I did however manage to catch the start of the Redemption duel. There was a brief clip of Candice's husband John stressing about how guilty he was feeling for leaving his wife on Redemption Island and how he was hoping she forgave him but I don't think he was stressing that much. Candice is a big girl and as a former player she knows how to handle herself in the game.
Rupert (who took his wife Laura's place at the start of the game), Candice and Marissa all marched in after the two teams of Galang & Tadhana were seated in the arena stands and Marissa took this moment to berate her Uncle Gervase and his attitude after the last immunity competition as the reason she was voted out. Gervase just replied there'd be plenty more of that and Marissa looked like she was going to march up into the stands and smack him.
There before the three competitors was the balanced upright metal maze and you could already see where this was going. I'm sure you all remember this from previous seasons . . . the player uses a long stick to maneuver a disk through the maze and then settles the disk on top, the first two to balance all ten disks on top without knocking them over gets to return to Redemption Island. Additionally, the first person gets a clue to a hidden immunity idol that they can give to anyone on either team.
Right from the start Rupert races his disk through the maze, only to have it fall when he gets to the top, which means he has to start over. This allowed both Candice and Marisssa to get a lead on our favorite pirate. Of course in Survivor having a lead at one point doesn't always mean much, just look at the last episode. As all three continue to move their disks through the maze you can see that this is a challenge that requires patience and finesse, something that Candice seems to have in abundance as she continues to build a nice straight stack. Marissa's stack is also increasing but it's nowhere near as neat and as the wind starts to pick up she starts to look a little stressed. Rupert feels the pressure the two women are putting on him and hurries to catch up but that makes for a less than balanced stack and as he places his seventh disk, six tumble to the ground.
Back to the drawing board for Rupert as he gets to start over. This isn't good. Candice is placing her ninth disk as he replaces his third and it's obviously a race for second in his mind when she then places her final disk. Marissa has maintained a slow but steady pace throughout and as she goes to get her last disk Rupert is just moving his seventh (I think) through the maze. He was quick just not quick enough. It's almost like the producers didn't want him to continue because if they did they could have used a different challenge.
Candice, as the first winner of the challenge, is given a clue as to the location of the hidden immunity idol and she now gets to decide who to give this to. It's kind of a no brainer as she gives the clue to her husband but could this blessing be a curse. By giving the clue to John she could be painting a target on his back, but at least he felt forgiven and was happy to get the clue. So far.
Rupert was able to say farewell to his wife and tell her she'd be fine before grabbing his stuff and torching his buff. He's always been a fan favorite to watch and in many ways reminds me of my step-father, appearing to be laid back back and not caring but you mess with his wife and he'll take you out. Rupert loves the game of Survivor but as he says, he loves his wife more. I'm sure anyone who can get that kind of devotion out of Rupert is going to do fine moving forward in this game without him and I wish Laura the best. Farewell Rupert, the first Survivor voted out of season 27. There may be no regrets from you but there will be from the fans.
Moving on.
It should of course come as no surprise that Colton has returned to his usual conniving, back-stabbing, my way or the highway, spoiled princess self. He seems to think he has everything under control as he manipulates everyone against each other but what he fails to understand is that these players have all been here before and they've seen how he plays. There's no surprise to them as his gameplay hasn't changed from season 24 and you saw how that worked out for him. Karma's a bitch. Medic.
Around the campfire Colton tries throwing Kat under the bus (didn't he try that last time too) and then starts in on Tina. Well that ain't gonna happen as she can't be bothered with his drama queen attitude. The next day he continues with his attempts to turn everyone against each other but they're wise to him and a new alliance forms with the knowledge that anything Colton says is probably a lie. As they prepare for the immunity challenge it'll be interesting to see if they throw it in order to get rid of Colton.
Meanwhile, over on the Tadhana beach, the five guy alliance is discussing which of the girls need to go next. It's become apparent that they may be able to weaken the Galang tribe by selecting one of their own in the hope that the "loved one" will take their place. It's an interesting theory and certainly one I'd have considered but those "loved ones" are pretty cutthroat and may decide vengeance is better than sacrifice. Of course there's also talk about voting out John before he gets the hidden idol. Told you that clue could be a curse.
Time marches on and we arrive at the immunity challenge which involves one player being rolled in a barrel by three others to certain points on the course, getting out of the barrel to retrieve a bag of balls, back in to the next point, and so on and so on until they reach the end where the remaining team members take a shot at rolling those balls into six holes for the win. I wouldn't want to be the girl in the barrel, and let's be honest we all know it's going to be a girl, because that's going to be a dizzying ride.
Once again Tadhana takes an early lead but let's not get too cocky yet. Their youth and energy may be an asset at the start but it soon becomes apparent that the experience and patience of the returning players is more than up to the challenge. Even though Tadhana is first to the inclined roll, Galang is hot on their tail and for every ball they get Galang matches them and then, with Gervase's steady aim, beats them once again for immunity. So much for throwing the challenge to oust Colton. True to form Gervase is in their face about it. Marissa may not want to come back to her team.
Tadhana returns to tribal council and there's the usual back and forth banter where they reveal to Jeff that who they vote out could weaken the Galang team. He also found that to be an interesting twist and I guess wehall see how that plays out. Cierra got one vote, John got three (much to his surprise), but in the end they decided to vote out Rachel in the hope that Tyson would take her place and weaken his team. Good luck with that.
So much for being less verbose. See you in a few days when I review the season premier of Amazing Race. Later.