Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance - Episode Recap
Episode 13 - Villains Have More Fun
By Jim Van Nest
December 15, 2015
BoxOfficeProphets.com

Eeeeeeevil.

Hello, good people, and welcome to the penultimate episode of Survivor Cambodia - Second Chance. We are down to seven people and three hours of show time until we crown a champion in what has been a pretty awesome season of Survivor. Last time out we saw the demise of Joey Amazing as his body literally gave out on him, causing him to lose immunity and then his shot at winning the game. Have no fear Joe-ga fans - something tells me he'll be back. He still won't win, but he'll be back.

Anyway to reset for everyone, Jeremy and Kelley still have hidden idols that, as far as we know, no one else knows about. With Joe out of the picture, the door opens for Keith and Spencer to start taking home a bunch of immunity necklaces. Also last week, Kimmi decided to start up an all-girl alliance to take out the big physical threats in the game. I'm sure Monica Padilla is somewhere cursing her out for that.

Last week, Tasha was firmly entrenched with Spencer and Jeremy all the way to the end. While agreeing to the all-girl alliance, she told the guys that she was really with them, and that she was just placating the girls. No matter what alliance she is really with, she wanted to take Joe out of the game. When everything came down, Joe was unanimously voted out. (I don't count Keith's rogue vote for Tasha, he knew the deal, he just didn't want to write down his buddy's name.)

So, for tonight, we have the three guys (Keith, Spencer and Jeremy) vs. the all-girl alliance (Kelley, Kimmi and Abi) with Tasha dead in the middle. It puts her in a good place for this vote and maybe the next, but Tash will need to be very careful with how she plays this and ultimately, which side she chooses. Her fate in the game might well rest on how she votes tonight. For what it's worth, I'm hoping that the title of tonight's episode "Villains Have More Fun" means that we're gonna see Abi's swan song tonight and then the finale can be free of her until the final tribal.

We begin tonight's episode at camp as the tribe returns from the boot of Joey Amazing. Abi tells us that everyone is glad that Joe is finally gone and you can tell she has a serious issue with the guy. Everyone else kind of nods along with her as she says "good riddance," but I get the sense that no one is very happy that he's gone and that they might kinda miss the guy. Kelley points out that now everyone else has a chance to win immunity. Not so fast, Abi. You have no shot at winning immunity. Keith tells us that it was a good time to get rid of Joe and he just wishes he was let in on the plan. As it is, he voted for Tasha, so he feels like he has some work to do. Naturally, Tasha was none too pleased with that turn of events and has her eye on Keith.

Day 33 dawns and the talk is how there are three Hunahpu members still left in the game. Not sure what I mean? Well Jeremy, Kelley and Keith all started off on the same tribe in Blood Vs Water 2. And lookit, here they all are, still together. Hmmmmmm... Also in the final seven are two Brains from Cagayan. Only Kimmi and Abi are from seasons prior to 28. Kelley breaks it down, saying at the final seven, she has several options open to her right now, but she's not sure which is the best course of action.

Spencer and Jeremy take a walk on the beach and discuss the fact that they're both feeling like they made a mistake voting out Joe last night. Jeremy calls it "buyer's remorse." They agree that they're in big trouble right now. Spencer tells us that he took out the big challenge threat, but if Tasha ends up sticking with the girls, his game is toast. He says that he and Jeremy need to get with Tasha ASAP and make sure they're still together for the final three. Then they need to reel Kimmi back in to make that magic number of four.

We come back from the opening credits to a Probst Sighting! Today's challenge was last run on Blood vs Water. They'll all be attached to a rope and they'll have to unspool the rope, which is tied around an octagonal wood structure. Once they think they have enough, they'll build a bridge. Once over the bridge, they'll have to throw sandbags at a stack of blocks on a table. Just like at the Fair - all the blocks must be knocked completely off the table to win. Again, this was run in Season 29 and Keith won the challenge.

Reward for today is a trip to the temples of Siem Reap where they will feast and enjoy an authentic Cambodian dance, as well as get blessed by the monks of the temple. They'll spend the night and return to camp in the morning. The challenge begins and Spencer is the first one to unspool his rope and take off. Keith is right behind and then Jeremy, Tasha and Kelley head out. None of them know if they have enough rope or not.

Jeremy gets to the blocks, but doesn't have enough rope to reach them. He has to go back and unspool more rope. Keith is tossing sandbags and has enough rope to get the bags after they're all thrown. Spencer is tossing bags, but once they're all thrown, his rope isn't long enough for him to retrieve them. Meanwhile, Keith has built an insurmountable lead. Just a matter of time now, and Keith wins reward, and it wasn't even close.

Now is the fun part where Keith gets to take someone with him. He chooses Kelley as payback for the family visit. Very smart. Jeff then asks him to choose someone else, and he chooses Spencer. Probst asks him why he chose Spencer, and the logic here is a little messed up. But that's what happens when you're asking Keith Nale to think and strategize and speak all at the same time. He says it's because Spencer didn't get to hang with his girlfriend in the last challenge. The best part of the whole deal was that he completely forgets Tasha's name as he's talking about her. "If that sounds logical, yay for me. If not, just throw it out the hat." Um, YEAH! As we head to break, Tasha tells us that it bothers her that Keith couldn't remember her name. Kelley tells us that she's hoping to use this reward as a chance to build an actual alliance out there.

