Back-Up Plan

S25E11

As Abi continues bitching about her treatment at Tribal Council, Denise lays out their plan: vote out Abi, but if Abi somehow wins immunity, vote out Penner. Not sure why Penner is going ahead of Carter, but there it is.

The Reward Challenge is the food auction, where Skupin proves he doesn't understand strategy. Carter wins a baked potato, but he trades it for rice and beans for the tribe and then wins veal shanks for the entire tribe to eat like animals. Abi spends all of her money on an advantage in the game. Abi's advantage is that she gets to skip to the finals of the Immunity Challenge, but she lies and tells Malcolm that she actually has an Idol. Won't he find out she's lying when they get to the actual challenge? I don't get it.

Immunity Challenge is yet another ropes course. I'm getting a little sick of these. Anyway, it's in three stages with a twist. At the beginning of each stage, Probst will ask each competitor a question and if they get it wrong, they have to carry 5% of their body weight with them. Did they get weighed? Are we talking current body weight or pre-game body weight?

Abi reads the message about heading right to the final stage aloud, but then claims that there is another part she's not reading and rips up the note. Probst doesn't give her away, which I guess is fair. Denise handily wins the first stage, with Carter, Skupin, Malcolm and Penner also moving on, although Penner barely makes it through. Penner somehow makes a huge comeback and wins the second round and he moves on along with Carter.

So Penner, Carter and Abi compete for Immunity in the final round, which involves untying knots and climbing a structure. Abi's knee seems completely healed! It's a miracle! And despite a big challenge from Carter, Abi actually wins immunity. Well, it only took a huge advantage to light a fire under her. So anyway, now everyone's going to vote out Penner.

Lisa goes and tells Penner that he's being voted out. Penner somehow thinks that Skupin is part of his alliance with Carter and Abi. How did that happen? I mean, it's not crazy because Skupin and Penner have a much better chance of winning against Carter or Abi than anyone else, but I feel like this is the first we're hearing about this so-called alliance.

At Tribal Council, Penner tries to convince Lisa (and Skupin) that she's better off keeping him and ditching Denise. It doesn't work and Penner is voted out. The best part is that he hugs Carter and then Abi stands up and asks for a hug and Penner refuses. Penner has a bit of a hard time leaving the stage; I would have rather that Abi went tonight, but I was kind of over Penner anyway. He had gone over that line for me from funny and sarcastic to bitter and smug.

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We don't even get the night vision post-Tribal Council footage; maybe they all just awkwardly went to sleep. Anyway, the morning, Skupin checks in with Abi who's all pouty and says that they were "brutal" to her and "it wasn't cute." She clearly has never heard much negative feedback in her life. I mean, even if she's completely different off the island, she's a human being and she has flaws and she has to have heard some criticism prior to this, right? That was relatively mild and, frankly, deserved.

Denise interviews that Abi is still being negative and grouchy about everything. Penner and Denise go to get wood and talk shit about Abi. Penner nails her attitude with "furious, defensive, bitter." Denise interviews that she has a solid Final Four, so Abi's going . Unless she somehow miraculously wins immunity (come on, that could never happen! Why would they even mention it in the opening of the show?), and then they'll probably ditch Penner. I get that Penner is a good social/emotional player, but he's no immunity threat. I don't get why Carter's name hasn't even come up, since he's shown himself to be pretty decent at challenges, especially physical ones. Interesting.

Abi and Malcolm go to get treemail and they find little pouches with each player's name on them. Abi assumes that these are letters from home and she starts crying. Malcolm doesn't think they are letters, but then notices Abi's tears and says, "Come on, darling." Ugh, I hate that he kind of melted me with that "darling." Anyway, Malcolm hugs her and expresses empathy for her condition. I don't know how much of this is genuine and how much is currying jury votes. I'm going to guess that it's 25% genuine/75% jury. Abi cries that Denise was so meeeeeeean to her and it was the worst day of her life. Look, if the worst day of your life is when someone you don't give a shit about tells you that they don't like you and want to spend time with you? Your life ain't so bad.

Malcolm and Abi return with the pouches. Penner immediately nails it as being for the food auction. Abi reads the clue, which confirms Penner's suspicion. Abi interviews that she's unliked and she needs to keep playing the game, so she's going to hold onto her money and save it for an opportunity to get ahead. So that was her plan all along; I somehow missed that on the first viewing.

