Survivor: HHH - Episode 7 Recap
Get to Gettin'
By Jim Van Nest
November 14, 2017
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The decision boiled down to whether JP's strength and challenge prowess was a bigger merge threat than Ali's hurt feelings and likelihood to take revenge. In the end, Ryan and Chrissy made the only choice they really could and sent season favorite Ali to the pre-merge trip where she and Patrick will be able to relive some of those college days. War Eagle!
To get everyone up to speed for the merge, let's real quick set the tables of each of the 3 tribes. Levu/Blue - Joe and Desi vs Devon and Ashley, though Desi seems ready to turn on Joe and Joe has an idol, so things are really kinda up in the air over at Levu Beach. Soko/Yellow - Ryan and Chrissy are in lock step and might be the tightest alliance in the game. JP is along for the ride and is likely to be a vote until he's not needed, and things like that. Yawa/Red - did not go to Tribal after the swap, meaning that Cole, Jessica and Dr. Mike have managed to avoid Tribal Council for the entirety of the pre-merge. Dr. Mike has the Yawa idol and Jessica knows about it. Cole can't keep a secret and also isn't eating enough. Ben and Lauren, so far, have been holding onto their butt cheeks and hoping to not go to Tribal. As it stands now, they may have pulled in Dr. Mike, but it remains to be seen if he'll even be necessary once the tribes merge. Ben and Chrissy were pretty tight pre-swap and Lauren was working with Ryan pre-swap.
Right now, everything is shaping up to see the Heroes and Hustlers join forces and take out the Healers. Don't forget that Devon is now locked in with Ashley and he was Ryan's right hand man (or is it the other way around). And, let's not forget power couple Ashley and JP from the pre-swap days. It would take a pretty massive event at this point to stop the Heroes and Hustlers from taking over. Hell, the merge buffs are purple, for crying out loud, the blend of the original Hero and Hustler colors. But, with 2 idols in play and both in the hands of the Healers, we could be in for an interesting next couple of votes if the wrong Healers get targeted.
Ok, enough setup - let's get on with the merge!!
We begin the episode at Soko Beach as everyone returns from Tribal. Chrissy tells us that she feels like she's dominating the social game on her tribe. Ryan and JP are both coming to her and she feels like she's in the power position and set up for a nice run.
Over at Yawa, Cole tells us how much everyone on this tribe trusts each other. The plan for their group is to stay together after the merge. They expect that original tribal lines may come back up, but they don't plan to fall for that. They want to pull in Joe and Desi and they'll have the numbers advantage. Ben is down for that plan right now, but Cole worries him. As does his closeness to Jessica.
Catching up at Levu and they are out of food. They have a small bit of sugar let, which they all share. Ashley narrates this segment to let us know how bleak everything is on their beach right now. Devon echoes this by telling us that he just feels dead inside. So hungry that he can hardly think. He says that this reward challenge win is HUGE for him.
Which brings us to the expected Probst sighting!! As Soko comes in, Devon looks shocked to see Ali voted out. Before getting to the challenge, Jeff asks Desi about how sluggish she was coming to the challenge. She admits that they are completely out of food at their tribe. Ben chimes in that he thinks everyone is feeling that way, so "Let's get to gettin', Jeff."
"Alright, first things first - everybody drop your buffs. You are merged."
And there is much rejoicing. Everyone somehow finds the energy to jump up and down, scream and hug. Ryan is just looking for someone ANYone to give him a high five. He finds no takers and just joins in the hugging, playing it off as if it never happened. But we saw it Ryan, we saw it. Ben tells us that the game can really get moving now. Let's roll those beautiful credits!
We come back from break to everyone getting their new purple buffs. Ashley hopes that the merge means food. Joe is thrilled that it's merge time. He feels like he has the numbers and his new idol. Desi wants to know where the food is. Jeff addresses everyone about the traditional merge feast. He admits to them that there will be no merge feast. Not this time - they have a corporate sponsor for the merge feast. I don't feel like I need to give them an more free advertising, but I'll suffice it to say that Queen Sandra Diaz-Twine would be in 7th heaven out here with this restaurant providing the food. They'll be having steaks, potatoes, salad and chocolate lava cake as well as sodas and beer. Ryan is so excited to have made the merge, calls it the playoffs.
As everyone arrives at the make shift restaurant, Devon tells us that he just feels like a king right now, finally getting some real food. Cole tells us about how this meal is meaning so much to him, physically. They have huge bone-in ribeyes, baked potatoes with all the fixin’s and massive chocolate cake deserts. As Joe is obnoxiously ordering 2 steaks, Chrissy tells us that she is getting her first taste of Joe and that she's really glad to not have been on a tribe with him before. Jessica confirms for us that she wants to stay Yawa strong and add in Joe and Desi and they'll be set til the end. But, Ben is chatting up Chrissy. She tells him that she's really worried about Joe having another idol. Ben is being very nonchalant about this as he doesn't want everyone to know how closely they're working together. He tells us that now that the game is individual, he plans to start playing a little different. He doesn't need to be the nice guy anymore. Now it's all about his family and his future. He promises some blindsides and the fact that some people will probably leave crying.
