The Fall of Man

S24E03

A big storm rolls in and since the women's shelter sucks, they end up cold and wet all night long, even though the men offered to let them sleep in their shelter. In the morning, they go over and warm up by the men's fire. Not all of the men are happy about that; Matt in particular seems pissed.

For the Reward Challenge, they have to look at a series of items, and then run back and recreate the tableau before their opponent does. First team to five points wins. The women jump out to a three point lead, and then Kat and Troy compete. After seven tries, Kat actually gets it right. And then Christina finishes it off for the women, and the men get skunked. The women win a full fishing kit along with a canoe and paddles.

After the challenge, it's once again cold and rainy and the women beg the men for an ember, which they get. But the men are getting tired of giving handouts, especially Colton, who complains about never getting anything from the women. Except the Hidden Immunity Idol, which he seems to have forgotten about. The other men want to be able to take out the canoe, and the women say no, and are actually offended by the suggestion. Later, the women manage to catch some small fish with their new equipment, which helps their moods.

For the Immunity Challenge, six people are blindfolded and tied together in pairs. One caller has to lead them through a maze to water towers, which will be knocked over, releasing puzzle pieces. Once all of the pieces are collected, the caller has to put together the puzzle. First team with a completed puzzle wins.

Sabrina and Bill are the Callers. Sabrina has a really hard time multitasking and directing multiple teams of women while Bill gets his teams through quickly. The men start on their puzzle while the women only have three out of five bags collected. And yet, the women manage to catch up and then pass the men and finish their puzzle first. Sabrina gets a lot of help from Monica, Chelsea, and Kim, and the women communicate and work together well on the puzzle segment.

So the men have to head to Tribal Council. Colton declares that his alliance (him, Troy, Tarzan, Leif, Jonas) will be voting out Bill (even though Tarzan thinks they should get rid of Matt). Jay interrupts their discussion and they pull him into the alliance, because he realizes they have the numbers. Tarzan flat out tells Matt that he can't be in on their conversation, so that won't raise any suspicion.

Colton flat out tells everyone that he'll be playing the Idol and that he likes hanging out with the women more. Probst actually calls him on how ridiculous that is, and Matt and Bill pile on. Tarzan tries to defend Colton, which pisses Bill off. And then they vote. Colton doesn't play the Idol, because he knows he has the numbers. The alliance of five actually does the smart thing and votes out Matt instead of useless Bill. The crazy thing is that Bill and Jay both voted for Matt, along with the alliance of five. Mike voted for Bill (?) and Matt voted for Colton. Shenanigans going on over there.

After Tribal Council, Alicia comforts Kat and tells her not to cry. Chelsea interviews that all eyes are on Kat now and they're questioning their alliance, but she thinks they just need something positive to give their tribe a glimmer of hope and things will turn around. As Chelsea and Kim sit by the campfire, Colton and Jonas come over and offer to let the women sleep in the men's shelter because there's a huge storm rolling in. That was really nice of the men. Of course, the women don't want to admit that their shelter sucks and probably don't want to feel beholden to the men, so they refuse nicely. I think I would take them up on the offer, especially if the whole tribe went over. I mean, maybe you would overhear something useful and at least you'd be warm. At this point, what do the women have to lose? They don't have anything to offer the men in return (except a pole dance I guess, and I think that was mostly a joke). Anyway, Chelsea and Kim leave the door open and say that they might get desperate, but everyone else agrees that they should probably tough it out.

And then a huge storm blows in; it's cold and their shelter is providing pretty much zero shelter. The women are wet and freezing and they don't have a tarp like the men do. They all huddle together and complain about how cold they are. Wow, you mean people are actually being exposed to the elements on this show and suffering as a result? It's been a bunch of seasons since that happened.

