After the merge, the former Salani members set out on a plan.

<Troyzan was heard saying that he, Jay and Mike agreed to stay with Chelsea, Kim, Kat and Sabrina>

At the reward challenge, a school yard pick split the tribe into two teams.

Kim’s team was victorious…wining a reward away from camp while Troyzan and Jay’s team was left empty handed.

With Troyzan and Jay left behind, Kim and Sabrina saw a chance to make up a new plan.

<Kim said it has to be all girls and she explains how she will play Troy into voting against Mike>

After the reward, Kim wasted little time putting the new plan into motion…but Jay became suspicious.

At tribal council Kim’s bold move paid off and Mike Joined Jonas as the second man on the jury.

<We saw that Jonas was amazed by the move>

Can the men recover from their numbers disadvantage or will the women take over the game?

That question seems to have been answered. Of course, the way Chris recovered from a similarly desperate situation will enable Jeff to sell the possibility of a surprise outcome but the circumstances are so different. In Vanuatu, Chris had made a solid pact with Twila and she never plotted to eliminate him. In fact she fought hard at the F8 immunity challenge to keep the necklace away from Chad in order to save Chris. I don’t see Kim or Chelsea doing the same for Troyzan and I don’t see the Manono women doing the same for Tarzan or Leif. Also, from the start, we had seen Twila and Scout going after Eliza and that’s what eventually fractured Yasur’s alliance. Here, we did have an early feud between Alicia and Christina but we have heard nothing about it since the merge. It seems obvious that the men are dead.

As for the women, wasn’t it fascinating that Jeff called it Kim’s team when he talked about the yellow team? We had the details of Kim’s plan repeated, Jeff used the adjective “bold” to describe her move and Jonas’s reaction was shown to tell us that the “jury” was impressed. I don’t see any of that setting Kim up for a fall. Instead, we were told how this game should be played and we were about to witness another demonstration.

Big Girl Decisions

Tikiano: A Sunny Day-23

Jay was talking about his dream where he was shot.    

Tarzan was telling Troyzan that the guys had lost the game.

Troyzan didn’t agree, saying Mike wasn’t part of them.

That made the surgeon laugh.

Troy: “Mike; I’m glad he’s gone. He was gunnung for me since day 1 and I got sick of him. So, for me to have Mike gone is fine but it is 6 girls and they could very well say: “Let’s get rid of Troy and Jay because they won the last two immunities and they are strong and they are going to get votes so, yeah, part of me is asking if they are telling me the truth.” After telling Tarzan that an immunity idol could get rid of one of the women and then they’d be up 5-4 counting Christina as their 5^th, Troy’s confessional continued: “I’m a little nervous but I still have a hidden immunity idol which I am banking on if I see anything fishy going on with Kim and Chelsea. I don’t want to be blindsided so, before that, they are going to get the full-on switcheroo!”

We had another do-it-yourself challenge.

Kat: “The whole tribe went to get tree mail and we saw a big pole, we saw balls on a string. Cool! We are going to have a challenge here on the island which is great because we don’t have to go anywhere, we don’t have to walk 50 miles somewhere.

Tarzan: “…It went from 1 to 5 points. The way you achieved points was by throwing a bolo, hoping to get the highest number if it wrapped around one of the pegs.”

Alicia: “We randomly drew rocks and on my team was  Troyzan, Jay, Tarzan, Kat and myself. The other team were all the girls and Leif left over.”

Troyzan appointed himself the new Probst.

Sabrina: “I love Troy like cooked food but he is nobody’s host at all…”

We were reminded that Tarzan hadn’t won a reward and he scored 4 big points.

Sabrina: “I’m the last person to go in the game and the highest you can go is 5 so I had to get a 5 in order to tie it. I didn’t want to let my team down.”

Besides our usual narrator, Sabrina, all the confessionals were from the winning tribe and it was interesting to hear from Kat when she was the one that scored the first points, all the points that her team would actually need to win. Another example of her improvement since that early loss. She was even heard giving advice to her team mates!

Troyzan: “I was like: Get away from the game, go to some island…we were excited!”

While Tarzan was salivating at the food, Kat asked Jay what was on his mind.

He answered that he didn’t like sending Mike home, that it should have been Alicia or Christina.

