When the return from Tribal Council, Morgan starts working the Beauty tribe, knowing that otherwise she’s . She calls out Jeremiah for pretending to be aligned with Brice and her, and then tells Alexis that Jeremiah wanted her out because she’s a threat like LJ, but he wanted to keep LJ around for challenges. Jeremiah might be seeing the downside of trying to play both sides.
The tribes get treemail about a Reward Challenge involving blindfolds (yay!) and the Brains tribe immediately starts practicing. Anyway, the blindfolded pairs have to collect five items, hoist them up to the caller, then collect a flag and bring it back to the caller. The first tribe to retrieve all five items and the flag win chickens -- the second-place tribe win eggs.
LJ and Jefra gather for the Beauty tribe and LJ clips his nuts at least five times, and every time it cracks me up. Despite those injuries, Beauty wins first place. Brawn remains one item behind pretty much the entire time, but Brains keeps it close by J’Tia sucking as usual. Her one job is hoisting one side of the platform and multiple times; she doesn’t do it well and the item slides off her side of the platform. And then in the end, when they have a huge time advantage, she can’t get their flag back on the platform, which gives Brawn enough time to get their flag back and up to the top, so Brawn wins second place in a huge come-from-behind victory.
Sarah starts strategizing and pitches Woo to take out Cliff if they get a chance, because he doesn’t need the money. Woo surprisingly agrees, even though Cliff is his BFF. Sarah takes it a step further and tries to get her alliance (Tony, Trish and Woo) to throw the challenge and take out Cliff, because they’re worried a merge to two tribes is coming soon and they won’t have the numbers any more.
The Immunity Challenge involves diving down to release five buoys, and then tossing the buoys into a basket. The Beauty tribe -- since they’re actually trying to win and don’t suck -- retrieves all of the buoys quickly. The Brains tribe is just terrible and the Brawn tribe has to work REALLY hard to make it look like they’re actually losing. The Beauty tribe wins before either of the other tribes have all their buoys. Spencer single-handedly gets the Brains tribe back into it by getting the last three buoys himself. J’Tia can’t even rebound Spencer’s missed shots in anything resembling an efficient fashion and Cliff, the former NBA star, is doing all of the shooting for the Brawn tribe. So Cliff of course foils the attempted intentional loss and wins second place for the Brawn tribe. That was pretty hilarious; the Brawn tribe was trying SO HARD to throw it and the Brains tribe is so awful that they lost anyway.
Tasha and Kass immediately decide that J’Tia is awful and she has to go, even though they initially wanted to get rid of Spencer. They decide to keep it a secret so that J’Tia doesn’t sabotage them again. So while they’re explaining to J’Tia why they’re voting out Spencer, Tasha seems to actually convince herself it’s a good idea. I mean, they have to keep Spencer if they even want a hope of winning a challenge. On the other hand, their tribe is so small at this point that they have to merge or mix-up at some point, and they think Spencer will go with someone else immediately while J’Tia will be loyal to the end.
At Tribal Council, they discuss the value of getting out someone who sucks at challenges versus getting out someone who hasn’t shown enough or the right kids of loyalty. While Spencer and J’Tia go back and forth, Kass and Tasha are trying to figure out what to do, which Probst points out. Spencer has a great point: J’Tia’s unpredictability could be as much as a liability as his alleged lack of loyalty. So who do they vote out? J’Tia. THANK FUCKING GOD. It was painful to watch her be so bad at this game. And I think it’s possible that Tasha and Kass have won Spencer’s loyalty by choosing him. For whatever that’s worth, given their small numbers.
Night 8. The Beauty tribe returns from voting out Brice. They all agree that it sucked and Alexis says it took a lot out of her. She might not be built for this game if a simple vote that was never really in doubt for her side took that much out of her. Morgan mopes, as she should, because she's clearly on the block. She interviews that she's upset that Jeremiah jumped ship from her alliance, and now she just has to do what it takes to save herself.
I didn't think Morgan had any play here, and I thought even less that Morgan would be able to formulate a strategy, but I was wrong on both counts. In front of the whole tribe, Morgan asks Jeremiah why he changed his mind, when he approached her with the plan to vote out Alexis. Jeremiah mumbles something about being loyal to his original alliance, and being scared of Brice's social skills.
Jeremiah interviews that he was surprised Morgan called him out in front of everyone, but that's the game so he can't blame her, and he hopes he made the right call. That night, as they try to sleep, Morgan tells Alexis that she's sorry she voted for her, but she adds that Jeremiah wanted to get out LJ, but they decided they needed him for challenges, so they went for Alexis instead. Alexis interviews that she's skeptical of Morgan's claims, and yet they do have the ring of truth, so she's keeping an eye on Jeremiah now.
