Category: survivor san juan del sur

In one of the biggest moves of the season, Jon refused to believe that Natalie could possibly be lying to him, leading to his demise in Survivor: San Juan del Sur Episode 12, despite having an idol in his pocket. That brings us down to a final five of Natalie Anderson, Missy Payne and her daughter Baylor Wilson, Jaclyn Schultz, and Keith Nale.

Disregarding how annoying she was both earlier in the season and on both seasons of The Amazing Race, I have to admit Natalie has surprised me as a mostly strong Survivor player. I’m not sure I can see the logic in why any of the others should beat her.

For the challenge, they will be attached to a rope while assembling a bridge, then use sandbags to knock down blocks. Reward is an advantage in the next immunity challenge. Probst wants Missy to sit out again. Natalie and Keith make their way to the bridge first. Keith completes the bridge first as Natalie falls behind. Natalie pulls up to the tossing station, but she’s a long way back. Keith wins reward.

Everybody has been to Exile but Missy, but Keith gives her a pass. He sends the person most outside the group, aside from himself, Jaclyn.

Keith’s advantage is to practice the challenge for as long as he wants until he stops. The challenge requires him to transfer balls through a series of obstacles using spoons.

As it is not a physical challenge, Missy will compete in this one, and she has reasonable odds. Keith is struggling at first, but his advantage seems to have paid off because he is the first person to transfer one ball (of three) to the other side. Then he gets his second. Then his third. Keith wins immunity. That was a pretty stupid challenge. Or at least the advantage was stupid. Nobody else was even remotely close. There’s a difference between giving someone a hand and making things completely lopsided.

Keith has immunity, and Natalie has a hidden immunity idol. That means either they continue what they started last week and get rid of Jaclyn, or they break up the last remaining couple.

Baylor has a favor to ask Natalie. She would like her to play her idol for mom. Well, that is pretty pathetic. If Natalie, Baylor, and Missy all vote the same way, they control the vote. Based on what logic would Natalie then burn her idol on Baylor’s mom? Blood is thicker than whatever Baylor and Natalie have. It just doesn’t make sense.

Yes, Natalie plays her idol, as she must do unless she wants a souvenir. No, she does not play it for herself. No, she does not play it for Missy because that would be stupid. Rather, she plays it for Jaclyn after confirming she voted the way she told her.

Votes
Jaclyn (does not count)
Jaclyn (does not count)
Jaclyn (does not count)
Baylor
Baylor

With 2 votes, Baylor has been voted off the island. Somewhat gutsy move but ultimately very smart. With a desperate Jaclyn on her side, Natalie was able to control the outcome with or without Keith, completing the very necessary task of getting rid of the last set of blood.

The final immunity challenge is to race down a giant tower, go through obstacles, collect puzzle pieces, run back up the tower with them, head back down, and grab the last pieces before heading back to complete the puzzle. Missy will sit out, and this is exactly the reason for keeping her around as they have, whether they have done so for this purpose or not. One less person to compete against.

Keith is the first to return to the top with his first three bags, followed by Natalie. Natalie is the first to grab all five bags with Keith behind her. Jaclyn’s been behind the whole time but is within striking distance considering the puzzle. She sure is taking her time getting there, but Jaclyn is the first to complete the puzzle. On her way down, she falls instead of sliding down the pole, but she recovers. There’s one more step, however. They need to match up the numbers at the bottom of the tower with the ones at the top. Natalie’s right behind her, but Jaclyn is correct on her first guess to win immunity.

So now here’s Jaclyn’s decision. Does she get rid of the strategist, or does she get rid of the challenge winner? Missy’s not even a consideration. With all the big moves Natalie has made, she needs to blindside her. It’s a jerk move… but necessary.

Votes
Keith
Missy
Keith
Keith

With 3 votes, Keith has been voted off the island. I’m pretty sure they just handed this game to Natalie, though I’m not sure either of them could have beaten Keith anyway. Sure, Natalie may have potentially made some jurors angry, but as long as she is not dealing with an excessively bitter jury, she’s got this in the bag.

