As much as they wanted to get rid of the person annoying them the most, Peih-Gee, in Survivor: China Episode 9, her immunity win prevented that, so they got rid of Frosti instead, with every move being obviously orchestrated by Todd. We left the show at tribal council, where we were told there was more business to attend to.
They’re going to participate in a reward challenge right at tribal council. The winner will travel to the Shaolin Temple by private jet. Before the challenge even starts, they’re told they’ll need to choose two people to take with them. As twists go, this is rather lame. Fun to watch them sweat, but not worth a two week cliffhanger.
The challenge is multiple choice about China. Todd, James, Peih-Gee, and Denise get the first question right. Everybody got the second question right. Everybody except Denise got the third question right. Everybody except Amanda got the fourth question right, putting Peih-Gee, James, and Todd one away from winning. Peih-Gee wins reward. She picks Erik first, the only logical personal choice, then she chooses Denise, an odd choice, but Denise has made it clear she feels like the outcast of her tribe for a while. May be better off bonding further with Amanda, though.
Peih-Gee doesn’t waste any time. On the flight to the temple, she’s already discussing a final three plan. For some reason, though, she still sees James as someone potentially on her side. Back at camp, the others are discussing being the final four, but Amanda tells us she doesn’t want to go to the finals with any of them.
Denise mentions that she’s been studying karate for 8 years. When they get to the temple, they’re greeted with a martial arts demonstration from guys with the level of skill you would expect at the Shaolin Temple. Then the Survivors join in. Denise makes it obvious she’s probably the most grateful person who could have received the reward, so maybe there is some hope that Peih-Gee’s choice will pay off.
When they get back, Amanda goes out of the cave to greet everybody. The other three just stay hidden, avoiding the rain and probably the people returning.
Denise quickly goes to Todd and tells him Peih-Gee’s plan to be final three, as well as the first person mentioned as a boot, him.
James has no interest in flipping and doesn’t even pretend and dangle a ray of hope.
Amanda goes to Courtney with a plan. She wants James out because he’s got the two idols. If they don’t do it now, they won’t be able to because he will save himself at 6 and again at 5. He still feels unnecessarily secure, so this is definitely a plan that could work.
The immunity challenge is throwing Chinese stars. Peih-Gee scores 0. Todd hits once, scoring 3. Erik hits twice, scoring 6. Courtney hits all three times, scoring 6. Amanda hits twice, also scoring 6. Denise hits once, scoring 2. The four who scored 6 move onto the final round. In the final round, they get one throw each with a target 10 feet further out. Courtney misses. Amanda scores 2. Erik scores 3. James misses. Erik wins immunity.
James wants to take out Erik but will settle for Peih-Gee. Amanda goes to the rest of her group with the plan to get rid of James. Peih-Gee goes to Amanda to propose a James boot. Amanda tells her to shut up the rest of the day and pretend like she’s going home. Dangerous, but it may be her best plan. She does as she’s told, but she takes one extra step and suggests to Erik that they should vote for Todd, just in case James uses the idol.
James doesn’t play his idol.
Votes:
Todd
James
Peih-Gee
James
James
James
With two hidden idols in his back pocket, James gets blindsided. Well played, and hopefully a lesson for future players on how to get rid of the idols instead of letting them carry someone to the finals like they have for the past three seasons. It’s clear we’ve got one of the smartest casts we’ve seen in a while. That said, it’s no doubt this season’s most popular player just got the boot. He leaves with a positive attitude and won’t carry a grudge.
Next week, Amanda looks to get out from under Todd’s shadow, while Denise remains on the outside, which now is enough to make her a key swing vote.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: China episode 12 Going for the Oscar, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.
Oh foop. James dummied himself right out of the game. Let’s see, he has 2 immunity idols and they’re 7 people left. The challenge wasn’t at all physical so he didn’t win. Should he play one or not? Duh. He blew it. Should have played one this time, and next time if he didn’t win immunity. That would put him in the top 5. He could’ve won any challenge that was the least bit physical and they seem to be 1 out of 3, so he could have gone top 4 no problem.
Now the game is essentially over. It’s gonna be Todd and Courtney who win. Nasty little roaches, they’ve been pulling everybody’s strings since day one, and the other losers let them. Witness lame-o Denise, running to Todd the instant she gets off the boat.
I hate it when the scumbags win.
I’m not so sure that James necessarily made a mistake. Certainly in hindsight it was a bad move, but what we’ve seen thus far from the post-merge challenges is that he hasn’t been as dominant in them as he once was since they’re not purely physical.
Aside from Courtney and Denise, who I can’t figure out what they’ve actually done, I’d be comfortable with a win from anyone remaining. They’ve all played quite well, albeit deviously more often than not. This is the best final 6 since the hidden idol was introduced.