Jay: “Me and Kat were talking and I wanted to know if she was on the same page with me because, at this point, it’s hard to trust anybody…I’m a little suspicious that the girls are playing tricks with us. There’s definitely going to be some blindsides coming up. I just hope it’s not me.”

Day 24

Kim: “It’s definitely a win-win to have another guy gone, that the women are in the majority and Mike’s gone. My hope, all along has been that everybody will think that I am calm and soft-spoken and maybe a little bit forgettable and not calling the shots but, if I do get to the end of the game and I am sitting there with the three, I think the people on the jury will know that I was making most of these decisions.”

With this confessional, Kim just told us that she won’t lose the jury vote like Russell or Stephen did. Being soft-spoken means she won’t the brute that was Russell and having the jury know that she made most of decisions means she won’t be perceived as the wingman that Stephen was.

She exposed her plan to eliminate all the guys and, while Kat and Alicia agreed, Chelsea was reluctant, saying she didn’t want to know about it.

Chelsea: “The girl had a discussion on the boat this morning and said whoever doesn’t win immunity, either Troy or Jay, one of them has to go home which is killing me right now because I’ve looked Troy and Jay in the eyes and said: “You can trust me 100%” Looking them in the eyes…and then betraying them? That’s not me at all.”

To the women, Chelsea said that was the part of the game that sucked so bad.

Alicia told her to take her heart out of the game and put her brain back in it.

Alicia: “Chelsea got all sensitive and that really pissed me off. Nobody told you to mix with the boys anyway. We were fine without them and you go off and promise them that you are going to carry them to the top? Please!”

Kat told Sabrina about Chelsea’s hesitation, adding that she wondered what was wrong with Chelsea.

At the start of the season, it was Chelsea that had reasons to doubt Kat but the tables have turned now. Kat has learned as she promised she would!

Sabrina: “If we look back to day 1, we made this alliance and said that was what we were going to stick with. We want to go to the end. Going to the end requires some big girl decisions. You have to put on your big girl panties and make big girl decisions. You knew it was going to come to this.”

Jay was telling Troyzan that they had to stick to their plan.

Troy answered that Christina and Alicia had to go.

Jay: “As far as I’m concerned, Alicia has to go before Christina. Alicia is more two-sided, working with both guys and girls so, to me, she is more of a threat. She is real tight with Kat. I don’t trust that. Me and Troy are good. We are still thinking we are going to work together a really long time. He thinks I am comfortable sitting in the end with him so I am going to keep him thinking that but he is dangerous. You don’t want to be sitting in the end with him because everybody likes him, he seems to be able to tell a story better than anybody. Kim and Chelsea; those are my final two girls that I am trying to work with. You have to trust them a little bit but, at the same time, you have to keep them as close as the enemy around here.”

Jay took time to talk to Kat, telling her he was pretty sure they were going after Alicia. He wanted to know if he could count on her.

With a smile, she answered: “Am I going to say no?”

Kat: “I really, really do appreciate Jay, I do like him a lot but I can’t think with my heart and neither can Chelsea, neither can Sabrina and neither can Kim. We have to think with our minds, strategically, that’s how people win this game.”

Is this a winner’s quote by Kitty-Kat?! It shows her new found strength and it tells us that she will probably be the one to get Jay’s vote.

Kat gathered the girls to get “confirmation”.

Jay repeated his stand and wanted to know if everyone was cool with it.

Kim was the first to say yes and the others nodded.

Chelsea: “It just sucks! I’ve made some really close relationships with the guys and Jay is one of those people that is very hard to look in the eyes and lie to him. Fortunately, there was 4 girls standing there so I didn’t have to look him in the eyes and say I promise you that this is what is going to happen. I just hate to be that deceitful. I don’t know if I can do this.”

Ha but Chelsea! You will have to look him in the eyes if you want to win the million dollars. More and more, Chelsea looks like she will follow Amanda’s path to a FTC melt-down. There, we will see that she couldn’t do this.

Day 25

Kim and Alicia were washing dishes in the ocean, agreeing that they would lose against the guys.

Kim told Alicia not to freak out if she heard her name because it was going to be either Troy or Jay.

