Category: survivor redemption island

In a thoroughly anticlimactic show, one of Russell’s two allies (in this case Krista) was the next to be booted in Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 5.

Steve got some votes. Stephanie tries to be delicate when telling him he’s a weak link.

While the others are busy or at least pretend to be busy, Natalie and Ashley decide to have a spa day. If there were a Survivor After Dark, I’m sure we’d see bikini waxing.

Andrea & Natalie and Julie & Mike go to Redemption Island to watch the duel between Matt and Krista. For the duel, they will retrieve three bags with a grapling hook, then they will use a ball to solve a table maze. Krista’s first toss nets her a bag. Matt’s second toss makes it one each. Krista’s second toss is successful as well. Matt follows this with his second bag. Krista grabs her third and final bag. This hardly seemed challenging. Matt’s fourth toss gets him to the puzzle. Eventually, Matt overtakes Krista on the puzzle. Krista seems to be more interested in peeking at what Matt’s doing than concentrating, and her ball falls in the hole. Matt wins his fourth challenge in a row.

She hands him her luxury item on the way out, her bible. That’s the extent of what we get, but it does lead to some interesting jealousy from Andrea, who doesn’t like that he bonded with another girl so quickly.

Sarita says she has a cavity with bacteria in it. Seeing as David doesn’t like her, he hopes her complaining will help Stephanie move up a spot.

Phillip wants these young girls to work harder (and/or at all), while Boston Rob and Grant realize they’re not going to do anything anyway, so making waves with them won’t do any good. Rob’s perfectly content if they do nothing because that’s one more reason to vote for him at the end.

Stephanie apologizes to Steve if she hurt his feelings, and he buys it.

For today’s challenge, two members of each tribe will launch balls to the beach where the remaining tribe members will catch the balls. This is the opportunity Sarita needed to lose that tooth that’s been bothering her, but she will sit out for Zapatera. The winning tribe will go the mountains and enjoy a picnic lunch. David and Stephanie will launch the balls for Zapatera; Natalie and Phillip will launch the balls for Ometepe. Grant and Mike square off on the beach, Boston Rob and Steve go against each other, Julie and Andrea are in the back, and lastly Ralph takes on Ashley. Grant scores a point. Grant scores a second point. Grant scores a third point. Boston Rob steals one from Zapatera to take the 4-0 lead. Grant has finally decided to rip off his shirt so Mike will stop yanking it, a strategy that’s not working anyway. Grant scores again. Ometepe wins immunity and reward. Earlier in the season, I’d have thought this challenge favored Zapatera, but Grant easily beat Mike, Rob beat Steve, and Ralph couldn’t even outdo Ashley.

Rob spots another idol clue. He doesn’t want to take it, so he waits for someone else to notice. That someone else would be Grant. They go off to the side, but they are busted by Phillip. They show it to him, but he’s still upset that they have violated their “alliance” with him. He expects more respect. After all, he served his country for 4 years, 11 months, and 13 days.

There’s an outside chance Stephanie will not be going home tonight, a very outside chance. Sarita will not campaign for herself, but Stephanie will.

Ralph blames the shooters at the challenge for their loss. Sarita, however, can’t be blamed, seeing as she didn’t participate.

Votes
Sarita
Stephanie
Sarita
Stephanie
Stephanie (or Stifinie)
Stephanie

With 4 votes, Stephanie has been voted off the island.

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

Having sealed her fate at the very beginning, Kristina was not surprised when she met the end of her road in Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 4.

Steve says there’s hope to bring Krista and Stephanie in. He wants to prove they’re a solid family. Oh. That would be different. Julie, however, considers them to be just non-threatening pawns.

Krista and Stephanie randomly draw to be able to go to the duel. Stephanie wants to send a message that they’re Russell’s girls and ready to flip. Boston Rob and Grant come from Ometepe.

