Survivor: HHH - Episode 8 Recap
Playing With The Devil
By Jim Van Nest
November 22, 2017
BoxOfficeProphets.com
Anyway - this season is finally starting to pick up and I'm pretty stoked about it. The pre-merge was pretty much a yawner, but the post-merge is shaping up to be quite exciting. Last week, we saw the Heroes and Hustlers gang up on the Healers and take out Jessica. With Joe holding an idol and worries that he might use it to save Cole, Chrissy, Devon and Ryan thought it best to target Cole's lady and Jessica was sent out of the game. As it stands now, it kinda looks like this hybrid hero-hustler deal could actually last a while. Previews show a sweet scuffle under the tribe flag as Cole wrestles with Chrissy for, what I'm guessing is an idol. I'll be interested to see exactly how those 2 ended up in an idol hunt at the same place at the same time. That being said, let's get to the action, shall we?
We begin tonight's show after Tribal and Joe is impressed with the move to take out Jessica. And he seems to be giving all the credit to Ben. To back that up, Ben tells us that he and Lauren made a play and it worked out perfectly. Day 20 dawns on Solewa beach and while the guys are sitting around the fire, Lauren is doing some hammering on the shelter and whaddaya know, she found this note tucked in the bundle of nails. I expected an idol, but instead, it's an advantage that allows her to give up her vote at the next Tribal Council and in return, she'll carry a blank piece of parchment to a later Tribal Council and have 2 votes. She's pretty stoked about having the extra vote down the road, but is a little concerned about how she'll play off the non-vote at the next Tribal.
All right - we're wasting no time tonight. We come back from the first break to a Probst Sighting! Today's challenge will see the players climbing a tower, maneuvering through some obstacles where they'll then turn around and slingshot sandbags at some targets. First tribe to hit all targets wins reward of a special spaghetti dinner with bread and salad. They'll be divided into 2 teams, with one person sitting out. This person will automatically get to have spaghetti. And wouldn't you know it, Joe pulls the short straw and he'll eat spaghetti no matter who wins. Each team employs a different strategy here. Ben and the red team decide to keep shooting til they hit. Ryan and the blue team run up there take one shot and come down whether it hits or not. Apparently, everyone has to take a shot - but they don't have to hit. The blue team sent its weaker players first to satisfy this requirement. Red has 3 hits before blue gets their first. But as Ashley struggles for blue, JP and Devon start tag teaming the targets for blue and it's not long before they...win...reward! JP, Devon, Cole, Chrissy and Ryan will be heading out for a spaghetti dinner with Joe!! But, before they head out, there's a twist to this reward. This meal is a "family style" meal - meaning that all the food is in on big pile. They'll also eat 1 person at a time, alone. So, anyone can eat as much as they want and no one will know. The final twist, since Joe won the lottery, he'll decide the eating order. Aside from the fact that I hate spaghetti, this configuration pretty much makes this the worst reward ever. As we head to break, Joe tells us that he has a huge target on his back and it's time to get some good will, if possible.
We come back from break to see how Joe will break up the food eaters. He tells everyone that Devon goes first, since it's his birthday. He tells them he'll go last, since he didn't even play in the challenge. The rest of the order will be revealed to us, I guess. We watch Devon eat and he goes to town on this food. Admittedly, he probably ate more than he should have. And as he gets up to leave, the camera pans down to a letter peeking out from under the spaghetti (not a letter like you get in the mail, but the letter B on the plate itself). Devon doesn't see it. In typical JP fashion, he doesn't either. It's not until Cole comes in 3rd that someone notices that there is writing on the plate. The note on the plate tells him that there is an idol under the tribe flag. Ahhhhh...that makes sense. To try to hide the clue, Cole takes the napkin that wrapped the bread and lays it down on the plate and piles the spaghetti back on top. Chrissy comes in looking for a clue of some sort. After searching for a while, she does find it under the napkin. Oddly enough, she thinks she's the only one to see it. Because, of course, everyone serves spaghetti on a napkin. Anyway, Ryan is up next and also finds the clue. And he's the first one that actually thinks to just get rid of the plate - and he does. Joe will never see the clue, and that's a good thing for everyone else. They don't want that dude to have another idol. As Joe eats, we stay on the beach as Chrissy tried to see if Ryan saw the clue also. And honestly, if I were in a movie theater and Chrissy were to whisper during the show, the way she does on Survivor, I'd call an usher. She may as well just ask everyone there is they saw the idol clue. Under the spaghetti. On the plate. You know, the one that says there's an idol under the tribe flag, back at camp, buried in the sand. Needless to say, Cole over hears her and knows what they're talking about, so it'll be on when they get back to camp.