Missy’s thing was loyalty (until she voted out Jon). Jaclyn, along with Jon, was the dominant/swing vote throughout much of the game. Natalie outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted, and if they were so smart, they should have gotten rid of her last night.

Jon’s question is for Jaclyn. What move was she responsible for? She got rid of Josh.

Keith asks Natalie how she feels about lying. I like Keith, but oh, get over it. They all duped you, and they actually played the game.

Alec asks Natalie her biggest move, and she responds voting him off. He then has Missy talk about how she was the mom in the game.

Like Jon, Baylor just wants to talk to her loved one. It’s an emotional moment, though it doesn’t contribute much.

Josh asks Jaclyn whether she is there because of herself or stronger players. She talks about her and Jon. Forgetting her earlier answer, he asks what was solely her move, and she responds getting rid of him.

Wes lobs them a softball, asking what it was like playing with their loved ones.

Jeremy just says Natalie is the best, and they need to give her credit.

Reed loved watching Natalie’s gameplay. He would like to hang out with Jaclyn some time. And as for Missy, she’s not the mom. She’s the wicked stepmom. One of the harshest (if true) speeches in jury history and completely unnecessary considering she can only get one vote.

Votes
Jaclyn
Natalie
Jaclyn
Missy
Natalie
Natalie
Natalie

The Survivor: San Juan del Sur winner is Natalie. The right person won. Missy was never going to win, regardless of how bitter some jury members may have been. Though Jaclyn had some good arguments why she should win, they would have just worked better against Keith than Natalie.

This a weird jury, though. When polled, they say they would give Keith the win over Missy and just toss Jaclyn a single vote or two or, well, they seem confused.

Natalie acknowledges that her over the top and unprovoked attack against John toward the beginning of the season was not strategy and in fact nothing more than just her blowing off steam because her sister was gone. They are now friends and can joke about it.

As for Jon and Jaclyn, they are engaged now and realize their fighting was stupid.

Survivor will of course be back again next year for season 30. Survivor: Worlds Apart pits white collar, blue collar, and the no collar rebels against each other. The show will premiere February 25 right before The Amazing Race 26 (don’t get your hopes up… it’s going back to Fridays right after that).

During a doubled up night, first Reed predictably went home in Survivor: San Juan del Sur Episode 11. This was followed by Natalie switching her vote to save Keith and get rid of Alec instead, which we’re told makes a big difference.

Natalie pretends she just got confused while voting, saying they didn’t speak to her enough before Tribal Council. Jon believes her. Keith now believes that Natalie is on his side just like everybody else does.

The reward challenge will pit two teams of three against each other while they are tied together. They will go through a pile of hay, over and under an obstacle, then transport water in a bucket across a giant teeter totter to the other side before concluding with a puzzle. Keith, Jon, and Missy are struggling on the obstacles as Missy injures her ankle. Baylor, Natalie, and Jaclyn have a large lead as they head into the puzzle. Despite that, they can’t put it together, and the other team wins reward.

Jaclyn, of course, pouts. In response, Jon offers his reward to Baylor because he’s not into manacures and massages anyway. That plus he really thinks giving away rewards is going to help. Natalie volunteers to go to Exile Island, which is a very rough experience for her.

Baylor quickly acknowledges that Jon is still her top target.

As much as Missy wants to stay tough, she shows up at the challenge with a walking stick. Jeff doesn’t have faith she’s going to be able to do the challenge and calls in medical to look at her. It is at least significantly sprained, but in order to confirm whether it is broken, they would need to do an X-ray, which would be a game ender. However, because the game is almost over, they can immobilize it and do not require her to leave the game if she does not want to. I guess that’s why they went to a commercial break before giving us the results. She does not want to leave. What this does is makes her a great person to bring to the end because you know she won’t be winning immunity.

The immunity challenge is an endurance one, which Missy could not logically participate in anyway, so she will sit out and get her ankle patched up. They will balance on a wobbling plank while preventing a cone in front of them from falling. Jaclyn is first to fall. Baylor is next. A gust of wind causes Keith to drop. Then Jon follows. Natalie wins immunity as determined by mother nature.

