Category: reality tv

Another double elimination in Survivor: Game Changers Episode 11 brought us down to a final 6. First Andrea was eliminated as she tried to get rid of Sarah. Then suddenly the tables turned on Michaela.

Sarah may not have turned on Cirie, but she did the next big thing. She took out her right hand man.

Tai admits saying that Sarah is a threat. By being honest, he makes himself look like a liar. At least for Cirie, she may have just been somewhat redeemed by his inability to play the game.

Since he’s dug himself in a hole, Tai next approaches Brad and tells him about his two idols. Brad doesn’t really trust him any more than anyone else does, but Brad doesn’t have a lot of options either.

For the immunity challenge, they will race through a giant maze and collect puzzle pieces so they may solve a puzzle. In addition to immunity, they are playing for food. Sarah and Brad end up in the lead as they get to the puzzle. Brad realizes he didn’t dump all the pieces out of his bag, but that does not slow him down enough. Brad wins immunity.

He chooses to let Troyzan have food with him without hesitation. The second person to join them will be Sarah. Feeling she can’t trust Tai or Cirie, Sarah considers this reward the perfect opportunity to solidify new allies.

When he gets back to the beach, Brad orders Tai to play one of his idols and to give the other one to him. Surely this hostile approach will not work. Not wanting to join forces with a bully, Tai shows Aubry his idols as well.

Not to lose track here, the following people have or have the potential to have immunity tonight: Brad (immunity challenge win), Tai (two hidden immunity idols), Troyzan (hidden immunity idol), and Sarah (legacy advantage). This is just excessive.

Tai plays one of his idols for himself. Then he plays the other one for Aubry. This is also the only night that Sarah can use her legacy advantage, which also grants her immunity. Not to be the only one left out, Troyzan also plays his idol.

So no matter what, the only person who can go home tonight is Cirie. Interesting. But silly. No need to vote. Despite not actually having received any votes, Cirie has been voted off the island.

The person who actually received the most votes was Sarah, while Troyzan and Sarah voted for Tai, and Brad cast the lone Aubry vote.

The next immunity challenge requires them to use paddles to maneuver balls through a series of obstacles. Brad is the first one to move a ball across. Sarah and Troyzan seem to be getting the hang of it, but neither are close. Brad wins immunity again.

Aubry and Tai find themselves in the minority after trying to vote out Sarah, but Aubry’s pitch to Sarah is that if Brad wins immunity again, he’s taking Troyzan with him to the end. Tai has another idea: just get rid of Aubry. Why did he waste his idol saving her then?

Then Brad bosses Tai around again, which causes him to flip again, now agreeing with the Troyzan vote. Possibly.

At Tribal Council, everybody admits that they are afraid that someone else can beat them in the final three. Except Troyzan.

Votes
Aubry
Troyzan
Aubry
Aubry

With 3 votes, Aubry has been voted off the island. We hardly saw her this season.

The final immunity challenge will have them race through an obstacle course and down a giant waterslide to collect puzzle pieces to solve a puzzle at the end. It’s anybody’s game when they get to the puzzle, except perhaps Troyzan, who fell way behind after getting stuck on one of the locks forever. Sarah quickly falls behind on the puzzle. Brad took a bit of a lead on the obstacles and never looks back. For the fifth time, Brad wins immunity.

Brad isn’t considering anybody a threat. He has a personal vendetta against Tai and wants to get rid of him, even though Sarah is a dangerous player who logically should beat Brad in the end.

Tai proposes to Sarah that they force a tie because they know what Aubry told them last time is true. Troyzan is not Brad’s target.

Votes
Tai
Troyzan
Tai
Tai

With 3 votes, Tai has been voted off the island.

I would say that’s the game for Sarah, but that’s pretty much been the case since Cirie got voted out by all the idols. I’m not sure what Troyzan has done, and Brad’s immunity win streak can only get him so far.

Zeke comments about how Sarah made such great moves against people but people like himself and Sierra didn’t mind. He may want to be her champion tonight, but there are some very bitter jury members who literally laugh and cry at the personal relationships she built.

Ozzy says that as the person who has played for 128 days, the most of anyone ever, he knows the game. This coming from a person who has never won and usually gets voted out right after merge because he’s a competitor but kind of sucks at the game of Survivor. He obviously respects Brad’s game of winning immunity a lot because that is also the extent of Ozzy’s game.

Cirie calls Sierra the brains of Brad’s operation. There is some truth to that, but regardless, Brad has flopped about ever since she was eliminated and a bit before that.

