe with lesser numbers after the merge, JTs future looks bright.
"Tyson and I went fishing this morning. Tyson caught his first fish. I seemed to be giving everyone their first fish around here. He just reassured things Coach and I talked about, which was they're ready to make a big move, they want 2 people they can trust to the end. Steven and myself were their 2. I let 'em know Tyson and Coach wanted two more guys, warriors, they could trust to the end. They picked me not ever even talking to me, and i told 'em Steven is the only other guy I trust 100%. It fell right into us. I mean, it's perfect. They're ready to make a power move, and I kind of brought up to Coach yesterday that the power move to be made is to get Brendan out of here with his idol."
(cut)
"There's a lot of trust. Coach is basing this thing on trust and loyalty. I'm gonna have to be truly loyal to him. But I'm also not gonna be the fourth or fifth guy in this thing, so it's gonna be interesting to see how it goes."
(cut)
"Coach and I, we've been dying to talk to each other. It's been turning out just like I'd planned. They need me and Steven right now, and when they don't need us, there'll be someone else that does. This game could go really good right now if I just stick to my plan."
An Individual Game
Brendan comments on how the game has changed after the merge.
"The merge was kind of a honeymoon. That feast, everybody was just hanging out, but sitting back and taking it all in, like, 'Only one of these people wins the game.' You start to hone in on that at that point. That's particularly evident once we did the immunity challenge and you can see the dynamics start to really change. It's not something just because you had the merge didn't necessarily signal it or you couldn't feel it became an individual game, but once we did the immunity challenge, it clicked (snaps fingers). I was like, 'Oh my God, this game feels completely different.' Games aren't around anymore. They might be, but they're loose teams."
(cut)
"With 10 people around camp now, the politics, the landscape of the politics expands dramatically, so sleeping yeah, we don't have enough to cover everybody at night, but people can deal with that. I can deal with that, no big deal. The bigger deal for me is controlling the storytelling and controlling the messaging within the entire new tribe, because that could potentially cause issues."
Erinn on Joe's Departure
Erinn reflects on losing what could have been her greatest ally in the game.
"Jeff comes in, tells us Joe's out of the game. Every time I think I'm up in this game, I get smacked back down. Just happened again. I don't know. I'm bummed that Joe's gone. Genuinely bummed out about it. I didn't really need him much, but it would have been nice to have a friend out here, would have been nice to have somebody to bounce things off of. Sucks. I don't like it."
(cut)
"I don't think anyone is being callous in the way they're acting about Joe going home. If someone goes home you don't know, it's just another competition you were going to vote out anyway. In some respects I guess I could say the same thing. Every person that goes home is me being one person closer to winning. It's a good thing and a bad thing either way you look at it, but really, I'm concerned about my friend, and that comes first."
(cut)
"There's a huge difference between beating someone and having them taken out. Being taken out isn't fun for anyone. You don't get that satisfaction of oh that was a competitior, and I stomped them out. It's not, I plotted and I planned and the things I did made the course go this way. It takes things out of our hands and I don't think anybody likes feeling like that. We almost all had wished we could have voted him out because it could have been our decision. It makes this whole thing a little more real. You do realize we are playing kind of a dangerous game out here. It's not clean, it's not a nice environment, and things can go wrong really easily. It just makes you kind of take a step back and think about what you're doing. Am I keeping clean, am I doing all the things I'm supposed to, am I staying healthy out here."
