This season marks the return of Blood Vs. Water and also Exile Island. I’m not sure either twist necessarily helps the game, but at least neither should be particularly harmful.
The 18 contestants who make up the Survivor: San Juan del Sur cast have all come to Nicaragua with a loved one. The cast includes former Major League Baseball player John Rocker and loud mouthed twinnies Natalie and Nadiya from The Amazing Race.
Drew Christy
Age: 25 Winter Park, Fla. Traveling Sales Rep
Alec Christy
Age: 22 Winter Park, Fla. Student
Jeremy Collins
Age: 36 Foxboro, Mass. Firefighter
Val Collins
Age: 35 Foxboro, Mass. Police Officer
Reed Kelly
Age: 31 New York, N.Y. Broadway Performer/Model/Aerialist
Josh Canfield
Age: 32 New York, N.Y. Singer, Actor, Writer
Jon Misch
Age: 26 Waterford, Mich. Financial Assistant
Jaclyn Schultz
Age: 25 Las Vegas, Nev. Media Buyer
John Rocker
Age: 39 Atlanta, Ga. Former MLB Player
Julie McGee
Age: 34 Atlanta, Ga. Model/Owner of Spray Tan Business
Natalie Anderson
Age: 28 Edgewater, N.J. Crossfit Coach and Student
Nadiya Anderson
Age: 28 Edgewater, N.J. Crossfit Coach, Project Coordinator at Bridge2Peace
Keith Nale
Age: 53 Shreveport, La. Fire Captain
Wes Nale
Age: 23 Shreveport, La. Firefighter
Missy Payne
Age: 47 Dallas, Texas Owner of a Competitive Cheerleading Gym
Baylor Wilson
Age: 20 Nashville, Tenn. Student
Dale Wentworth
Age: 55 Ephrata, Wash. Farmer
Kelley Wentworth
Age: 28 Seattle, Wash. Marketing Manager
The pairs all spend their first night on their own together before being split up for a while. They are given flint that they can use to try to make fire.
Reed & Josh are not surprised they could make fire with flint. They tell people they should not be surprised by having to make fire on Survivor.
Keith and Wes are goofy. They lost their striker. Then they broke their flint.
Natalie/Nadiya immediately acknowledge that they were on The Amazing Race. Though some people may think that’s a mistake, it’s not like they could hide that for long. Speaking of not hiding things, Keith says he knows John was a baseball player, and he knows he was an ass.
They draw for buffs.
Coyopa (orange): Alec, Baylor, Dale, Jaclyn, John, Josh, Nadiya, Val, Wes
Hunahpu (blue): Drew, Jeremy, Jon, Julie, Keith, Kelley, Missy, Natalie, Reed
This immediately leads to a reward challenge. Reward is fire and beans. Punishment is a trip to Exile Island. They will retrieve platforms using ropes that they have untied. Hunahpu nominates Jeremy, and his opponent will be his wife Val. Jeremy jumps out to a big lead and is the first to grab the first platform. She manages to get her first as well, but by this point the challenge is pretty much over. Jeremy wins reward for his tribe. In addition, he must choose someone from his tribe to join Val on Exile Island. He immediately selects Keith, who he calls a good outdoorsman, despite the fact that he broke his flint. The gay guys seemed a lot more competent on their own, even if you might not think that at first glance.
Dale is 16 years older than the next oldest person on his tribe, which for the most part consists of people in their 20s. He is an immediate outcast, but starting the fire using his glasses helps him get into their good graces.
Upon arrival on Exile Island, Val and Keith must each choose an urn. She gets a clue for an idol. He gets nothing. They find out that Keith and Jeremy (and also Keith’s son Wes) have something in common, even if they live in different worlds: they are firefighters.
John lies about his last name. Like his father, Wes almost immediately knows who he is.
The people who were on Exile return in time for the immunity challenge, where they will race to the top of a giant tower using bags of pieces they retrieve from an obstacle course. At the top, they must solve what the producers call the most difficult puzzle the show has ever seen.
Coyopa has a bit of a lead as they start rope tossing, which they will use to climb the first section of the tower. At the next wall, they will climb using pegs. Then they will get up the next section only using themselves. Coyopa still has the lead at the top of the tower, but this is all going to come down to the puzzle. Hunahpu wins immunity by being the first to complete what looked like a pretty simple puzzle.
So we’ve already gone through the first few days and had an immunity challenge. Now it’s time for Val and Keith to start learning people’s names.
Nadiya is an easy early target. Anybody who watched TAR probably does not have a positive opinion about her.
Val proposes an all female alliance. Well, that’s a stupid idea this early in the game. Nadiya wants to bring in Josh as the fifth girl, which Josh says he understands but finds offensive.
Dale’s only saving grace is that he started the fire, which he presumably mistakenly believes only he can do. They’ll get flint soon enough. Regardless, his name rises to the top of the chopping block.
Votes
Nadiya
Dale
Baylor
Dale
Nadiya
Dale
Nadiya
Nadiya
Nadiya
With 5 votes, Nadiya has been voted off the island. At least the female alliance plan failed, though Josh declined to pick a side, voting for Baylor instead. A tie was avoided only because Baylor joined the guys in voting for Nadiya.
Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: San Juan del Sur Episode 2, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.