MrsGryn

I can see how he might come across as some sort of psycho, but Survivor generally has better psyche screenings that most reality shows (Hantzes notwithstanding).

Yeah, I honestly have been surprised at how much I *don't* dislike this dude.

We really hadn't seen much of her prior to this, but watching it the second time, I did see that she hid her prior knowledge of Joe's immunity idol really well. Hopefully that means she has a lot of game behind her.

Well I'm sorry he's gone because I had a lot more Cowboys jokes in the pipe. And then seeing him take his ouster well, wish everyone luck, and give us non-bitter parting comments suggest Crazy Eyes really was a game intimidation technique. Works on the gridiron, not so much in Survivor.

Oh, I hate him but he played that well. Probst's interview with Dalton Ross on EW.com said that Ashley really did give it away to Joe when he looked at her face. So he wasn't wrong when he crowed that he read her face.

Devon's brain isn't totally fried. He sounds like Jeff Spicoli but he has shown some flashes of logic. Cole, on the other hand...oh my. He's a golden retriever puppy. He just wants to please everyone but ends up piddling on himself.

And since they broadly hinted she will be targeted next week, that means she isn't going anywhere.

Desi was quite a surprise! Glad you came to play the game, girl. I have hopes for her. Alan's mature exit was quite refreshing.

Day Nine dawns with the tribes coming in to challenge beach. Probst is wearing a Valspar Delicate Frost shirt, for those keeping score at home. The tribes think they are here for a challenge but Jeff tells them to drop their buffs. Shock and surprise ripple through the tribes as Jeff walks around with a couple of trays containing new buffs all wrapped up in scrap burlap and tied with raffia. Someone was inspired by the Country Living catalog! However, instead of having two larger tribes, the Survivors were merely shuffled into the same three tribes as before. They just aren’t of the same nebulously connected type, whether Hero, Hustler, or Healer. Looks like your intrepid recapper is going to have to learn the damn tribe names. The shake up breaks down as: Yawa (red): Lauren, Cole, Ben, Jessica, Dr. Mike. Soko (yellow): Ryan, Chrissy, Aly, JP, Roark. Levu (blue): Joe, Desi, Devon, Alan, Ashley. Unsurprisingly, the soloists on each of the new tribes, Devon, Roark, Ben and Lauren, are not entirely comfortable with the new set up. I guess they don’t like being hung out to dry. Wimps. As it turns out, we have a challenge for a reward. Three members of each tribe will be attached to a braided rope. They will have to work together to untangle the rope. Once they are completely untangled, they will have to use the ring on the end of the ropes to hook a sled and drag it back to the starting platform. The two remaining members will use the puzzle pieces on the sled to solve an upright puzzle. Want to know what they are playing for? Sure you do. Personally, I’m rooting for food poisoning. And I’m semi-right: peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to eat right away, plus enough supplies to make sandwiches for a while. But that’s not all, folks! They also get individual bags of potato chips. There is also a green bottle of something that I suspect is milk, so my hope for a pandemic of gastroenteritis is still alive. Survivors ready? GO! Alan, Ashley and Joe are on the ropes for Levu (blue). Ryan, Roark, and JP are on Yawa’s (red) untangle committee. Finally, Soko (yellow) Ben, Cole, and Lauren. Right from the start Levu is in trouble. The three of them cannot work in harmony. JP, as a firefighter, is able to direct his team on the ropes but he has some trouble hooking the sled. Yawa has their sled right away due to a lucky toss by Ben. Dr. Mike and Jessica are working on the puzzle before JP or Alan hook their respective sleds, though Yawa at least has Chrissy and Aly working on the puzzle before losing to Soko. Levu, on the other hand, is humiliated. Hey, Joe, how does it feel to be smoked by the fellow (Dr. Mike) you thought you had under your thumb? Post reward, Yawa shares the joy of PB and J, and potato chips so greasy, the paper bag is becoming transparent. While the tribe is enjoying their erstwhile Big Brother punishment meal, Jessica the Virgin finds a small wrapped package in her chip bag. It’s marked “Secret Advantage.” She sneaks away from the rest of the tribe to read it in secret. The advantage is the ability to block