After the break, we start at camp. Everyone really wishes they could have had that reward. Tasha and Abi start talking about Keith as someone who has to go. Kimmi agrees with this plan. Jeremy is very quiet through all this. Tasha asks him if he's down for that and he's slow to answer. She suggests that he's still worried about the talk of the all-girl alliance. He says it's not that and he tells us that he's really wishing they'd kept Joe in the game and voted our Abi last night. Yeah? So is America.

The girls all feel strongly that Keith has to go, and Tasha tells us that she thinks Jeremy is just worried about the girls. She says that sometimes you should just sit back and let someone else handle things for a while. She feels like now is the time for Jeremy to let her make the moves here.

Finally, we join the folks on the reward as they enter the temples. These are the same temples they walked through to begin the game, but this time, they get to hang out. All of them are in awe of what they're seeing right now. The reward starts off with the blessing of the monks of this temple. After the blessing, this group of Cambodian dancers come out and performs an amazing routine.

Once the show is over, it's time for wine and dinner. Dinner time turns into strategy time. Spencer is worried about what Abi is doing back at camp. Kelley isn't worried about Abi at all. She says there's no way Abi would join up with Jeremy and Tasha. Spencer suggests that this would be a great final three and Kelley and Keith agree. Spencer tells us that anytime you're on a reward with this few people left in the game, final three deals get made. He just hasn't decided what final three deal he'll take. Ultimately, he wants to sit with Keith and Abi in the end, but that won't be so easy to make happen.

When talk turns to who should be the next boot, Keith suggests Jeremy. Spencer says he's down for getting rid of Jeremy, but not with the first vote. He thinks Tasha should be first. Kelley is with him on this, and they decide Tasha should go first, then Jeremy. I totally get Spencer's thinking here. Dump Tasha and there's no more girls' alliance talk. What I don't get is why Kelley was so quick to jump on board with this, unless she's just playing the Sandra "anyone but me" game. Spencer tells us that everything is locked down and the plan is going to be great, as long as their fourth person acts and votes rationally. Unfortunately, their fourth person is Abi. Uh oh.

Back at camp, Tasha desperately wants to talk to Jeremy alone, but Abi will not go away. Finally, Tasha asks her if she can have some alone time with Jeremy. Abi starts to do what Abi does and Tasha finally decides to just skip it. Eventually she leaves and Kimmi comes back. The discussion becomes how obnoxious Abi is. Tasha tells us that she thinks Keith is the wrong move and that Abi has to go. She is too volatile to keep in the game with you. She is worried that her whole game could be screwed up because someone looked at Abi wrong that day.

Jeremy is totally down with dumping Abi. He feels the same way Tasha does; plus, it evens the guy to girl ratio again which makes him happy. Tasha is worried that Spencer may not be on board with this plan. Jeremy feels pretty solid that Spencer will back this play when he gets back from reward.

We come back from break and it is day 35 and time for another Probst Sighting! Immunity is back up for grabs. Today's challenge will see the players run out over boats, beams and other obstacles above the water. Once they get to the end, they'll swim out to a buoy to retrieve a key. They'll race back and unlock some puzzle pieces. They'll have to put together a five-piece puzzle - this is the five-piece puzzle from the first episode of Worlds Apart that no one chose to do. While I love an obstacle course, I'm not a huge fan of these courses where feet and beams get wet and become slippery and dangerous.

The first half goes pretty smoothly as Jeremy and Spencer take a big lead. The trip back is much worse as everything and everyone is wet. Spencer takes a huge fall and looks like he busts his face open. He keeps going, so it must not be that bad. Kimmi takes a fall; Keith bites it. The challenge has really come down to Spencer and Jeremy.

Jeremy is the first back to the puzzle. As he starts to work, Tasha is struggling to get her key in the water. Spencer gets back and unlocks his puzzle pieces. As if he had looked at this puzzle during Worlds Apart, paused his TV, traced all the pieces and made his own version of the puzzle to practice for hours at a time, Spencer puts this together in about five seconds and wins immunity!

Normally, we'd be heading to commercial right now, but Tasha is still out in the water. She's really struggling out there. Probst sends out the divers and the medical team. They get out to her and bring her up to the dock. She took in a lot of water and is feeling pretty bad. She has no energy and trouble catching her breath. Dr. Joe checks her out, his main concern being water in her lungs. He determines there is little to no water in her lungs and that she is in no serious danger. She will continue in the game. Other than being shaken up and scared, she is just fine.

She is brought back to the beach and is helped over to the mat by firemen Jeremy and Keith. It was a very nice moment to showcase that even though this is a vicious, cutthroat game, the survival aspect and the human aspect is never far away. So, Tasha gets to the mat, Spencer gets his necklace and Keith breaks it down for us. He, Kelley and Spencer will scoop up Abi and there's your final four. Easy!