The contestants head over to the auction, which is the same as every season. They sit on bleachers and they each have $500. Bidding is in $20 increments and they can't share food or money. Aw, I like it when they can share money. I think that creates insight into tribal dynamics. The first item is pancakes, butter, bacon, maple syrup and orange juice. Here's the thing: there is a giant hunk of butter sitting on top, not melting, so those pancakes are ice cold. I get that the contestants don't care, but at least try to make it look appetizing, huh? Cold pancakes are bullshit. Denise bids $200 to start, Malcolm ups it, and Denise jumps to $500. She really loves cold pancakes. Also, there is ice in the orange juice, which is disgusting.

up is a plate of cheese, I guess, and a carafe of wine. Before Probst can even introduce it, Skupin bids $500. I don't think he understands how auctions work. He could have at least started lower, because a lot of people wouldn't even want that and then maybe he could have money left over for something else. Skupin confesses that he's not a drinker, so he might not drink the wine, but he demurs giving it to Probst, so now he's drunk, I guess. up is donuts and an iced coffee. Malcolm gets it for $200. As he bites into a donut, I think I just saw Malcolm's O-face, if you know what I mean.

The item will stay covered, so it's a blind bid. Penner bids $100 and no one else wants to take a chance. Probst points out that neither Abi nor Lisa has bid on anything and Abi says that she knows she'll be going home soon and eating whatever she wants, so she's saving the money. No one points out that, if she really hated her tribemates so much, she could screw them over by taking their rewards. But that's because she's not saving the money to take home; she's saving it for a non-food reward. Anyway, it's revealed that Penner won fried chicken and French fries with ketchup. That looks awesome. Even Probst thinks so.

Carter and Malcolm bid against one another for the covered item, with Carter eventually taking it for $200. It's a loaded baked potato. What cracks me up is that Probst keeps calling it a "bake batayta" and no one finds it funny. Is he eighty years old and from Ohio? Who says that? Anyway, Probst offers him a deal: he can keep the "bake batayta" or he can trade it for big sacks of beans and rice for the tribe. Carter weighs it over and decides to get the beans and rice. I think that's the right choice; he's got a lot of money left to pick up another item. Everyone cheers for him.

The item is also covered. Lisa and Carter bid against one another. Lisa kind of looks like an asshole here; why is she making Carter spend all of his money when he just got food for the tribe? What they aren't showing -- but what was revealed on Twitter -- is that Carter won another item where he got a ton of meat or something.

Abi finally gets what she was waiting for; Probst unveils a scroll of some sort and says that it's an advantage in the game. Before he can explain further, Abi bids $500 and shuts it down. I can't believe no one else was ready for that possibility, although no one else had $500 left, so it didn't really matter. But couldn't they have talked ahead of time and convinced one person to sacrifice food to keep Abi out of it? Although I guess everyone else thinks his or her position is secure; it's not like you could just go up to Penner and say, "Hey, if Abi gets immunity, you're going home, so you might want to prevent her from getting any advantage in the auction." Plus, advantage doesn't mean she's assured of winning immunity, especially given that she's been so terrible at challenges thus far. Abi tells Probst, "There is no compassion towards me here," and everyone rolls their eyes at the martyrdom.

By Kim

The item is also covered and Lisa again forces Carter to spend all his money to get that last item. They are veal shanks, but they're for the entire tribe, with no utensils and they only get a minute. Everyone just gnaws on meat like animals as they share the meat. Auction over.

Everyone returns to camp after the auction, full of smiles after eating some amazing food. Or food, I guess. I don't know why Penner chose this moment; perhaps he thought he might catch Abi in a good mood? But regardless, he asks Abi if she wants to talk and she says that she's ready to listen if Penner's ready to apologize. Penner looks confused and asks why, and Abi says he destroyed her at Tribal Council. Abi lists off the litany of crimes committed against her and Penner tries to gently remind her that if she's going to be honest in the game, people are going to be upset with her. Penner asks what Abi has to say, and she claims she has nothing to say. Well, that's a good conversation. Meanwhile, Skupin, Lisa and Malcolm are just sitting there wishing they could melt into the dirt on the ground.

I guess Abi did have something to say after all, as she's telling Penner that she must just be too honest for them and she does view life as a learning experience so she will learn something. On paper, those sound like great words, but you really need to see Abi's accompanying eye-rolling and bitchface. Penner tells her that he's honestly sorry that it was her turn to get slammed at Tribal. Penner interviews that his motivation for this conversation is just to remind everyone what a terrible person Abi is, since that's better for him. Penner and Abi hug and then Abi goes off alone to read her clue. She interviews that she thinks people are trying to communicate with her because they don't know what her clue says and they're worried. Or, they're human beings. Or, they know that if they can get you talking, you will stick your foot in your mouth. Or, they know you're leaving soon and they want your vote in the finals. There are a lot of options that she's not considering. Once she's gone, Malcolm points out that her clue has to be either a clue for another Hidden Immunity Idol or an advantage in the Immunity Challenge. No one else has any better idea of what it might be.

