Category: survivor samoa

Foa Foa lost as usual in Survivor: Samoa Episode 5 and decided to vote Ashley off the island as the weakest link.

It has been raining since day 10. It’s now day 15.

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that the tarp would have protected them from the rain, but nonetheless, we do have a rocket scientist weighing in on the issue. John blames Russell S for their current wet conditions, and he’s not the only one. Taking it a step further, his tribe is worried that he’s trying to do too much, which they fear is both unnecessary and will run him down.

The way Russell H sees it, this bunch of babies needs to grow up and get over the fact that it’s raining because it probably won’t stop raining anyway.

When they wake up the next morning, they see a rainbow.

At the challenge, one person from each tribe will be strapped to a large sphere, and that person will guide two blindfolded tribemates through a course to a table maze. The person inside the sphere will then guide the rest of their blindfolded tribemates to navigate balls through a table maze. Reward is pizza. But there’s a twist. Win or lose, both tribes will be going to tribal council. Boo. If Foa Foa sucks, just let them get decimated. No evening the odds. The winning tribe will be allowed to sit in at the losing tribe’s tribal council.

Monica, Kelly, Shambo, and Dave sit out for Galu. Liz will be pushed by Russell H and Jaison; Laura will be pushed by Russell S and Erik. Galu’s off to an early lead. I’ve seen this before. Somehow, though, Foa Foa manages to take the lead and they are the first ones to the puzzle. An exhausted Russell S, who insisted on participating in this challenge even though he knew he was getting weaker, is holding them up. When he gets to the table, his head lies down on it. Then he collapses. Medical is coming in to check on him. He says he’s good. Then he collapses again. His blood pressure is really low. Even lower than Mike’s was.

Jeff is making a call right there. Neither tribe wins reward. Since both tribes were going to go anyway, they will both still go to tribal. If Russell is able to return to the game, he will be there waiting for them. His blood pressure is fine, but when his heart rate drops 30 beats in an instant, they decide to remove him from the game.

Liz and Natalie assume it’s going to be one of them. It certainly won’t be one of the guys. Russell H wants Liz to go. He hopes to talk Mick into voting with him. Jaison takes this time to pout.

On the other side, Shambo’s proved to be the outcast, one that likes the other tribe better anyway. Her defense is that she’s a worker and a competitor. Monica wants to know why she should vote for someone to stay who wrote her name down already. However, the guys, especially John, consider Monica to be a weak person in the challenges. They fail to realize that Shambo will flip to the other side immediately if given the opportunity.

All 13 people go to tribal council together, where they mostly focus on Russell’s departure and the miserable weather (as the rain picks up again). After all the talk, Jeff has news. There will be no vote from either tribe. This meeting will merely serve as a war of words in which Foa Foa believes they won and Galu knows they’re still in the lead 8-5.

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

Galu finally lost something, and Yasmin was unsurprised to be the first boot from their tribe in Survivor: Samoa Episode 4.

Shambo’s surprised that she was the only person to vote on Yasmin’s side.

They’re told they have to keep something down, which means a gross food challenge. For Foa Foa, this is already a cause for divide. Liz says she’s worried about Ashley during this challenge, which leads to Russell H starting to turn on her. It’s a food reward. Get the gross smoothie down, and you win a barbeque. Kelly, Laura, and John sit out for Galu. Shambo and Jaison get a giant clam mixed with Jeff’s choice of octopus, sea snails, and noni juice. Shambo easily finishes as Jaison struggles to get it down. Russell goes against Russell for the jelly fish special mixed with milk. Russell S does fine, and after struggling, Russell H chugs it. Brett and Mick get giant clams and sea cucumbers with milk. Both do okay. Monica and Liz get sea urchin, and both of them do fine. Ashley and Dave get sea slug guts, which Jeff suggests may be the worst thing out there. Nice and chunky. Ashley can’t finish as Liz feared. Galu wins reward. They will be sending Shambo over to Foa Foa, to which she responds that’s not very fair. Russell declines to spread the love, and Shambo will miss out on the reward.

Ashley realizes she screwed up, so Natalie pretends that nothing’s wrong.

Before getting to the meal, Russell explains why he sent Shambo over to Foa Foa. She lost the chicken, but this should clean her slate. Then Russell tries to start the fire. Dave believes that he can start the fire, but he refuses to do so unless Russell asks. So Russell refuses to ask, although he eventually gives in.

Shambo, who asked for a group hug upon arrival at Foa Foa, has decided to share the clues to the hidden idol with their entire tribe. Not that it matters since both of them have already been found. Liz thinks that either Ben or Russell have the one from theirs, so she confronts Russell and calls him a liar when he denies it. She’s definitely his next target.