As Tai asks a question, more cackling ensues from the others. About half the jury is acting like giant babies. I don’t think I have seen anything this bad before. Perhaps the group setting of the questioning rather than individual speeches is contributing to the mentality.

Michaela doesn’t understand all this whining about Sarah, but she doesn’t know what Troyzan did either. Most people don’t seem to get it, but Sierra defends him and says that as an alliance member, he contributed.

Tai calls out Brad for how he speaks to people, or at least specifically how he talked to him.

In his final speech, Troyzan essentially acknowledges he doesn’t have a chance.

Votes
Sarah
Brad
Sarah
Brad
Brad
Sarah
Sarah
Sarah
Sarah

The Survivor: Game Changers winner is Sarah Lacina. There really wasn’t any other feasible result. For a season dubbed game changers, only one game changer made it to the end, which Brad should have realized when he had the chance to get rid of her at four. For all the bitterness displayed at the final Tribal Council, none of that seemed to matter, except when it came to Debbie, who got over her breakdown about Brad and found a new target when she found out that Sarah was the one responsible for getting rid of her.

In one of the dumbest moves of the game, Sierra made the mistake in Survivor: Game Changers Episode 10 of not only telling Sarah that she had a secret advantage but also that she would give it to her if she were eliminated. This was immediately followed by Sierra’s elimination.

In her attempt to convince Sierra that she wasn’t one of the people flipping, Sarah acted confused at Tribal Council. This is not lost on the others.

For the immunity challenge, they will steady a balancing board with one hand while building a stack of cards with the other. Whatever else is going on with everybody losing their stacks doesn’t make a difference. The one to watch is Aubry, who sets a record of 6 minutes (the previous best was 17 minutes). The most interesting part of this is that 33 days in we get to see that there is someone named Aubry on the island.

Andrea is pushing for the Sarah elimination, but nobody is biting. In turn, Cirie proposes to Sarah that they turn on Andrea.

They all keep bringing up each others’ names, but Brad is a massive target, even if they wouldn’t have anyone to fish for them like Michaela is insisting he do now before they get rid of him.

Votes
Andrea
Brad
Andrea
Brad
Andrea
Andrea
Andrea

With 5 votes, Andrea has been voted in the island, leaving Aubry as the odd woman out.

For the next immunity challenge, they will stand on a tower, raise a bucket of water to fill a chute, swim to shore with a key, and unlock and solve a puzzle. I thought this would take a while, but they seem to be filling these rather quickly, meaning that most of the challenge is the puzzle. Michaela, Troyzan, Aubry, and Brad are first to the beach. Sarah comes from out of nowhere to take the lead, but she is not correct. Brad follows suit. Then Michaela kicks her puzzle. Brad tries again and wins immunity.

If there were one result they did not want, that was it. Brad was the easy vote as a challenge threat who apparently even does puzzles. They had the chance to get rid of him, but they’re stuck with him for another vote.

Tai and Aubry are discussing the thought that got Andrea into trouble. Sarah needs to go next. Except Aubry, who has done nothing, decides that her big resume building move would be to get rid of Tai. Why?

Aubry tells Cirie the plan, who in turn tells Sarah, who doesn’t believe Aubry over Tai. I’m not sure she can really believe either of them. Following this conversation, to prove her loyalty, Sarah gives her steal a vote advantage to Cirie to hold just in case.

Cirie’s plan is to steal Sarah’s vote with her own advantage. Then she warns Tai that he is in danger but that she’s going to save him. Yeah, warn the guy with two idols.

As promised, Cirie uses the advantage to steal Sarah’s vote. Sarah and Jeff suggest she read the advantage. There is an important rule that Cirie did not catch. It is non-transferrable and cannot be stolen. That’s not going to work then. Giving her the advantage is nothing more than symbolic because the only person who can actually use it is Sarah.

Then Sarah gets up and whispers in Tai’s ear, and so begins another whisperfest. Cirie hopes to convince Sarah of the truth that she was just trying to save her by at the same time trying to screw her over.

Now Sarah, as the only person who can use her advantage, decides to use it for herself. She will steal Tai’s vote.

Despite all the drama, Tai still doesn’t use a hidden immunity idol.

