Survivor Worlds Apart - Episode 4 Recap
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
By Jim Van Nest, Survivor Analyst
March 19, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Tonight, as mentioned, we're getting two episodes for the price of one. We'll see the return of the two people roped together and blind olded challenge that plays like an NFL's craziest bloopers reel. But this time we're promised some blood, a halted challenge, and a visit from medical. What's not promised but is starting to be expected (possibly in the second episode tonight) is the inevitable tribe swap. Some people could really benefit from a swap (hi Mike, Will and Shirin); meanwhile, some players could be devastated by a swap (I'm looking at you, Joe, you sexy beast you). Either way, tonight's the night I expect this season to kick it into high gear, and it should be an awesome ride the rest of the way through.
We begin tonight's episode at the No Collar camp right after Tribal. Right away, the fence mending with Will begins. They tell him he got votes because they were worried about an idol. Will says he understands and their tribe is now a strong unit. He does, however, know that he's next to go should No Collar lose again.
Over at Blue Collar, Mike's crazy kitchen is open again as he kills and cooks a snake. I could have done without the skinning of the snake, but it is what it is, I guess. Mike shares his snake with everyone. Rodney tells us that he's digging Mike now and even though they fought a little while ago, that's just men being men. Hmmmm...wouldn't have expected a Rod-Mike friendship/alliance.
And with that, it's time for our first Probst sighting! This challenge is for reward. And this is the blindfolded obstacle course. One person will be a caller. The blindfolded pair will be led to pick up four items and raise them up a dumbwaiter style platform to the caller. Once all four items are there, the team will have to get a flag. First tribe to raise their flag wins three egg-laying chickens and a rooster. Second tribe to raise their flag wins 10 eggs. Third tribe - got nothin' for ya. Tyler will sit out for White Collar and the new bromance of Rodney and Mike will sit out for Blue Collar.
The teams take their places, with Carolyn, Sierra and Joe acting as callers. As you would expect, there are some huge collisions on the course. Shirin takes the bulk of the hits for White Collar, as Max is plenty happy to let her lead. The only real issue is after they raise the platform to get items to the top, the drop down is slightly dangerous. There are several near misses through the first part of the challenge.
Meanwhile, No Collar is killing this challenge. Like, it's never even close. And then the inevitable...the Blue Collar platform is dropped and it lands square on Kelly's forehead. And the blood gushes. I mean, if we learned nothing from pro wrestling, it's that the slightest self-inflicted cut on the forehead can bleed like a stuck pig. Google Ric Flair blood if you don't believe me. Anyway, the blood comes so fast, Jeff stops the challenge and calls medical out to check Kelly immediately.
We come back from break and Kelly's buff, still over her eyes, is soaked in blood. The doc checks her out and sees that it is really a surface cut. He wants to bandage her up, finish the challenge and then look at it again and stitch it up, if necessary. She keeps assuring everyone that she's good and I believe her. I don't think she really wanted to stop the challenge at all. Jeff resets the challenge and recaps. No Collar has all four items and is out for the flag. Blue Collar has just turned in its third item and is slightly ahead of White Collar. As expected, Jenn and Hali come back with the flag and No Collar wins some chickens. Blue Collar gets back with their fourth item, while White Collar is still struggling. Somewhere as No Collar officially wins, White Collar passes up Blue Collar and now both are on the course for the flag. Shirin's no nonsense approach, practically dragging Max through the course, pays off as they get back with their flag first and White Collar wins a bunch of eggs! Blue Collar gets nothing but a concussion.
We come back from break to the celebrating No Collar tribe. By the time they hit camp, their chickens are already there. Right away, Joe suggests they should cook one of the chickens to celebrate Will's birthday. Will tells us that this is the first birthday he hasn't spent with family and he is really touched at how the tribe wants to make his day special, like his family away from home.
And here we have "the chicken dilemma" that presents itself every season. Jenn is a vegetarian and is not a fan of killing the bird for dinner. She tries to talk Joe out of it, but her words fall on deaf ears. They will be having chicken tonight. Unlike chicken defenders of the past, though, Jenn just refuses to take part and goes off for a walk into the woods to get away from the noise and commotion surrounding the chickens. As she heads off, Joe cuts off the chicken's head and he, Hali and Will start cleaning the bird. Again, Will is very pumped to be celebrating his birthday with some cooked chicken.