It’s raining and raining. As Erik warned, the choice of comfort over the function of the tarp means that all the blankets are wet and hence largely useless.

When Shambo returns, she gets some minor acknowledgement from the person nearest to her, Erik, but that’s about it. In their defense, everybody is barely functioning and just trying to break through the shivering, not that I expect their welcome would be much warmer otherwise.

For the immunity challenge, one man and one woman from each tribe will hold on to a rope connected to a net while members of the other tribe shoot coconuts into that net. Last net standing wins. Galu sits out Dave, Shambo, and Brett. Liz and Russell hold the net for Foa Foa, while Russell and Laura hold for Galu. All I can say is Galu needs to start losing some people because I keep hearing names I never heard before. Galu is kicking the crap out of Foa Foa as per usual. In the middle of the onslaught, Jeff points out that Ashley hasn’t made a single shot yet. Russell H falters and is eliminated. That means they’re going to all pile on Liz. She keeps fighting but eventually buckles. Galu wins immunity.

Jaison says things aren’t looking good any more. So apparently they were looking good when they lost 4 people in a row.

Contributing to their misery is the fact that it’s been raining for two days straight. Russell poses a question: does anybody want to go home. Despite their whining, nobody’s ready to volunteer. Because it’s raining, however, they’re hiding under the shelter, which means no strategizing going on before they go to tribal.

The guys should stick together and not vote against each other, so it’s just a question of which girl will end up going home. Russell is bummed out that he can’t talk anyone into voting out Liz. It would be a tough sell regardless, although he could get the two blondes on his side. The logical choice here is Ashley, who has not contributed to the challenges.

At tribal council, Russell claims to trust everybody. Ashley agrees but says she mostly trusts Natalie and Russell. Liz also gives the political answer that she trusts pretty much everybody.

Votes
Ashley
Liz
Ashley
Ashley
Ashley

By a unanimous vote, Ashley has been voted off the island. It would have been interesting if they were able to talk strategy and come to a different (and worse) conclusion.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: Samoa Episode 6 This Is the Man Test, which airs Thursday at 8/7c on CBS.

Because Jaison took issue with the Yasmin situation, Ben was voted off the island in Survivor: Samoa Episode 3.

Jaison could not handle people who use phrases meant to hurt people, like how he insinuated all southerners are racist.

Erik wants to find out all the information about the immunity idol. He think Shambo’s going to give everything away so that he can get the idol. Apparently, she will. John gets the info, too.

Mick chooses two people to go on a mission that may or may not get them more food. Russell H and Natalie will be going with him. Russell S must also choose two people, and he picks Natalie and Dave. When they arrive, they see some chickens. They’re not sure what to do. After waiting around for a while, they decide to jump to it and find some instructions. It’s bocce ball. Mick gets close and sticks close the whole time. Russell H looks like he’s got some experience, getting about as close as possible. On the last ball, Dave throws a ball almost touching the stick, and Galu wins reward.

Three people are off playing bocce, so Erik sends those who are awake to get fruit, while most of the tribe sleeps. He figures he’s got 10 minutes to find that idol. John wakes up and knows what’s going on. Erik ends up finding the idol, believing that everybody is stupid enough to believe there is no idol on their island, too.

Russell H is thinking he would prefer to get Natalie to the end rather than Jaison.

Shambo lets a chicken get away. Good luck catching that thing. Chickens can fly, kinda. Erik’s mad that nobody seems to care.

Some of the members of Galu are starting to get tired of Yasmin because she’s not contributing at camp.

The immunity challenge is to race across a net carrying wooden blocks, which they will stack. Then they will make their way across a rope bridge for more blocks to stack even higher. Shambo, Laura, Dave, and Russell S sit out for Galu. Galu is first to complete their first stack. Foa Foa is about 5 seconds behind them. Galu’s got a big lead, until Monica takes a long time to get across. It’s roughly even once she’s done. Galu is first across, but their lead remains just seconds. It comes down to the final stack. Foa Foa completes their last stack first. They win immunity. That’s different.

Russell S is angry because Monica fell apart in that challenge.

Dave has a couple suggestions. Yasmin has done nothing, while Shambo has screwed up (like when she lost the chicken). Russell gets wind of this, and he believes that since he’s a leader, these people better listen to him.

Votes
Yasmin
Yasmin
Monica
Monica
Yasmin
Yasmin
Yasmin
Yasmin

By a vote of 8-2, Yasmin has been voted off the island. Shambo was the only one to come to her aid. Russell eventually folded knowing he was not in the majority.

