This week we had yet another double episode; this is what happens when you push the premiere back of the best show on Earth! But who’s complaining… In this recap, Dale Wentworth from Survivor SJDS returns with plenty of opinions on the double boot and also last weeks controversial episode.
DAY 19-21
Nuku Tribe. Sarah opens up about what transpired the night before and has a go at Tai for giving Varner some compassion. She tells Zeke that she doesn’t know any transgender people on the outside and Zeke appreciates the group for backing him up. His strength shines through and it’s very uplifting. We will always know Zeke the Survivor player first and foremost 🙂 He really does have a great bunch of people on this tribe, and although hurtful, he will only grow from this experience. And as he said, let’s get back to the game!
MERGE, BABY!
Cirie is just as excited as me seeing the merge feast and I’m only seeing it through the TV! BUT, Probst mentions ONE person from each tribe CANNOT take part in the Merge Feast. Dagnammit!! Hell no I would not volunteer myself. If no one volunteers, the feast disappears and the tribe celebrates with cheese and crackers. HA! Culpepper, the beautiful guy he is, steps down. WHAT A NICE GUY. #eyeroll Even Zeke sees through him.
(FUBC pic)
And the always selfless Tai also volunteers himself. This one is not so surprising. While Culpepper and Tai check out their new buffs the rest of the tribe hoe down on all the foods.
Survivor’s ready? GO!
Debbie fakes her drunkenness and I am in hysterics!! This is why Debbie was cast.
Also, NEVER in Survivor history would I ever had imagined Debbie grinding on Cirie. EVER.
Merged Tribe. Zeke tells the rest of the tribe about Varner’s deception speech about him, and Aubry was so proud of this story whilst throwing shade at many of her tribe mates. You go girl! I’m ready for Aubs to pounce. And then we see the Alpha male trio in Culpepper, Ozzy and Troyzan join forces. Hooray…. #sarcasm. Michaela’s name is thrown around the beach and everyone seems to be on board. As far as Brad is concerned, Michaela is sneaky and a huge physical threat; all true. And it’s bugging me that Brad is getting such a favourable edit, but he’s absolutely killing it right now! Bloody hell, I swear all the faves are just going to be booted from now on.
Zeke, Andrea and Cirie want to stick together to strike Sierra and Brad first. They think of using Michaela as a number. And then… We see Hali speak. There’s not been a lot of her lately, this doesn’t look good. Hali speaks to Michaela and lets her know her name has come up. The tea sipper is NOT happy.
And finally, we get some Michaela and Cirie action! Sass personified. Cirie mentors Michaela to control her feelings and learn how to let her guard down. Michaela wears her heart on her sleeve and she is actually putting trust in Cirie. This is Survivor gold right now! I’m all for the two black women going to the end. Let’s do this ladies!
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
It’s the first individual immunity challenge for the season! And it’s one where you know people will drop out within the first 10 seconds. Holding a block up with your head is just as hard as it looks and Hali, Troyzan and Zeke are out within 3 seconds. I wasn’t close enough! It’s down to Andrea and Tai, and the little Asian man drops. Andrea wins immunity! And as Probst states the first woman to win this challenge. Hooray!
Maku Maku. Sierra thinks she’s in charge and wants to target Hali, splitting votes between her and Michaela. Sierra spreads the rumour that she thinks Hali has a hidden idol. Ruh-roh! Cirie gets in on the conversation and Sierra is right, Michaela DOES sneak up on everyone! Love it. Cirie is not happy with home girl Sierra wanting Michaela out. She goes to Zeke to pow wow a plan to probably vote for Hali instead. It’s the battle of alliances right now, and I just see Cirie and Zeke winning this war. In a smart move Cirie tells Michaela to stick with the Zeke vote to not giveaway that she’s actually on their side.
TRIBAL COUNCIL
Cirie is the only one who hadn’t been to tribal, this is how good Cirie is. Hali admits she’s in the dark on this tribal vote and she honestly doesn’t seem too phased… On the flip side Michaela is also concerned for her game. Hali pretty much now knows that the tribe thinks she has an idol and accepts a strip search, but only if she’s asked; this girl is hilarious!
Yeah, ya did!
Hali puts it on everyone else saying that she’s not a threat and shouldn’t be targetted so soon. I totally agree. Alas, Zeke must have gotten into Brad and Sierra’s head and they stuck with their “we don’t need Hali’s vote” plan in the end. Hali becomes the first member of the jury and it’s a bit of deja vu for this young lawyer. Hali-6, Michaela-4, Zeke-2.
My winners pick… Gone!
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpaQSuBo7Wo&w=560&h=315]
DAY 22-24
Maku Maku. Michaela is grateful AF to Cirie for saving her ass, and welcome to the jury!! Cirie let that last vote slide, but she is now ready to play her own game! This lady ain’t happy Sierra is in charge. Zeke, Andrea, Sarah and Michaela are her fellow soldiers and she tries to employ Aubry.
Aubry is stuck between the two alliances and is happy to pander to her black Italian aunt Cirie.
Listen to my damn aunt, Zeke!
