Survivor: HHH - Episode 10 Recap Part 2
Buy One Get One Free
By Jim Van Nest
December 6, 2017
BoxOfficeProphets.com
We pick the story up as everyone gets back to camp after Tribal. They get back and Chrissy wants an explanation about what happened. Joe tells her she can't have one and that she should just be thankful it wasn't her. He tells her she should just enjoy Fiji, which is apparently what she's been saying to other people. He tells her to be bitter if she wants to, but he and Mike were never bitter and they've been on the bottom the whole time. Ben suggests that all this is funny from the guy who claimed he'd never be a puppet. Now, let's all remember that Ben is in on the plan and is currently playing secret agent. And he's doing it masterfully. Chrissy is upset about the blindside, but not as much as she is about how she was treated when they got back to camp. She asks how long this had been in the works. Actually, she asks if she's allowed to ask this question. Devon responds, you can ask, but I'm not giving you an answer.
Despite being shocked and infuriated, Ryan takes a different approach and compliments the group on the move and thanks them for keeping him in the game. He has no idea what he's going to do now, but being on the bottom, he knows he has his work cut out for him. Meanwhile, Joe and Ben are still sniping at each other - as you would expect them to do, if the blindside also included Ben. Since it doesn't, how he is playing this is REALLY good. Like, so good that when it's revealed that he was in on this the whole time - he might just win the game as a reward for his performance here. What's great about this is that Joe isn't in on it, and he has no idea that Ben's faking. Ben asks them "Why JP" and Devon refuses to answer again. Why should he give any info about this new faction that would only serve to be used against him later in the game? He's trying to keep it all a mystery from the people on the outside and I think that's commendable. Also, Ryan and Chrissy have been SO smug and SO arrogant these last few episodes, I'm just enjoying watching them get a little comeuppance here.
Lauren tells us that the plan could not have gone any better. We see Ben finally get to talk to Lauren and Ashley alone and he tells them that he is totally in with Ryan and Chrissy and that he will get Ryan to play his idol next time. Now, the conversation I've been waiting for. Devon and Ryan are alone finally. Devon tells Ryan that he had to do it. And the reason he was kept out of the loop was because he lied to Devon about who knew about his idol. In his backpedaling, Ryan claims not to have said those exact words in that order and - frankly, it's insulting. Dude, you cut your boy out of the deal making and alliance making process by telling Ben you had an idol after you told Devon that no one else would know. You set up a side deal and your main squeeze found out about it and now, you have nothing. Devon tells us that he simply doesn't trust Ryan anymore. He trusts Lauren and Ashley more and Ryan no longer fits into his plan for the end of this game.
We come back from the first break to breakfast on Day 28. They're all eating about 2 seashells full of rice. Almost nothing. Devon seems to be taking over as the narrator of the season as he tells us that his cloudy game has all of a sudden gotten quite clear. He and Ben get some alone time and he compliments Ben on his performance. They talk about how, with Lauren's extra vote, they now have numbers that are unstoppable as long as all 4 of them remain loyal. Devon tells us that he has been waiting for his chance to run the game and now he has it. He tells Ben it needs to be either Chrissy or Joe. He loves having all the knowledge in the game right now. He knows where the advantages are. Where the idols are. And no one realizes he's as good at this game as he is. And with that, it's time for a...
...Probst Sighting! Today's challenge will divide them into random teams. They'll paddle a boat across the water picking up huge, heavy packs of wooden puzzle pieces. They'll then have to maneuver them through some obstacles and get them back to the beach. Once there, they'll have to solve the puzzle. The booty at the end of this thing? It's the Survivor spa day. Massage, fried chicken all kinds of good stuff. The teams are: Lauren, Ryan, Mike and Chrissy against Ben, Joe, Ashley and Devon. Um, this might be the most lopsided tribes I've ever seen in a post-merge challenge. As they get started, Devon hauls in the big pack of pieces. Ryan has a hard time with his as it likely weighs more than he does. Amazingly enough, the teams are dead even as they get to the shore with all their pieces. The Devon group is much faster getting their puzzle bundles up to the puzzle board and they start untying right away. They still have to get these logs through a tunnel, which will spit their puzzle pieces out at the end. The Ben/Devon team is starting to pull away in the challenge, despite Jeff's attempt to make it sound like it's close. And after a couple minutes of puzzle setting up, Ben, Joe, Ashley and Devon win reward. As we head to break, Joe is pretty thrilled about the win as well as not being on the bottom anymore. Now, let's see if he can stay in his new place for a little while.