Matt and Kristina will square off in the duel. The challenge is simply to put together a cubed puzzle. Matt’s very close but wrong and has to start over completely. Not content with merely focusing on the task at hand, Matt would like to know from Rob why he voted him out. Rob’s response: it doesn’t take one person to vote someone out. In the end, Matt wins his third duel in a row to stay alive.

Following the duel, Matt says he’s ready to rejoin his tribe. Stephanie, however, says she is not so ready to stick with her tribe. The girls think yellow might look good on them.

Phillip says he’s frustrated that he can’t make an impression on these women. Oh, he’s made an impression alright. He compares them to the crabs he’s trying to catch, which run away right when they see him. His only slight hope is Andrea, so he proposes an alliance with her.

Andrea’s an outcast who would rather get rid of Natalie and Ashley, no matter how much she and the other girls pretend they get along.

A caller will guide blindfolded teammates through a maze to collect bags of puzzle pieces. Once they have collected all four, the caller will use those pieces to solve a word phrase. In addition to immunity, they are playing for coffee and pastries. Steve and Julie sit out for Zapatera. Stephanie is the caller for her tribe, and David ain’t happy about it. It goes without saying Rob will be the caller for his tribe. Ometepe is the first to deliver a bag to their table, but Zapatera has three in hand by this point. Sarita and Krista deliver the first two bags for Zapatera. Mike brings their third. Ashley has Ometepe’s second bag. Grant returns his second bag to make it three each. Stephanie mostly just wants Ralph to shut up and move to his left (his other left).

Grant has the final puzzle piece for Ometepe, allowing Rob to start the puzzle first. Too bad he just dropped a piece. Surely he’s seen enough episodes of Survivor to know to be more careful than that. Eventually, he spots it, but he’s lost some ground, as Stephanie was quick to open her bags. As they work, Steve takes the opportunity to mock Stephanie and wish David were doing the puzzle instead. Ralph agrees. Ometepe wins reward and immunity. They can make Stephanie the scapegoat all they want, but Boston Rob’s tough to beat when it comes to puzzles. Regardless, they lagged behind and gave him an advantage.

As we know by now, there’s a clue in the reward. Grant and Rob spot it in the coffee. They create a diversion to sneak away with it. Rob’s plan is to keep that clue to himself and switch it out with the first largely useless clue he got previously, which he then shares with Grant, who gave him the clue they just found.

Sarita says she made the choice she did because she didn’t like the idea of David under pressure. Proving her point, he turns this into a confrontation. His profession: lawyer. He’s under the impression now that he’s in a courtroom apparently. In his court, he will be doing every puzzle they ever come across again, and nobody will tell him otherwise.

In spite of all this drama, Stephanie and Krista are the two targets, and they have decided that there’s no hope of scrambling.

Stephanie would rather get rid of Steve because he’s useless around camp. Sarita would rather get rid of David because he’s a lawyer.

Sarita disagrees that they haven’t been playing the game. She says they played it so hard that they got rid of Russell. A result of throwing a challenge and banding together like lemmings.

At tribal council, Krista calls out the pairs, saying everybody has joined up with one other person… except David.

Mike claims they have strategized. They have?

Votes
Steve
Steve
Krista
Krista (aka Krasta)
Krista
Krista
Krista

With 5 votes, Krista has been voted off the island.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 6, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

With his tribe so willing to get rid of him just for the sake of getting rid of him that they threw the challenge, Russell (not to be confused with Ressell) was voted off the island for the first time in Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 3.

Phillip says he’s a little frustrated because his tribemates don’t understand him, not knowing whether he’s a criminal or a school teacher. The rest of the country is on the same page as them.

Stephanie and Krista are sitting ducks now that Russell’s gone. Wanting to convince his tribe he’s got it under control, Ralph shows them the idol. Every single one of them is convinced they have the idol, too.

Phil gets and reads treemail. It’s an invite to Redemption Island. He’d like to go. How about you, Kristina, would you like to go? Ralph and Sarita will also be going, anxious to witness Russell’s elimination.

