Survivor: Nicaragua Episode 12 was the battle of the pathetic quitters. Not content with merely watching NaOnka throw her game away, invisiKelly followed immediately in her footsteps.
Still not getting the hint, Sash thinks the odds are in his favor. At least he’s no longer talking like he’s the king of Survivor (he’s not). He tells the others that he will be playing the idol at the next tribal council, and he’s the swing vote who they must be willing to work with. I don’t know what this weird immunity idol stuff is about, but the rest of his pitch is sound. They can use him to their advantage, at least for now.
For the challenge, they will relive challenges of the past. They will race through a mud pit, dig through hay to find a ball, and bounce the ball off a shield into a barrel. First four move to the next round, where they will use a stick to get a key, unlock a chest with sandbags, and toss those sandbags on a barrel. The final two move to the final round, in which they will use a paddle to dig up three rope rings, which must be tossed on the target. The winner will go to a private resort for a meal, a shower, and sleep in a bed. Chase, Jane, Benry, and Holly move to the next round, with Fabio letting it slip due to his inability to land the shot. There’s never any question that it will be a battle of the two men in the finals. Chase runs away with the challenge in the final round to win reward. He can bring two people with him. He chooses Holly, who wanted to give up reward last time, and Jane, apparently because he considers her his closest ally (this in spite of the fact that he earlier told Sash that they would take each other).
Tripping over his words, Sash tries to convince the guys back at camp that he’s on their side. They give him a hard time about it, a really stupid move because they simply don’t have the numbers to do anything but work with him.
Sash is not alone in his belief that Chase made a mistake in his choices of who went with him. Holly, too, thought it was a mistake. It doesn’t take long before it dawns on Chase that he should not have chosen Jane.
While Jane’s away on the reward, the others decide to kill Kelly-Nay, so named because she’s a chicken. Following the commercial break, we find Jane crying. Who died? Oh, just the chicken. So now we have the funeral.
Chase knows that Sash has been talking with the others while he was away. His plan now is to tell him he and Holly will take him to the final three, dropping Jane when they get to that point. It seems he’s just playing him, though, which is sad because taking Jane to the end would be dumb because she’ll get a lot of sympathy votes, whether she actually makes any useful game moves or not (I’m still waiting for her to stop being overrated and actually earn the praise).
Nobody on either side trusts Sash even a little bit. With this in mind and not trusting that he’s really on their side, Benry wants to flip things. He’s perfectly willing to vote with Chase, Holly, and Sash to get rid of Fabio.
They are attached to a hitching rail for the challenge. They will jump over and under the rail to free up enough rope to allow them to grab a bag of coins. The first three go to the final round, a gold coin puzzle. Dan may as well just sit out the challenge. Fabio has enough rope to move on. Sash and Benry don’t have enough rope, nor does Jane. Benry’s next attempt is successful, and Sash just barely makes it. Benry’s about ready to give up on the puzzle. Sash is making progress, and Fabio sneaks a peek at his. Sash wins immunity.
Sash tells us he’s in complete control and can’t wait to win the million. Oh great. Didn’t take long for his ego to get back to its original overinflated size.
Fabio’s worried that Benry may turn on him, and he asks Sash to just give him the heads up if he’s on the chopping block. Sash has no such plan to comply with this request. Other than making this request, Fabio plans to just sit back and see what happens.
Votes
Holly
Fabio
Fabio
Benry
Benry
Benry
Benry
For all the talk of a Fabio elimination, the actual decision was to go for Benry instead. I see no problem with this, seeing he threw his alliance away because he saw Sash talking to the other side.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Nicaragua Episode 14, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.