We open tonight with the usual recap and then it's the Blue Light Special at the Beauty camp. Morgan's a little ticked that Jeremiah went with the numbers to oust Brice, leaving her at the bottom. Jeremiah tries to explain why when she confronts him in front of the tribe and he does his best to cover himself but as soon as he's off in the dark Morgan apologizes to Alexis saying it was Jeremiah's idea to target her. Alexis isn't too sure she buys that, but the seeds have been planted . . . and so has that target.
Morning comes to the remains of the Brain tribe and they've got Treemail. Looks like a reward challenge coming up that needs them to be blindfolded so they decide to practice. Why not, it seemed to work for them last time. Not so much with the actual portion they practiced but with the working as a team portion and it's a good call because that's exactly what it is.
Tribes come in and the Brains and Brawn tribes learn that Brice was voted out. Nobody seems very surprised with this one. Jeff quickly gets to explaining today's challenge. Pairs of blindfolded tribe members will be directed by a caller to collect five items, each of which needs to be returned to a platform below the caller and then hoisted up to them, . . . once all five items have been retrieved they need to go out and collect their flag and return that to the caller. The first two tribes will receive a reward, the first tribe to finish will get three hens and a rooster while the second tribe to finish gets a dozen eggs, and the third tribe gets . . . Nada.
Brawn has to sit out two members and Beauty has to sit out one before they can begin to strategize. Calling out for The Brains is Tasha, for the Brawn is Cliff, and for Beauty is Alexis. This is always a fun challenge because you need to be sure you're listening to your own caller and not another tribe's or you're gonna be all over the place.
Brain got off to an early lead finding their first item with Beauty right on their tail but when they tried to hoist the item up it rolled off and Beauty was the first tribe to get an item to their caller. The Brawn is going all the way to the back to start their collection, which could be a good idea but you never know as it allows the Brains to retrieve and successfully hoist up their first item, and Beauty to retrieve their second item.
Ouch!
LJ just got a pole to the groin. That's gonna leave a mark.
The Brawn return with their first item as Beauty is hoisting up their second. As they head back out, Lindsey takes a post in the stomach. I see some serious bruising in everyone's future. Meanwhile Brains have hoisted up their second item and Beauty is returning with their third. Great teamwork from all tribes so far as Brains and Brawn get entangled and Tasha hollers to her tribe to stop moving. She's gonna be hoarse by the time this is done, but that did allow Beauty to hoist up their third item.
LJ takes another shot to the groin and while he's taking a moment to listen, Spencer takes one in the same spot. I feel their pain. (Thankfully no, but you get the idea). Brain hoists up their third item and heads back out for their fourth trailing behind Beauty while Brawn is in search of their third. After running into another post LJ finally figures out he needs to carry the item in front of his groin. Beauty is hoisting up their fourth item while Brain is heading back in with theirs, and Brawn has number three.
Beauty and Brain are both returning with their fifth item, neck and neck right from the start. Kass (for Brain) runs into a barrel full on while running back with their item, knocking the barrel over but she stayed on her feet. In their rush though they lose their item during the hoisting again and Beauty maintains their lead and heads out for their flag. Brain fixes the problem and also heads out while Brawn is just starting to hoist their fourth item. Looks like someone's going without their protein tonight.
LJ and Jefra are returning with their flag and about to win this challenge, making up for the last one, while Spencer takes another shot to the groin searching for the Brain flag. Kass and Spencer are heading back now while Brawn has just gotten back with their fifth item. Beauty wins the hens and rooster while Brawn is heading out for their flag and Brain seems to have slowed down after grabbing theirs. All this shots to the groin would do that. Brains get their flag back but now they need to hoist it up and once again it falls off . . . but is that enough for the Brawn to catch up as they return with their flag? Apparently because the Brawn tribe gets their flag on the platform and hoists it to win a dozen eggs. I guess physics is not the Brains thing either.
Jeff sends Beauty back with their egg laying hens and rooster and commends them on their teamwork, and rightly so because they performed great . . . even LJ's groin. Then he sends Brawn back to camp with their eggs. For Brain, there's nothing but frustration and annoyance. They blew it and head back to camp, empty handed. Was that a little hint of fear I saw in J'Tia's eye?