Votes
Tai
Tai
Aubry
Michaela
Michaela
Michaela
Michaela

With 4 votes, Michaela has been voted off the island. How did Michaela’s name get thrown into this? The Aubry vote came from Cirie, while Aubry and Michaela stuck to the plan of getting rid of Tai. So Sarah pretty much just went to the enemy to determine the vote, to the extent that she actually has any enemies.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Game Changers Episode 12, where we will find out who the Survivor: Game Changers winner is, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

The flipping continued in Survivor: Game Changers Episode 9, and Zeke for some reason did not see himself on the wrong side of a broken alliance.

Speaking of broken alliances, the minority group that was supposed to be on the bottom all voted against Tai.

After not being told what the plan was despite saying she would do whatever they said, Sierra forgets all about that and approaches Sarah again, this time telling her about her legacy advantage, which she offers to give to her if she leaves. This may build trust, but if Sarah needed a reason to get rid of Sierra, there’s one or maybe two.

Reward is a loved ones visit and BBQ. They split into three teams of three: Brad, Aubry, and Andrea (red); Cirie, Troyzan, and Sierra (green); and Tai, Sarah, and Michaela (blue). While tied together, they make their way out of the water across obstacles, dig under a log in the sand, shuffle pieces to release a key, and toss bags at a target. Red team is the first under the log, and considering Brad’s proficiency at hitting targets, this is pretty much over. Before anyone else even starts, Brad finishes tossing to win reward.

They can choose one other player to join them. Cirie is chosen. Then they need to pick another, and that is Sarah. This is about picking favorites, which apparently means not Michaela.

The others who return to camp with Michaela know that she is very emotional and immediately get to work trying to pull her over to their side. Ironic considering that Michaela was the one warning her side that she didn’t want to vote the way they wanted because all it would take is one person to flip. Their target is the person who convinced everybody to get rid of Zeke: Andrea. I guess Sierra’s done swearing on everything that she will vote however they want (again).

For the immunity challenge, they will balance on a narrow perch while balancing a buoy on handles. Aubry is first to fall with Sierra right behind her. Andrea is next followed by Sarah and then Cirie and Troyzan. The others have been standing there for 18 minutes. Michaela drops. Then Tai. Brad wins immunity.

That knocks the top name off the chopping block, and support for the next person in that duo, Sierra, going home is not entirely unanimous.

Michaela and Tai find themselves somewhere in the middle because neither of them trust either side.

Unsurprisingly, Sarah has decided she needs to get rid of Sierra because she needs that advantage. When Sierra trusts her and tells her the plan, this sets her in motion to derail that. Sarah warns Michaela about the advantage. Of course, she doesn’t tell her that it must be willed to someone else, though Michaela should probably be suspicious since they had one of these on her last season with the exact same rule.

Votes
Sierra
Andrea
Sierra
Andrea
Andrea
Sierra
Sierra
Sierra

With 5 votes, Sierra has been voted off the island. I don’t know how serious Michaela ever was, despite the whole episode circling around it. Not being picked to go on a reward seems too petty to actually make you want to flip on your alliance. As promised, Sierra gives her legacy advantage to Sarah, hoping against the obvious reality that she didn’t just turn on her.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Game Changers Episode 11, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

In another step of twisting alliances, Sarah turned on her allies in Survivor: Game Changers Episode 8 and helped vote out the person she trusted least, Debbie.

Sarah openly admits to the tribe that she is the person who flipped. She starts talking about this being the game changer season and how that should bode well for her in the end. You don’t change the game just for the sake of changing the game. Hopefully she’s doing more than just resume building.

For the reward challenge, they split into two teams of five to lift one person in a chair to retrieve numbered letters for a word puzzle. Reward is a helicopter trip to a luxury resort. Andrea, Sarah, Aubry, Zeke, and Brad (blue) are against Sierra, Troyzan, Cirie, Tai, and Michaela (orange). Blue has a small lead heading into the puzzle, not enough to matter. After 50 minutes, they are still trying to solve the puzzle. Then Jeff pretty much gives away the answer by saying that everything is always changing, which has a corresponding 11 letter word of reinventing that they have been trying to solve. Andrea picks up on this, and the blue team wins reward.

Brad should be the odd man out, but he thinks this is perfect because now he can try to sway people like Zeke. It’s not like this alliance that voted together out of convenience has much trust.

Speaking of which, when they get back to camp, Andrea and Cirie discuss Zeke as the biggest threat. Sarah disagrees, and she explains her vote stealing advantage as the better way. If you’re looking for a threat, perhaps it’s the person who just told you she has this advantage and who will not play along with your plans.

Zeke and Sarah have decided they trust each other but not the rest of their alliance. Zeke approaches Brad and Troyzan to be in an alliance with them and Michaela, eventually, maybe not this vote but maybe the next.