Matt is standing in the way of Russell’s reentry into the game. He still believes that God cares about the outcome of Survivor. For today’s duel, they will stack a series of blocks on a multilevel platform while avoiding trip wires. The goal is to arrange the blocks so they will fall like dominos and release a ball. Matt is the first to get to the end and give it a try. He falls short and must restack half of his line. Russell tries, and he falls short. Matt tries again to win the duel, and a seemingly emotional Russell is officially out of the game, barring some unforeseen twist. All four people watching this unfold are thrilled.

Ralph’s so confident he’s willing to reveal to Russell and, in turn, Kristina and Phillip, that he has the idol. Russell spills the rest of the tribe’s secrets, hoping to remain in the game through these witnesses. This combined with the fact that they were dumb enough to give Boston Rob momentum may well be enough to shift the tide.

While Phillip and Kristina are off on Redemption, Rob decides now would be a good time to search for the hidden idol. He creates a game hoping to try to get everyone else away from him. Then he takes them to the beach and pretends to be constipated so he can run back to camp and look. The awesome clue that he has told him the idol is somewhere on the island. After about 15 minutes of climbing trees, he finds the idol.

Phillip wants to take control when he returns to camp. His pitch to Kristina is that this will move her from the next one out to maybe the fourth. His plan is to withhold the names until merge. Her plan is to sit back and let him dig his own grave. He tells the others Russell had a meltdown but not much else. Those details will be saved for Rob. Once he gets a guarantee that Kristina will be safe, Phillip tells Rob everything, including names. So much for leverage. And why is he so worried about protecting Kristina?

On day one, both tribes were given a Craftsman tool kit. Today’s challenge will be to test their ability to use those tools. They will go over a balance beam, use a crowbar to open a crate to retrieve a shovel, dig to find an axe, chop through a rope to release two saws, saw through a wall to create planks, use the planks to create a ramp, and untie a hammer to hit three nails and break three tiles. Reward is a BBQ set, with everything they need, including the food. Krista sits out for Zapatera. Ralph is the first to open the crate ahead of Rob. Grant makes up ground against Julie while digging. Ralph retains and extends his lead on the log chopping. Mike and Steve get their planks done well ahead of Phillip and Grant. Stephanie and Sarita finish their planks still with a good lead over Rob and Kristina. Stephanie releases the hammer first to win reward and immunity for Zapatera.

When they return to camp, Phillip takes the opportunity to make a speech that nobody wants to hear.

Kristina’s hope since she dug her own grave is that Phillip dug his quicker. Natalie thinks Kristina is acting weird with her small talk about the idol and the reward clue. Rob’s plan is a 3-2 split vote to get rid of Kristina, with the hopes that everybody stays in line, if for no other reason than that it means he’s in control. He tells Phil they’re going to get rid of Kristina, a sign to him that his earlier agreement to keep her was a lie.

Votes
Phillip
Kristina
Phillip
Kristina
Phillip
Kristina
Kristina

By a vote of 4-3, Kristina has been voted off the island. She played hard way too early, without it making sense to do so.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 5, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Shaking hands with the opposing tribe proved to be Matt’s downfall in Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 2.

Matt was so comfortable with his position in the tribe that he didn’t even bother packing.

They get treemail with a bag of rocks. Those who choose their tribe colored stone will go to Redemption Island. For Zapatera, this is David and Steve. For Ometepe, Ashley and Andrea will be going. Not realizing that her boyfriend has been voted out, Andrea views this as an opportunity to further solidify her relationship with him. Her message to both the people on the island: she didn’t vote for either of them. This behavior isn’t going to win her any friends.

These four tribe members will be the witnesses to the duel between Francesca and Matt. What they tell their tribemates when they get back is up to them.

For today’s duel, they will use sticks and rope to make a long pole to retrieve three keys and open three locks. Francesca has her stick together quickly and with it the first key. Matt’s stick isn’t up to par. Francesca gets her second key. Matt’s stick is still no good. Francesca’s stick finally falls apart, which allows Matt to get his first key. Then Matt gets his second key. In the race for the third key, Matt wins the challenge to stay alive. Francesca is now officially out of the game. Good riddance after the ridiculousness of her gameplay alongside her buddy Kristina.