The morning, Chelsea explains that they didn't get any sleep last night and to top it off, the rain put their fire out so they can't have breakfast. Aren't there like coconuts and stuff to eat? And bananas? Then again, they did put Kat and Alicia in charge of food, so there probably isn't any. Chelsea spots some of the men walking by and calls out to them. Troy walks over and they tell him that they got soaked and have no fire and ask if he does. Troy says that they should all go over and dry out by the men's fire. He doesn't check with anyone before making this offer, but he does pause for a second like he knows it might not go over well with everyone.

As we see the women scamper over to the fire, Kim interviews that she's glad they stuck it out all night together but she had no shame in drying out at the men's fire in the morning. The women dry off their bodies and clothes, and Sabrina shows off the pruning of her fingers. Kim interviews that she hopes this pit stop is temporary, as she obviously doesn't want to be beholden to the men. Matt interviews that he was out crabbing and when he returned, the women were in their shelter. Matt understands that some of the guys felt bad for them, but Matt does NOT! He does NOT feel bad! And he is in charge of... less than half of his tribe, so he really has no power. This will be important later.

By Kim

Reward Challenge. It's still raining. Probst explains that they will square off one-on-one against someone from the opposite tribe in a memory game. Probst will reveal a tableau of items (skulls, bottle, shells, etc.) and when the tribe member has it memorized, he or she pulls a lever, which drops a curtain that blocks the tableau from view, then races back to a table and tries to recreate the tableau exactly. If the tribe member is successful, that tribe gets a point and the first tribe to five points wins a fishing kit, including spears, a mask and fins, as well as a canoe with paddles. The men decide to sit out Tarzan and Leif, which seems weird. Wouldn't you want to sit Tarzan out during a more physical challenge? Maybe he's got a bad memory. Or maybe they're just doing a rotation. I don't know.

The first two up are Sabrina and Matt. Probst explains that when one of them decides he or she has had enough time looking, the curtain drops for both of them. Probst raises the curtain and they look for about three to five seconds. Matt's tableau is wrong, but Sabrina's is right and the women score the first point.

Colton and Monica are up . They spend even less time looking. Colton's tableau is wrong and Monica's is right, so the women get another point. Alicia and Jay are the third pair. Alicia pulls the lever quickly and gets it right, while Jay just looks confused. Alicia earns the third point.

Kat and Troy are the fourth pair and the tableau is bumped up from six to eight items. Troy doesn't even really look at the tableau before hitting the lever. I don't get that strategy at all. Troy gets it wrong and so does Kat. They keep having to go back and look and there's a hilarious montage of Probst going, "He is wrong! She is wrong! Nope! Again!" Finally, Kat gets it right on the seventh try and the women lead four to nothing.

So it's Christina versus Bill for all the marbles. Bill is super hyper and bouncing around. The men seem to have a strategy of running back to start setting up their guess and making the women be the ones to pull the lever. That might actually make sense if the men ever got the tableau right, but they don't. And that includes this time, so Christina gets a point and the women win reward. Aw, good for them. I don't know how interested I was in watching the women just be miserable. Probst reminds them that their canoe will be waiting at camp and they don't have to share it. Probst's lesson of the day to the men: "The women now know they can beat you at something." I get the gist but I'd like to think the women knew they could win SOMETHING before this. Oh, Probst. You never fail to be condescending.

The women return to camp and run over to check out their canoe. It's still windy and rainy, though. Kat tries to start a fire. She interviews that their plan is to get the fire going and fix the shelter before the storm rolls in. Monica is trying to use the flint and some coconut pieces to start a fire, but they're all wet so it won't light. Monica and Kat decide to go over and ask the men for an ember. They walk over and explain what they need and why. Jay immediately says they can have an ember in return for letting the men take out the boat sometime. Monica says she can't make a decision about that without talking to the rest of her tribe. Matt points out that the women were all over there earlier, drying out. I don't know what that has to do with anything other than Matt is still sour about it. I guess he's saying that the men keep doing the women favors and getting nothing in return. Before Matt and Jay can continue to negotiate, someone gives the women an ember. Leif? I can't tell who it was. Monica and Kat hightail it out of there before they can be asked any more questions.

