Cultural Differences

S25E10

I have to say, I find myself looking forward to new episodes this season more than any season that I've recapped. I honestly have no idea what will happen, and that's pretty rare, at least until the finals. And there are people I still care about and want to win in the game, which is also rare. So good job, Survivor producers.

Abi and Lisa have a heart-to-heart where Lisa says that she'd rather come in sixth and be happy with the people she played with than make it further with a bunch of assholes. She's a little nicer than that, but not much.

Reward Challenge involves working to flip over three drums to your side, while the opposing team works to flip three drums to their side. But you can unflip your opponents' drums too, so it seems to come down to who's faster. The reward is a spa day and a catered lunch. Except for Abi's heat, where she wins it for the other team because she's a dummy. And then Skupin does the same thing for the other team, because he's also a dummy. The winning team is Abi, Carter, Malcolm, and Pete. Hmm, all the younger players. They enjoy their reward, but when they return, Abi makes the rookie mistake of going on and on and FREAKING ON about how great the reward was to the people who didn't get to go. Then Abi announces that she's not cooking for anyone anymore, but she does plan to continue to eat, since she's going home soon. Penner points out that she has an Idol, so she's staying for at least five more days, and Abi says she'll enjoy those final days then. She is made of garbage.

Meanwhile, Malcolm and Skupin are busy making a final four deal with Denise and Lisa. At first, Lisa wants to deal with Penner instead of Malcolm, but Penner puts them off and says he doesn't want to think that far ahead, but Malcolm and Denise are willing to make a deal today. The four of them shake on it in the jungle.

Immunity Challenge. Round one is maneuvering a buoy along a tangled rope. Malcolm, Penner, Denise, Skupin, and Carter move on to round two, where they move the buoy over a balance beam. Skupin, Carter, and Denise move on to round three, where they move the buoy through water obstacles. In a very close race, Carter ends up winning immunity, but honestly none of these three needed it to stay this week.

Pete knows this is his last chance, so he tries to get a movement going to blindside Malcolm. Meanwhile, everyone except Pete and Abi makes a plan to split their vote between Pete and Abi so that if one of them plays the Idol, the other will go home.

At Tribal Council, Probst weirdly takes Abi's side and helps make her into the victim, even though Denise provides a perfect example of why Abi is a dipshit when she tries to be kind and Abi interrupts everything she says. Boo hoo, poor little Abi. In the end, Abi plays her Idol and Pete goes home.

When the Dangrayne tribe (it feels weird to refer to them as one tribe when they are so clearly divided) returns from voting out Artis, Abi and Pete are sad, and while they claim it's because they miss Artis, it's also because they've just realized that they're screwed now. Abi interviews that she doesn't understand what happened and she thought Tandang was going to stick together. Yeah, maybe you shouldn't treat people like shit if you want them to be on your side. Just saying.

Meanwhile, Skupin, Penner and Denise are having a whispered conversation about how voting out Artis was the only way for any of them to have a chance at winning. Penner is kind of creepily leaning over Skupin -- it looks like he wants to make out. Anyway, Skupin and Denise agree that they should stick with their alliance until they are six and then shake hands and fight it out. Skupin interviews that he made a big move tonight, but he thinks more will be needed to make it to the end, but he's happy that he's taken control of his game instead of just riding coattails.

Lisa and Abi have a heart-to-heart on the beach the morning. I find it disconcerting that Abi uses an empty wine bottle for her water; I always think she's just downing some Pinot Grigio around the campsite. At least that might explain her awful behavior. Anyway, Lisa assures Abi that she never betrayed their alliance, but that she will not be working with Abi and Pete anymore. Lisa interviews that she's terrible at break-ups and she has continued in some relationships well past a reasonable point just to avoid hurting the other person. And let's be honest here -- also to avoid being the bad guy and the one "at fault." That's got to be part of it, especially given what we know about Lisa's people-pleasing ways.