For the immunity challenge, they will stack a series of blocks as dominoes while avoiding trip obstacles that will make their tables wobble. Brad is the first to stumble, demonstrating that a lead in this doesn’t mean much. Despite that, Jeff keeps talking about who is in the lead the whole time, specifically Andrea, who reaches the end and realizes she didn’t leave enough space between her blocks. Still, this seems like a simple enough fix, and Andrea wins immunity.

This win emboldens Andrea to continue pushing for Zeke. Cirie doesn’t think this is a good plan, not with the numbers they have. Someone else on the other side who is on the bottom is an easier vote to obtain. Sierra has absolutely no problem doing whatever they want. Then they take the plan to Sarah, regardless of her earlier stated reservations. Michaela sort of trusts Zeke, but her point is more that she doesn’t like making it a 5-4 game instead of 6-3.

Debbie gives Sarah the finger when she hears who flipped. Oh, she won’t be at all bitter as a juror.

Votes
Tai
Sierra
Tai
Sierra
Tai
Zeke
Zeke
Zeke
Zeke
Zeke

With 5 votes, Zeke has been voted off the island. Michaela immediately starts crying. I didn’t think they were going to do it, and they can’t believe it either. Andrea is lucky she has Cirie on her side.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Game Changers Episode 10, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Two people fell in another double Survivor: Game Changers Episode 7. First came the rather lackluster boot of Hali after a failed split vote, but she applauded the elimination of challenge threat (but otherwise also non-threatening) Ozzy that followed.

Zeke says he’s flipping to the other side, but he pretty much already did that when he attempted to rally people against those who appeared to be his allies.

Two teams of five will race through a series of obstacles in the water, dive for a grappling hook, and use it to retrieve rings. Reward is a seaplane trip and a picnic. Brad chooses Debbie, Sierra, Andrea, and Aubry; Cirie chooses Zeke, Sarah, Troyzan, and Tai. Michaela sits out and calls people out for picking their alliance members instead of stronger players. I don’t think this attitude is going to help her case, and if anyone supports her, it’s one of the captains, Cirie.

Brad’s team just about laps Tai, but Troyzan closes the gap. Zeke falls back behind on the balance beam before being lapped. This sets up Brad’s team for the win as it is, and Cirie struggles to the point where it is not even a challenge. Brad’s team wins as Cirie continues to stumble, but they all watch and support her as she at least finishes her turn.

Michaela was too busy pouting to notice the secret advantage right at her feet. As everybody boards the boat to return, Sarah is the one who spots it. Sitting out was intended to be a reward rather than a punishment, but it didn’t turn out that way. The advantage is the ability to steal a vote.

Contrary to Michaela’s complaints, Brad says he deliberately didn’t pick all of his allies but instead left two behind to spy on the others. Sarah is perhaps not exactly a loyal ally, though. She is open to flipping if needed, and Cirie is happy to have her ear.

For the immunity challenge, they will pull on a rope balancing a wobbly table, stacking blocks to spell the word immunity. By the time everybody else has two or three letters placed, Tai finally manages to spell the word and begin. Andrea is in the lead with Troyzan right behind, but all it takes is one missed step before the leader has to start over. Aubry was in it but drops. Andrea had 7 letters before dropping, and Brad follows suit. This gives Troyzan a huge lead, and he easily wins immunity.

Troyzan didn’t really need immunity, but Andrea certainly could have used it. Michaela once again is proposed as one of the targets. Brad is very vocal about getting rid of Andrea despite Debbie’s objections. Sarah doesn’t like that nobody consulted her on this plan, but Brad didn’t really seem to consult anybody.

If they want to flip this, they need Andrea. Neither Andrea nor Zeke trust each other, but they are willing to suck it up for now.

Sierra has an alternate proposal that Sarah didn’t see coming. She wants them to be final three with Debbie. This seemed like it was working until Debbie tells Aubry that Sarah doesn’t trust her, which Aubry relays to Sarah in a way that is a giant lie but paints Debbie as the liar.

It seems that Sarah is the swing vote either way, but either way she is also on the bottom, unless Sierra really wants to be final three with her.

Votes
Andrea
Debbie
Andrea
Debbie
Andrea
Debbie
Andrea
Debbie
Andrea
Debbie
Debbie

With 6 votes, Debbie has been voted off the island. She would be a great person to go to the end with because it would be hard to imagine anyone voting for her, but you would have to trust her to actually get there.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Game Changers Episode 9, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.