In life, you have to know when to pick your battles. Candace picked the wrong one at the wrong time.
Just like Caroline last week, Candace not only hit the ground running but swinging…and nobody like that this early in the game. Locking horns with Coach over rice, beans, the state of the nation and if the Hagar – Van Halen is better than the Lee Roth – Van Halen, Candace underestimated the bonds that Coach had already established.
How wrong was she? Even her alliance mate, Erinn, voted against her. Candace made the biggest mistake you can make on “˜Survivor’, she read the tribal politics all wrong. She did not have her finger on the pulse of her own tribe and paid the price.
Altering the twists a tad just to keep things interesting, the producers changed the Exile Island experience in that of the now two people being sent there, only one received a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol and had the power to jump tribes if they so wanted. One wonders if anyone will be desperate enough to take that bait sooner or later?
The tribes at the start of the episode were:
The Jalapao Tribe
SANDY BURGIN
JOE DOWDLE
SPENCER DUHM
STEPHEN FISHBACH
TAJ JOHNSON-GEORGE
JAMES "JT" THOMAS JR.
SYDNEY WHEELER
The Timbira Tribe
TYSON APOSTOL
DEBRA "Debbie" BEEBE
ERINN LOBDELL
SIERRA REED
JERRY SIMS
CANDACE SMITH
BRENDAN SYNNOTT
BENJAMIN "Coach" WADE
Highlights: Episode Two: "The Poison Apple Needs To Go”
The Jalapao Tribe – Night Three
Crazy Granny Sandy is thrilled to still be in the game, although she did nothing to make it turn out that way. S
Sandy: Carolina played her cards wrong and they underestimated her.
Crazy Granny Sandy thanks everyone for keeping her around.
Spencer sets the record straight when it comes to Granny Sandy. She was supposed to go to the Loser Lodge first, now she will go second. The End.
Jalapao Tribe – Day Four
There are plenty of veggies at the camp but not enough sources of protein. Joe decides he is going to eat some termites today. Spencer misses his comfort foods.
Sydney, Spencer, Joe, Granny Sandy and Stephen unleash a genocidal apocalypse on the resident termite population and devour the corpses without mercy. Joe, Spencer and Stephen gobble up a catapilar for desert. Sydney would rather starve.
Timbira Tribe – Day Four
Sierra fears she is still vulnerable. She must find the Hidden Immunity Idol and needs some help to do so. Sierra reveals all to Brendan. Brendan acts as if he is honoured by the show of trust.
Brenden: I’ve got your back.
As Brendan and Sierra dig halfway to China on the beach, Debra catches them. A flustered Sierra and Brendan tell Debra they are building a fire pit. Debra buys the lie hook, line and sinker. An excited Debra excitedly announces the news to everyone.
Candace, an eternal ray of sunshine, says she can talk crap about people at the camp fire. She doesn’t understand the need for a fire pit.
Timbira Tribe – Day Five
Let’s get ready to rumble! Look out, it’s ‘Ricegate’ on ‘Survivor’. The Almighty Coach and Candace spar over how to cook beans and rice. The Almighty Coach argues that you cannot cook them together in the same pot.
The Almighty Coach throws down some life lessons. Class is in session, people.
Coach’s Corner Episode One: You cannot cook rice and beans together. The rice will come out sticky. While it is Candace’s nature to bitterly find fault with people so she can put them down, The Almighty Coach does so only to improve those around him. So speaketh, The Almighty Coach.
Candace believes The Almighty Coach is just an insecure person and she predicts he will apologize to her.
The Almighty Coach does. He begs for a kiss and licks Candace’s face…or at least he tries to.
Candace: Coach has an ego the size of Brazil.
Jalapao Tribe – Day Five
Taj reveals that her husband is former NFL player Eddie George.
Eddie who?
Spencer, Joe and JT flip out. Like me, Stephen doesn’t understand all of the fuss.
JT knows he has Taj by the throat now as she has just admitted that she doesn’t need the money.
Immunity – Reward Challenge
A game of basketball in the water where almost anything goes.
Reward
Immunity from the Tribal Council vote, the power to send an opposing player to Exile Island and a fishing kit.
Result
This time around it is Timbira who squanders their lead. Lots of near drowning and undergarments being torn off.
Best. “˜Survivor’. Challenge. Ever.
Winners: Jalapao Tribe.
Jalapao sends Brendan to Exile Island. As per the twist, Brendan gets to pick someone from Jalapao to join him. He selects Taj.
Jalapao Tribe – Day Five
Stephen and JT try to fish. They aren’t very successful. What they do manage to do is cement their oddball City Folk – Country Folk Alliance.
