"Survivor 40 Winners At War: We're In The Majors" a/k/a "A Portly Chap" Season 40 Episode 7 Recap3/25/2020 Lame A/K/A... sorry. For some reason, I just could not come up with a good quote. WM... any thoughts? You can come up with a more clever A/K/A if you want (as you command!) (Also considered "Hope this peanut butter can stick us together" [too many words] and Sandra's "I screwed myself" [just to throw a bone to the many Sandra non-fans] but finally went with old stand-by Tyson) In a "new school" versus "old school" winners season... so far the new schoolers seem to have it. Sitting at the Edge of Extinction are ALL the old school players but one ... Yul. We had such high hopes for Yul, our last-standing old school player. But now, Kim is the earliest winner still left in the game... I think? WM? (It's actually Sophie, who won season 23; Kim won season 24; Denise was next at season 25) So how did this happen? We start our episode at The Edge of Extinction, where Parvati has just arrived. "Voted out before merge... SO LAME!" she says. "I've never done that before." First time for everything, Parv. But... all is not lost. She is happy to be there with some of her "old school" mates such as Ethan, Rob and Amber - and to her utmost joy.... Sandra! Sandra comes in saying "I screwed myself", then explained what happened with Denise. Godfather Rob jumps in to give her fatherly advice/royal sh*t: "Why not just figure it out for yourself instead of giving her all that power?" "So unlike you." we hear from Amber. Sandra explains that she really liked Denise, wanted to give her some help - and it bit her in the butt. Sandra hears how sparse the food is and how hard they have to work for one shot at a challenge to get back in the game and decides "Nope, not for me". She is going to raise her flag and leave. (Yes, that will tarnish her image. But it was the right decision for HER. She was right; she no longer had a shot in the world at winning the game. Give her credit for being self-aware enough to recognize that). Right decision or wrong decision? For her, I think I'm not surprised or disappointed. As she leaves, we hear her say "I'm still the queen and I'll always be the queen." Blah blah blah... ...unless one of the women wins the game and ties your record... right, Sandra? Moving on... Sele Tribe Opens at Yul, frustrated with Wendell over his last tribal council performance. Yul confronts him about his proposal to Parveti: "What were you thinking? Do you have sh*t for brains?" Wendell says nothing to make Yul feel better. Later, we hear Wendell apologize to Michele for making her uncomfortable at tribal council. But then it appears he was mainly baiting her, just so he could reem her about trying to tell him how to handle himself at tribal. Sidenote: Wendell... you used to be such a nice guy! What happened? Yul and Michelle compare notes about their interaction with Wendell. Michelle then admits that she has basically had it with him and does not wish to move forward in the game with her ex. ...back at the Edge, where all the fun people are: Weird music. Strange whispering in the background (shades of "LOST"... that's what it made ME think of anyway). Setting the tone for what is to come next. Ethan talking about the struggles of the Edge: "Why am I here? Where is the hope? Days are long. Nights are longer". A quiet conversation with Parvati. She offers him a bit of encouragement. Really nice to see this. Those of you who aren't fans of Parv... this was a good moment. Ethan brings back the box to be opened. Each one gets a scroll. From Tyson: "We each get our own clue: scattered on top of the mountain there are four fire tokens. No limit on how many each of you can find." Game on. Rob: "I took off and just sprinted. I've been sprinting these mountains for days and know if I get there first I have an edge. Tyson: "Boston Rob took off in a sprint. But me knowing he's a 'portly chap' means I have time to make up ground when I need to. So I sprint to the part I know the best and immediately find a fire token because I'm amazing." The race appears to be over when they are all standing around comparing notes. Tyson shows the one HE found to everyone. They all look at it, ask where it was found. Everyone swears they had not found anything. And then the truth comes out - at least to us, the audience. Boston Rob is speaking. He followed his trail; found one. Found two with Ethan right there. Heads to a big lookout.. finds the third. And the rest of them are none the wiser (except of course Amber, who I am sure he tells when they have a moment alone) Boston Rob... great job. Dakal Tribe... ...where Tony is showing off his running skills to the rest of his tribe. Why? Because...Tony. But we learn in a confessional that he is still a pretty astute player. "Denise did me a big favor last night. I'm close with Jeremy. I'm close with Kim. And Denise, she used two idols to take out a big target - and set the target on herself. I'm feeling pretty good right now." (It's never dangerous to say that on Survivor, Tony. Never.) Tony to his tribe, giving credit to Denise: "She dethroned the queen with her own bullet." Denise is a bit uncomfortable with that. But Tony may not be quite right in his thinking. Jeremy, as much as he likes Tony, considers him a bigger target than Denise. Kim is feeling the same. Tony should beware. Seems the alliance of Denise, Kim and