The morning, Abi interviews that she woke up with a renewed motivation to keep fighting, so she heads off into the jungle to... do something. Hide her clue? Make a fake Immunity Idol? Get everyone to believe she's searching for an Immunity Idol? I don't know what she's doing, but she definitely thinks she's super clever for doing it. While she's gone, Penner confirms that they're all still planning on voting out Abi. When Abi returns, she hides her hands under her shirt, like she's holding something. No one seems to pay attention or care.

Abi has decided that Malcolm is her new best friend since Pete is gone and Malcolm showed her some sympathy earlier, so she lies to him in the camp and tells him that she's not going home and she'd like him to be on her side. To Malcolm's credit, he doesn't point out that even if she stays one more round she's going home on the one. Malcolm interviews that Abi is like the ex-girlfriend that won't go away after you break up: she's bitter, she hasn't forgiven you and you don't get the benefits of a girlfriend either. I want to call Malcolm out for being sexist but... he's kind of right. Abi can't take a hint. That's why she's in this predicament. Abi finally outright tells Malcolm that she has a fourth Idol. Malcolm strings her along, but it doesn't seem like he really believes her.

Immunity Challenge! Probst explains that in the first round, each contestant will be attached to a rope via carabiner and have to follow the rope as it winds around and through a hitching post. The first five to finish that stage move on to round two: follow a rope through a series of criss-crossed bamboo poles. The first two through that stage move on the final stage: navigate a multi-level obstacle course. The first person to finish wins immunity and a one in six shot at winning this game. Probst introduces the twist: Probst will ask a question at the beginning of each round and anyone who gets it wrong will have to carry five percent of his or her body weight through the course. I wonder if that's their body weight at the start of the game or today? Because those are two different numbers.

And for the final twist, Probst reminds everyone that Abi bought an advantage at the auction and it's time to reveal what that is. Abi interviews that she knows that Probst won't lie for her, but she's going to try to keep her Immunity Idol ruse going. Abi nervously unrolls her scroll and claims that there are two parts to the message. The first says that she gets to advance right to the final round and the second she will keep to herself. And then she dramatically rips up the note, claiming that she doesn't want anyone to know what the second part of the message is. Okay, there are many reasons why that was completely unconvincing. The first is that Abi is a terrible liar and sounded really unsure of herself the whole time. The second is that the light was shining through the paper and anyone with eyes could see there were not nearly enough words on there for it to say what she claimed. The third is that she ripped up the paper, which no one would do if it were a clue to the Idol. The fourth is that, in the history of the show, no one has ever won a two-part advantage, because it wouldn't be fair and she's playing with a bunch of people who are huge fans of the game. So I doubt that convinced anyone.

By Kim

Before they begin the first round, Abi takes a seat to wait for the finals and everyone else has to answer a multiple choice question. Lisa and Denise get weights. Keep in mind that five people make it through which means that only one person will be eliminated. Penner is really terrible at this challenge. Maybe he should think of it like a puzzle. Denise whips through it with no problems, even though they're making them carry the extra weight in a purse-like bag that is constantly in danger of falling off. I know they didn't want to make the challenge easier, but it would have made more sense to put the extra weight in a backpack or weight belt or something less floppy. Anyway, Carter finishes , and then Skupin, Malcolm and Penner finish, so Lisa is the one eliminated.

Malcolm stands alone in the ocean. Lisa says something to Penner, but it sounds dubbed in. They claim she tells Penner that she can't lie to him and she's not totally in with him, but I think she said something else, because Penner immediately tells her to "cut the crap" and go for a walk with him. And then he asks what's wrong, if she wants to go home or vote him out. Why would he even have to ask if she just said she's not totally in with him? Weird editing. Anyway, Lisa tells Penner that after he refused to make a finals alliance with her and Skupin, she took another offer and now she's being told to vote him out tonight. Penner is gobsmacked. Has he really not considered that he might be going? He knows that he was nearly voted out not many weeks ago -- what's changed? I just can't believe how comfortable he was, knowing that everyone's first choice, Abi, was safe. Of course, they're going to vote Penner. Who did he think they would vote? This is his own fault; he got too complacent.

Penner interviews that Lisa has lost her mind and she's going to stick to her guns even though he thinks that her guns are ridiculous. He doesn't explain why they're ridiculous, so I suspect it's because he's screwed and doesn't actually have anything to do with Lisa, because from Lisa's standpoint, I think it's a pretty good deal. Penner is stunned and just asks the classic negotiating question: "What are we gonna do?" Lisa advises him to "do [his] magic." Penner interviews that Lisa got played by Malcolm and Denise and he was trying to play both ends against the middle and wouldn't make a commitment, which is now going to lead to his demise unless he can scramble.