When the tribe arrives at a brand new beach, they find a set of tools and nails and all kinds of stuff with which to build a super duper new shelter. Cole tells us that he's very excited to have all this stuff, but he feels like he needs to get back into the game, so he's searching all of the gear for some sort of advantage. As he reaches into the bundle of nails, the camera zooms in on a note hidden among the nails. Cole, however, never finds it. Way to be alert, dude. We see Jessica and Desi getting away for a chance to chat it up. Jess wants to know if Joe is still with them or not. Desi says she's glad to keep Joe around as long as they need him and this leaves Jessica feeling, in her own words, "...like a queen bee."
Also catching up are Devon and Ryan. Devon was worried that Ryan wouldn't make it to the merge. They start talking alliance and once they break it down, they decide that the Hustlers and Heroes need to get together and go after the Healers. They'll have a 7-5 advantage and can then run the game. He plans to waste no time setting up this new alliance. But first, CBS needs to pay some more bills, I guess an entire corporate sponsored segment doesn't go as far as it used to.
We come back from commercial to Day 18 at the new Solewa Beach. Devon tells us that the Heroes and Healers have seemed to be after each other all season, while the Hustlers have kind of flown under the radar. He approaches Lauren about the plan to align with the Heroes and while she agrees to it to his face, she tells us that she has a good thing going with the Yawa alliance and she doesn't want to break that up. So she goes to Dr. Mike to tell him of the plan. He confirms that they're together 1000 percent. Mike tells us that he was worried about the Healers becoming the targets but that he feels confident in Lauren and Ben and that when the war is waged, he'll end up on the right side of it.
Devon pow-wows with Ben and Chrissy for the first time. He tells them about the alliance he and Ryan want to put together and he wisely suggests that either Cole (Ben's public enemy #1) or Joe (Chrissy's public enemy #1) should be the first vote. He tells us that Joe is very strategic and he has found an idol and that makes him really dangerous. He thinks that Cole is a major threat and if he loses immunity it might be a good time to take him out. Ben tells us that he is now smack in the middle of 2 possible alliances but his concern still centers all around whether or not he can trust Cole. Just as he's telling us this, we pan to Cole trying to eat cinnamon. Not powder, but the sticks. This just triggers Ben again because Cole just doesn't seem to respect the people around him. So, Ben tells Jessica about this and can't help but hide his disgust.
Jessica is concerned that her #1 Boo is rubbing her alliance mate the wrong way, so she and Lauren try talking to Cole and telling him that he needs to stop eating or trying to eat everything and he needs to be more aware of how he acts around people, especially Ben. Ben has a conversation with Mike about the plan to take out the Healers and he reiterates his concern over Cole. Mike calms him down and reminds him that Cole is with them, so he's not a threat right now. They need to get the numbers and then they can worry about Cole. Following this, Mike sits down with Cole and lets him know that people are gunning for him and Joe. Cole gets worried for the first time and confirms with Mike that they're still together. He tells us that he doesn't like hearing his name, but he has faith in his alliance. I guess we'll see.
We come back from break on Day 19 to another Probst Sighting! Today's first individual immunity challenge is a brand new challenge, never done before. Today each person will hold a wooden hoop and they will have to spin a ball inside of it, not allowing it to fall out. To make it more difficult, they'll be standing on a balance beam that will get narrower as the challenge progresses. Sounds easy enough, right? Ryan doesn't think so. About 2 seconds in, he drops his ball and he's out of the challenge.
Everyone else finally gets into a grove. Ultimately, while I'm sure this challenge was super exciting to watch live, it's rather boring, with little to describe. Dr. Mike drops out second and then a couple minutes later Jessica drops out. As they transition to the most narrow section, that's enough to take out Ben, JP, Devon and Lauren. Just a couple seconds later and Joe drops out. This is one of those challenges that definitely favors people with smaller feet. It's why 3 of the 4 remaining players are smaller women - Chrissy, Desi and Ashley. Cole is the only larger person remaining - oops wait, now Cole's out too. Chrissy drops right behind him. Finally, at the 38 minute mark Ashley finally wavers and falls and Desi wins the first individual immunity challenge. As we head to break, Ryan tells us that it is really important to take out the biggest threats and it's time for the Hustlers and Heroes to do what needs to be done.