So now Jon is the target again. Jaclyn again raises the concern to Jon that he may be the target, but he won’t consider it.

The split vote plan requires Missy’s support. It’s a perfect plan otherwise. Missy is extremely vocal about how she wants to honor her deal with Jon to the bitter end, perhaps even at the expense of her daughter.

Votes
Keith
Jaclyn
Keith
Jaclyn
Jon
Jon

With a three way tie, they will revote.

Votes
Jon
Jon

With 2 votes, Jon has been voted off the island. He had so many opportunities to steer himself toward another course, including the hidden immunity idol in his pocket, but he clearly chose the wrong path.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: San Juan del Sur Episode 13, where we will find out who the Survivor: San Juan del Sur winner is, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Survivor: San Juan del Sur Episode 10 was the typically low rated Thanksgiving week episode, but anyone who missed it missed an awesome Tribal Council. Jon was Reed’s target, and Reed orchestrated a plan that should have worked. Keith opened up his big mouth. Natalie opened up her big mouth. Jon played his idol. Keith played his idol. And in the end, Wes was sent home with just 2 out of the 9 votes.

Natalie wants credit for Jon playing his idol. Jon wants credit for Jon playing his idol. Even Jaclyn wants credit for Jon playing his idol for some reason. Upset that she is giving some credit to Natalie, Jon asks Jaclyn to not give others credit because they can use that ammo for the jury.

Reward challenge is the chopping show of favorites. Reward is a horseback ride for some food.

Who else has a twin sibling? Jeremy. Everybody is correct except Keith. Natalie chops Reed. So does Jon. Alec chops Natalie. Missy eliminates Reed. Jaclyn chops Alec. Baylor does, too. Reed chops Missy for some reason.

Who owns and operates their own tanning business? Julie. Everybody is correct. Jon eliminates Alec. Alec returns the favor and chops Jon. Missy chops Keith. Jaclyn follows suit. Keith chops Missy. Baylor eliminates Keith. Natalie asks everybody else’s opinion before continuing. Jeff says stop wasting everybody’s time. Baylor wants her mom to win, so that’s how Jeff ends it.

Jon goes to Exile. Baylor will join Missy at the reward. Natalie will, too, and Jaclyn can stay behind with the enemy, which makes her realize where she stands in that alliance. During this exchange, Reed calls Baylor a brat, so now we get to listen to Missy whine.

While on Exile, Jon finds another typically poorly hidden immunity idol.

Missy is proud of her daughter. She found an idol. The one Natalie found. But let’s give Baylor some credit.

Alec is now trying to smooth things over with Jaclyn. It’s kind of like cream cheese. It won’t hurt anything.

Their immunity challenge is to balance six balls into six dimples on their paddles. It quickly becomes a battle between Keith and Jon. In due time, Keith runs away with it and wins immunity.

Now that Jon is back, Jaclyn can reveal to him that they are putting themselves in the middle again. This really was not what he wanted to hear. So now she’s mad at him. Again. After this, Reed approaches them. As Natalie joins the conversation, Jon says he can’t trust Reed. Wink wink. Then Jon reveals his idol to Missy, and Jaclyn wants to know why he’s talking to her instead. When he does go try to talk to Jaclyn, she doesn’t want to talk any more. When they do talk, they fight some more.

Votes
Reed
Missy
Reed
Reed
Reed
Reed

With 5 votes, Reed has been voted off the island. The alliance is clearly in shambles, but Reed sunk himself last week.

Jon and Jaclyn say they resolved everything at Tribal Council. I’m sure we haven’t heard the last of this. As for Alec, he feels like more of an outcast, and Jon, who says he is in control of the game, tells him he’s going home next.

The reward challenge is to hold a ball above their heads between a platform and what they are holding. Alec falls within about five seconds. Missy drops next. Then Keith. Baylor is next. Jon follows. Jaclyn is last to fall, and Natalie wins reward. After all of Jaclyn’s complaining, I assume she’ll take her.