Jeremy are committed to moving forward into the merge sticking together. Yara Camp... ...where they are all enjoying some leftover peanut butter. From Sophie: "For the first time ever, I can say we have leftovers on Survivor and I'm hoping this peanut butter can really stick us together." Clever girl! Adam and Ben, discussing where the idol could be. Ben thinks Adam has it and asks him directly. Adam denies. Ben and Adam go and look. Of course, we know that Sophie already has the idol. Sarah knows it. And Adam surmises from watching Sarah and Ben look that someone is not telling the truth. "I can tell they are only pretending to be looking!" he says. Adam tells Sophie that he believes Sarah has the idol. Funny. Sarah offers to dump all her crap out of her bag to prove she doesn't. "Not necessary" he tells her. Ben swears if any of them had it, they would say so. "Sure about that, Ben?" Sophie wants to stop the idol talk because it is dividing them. Adam is annoyed that suddenly HE is the one on the defensive and now has to do damage control when THEY are the ones lying. What a goofy bunch. Immunity Challenge The challenge today is carry a large saucer to a water tower, fill it with water and race it to a well. Do that as many times as it takes to fill the well. Once it fills it will release some puzzle pieces. First to finish the puzzle wins. (You all know how I hate challenge details.) Michelle takes a tumble but comes up laughing. We find out Nick has some experience with this one...and he failed miserably. Carrying a huge saucer without spilling proves to be difficult. Yara gets their well filled first. The saucer they used for water then becomes their puzzle board. Sophie and Ben work the puzzle and do an outstanding job, as Sarah always does on puzzles. They get the first place immunity win. Dekal and Sele are very, very close! It is Michelle and Wendell working for Sele; Jeremy and Denise for Dekal. It was so close that either team could have won - but in the end, Dekal pulled off the win. Sele will be heading to tribal council tonight. Yul walks away convinced that Wendell is the one. "Less trash talking and more focus. He's dug his own grave". Was There A Reward Challenge We Didn't See? I believe there WAS. These pics were pulled off the CBS Press Express site and I do not recall this challenge. I feel deprived. (Yes, there was. Dalton mentions in his recap that one was played, Yara won, but it wasn't televised. Too boring, perhaps? Maybe it was a choice between this or the "Edge of Extinction" token search, and Tyson was just too damn funny to omit that?) Anyway, moving on.... Sele Camp The scramble begins to decide who will be the next one out of the game. For most of the episode, the foreshadowing pointed to Wendell. I mean, he IS being a bit of a jerk. Nick is very frustrated with Wendell. All the trash talk, lack of focus. Nick blames Wendell for the loss; Yul agrees. "Vote Wendell but tell him it's Michelle." Wendell and Michelle talk. Despite their history, he feels the closest to her, maybe because he's never had sex with any other tribemates. She agrees to vote Yul with him. Yul believes he has Michelle and Nick both. But he wants to finagle Wendell's fire token from him, assuming that fire tokens have some kind of value after merge. He wants Michelle to tell Wendell she is voting for Yul. That way when Wendell is voted out maybe he'll give his token to her. He would then like her to give one up to him - as payment for coming up with such a brilliant plan? Is that it? I'm not sure. I believe Yul is overthinking. Nick, after listening to Yul talk, decides that he is dangerous. He and Michelle talk privately. Obvious they are now feeling that Yul is more dangerous than Wendell (but still less of a butth0le) and maybe should be the target. Tribal Council... ...and of course, Probst has to point out to Nick that he has once again failed on this difficult challenge ("I'm amazed you didn't wear a t-shirt that says "Miserable Loser" on it tonight, Nick!") Then we hear Yul destroy his game by saying WAAYYY too much. I mean, his game was already over - the plan was already set against him. But he sure didn't need to spill everything he was thinking about fire tokens and strategy and lying to get his way and all. Wasn't very smart, Yul. Sometimes the smartest thing is not showing you ARE smart. From Wendell: "It wasn't the best of days... " Yul: "The game has evolved and is much more complex. I've had to lie more"... and there is where it went south for him. Too much, Yul. Too much! Put a sock in it! More tension between Wendell and Michelle. It's a thing this season. Nick: "We are so tight, if I got sent to the E of E I'd still be with this four." Wendell says: "Nope. Not me." Yul: "I'll be bitter if you blindside me tonight, you miserable **ckers, but..." Vote happens. No idol is played. Yul, Wendell, Yul, Yul... Sadly, it is our final "old school" player sent to the Edge of Extinction. He bequeaths his fire tokens: one to Sophie, and one to Sarah. And off he goes to join the other old schoolers.
If it was "old school" versus "new school" as a theme... I'd say the new school players win the day. That's how I started my recap, and that's how I'm going to end it. Next week...MERGE! Nothing in the previews about any E Of E players coming back, but maybe that's just to surprise us?
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