Exile Island – Day Six
Okay. Who is kidding who? It is not an island. It is not even close to resembling an island in any capacity. It is a sand dune and nothing more. One wonders where Paul Usul Muad’Dib Atreides is at?
At Exile Dune, Brendan and Taj have rice, a pot and a machete. There are also two urns. They are instructed to pick one each. There is nothing in Taj’s. In Brendan’s, there is a clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol stating in a roundabout way that there is one at each camp. A second note informs Brendan that he can elect to jump tribes if he wants at the end of his stay at Exile Dune. Brendan and Taj form a loose alliance. Brendan shares the clues with her. Taj reveals that she must find the Hidden Immunity Idol because everyone knows who her husband is now.
About switching tribes, Brendan replies: No way.
Timbira Tribe – Pre-Tribal Council Happenings
Candace floats the idea that The Almighty Coach is not living up to his true ability. Something is just not right about him.
Debra meets with The Almighty Coach and explains that Candace is targeting him.
The Almighty Coach throws down some life lessons. Class is in session, people.
Coach’s Corner Episode Two: Candace is a bad apple. She is a cancer that will eat away at the tribe. Such negativity is bad for the human spirit. Candace The Cancer must be cut out.
Brendan returns from Exile Dune and fibs. He tells his tribemates that Taj got the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol, not him.
The tribe flip-flops with voting Sierra or Candace out. The Almighty Coach though uses his Jedi mind powers to sway them back towards Candace The Cancer.
In a cute moment, Tyson and Jerry yuck it up laughing at how people are scrambling to figure things out.
Tribal Council Happenings
Sierra almost gave up when she was voted off but understood how people thought she was weak due to her illness. Tyson attests to the fact that Sierra looked pretty crappy. Erinn and Debra hurl barbs at each other. Debra professes to have made several solid bonds already.
Sierra votes for Candace. Sierra calls Candace a “snake in the grass”.
Final Voting
TYSON APOSTOL: Candace.
DEBRA "Debbie" BEEBE: Candace.
ERINN LOBDELL: Candace.
SIERRA REED: Candace.
JERRY SIMS: Candace.
CANDACE SMITH: Sierra.
BRENDAN SYNNOTT: Candace.
BENJAMIN "Coach" WADE: Candace.
Tribal Council Victim: CANDACE SMITH
On the next ‘Survivor’: Taj makes an unlikely alliance. Taj: They won’t even know what’s coming. The tribes are shown playing a challenge involving blindfolds.
Powell’s Thoughts
Erinn made the right move in voting with the rest of the tribe to ditch Candace but it probably won’t be enough to save her unless she can somehow made a deal. She hitched her ride to the wrong wagon and is now definitely very vulnerable.
Not sure if it was too smart of Sierra to share the Hidden Immunity Idol clues with Brendan. He doesn’t seem all that trustworthy. What remains to be seen is if he is an ally of The Almighty Coach or not.
If you watched the intro carefully, Carolina was removed from the line-up. Not sure if I like that format or not.
I really liked the moment between Tyson and Jerry where they discussed being amused by the chaos of the politics around them. Very funny indeed.
According to news reports, The Almighty Coach is not a coach any more. He was fired as head women’s soccer coach at Southwest Baptist University for leaving in the middle of the season and not telling them it was to shoot “˜Survivor’. The Almighty Coach told reporter Matt Baker of News-Leader.com…"I loved my time at SBU…Obviously, I’m off to pursue adventures in Hollywood." You can read the full story here.
Next week’s episode is entitled: “˜Mama Said There Would Be Days Like These”,
Reader Questions / Comments
Mary Webb: Oh my goodness, are we going to have another one sided game this year? How could the Jalapao team blow such a lead.? As you mentioned in your article it looks like the teams are gender divided that should cause a lot of friction. One thing they got right in the vote was letting Carolina go, that nagging would send anyone off their rocker. One thing I noticed in the last few Survivors they never go looking for food, or apparently build things to make their stay more comfortable. I wonder why?
John Powell: I sincerely hope that the politics are not following gender lines. I really dislike that mentality. It makes things too predictable. As we see, they do go looking for food but you are right about the Survivors not enhancing their camps. Remember the Super Pole 3000 or the coconut phone? Maybe the thought is that if they show the Survivors having fun, the show doesn’t look as rigorous? I really don’t know. As you know, over the years the focus has been more on the plotting and scheming rather than the actual survival skills.
Reader Alert: You can also submit any questions you have by clicking on the email address in the byline at the top of this blog. Your questions could be used in next week’s entry.
If you have not already done so, you can read our interview with last week’s castoff, Carolina, here.
You can check out the weekly boot predictions at ‘The Tale of the Torch‘
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