Lisa adds that she can't be in an alliance with someone who doesn't trust her. Abi says that it bothered her when Lisa claimed the other side was so gracious to her after her big attempt at ousting Malcolm, and Lisa says that they were really encouraging. So Abi says that they were being nice because they wanted her vote, and that Lisa is dumb to join an alliance where she'll be on the bottom. Unlike Abi's alliance, where Lisa will be... on the bottom? Abi is grasping at straws. Her argument seems to be, "We weren't nice to you, but they were only fake nice to you and now that Artis is gone, you would be in our final three, but only by default and also we still won't be nice to you?" How can Lisa turn that down? Lisa finally says that she'd rather be sixth in a group that she feels good about. Keep this in mind later when Abi claims that she didn't know that people don't like her; Lisa basically just told her she's not a nice person, but she did it in a nice Lisa way. Most people would be able to read between the lines. Abi wishes her luck and they part ways. Lisa interviews that she's taking control of her own destiny for the game and for her life.

Reward Challenge. This one is kind of difficult to explain; I don't think I understood until they started actually playing. There are three giant circles in the sand and each has a red drum and a yellow drum inside. These drums look like giant Tinker Toys. A red team member and a yellow team member will play at the same time. Each team member has to run around to the three circles and flip the drums over to the colored side and try to get all three colored side up at the same time to win. Opponents can unflip the other drums to prevent that from happening. Got it? Each winning round earns a point and the first team to three points wins a spa day, including bath, massage, manicure, pedicure and then a feast.

They draw for teams and end up with the Red Team (Abi, Carter, Malcolm and Pete) and the Yellow Team (Penner, Denise, Lisa, and Skupin). Kind of weird that it's young versus old if it was totally random. First round is Carter and Penner and Carter wins mostly because he's faster. Second round is Malcolm and Skupin and at one stop, Malcolm forgets to unflip Skupin's drum, so Skupin wins. The game is tied one to one.

Lisa versus Abi . In her first stop, Abi flips over both drums to the colored side, so all Lisa has to do is flip over her second one and she wins. What the fudge? Probst asks her if she understands what's going on and Abi says she's really not. Okay, she not only had the game explained to her, she also watched two rounds played before she had to go and she STILL didn't get it? It's not that complicated. The strategy might be difficult, but the basic gameplay is basic.

Pete takes on Denise with the Oldsters Team up two to one. Pete wins because he's faster. So now the game is all tied up 2-2 and we're back to the Skupin vs. Malcolm matchup. Remember, Malcolm lost his round because he made a mistake. Well, this time Skupin mistakenly flips over Malcolm's drum for him (thinking he was flipping it back) and Malcolm wins. The Youngsters get reward and they are thrilled.

The winning team takes a catamaran to another island for their reward. They start out with fruity drinks. They all agree to take a day off from strategy and enjoy not being around gross old people. They eat food and take baths, wash their hair and get massages. Pete interviews that he needed this day off and he's smart and fit, so now that he's had food, he's ready to kick butt at the challenge.

Before long, the winners arrive back at camp. Abi immediately start talking about how awesome it was. She won't stop talking about the food in detail while Denise and Penner are eating gross rice and beans. Skupin interviews that people are usually gracious when they get a reward, but Abi is flaunting it and won't shut up. Abi goes on and on about how beautiful it was, and doesn't seem to pick up that no one is encouraging her or asking questions. Like you know when you're telling a story and you suddenly realize that no one cares so you stop talking? Abi not only didn't stop, she went on for another thirty minutes. Someone asks Carter what his favorite part was and he starts to answer, but Abi interrupts him to talk some more. And more. Like I'M sick of hearing her and I'm not starving on a beach, plus I'm getting the edited version. I can't believe no one has told her to stuff it yet. Malcolm interviews that Abi has all the social grace of a Mack truck.

