Episode Report Card Kim: B | 37 USERS: B- YOU GRADE IT Moving Right Along
By Kim | Season 27 | Episode 9 | Aired on 11.13.2013
In a hurry? Read the recaplet for a nutshell description! Finished? Click here to close.After blindsiding Aras, Vytas tries to be magnanimous but Tina tells everyone that they now will have five votes against them on the jury. Her, Katie, Vytas, Aras, and who else? Then it comes out that Aras had made alliances with pretty much everyone, so that's why they voted him out. After that, Tina tells Katie to make her own gameplan, because Tina has a huge target on her and will only drag Katie down.
First Immunity Challenge is eating gross things. It all comes down to Monica and Gervase having to eat giant grubs, just like Gervase failed to do in the first season. And Monica wins immunity. Everyone talks about splitting the vote between Vytas and Katie, and Vytas begs to get fewer votes. Tyson is somewhat swayed by the idea of keeping another male and getting rid of a potential female-alliance member as well as one of a pair.
At Tribal Council, Vytas must know he's going because he burns some SERIOUS bridges with Monica, with Tyson and with Gervase. And Vytas does in fact join his brother on Redemption Island. The men were supposed to vote for Vytas and the women for Katie but Monica gets pissed and switches her vote to Vytas. It doesn't affect the outcome but it does piss some people off.
Right away, we get another Immunity Challenge. They have to balance a sword on a shield and then balance a stack of coins on top of that. It comes down to Hayden, Tyson, and Katie, and the two men's stacks drop at almost exactly the same time leaving Katie as the winner.
When they return to camp, Tina heads out to look for the Hidden Immunity Idol since she knows it's probably her only chance to stay in the game. Tyson, Hayden, and Caleb follow her to prevent her from finding it or possibly find it as well. Except Tyson knows she's not going to find it, because he has it. So then there's a weird standoff in the jungle and Tina tries to make them think she might have found the Idol.
At Tribal Council, Tina campaigns hard against Monica sucks and tries to pretend she has the Idol. Boy, she must feel dumb watching this now, knowing that Tyson actually had it all along. And then after all that talk, they vote out Tina anyway.
Want more? The full recap starts right below!When they return to camp after blindsiding Aras, Vytas puts on this super fake chill bro tone as he congratulates everyone on getting rid of Aras, because it was great gameplay, even if he hates to see Aras go. I hope everyone can see how fake Vytas is being right now. Tyson agrees that he hated to see Aras go, but it was the best move. Aras reveals his true feelings in an interview where he says that "vengeance is going to be mine at some point." I'm guessing his only revenge might be withholding a jury vote.
Then it's Tina's turn to speak up. She uses that tone some women have where they act like they're really happy and jolly but you can tell they're actually really angry. She congratulates Tyson and Monica but says that there are now five jury votes they won't get. Five? Tina, Katie, Aras, Vytas, and who? Who does she think is still in her alliance? Gervase? Tyson counters that they pushed him out of their original alliance, or at least Aras did. Tina says that she didn't, and then points at Ciera and Laura and says that they were never in the alliance. Then everyone drops the bomb that Aras had made alliances with each of them, which is why they had to get rid of him. Tyson sums it up: Aras had promised all of them top three (presumably with him and Vytas), so he's the one that flipped. Tina backs down, chastened. Tyson interviews that the game has broken his heart twice, but now he's back in love with it. He knew Aras wasn't going to take him to the end, and that Tina would put Katie ahead of him, so this was absolutely the right move.
The next morning, some sad music plays as Tina takes Katie down to the beach alone. Tina says that she's got a big target on her back, and Katie needs to do whatever she can to disassociate herself from her mother and stay in the game. Tina gives her permission to do that, with no hard feelings. I wonder if it goes both ways; if Tina were given an opportunity to backstab Katie and stay, would she? They don't discuss it. Katie interviews that she doesn't know how to start selling herself without throwing her mom under the bus. I think her mom just gave her permission to be thrown under the bus. Wasn't that what that conversation was all about?
Time for a challenge already! Probst explains that this is an immunity challenge, and they'll be eating gross stuff, just like in the first ever season. Remember Gervase? In the first season, it was a team challenge that ended in a tie, so each tribe picked the other tribe's most squeamish member to compete. Gervase faced off against Stacey, and lost. Anyway, this time, they will be competing in two quarterfinals, and the top three from each go to the semifinals, and then the top two go to the finals.