What happened this week on Survivor NZ? Simon and I are here once again to cover the highlights of the episode! Let’s dig in…
Days 4-5
Chani post tribe: Karla is freaking out over the events of the first tribal council and how close she was to going home… Can she save herself from the next vote?! The next day the tribe relishes in COOKED rice and you just hope they can win at least ONE challenge… :/
KhangKhaw: The “core five”, which is actually a core two right now with Kaylan, notice the three boys, Josh, Brad and Matt, are alpha bro-ing too much for their liking. Kaysha and Dylan are sitting like loners wanting to make make big moves yo.
Josh sees Dylan as a goat and thinks it’ll be easy to just keep him around as they win challenges.
Josh totes thinks he’s tight with Tess, but she wants Adam as her wingman, with Lisa in her “tight five”. Josh tells Tess to quit it with the “tight five” talk, and you wonder if she watched last season of Survivor NZ! AND she doesn’t like Kaysha… Tess, you break my heart! But the worst is still to come when that little devil Adam says it’s unfortunate Kaysha is aligned with Dylan “coz he’s such a dick!” WOW. WASH YOUR MOUTH OUT, BRO! I feel this war between the two sassy pants is just beginning… At this point I’m confused as to why they guys don’t like Dylan as the edit hasn’t shown us at all. Right now Kaysha is the only meat shield Dylan has!
REWARD CHALLENGE
The reward is fresh fruit which for the castaways I’m sure is great, but for us… Yawn. Highlights of the challenge include Kaysha doing the Stop, Drop and Roll (before spewing)
And of course, the hottest manbun on the season EXPOSED, quite literally
KhangKhaw go on to win their third straight team challenge making Chani look like absolute crap.
Oh and Adam spews as well, but is seen as a hero… Okay then.
Back at camp, Adam gives the tribe a lesson on watermelons.
At Chani, JT and Liam go on a treemail walk and the tribe have to choose who goes to The Outpost. While Liam stands there in confusion, JT guesses what it’s all about and hits the nail on the head about it being a temptation. Funnily enough, no one else ‘wants’ to go or speaks up against JT going.
Meanwhile at KhangKhaw, Tess is just as confused as Liam and she really looks like she DOESN’T want to go to The Outpost.
Alas, she draws the short straw to attend a date with JT and Sexy Matt. Girl is worried about being a Survivor rookie, and we soon see why!
THE OUTPOST
Sexy Matt introduces JT and Tess to The Outpost, where there will be different temptations and moral dilemmas every few days, too exciting! This week it’s a fire-making challenge to win a hidden idol clue. Both players seem a little nervous, but have a fire going pretty quickly… No Cook Island fails here! I mean, JT’s fire even explodes in his face; go big or go home I say!
HOORAY, Tess wins the first Outpost challenge! Maybe this girl isn’t such a rookie after all…
And then, JT asks to see the clue. She firstly says no… Then changes her mind. Why?! Sharing info with your own tribe mates is one thing. To share with the other tribe is a big no no! (Unless your Matt and Dave and are totes besties, or JT and Russell on Heroes v Villains… Oh wait.)
I at least would’ve liked to seen Tess read her winning clue first before deciding to share with JT. But no, they open it together like a joint present. As for JT, he is charming and smoooooth. Fortunately for him, I don’t see his trick working on any other KhangKhaw tribe member.
Back at camp, Tess comes up with a story about mattresses and while I’m totally buying the story, Dylan sees right through her. Look, it definitely wasn’t the worst fake story *cough* Nick Iadanza *cough*, and was somewhat plausible, so I give her that. Even if she lied and said she lost I’m not sure everyone would’ve believed her either! She tells her #1 Adam about the idol clue. They make a plan to go for the idol knowing JT might too… I just wish they didn’t tell the brofos about it!
Over at Chani, JT is the ultimate schemer and comes up with the perfect explanation for his tribe. After telling the half truth to everyone, he divulges the full one to Arun, and eventually Dave and Eve. JT has the perfect meat shields… But he is now well-known to be very smart and a real gamer, I wonder if they’ll keep him around. He’s dangerous, guys!! While JT is planning his next move, Franky and Karla struggle after a night of rain and a medic is called in…
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
It’s a classic sandbag challenge which brings us back to Season 2 of US Survivor… Ahh Colby Donaldson. Speaking of, I think Brad is the answer to Kiwi’s own Colby! Totes nice guy, a little dry, strong and just someone you’d wanna keep around. Brad also grabs the clue, FFS Tess, get that off him! In the challenge it’s Brad, Josh & Kaysha v Arun, Dave & Renee. Chani spread the bags, while I think KhangKhaw had the better strategy of bunching them up. Poor Arun is the last one standing for Chani and really gives it his all!