We come back from break to the spa reward. Devin loves the food and the spa, but they're all very keen that the game is still on. Ben is playing the dethroned king role and Joe is loving life on the top now. Joe tells us that Ben is completely lost in the game right now living on the bottom. Ashley and Devon are pretty hyped by Ben's performance here. Ashely is not so sure this is such a good thing though. Ben is someone to start to be worried about now. She is, however, feeling like her game is really coming into focus now and this could be her game to lose. Now, I don't know how it looks from the island right now, but from my couch Devon, Lauren, Ben and maybe some others have a stronger claim to win this game. Girl, you need to come up with a move that's all your own. Right now, it just looks like you picked the right alliance. And you're running out of time.
Back at camp, Ryan is as low as he has been in the game. He can't win anything and he's on the bottom now. He decides he needs to talk to Mike and try to swing him over to his side and get back in charge. Mike is having none of it, though. He accurately makes the point that Ryan has never wanted to work with him, but now that he's on the bottom, NOW he wants to work with Mike. We join Chrissy trying to make an in-road with Lauren. She tells Lauren how she and Ryan have been talking about going to Final 3 with her. And she wants to keep the conversations open. Lauren asks her who else she's been having these conversations with. Lauren tells us that if Chrissy wanted to work with her, she'd have talked to her a couple weeks ago...not now that her back is against the wall. So, in the span of 3 show minutes, Mike and Lauren - without any coaching or prompting - both shot down the advances of Ryan and Chrissy. And frankly, that's what you get. When you treat the people at the bottom like absolute shit - you don't get to buddy up to them when the tides turn. And for the record, Mike and Lauren gave you WAY more respect and consideration than you EVER gave them. And I kinda dig it. You reap what you sow...and right now, Ryan and Chrissy don't like the taste of it one bit. Maybe you'll think about how you treat people next time.
Day 29 brings the rain and a little bit of depression. We're at the month mark now and when the weather sucks, the mood is just down. Chrissy seems to be feeling it the most. Mike, to his credit, offers about the only thing he has to offer. A hug. Part of her issues here are that she has waited SO long to get on this show and right now, she's really facing the reality that her game might be over.
And that brings us to our 4th Probst Sighting of this amazing double episode night. Today's immunity challenge looks like quite the gauntlet. It's big enough that the players freak out a little as they walk in. Today they will be using a Survivor driving wheel to transport a key in an urn through some obstacles. Drop the urn; you go back to the start. Once they get through, they'll use the key to unlock some letter blocks. They'll have to transport the letter blocks across more obstacles on the wheel to get to the puzzle itself. Drop a block, go back to the start. Once all blocks are to the puzzle, they can start to figure out the one word answer (INVULNERABLE - by the way). First one finished wins immunity.
Ben, Devon and Joe are the first ones across to start unlocking puzzle pieces. Ashley and Chrissy are next to join. Mike and Ryan cannot get past the first section. Lauren is a little slow, but she gets to her puzzle pieces. Devon and Ben take a decent sized lead on this one and it looks to be their challenge to lose. Ashley makes a huge move to catch up to the guys and the 3 are started on their puzzles. Devon has no idea what this puzzle could be. As he and Ashley struggle; Lauren, Joe and Chrissy all get to the puzzle. As everyone kinda sits around for a bit, something clicks for Chrissy and she starts rearranging. Devon does the smart thing and cheats off her, but he is not fast enough and Chrissy wins immunity. As we head to commercial Chrissy tells that she was really in trouble tonight and she needed to win this one.
