Survivor: Nicaragua Recap
Worst Case Scenario
By Kim Hollis and David Mumpower
October 20, 2010
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Just to taunt his Espada teammates further, Dan is now threatening to quit. He says that he already has a Range Rover and a Ferrari, so he doesn’t need this rain and struggling for meals crap. He also had some $2,000 shoes once, but those are gone. The best part of this segment occurs when Holly, who recently talked about quitting herself, gets judgmental about Dan’s choice. Holly, as politely as we can say this, Dan buys and sells people like you before breakfast. Actually, he can probably afford smarter ones.
Meanwhile, Yve’s options are dwindling. Her primary alliance with Marty, who is no longer on her tribe, and even if he were, his primary alliance is with Jill. She wasn’t informed about the tribe’s vote because her teammates thought she had an alliance with Tyson, which is news to her. Her big problem is that she is showing competence, while her compatriots, including Holly and Dan, have not done so thus far. She seems to be in a lot of trouble.
Over at La Flor, Marty and Jill are talking about exactly the film you would expect for a couple of tightasses like them. “I feel like I just fell into Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure,” says Marty. That would be most triumphant. Remember a trashcan, Marty.
The conversation between the two of them reinforces the generation gap that has been the theme of this season. Jill believes that her doing the dishes is currying favor with her new teammates. As Tyrone would tell her, hard work around camp earns you absolutely nothing at the vote. Marty and Jill are going to have to come up with a new strategy if they want to Survive.
Probst sighting! It’s not a Tribe Immunity. Instead, it is individual immunity for one person from each tribe. As is typical with these challenges, there will be one big winner who will earn their group a feast as well as the opportunity to watch the other team at Tribal Council. The challenge is done team by team, with Espada going first. The individuals are battling each other to dig up three rings made of rope, which they will then toss over their back into a basket. The first person to get all three rings and arrive at the finish line will earn individual immunity. After both tribes have gone, the two winners will compete for the reward portion of the meal.
For Espada, it’s a close race between Holly, Alina and Benry (with NaOnka doing absolutely nothing), but Holly edges it out. La Flor sees the race coming down to Kelly B. and Jill, with Jill taking the immunity for La Flor. Thus, two older people are safe tonight in Holly and Jill, and potentially Marty, who has the hidden Immunity Idol.
For Tribal Reward, the match-up between Holly and Jill is very close. They both get two rings on the ring toss board fairly easily, and it just happens that Jill manages to get her third one before Holly can finish. La Flor will be dining on yummy stuff tonight as well as having the opportunity to observe their brethren from the other side of the island.
After the challenge, Sash and Brenda have a discussion wherein they decide they will throw three votes to Marty and three votes to Kelly B., thus insuring that one of the people they want gone will be eliminated whether or not the immunity idol is played. As we saw last season during Heroes vs. Villains, this is a foolproof strategy unless the fool in question is Tyson.
In case you’re wondering how Sash and Brenda plan this vote, they tell Kelly B. that they plan to vote for Jane since she’s in the old person’s alliance (even though they actually love Jane and would never vote her out). In actuality, they’ll have Jane vote with them and hopefully Jud/Fabio as well. As Brenda notes, Jud is such a weird dude that you never know what he’ll do.
Marty takes this opportunity to tell Fabio that he is a Grand Master, which he might want to be careful about in certain circles. Oh, wait. He’s not a Grand Wizard. Instead, he claims to be a chess master, having beaten such greats as Guillermo Vilas. This impresses Jud, who had only heard of Bobby Fischer as a chess player. Little does he realize that Marty’s beating Vilas is no better than beating Dr. J at Battleship. Vilas is a clay court tennis specialist who was always a dangerous draw at the French Open, but he’s not really known for his skills with knights and pawns. Marty is all too proud of pulling of this lie to Fabio, which is frankly akin to telling a tall tale to Ralph Wiggum and having him believe it.
The eviction choice for Espada comes down to Dan vs. Yve. Given the state of Dan’s knees, we know where NaOnka comes down on this issue. The temperature of the tribe seems to be that Dan has to go. In fact, Alina even tells Yve that the vote has to be Dan (though perhaps we can take it with a grain of salt).