Andrea tells Zeke that they can’t tell Debbie and Tai their plans, and I think she’s right. Zeke doesn’t like how Cirie and Andrea in the power position and actually calls them out for being the bigger strategic threats over Sierra. Someone underestimates the barrel racer…
REWARD CHALLENGE
A reward in comfortable robes and eating burgers? Who wouldn’t love that?!
It’s Sarah, Culpepper, Aubry, Michaela, Cirie and Sierra VS Ozzy, Troyzan, Andrea, Tai, Zeke and Debbie. It comes down to a damn fish puzzle, Zeke and Debbie win it for the team! Good going after they fell behind though.
Maku Maku. Cirie feels like a loser after losing the reward, and I’m thinking she’s soon going to be another Survivor loser having so many confessionals. O_O You are NOT worthless, Cirie!
Marshalls Reward. Bitches get a fancy lounge. It’s shower time and Tai wants to eat the soap. And I think he actually did because he goes bonkers streaking all over the place!
Aww man, the burgers look so good and that is the biggest slice of pie I’ve ever seen! Zeke is so full of food and relaxed that he approaches Debbie about Cirie and Andrea’s agenda… Great. Not! I think Zeke needs to calm down. He’s falling into his old tricks from Millennials V Gen X with turning on his alliance too quickly. And this time he has Cirie, Andrea and Sarah to burn bridges, not just Hammons! I know the guy wants to be in control, but he needs to give a little. I personally think it’s too soon.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
The Parvati challenge. Always.
Love a classic Survivor challenge. And Ozzy has to be the one to beat. Tai looks like a little koala holding on and Andrea takes a huge leap off, ouch! It’s Ozzy vs Tai. The challenge beast loses this one and Tai wins immunity! Not as impressive as the Aussie Survivors making it last 6+ hours!
Bored AF waiting of Ozzy and Tai.
Maku Maku. Zeke wants Andrea gone and tells Sierra his plan. Sierra already seems skeptical and she decides to approach Cirie about Zeke. Word spreads back to Andrea and the girls are furious! And this is the downfall of Zeke’s game. Suddenly Ozzy wants in on Cirie’s game. Oh Zeke… I was hoping you would learn from last time.
Debbie and Sierra decide to throw Ozzy’s name out there and Troyzan and Tai are down. Woah. Debbie is now the new sheriff!! I’m hoping if this Ozzy vote works out that Zeke realises he can’t be in the drivers seat the whole game.
TRIBAL COUNCIL
Sarah relates the current game to being in a dating pool; who wants dibs?! Ozzy doesn’t understand how someone like him who is a provider and an asset to the tribe just can’t catch a break. Dude, you’re too much of a threat to make it to the F3. Cue Debbie and she just can’t help but bring up her military auxillary past…
Andrea throwing shade at Zeke, LOL. Debbie speaks up and decides to use her Advantage at this tribal and of course votes for Ozzy. All of this is Debbie wanting to own this tribal and elimination. Talk about building a resume. It’s debatable to whether it was a waste of a vote. If Cirie voted for Zeke it would bring his votes to 5 against 6 Ozzy votes, so Ozzy still would have gone home. I guess you never know what will happen at tribal so Debbie locked it in and won this round.
Ozzy becomes the 2nd jury member, and the 3rd time he’s been on a jury. Funnily enough this is the first season I’ve actually liked and appreciated Ozzy. He truly is a legend. Goodbye challenge beast! Ozzy-7, Zeke-4, Sierra-1, Aubry-1.
https://youtu.be/U7hwU8PW80I
Episode 5 Q&A w/ DALE WENTWORTH
LyndzO: Welcome BACK to Reality Ramblings, Dale! Thanks for joining me for this week’s episode recap and you’re officially the first returnee on my blog!
I know you’ve been pretty vocal on Twitter this season, how do you feel Game Changers has progressed over the last 7 weeks? Has it lived up to the hype in your opinion?
DaleW: I was not very excited going into this season as I saw too many predictable votes right away, all winners or F5 players should have been some of the first to be voted out, and except for Caleb that has been true. The choice was a strong physical player or a social player.
LO: Sarah opens up the episode on what transpired the night before. What were your thoughts on the tribal council between Varner and Zeke? And there’s been a lot of backlash on social media as well, should CBS be held accountable (also for not doing more) or are the individuals all partly to blame for the ‘attacks’? It’s come to light recently that Varner was fired from his job over the controversy.
DW: There are ALWAYS a lot of personal matters that are talked about every day between players. You are always trying to find a common bond to help you get farther in the game, it’s just that very seldom does it impact the vote or get brought up at tribal. If Jeff V had said that during the day… nothing would have been said. If I had outed Zeke it would have had one tenth of the impact of Varner outing him, and even worse was in an earlier confessional he talked about PLANNING to do it… YIKES! Jeff was under a LOT of pressure to make the jury after failing 2 times before. CBS was almost required to show it as that was the sole reason for Jeff going home. Now with that… CBS could not have scripted it better themselves had they tried, Zeke gets on morning talk shows, and not as a winner, CBS gets credit for being the most politically correct show on air and embracing the transgender issue and so on. It is sad that this will probably be Jeff V’s legacy from 3 seasons of Survivor.