We come back from break to play, "It's Anyone But Ryan, Maybe. Or Joe. Maybe Even Ben or Mike. Hell I Don't Know". We get a little comedy from Devon as he congratulates Chrissy by mentioning that he doesn't even know a 12 letter word. The four get together to decide who to get rid of. Ben wants Joe gone and everyone is on board with that vote. But, they need to have something to tell Mike and Joe. Devon comes up with the plan to tell them that he, Mike and Joe should vote Ryan. Lauren, her extra vote and Ashley will all vote Ben. If an idol is played, they'll revote for whoever isn't safe. This, ladies and gentlemen, is called managing your alliance. It's easy to just decide to vote Joe out. It’s very much harder to vote out Joe AND come up with a plan for Joe to follow that doesn't cause him to go scrambling into the woods. This works perfectly. Joe and Mike want to get rid of Ben so bad that they ask no questions and jump right on board the train to see Ben go home. Devon is really stepping up his game tonight. I really think the kid can win it all.
We join Chrissy, Ryan and Ben talking things out. Chrissy knows that they will split the votes and she figures Ben will be the main target. Ryan is trying to figure out whether or not to play his idol. Ben tells him he'd definitely be playing one tonight if he had one. They realize that they're down 5-3, so there's not much of a chance for them, so Ryan and Ben shake hands as if to say, "May the best man win." Meanwhile, of course, Ben is loving life since the biggest thorn in his side, Joe, is getting ready to be sent home without the slightest inkling that it's happening. But, right before Tribal, Ashley and Lauren start talking about how crazy it would be to take Ben to the final 4. If he gets to the end, he wins. They decide tonight might be the time to make a play for Ben. Use Joe and Mike as extra votes to help that happen. Ashley takes this idea to Devon to gauge his reaction. He does his best Spicoli impression to suggest he's blown away by this suggestion. He tells her he doesn't know what to think right now. He tells us that Ben is a threat in the game and that it would be a huge move to get rid of him. As they head to Tribal, Devon continues to break down the differences in a Ben vs Joe vote.
We get to Tribal and Jeff starts with Mike. He asks him about walking into Tribal smiling. He loves the game and he's getting along real well with his tribe. Joe says that he enjoys Tribal because it's the time when you get to see which relationships are real and which are manufactured. Ben agrees with this and suggests that he's in trouble tonight since Chrissy has the necklace and he's on the bottom. Ryan talks about how there was a crack in the alliance of 7 and Joe and Mike somehow got into it. Joe chimes in that there never really was a 7. He says that Ben sat there like a king with his 6 knights, but he was really sitting there with 6 other Kings and Queens. Mike adds that the suggestion that he and Joe are on the bottom of the new alliance is not necessarily true. They're simply the newest members of the alliance - not the least valuable. He goes on to say that just because Ryan and the 7 weren't able to make their alliance stick that doesn't mean this new alliance will do the same. The difference is the alliance itself. Devon and Ashley both comment on the fluidity of the game and the ups and downs and how hard it is to stay on top of everything. He finally asks Joe if there's any change in his feeling at tonight's Tribal from all the other Tribals. He says that he feels more comfortable than he has this entire game. And with that, it's time to vote.
As everyone casts their vote, we see no votes. The only thing we see is that Lauren only votes once. We also hear Devon tell whomever he voted for that they're a dangerous player and it's time for them to go home. Jeff tallies the votes and asks about immunity idols. Ryan steps up to play his idol and he plays it for himself. Ok, let's read the votes. The first 2 votes are Ryan and they don't count. The next 2 votes are Ashley. And here they come. 4 votes in a row - all for Joe. And Joe becomes the 4th member of our jury. On his way out, Devon and Ben both compliment him on his game. Chrissy, as is her MO, has to throw shade at him snarkily talking about how tight his alliance is/was. I don't think we need to look any farther than this to see why almost everyone coming out of this game has nothing but bad things to say about Chrissy. I mean, you got him. You won the war against Joe. Is there any reason to dress him down on the way out? Especially considering in about a week's time, he could be deciding whether or not to give you a million dollars and the title of Sole Survivor? The answer to this question is "No" there isn't a reason to do that, other than she just can't help herself. She just can't NOT say it.
Next time of Survivor: Love brings everyone together. They'll be running the reward challenge with their loved ones on the family visit. The game also starts to take a turn for the individual. Ben is feeling a bit off, so he seems to be making some sort of fake idol and looks like Devon might be the person he targets with it. Either way, after 9 episodes of mediocre to poor Survivor episodes, this week's double episode was exactly the kick in the teeth the season needed. Hopefully the momentum of this week will carry over to next week and the rest of the season. Thanks for reading, kids, and take care!