After they leave, Matt comments that they need to stop just giving stuff to the women and getting nothing in return. He's not wrong. But he also doesn't get to unilaterally make that decision. Colton interviews that he agrees with Matt, because he's "a Republican, [he is] not a Democrat. [He does] not believe in handouts." Okay, there's so much to parse here. First of all, way to stereotype the political parties unfairly. Second of all, he's a Republican? HE'S a Republican? He's a REPUBLICAN? I guess he grew up rich, so maybe that's where it comes from, but does he know anything about the Republican Party's social platform? And thirdly, he doesn't believe in handouts, but he had no problem accepting the Idol from Sabrina. What was that if not a handout? Isn't the definition of a handout when someone gives you help and expects nothing in return? Did he negotiate a deal with Sabrina that I missed? Or was it implied? So many questions. One thing that's not in question: I still hate Colton. Right down to his stupid name.

It's raining hard again, and the women are freezing and miserable. Chelsea's hands are sad looking. The men are still talking about how they don't want the women to die or anything, but they also feel a bit taken advantage of and then Chelsea and Alicia show up to dry out by the fire. They don't even really ask if they can -- they just walk over and say, "Hey y'all, we just need to dry out a bit and then we'll be out of your way." I can get why the men are annoyed by their sense of entitlement. Just because you were invited once doesn't mean you have an open invitation. At least ask permission, you know? Jonas interviews that the women are like zombies and he thinks they need to tough it out. Jay says that the men plan to take the boat out and Alicia and Chelsea are like, "Hmm, don't know about that." Alicia adds that the men's deals aren't fair. Jay points out that they gave the women fire and let them dry out in their shelter, so they should get something in return. Alicia says that she can't make a decision without her tribe, and she will take it to them. The men are pissed that the women don't seem to be entertaining their offer. I think this is just miscommunication. The women are saying, "We can't give you a definite yes or no without talking to everyone" and the men are saying, "How dare you say no to us after all we've given you." Tarzan, of all people, seems to get it, and says that the women need to go get consensus and come back in a position to negotiate. After Alicia and Chelsea leave, the men bitch some more except for Troy, who seems to understand what's going on. Colton says that he doesn't understand it and he's practically a woman. Sigh.

By Kim

Back in their camp, Chelsea reports that the men said that they're going to just take the canoe out, which isn't really what was said at all. I wonder if Monica and Kat even reported their conversation. The women are all, "How dare they!" If these two tribes are going to live together, they each need to appoint a negotiator who is empowered to make decisions for their tribe. But that would make too much sense. Chelsea is so exhausted and cold that she says that she'll give the men all the fishing gear and the boat if she can get warm and get a night of sleep, and then she starts crying. Kat notes that they're just girls and they're not meant to "be beaten down this well." I don't think inability to stay warm in a cold rain has a gender? But I will write it off to being cold and frustrated.

The morning, Monica, Chelsea and Kim take the boat out fishing. The sun is out, so the women are feeling better too. I like that Monica is hanging out with Chelsea and Kim; I feel like it improves her chances of sticking around. They actually do spear a few fish. Chelsea admits that the fish are tiny, but it's something. Kim interviews that she thinks her tribemates understand that they're playing a game instead of wandering around like zombies. Troy and Matt come over to check out the women's bounty. Troy interviews that the women are starting to gain confidence and the men need to win again and take back the momentum.

By Kim

Which is a great segue to the Immunity Challenge! Probst welcomes the two tribes and explains the challenge. One person is a caller and everyone else will be paired up, blindfolded and tied together. The caller will direct each pair to a water tower, which they will empty out to find a bag of puzzle pieces. Once all five bags are returned to home base, the caller will solve the puzzle. The first tribe to complete the puzzle wins immunity. Easy enough, right? Oh, how I love blindfolded challenges. Is there anything funnier than someone running into a pole? I think not. The men are sitting out Colton and Jay. Oh, I wanted to see Colton get clotheslined. Boo.

