Survivor: Tocantins Episode 1 immediately started with the tribes being told to turn two teammates into outcasts. Jalapao chose Sandy due to her age; Timbira chose Sierra because she was already sick. While Sierra worked to get back in the good graces of her tribe, Sandy didn’t make an effort and instead searched for a hidden idol that she apparently never found. Regardless, thanks to Carolina’s mouth and poor performance in the challenge, she was the first person voted out, sparing Sandy for the time being.
Jalapao’s already talking about how Sandy’s the next to go.
Since the other tribe got all the food, Jalapao is getting desperate already. Time to eat the termites. Sydney declines. She’ll eat one at a challenge, but not in real life, whatever that means.
Sierra still wants to find the hidden idol. Since they didn’t go to tribal council, she will still get an opportunity to use it. In need of some help, she goes to Brendan, who was the only one who didn’t vote against her the first day. They’re away so long that Debbie comes looking for them. They tell her they’re building a firepit. They don’t even have to lie to the others, as Debbie tells them that they’re going to have a beach fire. Now that this has happened, Sierra has given up on the idol.
Coach and Candace are clashing because they’re similar. They like to pick things apart and aren’t afraid to argue. She predicts his ego will be the death of him.
Taj tells her tribe she’s married to Eddie George. They seem to know who he is, so I’m going to take their word for it. He recently retired from the NFL, which is a dangerous thing to acknowledge since people who don’t need the money run the risk of getting booted.
The rain welcomes them to the challenge. Three members will go through the water to grab a ball, then work together until they can shoot the ball into a basket, while members of the other tribe will attempt to stop them any way they can. First to three wins immunity and fishing gear. Debbie sits out for Timbira. Taj, Stephen, and Sydney go against Sierra, Candace, and Tyson for the first round. It’s obvious this will be a very aggressive challenge with no holds barred. Candace intercepts the ball and scores for Timbira. Joe, JT, and Sandy are taking on Erinn, Brendan, and Tyson. Tyson scores for Timbira to take the lead 2-0. The next round is all women: Candace, Sierra, and Erinn against Taj, Sydney, and Sandy. Taj completely takes over initially but can’t make the shot, but Sydney recovers to keep Jalapao alive. The men are next up: JT, Joe, and Spencer against Brendan, Coach, and Jerry. Brendan tosses the ball away, and it’s recovered by JT. It’s tied at two. The last round is between Stephen, Sydney, and Taj against Sierra, Candace, and Tyson. Candace tackles Taj to get the ball for her team, but both Candace and Sierra miss their shots. Sydney recovers and misses. Stephen barely manages to escape the clutches of the recently sickly Sierra to score the point and win for Jalapao.
Additionally, Brendan will be going to Exile. But this year there’s a twist, which hopefully doesn’t suck. He can grab one member of the winning tribe to join him. Hmm… interesting. He will take Taj with him.
Stephen says JT has emerged as the tribe leader, and they’re surprised that two people so different are getting along as well as they do. They have luck seeing fish, if not catching them.
At Exile Island, each person must choose an urn. Brendan gets a clue. Taj gets nothing. Okay, now that part of it is lame. But the twist continues. The person who gets the clue can choose whether to go back to their own tribe or to go to the other tribe, which could be a potentially huge move (but hopefully the tribe they leave doesn’t later whine and whine and whine about it like Ozzy and his crew did during Cook Islands). Brendan’s not at all interested in going to the other tribe. Taj insists on helping him find the idol. He’s lucky he took her, or he wouldn’t have been able to figure out that the idol’s where they live (at least now she knows, too). She tells him she hasn’t bonded with anyone yet, but he believes they’re creating a good bond here. They agree to work together to get sent back and find the idols.
Coach, who one would assume is one of the better people to have in such a physical challenge, surprised Candace by his lackluster performance at the challenge. Probst brought this up during the challenge as well, so it’s not just her, but Coach wants to get rid of her instead of Sierra.
When he gets back, Brendan tells his tribe the story about how there are two urns… and he didn’t get the one with the clue.
As much as she hates Coach, Candace knows it’s too early to cut him.
Coach tells Sierra and Debbie that he’s going to vote for Candace and keep Sierra safe, so they need to vote with him.
Sierra gets trashed as expected at tribal council. Candace knows that sometimes she talks too much, the kiss of death last week. For some reason, Erinn seems to be trying to distance herself from the tribe, saying she doesn’t know that she can trust any of them.
Votes
Candace
Sierra
Candace
Candace
Candace
Candace
The tribe buckled pretty easily to Coach’s will, and Candace has been voted off the island.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Tocantins episode 3, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.