So we get back to camp and 3 people are trying to figure out how to get alone at the tribe flag. As everyone talks about the reward, Cole excuses himself to use the bathroom, Ryan dashes out to the flag and starts digging. With JP walking right next to him, clueless as all get out, Ryan finds the idol, tucks it in his pants and walks away. As he does this, Chrissy comes down and he tells her to "cover that up" meaning the hole. He also tells her, "I got it." So, as she starts to cover the hole up, Cole sees this and assumes she's digging for the idol. Knowing that his ass is on the line, Cole runs down there and dives in to try to beat her to finding the idol. Before long, Chrissy's yelling for JP to come get it. Ben comes in and tries to help. Meanwhile, Ryan is just watching knowing full well that there is no idol under there. As they get up, Ben is 100% convinced that Cole found the idol. Back around the fire, Ben is trying to blow Cole's game up. Cole tells them he doesn't have the idol and that it's still buried there somewhere, but no one believes him. Apparently he tucked his shirt in which was Ben's big clue that he found the idol. So, in not finding the idol, Cole now has the entire tribe worried that he does have an idol and he may have just saved his own ass by NOT finding an idol. He's so shaky and unbelievable in denying the idol that all he does is convince everyone even more that he has it. If he's doing this on purpose, it's brilliant. To make them think that he has an idol but is too stupid to lie about it convincingly - all the while NOT having the idol - this could be a major play for him.
And already, we've come to the 2nd Probst Sighting of the episode as it's Immunity challenge time! Today's challenge is another balance challenge. Each player will stand on a narrow beam while balancing a statue with a very long pole. As the challenge progresses, they'll move backward forcing them to use a longer length of pole to hold up their statue. These challenges may have a decent amount of drama to them as you watch, but they're boring as hell to write about. Shortly after the challenge starts, Dr. Mike drops out and so does Joe. Uh oh - for the first time, Joe's vulnerable. Hmmm... Devon is next out of the challenge followed by Lauren and Ryan. All of this within the first 5 minutes of the challenge. After 10 minutes and the first step back, Ashley drops out. Chrissy and Ben are the next casualties. This leaves Desi, Cole and JP. And just like that, Desi drops out of the challenge. After a couple more minutes, JP loses his footing and Cole wins immunity! And just at the perfect time, right? As we head to break, Chrissy tells us they're really bummed that Cole won, but with Desi, Joe and Mike still there, there should be no issue taking out a Healer.
We get back to camp and Cole is like a whole new person with the necklace on. Ben lays out a plan where all the guys will vote Joe and the girls will vote Desi and then no matter what happens, even if an idol plays, they should be able to get one of them. Desi did herself no favors by rocking out the first 2 immunity challenges. She went from under the radar to completely ON the radar and Joe's proclivity for finding idols may end up costing her here. We join the Healers on the beach as Cole breaks the news to them that he did not, in fact, find an idol. Joe is now concerned he'll be the target and he has nothing to save himself. Cole does mention that everyone thinks he has an idol, which means they might split the vote. And if that happens, all they need is 1 person to flip and they could turn the game around. For a guy who's shown not one strategic chop throughout this game, that was actually a pretty astute observation that I'm not sure Mike or Joe even thought about. Well done. Probably too little too late, but we give props here at BOP - that's what we do.
Joe pleads his case to Ryan and Devon. He questions who's really in charge of the big alliance. He can't believe that they've let Ben get such a strong foothold in the game as he's a guaranteed winner if he makes it to the end. Ryan tells us that everything Joe says is true and he has no intention of taking Ben to the end. That being said, now is probably not the time to make a move on Ben. Oh, did I forget to mention that Ben was lurking in the weeds during this little talk and heard every single word of it? Yeah - he did that. Who needs a #SpyShack, right?
As much as I enjoy Ben and I like the guy, he takes everything a little too personal. First it was Cole and the food, now it's Joe and the plotting to take him out. Dude, this is Survivor. You signed up for this. Chill out a bit. It's not personal. Until it is, it would seem. In an effort to get under Ben's skin, Joe suggests that he heard that Ben swore on the Marine Corps during the game. That is...not true and Ben goes off!! Ben takes his service and his life as a Marine VERY seriously and he is out to settle that he never swore on the Marines. To Joe's credit, he knows that. He just wants to blow up Ben's game and if he can get him pissed off and personal, maybe he'll make some mistakes. I'm not a fan of Joe. I still think he's a less skilled Tony Vlachos wannabe. Buuuut, he does have SOME skills. And getting under someone's skin, in the game of Survivor, is a skill. And it could prove to be a good one if Ben can't pull himself together.