Day 9. The Brains tribe gets Treemail and figure out that the challenge is going to be a food reward, and they'll be blindfolded. They immediately go out to a field and start practicing; it looks like they scattered sticks around and then Tasha yells out orders while the rest of them try to find the sticks. This does seem like one challenge where rehearsal will help. J'Tia interviews that she knows that she's the reason they're hungry, and that she's playing on borrowed time.
The tribes arrive for the Reward Challenge. I've missed Reward Challenges. Probst explains the rules. As usual, there is a caller on a platform. A pair of contestants, tied together and blindfolded, have to navigate the course and retrieve five items. As each item is retrieved, they have to put it on a platform and pull ropes evenly to haul the item up to the caller. Once the caller has all five items, the pair has to retrieve a flag and hoist that up to the caller to win. The winning tribe gets three egg-laying hens and a rooster. The second place tribe gets a dozen eggs. The third place tribe gets nothing.
They start hunting and the Brains tribe (Tasha calling, Spencer and Kass hunting) actually finds the first item rather quickly. They return, put it on the platform, and prepare to start hoisting with J'Tia blindfolded on one rope and Spencer on the other. Of course, J'Tia screws up and doesn't pull her rope in time so the platform tilts and the item falls off. Get used to that; it will be a recurring theme.
The Beauty tribe (Alexis calling, LJ and Jefra hunting) has an interesting strategy. Instead of both hunting, LJ is doing all the hunting and Jefra is just holding tight and walking behind him. It certainly prevents entanglements. Brains might have done better to have Spencer and J'Tia do that. It neutralizes your weakest member. Anyway, Beauty tribe is kicking ass, at least until LJ racks himself on a railing. I mean, the game designers had to know that those railings were exactly nut height. Especially because seconds later, Lindsay hits her…well, her lower abdomen to put it delicately.
LJ gets racked again, so now he's just walking around with his hands over his package. As things go on, Beauty and Brains have a slight lead over Brawn. Beauty returns with their fifth item while Brains are still in the field, so Tasha tells them to start running and Kass totally runs over a barrel. She pops up, though, and they also bring back their fifth item, but while hoisting, it rolls off the side. That one was probably no one's fault, but I'm just going to go ahead and blame J'Tia. It's like she hesitates one second between when Tasha tells her to pull the rope and actually pulling the rope, while Spencer doesn't hesitate, so their platform is always uneven. They do finally get it.
So now Beauty and Brains are both going for their flags while the Brawn tribe still has to get another item and then their flag. The Beauty tribe gets their flag quickly, they hoist it up, and Beauty wins first place. Meanwhile, the Brawn tribe gets their fifth item back. Spencer has trouble finding the flag, but luckily Kass is looking as well and she stumbles upon it and they head back. This is actually a really exciting challenge; I thought it would just be fun to watch people run into shit, which I always enjoy.
The Brains tribe gets their flag on the platform and prepare to hoist; Brawn hasn't even found their flag yet. Brains starts hoisting and J'Tia is behind as always; the platform tilts her way and the flag slides off. They lower the platform and J'Tia crawls under to try to reposition the flag. Brawn finds their flag and hurries back; Lindsay runs into a crate so hard that she actually falls down. J'Tia still can't get the stupid flag on the stupid platform, like I get that she's blindfolded but how does she not understand basic spatial relations? The other tribes did not seem to have this problem. Finally, Tasha sees that the Brawn tribe is returning so she has to just go for it, but it's too late and the Brawn tribe wins second place. Tasha tries to be positive, but the Brains tribe is understandably devastated; they almost came in first but ended up coming in last.
The Beauty tribe carries their prize, a chicken coop complete with chickens, back to their camp. Jeremiah finds a note in with the supplies and stupidly pulls it out and reads it out loud to everyone. LJ is like, "What is that? A clue?" Good acting, dude. Apply for your SAG card now. He interviews that he's glad he already got the Idol because the clue was so specific, it would have been easily found. Has he thought about the fact that when they can't find it, they're going to realize that someone has it already? I guess that's level.
Then everyone is really dumb about chickens. Look, I'm no expert, but even I understand that the chickens make the eggs and before they come out, they're either fertilized by the rooster (which means chicks grow inside) or they're not (and we eat those). But these people don't seem to understand the role of the rooster in the egg-laying process. I have to believe that it's not that Alexis and Jefra are THIS dumb, but that they are talking out loud before they've thought it through. When LJ points out that Alexis also has eggs, she puts it all together. LJ interviews that he doesn't know why people argue about whether the chicken or the egg came first, since it's obviously the egg, because dinosaurs. I'm…I don't think he understands the point of the chicken/egg argument.