Sabrina is calling for the women and Bill for the women. Sabrina sends Christina and Monica out first and then kind of forgets about them, so they're just randomly wandering around in the farthest reaches of the course. At one point, they end up underneath one of the men's water towers and get doused. Oops. The problem is that Monica and Christina are hopeless at this point and the other pairs are really close to water towers, so Sabrina has to ignore them to help pairs who are at towers. The men get all five bags back and the women only have three. Sabrina finally sends Kim and Chelsea out to get the furthest bag because they know what they are doing. Bill has already started putting the puzzle together when Monica and Christina get their bag, finally. Probst yells at them to MOVE and won't shut up about how the men have a huge time advantage.

So Bill has four pieces in the puzzle -- which is a tree with multicolored leaves -- as Sabrina starts. The rest of the men are helping Bill out, but the women seem to be doing more in terms of helping, especially Chelsea and Monica. They are totally looking at Bill's puzzle and using it to tell Sabrina what to do. The women tie it up and then it's neck and neck. They are both down to their last piece and the women are whispering to Sabrina what she should do so that the other tribe won't hear. Sabrina gets the last piece in the puzzle, so the women win immunity! Yay! While watching this live, I seriously didn't breathe until the challenge was over. I didn't know I was rooting for the women so hard until that moment. Matt interviews that he can't believe they lost, but now he's looking forward to using some of the power he's gained thus far. Well, I look forward to exactly that happening, Matt!

Colton has a pow wow with his alliance: Troy, Tarzan, Jonas and Leif. He counts that they have five people. Tarzan says that Bill is their floater, but Colton thinks Bill should go first. Tarzan argues that Matt is too dangerous to let stay, but Colton thinks that Bill is a floater and thus is more dangerous. Troy interviews that their alliance is going to decide who goes home because they have the numbers. As they continue to talk, Jay walks up and they all get quiet, like that's not obvious. Men are so bad at gossiping. Women would totally have that shit covered. As soon as Jay took a step towards them, they would silently signal with their eyes to change subjects and it would be seamless. Anyway, Jay states the obvious, that they are probably an alliance and Tarzan cracks and says that they totally are. Then he asks Jay to join them and Colton adds that Jay "backed the wrong horse" from the beginning. Jay interviews that he can see that their alliance has the numbers, so he'd be dumb not to vote with them.

Tarzan says that they're probably voting for Bill, even though he thinks that Matt is a better choice. Jay says he'll vote however they say. Then Matt walks over and is like, "What's up?" Why would they not all go their separate ways after Jay busted them? They are terrible at this. Tarzan says it's obvious that they're talking strategy, and that Matt's presence is destroying their ability to talk about it. Matt interviews that he knew they were talking strategy, so he interrupted on purpose.

Matt walks away and, later, pulls Troy aside. If he were smart, he would have just stood there and forced the alliance to walk away first or tell him their plan. What a dummy. Anyway, Matt thinks that Troy is the head of the alliance (is he?) so he wants to talk to him one-on-one. So here's Matt's big plan that he proposes to Troy: they should team up with a couple of other "roosters" and get rid of all the "chickens." Who does Matt think they should team up with? How about Mike and Jay? So, basically, Matt thinks Troy should join his alliance in place of Bill. And they'll still only have four votes. Can Matt count? Did he see how many people were in the group he just interrupted? So Matt is totally convinced that his new alliance is running the show and he's the head of it. Troy just goes along with it and later interviews, "It ain't Survivor unless you're lying!" He's not wrong.

Troy talks to Colton and Jay on the beach. He tells them that Matt wants him, Mike, Jay, and Jonas as an alliance. Well, at least Matt learned to count. Anyway, Troy claims to be disgusted by Matt's arrogance and it leads Colton to say that maybe they should get rid of Matt first. Jay thinks everyone is ready to vote for Bill, though. Colton interviews that he hates Bill, but he also recognizes that Matt is the leader of a core group, so the vote could go either way. Colton also hopes to get rid of five of the nine people on his tribe, because he hates them. I hate Colton. What about that?