Beauty returns to camp with their chicken coop and when Jeremiah reaches in for some chicken feed he finds a note and with everyone standing around he reads the clue for the HII. Not like he could hide the note with the tribe all around him, but I would have just left it in the feed until later. Good thing it had already been found by LJ.
It's kinda hilarious when the girls are asking what the rooster's for, and how do the chickens get eggs, and are they asexual. They understand asexual but not the reproductive process of a chicken and egg? When one of the guys says "don't you carry eggs?" The look of astonishment on the girls faces was pretty funny, . . . but they don't believe it. Darn city girls.
For some reason the tribe decides they'd rather have some cooked chicken than an endless supply of eggs. Not the brightest group, good thing they're pretty. Jeremiah steps it up and tears the head off one of the chickens (please tell me he didn't just kill the rooster) and they're amazed the headless body just keeps going. They pluck it, cook it, and it's all good. Too bad it didn't come with BBQ sauce.
Over at the Brawn camp, Cliff and Lindsey are discussing blindsides while Cliff flirts a little with her. Sarah has noticed how close they've become and she doesn't trust either one so that blindside may just be Cliff. While he's in the water for a swim, Sarah goes to Woo and he's "in." He figures they're young and it's their time to shine. Uh oh.
I kinda like Woo. He's been flying just under the radar at the Brawn camp. Pulling his own weight but looking pretty relaxed about the whole game. Nobody seems to be taking him too seriously and that could definitely work for him. Tony notices Sarah and Woo chatting and as soon as Woo wanders off he pulls Sarah aside to find out what's going on and she gives him the plan . . . A plan he inadvertently hatched with his lie about Cliff and Lindsey targeting Sarah. He's okay with that, and he's okay with continuing to lie as long as it keeps him in the game. Whatever works. It looks like four against two at the Brawn camp. Sorry Cliff.
Day 11 brings more Treemail announcing the Immunity Challenge . . .
Stranded in an island,
It's always sink or swim,
You're sunk today if you can't sink the shot,
Tribal council could be grim.
Sounds like the producers are gearing this one right at Cliff, the former NBA All Star, but that clue could be misleading. He's played more games than Magic Johnson, over his 18 year career, but is that enough to keep the tribe out of Tribal Council? And what about that blindside? Sarah goes to Trish about throwing the challenge to eliminate Cliff before the merge and Trish is a bit leery but she seems on board with the idea. Now Sarah needs to be sure Woo is on board, but he brings it up before she does, even though he's still tight with Cliff. Sucks to be Cliff.
Sure enough, there's a hoop involved in today's Immunity Challenge, however it's attached to a floating dock, while the tribes are on another floating dock across from it, . . . but there's more. Tribe members have to dive down to release a buoy (each of which is set at a different depth) and collect all five buoys, then they can start shooting those into their basket. As per usual, the first two tribes to get all five buoys in their basket win immunity, the third tribe gets a date with Jeff at Tribal. Brawn sits out Tony and Lindsey, while Beauty sits out Alexis. Game on.
The first buoy is only about three feet down and LJ is the first up with his for Beauty, while Woo is up for Brawn. J'Tia is still working on the first one when Brawn and Beauty go in for number two. As Jefra retrieves the second one for Beauty, J'Tia is still floundering and eventually gives up and floats back on her back to the dock. Why exactly did they keep her after the rice incident? She doesn't appear to be that smart, and she's as athletic as a pair of old socks. That's gonna cost a lot of time but fortunately Brawn is having trouble on their second buoy.
J'Tia tags off and Tasha is in to make up some time. Sarah finally retrieves the second buoy for Brawn but remember that she wants to throw this challenge so it's pretty obvious she's doing just that. That allows Tasha to head back with the first buoy for Brains, while Morgan surfaces with the third for Beauty. Trish goes in for the Brawn tribe and is now "struggling" with that third buoy. Cliff is looking a little stern while Jeremiah goes in for Beauty. Meanwhile, Kass comes up empty for Brain and tags off with Spencer who now has to make up even more time. Damn good thing Brawn is trying to throw this, but Brain is making it awfully difficult to not be bloody obvious about it.