Alec will be going to Exile. Reward is a king size bed at camp and food delivery, which as expected she will be sharing with Jaclyn. Jon will be receiving the treat as well. Natalie’s explanation is that she wants them to trust her more before she stabs them (or at least Jon) in the back.

Adding to Natalie’s fuel of wanting to get revenge against Jon for Jeremy is the fact that Jon tells her he has an idol. He seems to trust her so much that she could probably take him out right now and send him home with a souvenir in his pocket.

Natalie shares her plan to get rid of Jon with Baylor, but she won’t be telling Missy.

Jaclyn and Jon are starting to get a weird vibe. She thinks Keith is the ringleader, trying to sway Missy and Baylor. Little does she know the whole tribe is plotting against them, and they have enough for a split vote to take her out instead if he does play his idol.

For the immunity challenge, they will pull on a rope, balancing a wooden table, while stacking ten blocks. Keith takes an early lead, but it’s all meaningless in this challenge because you can get almost to the end, dump your blocks, and have to start over. Slow and steady, Jon wins immunity.

That pretty well screwed over everybody’s plans. Now they can either get rid of Keith or Alec, or they can just take out Jon’s girlfriend, which is the logical move if they want to weaken him.

Jon proposes a split vote. The target is Keith because he has won immunity twice and came so close to beating Jon in the last one. Natalie is thinking about flipping this and surprising them with an Alec vote instead.

At Tribal Council, Jon starts talking about his father dying of brain cancer. This may not be the intent, but that story is a good one for the jury to see.

Votes
Keith
Alec
Keith
Alec
Keith
Alec
Alec

With 4 votes, Alec has been voted off the island. Jaws drop. Joining Natalie in her mischief is Baylor, who was playing her mom’s game but now seems to have shifted toward Natalie.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another live recap of Survivor: San Juan del Sur Episode 12, which airs Wednesday at 8/7c on CBS.

Natalie gave her reward away to Jon, and Jeremy followed her lead, giving his reward to Jaclyn in Survivor: San Juan del Sur Episode 9. The net result of this was that Jon turned on Jeremy, whose alliance voted him out.

Having voted out Jeremy for finding out that he has an idol, Jon’s strategy right after Tribal Council is to tell Natalie that he has an idol. Her reaction to this is that he’s the ringleader and needs to go. It’s an interesting turn of events considering two episodes ago I was pretty sure he was just the puppy dog following Jaclyn’s lead, which he was.

The reward challenge will have them jumping off a platform for keys to collect puzzle statue pieces. Reward is to be ambassadors of goodwill to deliver baesball gear to kids who need new equipment. While watching the game, they will get baseball food. Reed, Alec, Jaclyn, and Jon (blue) go against Missy, Natalie, Baylor, and Wes (yellow). Keith is not picked. It’s not apparent to me what might be the way to either gain an advantage or screw up in this challenge, and there is no real difference between the teams heading to the puzzle. Blue takes a long time getting their pieces unlocked, and that’s the difference as yellow wins reward.

I hope nobody gives their reward away again. Ugh. Baylor starts crying because her mom hasn’t won anything. Try harder then. So Reed gives his reward to Missy. Lesson learned, just shed a few tears. In his defense, Reed says this is strategy. So was last week’s give away, and we saw how that worked. His plan is to plot against Jon while he’s gone. Wes will be heading to Exile.

When they return to camp, Reed approaches Keith. He knows he has an idol because he searched his bag, and he wants to use that information so that they can work together. The assumption is the other alliance will split the vote. He wants his old/current(?) alliance to trust each other for one vote, even though there’s no reason they should.

Meanwhile, Natalie and Baylor go and find a hidden immunity idol. Natalie has decided she does not want to get rid of Jon yet. Rather, she is more afraid of Reed and wants to vote him out instead, then Jon next so that the girls have the numbers.

