SURVIVOR RECAP!
Nobag (Merged Tribe): Bob, Corinne, Crystal, Ken, Matty, Sugar, Susie
The Jury: Marcus, Charlie, Randy
Losers: Michelle, Gillian, Paloma, Jacquie, GC, Kelly, Ace, Dan
MOST PAINFUL ELIMINATION OF THE DAY: RANDY VOTED OUT
The newly merged tribe, Nobag, returns to camp from Tribal Council after they blindsided another member of the original Kota Tribe, Charlie. Proud of their efforts, the original Fang members boast about how they are systematically dismantling the former Kota tribe one vote at a time. Randy is aware that the power is shifting toward Ken and Crystal now, and that he and Corinne are on the outs. Paranoia begins to set in for Corinne: “I mean, Kenny and Crystal are taking out my entire alliance. My chances are very slim. You know, most likely, me, Bob and Randy, we’re gonna go home and we don’t know in what order, but we’re gonna go home.”
While Randy watches from a distance, Sugar and Bob sneak into the jungle for a chat. Sugar pleads with Bob to send Randy home next because of his poor attitude. Bob confesses that he does not have the hidden immunity idol, and reveals that he tirelessly looked for it while on Exile Island, but was unsuccessful. Unbeknownst to Bob, Sugar is in possession of the hidden immunity idol, but has kept her discovery a secret from Corinne, Randy and Bob. As Bob’s story progresses, he reveals to Sugar that he has constructed a fake idol and shows it to Sugar.
THE THIRD MAN
Meanwhile, Corinne and Randy meet at treemail to discuss their current state in the game. Corinne hypothesizes that Susie, Ken and Crystal plan on being the final three, and are using Sugar and Matty as pawns. Randy feels vulnerable: “Corinne is still an ally, but what can you do with two people? We’ve got immunity idols; we’ve got huge physical threats like Matty. I’m planning on just continuing to be my same charming self.” As Corinne and Randy admit to hating the other players, they realize that their only hope is that they can get someone to flip and join their alliance of two. Randy comes to the realization that he cannot change his attitude, because doing so would bring to light his plan. Randy and Corinne conclude that the person they should lure into their alliance is Matty.
Corinne and Randy arrive at the Nobag camp with treemail, which includes individual envelopes containing five hundred dollars in cash. The tribe concludes that the challenge will be an auction, and everyone cheers with excitement. As the reward challenge nears, Corinne is psyched about her ultimate goal: “Nothing tastes better than five hundred dollars except a million.”
REWARD CHALLENGE: AUCTION
The Nobag Tribe takes a seat in the bleachers upon arrival at the auction. Host Jeff Probst explains the rules. Each person has five hundred dollars. Bidding will be in increments of twenty dollars. You cannot pool money and you cannot share food. Randy wins beer and peanuts for $180. Ken wins a covered item for $340. The item is revealed to be a piece of paper that reads: "Send yourself or someone else to Exile Island. If you send someone else, you take all of their money.” Ken sends Bob to Exile Island, taking Bob's $500 for himself. Sugar buys chocolate and peanut butter for $340. Also for $340, Susie wins a hot bath and a change of clean clothes. Matty wins a burger, fries, and soda for $400. The next item is covered. Ken and Randy fight for it, and although he initially outbids his opponent, Ken decides to give up the item to Randy's bid of $280. It turns out to be a bad decision for Ken, as the covered item is revealed to be spaghetti, garlic bread, and a glass of wine. Up next is an item that will give the recipient an advantage in the next immunity challenge. Corinne immediately bids $500, all of her money. Ken is the only one who can outbid her, but he declines. Jeff explains to Corinne that the bottle must remain sealed until she arrives at the next immunity challenge. The next item is covered and the first person to bid $20 wins it. Randy buys it and Jeff reveals that the item is a plate of cookies to be shared with the whole tribe. As Randy distributes the cookies, Sugar refuses to take one. Randy offers a cookie and a half to Corinne, since Sugar refused a cookie. Randy asks Sugar again if she would like a cookie. She finally agrees, but defiantly gives it away to Matty. With that, the Survivor Auction is over.