Penner sits with Carter and Abi and tells them that they're going to vote for Denise. Abi immediately agrees, like she has any other options. Shut it, Abi. Penner interviews that he's wary of Malcolm, but he has an Idol; Denise is his closest ally, so she's on the chopping block. Penner is acting all put out that he has to make these decisions or scramble, but what did he think was going to happen? I'm unclear on who he thought was taking him to the finals or whom he thought he was taking. And whom he thought would go tonight instead of Abi. It is a mystery.

Penner approaches Skupin and says that his three-person group is voting for Denise and they need Skupin to join them to make it work. Penner tells Skupin that he's the swing vote, even if he doesn't want to be. Skupin doesn't want to stick his neck out alone and asks Penner if he thinks Lisa will join him. Why is he asking Penner? Why not ask Lisa? If Penner were smart, he would get Lisa over there too and force Skupin and Lisa to turn him down to his face right now. Penner says he can't lie to Skupin and he thinks Lisa is conflicted, but won't betray her alliance, so she's going to vote out Penner. Skupin interviews that his dilemma is trying to figure out jury votes, because the people he votes with will like him and the people he votes against will hate him. He also believes he could beat Penner in the final three. That's fine, but who's your third person, because everyone hates the veterans so a newbie might win with Penner and Skupin by default.

By Kim

Tribal Council. Probst asks Abi if she was waiting for an advantage at the auction and Abi confirms that she was. Probst asks Denise for her professional opinion on why people change in this environment. Does he mean Abi or everyone else changed? Unclear. Denise doesn't think anyone changed, but they were all just fed up with Abi's bullshit. Abi rolls her eyes.

Probst asks Penner what the vibe was at camp after the challenge and Penner says that he thought they were all planning to vote out Abi, but apparently others had different plans. Huh? No one did. They all wanted to vote out Abi too and then she won immunity. Anyway, Penner calls out Skupin and Lisa for making an alliance with Malcolm and Denise, when they had been telling him all along that they wanted to go to the finals with him. Malcolm points out that Penner didn't trust Lisa enough to make an official alliance with her and Penner says that Lisa voted for him twice, so of course he didn't trust her. But now, Penner wants to appeal to their friendship and remind Skupin and Lisa that they probably don't have a chance against Malcolm and Denise. Penner is nervous; he's gulping water.

Malcolm says he doesn't want to get into an argument with Penner and he doesn't want to browbeat Lisa, but it's not like Lisa wasn't friends with Malcolm and Denise at all and she did give her word. Lisa knows that whichever way she votes, she'll be hurting people she cares for and Penner adds that if she votes him out, she'll be giving Malcolm or Denise the million. Wow, he's great at getting people on his side: first, he yells at Lisa for ditching him, then he says he doesn't trust her at all, and then he adds that there's no way she can beat Malcolm and Denise. I can't believe Lisa's not jumping at the opportunity to hang out with him some more!

By Kim

Penner agrees with Probst that his argument is that Lisa should keep him around, because it's good for her and he reiterates that she can't beat Malcolm and Denise. Lisa sounds annoyed when she says that she's taking that under consideration. Probst wants to know if this dilemma is like any other situation in her life and Lisa says that it is, but it's too personal to talk about. Then she starts crying. Dead end, Probst. We already know that Lisa is weepy about everything. Probst asks Skupin how tough this is for him and Skupin says he'd like to be friends with everyone after the game, but he thinks Penner has some good points. Abi rolls her eyes because she didn't come here to make friends (although she will get mad if they don't like her).

Voting! Abi gleefully votes for Denise, but then can't fold the paper to get it into the urn. I think the editors love making her look stupid (or revealing how stupid she is). Penner votes for Denise and yells over his shoulder, "DENISE!" Everyone snort laughs.

Probst tallies the votes, and no one plays an Idol. As expected, it goes three votes Denise and three votes Penner, so it comes down to the final vote, which is for Penner, of course. He hugs Carter and then Abi stands up and asks for a hug too and Penner says, "No, I'm not going to hug anybody else." THAT WAS AWESOME! Abi totally thought she was Penner's new BFF instead of just a body he needed to get enough votes to do something. Great. As Penner leaves, he tells everyone, "Keep your sunnyside up and suck eggs!" I did not get that at all, but I read an interview where Penner knew if he told everyone to fuck off, it would get edited out, so that was his way of saying it. Then he whistles the show's theme song down the path and disappears, but comes back for one last curtain call. He's a performer until the end, but he just got too comfortable and complacent and wasn't willing to think through the level. Charm can only take you so far; you need to back it up with a strategy.