One Ben has calmed down and this whole episode is over, Lauren pulls him aside to tell him about her advantage. She didn't want to have to tell him, but with the split vote plan, every single vote is needed and if she abstains, that throws the whole plan off. She's trying to convince him that this extra vote can really pay off for them when the numbers get smaller. Ben decides he needs to pull in a Healer to vote with him, so he, Lauren and Ryan go to Dr. Mike. He tells Mike that it's personal and he HAS to get out Joe. He tells Mike that he (Ben) is likely going home if Mike doesn't come with them to take out Joe. Mike tells us that the numbers don't really make sense to him as to how Ben could possibly go home when they have such heavy numbers. He does see this as a chance to get off the bottom, though. He shares with Cole and it appears that they might be locked in together now. As we get ready for Tribal, Ben tells us that he's basically put everything on the line with this one tonight. He's really worried he may have overplayed his hand tonight and could be going home. As everyone sits down, I think it's pretty sweet that Lauren has apparently gotten in so good with these people that she can straight up tell them, "I'm not voting with you tonight so I can get myself an advantage later in the game" and everyone is fine with that and Ben is trying to change the entire plan to make it happen. Crazy!
It only takes a couple minutes before Ben and Joe start going at it again. Ben does try to apologize to Joe for snapping earlier, but suggests that Joe was pushing his buttons. As Joe tries to explain, Chrissy shuts him down telling him no one wants to listen to him anymore. Seriously, every Tribal is not a good look for her. She might make the end, but I have no idea how she thinks she'll be able to be so bitchy to people and then get them to vote for her. As we go a little further, Ben does get to apologize to Joe and I think he meant it. Desi is worried that Joe and his antics could possible affect her game. She goes on to say that she's not a fan of all the lying that's going on in the game and that there are several people are lying a lot. Devon talks about the toll the game takes on a person. He hates just laying around like a zombie with no energy and no laughter. He'd much rather be a big shining light. He actually embarrasses himself with this, but THIS is the kind of thing that wins Survivor. What Chrissy is showing us is textbook "How to Lose Survivor". What Devon is showing us is "How to Win Survivor." Be real, be you and don't let this game do anything to change what you know you are inside. I'm loving this kid and I think I'm all in on hoping he pulls this thing off. Of course, tonight's vote could go a long way to helping that or killing it. And it's time to vote.
As everyone votes, the only person we really see or hear is Lauren as she pulls out her advantage. Tucks the blank parchment in her bra and places the advantage in the urn. She says that she hopes this works out for her somehow, someway and heads back to the group. Jeff asks for idols and there are none, so let's read the votes. First vote: Ben. Second vote: Lauren. Third vote: Desi. Fourth vote: Joe. And now we start the alternating Desi and Joe votes. When all is said and done, we're tied. 4 Desi, 4 Joe, 1 Ben, 1 Lauren. But where's the 11th vote, Jeff? Wait what? No one notices that there aren't enough votes? Seriously??? Ok. As we do in Survivor, now there's a revote and only Desi or Joe can be voted for. We watch Lauren again pantomime a vote as she just gets rid of this piece of parchment. And when Jeff comes back, there's 1 vote for Joe and everyone else voted for Desi. Desi is now the first member of the jury and the official Mayor of Ponderosa. She also joins a long list of players as my winner pick that didn't actually win. But, chin up Desi - Sarah Lacina was a winner pick of mine the first time and she kicked major ass the second time. You have that game in you too - so, go home, eat, regroup and come back a stronger better player! I'll still be rooting for you!!
Anyway, as she gets up, Joe lets her know that he didn't flip on her. As we see as the votes come up, Mike and Cole both flipped and this is what saved a potential disaster for Ben tonight. It should probably also be mentioned that this is now the 4th strong young female voted out in a row. Roark, Ali, Jessica and Desi. Not sure what that means, but they've all come out of the game with an axe to grind with Chrissy. Somehow, she's getting all the blame for their demise in the game. Not sure if that bodes well for her or if it's a serious omen. One thing's for sure, it's probably good she got rid of 3/4 of them prior to the jury!
Next time on Survivor: Lauren is feeling pretty awesome that her advantage played out the way it did and Ryan starts building trust with Ben by telling him about his idol. He also tells Devon about it, as you would expect. But what you wouldn't expect is Ben revealing to Devon that Ryan has an idol. That could potentially derail the most solid, long-lasting alliance in the game in Ryan and Devon. Then again, it could just be another Survivor red herring too. Guess we'll have to tune in this week to see. Til then, take care everyone and have a super duper Thanksgiving!