In journalism school, they tell you don’t bury the story in the headline, but in this case, it feels appropriate. Yes, the Dragon Slayer joined the person he was targeting last week in Dee on the jury, but it’s how we got there that’s the story of episode eight of Survivor 50.
We start off the episode with a confessional from Tiffany about how mad she is about what transpired at the previous night’s Tribal Council, but she knows she can’t show her emotions. Ozzy checks in with her almost immediately and owns up to voting for her, but he puts the entire blame on Coach and tells her he wants to set Coach’s head on a silver platter for her eventually, but that now may not be the time, as there’s a lot of discussion that Rick, Christian, Emily, and Aubry are seen as the middle players, and they could take control of the game if none of them are voted out next.
A boat comes and tells the players they must divide into pairs, and with 13 people on the beach, that means one person is left out. Just like last week when Stephanie went on the journey, they draw Shots in the Dark for the person who will be left out, and Cirie’s die gets drawn. In a confessional, Cirie says she is happy. She volunteered to go because she doesn’t want to be responsible for messing up somebody else’s game.
When we get to the immunity challenge, Jeff Probst explains the rules clearly. Cirie is headed to Exile Island and will not compete in the challenge, but she will have immunity. As for the six teams, it’s a staged challenge where teams have to put a ball through a net, catch the ball on the other side, balance the ball using sticks, and then put the ball into a target, followed by building a puzzle ladder. The first three teams to finish advance to stage 2, where they have to get two balls through a snake trap. The winners earn a spaghetti reward. For the losers, both team members are vulnerable at Tribal Council. Castaways must vote for a pair at Tribal. If a team has an idol or Shot in the Dark, it works for both players.
The teams are:
- Christian and Jonathan
- Rizo and Emily
- Stephanie and Ozzy
- Joe and Tiffany
- Rick and Aubry
- Coach and Chrissy
Stephanie and Ozzy, Joe and Tiffany, and Rick and Aubry make it to stage 2, with Joe and Tiffany winning immunity.
Before we get to see who goes home, Cirie pulls up to an unordinary Exile Island that is filled with 2,000 coconuts. She has a limited amount of time to find the coconut with a Phoenix on it. If she’s able to complete the seemingly impossible, she gets to go back to camp and participate in Tribal. Otherwise, she’s stuck on Exile for the night.
Through grit and pain and suffering, Cirie manages to conquer the coconut maze. As she’s heading back to camp, Joe and Tiffany are bonding over their winnings. Joe owns up to voting for Tiffany during the last Tribal Council. He too puts the blame on Coach but says in a confessional that he and Tiffany are a pair now.
At camp, the lean is to target Rick and Aubry, until Cirie gets on the beach and basically convinces everyone to vote for Coach and Chrissy. This especially comes after Chrissy tells Cirie she’s targeting Rizo, and Cirie lays that right to Rizo. Meanwhile, Chrissy essentially sends Coach to timeout, telling him to just lay low in the hammock.
At Tribal, Rick, feeling uneasy still about the possibility of him going home, causes chaos by pulling out his fake idol he planted back when Savannah was eliminated. With whispering going all-around, Stephanie asks Rick to show the idol, which he does not. Rizo comes up to him in the middle of all this and tells him it’s a great move. Coach starts singing again, just to lighten the mood. It’s an adventurous Tribal that ultimately ends in Rick telling Aubry a lie that he can’t play the idol it till next Tribal, and Coach playing the Shot in the Dark. It doesn’t hit for him and Chrissy, as they are voted out 10-1-1, with Jonathan voting for Rick and Aubry and Chrissy voting for Rizo and Emily.
As the kids would say, no notes on this episode. I loved the twist. For the first time, pairs were being voted out of the game, and it created an interesting strategy dynamic dating back to who you picked as your partner. At this moment, I think Cirie should be the favorite to win Survivor 50. It’s wild how much of the cast she has in the palm of her hands.
Based off the previews of next week’s episode, it looks like episode nine will be where Probst participates in the challenge, which he teased on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon when promoting this celebration of a season. Could this be where Mr. Fallon himself appears in Fuji?
Grade: A+
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