Their immunity challenge is to balance on a narrow perch while holding a handle above their heads. The first temptation is a plate of candy, and that is enough to get Jon out after 7 minutes. Missy is out next. Jeff brings out a plate of cookies and milk, and Baylor and Jaclyn quit within about a second each before Wes even has the chance to think about it. After 45 minutes, the next temptation is chicken wings and beer, and this time Wes is the first to respond. Keith points out that Natalie is the only one on her team who is actually trying. That begs the question why Wes was so easily convinced to drop out. As his feet are turning purple, Keith steps down. Then Alec. 3 hours have passed. Jon and Jaclyn are sleeping by this time. Natalie asks if there’s any more food coming. She asks for pizza, wings, cookie, ice water, and beer, and Jeff delivers. Natalie drops. Reed wins immunity, though Jeff will be giving him his necklace on the ground as he recovers.

Reed’s win blew Natalie’s plan away. His plan, however is alive and well. He proposes a split vote where everybody will turn on the father and son because one of them has an idol. Missy completely buys this, but Jon is not so sure, as he and/or Jaclyn are not in control for a change.

During Tribal Council, there is much whispering as Jeff attempts to conduct a discussion. Nobody seems to know what is going to happen.

After the vote, Natalie tells Jon to play his idol. He does. In response, Keith plays his idol, offering it to his son, who declines. Well, this is certainly interesting.

Votes
Jon (does not count)
Jon (does not count)
Jon (does not count)
Keith (does not count)
Keith (does not count)
Jon (does not count)
Keith (does not count)
Wes
Wes

With 2 votes, Wes has been voted off the island. That split vote plan just backfired, and now Reed is in more danger than he had been, though splitting up that couple still makes sense.

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

Jaclyn took control of the game in Survivor” San Juan del Sur Episode 8, turning the tide against the oh so offensive Josh.

For the reward challenge, they divide into teams and will have to knock the other person off the beam into the mud. Reward is a cruise on a fishing yacht. Reed beats Wes. Jaclyn knocks herself off to give Natalie’s team the 2-0 lead. Jon knocks Jeremy in to make it 2-1. Baylor beats her mom Missy for a 3-1 lead. Keith beats Alec to make it 3-2. Wes shakes Reed into the mud to tie it 3-3. Jaclyn once again beats herself against Natalie. Jon beats Jeremy again to make it 4-4. Baylor beats Missy again.

Reed, Natalie, Baylor, Alec, and Jeremy win reward. Natalie offers her reward to Jon. Jeremy offers his reward to Jaclyn. I don’t think they’re going to fall for that. In return for offering up his reward, Jeremy will be going to Exile. He’s happy to go look for the idol that his new ally already found but nonetheless sent him there to look for anyway. Jon eventually realizes that the clue is very obvious and everybody is going to know he already found it.

Their immunity challenge is a block stacking task using only their feet. Reed and Keith jump out to the lead and get to the third and final row first. Reed’s pieces crumble somewhat, but he recovers. Disaster strikes Keith. Out of nowhere, Baylor enters the competition. Reed keeps failing on the final piece. Baylor wins immunity.

A desperate Reed decides to start going through Keith’s bag. Smart move, though it’s crossing a line. He doesn’t find the idol, but he does find the clue to the idol. So he goes to Missy and Baylor. Perhaps that buys him another night, but it’s hard for me to believe that this is a good long-term strategy.

Jeremy, who spent a rough two nights alone, confronts Jon about the idol. He doesn’t go so far as to accuse him of anything, but he says enough to let him know he knows. After this, Jon approaches Missy because he wants to eliminate Jeremy.

The plan here is a split vote, which means that all Reed, Keith, Alec, and Wes need to do is stick together. Of course, if Jon flips as he has said he wants to do, none of that matters.

Votes
Keith
Reed
Keith
Reed
Reed
Jeremy
Jeremy
Jeremy
Jeremy
Jeremy

With 5 votes, Jeremy has been voted off the island. As for the Reed votes, they all came from his allies. That sure just flipped everything upside down.