KhangKhaw win their second immunity, and Lisa gets to live her geeky Survivor dream to grab the Immunity Idol from Matt. WHAT A DORK! I LOVE YOU LISA! With her initial plan working, she’s placed herself really well at KK.
TRIBAL COUNCIL
We honestly haven’t seen much from Chani so far except them losing challenges and attending tribal. It’s a real shame… I blame Jose for choosing this tribe!! Kidding, Jose was amazing. And to someone else who I think we need to see more of; Eve. Currently flying under the radar, Eve is playing it cool and has placed herself well, especially with others perceived as ‘weaker’. But my home girl has a mini-breakdown at tribal and I’m like, NOOOO! Don’t show your emotion cards! Hopefully this doesn’t mean much for her future game that they showed it. Anywhos, it’s a battle of the bottom between Franky and Karla, with Franky not getting away with being medevaced from the game, Karla is fighting for her life with her desperate pleas that she’s learned so much and has more to give to this tribe. Karla knows fire, fire is life!
Overall, the tribe wants to keep strength and Franky is still an asset to them (and also has her stronger social bonds), so poor Karla is sent packing. Honestly, don’t see what more she could’ve done to convince them to keep her. I’ll give her one thing, she gets 10 points from me for voting Liam. HAHAHA. He probably still hasn’t noticed. Karla-7, Liam-1.
Survivor Simon Says
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All right, all right short and sweet this week. We got another thoroughly enjoyable episode of Survivor NZ. First thing to note is those conditions. How harsh were they?! Not since Survivor Kaoh Rong have we seen such harsh conditions at a challenge. I thought for sure we were going to get a med evac this week. In a way the challenge also reminded me a little bit of Survivor: Guatemala, where the first challenge, an 11 mile run through bush, left all the men on the Nakum tribe physically spent on day 1. Have we ever seen such an amazing power chuck as Adamâs though? For humourâs sake I reiterate a sentiment I shared last week, Michelle Tesauro still did it better, but Adam you are a close second.
I really commend the lack of complaining from most of the tribe members. Yep most seem to be getting on with it, however Franky really got on my nerves this week. Bradley from the latest season in the US complained a lot, but to me he seemed to be playing it a bit for laughs. Franky on the other hand takes me back once again to Survivor Palau. Anybody remember a really fit young buck named Jeff Wilson⌠I am assuming not as he didnât last long. Jeff rolled his ankle and told his tribe to vote him out under the pretense that it was what was best for them. Franky seems to be doing the same in my opinion. Calling medical frequently and seemingly wanting them to take her out of the game. Arun had this right, girl âItâs Survivorâ, you won a fan radio competition. Abi Maria says, âGet over itâ and Penner says, âWhiners are wienersâ (not that youâd know who they are).
New Zealandâs first idol find was a pretty blink and youâll miss it kind of moment. Iâm not going to lie I was a bit excited about the prospect of it being hid at a challenge, but in all honesty it was a bit anticlimactic for me. After the man bun madness of Aussies like AK and Henry finding idols in Aus Survivor Season 2 and Malcolm in Philippines and Caramoan it seems right our first idol holder is Brad. I believe it is a traditional idol in a current US Survivor sense, so that is good too. It will be interesting to see how he goes about leveraging this or will he join the many who walk out with an idol in his pocket.
Despite his scheming with Tess into sharing the idol clue JT was again thoroughly entertaining this week. He seems to relish being a bit mischievous and with Tess not quite accustomed to this she was the perfect lamb to back into a corner. I cannot see how he wins this with how schemey he comes across but it makes for great television and I hope he sticks around.
On the yellow tribe it appears my favourites are on the outs in lasty loser dick Dylan and fellow super fans Kaysha and Lisa. The fact that Matt talked about Lisa just being in for the ride was great for her at least. This is especially after she mentioned last week that was the impression she wanted to make. The other two Kaysha and Dylan were eviscerated at the beginning of the episode. As it appears for now they will be one of the first two to go home. The tribe also appears to be similar to the Tandangâs of the world. Until a tribe swap pops up I donât see them heading to tribal any time soon.
Blog by Lynda Olson and Simon Knyvett
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