Just when you think you’re safe, a twist turns your game upside down! My week 3 recap is here and fellow Survivor fan and kiwi Simon Knyvett joins me again with his great insights into the game!

EPISODE 5: Day 9-10

Redemption Island. Tony is pondering his revenge on Shay while the lovely Izzy walks in. Tony is not surprised at all and blames Shay. LOL. I love his bitterness to the Shady woman, but woah! He calls her trash! Unnecessary much? Izzy is frustrated that she was voted out, AFTER ALL THAT SHE’S DONE FOR THE TRIBE. Izzy is fine throwing Shay under the bus even more, which Tony laps up! Hahaha. So much hate from the ol’ man.

Mogoton. Shay confesses that Avi convinced her to vote someone other than Tom. I find Avi’s game intriguing right now, he’s making the calls and somehow the others are blissfully unaware! He’s not seen as a huge power player right now and it’s fab! Shay also admits that she’s been wishy-washy with her votes as it’s the third time she’s NOT voted for Tom. Maybe this girl isn’t in much control as we first thought… Think about it.

Hermosa. Nate? Are you still alive?! Must have pissed off Captain Sparrow! But seriously, we’ve only seen Barb and Nate look incapacitated most of the time…

And even so, somehow the youngens feel like they’re dying and it’s only Day 9, AND they’ve already eaten most of their rations. What’s going on, guys?! The Captain isn’t happy with how Barb and Nate have given up on the tribe and Jak brings up throwing a challenge. I absolute loathe tribes throwing challenges. How often do these work out for you?!

Hi Shannon! I’m really impressed with what I’ve seen from Shannon so far. Even though she’s part of the youngens alliance, I do feel like she has SOME rapport with the oldies and if she ever wants to flip they’ll let her in. Or so I’d hope!

Mogoton. Tom brings up a valid point and one that I don’t agree with production-wise. Nate and Barb are being sat out in back to back challenges, which in hindsight of course is a great idea for Hermosa. In the US version it’s a clear rule that you cannot sit out in both Reward and Immunity challenges. Everyone gets a shot to participate, making it fairer between the tribes. It’s time for Mogoton to win! C’mon team!

REWARD CHALLENGE

The classic Survivor challenges keep rolling in and it’s a giant slingshot and catch game for a fishing gear reward! Georgia and Shannon sit out and Ol’ Barbie and Baby Lou are in the sling shot seat. Nate and Sala are matched up and Nate starts to gain some traction with his new friend; future alliance? Sala is killing it and gives Mogoton an early lead.

It is quite hilarious watching the camaraderie between the two tribes, you never see it with the Americans. MOGOTON WINS REWARD. Even Matty is like, FINALLY!! Mogoton win their first challenge since stealing Hermosa’s items on Day 1. Well done.

Hermosa. Jak, I don’t think the others think your Nazi joke is funny… Awkward! Need to pick up your game with the one-liners. Captain Sparrow is frustrated with Nate’s effort at the challenge. Nate is pretty devo himself because the Captain eating all the bloody food. Sparrow makes the call that they’re only going to eat one cup of rice a day from now on. Good call, too late?

Mogoton. OOOH, Haka Mogoton style! Happy days!

And the beginning of the end is near for Lou. We see her cut up foot which she brushes aside… 🙁 Sometimes being a tough cookie does not pay off.

Pelican Pete’s family are in the water! Pearl Islands much?! Doesn’t seem like anyone’s scared of them though…

Also, love how both Sala and Tom comment on Shannon’s meager frame on the other tribe. So random!

Shay is concerned with Lou and the farm gal has a bandage on her foot. Looks like medical made a visit off air!

Hermosa. Omg Jak, that isn’t dragon fruit!! It’s not even close to dragon fruit. Cactus fruit?! Okay so, I found Jak really funny the first few episodes and now I’m not sure anymore, haha! I did love his reactions to hating the fruit rice though…

Redemption Island. Izzy looks so fucking calm, and then Tony starts rambling about EVERYTHING in his life. Now I love a good ramble, but shit. Even Izzy’s just nodding and smiling… Who knows what he’s going on about. LOL. Then talk turns to Shay being a backstabber again. Hilarious!

Listening to Uncle Tony was funny at first…

DUEL TIME

Shay, Avi and Tom attend from Mogoton, while Barb, Nate and Sparrow sit in from Hermosa.

It’s on like Donkey Kong! Tony and Izzy enter the arena. If you know me, I am Team Izzy!! Don’t count her out just yet peeps. Tony is given his platform to throw plenty of shade at Shay. She doesn’t feel intimidated at all! Izzy seems completely fine with what’s gone down and doesn’t waste energy on negative thoughts; damn I love this girl!