Kim: “Jay told us all that Alicia should go home tonight. We all just nodded, agreed and said yes but that is definitely not happening. I’m ready to draw the line. It’s been muddy for long enough that I feel it’s time for the guys to know where the women stand.”

Troyzan: “Kim and Alicia were on the beach, washing bowls…What’s going on? What are they talking about? If the girls are smart, they got 6 of them. It wouldn’t be really hard to knock off me or Jay.”

Jay and Troy went to get tree mail. Jay used the opportunity to say that everyone was voting against Alicia.

Jay: “Troy is concerned that the women have the numbers and that they are going to try to blindside him but we had a little pow-wow and we are going to vote Alicia out as our first choice. I trust my two girls. Right now, he just needs to calm down.”

That is quite a turn for Jay who was the one that didn’t trust the women last week. It points to Kim and Chelsea’s power of persuasion.

Troy: “Jay seems to think everything is fine, they really want Alicia and he really trusts them. So he thinks it’s ok. I don’t feel the same way. I feel like I really have to win.”

The Challenge

This Survivor classic went according to tradition: Like in Africa, All-Stars and Micronesia, a woman won. Like a few times before, it took some temptations and deals to get that result!

When Jeff mentioned food temptations, Kat and Alicia’s reaction told us they didn’t want the necklace.

Tarzan fell out just as the challenge started.

(He probably broke Crystal’s olympic record for earliest exit in an endurance challenge!)

Christina took a bucket full of water before Jeff could make an offer.

Sabrina wanted those cookies and milk!

When Alicia asked for the next item, Jay warned her: “If you take that food, I am going to vote you out.”

Alicia passed on that but Kim and Kat took the cupcakes.

Jeff found it funny that Alicia said she could last long but would step down to leave it for Chelsea.

Stepping off so quickly that she didn’t get wet, Alicia did Chelsea a “favor” and took the chocolate and candies!

Troyzan nearly fell off and Chelsea tried to push him off by blowing in his direction.

Troyzan did fall before the next item arrived.

Chelsea cheered.

Jay decided that he wanted the chicken wings.

Teasingly, Chelsea asked if it was better than the chicken she caught.

Leif and Chelsea were the last two.

Chelsea said she wanted to win because she was still embarrassed by her puzzle performance.

She told Leif that losing the challenge would make him look like less of a threat.

Chelsea refused the 3 burgers, chips and a beer.

Leif turned to Chelsea and asked if she was honest.

She said she was so he stepped down.

Leif offered some of his food to Chelsea.

Kim: “Today’s immunity challenge couldn’t have gone better for me. It was awesome! I got to eat some cupcakes and drink milk and not put myself out there as a huge threat something I was starting to feel a little nervous about. I am glad for Chelsea who took that role today.”

Here it is again: Kim stating that things are going well for her. The game being too easy for her is what the people that don’t see her as a winner note and they could be right. I will point out though that she explains why it went well. It wasn’t only the food, it was the fact that she is still not seen as a threat. This is another end-game connection for her.

Chelsea: “I wanted to go a little further with Troy and Jay but I realize now that it would be an idiot move. To turn this quick on them? I hate to be that person but I love money.”

This could have been a great confessional for Chelsea if it had ended at “I hate to be that person”. It showed her inner turmoil and that she is kind hearted but then we heard that it was only for greed, making her a venal player.

Chelsea: “Troy, right now, is our biggest threat because he wants to win this game so bad, more than anyone here. Jay, on the other hand, gave up for food. He thinks he’s safe. Troy didn’t give up for food so, I think right now, he is the smartest person to take out.”

Wanting it so bad is how athletes achieve their goals so there could still be legs to Troy’s story. However, this is the pre-council scrambling period and the editors have to build suspense. We have to know that votes will go against Troy in order to put Kim at risk by his idol.

Kim: “The split vote plan is always risky. It makes me nervous because I’d rather know that everone is voting for Troy but there is always the chance that Troy will play an immunity idol. He’s a very  strategic player, he’s thinking a lot and he’s going to do absolutely everything he can to stay in the game and he still has options today. I feel people like Christina, Tarzan and Leif are just hanging on at this point, riding things out. So, Christina, Alicia and Tarzan will vote for Jay and Leif, myself, Sabrina, Chelsea and Kat will vote for Troy.”