Jeremiah, the country boy, gets the honors of killing the first chicken. And I get that you have to snap its neck, but he twists the head right off, which feels excessive? And then the chicken keeps running around headless, as they do, thus the famous saying. Alexis and Jefra are freaked out but fascinated. Jeremiah and LJ pluck and separate the chicken. Morgan interviews that she's grateful for the chicken but she still hates Jeremiah, because he's a liar, and also she doesn't think he's beautiful enough to be on their tribe. Okay, Morgan. He's only a model. Relax over there with your boobs.
Lindsay and Cliff discuss how at some point, they'll need to vote people out. Lindsay is sad and Cliff makes fun of her. Sarah interviews that Cliff and Lindsay are tight and they're gunning for her (according to Tony), so she wants to take Cliff out first. Sarah approaches Woo and points out that Cliff doesn't need the money (which is irrelevant and based on what I know of the money-handling skills of former professional athletes, probably not true). Sarah suggests that they take out Cliff first, and Woo is semi-agreeable, because one of them deserves the chance at a million dollars. Sarah interviews that she was surprised that Woo was willing to flip on his friend, but she really got the vibe that he was serious. Woo interviews that he admires Cliff, but he also wants to win. Woo explains that he's trying to side with the majority and take opportunities as they come up.
Tony walks up and asks what's going on and Sarah tries to calm him down. He pulls Sarah aside and asks what's going on, and Sarah says that Woo is with them. Tony acts dubious, but Sarah is really sure. Tony interviews that he thinks his lie to Sarah earlier change the game, because now he has Sarah on his side along with apparently Woo, and Tony had previously made an alliance with Trish. Tony interviews that he will do whatever it takes to win, including lie his ass off. Sarah, meanwhile, is very excited to have two cops make it to the end. She might be a little TOO invested in her identity as a cop. She's also got this weird tic where she stares at people's faces too long? I like her, but she's starting to look a bit crazed.
The Brawn tribe (we're spending an awful lot of time with them this week, which makes me think they must lose the Challenge) gets treemail describing the Immunity Challenge. It says something about sinking a shot, so everyone is all, "Hey, former NBA player on our tribe!"
Sarah finds Trish on the beach and brings up the idea of throwing the challenge, since Lindsay will be sitting out. Sarah interviews that she always said she would never throw a challenge. She should stop there. Throwing a challenge rarely works out. And don't they all think that they will merge soon? Why not go into the merge with numbers and pick Cliff off later? Cliff might be Sarah's enemy now but faced with new tribemates, he might stop seeing her as competition. Anyway, Sarah tells Trish that they should throw it. Trish is also reticent, but I get the vibe that if you are nice to Trish, she will do whatever you ask. Sarah interviews that she doesn't think they'll need Cliff post-merge because he's not on their side anyway. I realize this is easy to say from the comfort of my couch, but A) he might be on your side post-merge and B) you're basing this whole strategy on Tony's word, which is dumb. Sarah notes that they have to get Woo on board.
Sarah tells Woo they should throw the challenge, and that Trish is on board. Woo isn't convinced, but Sarah brings up her "What if we merge?" theory. Woo interviews that throwing challenges isn't smart, and he was also really looking forward to shooting baskets to his buddy Cliff. However, he also recognizes that if he wants to stay in the alliance, he needs to go along with them.
Time for the Immunity Challenge! The three tribes enter and Probst explains the rules. One at a time, each tribe member will dive down and release a buoy. Once all five buoys are collected, they will throw them into a basket, you know, like basketball. The first to get all five in the basket wins. It's a pretty basic challenge, and there don't seem to be a lot of restrictions on what each tribe member has to do and how many times etc.
Brawn sits out Tony and Lindsay, so that leaves Trish, Sarah, and Woo to try to throw it and Cliff to try to win. Probst tells them all to start, and J'Tia is trying to unclip the buoy and fails. She ends up swimming back without a buoy. Meanwhile, Sarah and Trish are really trying to throw it while making it look like they are struggling. Like J'Tia, Kass can't get a buoy either and comes back empty-handed. I don't know why they don't alternate Spencer and Tasha. I get that will tire them out, but what the frig, you know? Then Tasha comes back empty-handed and this tribe deserves to lose.
The Beauty tribe has all their buoys and starts tossing balls into the basket, and before long they have won first place. Spencer has decided to take over for his tribe, and good thing as he's able to get the last three buoys fairly quickly. Woo didn't take too long to get his buoy, so maybe he's not throwing it? The Brains tribe actually gets all their buoys before the Brawn tribe, and once Spencer recovers, he starts tossing balls towards the basket. The rule that kills the Brains tribe is that you can only shoot one ball at a time, so if you miss, you have to wait until your teammates in the water retrieve the ball and return it to you before you can try again. And Spencer's teammates are garbage, so it takes forever to get the ball back to him, especially when it falls on J'Tia's side. I don't know how much flexibility they have to change things up mid-challenge, but they really should have put Tasha in the water, because she didn't throw any of the balls.