With the rest of the tribe knowing how disturbed Jenn is, we join her in the woods collecting firewood. Oh yeah, and searching for an idol. She tells us she doesn't expect to find it, but the idol is usually in a dry creek bed or some sort of special looking tree. She doesn't see anything that stands out. As the rest of the tribe is now eating the chicken, Jenn finally stumbles upon the perfect tree. And after a few seconds of searching, Jenn has found the No Collar hidden idol. She is so excited about finding this and tells us she can SO screw up the game with this thing. And in retrospect, she supposes the whole chicken thing ain't so bad. "Winner winner, chicken dinner."
We join the Blue Collar tribe and Mike is telling us what a beast Kelly is for taking the shot to the head and still competing. We learn that it took six stitches to close the cut on her forehead. And now we come to the "Seriously, I can't believe this stupid argument just happened" conversation of the week. Rod the bod is talking to Sierra and Lindsey about how women should hold themselves to a higher standard than men. Naturally, this pisses the ladies off, especially Lindsey. To his credit, Rodney tries to explain himself, but she's done listening to him.
In a nutshell, he wasn't saying what he meant. When he explained it, what he meant was "women should set higher standards for themselves" instead of what he said. By that, he meant that if a woman becomes single; she'll have guys lined up around the block and she shouldn't just jump at the first guy, but set high standards. It's not what he said, but as he explained, that's what he meant. Because he goes on to say that the guy from that broken up relationship won't have girls beating down his door and he might be best to take whatever he can get. But the girls should set higher standards than that. Either way, it's a stupid argument and after bashing Lindsey's "Mike Tyson tattoo" he tells us he needs to get back to his #3Cs and stop acting like a hothead. Honestly, neither one of those two are long for the game.
Over at White Collar, the eggs are boiling. Shirin tells us she's kind of glad that they didn't win the chickens. She was pretty certain that none of the guys would have had anything to do with slaughtering the chickens. She tells the tribe how she watched videos about that stuff; in case they ended up with chickens and that she practiced it on a rabbit. Joaquin has heard enough. He tells us that he's concerned about her psychopathic ways and that's how serial killers start out, with small animals. He prefers her to keep her psycho away from him.
With Shirin headed to the beach (with her pants on, thankfully), the rest of the tribe discusses who to sit out in the next challenge. They ask Carolyn if she would be okay with sitting out, because they're worried about Shirin's crazy if they tell her to sit. Carolyn is not happy about this discussion. She's better in challenges than Shirin and she won't accept that logic. She tells us that she's not sure who's more insane, Max or Shirin. She says he wants to be the cult leader of the tribe. She talks to the guys about booting Max should their tribe lose again. They're not too thrilled with the idea, but they don't reject it outright.
We come back from break to a Probst sighting!! This challenge will see everyone hooked into a rope. One at a time, they'll navigate a couple obstacles on a declining platform. Once they reach the end, the next person will go. When everyone is through the course, they'll retrieve a bag of balls, which they'll balance on a beam while they navigate a super cool vertical labyrinth puzzle. First and second tribe to get all three balls to the top will win immunity. Lindsey and Dan will sit out for Blue Collar; Shirin will sit for White Collar.
Joaquin starts for White and is proving to be a force in challenges. Mike and Hali are right behind. Will is struggling with the rope portion of this, the same way he struggled in the water a few challenges ago. Meanwhile, Sierra grabs the lead for Blue Collar with the Whites close behind. Rodney is the last Blue Collar and he gets really hung up on the rope. This allows both White and No Collars to pretty well catch up.
Blue Collar is still first to the vertical maze. White Collar is now trailing. Mike takes a little while to figure out the maze. Joe, not surprisingly, is cruising through the maze, but not as fast as new challenge hero, Joaquin. Joe scores a ball for No Collar while Mike scores for Blue Collar. White and then No Collar both get their second balls in at about the same time. Hali steals the lead and finishes the challenge for No Collars. Tyler loses the ball and swaps out with Max for the Whites. As it is, Kelly is on the verge of winning the challenge, but she loses her balance on the beam. Rodney takes over for the Blues, but it's too little too late as Max scores ball three for the White Collar and sends Blue Collar to Tribal Council for the first time this season. As we head to break, Sierra tells us that her horses are smarter than Rodney and he has to go and she plans to see to it that he does.