When Jay joined his “two girls”, Kim told him that nothing crazy was going on. Reassured, he went to rest on a rock jutting out at sea.

That’s when Kim told Alicia about the split vote plan.

Next, Troy wanted reassurances so Kim told him she was still gunning for the Manono members. They joked about the possibility of a blindside.

Troy: “Kim kept going like “don’t worry, don’t worry” like too much. I think something is a little fishy. It’s like if she wanted to get me out, she’d want me to be extra sure that I am safe. It sounded like that a little bit.” We saw him digging out his idol. He went on: “It didn’t sound right like “you’re safe, you’re safe, you’re safe.” You only have to say it once.”

Troy told Jay that the two girls were pulling one over on them so he revealed his idol and said he would play it.

Jay didn’t think Troy needed to do that.

Troy asked him if he would vote for Kim but Jay was still gunning for Alicia.

Jay: “That’s news to me that Troy has an idol. I love the guy to death, he’s like my big brother but he’s dangerous.” Observing Troy talking to Tarzan, Jay added: “He wants me to vote for Kim, I am not voting for Kim because that is my final 3. I know it’s going to hit the fan, I didn’t know it would be tonight.”

Jay then went to Kim, asking if they were planning to blindside Troy, assuring her he wouldn’t tell him if she said yes. Jay added that Troy was planning on using the idol so that it would be best to vote Alicia, get rid of the idol and get Troy next.

Jay could have easily turned the game if he had only said he had an idol and was going to use it. To the end, he was blinded by his loyalty to the girls.

Kim: “Jay just put the fear of God in me. Troy does have an idol, he is planning to play it and he’s planning to send me home and I don’t have enough time before tribal council comes to get to everyone. So, hopefully, we have enough people on board that do enough of the right thing that the right person will go home tonight.”

Tribal Council

Asked about the first two votes going against men, Troyzan said he thought it was coincidence at first but that he sees a movement.

Tarzan told Jeff that the men lost control because they lost their will, breaking the allegiance. He added: “The girls are a lot smarter than the boys.”

Jay said he didn’t feel as safe as the last time.

Jeff asked again who felt in danger.

This time, Kim, Jay and Troyzan raised their hand but nobody else did.

The camera and the sound effect guy zinged Alicia, underlining a mistake.

Asked about it, Kim wisely said she felt safe at the immunity challenge, safe while she ate but that “at camp, there was a funky vibe.” She brought up that paranoia had settled in.

Asked about it, Chelsea said you had to go with your gut to know that people were being honest.

Troyzan seemed amused by the whole exchange but, when it seemed that Kim wanted to look in his eyes, he turned away.

Troyzan explained that the feelings changed after the immunity challenge because he realized who felt safe and who got applause when they step off. He noticed that people (we had seen Chelsea) were rooting against him.

It’s been many years since Marquesas but people still fall for the reward challenge revelations!

Chelsea said she suspected people of having the idol because of how they acted with their bags or because of the bulge in their pocket (!)

Alicia said she noticed that the men weren’t in their swimming trunks but had shorts with pockets, singling out Troyzan.

Tarzan said that, after the vote, the alliance that he knows will be strengthen, faith will be restored and it will be a powerhouse to go to the end.

After the votes had been tallied, Troyzan stood up to play his idol. He said that he wouldn’t be as dumb as others and get voted out with an idol in his pocket.

Jonas was seen smiling at that decision.

Kim sat there, apparently calmly deciding not to play her own idol.

The first vote was against Troy and, since it didn’t count, we saw Jonas giving the thumbs up.

The next was also for Troy so the first official vote was against Kim but she took it in stride.

In the end, even if Alicia got two votes, Jay received 5 and was sent home.

We didn’t see any reactions from the jury

After Jay left, Jeff noted that with nearly half of them receiving votes, paranoia will certainly be present now.

The Story

The episode started with Tarzan saying the men were dead and it ended the same way; Tarzan told Jeff during TC that the men had lost their will while the other alliance would be a powerhouse that will go to the end. Every story needs adversity but that will only come from possible immunity wins and the doubts within the women’s alliance itself. As Kim said, Troy still had some options in this episode but he really doesn’t anymore. It’s win immunity or go home.

