Episode 40.5

There’s not much to say in my introduction as I’m just going to post what I’m giving up for Lent. I like to give up watching certain YouTube channels for the duration of Lent. The ones that I’m giving up this year are CinemaSins, CinemaWins, Jay Exci (formerly SinsSins or CinemaSinsSins), and Channel Awesome. Also, since I spend far too much time reading the articles on the site, I’m not visiting the Daily Kos website for any of Lent. I do plan to join the site at some point, but am currently unsure of when or if I will do such a thing. There’s a lot that I’m not doing until after I finish writing something for my grandpa that he wants done.

There was a special news event the day this episode aired on the coronavirus. I think that it has now been officially labeled as a pandemic. I am worried about it in some ways, but maybe not as worried about it as I could be. One of my lesser concerns about it is that it could affect the filming of Survivor in the future and the airing of the series as a result. You’d think that it would be over by then, but we’ll see what will happen and hopefully the show won’t be affected as a result.

Fire token count: Adam- 1, Yul- 1, Sarah- 0, Rob- 2, Parvati- 2, Kim- 1, Denise- 2, Tony- 1, Nick- 2, Sophie- 1, Jeremy- 1, Sandra- 0, Ben- 1, Michele- 1, Wendell- 1; Natalie- 4, Amber- 1, Danni- 1, Ethan- 1, Tyson- 0; Sandra- idol good for one more tribal council, Jeremy- safety without power, Sarah- steal a vote advantage, Denise- regular idol

In the first segment of the show, people talk on the trip. Nick talks about getting Tyson’s old fire token. Others talk about a problem going on with Jonathan Penner’s wife who now has ALS and Yul talks about this negative effect. Yul is in the game to get money for research for it.

We get to the tribes gathering for a trip swap. Rob didn’t like it the first time he played, even though he lasted until the merge. Michele is now with her ex-boyfriend Wendell whom she briefly dated. There are now three tribes. The new Sele or blue tribe is Parvati, Nick, Yul, Michele, and Wendell. The new red or Dekal tribe has Jeremy, Denise, Tony, Sandra, and Kim. This makes the other, new tribe, Ben, Adam, Sarah, Rob, and Sophie. Adam thinks that the trio on his tribe is fractured.

In the second segment of the show, Jeremy talks about the camp and who to potentially crack from the three that have a majority on his tribe. He thinks that Kim is on the outs based on what she admits. She is the weakest link. Goodbye. Denise also works with new dynamics. Tony thinks that it will be the hyenas versus the lions. Be prepared for meticulous planning. Be prepared for sensational news. Kim finds good food there. Nick likes his new tribe. Parvati connects with Yul despite them not working well the last time that they played. Nick admits to having a crush on Parvati and Yul’s wife said that Parvati (and thus not Yul) was her favorite player. Parvati thinks that this tribe is awkward. Wendell talks about how he and Michele “kicked it.” Does that mean have sex? You can say had sex. You are adults. Michele thinks that she and Wendell have bad blood. You know, it used to be mad love.

Ben talks more about his terrible tribe when they arrive. Rob tries to figure out what happened with Amber and Sarah claims that it was Tyson who put that in motion. Sarah thinks that she can feel the tension between the men on her tribe. Has there ever been a swap before where the men were from one tribe and the women were from another? Sophie thinks that there are too many cracks and goes out looking for an idol. She’s not alone. Sophie found an idol and has to give half of it away. Needless to say, she gives the idol to Sarah since it wouldn’t be that wise to give it to a man.

In the third segment of the show, we get to the immunity challenge in question. The red tribe struggles at the early part of this challenge. Sele, the blue tribe, wins the challenge. You’d think that after this had appeared in Blood versus Water, they should know that it shouldn’t be a three tribe challenge and it only works with two tribes. The red tribe comes in second with the green tribe coming in last. Rob hates to lose, but knows that his tribe has expendable members.

In the fourth segment of the show, we return to Yara, the losing tribe, after their loss and Sophie thinks that she can feel the game slip through her fingers. This isn’t like the end of Thailand. The men agree not to vote each other out. They wonder who to target and think that Sarah is the better target. Rob works out a new buddy system which means that he has to stick with both of his alliance members at once. Adam is skeptical of the way that they want to build trust on this tribe. Ben wants to work in some way forward while Sarah thinks that she might want to steal a vote in order to ensure a majority. Sophie gets a whole idol and the women wonder what to do.

In the fifth segment of the show, we get to tribal council. Jeff talks to Sophie about being past the one third part of the game. Adam thinks that everyone is very good this season and Ben thinks that they don’t poke the bear. Jeff asks Sarah if there is a crack and they said that no one is looking to talk to them from the man on the tribe. Sophie gets upset at the word crack and she wants an alliance. Sarah wants to offer herself as a person to stick around.

Rob thinks that the three men aren’t that good a group since they all blindsided each other. Ben mentions that they didn’t talk much about the vote when they were around the campfire. Sophie thinks that Rob won by getting people to have group mentality. Jeff wonders if he missed anything and the votes are cast with no steal a vote being played. I think that Sarah should have played her advantage and play it safe. Rob is voted out of the game with only four votes revealed. Someone flipped. There is no such thing as a simple vote in this season of Survivor.

On the next Survivor, Adam’s tribe thinks that they can do whatever they want, Tyson is being tricky in some way, and both of the losing tribes will vote someone out. We then get to Rob giving his fire tokens to Parvati with him wanting her to make a run for it.

Total confessional count: Parvati- 8, Kim- 3, Denise- 5, Tony- 8, Nick- 4, Sophie- 9, Jeremy- 8, Sandra- 7, Ben- 10, Michele- 6, Wendell- 4, Adam- 14, Yul- 8, Sarah- 8, Rob- 14; Natalie- 8, Amber- 11, Danni- 7, Ethan- 8, Tyson- 8.

New confessionals this episode: Sarah- 2, Rob- 5, Parvati- 1, Kim- 1, Denise- 1, Tony- 1, Nick- 2, Sophie- 3, Jeremy- 1, Sandra- 0, Ben- 2, Michele- 2, Wendell- 1, Adam- 2, Yul- 1; Natalie- 0, Amber- 0, Danni- 0, Ethan- 0, Tyson- 0.

Fire token count: Ben- 1, Michele- 1, Wendell- 1, Adam- 1, Yul- 1, Sarah- 0, Parvati- 4, Kim- 1, Denise- 2, Tony- 1, Nick- 2, Sophie- 1, Jeremy- 1, Sandra- 0; Natalie- 4, Amber- 1, Danni- 1, Ethan- 1, Tyson- 0, Rob- 0; Sandra- idol good for one more tribal council, Jeremy- safety without power, Sarah- steal a vote advantage, Denise- regular idol, Sophie- regular idol.

Rob had the most confessionals this episode with Sandra and those on the Edge of Extinction tying for the least with zero. The second most was Sophie with three. In terms of total confessionals, Rob and Adam tie for the most with fourteen with Amber as the second highest with eleven and Ben as the third highest with ten. Kim is the lowest with three. There’s not much else to say so I will let you go. For now, this is Adam Decker, signing off.