When Andrea returns from Redemption Island, Rob tells her he’s still looking out for her. Neither of them trust each other, but they’ll work together for now, you know, probably.

David and Steve return from their trip and tell Russell that Matt’s gone.

Since Russell can’t find the hidden immunity idol, Stephanie creates a fake one instead.

In addition to his scheming, Russell’s also not doing much at camp, so Steve has a proposal. Let’s throw the challenge and get rid of him.

At the immunity challenge, three members of each tribe will be strapped to a wheel, while three other members spin the wheel, sending them underwater for a mouthful of water, which they will spit into a tube until they release a ball that must be sent through a slide puzzle. In addition to immunity, they are playing for comfort: chairs, pillows, a tarp, blankets, and a lantern. Ralph and Sarita sit out for Zapatera. Julie’s not happy about this challenge throwing strategy, but it really doesn’t matter since she herself can’t make enough of a difference. Ometepe wins immunity and reward.

After watching this challenge unfold, Russell thinks they threw it. You can’t give Boston Rob momentum.

No time for Ometepe to relax. When they get back with reward, everybody starts looking for the clue to the idol. Having learned from the past when he didn’t care about the hidden immunity idol, Boston Rob’s searching and searching. Then he convinces Philip to stop sitting around. Underneath Phil is the clue. The clue is useless to him, but he’d rather have it than not.

The plan is to split the vote, 3 votes for Russell and 3 for Stephanie. That leaves the other 3 votes for Russell and his allies. Who can he get to flip? He suggests Julie. I’m not sure joining them makes any more sense than sticking with who she’s with, but I don’t think she really has anything to lose. If this works, the others deserve it for assuming they were in control, so much so that they could just throw the challenge.

Russell accuses them of throwing the challenge at tribal council. Mike does not deny this. Steve, however, does, and Dave follows suit.

Then there’s Ralph. It’s a good thing Jeff is there to translate for him. Could we get some subtitles, please?

Jeff warns them: you’re so divided that you’re in trouble come merge.

Votes
Russell
Ralph
Stephanie
Russell
Russell
Stephanie
Ralph
Ralph
Stephanie

With a three way tie, everybody who does not have votes will revote, thereby ensuring Russell’s departure.

Votes
Ralph
Russell
Russell
Russell
Russell

With 4 votes, Russell has been voted off the island for the first time in three seasons. Unfortunate because I would have liked to see some comeuppance from the idiot majority so desperate to get rid of him that they treated him as a throwaway.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 4, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

In one of the best tribal councils ever, Francesca got voted off the island in Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 1 after she and Kristina devised an ill thought plan to try to rid themselves of Boston Rob.

Francesca believes she was on good terms with everyone in her tribe and can still win the game. Really?

Phil tells Rob that until he goes to Redemption, Rob owns his vote. In turn, Rob plans to vote Phillip out of the game while sticking to his alliance.

Russell has set his sights on his second target, Krista, and once he believes he has her lined up, he goes in search of an idol. You’ve seen him play before. Don’t expect any changes. While Russell searches, Ralph picks up some rocks, accidentally finding the idol without trying.

Matt and Andrea are starting to get close. Rob views this as potentially a problem because a pair can be strong in this game. So he wants to join forces with Natalie.

Phil promises to outlast any man on the other side. He’s not so sure about the women, however. For today’s challenge, they will swim to a platform, climb it, smash a tile, and retrieve a key. Once they have all 5 keys, one person will use the keys to open a box and get a ball. The remaining two tribe members will use that ball to break 5 tiles. In addition to immunity, they are playing for fishing gear. David sits out for Zapatera. Grant starts out strongly for Ometepe. Ashley retains that lead, and Matt extends it. Andrea continues the trend, followed by Boston Rob, who grabs the fifth key with nearly a one lap lead. Somehow, Natalie is unable to open her box before Stephanie, giving Zapatera the lead. Ralph and Phillip finish off the challenge with ball tosses. Phil goes up 1-0. Ralph ties it, then scores three more times. Phillip makes it 4-2. Then 4-3. 4-4. The last person to score is Ralph, and Zapatera wins reward and immunity. Matt congratulates the opposition, which Rob does not like.