The last 3 episodes show us the pattern that the editors will follow: Before the merge, Jonas became the potential mastermind, the one that could rival Kim. He faded away immediately in the next episode. Next, Troyzan emerged as the big player, finding an idol and winning immunity. In the next episode he wasn’t voted out but he was played the fool. Jay was the one that emerged in that episode as the one fighting against the women’s alliance and his “slow and steady” way of winning immunity made him look like the potential big challenge winner that could go to the end. His elimination quickly followed but, as soon as he faded, Troyzan reemerged as the one that had the scales fall from his eyes and he went directly after Kim. Now out of options, he should be going soon.  

The Characters

Leif Like Alicia said, he is the one left over! But, as Jeff mentioned, the strong little dude fights hard in challenges so he could be used at one point to put doubt in the women’s domination. I’d say that will be the zenith of his story arc and the fall would soon follow. Kim seemed to think he would vote with her side but he wound up voting against Alicia so that could be fatal.

Christina: She can’t even get cookies and milk! Once more, her vote is shrouded in mystery because she seemed pleased by Troy’s plan but still voted as the women wanted her. Did she tell anyone that Troy had the idol? I think that, instead of creating mystery, Christina’s lack of story is due to disinterest by the story tellers. 

Alicia: It seemed that it would have been smart to tall Jeff that she was worried about elimination. The editors wanted us to see her making a dumb decision.

Tarzan: His words to Jeff about the alliance that he knew and how votes would go take an interesting angle when we realize that he voted against Jay, refusing to follow Troy in his plan. It suggests that he has accepted the situation and simply hopes to be riding the wave all the way to the end.

Sabrina: She is solidly in Kim’s camp but she continues to talk about the alliance rather than her own game. This was one of her typical confessionals: “If we look back to day 1, we  made this alliance and said that was what we  were going to stick with. we  want to go to the end.” That doesn’t give her end-game connections, that gives her the role of narrator.

Troyzan: It was good that he finally saw the women’s duplicity but, even with an idol, he was unable to pull the full on switcheroo. Good luck now that his options have dried out. Being mentioned as the one that wants to win the most is something to consider, something that keeps his hopes alive but it also serves to build the fan favorite votes.

Chelsea: We heard it mentioned a few times that this cast doesn’t like wishy-washy players. Colton said it about Bill and Leif and we have heard other mentions of the term with regards to Christina and Alicia. This episode showed us that Chelsea was also wishy-washy. Alicia, Kat and Sabrina talked about her reluctance to make the big decisions, she even said it was idiotic to think that way. Still, she couldn’t look Jay in the eyes and lie to him. It tells us she won’t be able to face the jury and explain herself. What is worse for her story is that the editors let us hear her problems with looking people in the eyes immediately after we heard Kim’s confident view of her jury interactions.

Kat: It was funny that this episode started with the second dream about death this season. Jay’s dream was appropriately presented in his final episode so what do we now make of Kat’s earlier dream? I’d propose that Alicia’s FTC question will be the one that “kills” Kat’s chances. Still, we see a stronger Kitty-Kat emerging and I have little doubt that she would get more votes than Chelsea in the FTC just like Courtney edged out Amanda.  I think she already has Jay’s vote.

Kim: We are seeing a player that not only knows the history of the game but follows a plan that we have often discussed here. We’ve said it’s best not to be seen as a threat so winning challenges when you don’t need them should be avoided. We also don’t want a player to be outspoken and get on people nerves or on their radar but that they don’t want to be seen as blind followers either. We said that splitting votes is a risky way to go because the other side doesn’t need many votes to foil the plan (ask Tyson!). She told us she was aware of all these pitfalls and was actively working to avoid them.

With the editors including a quote like: “I think the people on the jury will know that I was making most of these decisions” we just know that she will indeed face the jury and have to explain her actions.

I know I say that winners don’t vote out victims but jay wasn’t presented as a victim. Not only was he a threat but he also planned on eliminating Troyzan even if he considered him like a big brother. Jay, as it turned out, was presented as a dumb player, one that trusted the girls even if he, more than most, talked about it being men versus women.

Kim has all the elements to her story to be the winner..