But wait. Remember how people have been enjoying digging their own graves this season? Yve has a shovel and she’s found a spot in the dirt that she likes. As Yve tries to reinforce Alina and NaOnka’s decision by telling them that Dan is ready to quit, she then takes a moment to let them know that she has strong allies on the other tribe in Marty, Jill and Jane. Instantly, Alina changes her mind, saying, “That’s the perfect argument to get rid of [Yve]. Is Dan seriously going to survive again this week?
Sash and Brenda try to convince Marty that Jane is the person going home, but his alarm bells are going off and he seems to realize that his neck may be on the line tonight. Brenda comments that if they get the tie between Kelly B. and Marty, it will be a tough decision on which of the two of them to send home. Marty is dangerous, sure, but Kelly B. seems to be presumed to be able to get sympathy votes from the jury if she makes the final (yes, we’re a long way from the final vote). Marty’s saving grace seems to be that Fabio is impressed by his mad chess skillz. In all seriousness, though, Fabio does mention to Sash that he’s dubious as to whether Marty would actually play his idol at Tribal Council, but Sash dismisses him. Obviously, Marty is going to play the idol, as far as he and Brenda are concerned.
Tribal Council for La Flor starts with the most generic discussions possible. Then, out of nowhere, Brenda instigates a fight with Marty when she tells Jane that the two people who threaten her presence in the game are Marty and Jill. Jane already hates them anyway, so there’s not much reason to do this from her perspective; on the other hand, it sure sets Marty off. He’s not able to deny that he and Jill had planned to sacrifice Jane in order to protect themselves, and then he has the audacity to mouth to Jane that she should vote for Brenda.
How well does this work? Well, Jane immediately votes for Marty, saying, “Don’t ever fluff off a Southern woman. I ain’t no sittin’ duck, honey.” We are head over heels in love with Jane.
When Marty votes for Brenda, he says that he knows she’s not going home, but that the lines have been drawn. Yes, his vote means nothing and his comment means nothing. Have we mentioned this week that he would be a sucky boss?
Oh yes, he also refuses to play his hidden Immunity Idol. This feels like a very risky move, given what we know about the plans for tonight.
The votes make no sense. Marty and Jill vote for Brenda as indicated by the whispering during Tribal Council. Then, there are three votes for Marty and three votes for Kelly B. The Marty haters have to be dancing in their seats. They now get to choose between and Marty and Kelly B., which has set up exactly the situation they were hoping for, and they can get rid of a non-ally and supposed huge threat in Marty.
But no. Kelly B., who is part of their group and has shown no indication of voting with Marty and Jill, is voted off 5-1. We…don’t know what to say about this. All we know is that these people are playing way too far ahead in the game, something Marty himself has been guilty of previously. Kelly B. has just been eliminated because she has one leg. NaOnka will be so happy.
After La Flor dines on ribs in front of Espada and listens to the comedic stylings of Dan, the vote comes down to Dan being terrible at the game as opposed to Yve being competitive. The fact that Yve is really, really shrill during Tribal Council tells us that she’s confident that she will be going home. Dan is really loose, which usually makes us think that a Survivor thinks they’re safe, but in his case, he might be fine with it either way. He’s breezy. From his perspective, if he’s voted off, he can easily take his talents to South Beach. Dan has become Survivor’s answer to the Million Dollar Man Ted Dibiase, making every other player on his tribe Virgil (it’s a wrestling joke. Go look it up on Wikipedia).
Yve is eliminated, receiving all votes except her own, causing Probst to say that the tribe appears to be unified but commenting that Tribal Council makes him believe otherwise. We have no idea what he saw that makes him think this. It was pretty much Yve talking about how much better she is than Dan, while Dan diffused the situation with humor.
So, Survivor loses an older person and a younger person, with Dan continuing his very, very slow strut towards the finish line. Maybe on next week’s show, Marty will brag about that time he beat Bjorn Borg at chess. We do know for sure that Fabio is going to get some "p" in someone's "ool."