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

Foa Foa lost two more people in Survivor: Samoa Episode 2. First, Mike overexerted himself at the challenge and was removed due to medical reasons. Then, Betsy was voted out because Russell H knew she was on to him.

Jaison thinks Ben is the next to go. You had your chance on this last week, dude.

Russell H thinks his team is crazy and that nobody else is playing the game.

Ben doesn’t think his tribe knows anything and that they’ll die if he’s voted out. He tells the girls to not bother even trying to start the fire because they will not be able to do so. Despite his craziness, Russell H is not ready to get rid of him just yet because he’s decent in challenges and strong at camp.

Over on Galu, they’re taking a break. Time for some yoga and relaxation. Well, half the tribe anyway. Shambo has no interest in participating.

Russell’s decided which girl he wants to get rid of. He tells Ben that Ashley was gunning for him last time. When Ben goes to her, she acknowledges this is true. She asks who he found it out from. His response: not Russell.

Not learning from last week, there’s another battle challenge. Let’s just hope nobody drowns. The object is to go into the water, make their way through the battle zone, retrieve crates, and stack those crates so there are no repeating colors on any side. The winner will receive immunity and comfort. Russell H will sit out for Foa Foa. Shambo, Yasmin, Erik, and Brent will sit out for Galu. The women for Galu get to their first crate first. The gap gets even bigger when the men go. The women retain the lead. On the last run, the men continue to lead for Galu as they are the first back to the beach with all 4. With a puzzle to be completed, it’s still anybody’s game. Foa Foa thinks they’ve solved the puzzle. They haven’t. Galu, however, has. They win. Again. This is getting pretty hopeless for Foa Foa.

Russell S has a choice. Comfort or function? He opts for comfort because he’s looking to please the women. Also, this time, he will be sending Shambo to Foa Foa.

Unlike Yasmin, who was obnoxious to them, Shambo uses this as an opportunity to be nice and build relationships on the other side. She proceeds to bash her tribe, saying they’re like 90210 and she can’t relate to them.

Shambo gets clue #2 to the hidden immunity idol, which doesn’t matter since it’s already gone.

Erik says that Russell’s going to regret his decision of comfort for one reason: the tarp. The day it rains, every comfort item will be soaked.

Jaison has an ultimatum, although he doesn’t plan to actually act on it. Either Ben goes home, or he goes home.

Mick’s not sure which side he should go on. He’s loyal to Jaison, but Russell and Liz want to get rid of Ashley. Russell says Ashley first. His plan is to let yet another person know about the immunity idol to gain his trust.

Shambo’s barking up the right tree in the search for the idol from the looks of it, but it’s just a waste of time.

Russell continues down his path of getting rid of Ashley. His excuse is that he doesn’t want the girls to get the numbers. Not that they would because voting out the three guys would be foolish. Granted, it would not be the first time. We saw the group of older guys vote out all the physically fit guys in Vanuatu.

At tribal council, Jaison has a suggestion. Trade Ben for Shambo. Russell blames Jaison’s hatred of Ben on one thing (and he’s right), the fact that he said some comments that could be interpreted as racially motivated. Apparently, he would have preferred the word hood (Yasmin’s term) to ghetto (Ben’s term). I’m not a big fan of Ben, but Jaison needs to get over himself.

Votes
Ashley
Ben
Ben
Ben
Ben

For the first time, Russell was unwilling or unable to get his way, and Ben has been voted off the island.

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

Because she kinda sorta but not really crossed Russell, Marisa was voted off the island in Survivor: Samoa Episode 1.

Hunter H says that he got rid of Marissa because he doesn’t want to worry about her strong mind. Isn’t she one of the people he called a dumbass last week?

Betsy and Russell agree with each other that they don’t trust each other.

Yasmin hates the outdoors. You’re on the wrong show.

Jaison was shocked by how aggressively Russell H acted at tribal council. If he thought that was aggressive, he’d better just wait because it will get even worse as time passes.

Russell H’s got a new plan: find the hidden idol. He starts searching in the middle of the daylight with everybody standing right there, and somehow this works. Great job of hiding that thing, producers. He immediately tells Jaison.

Mike and Betsy are the next two on the chopping block for Foa Foa.

