This week Dale Wentworth from Survivor 29: San Juan Del Sur gives us his thoughts on episode 5 and the season so far! But first, the recap…
Day 13-15
Post tribal. David apologises to everyone for playing his idol, and realises how vulnerable he now is without his idol. Own your big move David, don’t back down now! Jess apologises to Ken for not trusting him and shares her Legacy Advantage. Is that a good move? Ken will now string her along until he feels he can cut her, and grab that advantage. On the flip side, IF Ken does vote Jess out, she could be a bitter Betty and NOT give Ken her advantage, that would be juicy to see!
Make-up cuddles with KenDoll. [Image credit: CBS]
Day 13 and the Gen X idol hunt is on! David soon enough spots a tribal motif on a log, but he needs to shake Sunday and Cece. Soon enough the ladies get bored of searching and he jumps at the idol. Second immunity idol for the new Danger Dave! Looks like playing the idol last night wasn’t so bad after all, eh?!
Dave Wright: Idol Whisperer. [Image credit: CBS]
REWARD CHALLENGE. SWITCH UP
DROP YOUR BUFFS. A switcharoo is happening right now. We are “merging” from two tribes to three, special thanks to PlanetBuff for spoiling the third buff before this episode! Ikabula is the new tribe and will live on a new beach with no supplies, but a flint and machete, but they receive a pretty new green buff! Everyone’s picking their random buffs and Taylor is freaking out that he’ll lose his new girlfriend!
TAKALI: Jess, Ken, Taylor, Figgy, Adam.
IKABULA: Michaela, Bret, Will, Jay, Hannah, Sunday.
VANUA: Cece, Chris, Dave, Zeke, Michelle.
Michaela is furious from the moment she opens up her buff! She wanted to flick Jeff off right there on the beach. Overall the new tribe divisions are pretty equal and not a bad mix up. And thanks to the heavens above that FAYLOR are still together…!!
New Ikabula. Bret and Sunday are immediately on the outs. Jay is pretty happy having majority of the Millennials on his new tribe. This guy will just be chillin’ until the merge!
“Ikabula is COOL, dude! [Image credit: CBS]
New Takali. Taylor wants to hug Figgy, but she doesn’t think it’s a smart thing at all. He throws a hissy fit about not getting his Figgy on! Poor Adam has to watch Taylor and Figgy’s secret flirting as a power couple.
Faylor gifs for the Faylor fans. [Image credit: CBS]
Instead, Adam goes for a walk with Ken and tells him that he was on the bottom at Millennials. How can you not see Adam join Ken and Jess right now?!
Adam and Ken get away from camp. [Image credit: CBS]
New Vanua. Michelle has no friends out there, and you can’t really say she’s close to Zeke right now. The only thing saving her is that she’s an asset in challenges over Cece. Oklahoma boys Zeke and Chris are getting along just swell, and finally Chris may be able to be in control of a vote for once! Zeke wants to work with the “big ginger-haired football player”; hallelujah his game is only just beginning.
Zeke and the Ginger Giant. [Image credit: CBS]
New Ikabula. Jay is madly trying to start fire, but just can’t get it. Michaela takes over, exhausted as well, but as we’ve seen previously she’s one determined player! She will work-work-work until the cows come home. Michaela eventually makes fire and has a mini breakdown alone. Good girl, you don’t have to show your emotions to everyone. She talks about working for success and this girl needs to make a speech at a life coach convention.
Michaela B works hard for the money, yo! [Image credit: CBS]
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
Two tribes will win. One at a time dive down to retrieve a buoy and swim it to a platform, all five to collect. Throw buoys to land in basket, or take time to hook the basket to pull it closer to you. Will sits out for Ikabula.
I have to touch on this first, but Cece is SO SLOW. Again. Someone should have just told her to forget the buoy and just swim to the other side, they would have saved some time. Vanua don’t improve when David hits the water and he keeps losing the freakin’ buoy. This is HILARIOUS! He ends up accidentally kicking his buoy off the platform back into the water, and he was only struggling getting out of the water minutes before. Yikes! It’s Takali Ken v Ikabula Michaela in a shoot off and Michaela baskets two in a row. Ikabula win immunity first. It’s Ken v Vanua Chris, but it’s too late, Ken scores the last basket and Takali win second immunity.
Oh David… [Image credit: CBS]
Suddenly the new Vanua are looking like Angkor in Cambodia and it’s just miserable. I agree with Zeke that a Gen X has to go, and I’m pushing for Cece… Sorry Cece!! And Michelle looks really good in this tribe right now. They need strength for challenges.
Cece talks about not being on the bottom. It is CRAZY for her to think that Chris is sticking with herself and Dave, considering they’ve never voted together since day one. I’m finding it hard to see where this logic is coming from. Chris wants Cece gone, she’s too much of a liability. He approaches David telling him that they can’t vote out Zeke and it’s going to be Cece. The boys tell Michelle and Zeke that they are safe tonight. And this is where Michelle should have just trusted the boys and kept her mouth shut. Michelle hangs with Cece in the hammock and she tries to talk strategy with her throwing David under the bus because he’s weak and clumsy. I’m pretty sure Michelle was just testing the waters with Cece to see what she could get out of her… which was nothing. Michelle mentioned earlier that she didn’t like NOT having any power, and I think this was her way of having some control of a vote.