For the Brawn tribe, Cliff does a decent job of making it in the basket, and I have to believe that his tribe just gave up on throwing it after a while because they realized that they couldn't lose to Brains no matter what. Anyway, Brawn wins second place and Brains loses. Brawn TRIED to lose and Brains was so bad that they couldn't. That's just pathetic. Valiant effort by Spencer, though.
The Brains tribe returns to camp. Tasha tells Spencer that he was amazing, and everyone agrees. Spencer interviews that he's really frustrated because he's doing well in challenges, and yet they keep losing, and he's also out of power in his tribe. Spencer pitches Tasha and Kass on the idea of keeping him and getting rid of J'Tia. His pitch amounts to: "J'Tia sucks at challenges. I don't. If you keep her, you will keep losing. If you keep me, you might win. Keep me." Nothing he says is wrong, but it's not like they kept J'Tia before because they thought she would help them at challenges. He needs to address the loyalty issue.
Kass and Tasha have a chat. They both talk about how they want to get rid of Spencer, but they also realize that they will never win a challenge if they do. Neither of them seems too concerned about a tribal mix-up or merge, and I feel like they should be. Anyway, they decide to keep Spencer but they're not going to tell anyone, because God knows J'Tia might do something bad if she knows she's going home. So it's settled! They're voting out J'Tia and keeping Spencer. Weird that they're telegraphing the decision so early, but I guess it's just the right thing to do.
Kass and Tasha have a sitdown with J'Tia to make her feel safe so she doesn't do anything crazy. As they explain why they don't want to keep Spencer (mostly that they don't trust him and he'll probably flip as soon as they merge), you can see that Tasha especially is starting to believe her own lies and wonder if they're doing the right thing. No Tasha! Don't do it! J'Tia vows her loyalty to Tasha and Kass, no matter what. Tasha interviews that she knows J'Tia is loyal and it's making her question her earlier decision.
Tasha and Kass have another council, and this time Tasha points out that she's not sure if they're in the game to win challenges or to go as far as they can with people they trust. So is she saying that she'd rather go out early but stay loyal? That's dumb. The motto of the show isn't to outloyal. Stop being dumb, Tasha. If they do merge, as soon as everyone else finds out how useless J'Tia is AND that she dumped the rice? She's gone. And then where are you? Kass does not want to change their plan now, and says that she likes to make decisions and then live with the consequences. I am definitely a Kass. I hate dithering.
The Brains tribe arrives for Tribal Council and Probst hilariously opens things by just shrugging. Like what can he say at this point? They are terrible. They may just be the worst tribe in the history of the show. J'Tia tries to claim that she's not terrible at EVERY challenge, but she's not a strong swimmer, and that was her problem this time. Tasha admits that J'Tia has been weak in every challenge, and in fact, they try to find something for her to do where she won't hurt them too badly. Ouch. Harsh, but true. J'Tia points out that she may be the weakest in challenges, but she's not necessarily the weakest in the tribe overall.
Probst asks Tasha how any of them will last long enough to make it to the end, and Tasha says her dilemma is whether to choose Spencer, who formed an alliance that didn't include her, or J'Tia, who's been loyal. Does anyone but me remember that Kass was part of the Spencer/Garrett alliance at first? Remember that weird three-handed handshake they did? I don't get how Kass skates on this and Spencer is on the chopping block. I guess Kass just has a better social game.
Probst asks Kass about the rice incident, and Kass says that she just thinks J'Tia is a hothead who makes bad decisions, and Kass has been that way in her past. Probst points out that bad decisions can have lasting impact in the game, and Kass says she may be making a bad decision tonight. Spencer points out that unpredictability can be as dangerous as disloyalty and he vows to be loyal from here on out. J'Tia counters that he said he'd be loyal before. While they talk, Kass and Tasha try to decide how they're going to vote. Probst points out what they're doing, which Spencer and J'Tia noticed. Probst pushes and pushes Spencer to say something to affect their decision, and finally Spencer just says that he just wants a chance to prove his loyalty to them.
It would be kind of funny if Spencer and J'Tia secretly banded together and forced a tie. Anyway, they didn't. Thankfully, Kass and Tasha were smart and voted out J'Tia, who did not deserve to play this game and frankly, should have been kicked out when she dumped the rice. Who does that? Like what kind of person thinks that would be acceptable behavior in the game or in life? I think I'm more angry about it than Tasha or Kass. Spencer is so incredibly relieved and tells Tasha that he'll show her she made the right decision and he's with her one hundred percent. I'm kind of interested to see how that plays out when, as the previews show, there's some sort of tribal change week.