This season has been hard to digest. It’s been totally whack up to this point and at the same entertaining to watch. I don’t even know how to describe how odd it’s been, but I’ve really enjoyed the post-merge phase of this season and we have some juicy villainous heroes to root for. Ben and Chrissy, I’m looking at you! Lauren and Devon are a delight and refreshing to watch and then we have the intelligent nerds in Ryan and Dr Mike. Ashley, well she’s turned out to be a challenge beast! We don’t need a myriad of hot beach bods in a Final 7 to bring the fire, that’s for sure! Join my fave Brissy Survivor fan, Julian Groneberg, and I to breakdown the episode:
DAY 31-33
Dr Mike is getting used to being consistently blindsided. And Ryan is also reeling over losing his flushed out idol. But no one is more livid than the currently ropeable Chrissy. This woman is on FIRE! Used to being in control, she throws a hissy fit at Ben and calls him a jerk. Ben takes it with a grain of salt and lets Chrissy’s anger fester…
REWARD CHALLENGE
Reward is a loved ones visit, and wow, it only hit me later how underwhelming the challenge was. If you can even call it a challenge! The Survivor’s and their loved ones took part in their own rock draw, just with marbles. I’d like to know who made the call on this abysmal ‘challenge’!!
We see Ashley and her dad; Ryan and his dad, bawling his eyes out; Dr Mike and his wife (soooo cute); Lauren and her sister, who hugs Jeff first and proceeds to grab Lauren’s Survivor-diet-be-gone rolls. Lauren tells us she’s living her sisters dream, and I bet she is BITTER AF; Chrissy and her hubby; and Devon and his mum.
Pretty much everyone fails at the rock draw, (Jessica Lewis feels your pain, guys), except for frenemies Ben and Chrissy. Chrissy ultimately wins reward and decides to cock-block Ben, by taking her mate Ryan, Dr Mike and Ashley on her BBQ retreat. Good choices to work on Ashley and Mike who seem to be free agents. The target is BigFoot Ben.
Back at camp, Ben shows off his arts and crafts making a fake idol. He shows it to Devon. Moments later Lauren finds one half of a real idol with a clue to the other half at the next immunity challenge. Of course, Ben and Devon know about her idol too.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
The greatest scene we witnessed this challenge was Hula Devon, hubba, hubba! Lauren finds her shell idol and Ashley wins Immunity, while Devon wins a full-body massage from Ashley; we can only assume. Wins all around!
Ashley talks about her resume and sees voting out Ben being her “big move”. Unfortunately, there are others who want to claim that title as well. Ben gets his creeper on and overhears Devon, Ashley and Lauren at the well talking about him. He walks up to them… and SILENCE. Jeez guys, make it obvious why don’t ya?! Ben becomes paranoid and confides in Dr Mike, telling him about Lauren’s idol AND ‘secret’ advantage. AI YAI YAI!!
It is just chaos at Solewa and by the end of the day EVERYONE knows about the secret vote advantage, Chrissy suddenly wants to work with Ben again and I’m now losing my shit at Lauren giving Dr Mike one half of her idol. Oh, Lordy!
TRIBAL COUNCIL
Lauren calls Ben out for telling everyone about the idols, which he of course defends because there’s actually nothing wrong with that. By the way, I already have my popcorn ready by this point. Lauren tells everyone she left her advantage back at camp, which was later revealed in an exit interview with the lovely Dalton Ross, that she in fact had it in her pocket! Havoc ensues. Ben shows off his fake idol getting people eye rolling, Dr Mike throws Lauren’s idol half in the fire; should she have fished it out? Probably, but then you still have that target on your back regardless, so maybe best to leave it.
It’s like a family Christmas gathering gone wrong. There’s a lot of shuffling and flip-flopping around the tribal council set. Ben then plays his real idol sending Lauren home in a cool blindside. In hindsight, knowing Ben was voting for her, Lauren should have chucked two votes on someone else and saved herself, but I can only imagine how hard it would be to get an accurate read on what’s happening. This season is a perfect example of why you should keep idols/advantages to yourself at all costs, where possible. Kudos to Ben for pulling this one off after being such an outward threat for so long.
Alas, we lose our Survivor Fisherwoman. I truly thought she would make the Final 5! Ben-6, Lauren-1.
Check out Lauren’s Ponderosa HERE
SURVIVOR JULIAN’S THOUGHTS
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Lauren! Nooooooooo – how quickly the tide of who is the target can turn against you. First it was Chrissy, then Ben, then Lauren, and ultimately had it not been for Ben’s secret idol, we would still have the pleasure of Lauren on our screen into the Final 6. She’s been a joy to watch, underrated strategically, and her calm and measured straight-shooting approach has been refreshing to watch. Bring back Lauren!! Just remember girl, if you get a second chance, no sharing of idols, OK?!
That said, I’m glad Ben is still standing in the game as such an obvious target. He’s been another extremely well-developed character this season, and while I’m not normally one to jump on the bandwagon of the Alpha types, he’s got a likeable spirit and I’d be happy enough if he won. First pick definitely is Devon to win.
Last pick to win? 100 per cent Chrissy. She really showed this episode why she’s not so well-liked by the rest of the cast. She comes off so fake, and a complete control freak who needs everything to go her way. Her hypocrisy at her perceived injustice of getting blindsided when she was happy to blindside others did not sit well, and Ben was 100 per cent correct in calling her out about the way she acts after every vote. She’s playing the game incredibly emotionally, and in Survivor, that’s never going to serve you well. Furthermore, her confessional about it being Ben’s punishment for blindsiding her by not choosing him for reward was plain vindictive. Speaking of, the reward challenge. Worst challenge in Survivor history and I’m not even being hyperbolic. What a letdown to the family members who thought they’d be able to play a real survivor challenge in Fiji. Instead, they got to play with marbles. If you even call it ‘playing.’ Ridiculous!
Coming into the finale, Ryan’s in a good spot at the moment, as is Dr Mike, who looks set to be the swing vote between the two pairs of Chrissy and Ryan and Devon and Ashley. Finally the season has picked up and it looks set to be an exciting finish. Go Devon! BIG AND LONG!
Blog by Lynda Olson. Guest writers; Julian Groneberg.
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