Cece is sitting pretty with fellow Gen Xers. [Image credit: CBS]
TRIBAL COUNCIL
Original tribal lines are brought up straightaway with the three Gen X v two millennials. Zeke makes a good point saying you can’t move forward in this game without making ANY connections with Gen Xers; it’d be foolish. Cece is concerned with Chris and Zeke’s Okie connection; and so you should! But Cece has all the trust in her Gen X alliance she doesn’t see any reason to be concerned. I also don’t think David will play his idol for Cece this time around, which is a little crazy as she’s stuck by his side since Day 1, and he played it for Jess who wasn’t.
The votes are read and it’s a delayed reaction from Cece – total blindside. Great to see David vote with majority. I don’t think it was a huge loss for him not to side with Cece. Cece-4, Michelle-1.
Cece is totally caught unawares this tribal. [Image credit: CBS]
NEXT TIME ON… SURVIVOR: Figgy tells Takali about her and Taylor. WHY?!? After this week?! Hannah gets injured – “don’t let me die”!
Episode 5 Q&A w/ DALE WENTWORTH
Dale Wentworth was a castaway in Survivor S29: San Juan Del Sur (Blood v Water 2), competing with his daughter Kelley Wentworth and became the 6th person booted from the game. I think he is the first person I’ve come across who truly dislikes this season so far, which also makes for some interesting answers! Does anyone else agree with Dale?
Welcome to Reality Ramblings, Dale! Thanks for joining me for this week’s episode recap 🙂 #TeamWentworth
LyndzO: First off, did you go into this season fresh or read/watch the contestant bios beforehand? (Pretty sure fans were already tweeting you about the rumoured Season 34 cast at the same time! Haha)
DaleW: I went into this season without watching any bios. I did listen to Corrine’s cast review (on RHAP), so I guess that pushed me in a “certain” direction….lol
LO: We’ve seen quite a few themed seasons now, including your Blood v Water season, what did you initially think about the Millennials v GenX theme and do you think it will carry through to the end of the game?
LO: Jess also told Ken about her Legacy Advantage in good faith. There’s been a lot of talk in whether you would want to tell someone you had it in fear of said person voting you out. Do you think this helps or hinders Jess staying in the game? And if you had the Legacy Advantage in S29, would you have told anyone?
DW: Never tell anyone about ANY advantage you might have in this game, history has shown that it will cost you most of the time.
LO: Heading to the twist, tonight we saw the tribe swap with the 2 tribes switching into 3. Do you like the new tribe make-ups? Any stronger v weaker tribes?
DW: Early tribe swap destroys the theme, or lack of a theme. It will change the numbers and make each vote tougher as a 3 person vote is all you need now, but too many castaways are relying on numbers from original tribes; never good, start afresh. Each tribe has it’s strong points, it just depends on the challenges that fit their tribe. Chris is a beast in physical ones so that might be the strongest tribe.
LO: On a scale of 1-10 (10 being ‘I want to vomit’), how annoying is it that Figgy and Taylor are still on the same tribe and all Taylor wants to do is mack on his woman?
DW: Zero… Figgy is starting to figure it out, trying to distance herself a little, but Taylor is in “puppy love”. Always begging for a piece. I mean would you pay a million dollars for that?!
Dale gives Figgy more credit than I thought… For now. [Image credit: CBS]
LO: Adam had a great week last week finding the idol and has more motivation to play after talking about his (now late) mother. Do think he’ll move forward with Ken and Jess, even though Figgy and Taylor are certain he’s joining them?
DW: I think Adam might move away from the Figgy/Taylor mess; he could get taken out just by associating with them.
LO: One guy who was hyped up pre-season, but pretty quiet the last few weeks is Zeke. What do you think about his place in the new Vanua tribe and his new bond with Chris?
DW: Zeke was shown a lot early trying to drag us in I think. The damn tribe swap is a numbers killer and I think he is reaching out to anyone who will listen and Chris is a STRONG person, however, do you really want to face Chris one on one after the merge?
LO: Immunity Challenge time! Cece proved again that she is a liability with her slowness in challenges. Her along with David, who couldn’t even pick up the buoy, were struggling. What was your reaction watching this and if you were on this team would you have just pushed for Cece and David to ONLY swim to the other side without the buoys?
DW: Right after a swap, maybe their tribe was trying to give them a chance… fail. They both struggled to even swim across to the dock. Future castaways… SWIM LESSONS!!
LO: Cece is the fifth boot this season, same as Kelley was in your season (S29). Both left after a tribe swap. Do you think if the swap had not happened, Cece would have been safe?
DW: I’m not sure it would have saved her, she was just weak in the challenges so that makes for a easy target, unless you want a person to drag to the end.
I’ll put you out of your misery with these FINAL QUESTIONS:
LO: Who are your top 3 favourite contestants so far, and why?
LO: I know it’s early days, but who do you think will be in the final 3?
DW: I will go with my 3 favorites (Justin/Michaela/Ken), unless there is a “goat” brought to the end. I can then see either a Sunday or David… (please stab me!!!)… AS A GOAT. No threat after a merge, little to no game play and no trust, so it narrows the vote to a Final 2.
LO: Any final words, Dale?
DW: Final thoughts… This season has been TOUGH to get a grab on, it still has me at a distance so we shall see if it improves. I guess after this one, Season 34 is going to be better no matter what.
Thanks Lynda, always fun to talk about stuff that I’m really bad at… HAHA!
ALL IMAGES USED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE COPYRIGHT CBS. THIS IS A PERSONAL BLOG AND ALL VIEWS ARE MY OWN.