As we come back from commercial, the tribe returns to camp and begins to discuss what happened to Tasha. She tells us her body simply gave out on her. She's not the strongest swimmer anyway, and it's even worse in the ocean. But she was just spent. She also tells us that she needs to make sure that Spencer is still on board with her and Jeremy, because she's worried about him.

We join a conversation on the beach where Keith is confirming with Spencer, Kelley and Abi that Tasha is the vote tonight. They confirm that she is, but Keith is still nervous about it. Abi, on the other hand, is not nervous at all. She's all about telling us how great her resume is shaping up to be and how now she's just trying to decide who to take to the end with her. Can you say "Delusional?"

The next conversation we see is the much anticipated Tasha, Jeremy and Spencer pow wow. Tasha tells them that Keith, Kelley and Abi should not be allowed to get to the end of the game. The fans deserve better than that. They deserve "players" in the finale. First off, Wentworth is a player. She's been busting her ass since day one. Second off, everyone was voted in by fans - therefore, anyone in the finals is going to make at least some of the Survivor community happy. Either way though, they all agree on Abi as the boot tonight and cement their Day 39 pact with a fist bump.

Spencer tells us that he's been in control of his own destiny for a bit now and that he appears to be the swing vote tonight. He can go with Tasha, Kimmi and Jeremy and take out the weaker players. Cut to a shot of Kimmi telling Tasha, "There'd better be four Abi votes tonight." Back to Spencer, or he can go with Keith, Abi and Kelley and hope he makes it to the end next to a couple goats. I don't know which way he's going to go, but if it wasn't there already, the Spencer winner's edit is really taking shape now.

Tribal starts with Jeff asking Keith about the reward. Keith and Spencer both rave about how amazing the reward was. Spencer does acknowledge, though, that as great as the reward was, there were still four people back at camp and he was worried about what was going on back there. Jeff now asks Tasha about the immunity challenge. She says she was just overwhelmed out there. She also says that after the adrenaline stopped flowing she was exhausted. She really thought she was drowning. And honestly, she was. She had a little bit left in her, but if they didn't have divers onsite for the challenge, it could have been ugly.

Jeff asks Kimmi if there's been any idol talk. She says that they're all worried about idols. They worry about having a plan and then a backup plan and whether or not "we" have enough votes. I put the "we" in quotes because this begins one of the more bizarre conversations of the season as everyone begins to talk about all the "we's" that are out there.

Jeremy says that you can just sit and watch and pick out four or five "we's" out there. Tasha points out that while maneuvering through all these voting blocs and "we's", you have to keep your eye open for that one "we" that will take you to the end. I feel like she's speaking directly to Spencer. I wonder if anyone there picked up on that. Jeff asks if anyone is feeling confident in their "we" and Keith speaks up that he feels pretty confident. Spencer shakes his head at that, saying that he admires Keith's confidence but he is very nervous about how the vote will go tonight.

Jeff asks Jeremy how confident he is in his "we." "Which one?" is the reply. Jeff asks Abi what she thinks about all this, and she says it has her wondering which "we" she should vote with tonight. Um, you don't really have any options, Abi. Your "we" is Wentworth, Keith and Spencer and then you hope they all stay with you. Anyway, it's finally time to vote!

We see Kimmi's vote for Abi, apologizing saying that she just wants to make it another day. We see Keith's vote for Tasha saying, "We'll see how this goes." Time to play an idol if you want to and if not, Jeff will read the votes. No idols, only votes. Let's do it. The first vote is for Abi. Second vote is for Tasha. Third and fourth mirror the first two, and it is two votes Abi, two votes Tasha, three votes left. The fifth vote is for Abi and the sixth vote is for Keith. Wait, what? Keith???? Who voted for Keith? Fourteenth person voted out and the seventh member of the jury - Abi Maria. YAY!!!! I can't tell you how thrilled I am that my finale experience won't have a crap-ton of Abi in it. I feel like I can now seriously enjoy the final episode of the season.

When we see the votes played back, the rogue Keith vote was made by Abi. That makes no sense to me. Unless she thought all the Keith talk from the beginning of the episode was in play tonight, I have no idea why she would waste a vote like that. Aside from helping vote herself out, if Spencer had stuck with them and voted Tasha, she would have just killed it. I have NO idea what she could possibly have been thinking here. No matter, though. What matters is that she's gone and we won't have to hear her until the final Tribal Council.

Speaking of the finale, next time on Survivor: we see Spencer and Jeremy having a bit of a disagreement, we see Kimmi trying to set up an alliance with Keith, and Jeff tells us that whatever happens has never happened in the 31 seasons of Survivor (complete with shocked faces on the jury). What could that thing be? I don't know, but we do still have two idols out there and the time to use them is slowly dwindling. Maybe we'll finally get the "idols cancel out all the votes" scenario some of us have been hoping to see. Like, what happens then? One thing is for sure, this is ANYone's game and it will all be sorted out during the two hour season finale of Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance. Come on back next week and I'll wrap it up for ya! 'Til then, take care.