The men report to Tribal Council and light their torches. Probst asks Mike about the alliances in the tribe and Mike says that he clicked with Matt right off, but he knows there are a lot of different alliances within the tribe. Not really. There are two. Well, I guess there could be sub-alliances that we don't know about yet. Tarzan just lays it out and says that they have an alliance of five and he trusts them. Colton adds that he's not uncomfortable because he's not going home since he has an Idol. They try to make it out like Matt is just hearing this, but if you watch the extra scenes on the website, Matt already knew and so did Mike. Colton claims that he's going to play his Idol. Well, of course he claims that. Probst asks Mike if they plan to vote for Colton anyway and Mike says that Colton is dangerous because he's so tight with the women. I'm not sure if he meant to do this, but it's smart for Mike to try to plant seeds of doubt in the alliance of five's minds. Make them think that Colton is going to throw them over for the women at the merge and maybe they'll oust him pre-merge. I don't know if Mike is that smart, though.

Probst asks Colton if he's been spending a lot of time with the women and Colton says, "Duh." Probst points out what all of us were thinking last week: Colton doesn't compete with the women and, in fact, has to compete against them so it's "reverse duh double dare" on Colton. What? Is Probst high? He is spouting gibberish. Someone check him for signs of a stroke. Colton says he likes the women because they're nurturing, and Probst points out that Colton is putting a target on his back. Bill says that Colton thinks they all judged him, but really he judged all of them. Probst clarifies that they're talking about Colton being gay and Bill says yes. Bill is a fool, but he's right that Colton judged all of them immediately.

Tarzan says that Colton is "highly intelligent" [cough] and strategic, but they need him for the first few weeks. Nothing like telegraphing that you're hoping to ditch him when you don't need him anymore. I can't figure out if Tarzan is nutty or just being completely honest and transparent so no one can accuse him of lying or subterfuge. It will be kind of interesting to see this play out. Matt asks who Tarzan is talking about when he says "we need him" and Tarzan doesn't really answer. Matt says that Tarzan has an alliance and is being vague about it. Tarzan once again doesn't really answer. Probst asks Matt if he's having fun or not and Matt says that Tarzan's a goof and he only likes to talk to people that take him seriously. Good luck with that one. Probst asks how tonight's vote will change the game for Matt and he says that they all get a chance to set the ball in motion. I don't even know what he's talking about.

By Kim

Probst asks Bill how concerned he is that tonight's vote won't go the way he wants to. Bill is super hyper again and psyched and says the word "intense" a lot, while Colton shakes his head and rolls his eyes. Bill would be tough to take. Probst just pauses once Bill finally stops talking and says, "Time to vote." Heh.

When Matt gets up to vote, he puts his hand on Jonas's shoulder and Jonas looks annoyed and stares at his shoulder like, "Did he just touch me? Why?" Once Probst returns with the vote, he asks if anyone wants to play an Idol. Colton does not play his Idol. Shocker. He knows he's safe. The first vote is for Colton, then Bill, then Matt. The rest of the votes that Probst reads are all for Matt, so he goes home.

After Matt leaves, Probst says the first vote was the first blindside. I don't know -- I think Matt knew he was in jeopardy and that's why he was so angry. Tarzan asks Jeff if they can see the final votes cast that weren't read, and Probst just goes, "No." Heh. Can't hurt to ask, I guess. Colton snarks, "Save those questions for me." God, I hope they are setting that asshole up for a fall. Anyway, the curious final vote featured Matt voting for Colton, Mike voting for Bill, and everyone else voting for Matt. Hmm. What was Mike's play there? Did they pretend to take him into the alliance but not tell him they were voting for Matt? Did he know Matt was going but didn't want to vote for him? Why didn't he vote for Colton? Is he trying to curry favor with Colton? I'm interested to see how this plays out; hope they explain it week.

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