Russell grabs the reward basket because he knows there will be a clue. He grabs the clue and tucks it away, in full view of Ralph. Later, Ralph asks whether there was a clue. Russell goes from maybe to no, and regardless, he doesn’t like how Ralph is coming at him.

Kristina says she plans to play her idol tonight.

As outmatched as they may be physically, the fact that Matt shook the other tribe’s hands leads Rob to want to vote him out. They pretend to Matt and Andrea that they are splitting the votes between Phillip and Kristina. Unwilling to trust Phil, for good reason, but nonetheless still wanting to test him, Rob plans to put his hand on the shoulder of the person to vote for.

Phillip is fully prepared to be eliminated, go to Redemption Island, and beat Francesca.

Just before the vote, Rob puts his hand on Kristina’s shoulder. Not a tough sell for Phil.

As planned, Kristina plays her idol.

Votes
Kristina (does not count)
Kristina (does not count)
Phillip
Phillip
Matt
Matt
Matt
Matt

With 4 votes, Matt has been voted off the island, and Andrea is quite shocked. Still don’t understand the logic behind this move.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 3, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

16 new contestants form the Survivor: Redemption Island cast alongside Boston Rob and Russell Hantz. Will Rob win the million in his sixth attempt? (Admittedly, he should have won Survivor: All Stars, although win or lose he still won, and he should have won The Amazing Race 7.) Will Russell win a single vote?

Phillip says he’s a former federal agent. Yeah, the producers ain’t buying it either. Matt says his faith is everything, and his entire life revolves around it. Oh God geez. Surely they will make it so he clashes with someone. I just hope he doesn’t think God cares about who wins this game. Mike believes that his time in Iraq trained him to win something like this. While he may have the survival aspect down, the key is how to avoid the person sleeping next to you stabbing you in the back.

After everyone lands, they are introduced to Rob and Russell. Rob is greeted with applause, but Russell is greeted less warmly, albeit with the knowledge that he’s a contender.

They draw for buffs. Rob is on the Ometepe tribe, and Russell is on Zapatera, so now the tribes will be:

Ometepe (orange): Andrea, Matt, Francesca, Kristina, Grant, Phillip, Natalie, Ashley, Rob
Zapatera (purple): Mike, Ralph, Krista, David, Stephanie, Sarita, Julie, Steve, Russell

Lastly, it’s time to announce the redemption island twist. When they are voted out, they will live alone on redemption island, not leaving the game unless they lose the duel. At some point, the last man standing will reenter the game.

Probst tosses them some maps and warns them it will be raining a lot out there in Nicaragua.

Ralph has done all this stuff. If they listen to him, he’ll build them a decent shack, and probably an outhouse. Over on his tribe, Boston Rob takes control of the construction, which he has experience in before he became a reality TV star for a living.

Phillip is already starting to rub some of the girls the wrong way. At first, I thought it was just Francesca, a lawyer, always a bad sign regardless of the fact of how much she keeps rambling, but since someone else agrees with her, I’ll consider it as a problem.’

Kristina begins her hunt for the hidden immunity idol, surprised nobody else is doing the same. Her searching through their belongings is not lost on Boston Rob, who lets her know. He then talks to Phillip, commenting on how many girls there are there, and how they need to be watched. Hearing this, Phillip goes to Kristina, telling her this and that he will stick to the girls. Easier said than done.

Is Stephanie lucky girl #3 for Russell? That’s the plan, or so it seems. The others quickly see this. Someone comments how Russell’s not a threat. I have bad news for you then. He’s managed to eliminate more people than you can shake a stick at.