The duel is a rope obstacle course and even though it suits Izzy more, Tony has FIRE in his eyes to win! Izzy takes an early lead, and poor Tony struggles and I feel like if he was 20 years younger he could have smashed through this course. Not built for an older dude. Izzy blitzes through the course with no worries at all and wins the duel. Tony leaves calling Izzy a devil in disguise and not to count her out. Couldn’t agree more!  Good onya Mad Dog Tony, you gave us much entertainment, and a little part of me is disappointed not to see your revenge plan on Shay come to light.

Mogoton. Now normally I would complain about the episode NOT ending after someone leaving the game, but in this case I’ll accept the next scene. Lou is sick. Very sick. The poor thing can’t even stand up. Lou’s caught an infection in her wounded foot and she looks fucking miserable! Ugh, your worst nightmare going into Survivor. Her tribemates try and comfort her, but Lou is too far gone. CALL IN DR JOE!!

Hermosa. OMG I couldn’t care less about this tribe not eating fish and stuff, go back to Lou!!

Mogoton. Finally. The NZ equivalent Dr Gibbo is on site to check out Lou and needs to take her out of the game to do some tests. Lou can barely respond to Matty. We need to remember Lou is still a teenager, she’s still a kid. Dr Gibbo says that Lou may be able to come back into the game… I don’t think so. Poor love didn’t get to show her full potential! Sad faces 🙁 A bit of a downer too she was medevaced in a van, not a chopper.

EPISODE 6 (SUX): Day 11-13

Hermosa. Barb’s got her tea bags on. LOL. Shannon wants to get more food for the tribe because they’re running out. So Barb puts more rice on… Hahaha. Barb is certain that the youngens could potentially throw a challenge soon to get either her or Nate out.

Same, same. #deadweight

Mogoton. Hellooo Avi! Have I mentioned he’s in my top 3 faves??

Hermosa. Barb is ready to go home at this point, she’s sick of not even playing this game with the young Mimosas. She couldn’t’ even be assed being on the jury as she doesn’t want to give any of them the $100k! Ha! I think her mind will change very soon…

TRIBE SWAP

It’s official. Survivor New Zealand has their first casualty, Lou’s medevac is real and she’s out. But no time to think, it’s time to DROP YOUR BUFFS! Matty is ready to shake things up! And I am soooo ready as well 😀 Matty explains that there is a BLACK BUFF in the bag. Whoever draws it goes immediately to Redemption Island for 24 hours and returns to the losing tribe… Double edged sword I guess, depending on who you are!

It’s pretty hoorah with the tribe swap, but omgosh all the strong guys are on one tribe… Ugh. And Shay ends up with the Megatron Men and she is SALTY AF.

It’s Georgia’s turn and she ends up on Hermosa. Her face DROPS. So does Captain Sparrows! She’s lost all her original alliance, especially when Shannon draws the black buff. Not bad really, she’s immune from tonight’s vote!

George Michael is no more… 🙁 #OTP

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE

NEW MOGOTON: Shay, Tom, Michael, Lee and Jak.

NEW HERMOSA: Nate, Barb, Avi, Sala and Georgia.

Shannon drew the BLACK buff and joins Izzy for a 24 hour RI partay!

It’s barrel racing time for immunity!

Needless to say, Hermosa struggle and lose immunity. Georgia is soooo screwed… Total game changer for Nate and Barb though! Deadweight is finally walking!

Hermosa. NATE IS STOKED, BRO! And Sala is feeling pretty okay too. He’s got Avi, and his charm to make relationships. I just think Sala is amazing! Nate and Sala are happy to vote out Georgia. This girl has got to scramble, and that she does! Barb and Nate find out that the old Hermosa were going to throw the challenge and ol Barb even mentions Georgia brings her first lot of firewood back to camp. Girl has got some catching up to do.

Mogoton. It’s a real Bachelor Pad right now and it’s a real sticky situation for Shay. Tom seems to be really thrilled though, looks like he finally gets to join his Hermosa mates now… Wonder if this helps him make it far into the game. Also, this is just me, but I get so bored of watching all male alliances. Yawn. Next…

Hermosa. Georgia is HUSTLING. We see her scramble, talking to every person, except Barb. Barb doesn’t feel sorry for Georgia one bit. And why would she?!