The challenge is a battle to retrieve three balls and pass them to three other tribemates, who will attempt to shoot them into the opposing basket. Typically, these battle challenges are a bad idea. This challenge is for immunity, reward (fishing gear), and a twist. Monica sits out for Galu. Liz scores the first point for Foa Foa. The women get rougher than the men were and are warned about choking and aggressive hits to the head. John scores for Galu to tie it. Probst warns them they’re right on the line of getting ugly. Dude, this challenge is your fault. You want a rough challenge, you’ve got it. Anything resembling a cheap shot will result in elimination. With a kick to Russell S’ knee, Ben has been eliminated from the challenge. Jeff calls this first time in the history of Survivor that this has happened (refer to Survivor: Thailand Episode 3, another battle challenge). With that, the outcome is a foregone conclusion. Foa Foa’s too outnumbered to be a factor. Erik scores for Galu to take the lead 2-1. Then Laura scores to win immunity for Galu. What a poorly planned challenge.

The twist involves the leader. Russell S must select one person from his tribe to accompany someone else back to camp. Yasmin is chosen. She has been given something to open in private, presumably the clue to the already discovered idol.

Mike will be staying behind to have medical look at him. It doesn’t seem that it’s the poorly planned challenge that caused his problem, though. Rather, it is the physical activity. He’s suffering from very low blood pressure, and it keeps dropping. They will be pulling him from the game, without a choice.

Foa Foa’s now down to 8 members, but tribal council still looms.

Shambo said that spear fishing is her thing. It’s apparently not. She’s unable to catch anything and instead does some floating in the water. To make matters worse, she broke the mask.

When Yasmin visits Foa Foa, she insults them. She’s there to help because she doesn’t want this to be a cakewalk. They’re too inept to do anything on their own, so she’s there to save them. When she’s done with her condescending speech to the tribe as a whole, she wants to talk to Ben in private, except it’s not very private because everything she says is yelled. He tackled her like a dude, but he ain’t gonna apologize. So she runs her mouth some more.

Yasmin receives a clue to the idol. She knows it’s up a tree, but she won’t bother to look.

In the middle of the night, Ben is making as much noise as he can, working along as he would during the day. His tribe really doesn’t need much more reason to vote for him. Regardless, Betsy is the weakest link, so that may be his saving grace.

When they go to tribal council, Betsy is the only one to bring her bag.

Ben still believes he can win this game.

Votes
Betsy
Ben
Betsy
Betsy
Betsy
Betsy

By a unanimous vote, Betsy has been voted off the island. She warns that they need to open up their eyes, and based on the previews, maybe they will.

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

Survivor is back for season 19, and the larger than normal Survivor: Samoa cast consists of 20 contestants.

The contestants have been divided into two tribes.

Galu (Purple): Brett, Dave, Erik, John, Kelly, Laura, Monica, Russell S, Shannon, Yasmin
Foa Foa (Yellow): Ashley, Ben, Betsy, Elizabeth, Jaison, Marisa, Mick, Mike, Natalie, Russell H

Their first decision is to elect tribe leaders, despite the fact that they haven’t said anything to anyone yet. Mick believes he has leadership qualities, something he may want to keep to himself. Shannon’s lame nickname is Shambo.

Galu gives Russell S half their votes, with the runner up being Shambo with 3. With 4 votes, Mick gets his wish and is elected by Foa Foa over Jaison, who received 3 votes.

Now that they’ve been elected, it’s time to make a decision. Who will participate in the opening challenge? First, their best swimmer. Mick picks Jaison, who it turns out played water polo, while Russell picks John. For the strongest person, Russell H and Erik are chosen. The most agile people are Marisa and Yasmin, who was dumb enough to wear high heels. The smartest people are Elizabeth and Shambo, who wants God’s help to be smart.

The swimmer will swim out and get a key. The strong person will free up bundles of logs and bring them back to the mat. The most agile person will cross a balance beam. The smart person will solve a puzzle. First tribe to solve the puzzle wins reward. Game has barely started, and they’re already playing for fire. Jaison proves to be a strong swimmer as expected and takes the lead. Russell moves the first bundle of logs easily, but he struggles with the second one. Erik appears like he may have narrowed the gap some, but in either case he showed he’s going to push. Marisa’s already having a wardrobe malfunction even though she hasn’t lost any weight yet. Shambo comes pretty close to pulling the come from behind victory off, but ultimately Foa Foa wins reward.

Ben steps up to take some control, since he’s a hillbilly who’s done all this before.

Russell H didn’t come here to work. He came here to play. His plan is to have a secret alliance with each one of these dumb girls, as well as the not so dumb older lady, Betsy, who doesn’t trust him because he approached her too quickly.

Unlike Foa Foa, where Mick is happy to let Ben take charge, Russell S is would like to continue his leadership role when they get to camp. Except John keeps talking, so getting him under control may be Russell’s biggest challenge. Shambo, who was close to being the leader but not quite, doesn’t appreciate Russell’s leadership style. She wants him to whip these people into shape.