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

Realizing she had no chance to win anyway, Julie quit in Survivor: San Juan del Sur Episode 7, denying the people who were counting on her as a number the opportunity to use her and pretend to be nice.

Jon & Jaclyn had decided to take out Jeremy. The lack of a vote frees them up for the time being from having to openly choose a side. It also means we’re stuck with Jeremy.

At the challenge, they will build a temple like the Mayans (you know, probably). They toss the heavy puzzle pieces on a platform and push it back and forth. Reward is a taco bar. Keith, Natalie, Reed, Jeremy, and Wes (yellow) are against Alec, Josh, Baylor, Jon, and Jaclyn (blue). Missy was not picked. The yellow team is ahead for the whole initial part of the challenge, and they never give up that lead. They send Jon to Exile. Oh, now that’s not funny at all. I half expected them to send Missy after not letting her play.

The group of people who go on the reward are in opposite alliances, and they don’t have any interest in talking strategy. Josh, however, does make an effort with Baylor, who was his ally until her mother told her not to be. She’s not budging.

As the lone person on Exile Island, Jon gets the clue all to himself. There is a new idol there with him. He can search without interruption or anyone knowing. After climbing a rock formation that is sticking out like a sore thumb (what does that mean anyway?), he finds it.

The girls seem to be going out of their way to be offended by the guys, whose personalities are probably those with which it is easy to get easily offended. Baylor at least admits that she’s easily bothered. Jaclyn assumes that Jon will do whatever she tells him, so she can get rid of them if she wants.

Immunity is a memory challenge using a series of symbols and cubes. Jon is eliminated on only the second symbol. Reed drops next. Then Wes and Alec. Natalie is eliminated on the first symbol in the second round. Then Baylor. Jaclyn follows. Keith and Missy are next. Jeremy beats Josh to win immunity.

Jeremy’s win screws over Josh’s plans once again. That makes Baylor the new target, proposed by Josh, who she refused to even pretend to maybe be considering as an ally. Keith reveals this plan to Missy.

Now comes Jaclyn’s pitch to Jon. She doesn’t like the guys any more. Oh, and they may be good at immunity challenges (she wants to keep Jeremy, though). Jon’s not sure he wants to do as he is told.

Votes
Baylor
Josh
Baylor
Josh
Baylor
Josh
Baylor
Josh
Baylor
Josh
Josh

With 6 votes, Josh has been voted off the island, as Jon follows orders. He seemed to be playing a great game, but I must have missed the part where he became a rude fratboy in need of disdain from the women.

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

Dale followed his daughter right off the island in Survivor: San Juan del Sur Episode 6.

The following day, Missy explains their plans to Keith. He did not suspect he would be receiving votes, as nobody bothered to tell him. However plausible their justification (to flush out the idol), he is not happy.

The tribes receive treemail informing them of a merge. After meeting for a feast, they return to their new camp, the former Coyopa camp.

Jeremy hopes to form an alliance with himself, Natalie, Julie, Jon & Jaclyn, and Missy & Baylor. Great. I hope they don’t take over because I’m hard pressed to find someone on that list to root for.

Josh has an alternate plan: couples against singles. The dilemma here is Baylor’s. Her only ally is Josh, while her mom is allied with that list of people who Jeremy wants to join. Missy seems to be pulling the strings here. Realizing that is a lost cause, Josh approaches Jon and Jaclyn instead. That makes them the swing votes again.

Josh wishes Wes a happy birthday. Then Keith remembers what day it is.

They know that the trail mix was packed before leaving the feast. Julie has it and intends to keep it a secret, perhaps sharing with people she likes. Don’t hide food on Survivor. That is one of the worst mistakes you can make. This is very basic Survivor 101 that we learned even during the earliest seasons.

For the immunity challenge, they will balance balls on a disc attached to ropes. Jeremy is out quickly. Just before the end of the first round (10 minutes), Missy and Julie drop. The next round will require them to move further back. Reed drops. Baylor is next followed by Alec and Jaclyn. The wind is playing a huge role here. This seems to be more about luck than what you would think is an endurance competition. Natalie is next. After 25 minutes, they add a second ball. Josh drops. Then Jon. Keith beats Wes to win immunity.