Avi is SOOO nice, he even tries to help Georgia write her feelings out… That gets shut down quickly. Georgia comes across very articulate and is a strategic threat in a way. She comes up with very valid facts to keep her around, but the damage is already done. Nate is cracking up seeing Georgia scramble so hard. You can see the frustration on Georgia’s face. Her world has turned upside down because of the tribe swap. Girl drew the wrong coloured buff…

TRIBAL COUNCIL

It’s Georgia against everyone else. Barb looks alive for the first time! She makes it clear that the tribe swap couldn’t come at a better time because she knew she was going home next. Georgia admits to being part of the Hermosa ‘tight five’ alliance, and that she would join Nate and Barb in moving forward in the game, leaving her old alliance behind. I find this hard to believe. Captain Sparrow wouldn’t let this happen! The tiny dancer does her best to persuade Nate and Barb that they can trust her… she’s grasping at anything she can now. We haven’t seen everything that happened at Hermosa, but things didn’t look like happy families. In saying all this I was impressed with Georgia’s attempts to stay in the game and not just lay her torch down. It just sucks that out of George Michael, she’s the only fallen flat first. Also, Georgia can blame the Tribe Swap all she wants, but her alienating Barb and Nate from Day 1 was digging her own grave, especially knowing a tribe swap could happen on Survivor. Why not try and make bonds with everyone if you can. She’s sent to Redemption Island and I’m SO ANNOYED because two people I like have to DUEL. Ugh. Georgia-5, Avi-1.

SURVIVOR SIMON SAYS

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Woohoo New Zealand Survivor! This show got its sweet sweet groove on this week with some of the familiar dynamics the make the US show one of my favourites. We got ourselves a swap, (that was actually called a swap – Take Note: Aus Survivor), we got to see a med evac (RIP Lou), plans to throw challenges and we got to see our first power shift. So many different things to talk about! Let’s just start off with Tony. Ahhh Tony you were a breakout star of these first few episodes. I wish we heard more about your life story, your cockatiel etc. That challenge was not meant to be for an older fella, against a flexible, agile girl like Izzy, (What’s her job again, Oil Rig Stewardess? For some reason I felt like this challenge was part of her profession. Note to self, find out what and Oil Rig Stewardess does).

One of my many highlights for the week came with the Hermosa tribe discussing to throw the challenge. Not that I wanted Barb or Nate to leave but because it is always an interesting strategical and ethical discussion. While it never actually played out I was going through how the situations would turn out. Would they be unable to throw the challenge because Barb and Nate were too strong ala Cliff Robinson and Aparri. If they did throw the challenge would they end up in as much disarray much like the famous Drew Christy and the Hunahpu tribe. The most similar throwing of the challenge I saw this too was the one in Pearl Islands. I saw the Mogoton tribe being similar to the Morgan tribe gaining confidence from the challenge throw and gaining the upper hand over their Drake (Hermosa). While it was fun to go through in my head unfortunately we did not see this play out.

And this was because . . . #dropyourbuffs . . . it is a tribe swap! Another NZ Survivor first (Take note: Jeff Probst). I love tribe swaps as they completely change the dynamic of the game. They also display who has actually been playing a pretty sub par game. People can go on and on about how Georgia was swap f**ked all they like, but as Nate said she dug that hole with her earlier interactions with he and Barb. She even had an opportunity to get out of that hole. Nate was silly enough to reveal he had little intention to go far with Sala and Avi. Why not try use that to your advantage Georgia? You are the swing vote here. It even genuinely seemed like Avi wanted to work with you, and yet you still want him out. And with that came the end of the first member of the original Hermosa millennial alliance (unless she makes it back from Redemption… god I hate that). Anyway I can only hope my girl Shannon will play the situation a lot better should she be forced into it next week (who am I kidding of course she will).

Lastly Lou’s med evac brought with it an opportunity to meet New Zealand’s own Dr Joe. Hmmm let’s just say I would feel a lot safer in the British Doctor’s hands than this Rupert lookalike. I really feel with this med evac viewers have missed out on the young character. It may be an odd comparison but she actually reminded me of Julia Landauer of Survivor Caramoan fame. Julia was a young female Nascar driver with a fascinating background story. She was obviously an incredible human being. Unfortunately her personality did not come across as much on the show and she was not shown as much. Lou was similar in the fact she is a farmer at 19. She is obviously very strong willed and determined but maybe did not get shown as much because of her fate.

Elsewhere this episode had it. Jak trying the dragonfruit rice was a particular highlight and great character moment. I also love how Sala is becoming more and more of a New Zealand Rupert (wow second mention in one blog). It looks like Tom has now gained a little bit of power too, which may not be the best thing for ShadyShay. Next week it looks like more challenge throwing talks are on the cards.

Blog by Lynda Olson

ALL IMAGES USED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE COPYRIGHT TVNZ. THIS IS A PERSONAL BLOG AND ALL VIEWS ARE MY OWN.