A bit later, the four oldsters are sitting around rolling their eyes at how terrible Abi is, which might not be the best idea since Abi is sitting nearby and she hears them. She asks what they were saying about her and they deny everything, so Abi flips her newly-washed hair out and says that she's glad everyone else cooked today, because she won't be cooking anymore. She claims that she's been cooking the whole time and she knows she's leaving soon, so she'll be relaxing and enjoying her final moments. Penner says they'll continue to feed her and Abi sarcastically thanks him. Penner points out that they all know that Abi has the Idol, so she obviously will be around for at least five more days, and Abi doesn't really have a response to that since she was obviously hoping for someone to jump in and say, "Oh, Abi! We aren't going to vote you out! Don't say that!" No one jumped in, so she was left to soak in her own passive-aggressive stew. Denise interviews that she doesn't mind seeing Abi make enemies with her pouting and that "whiners are wieners." Oh, Denise. You could say so much worse about that dipshit.

The morning, Abi restates that she's done cooking for the group. Malcolm and Skupin have a chat and Skupin notes that everyone is pissed at Abi, and meanwhile Pete has been sniffing around their alliance, looking for an in. Skupin would love to keep Pete and ditch Abi, but he doesn't see how that's possible, presumably because Abi has the Idol. Skupin mentions what he said to Denise previously, about waiting until they get down to six and then fighting it out. Malcolm wonders if they should wait that long to make a final four plan and they talk about how Malcolm and Denise are a bloc, Skupin and Lisa are a bloc and that's four people. Malcolm wants Skupin to make sure that Lisa would be on board before committing.

So Skupin goes to Lisa and reveals Malcolm's proposal. Skupin admits that it could be a big play, but he's also conscious that you want to make sure you have a deal in place before everyone else makes a deal without you and you're on the chopping block. Lisa isn't sure and Skupin says that they either need to make a pact with Penner and Carter or go with Malcolm and Denise. Lisa trusts Penner more than Malcolm, so Skupin says that now they need to talk to Penner.

Lisa goes to Skupin and Penner and says that she hasn't told anyone other than them that she wants to go to the end with them. Penner says that he's really comfortable keeping things loose while they take care of Abi and Pete first. Penner interviews that he's happy that Lisa wants to make a finals deal, but he thinks it's too early. Oh, Penner. If he only knew that everyone else is making deals and he's going to end up odd man out. Penner tells the others that he doesn't want people getting squirrely and thinking ahead. Oh, they'll do it whether you want them to or not; they're already doing it. Lisa interviews that Penner didn't want to make a deal, so she has no choice but to go with Malcolm and Denise.

Malcolm, Denise, Skupin and Lisa meet in the jungle and make a deal to go to the final four. They do a four-way shake on it and presumably use all five fingers. Malcolm interviews that he's sticking his neck out, but he feels like he needs to make a deal. Skupin interviews that he doesn't totally trust Malcolm, but he doesn't feel like he has a choice. All he knows is that he needs to win immunity just to be on the safe side.

And it's time for the Immunity Challenge. It's a three stage challenge. In the first stage, they have to maneuver a buoy through a tangled rope; it's much like stringing a bead. The top five move on to stage two, where they will have to maneuver a buoy across a balance beam without falling off; the rope is wound around the beam. The top three move on to the final stage, where they will have to maneuver a buoy through the water, where the rope is wound around a raft and a boat. The winner gets immunity. Before they start, Pete reminds us that he's all fired up and ready to go and he needs immunity or he loses. But he's young and fit! And he ate a lot of food on his reward! He's a lock, baby!

Off they go! It's difficult to tell who is making progress for a long time, because they are just winding the buoy around and around a fence rail. Malcolm and Penner finally break free and cross the finish. Denise is , followed by Skupin. Only one spot left and Carter, Abi and Pete are competing for it. And Carter finishes fifth, taking the last spot. What happened to Pete? He's young and fit! He just got beat by a bunch of oldies.

Stage two is the balance beam and we have Malcolm, Penner, Skupin, Denise and Carter competing. Skupin, Denise and Carter are all shimmying along the beam on their bellies, winding the buoy around as they go and it seems to be working. Penner is trying to sit up right and it's slowing him down. Malcolm falls off the beam and has to start over. Skupin finishes first with Carter close behind, and then Denise beats out Malcolm and Penner to take the third slot.