Russell H is telling a story. The only part of this story that’s true is, well, none of it. He’s never lived in New Orleans, was not there during Katrina, is not a fireman, and never even had a German shepherd.

Afterward, he empties all the water out of all the canteens and burns someone’s sock in the fire in an attempt to make everybody miserable.

It turns out that the burnt socks were Jaison’s. He’s getting blisters and has cold feet. As for everybody’s missing water, that’s a problem because it’s creating the potential for bickering amongst the tribe. What Russell needs to be careful of here, though, is his smirking. It may give it away.

For the immunity challenge, six members of each tribe will race while carrying three coils of rope. They will then use that rope to pull a heavy crate to the finish platform, where the four remaining members will disassemble the crate and solve a puzzle. Galu’s off to a sizeable lead. Yasmin, who luckily also packed some sneakers, slows down on the second platform, but they still retain their lead. With Russell’s strength, Foa Foa is able to close the gap some on the crate. Galu performs strongly in the puzzle portion of the challenge to win immunity.

The men are discussing the need to vote based on strength. That means one of the women, with Ashley being the name that Mike brings up.

Russell’s already overplaying. Marisa tells him that she does not like that he’s talking to everybody else individually when he’s supposedly in an alliance with her. He has now decided that Marisa is going first.

Betsy’s intuition is still telling her that Russell can’t be trusted.

When asked at tribal council who the weakest link is, Betsy openly acknowledges that it’s Ashley. When Marisa is given the same question, she dodges it, so Ben makes it as if this a bad thing. After Russell berates her, she apologizes if she did anything to put a mark on her back when she supposedly targeted him.

Votes
Marisa
Marisa
Ashley
Ashley
Marisa
Ashley
Marisa
Marisa
Marisa

With 6 votes, Marisa has been voted out. Russell’s proved he’s in charge, but he’s playing a stupidly aggressive game that in the long run should bite him in the butt. The Ashley votes came from Betsy, Marisa, and Mick.

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

Survivor will be returning for season 19 on Thursday September 17 on CBS. The 20 contestants, a disproportionate number of whom live in or around LA, are:

Ashley Trainer
22
Maple Grove, MN
Spa Sales

Ben Browning
28
Los Angeles, CA
Bartender

Betsy Bolan
48
Campton, NH
Police Officer

Brett Clouser
23
Los Angeles, CA
T-Shirt Designer

Dave Ball
38
Los Angeles, CA
Fitness Instructor

Elizabeth Kim
33
New York, NY
Attorney

Erik Cardona
28
Ontario, CA
Bartender

Jaison Robinson
28
Chicago, IL
Law Student

John Fincher
25
Los Angeles, CA
Rocket Scientist

Kelly Sharbaugh
25
Los Angeles, CA
Hairstylist

Laura Morett
39
Salem, OR
Office Manager

Marisa Calihan
26
Cincinnati, OH
Student

Mick Trimming
33
Los Angeles, CA
Doctor

Mike Borassi
62
Marina del Ray, CA
Personal Chef

Monica Padilla
25
San Diego, CA
Law Student

Natalie White
26
Van Buren, AR
Pharmaceutical Sales

Russell Hantz
36
Dayton, TX
Oil Company Owner

Russell Swan
42
Glenside, PA
Attorney

Shannon Waters
45
Renton, WA
Sales

Yasmin Giles
33
Los Angeles, CA
Hairstylist

Yasmin Giles
Age: 33
Hometown: Los Angeles, CA
Occupation: Hairstylist

CBS Bio
Yasmin Giles is nicknamed “Sassy Yassy” and is ready to show everybody how she got this moniker. An opinionated motor mouth from the Motor City, she always speaks her mind.

Growing up in Detroit, Yasmin claims her life experiences have prepared her for anything that comes her way. She is aware that her know-it-all attitude can rub people the wrong way, but she doesn’t care. “If you’re going to give it to somebody straight, real and raw, then a big mouth doesn’t matter, because they are going to think about what I said and realize Yasmin was right!”

Yasmin believes that once you get past her constant chatter, she is likeable, funny and quick-witted. In addition, working in a beauty salon has helped her learn how to hustle because she is constantly competing with the other employees for new clientele in order to earn a living. While she may look feminine, Yasmin insists she’s a tomboy at heart.

A firm believer in the mantra “winners never quit and quitters never win,” Yasmin claims she’s a winner and she’ll never quit SURVIVOR. “I want to do this and I want to take it all the way.”

Yasmin is single and currently resides in Los Angeles, Calif.