We come back to the Blue Collar camp, and Lindsey lets the tribe know that no matter what happens tonight, she's very proud to be on the tribe she's on. Mike tells us that it might be good to go to Tribal to see where alliances lie. Dan is asking Lindsey if he's the vote. She tells him that she really wants to get rid of Rodney. And even though Dan's ridiculously sexist confessionals are 100% off the mark, the way he responds to Lindsey is spot on. He tells her exactly what she wants to hear. Knowing that he's on board, Lindsey will now have no reason to question him.
However, the next scene we see is Dan, Kelly, Mike and Rod talking in the water about how they have to split up Sierra and Lindsey. Rodney is just like Tom Brady. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, but figured you all should know. The four decide that Lindsey is the one to go. And Rodney is just like Michael Jackson. I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, but figured you all should know.
Kelly, while nodding along with him, is not thrilled with Rodney at all. She doesn't like the way he talks to people, especially women. She talks to Mike about this and he agrees. But what he's most concerned about is that they're a duo in this and Kelly agrees. So, sounds like they'll be voting together, whichever way they go. We join Sierra trying to pull Kelly onto her side and into voting for Rodney. She points out that he was not good in the challenge and says he's a jerk. Kelly tells us that she and Mike are in the position to either go with the girls or the guys. The vote is between Rodney and Lindsey tonight.
They walk into Tribal Council and they have to grab a torch and put it in the fire. This is part of the ritual of Tribal Council. Fire represents your life in this game. When your fire's gone, so are you. Probst starts by asking Dan who has bonded in this tribe. He says that Lindsey and Sierra are very close. He asks Rodney who didn't get along. He says he doesn't get along with Lindsey. They're like "chicken parm and tuna fish." Um, okay.
Lindsey agrees that she doesn't care for Rodney. Sierra agrees that he's very degrading and she doesn't like the way he talks about women. Kelly agrees that he doesn't portray himself that well. Rodney breaks in to let us know that no matter what they say, his mother loves him. He tries to explain himself again and does a little better than before. He says that girls today need to respect themselves more. Even Probst doesn't seem to get it and suggests he just pissed off millions of women.
Kelly breaks down how the vote could affect the tribe. If they vote off either Lindsey or Sierra, they'll basically lose the other person. If they vote Rodney, there might be more tribe unity. Lindsey breaks in to say how much she loves this tribe. They work and fight for each other. She tells us all that no matter who goes home tonight, someone on one of these stools is gonna win a million dollars.
Mike says that speech made him feel great and that Lindsey brought them all together on day one when she claimed the winner was on their mat. He says he would have slit his own throat on the No Collar tribe and the White Collars just live off of the hard workin' blue collar 'Muricans! He loves these guys and no matter what happens tonight, bonds have been made and that's huge for him.
And with that, it's time to vote. Oooh, they don't show us any votes tonight. What's the deal with that? Jeff tallies the votes. First vote: Rodney. Second vote: Lindsey. Rodney. Lindsey. Sierra? Sierra? Whoa, it's a three-way tie! Was the split vote in effect???
On the revote, only Mike, Dan and Kelly will vote. We see none of their votes this time either. After a quick tally, looks like it's unanimous. Lindsey is the fourth person voted out of Survivor Worlds Apart. Ultimately, this is a "meh" outcome for me. I think Rodney was the better vote for this tribe, but with the breakdown in alliances we're seeing, Lindsey was the obvious boot here. She's every bit as hot-headed as Rodney. So, we're four votes down this season and I have to say that I'm okay with every one of them so far. Every vote has made sense and every vote, so far anyway, has enhanced my viewing pleasure. So, congrats to the cast for that.
Next time on Survivor: whoa, next time is in like two seconds. Well, two seconds of show time. Might be a few days in Box Office Prophets time. Hope you've enjoyed this recap and please come back on Monday for Part Two as I'll recap Episode 5 or Part 2 of Episode 4 (however you want to look at it). As always, love to hear from you on Twitter: @vannestjc. Curious to see after four weeks (and five boots) who you think is in a good position to win this game. Tweet me and let me know what you think! 'Til Monday, take care!