someone’s vote at tribal council. If her tribe does not lose, then she will have to use it against someone on the losing tribe. A chance to sow chaos! I like it. She tells both Cole and Dr. Mike, her former tribemates. Cole, in his infinite-and-by-infinite-I-mean-thimbleful, wisdom decides that because Jessica told Cole she trusted him after he shared the info about Joe’s hidden immunity idol, he would do the same thing with Jessica’s secret advantage and share it with complete stranger Ben. How is that even a useful strategy, you pretty idiot? And then he goes and shares it with Lauren, too. So now the entire tribe knows about this secret advantage. Some secret! And it actually backfires, because Lauren is immediately suspicious of his motives in telling them about it. That’s because Lauren is an adult who knows how to employ logical reasoning. New Soko, the yellow tribe, explores their new beach. The only returning Soko Healer is Roark, who is at sixes and sevens. Ryan is happy that he has a chance to speak to Chrissy and tell her that he was the one who gave her the day one Super Idol. She tells him it made her feel loved. She promises to pay him back and we all know what that means on Survivor. He’s toast! Enough of that niceness. Let’s see what’s going on with the blue Levu tribe. Desi has her eye on Devon as a swing vote between the two Healers and two Heroes. Way to state the obvious, Desilu. Ashley is not thrilled to be on a tribe with Crazy Eyes Alan, but you work with the tool you are given. Meantime, Joe, Desi, and Devon are out looking for food when Joe decides to make a play and tells Devon an outright lie: That Alan and Ashley have already approached him to vote out Devon if they lose the immunity challenge. Joe tells us it’s total crap but felt this was the best move to make Devon grateful to him. Back over on the red Yawa tribe, Lauren tries to see if Dr. Mike knows about the secret advantage. Dr. Mike plays dumb but figures out almost immediately that Cole was the blabbermouth. He lets Jessica in on it and Cole shows up and tries to deny it. He finally confesses to Jess that he told Ben and Jessica is heartbroken that her pretty game boyfriend is a dumbass who can’t keep his mouth shut. She is so upset that she has to put the imaginary wedding in her head on hold until she can figure out if he is really trustworthy. Girl, if you haven’t figured out by now the answer is no, then that explains why you think Survivor is a viable option for finding a mate (Boston Rob and Amber not withstanding). Dry your tears and remind yourself that Cole is at least nice scenery. Immunity challenge time! Probst is wearing a Valspar Playful Pool blue shirt, for those keeping score at home. For today’s challenge, the tribes are going to race out with a large crate with extra-large puzzle pieces, maneuver the crate through a table obstacle and under a net. Once that part of the course is done, they will unlock a second set of puzzle pieces. They will then arrange those puzzle pieces, which resemble giant painted Lincoln logs, so that each intersection matches the same colors. First two tribes to finish win immunity. Survivors ready? GO! The first tribe to get through the table obstacle is Levu, despite Devon taking a rather severe shot to the family jewels at one point. The net is difficult and Yawa manages to catch up but Levu is right on their tail, according to Probst. Lauren unlocks the second set for Yawa followed closely by Chrissy on Soko. From a long shot of the challenge, Yawa has nearly all their pieces done while Levu’s Ashley is still working on the lock for the second set of puzzle pieces. Yawa wins immunity first and while Probst does his best to make it sound like a horse race, Soko handily beats Levu for the second immunity. Back on Defeatist Beach, the Levu tribe tries to figure out what went wrong. Well, Ashley took forever to unlock the second part and you are all idiots. Does that help? Crazy Eyes Alan doesn’t like losing, but you’d think he’d be used to it from all those years on the Dallas Cowboys (BOOM!). He spells out for us that Devon is the swing vote and whomever he votes with will come out on top. The two former Heroes corner Devon to recruit him and the surfer dude out and out asks them if they are voting him out. They say no and Devon confesses the lie Joe told him. He and Ashley hug, but unfortunately Desi sees them and tells Joe. Okay, seriously. Why are the Survivor editors showing us an ENORMOUS black spider that appears to be