Final stage is the water course. You'd think Denise would have the advantage here since she's the strongest swimmer. They have to dive off a platform, climb up on a boat and then climb up on a raft, moving the buoy along the rope the whole way. Denise does get to the boat first. She winds her buoy around and then jumps in to move the buoy across the bottom of the boat before climbing back in to repeat the action. Skupin does the same, but Carter manages to wind his around without actually leaving the boat, which seems surprisingly smart for him. I mean, he looks like a dummy, right? His method might be slightly slower, but he is saving a ton of energy by not jumping into the water and then having to haul himself into the boat every time. Carter is the first to finish getting through the boat's hull and the first to head to the final platform. He tries his boat method of staying on the platform; Skupin and Denise jump into the water to complete the platform. The difference between the platform and the boat though is that the platform is in shallow enough water that Skupin can just stand there and move the buoy; with the boat, he had to tread water and climb in and out. Skupin takes the lead going back to the beach and they have one last knot to maneuver. Carter catches and passes him, and wins immunity. Wow. Carter. Who knew?

By Kim

Penner tells Malcolm that Abi and Pete are running around trying to sell a plan to get rid of Malcolm, but he turned them down. Malcolm interviews that he knows Abi and Pete are trying to get rid of him, and it would only take one person flipping to work. Malcolm isn't sure if he's playing the Idol or not, but he's considering it strongly and trying to keep an eye on his alliance mates. Yikes. Malcolm gives Skupin some serious side-eye while they are going over their voting plan for the final time.

Tribal Council. RC, Jeff and Artis walk in to serve as jurors. Artis looks soooooo happy. Abi smiles at him and Probst notes it, and then asks Malcolm if Abi is being sincere or trying to work the jury. Shut up, Probst. Why would Abi need to sway Artis? She didn't vote him out. The only competition she might have for Artis's vote is Pete. And Abi's not making the finals anyway, so why are we even talking about this? Malcolm says he's more concerned with staying in the game than jury management. Probst asks if Malcolm is really worried and Malcolm says that he's hoping the people who've pledged their loyalty keep their word, because it would only take one vote to send him home. Probst tries to get Malcolm to admit that it would be a good strategic move to send him home (and it totally would for maybe everybody but Denise), but Malcolm says he won't say that. But he knows people are talking about it.

Probst asks Skupin how you navigate knowing who has Idols. Skupin says it's always a factor when thinking strategy and things might get crazy. Probst asks Pete how it feels to go from top dog to bottom of the pack with one vote. Pete says it's not a good feeling, but he's been trying to work something out all day to get rid of Malcolm and his Idol. Why would you admit that? Aren't you trying to blindside him so he doesn't play his Idol? Pete's whole plan doesn't work at all if Malcolm plays his Idol. Right? What am I missing here?

Probst asks Abi if she regrets being such a crotch at the last Tribal. Well, he doesn't say crotch, but he should and maybe he would if this show were on basic cable. Abi says that she does have regrets. Probst offers her the out that it might be a cultural issue and Abi hops on it and says that English is not her first language and her attitude is not very gentle. Okay, a few things about that. One, Abi has lived in this country for something like ten or twelve years, so the language/culture thing is bullshit. Second, guess how old Abi is. No, seriously, think of a number in your mind. She's 32. She acts like she's 22, if that. And third, I had a former employee who was a non-native English speaker and who had only been in this country for a few years. She had a lot of problems getting along with people and dealing with students and we all chalked it up to cultural differences, and tried to work with her and help her and support her and you know what? Turned out she was just crazy. Other countries have crazy people too! It is important to be sensitive to cultural differences, but sometimes people are just cuckoo for cocoa puffs. And I think Abi falls into that category.

