Enough with the preamble, let's get on with it.
It's Day Zero and each couple arrives on the island at different drop off points and gets to experience a night on the beach or in the jungle with no supplies or food. For the returning players this probably isn't a big deal, been there done that, but for the new players it's a little out of their comfort zone. There are ten returning players and their ten loved ones and in the morning they all get to meet with Jeff on the beach where he reveals that they wont be playing together and separates them into the Returning Players of Galang versus the New Players of Tadhana.
For those of you who like a breakdown of who's where and related to whom, this should help:
Galang:
Gervase Peterson - Season 1 Borneo
Tina Wesson - Season 2 Australian Outback "Winner", Season 8 All-Stars
Rupert Boneham - Season 7 Pearl Islands, Season 8 All-Stars, Season 20 Heroes vs Villains
Aras Baskauskas - Season 12 Panama "Winner"
Candice Woodcock Cody - Season 13 Cook Islands, Season 20 Heroes vs Villians
Tyson Apostol - Season 18 Tocantins, Season 20 Heroes vs Villains
Laura Morett - Season 19 Samoa
Colton Cumbie - Season 24 One World
Monica Culpepper - Season 24 One World
Kat Edorsson - Season 24 One World
Tadhana:
Marissa Peterson (Gervase's niece)
Katie Collins (Tina's daughter)
Laura Boneham (Rupert's wife)
Vytas Baskauskas (Aras' brother)
John Cody (Candice's husband)
Rachel Foulger (Tyson's girlfriend)
Ciera Morett Eastin (Laura Morett's daughter)
Caleb Bankston (Colton's fiancé)
Brad Culpepper (Monica's NFL player husband)
Hayden Moss (Kat's boyfriend)
Now that we know who's who of season 27 the first order of business is for each team to vote out one of their teammates. This has been done before so it's not a big surprise here. The new players decide that Laura should be the one voted out of the Tadhana tribe and I think a lot of this has to do with the fact that they may be afraid of her connection to Rupert but I don't think I'd want Rupert mad at me despite the fact that he looks like an overgrown wookie. The returning players decide that Candice is expendable from Galang and she goes to join Laura beside Jeff.
Fortunately it's not over yet as Jeff reveals that they are both headed to Redemption Island unless of course their loved one would like the opportunity to switch places with them. You could see on his face that Rupert wasn't happy with Laura being voted out and despite his mean looks the guy's a teddy bear, especially where his wife is concerned. Rupert immediately steps forward to save his wife so that she can experience the game. Candice's husband John, after Jeff asks him if he'd like to talk it out with her, steps forward to discuss it but decides to let her stay on Redemption. What a nice husband. On the other hand, she did say she felt she could beat Rupert.
A five man alliance gets started on Tadhana between Brad, John, Hayden, Caleb & Vytas. It may be a little early in the game to make that decision but the guys see an opportunity to take control of their tribe against the four girls so they jump on it. This could be a real game changer if they can maintain the alliance but we all know how that goes.
During the night around the Galang campfire Colton has a little breakdown while talking about being bullied as the only gay kid in his community but Monica is a little leery of the whole performance, after all, it's Colton. I tend to agree with Monica on this one.
Meanwhile, out on Redemption Island, Rupert is saving his energy and relaxing while Candice does all the work around the Redemption Island camp. Nice. She goes on and on about how she's doing everything while he just lays about and naps but I fully understand his strategy. If she's tired from doing everything around camp she won't perform as well during the challenge and he has a better chance of beating her. The fact is he's 19 years older than she is and I think it's a great plan.
This week's Immunity Challenge is pretty basic; 6 team members race out into the ocean and over the obstacles to get to the boat with your chest of puzzle pieces, dive down and untie the boat then return to shore with all 6 members in the boat, carry the chest to the puzzle station where the remaining team members will build a ships wheel with those puzzle pieces.
The Tadhana tribe co-operated and worked really well together to get out to their boat and gained a substantial lead while Gervase was dragging his tribe down with his lack of energy and inability to swim. Perhaps he should consider smoking less cigars. Tadhana was able to stay in the lead and managed to return to shore first while Aras had to help Gervase to make it to the Galang boat. Once everyone was in the boat they struggled to get it going in the right direction because nobody seemed capable of actually rowing the boat properly. At one point I thought Kat (I think it was Kat) was going to beat Colton down with the oar. They finally get back to shore and the others take over on the puzzle.
There's a point during all these challenges where one team seems to hit a wall and for Tadhana, the puzzle was their wall. They had a total collapse during the puzzle stage and this allowed the Galang tribe to catch up. This is where the calm experience of having done these competitions before takes over as the Galang tribe wins the challenge and avoids Tribal Council.
Tadhana was not so lucky and that evening at Tribal Council a number of them were discussing how Gervase's reaction at the win reflects on his niece at council. I don't think that was really fair as it was more a shot at Gervase than a decision to vote out Marissa but I love how Jeff baits the players with subtle suggestion on who to vote out and gives reasons why they'd be a good target. He doesn't come right out and say anything really, and after 27 seasons he's an old hand at directing their thought processes but the writing was already on the cave wall and the first person voted out of the tribe at council is Marissa. First council, first blindside.