Dale was as shocked as everyone else.
LO: To the Merge, what did you think about Brad and Tai volunteering themselves out of the feast? Would you do it? Brad is definitely in the good books right now!
DW: Skipping the merge feast… go with your gut, you make friends, but tribe members will forget that at the very first tribal. They have the memory of a goldfish when it comes to remembering favors.
LO: Cirie and Michaela have a bonding session and it was like a lioness mentoring her young cub. What are your thoughts on these two making it to the end together?
DW: I think Michaela will trust Cirie too much and it might cost her pretty soon.
LO: There seems to be a clear division of alliances between Zeke, Cirie and Andrea vs Sierra, Brad and Tai. Sierra thinks she’s in charge – how much does this ring true? And with Cirie nabbing Michaela, do you think the others could have used Hali’s vote more wisely or is the correct move to take out the middle man so early?
DW: Sierra seems to have learned a lot from her first time, she is playing a much better game, more involved, is it too much too soon ? I do not understand the Hali vote, there were still too many people left that were playing a better game and more in a leadership role. Cut off the head!! Not a finger!
LO: Other than playing a hidden idol which she didn’t have, was there more Hali could have done to save herself? I feel like she is a social person (on the outside) who just can’t make those connections in the game, or she’s just unlucky!
DW: I think her time was done, I mean she did offer everybody a free pat down and had no takers… I mean what the hell? At least take her up on it THEN vote her out.
LO: What’s in an edit? Cirie received a lot of airtime this episode and her game is certainly coming to light. Aubry is also slowly getting a little more airtime and is deciding between the Cirie and Sierra alliances. Do you think either of these ladies can make it to the end from what we’ve seen?
DW: Cirie is coming on strong, playing both groups against the other, voting for Michaela while telling her to trust her. She is really hitting her game strong post merge. Aubry seems to be playing softer than her last season, maybe learned from that and is willing to take a back seat to gain friends. Cirie seems to be in the best position to go the far from what I have seen so far.
LO: One of the biggest frustrations I found this episode was the way Zeke handled the game. He thrives for control and I thought after Adam’s win last season he would have learned his lesson that sometimes you need to be in the back seat to move forward. I feel he’s throwing his current alliance under the bus too quickly (again). Do you think Zeke has fallen into his old habits or is this just the way Zeke is?
DW: The survivor curse… Strategies change depending on the personalities you are playing with. I think Zeke wanted to play a soft game to start with, but he is playing against stronger social players this time and is now trying to break some pretty strong ties, it might be too little too late for him unless there is a major shift in tribes.
LO: Any thoughts on Tai “dethroning” Ozzy as the Pole Challenge King? Bit rich I think…
DW: Could Jeff have thrown Ozzy under the bus any more at the challenge? He is the KING… about 20 times… I would have told him to put a sock in it!
LO: At tribal council Debbie uses her Advantage. Do you think this was a waste and too early or a warranted move?
DW: That extra vote reward has been wasted a lot every time it has been used. Move on CBS!
Should they scrap the Extra Vote advantage??
LO: Poor Ozzy goes home and makes it to the jury for the 3rd time. There’s been a trend of voting out the physical threats and Survivor ‘legends’ early. What are your thoughts on this strategy especially for this season? I honestly don’t think Ozzy could have done more except for winning every individual immunity.
DW: As I mentioned earlier, the votes were too easy to predict. These were all former players, they knew everyone as soon as they walked on the beach. Why leave a Tony or Malcolm until the merge where once they are there they could get 4-5 Immunity wins. Maybe not Tony because I think he maybe only won 1 challenge but still, why take the chance? Ozzy was gone for being Ozzy and Jeff (Probst) talked them into voting out the “KING”.
FINAL QUESTIONS:
LO: If you were cast on Survivor Game Changers, who out of this cast would you have aligned with and how would you play differently?
DW: That is so tough as the bigger question is who would align with me? And then it is so tough to predict as the game is ever changing almost hour by hour.
LO: Ok so, thoughts on Debbie and her ‘fake’ drunkenness?? Did you like the mooning?
DW: #EYEBLEACHTV … that is all.
Dale’s not impressed.
LO: Let’s be honest Dale, how many of this cast were actually Game Changers pre-season?
DW: Let me just say that everyone’s definition of “Game Changers” must be different as I have no clue right now what it means.
LO: 11 people are left, who will make the final 3?
DW: Cirie, and maybe Brad who is playing a very subtle game right now. And a third… A long shot Troyzan, just sneaking along not making noise with an idol.
LO: And who do YOU want to win?
DW: The winner does not matter, it is Survivor. I will disagree with who ever wins! LMAO.
LO: Thank you again for your time Dale. As always, any final words?
DW: Not much else to say, no matter what happens it is still the best reality game show going, always has been, always will.
Follow Dale on Twitter and Instagram
Blog by Lynda Olson
ALL IMAGES USED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE COPYRIGHT CBS. THIS IS A PERSONAL BLOG AND ALL VIEWS ARE MY OWN.