So anyway, everyone is holding back laughter at the thought of Abi being a garbage person due to cultural differences and Probst calls them out on it. Denise says that she's spent a lot of time with people from other cultures and they are kind and giving, and Abi's not. Probst asks Abi if this is the first time she's had a group of people reject her and Abi says that it is and her friends at home really love her. Probst starts to see Abi as bullied, which is so laughable and Abi says that she brought Lisa into their alliance, but then doubted her and Lisa can't forgive her. See how she makes it all Lisa's fault? Abi brought Lisa into the alliance in the first place! And now Lisa can't forgive Abi this one little thing, which we know involved not only calling her out twice at Tribal Council but also delivering condescending lectures at least once and probably more often. Lisa says that she was committed to their alliance, but she needs to work with people who trust her. Abi says she understands and makes her "poor little me" face.

Probst tries to stick up for poor widdle Abi (would he do this for a guy in the same position?) and says that she seems to feel misunderstood and Abi says that she doesn't know how to explain herself any better and she's holding back tears from feeling alone. Probst tells Denise that Abi has no numbers and she's alone, so she seems like a perfect person to take to the end. Well, she has no numbers NOW. She has probably two or three jury votes easily and maybe more depending on what kind of final speech strategy she could come up with. In other words -- shut up, Probst. Denise goes in kind of a gross direction with her answer, which is that she doesn't want to take bad people to the finals. She only wants to play against good people. That's such a Big Brother answer. She should talk about competing against the best instead of putting it in moral terms. She's coming off as super smug here. She talks about seasons where people have taken "the dead weight, the unlikable person" to the finals and Abi interrupts and says that she didn't know she was unlikable. Well, YA ARE!

Denise continues that she was using examples from seasons past and not necessarily talking about Abi (she was) and Probst interrupts and wonders if Abi really didn't get that people didn't like her. Abi says that she really didn't and Probst says that he thinks that it really is a cultural difference. Abi just looks down and pouts. Probst goes back to Denise and asks her if she's claiming to be a good person. Denise says that she just doesn't believe in taking someone easy to beat to the finals and compares it to taking a poker novice to an expert game just to steal their money. Abi tells Denise she doesn't need to say anymore. Denise shuts up.

By Kim

When Probst speaks up again, Abi says that she's never felt so much hatred. She's acting like a teenager. She's 32. Just wanted to remind you. Denise tries to smooth things over and says that it's not hatred -- its frustration and brings up Abi's behavior post-reward. Abi interrupts Denise. Denise asks if she can finish and then says that Abi was gloating and Abi interrupts again. Denise asks Abi to PLEASE let her finish. Abi rolls her eyes. Denise brings up how Abi said she was on strike and Abi interrupts AGAIN. Denise makes a fact to Probst like, "Do you see this?" I mean, Denise has been able to get one and a half sentences out each time before Abi interrupts, despite BEGGING Abi to let her finish. How many times in your life does someone say to you, "Can I finish?" Seriously... how many? And if someone does say it, don't you shut up for a while? Denise tries to explain how Abi is showing her lack of reading social cues right now and Abi interrupts again to complain that Denise is manipulating and using her therapist speak to curry favor with the jury. Note how it's never Abi's fault? It's never Abi's fault. She is a sociopath. Denise says that she's done. Abi rolls her eyes again and says she's feeling like an idiot because she doesn't pick up social cues, but she won't stop fighting.

By Kim

Probst really wants them to shuffle the game. Ugh. I'm over him. Anyway, they vote. As expected, Abi votes for Malcolm and then returns to complain to Pete that they were brutal. Who? Denise? She wasn't brutal. She was honest and maybe a little smug, but not brutal. How about how you treated Lisa in Tribal Council? Gah. Why do I bother?

Probst tallies the votes and Abi plays her Idol. Abi gets the first three votes but they don't count. Then there are three for Pete and two for Malcolm, so Pete's going home. Guess everyone in the six-person alliance stuck to it. Poor Pete. He had a good strategy but he just didn't remember the Boston Rob strategy of checking in with everyone in your alliance every day and making sure everyone is happy. He got cocky because they had numbers and assumed everyone would stick with him to the finals, not realizing that his chosen number two, Abi, was alienating everyone left and right. It should've been Abi tonight; hopefully it will be her week. And then it's game on.

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