Survivor: HHH - Episode 5 Recap
The Past Will Eat You Alive
By Jim Van Nest
October 31, 2017
We come back from break and what do we have here? Another Probst Sighting? Yes, please! Today's immunity challenge will see the players swimming out to a boat where they'll grab 3 very heavy bags of rice. They have to get the bags through a hole in a rig out in the water and then climb over it. They'll then carry all the heavy bags (now water logged) across a balance beam. Once they get all 3 bags through, they'll cut them open to get a ball out of each one. They'll then maneuver the balls through a stand up maze. First 2 tribes to get all 3 balls through the maze win immunity and are safe from Tribal Council. Ryan and Dr. Mike are sitting this one out. As we've seen with so many challenges over the last few seasons, the first half of the challenge doesn't really matter. It all comes down to the puzzle/carnival game at the end. This challenge follows this formula quite well. The one bright spot is that Devon is a challenge beast. And Desi ain't too bad either. Devon is a threat to win all the individual immunities, they better watch out for him.
Oh yeah - we're in the middle of a challenge. Levu and Yawa have the lead in the challenge, but ultimately all 3 tribes end up on the maze at the same time. Ben and Ashley have no problem with the maze. Chrissy, on the other hand, keeps losing her balance. Ali scores for Soko as Levu and Yawa get their second balls in. Cole finishes it out for Yawa. They will not be headed to Tribal. Meanwhile, Chrissy falls off the beam again. And again. As she keeps struggling with the beam, Desi lands ball #3 for Levu sending Soko to Tribal Council. Chrissy really should have given up her spot. Roark offered to come in and she offered for Ali to come in, but Chrissy wouldn't give up the course. With that in mind...
It's time to play, "It's Anyone But Chrissy!" Chrissy is feeling nervous about the vote tonight, so she wants to have a chat with Roark. She suggests the possibility of an all-girl alliance and Roark's response is tepid, at best. "I, personally, don't have an objection..." Um, the hell is that? Roark wants Chrissy to go home and just can't seem to hide that fact. Realizing that she has nothing going with Roark, Chrissy has a conversation with JP. She suggests Roark as a vote, but JP wants to keep her. So she tells him that Roark wants to do an all-girl alliance. And it takes less than a second for JP to decide that Roark has to go. Chrissy takes her case to Ryan to take out Roark. So, despite the actual divide of the original tribes, Ryan finds himself in the swing vote position, rather than Roark. He now has to decide between Ali, his ally from the very beginning of the game. And Chrissy, the person he shared an idol with before he even met her. Seems to me that this is an easy decision. You stick with Ali and regroup tomorrow. Hell, it's pre-merge, so dumping Chrissy means nothing to his game at this point, right?
We get to Tribal and start off with Roark grabbing a torch and getting fire. Fire represents your life in this game. When your fire is gone, so are you. Jeff starts by asking Ali if she's noticed a difference in how each former tribe plays the game. She takes the first shot across Chrissy's bow by suggesting that Chrissy should have gotten out of the challenge. Most of this Tribal turns into a pissing contest between Roark and Chrissy as Roark tells Chrissy that they should have talked before she absolutely needed to. Well, why does Chrissy have to be the one to initiate a conversation? Why can't Roark? This goes back and forth a bit. JP does mention the possibility of a girl alliance and things like that. Chrissy admits to being very concerned about the vote tonight. Roark, on the other hand, feels pretty confident. Also, she still thinks she is the swing vote. Chrissy mentions that she doesn't so much see Roark as the swing. Any group of 3 might emerge.
And with that, it's time to vote. We see Roark's vote for Chrissy saying, "Next time, don't come for me." We see Chrissy's vote for Roark saying, "I'm outsmarting Miss Smarty-pants." Sassy! Ok, anyone have an idol? That's a big fat no, let's tally the votes. First vote: Chrissy. Second vote: Roark. Then Chrissy, then Roark. Ooooh, what did Ryan do? The 5th person voted out of Survivor: HHH - Roark. Whoa! Ali does not look happy with Ryan at all. I'm not sure how I feel about this one. I feel like Ryan really should have stuck with his #1 in Ali. But, at the same time - having Chrissy AND Ali still in the game could potentially give him options come the merge. I mean, sure, Ali's pissed with him right now, but what option does she have moving forward except to stick with Ryan? For right now, I'm going to give this move a thumbs up, but it will really depend on Ryan's next move. He needs to get back to camp and do major damage control with Ali. There's a way out of this for him, let's see if he can figure it out.
Next time on Survivor: There are explosions at Soko Beach following Ryan's betrayal of Ali and
and it looks like we have a really scary moment coming next week as we see Cole, completely upright, just pass out and fall face first into the shelter floor and the sand. Jessica tells us that she's not sure she wants to play this game without Cole just yet. As always, looks to be another gripping episode next week. Til then kids, take care!
Continued:
1
2
3
Print this column