wearing a tiny yellow shower cap? This calls to both my sense of arachnophobia AND sense of the absurd. In addition, I was making a note and out of the corner of my eye saw something moving on the computer mouse. I screamed and jumped a foot in the air. Turns out I was startled by the TV reflection. Desi tells Joe what she saw, and Joe decides Devon is playing him. Since he has an idol, Joe decides he has to figure out if he or Desi will be targeted at tribal. Joe starts the conversation with Crazy Eyes Alan, trying to get him to tell Joe who is going to be voted out. Rather than answer, Crazy Eyes goes all Crazy Eyes at Joe, asking him “who goin’ home?” over and over again. It’s entertaining because the crazy is directed at someone I don’t like. Finally Joe says he is voting out Ashley as the weakest link. There is a lot of arguing and Alan finally tells him that he isn’t voting out Ashley and he isn’t voting out Devon, then he stalks off. The aftermath is Desi realizing that Joe has blown up her game since she wasn’t on the block before and she calls him on it. Joe realizes his plan to create chaos has backfired, and when Desi demands he play the idol for her, he acquiesces after a bit. Meanwhile, Devon reaches into his bag and finds a wrapped paper that says “Secret Advantage” and that he cannot open it until it is time to vote. Poor Devon. He is so excited thinking he has a secret admirer who wants to help him. That’s gonna hurt. Tribal council. Probst is wearing a Valspar Luscious Green shirt, for those keeping score at home. Jeff starts with Alan, who brings up that some people wanted to get tribal started early. Joe raises his hand and volunteers he threw Ashley’s name out. Ashley is mostly upset at being called weak. Desi was not happy being thrown under the bus. Alan says his vote will go to either Joe or Desi. Devon, of course, is singled out for being the soloist. Finally, Jeff says it’s time to vote and Devon interrupts him to produce his secret “advantage.” Probst tells him to read it and he does. At the mention of a secret advantage, Joe’s face falls, but as Devon reads on and spills the truth about the advantage being used against him and blocking his vote, Ashley’s face is the one to fall. Poor Devon. He says matter-of-factly, “That is NOT an advantage.” And with that, it’s time to tally the votes. But first! Does anyone have a hidden immunity idol they would like to play? Why yes, Jeff. Yes, they do. Joe stands up and hands his idol to Probst. Joe stands there and looks at Desi’s hopeful face. He thinks for a minute and tells Jeff he will use it on himself. Time to read the votes. Joe. Does not count. Joe. Does not count. Allen. Alan. And with that, Crazy Eyes Alan is voted out to walk down the path of losers. He smiles, knowing his goose is cooked and Joe gives him a hollaback to Detroit, which would have been endearing except he follows it with practically spitting in Ashley’s face about how he read her face. Alan wishes them all luck and now that he isn’t playing the game, the Crazy Eyes are gone. His final remarks are measured and analytical. Where was this guy? As for this episode, I liked it. Ending with a twisty tribal and a surprise boot is always a quality episode!

Isn't that on basic cable? Do we still use the term basic cable anymore?

Not your father's Star Trek, is it? In other news, yay, Poldark!

Christian Siriano's Danbury, CT home. It's very colorful. You've been warned.

Ayana was robbed! Her weirdo hoop dress and fun pants were perfect for the challenge with those crazy Shopkins and avant garde. And once again Liris proved herself an all-star model. How did Ayana not win this one? Michael's was fun and had a good concept but it didn't really look like a melting disco ball. It looked like a poorly padded lame jumpsuit. I think Heidi was picturing herself in it. Loved the twin ouster. Amy immediately went into professor mode with Claire's admission she had a tape measure. "But it was just a tank top!" Yeah, so why did you need to measure a simple tank top in order to construct one? Oh, I know. Because you suck! It sucked that Amy went home as well but her design was not interesting. Best moment? Kentaro calling out, "No measuring tape!"

Ha, Debbie's Pleasure Cruise. Maybe for her, not so much for Cochran. My guess is a school yard pick for a challenge, person not chosen gets put on the losing tribe after watching what happens during tribal council.

"Missouri whooping" is going to be incorporated into my vocabulary.