Now that she knows she’s been busted for stealing food, Julie is talking about quitting again. Missy tells her she needs her. She wants her to stick around. Julie knows exactly what this means. For one more vote anyway. Then she can quit.

As Josh seems to be the puppetmaster, Jeremy’s vote tonight will be for him. The other side wants to get rid of Jeremy. Jon has decided he does not trust Jeremy.

For all the talk about how they are going to vote, it’s all irrelevant, at least for tonight. Julie asks Jeff to come to the island. In addition to missing her boyfriend, she acknowledges that part of it is that she thinks she has already lost the game anyway. As she had discussed, she quits. One of the weakest reasons to quit I have seen, though I do like that she bowed out now rather than having people pretend to like her just because they were using her as a number to be chopped down later.

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

When given the choice between the two pairs, Jaclyn and Jon went with Missy and Baylor in Survivor: San Juan del Sur Episode 5, helping to vote out Kelley.

Dale pulls out his fake idol. He informs Jon that he won’t be going home next time. More than once. He’s a little too adamant about it, but that doesn’t seem to prevent the rumor from being believed.

Jeremy’s angry about the proposed trade. Even though they have nothing to eat, he doesn’t care. Of course, he was part of the problem of eating too much rice originally.

As promised, Jeff shows up at camp the next day with a bag of rice. He can only think of one other time that someone has needed this sort of help, back in Australia (season 2) when perhaps people did not know any better, and they also had some other hardships that contributed. This is the first tribe of gluttons who suck at planning.

In order to receive enough rice to last the rest of the game, he wants the tarp, hammock, bed roll, hatchet, hammer, one of the pots, and the extra flint. Basically, everything they have won so far during their winning streak, aside from the fishing gear that they already gave up so they could replace the lost flint.

For the reward challenge, one person at each tribe will be blindfolded, go across obstacles to stations and collect puzzle pieces (while avoiding the similar dummy pieces), then go to the other station to complete the puzzle. Reward is chicken and steak. Reed and Baylor are nominated by their tribes as the strongest competitors for this challenge. They are both in about the same place when they get back to the station with all their pieces. Reed places a single dummy piece, which he correctly replaces before asking for confirmation, and he wins reward for Hunahpu as usual.

Baylor will be going to Exile Island. Reed wants to send Julie with her. Then Natalie pipes up and volunteers to go instead. I’m not sure what she gains from this, but what she does not gain is a meal, as she will not participate in the reward. Her explanation is that she wants Missy and Baylor to take care of her after the merge. When they do arrive, Baylor volunteers the idol clue.

Jeremy views Josh and Reed as threats. I’m losing track of how many people are his targets.

As fate would have it, the day they give up their tarp, it starts raining. Julie is the most shaken up about this and is talking about quitting.

For the immunity challenge, they will race up and over a wall, move a large wooden cube, and get puzzle pieces by unwinding them from a spring. Then two tribe members will put together the puzzle. Julie sits out for Hunahpu. Hunahpu takes the lead as usual, but Jon manages to overtake Jeremy when he is retrieving puzzle pieces. Jon’s dominance continues and gives his team a large lead heading into the puzzle. With 8 pieces in total, Jon manages to place 3 of them before the other tribe even places any. As Coyopa falls apart on the last half of the puzzle, however, Hunahpu retakes the lead and wins immunity.

Dale has a new strategy. He offers his fake idol (at least he’s pretty sure it’s fake) to Jon if he is not voted out tonight. This is a much more interesting strategy. They could just split the vote and get rid of Keith in case Dale plays an idol, but now Jon has incentive to keep Dale.

Votes
Dale
Keith
Missy
Keith
Dale
Dale

With 3 votes, Dale has been voted off the island. Given the ties Missy and Baylor have on the other side, whereas Dale has nobody, I’m not sure this was the right move, although it beats trying to play a fake idol and having it backfire.

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