After realizing it probably won’t be as simple as just looking in their bags, Kristina later goes searching and finds the hidden immunity idol. She believes this will help her eliminate Rob. Good luck with that. Her alliance to help her achieve that: Francesca and Phillip. Great, two people who neither seem stable nor like each other.

The first immunity challenge is to push four blocks along tracks to build a base of a temple, run up the steps and use an axe to chop a series of ropes, run up another set of steps, and race to complete a block puzzle. Zapatera starts off the pushing with a bit of a lead. They extend this on the second block and then significantly more on the next block, when they lap Ometepe. Ralph starts rope chopping, while Ometepe continues to struggle. They’d better pray the other team struggles on the puzzle, or at least that Rob’s good enough to catch them up. Zapatera’s lead shrinks quite a bit, but not enough for the others to make up for their poor start. Zapatera wins immunity and fire.

As weak as this tribe is, they would be dog dumb to get rid of Boston Rob. Nonetheless, Kristina wants to do just that. She tells Francesca she has the idol, and she wants them two plus their buddy Phillip to vote for Rob, while the rest of the tribe votes her out and she burns the idol. Francesca warns her this is a stupid plan, and they should get rid of Natalie instead.

Rob wanted to vote Francesca out because her big mouth started yapping right away, telling Probst from minute one she didn’t trust Rob. After thinking about it, he doesn’t trust Kristina, who was digging for the idol right away. As a precaution, he’d like to split the vote between the two, just in case Kristina has the idol. Just to be clear, don’t switch your vote, unlike the idiot last season.

Phil wants an answer. Who does Kristina have lined up to vote with them? Nobody. She thinks the idol will do all the voting for them, so she shows it to him.

At tribal council, Phillip says that Francesca and Kristina asked him to vote for Rob. Well, there goes their whole plan up in smoke, not that it was a good one to begin with. Oh, and by the way, Kristina has an immunity idol. Awesome. Kristina acknowledges that she considered voting for Rob but wouldn’t do it, not yet. Rob has a proposal then: give him the immunity idol, and she can stay. She can’t do that. Good luck to you.

Kristina has decided not to play the idol. She should be safe, barely, for now, unfortunately.

Votes
Kristina
Kristina
Francesca
Phillip
Francesca
Phillip
Kristina
Francesca
Francesca

With 4 votes, Francesca has been voted off the island. So many mistakes in her brief three day stay.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Redemption Island Episode 2, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Two former castaways will once again return to do battle in Survivor: Redemption Island. Russell Hantz and Boston Rob Mariano will make their third and fourth attempts at the million dollar prize respectively. I’d put money on Rob, but unless Russell has come up with a different strategy, he’s nothing more than someone to drag along to the end in hopes people are bitter enough to not vote for him. In addition to these two returning castaways, the Survivor: Redemption Island cast consists of 16 additional contestants.

Ometepe Tribe

* Andrea Boehlke, 21, Random Lake, Wis.; student
* Matt Elrod, 22, Nashville; pre-med student
* Francesca Hogi, 36, Washington D.C.; attorney
* Kristina Kell, 46, Malibu; law student
* Grant Mattos, 29, West Hollywood; former NFLer, yoga instructor
* Phillip Sheppard, 52, Santa Monica; technology executive
* Natalie Tenerelli, 19, Acton, Calif.; professional dancer
* Ashley Underwood, 25, Benton, Maine; nurse

Zapatera Tribe

* Mike Chiesl, 31, Del Mar, Calif.; former Marine
* Ralph Kiser, 44, Lebanon, Va.; farmer
* Krista Klumpp, 25, Columbia, S.C.; pharmaceutical rep.
* David Murphy, 31, West Hollywood; defense attorney
* Stephanie Valencia, 25, Long Beach, Calif.; waitress
* Sarita White, 36, Santa Monica; visual effects producer
* Julie Wolfe, 50, Oceanside, Calif.; firefighter
* Steve Wright, 51, Huntington Beach, Calif.; former NFL player