Jeremiah surfaces with the fourth buoy for Beauty while Trish returns empty handed for Brawn, which is all that's allowing the Brains to get back in this. LJ heads out for number five and Tasha (for Brain) and Cliff (for Brawn) are both heading out for their third. Unfortunately Tasha returns empty handed while LJ returns with the last buoy and they can now start shooting. Cliff releases the third buoy for Brawn as Spencer does the same for Brain. Spencer goes back in and down twelve feet for the fourth buoy, keeping the Brains in this. Then back down for their last buoy.
While Spencer is retrieving all these buoys, Beauty has sunk all their buoys in their basket and wins Immunity. Only one spot left and it may be all up to Spencer if the Brains want to avoid Tribal. In the meantime, Woo has surfaced with the final buoy for Brawn, but the Brains have another problem . . . the girls in the water can't get the missed buoys back to Spencer fast enough. Spencer sinks one, then misses, then Cliff shoots and misses (I didn't think he would go along with throwing this challenge), then Spencer sinks his second. His next two are in and out and it's coming down to a shoutout between Spencer and Cliff.
Cliff finally gets one for Brawn while J'Tia is trying to retrieve balls in the water while back floating. Seriously. If they go to Tribal it's farewell J'Tia. While she's paddling about like a Bichon Friese, Cliff sinks three more. Spencer gets his third but it's too late as Cliff sinks his last shot and Brawn wins Immunity, despite trying to throw it. If the Brain tribe keeps J'Tia after this, they may as well just show up for challenges to watch.
Well earned Immunity for the Beauty tribe, and hard won for the Brawn. Sarah couldn't believe just how bad the Brain tribe was, no matter how hard her alliance tried to throw the challenge it just wasn't happening when the Brain tribe was so incompetent. Let's see now, they can't do physics, they can't collaborate, they can't swim, and they can't win. That about sums it up. Poor Spencer, I'll be the can't wait for a merge, any kind of merge.
Spencer pretends he's not angry with anyone for them losing and that he's just upset they lost, but it's pretty obvious that he is the team and the rest are dead weights. Actually, Tasha is pretty good too, but Kass is out of her element and I think J'Tia has sucked too many rocket fumes. At least everyone seems to be on board with voting out J'Tia, but the girls have to tell her it's Spencer . . . Until Tasha starts to feel like J'Tia is loyal and they should keep her. Are you kidding me? One Brain, four bodies.
Time for council and Jeff just throws his hands up and shrugs, shakes his head and goes straight at J'Tia for where she feels she sits in the group in responsibility for her teams' continuous losses. She actually defends herself and says swimming isn't her thing. Is anything? Tasha admits that J'Tia has been weak in most challenges, but she's loyal despite her weakness. When Jeff calls J'Tia the weak link, J'Tia defends herself again saying that Tasha just said she was weak at challenges not a weak link. Isn't that the same thing in a game that depends on you winning challenges? Are these two cousins?
When Tasha questions whether they should keep the person who's strong in challenges or the one who's loyal she kinda shrugs and Jeff points out that, if you don't win challenges you don't play long enough to matter. Kass defends J'Tia being a bit of a hothead but says it's just that she makes bad decisions which allows Jeff to point out that "bad decisions" in this game can cost you $1,000,000.00. Spencer defends his group loyalty over J'Tia's unpredictability but with this group I seriously doubt the women are going to use their brain.
Jeff points out that while J'Tia and Spencer are talking aloud the other two are whispering away about what to do. Jeff points out that neither of them is even listening as Spencer defends his position in the tribe. The whole thing is playing out beside him while he sits there frustrated.
Time to vote. There's no idol played and Jeff starts counting. J'Tia, Spencer, J'Tia, and finally . . . J'Tia. Thank god. Finally they make a smart decision, one they should have made three Tribals back. Huge sigh of relief from Spencer. Jeff points out that the one thing that's remained consistent with this tribe is their unpredictability. Yeah, that pretty much sums it up.
Next week, with the Brain tribe near extinction, it's time for a little mix and match as Brain, Beauty & Brawn are no more. It's still too early for a full merge but I definitely see two tribes moving forward. On that note, so shall we. See you all next week for my next Survivor review, or Sunday night if you're also following my Amazing Race review.