We come back from break to play "It's Anyone But Cole." And no one is playing this game harder than Cole himself. He decides to go to Ben to apologize for his obnoxiousness. To his credit, he completely owns the food thing and everything that he does. To HIS credit, Ben isn't having it. He thanks him for the apology and tries to play it off like everything is all good. But he tells us that it's definitely not. He wants Cole gone. But, he's open to working with Cole if he absolutely has to. Cole moves on to Joe, since they're the 2 names on the block right now. Joe is fully aware that he's a target. He feels he's the best player out there and he has an idol. Cole decides to go for broke and tell Joe that his Yawa tribe had planned to stick together to the end. He's trying to get in anywhere that he can and frankly, going to Joe is probably a good idea for him. So, while he's caught a lot of shit for spilling all the secrets this season, I think this time it might be the right thing to do.
Once he's done talking to Joe, we see him asking his Yawa alliance where he stands. This dude is REALLY scrambling. Mike starts the discussion about voting out Chrissy. Desi, Cole and Lauren are all down with voting out Chrissy. With Lauren, Mike tells us that they have 6, but he needs to find out where Ben is. Is he with them or against them? Wisely, they send Lauren to talk to Ben. Ben tells her that he just doesn't trust Cole and that a Healer needs to go. Lauren does her best to change his mind and that she thinks it's really best to stick Yawa strong. She tells him to think about it and let her know what he decides. It's not really being reported much, but Lauren is playing a really good under the radar game. She knows what she really wants Ben to do here. But she doesn't force it and she doesn't even try to dictate to him, but rather lets him think about it and then present his idea back to her later. What I'll be interested to see is if he decides to stick with the Cole vote, will Lauren be smart enough to realize this is her best move and she should stick with Ben on this. Maybe we'll see.
The next big group discussion we see is Chrissy, Ryan, Devon, Lauren, Ashley and Ben. What's interesting is that only Chrissy and Devon talk. He wants to get Cole and let Joe be the backup. Then they worry about whether Cole might end up with an idol. Chrissy asks them what happens if Joe plays his idol and Cole stands up with something... She says they need to look for another possible target. Jessica's name comes up and Chrissy tells us that she'd be down with voting out Jessica. As the tribe heads to Tribal Council, Ben tells us that he has somehow ended up in the middle tonight and that he's either going to have to break his alliance with Chrissy, which goes back to the beginning of the game, or break the Yawa alliance they just made. He's not a fan of being in this spot, but he is sure that battle lines will be drawn tonight and the war will begin.
We begin Tribal Council with Jessica, Cole and Dr. Mike grabbing their torches and getting fire. Fire represents your life in this game. Once your fire is gone, so are you. Jeff starts with Ryan and asks him how big the original tribe divisions were over the course of the afternoon. There's a lot of talk about trust and threats and what everyone plans on voting for tonight. Joe decides to try to take over Tribal and I'm not 100% what he was trying to say, but I think it was something about how he has people's back and that this is more important than someone who might only vote with you, this time. Dr. Mike comes back with a pretty solid Joe impression which mentions something about an idol. This gets Joe to stand up and pull out his new idol. He says that names are gonna come out and everyone is feeling uncomfortable, but he's gonna rock his idol for right now and chill out while they figure it all out. Cole is the most shocked. He says that he only heard 2 names today and that Joe is now safe, so he's really worried now. Cole does try to remind Joe that they found the first idol together and maybe they can stick together. Ultimately, there was a lot of talking and very little said. So, screw it, let's get to the vote.
All 12 people vote and we are shown none of them. Jeff goes to tally the votes and then asks about idols. Joe, of course, steps up to play his idol. The question is who will he be playing it for? He plays it for himself and Cole's heart sinks. First vote: Chrissy. Second vote: Jessica. And we alternate like this until it's tied 5-5 with only 2 votes remaining. As we know, these votes are Ben and Lauren. Which way did they go? 11th vote comes up Jessica, so Ben flipped. What about Lauren? 7th person voted out of Survivor, Jessica! And right there, we just learned that Lauren is a player. Ben decided what he wanted to do and she did the smart thing and stuck with him. We also learned that Chrissy is a player. If not for her, the group probably would have locked in on Cole and who knows if Joe would have picked up on it. As it was, even if he shared his idol, it wasn't going to be used for Jessica. So, they win the vote AND burned Joe's idol all in one play. Well done to the whole group, but especially Chrissy and Lauren. Nice playing, ladies!
Next time on Survivor: The Healers are on the ropes, but as Jeff says, they're not going down without a fight. As he says this, we see Cole physically wrestling Chrissy around the tribe flag where a big hole has been dug. We can hear Chrissy yelling for JP to "come here." We see Ryan in the mix, then Ben! Looks like we're gonna have a knockdown; drag out over the merge idol. Should be a good time! Til next week, take care kids!