THE TEMPER TANTRUM
As Nobag returns to camp, Matty thanks Sugar for the cookie. Randy snaps at Matty, and says that it was not hers to give out. Randy expresses his resentment for Sugar: “I left the auction broke, full, half-drunk and pissed off. So I am going to burn this house down in the next day or so.” Sugar laughs at Randy’s childlike fit over the cookie: “Oh my gosh, have you ever seen a grown man get so mad over a chocolate chip cookie? And the only reason I took his damn cookie is because he didn’t want to give me a cookie. He wanted to give everybody a cookie but Sugar, because Sugar’s evil.” Randy continues to pout about being “treated like a dog” at the auction. Despite his tantrum, Randy remains focused on his goal and decides to begin laying the groundwork for an alliance with Matty. He begins by trying to manipulate Matty into feeling as if he is on the outs with the rest of the tribe. “Fifth place ain’t bad,” he tells Matty.
THE PECKING ORDER
The alliance of five, consisting of Ken, Crystal, Sugar, Matty and Susie meet in the hut to discuss who to vote out next. Matty singles out Bob as next to go and suggests keeping Randy around since he has already angered a lot of people and thus would be an ideal person to bring along further. Sugar sees this strategic move as a threat. As Matty lays out the pecking order as being Bob, Randy and then Corinne, Randy arrives at the hut. He exchanges harsh looks with the fivesome.
OPERATION STRONG ARM
The next day, Randy meets up with Corinne in the jungle to reveal his diabolical plan of crashing and burning for the remainder of the day in an effort to shake things up at camp. His plan is to put the target on himself so that he can convince Bob to give him the hidden immunity idol, if he has it, so that he can then use it to blindside Susie. Randy explains, “The reason that myself and Corinne and Bob are in the predicament that we’re in is because Susie flipped. She went with Crystal and Kenny and they voted Marcus out. This would be sweet, sweet revenge.” Randy begins wreaking havoc on the Nobag Tribe, causing everyone to become paranoid. “What’s he want to do, like fight or something?” asks Sugar. Randy continues to insult the tribe about the cookie incident, and even goes as far as cursing at Susie to shut up. With everyone now turned against him, Randy feels comfortable that his plan is working: “They’re all freaking out and that’s a real good thing. The more they freak out, the more paranoia sets in, the more Operation Strong Arm can be effective. Man, we still got an immunity challenge to play.”
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE: THE DOMINO EFFECT
The Nobag Tribe arrives on the mat as Bob returns from Exile Island to rejoin them. Host Jeff Probst explains the rules. In the first stage of the challenge, players will race across a series of balance beams carrying a bag of puzzle blocks. When a player reaches the finish, they will head back to the start and do it again. The first three people to get their three bags across the line will compete in the final round. In the final round, the players will empty their bags filled with puzzle blocks and arrange the blocks along a multi-angled platform while avoiding trip wires which could tip the blocks and force players to reassemble the puzzle. The goal is to arrange the puzzle blocks so that they will fall one into another like dominos, raising a flag. The first person to raise their flag wins immunity. Corinne opens her bottle that she won at the auction and reads it: “You will sit out for the first stage of this challenge and move directly into the final round.” Corinne sits out for the first round, while everyone else begins battling for the two remaining spots in the final round.
Matty dominates the first round by getting all three bags of puzzle pieces quickly across the finish line. Ken is right up against Susie to claim the second spot in the final round. Ken is able to defeat Susie, and is up against Corinne and Matty in the final round. For the final round, Matty and Corinne start lining up their dominos in the front, while Ken makes his way under the trip wire, starting at the end. This proves to be a tricky strategy, as Ken’s dominos go down when he shakes the trip wire. Matty takes an early lead, while Ken struggles to recover. Corinne continues to make progress while Ken catches up. Ken oversteps Corinne and is nearly finished setting up his dominos, neck and neck with Matty. Ken is the first to lay out all of his dominos and tries them out. They stop after only knocking over a few dominos and Ken regroups. Matty announces that he is ready to give it a try, but so are Ken and Corinne. The three players race to see whose dominos make it to the end. Corinne’s dominos stop short, as do Matty’s. Ken’s dominos make their way to the end and raise his flag, which grants him individual immunity.
THE ART OF DECEPTION
As the tribe congratulates Ken on his win, Randy is aware that the only way to save himself would be to convince Bob to give him his immunity idol. Meanwhile, Sugar tries to convince Bob that it would be hilarious if he gave Randy his fake immunity idol at Tribal Council. “The only way that I can save myself at another Tribal Council is by convincing somebody else to use it, and I think it should do the trick,” says Bob. Unaware that Bob’s idol is fake, Corinne approaches Bob about giving the idol to Randy. Bob agrees to give the idol to Randy, thereby aligning himself with Sugar. Bob then shows Randy the fake idol in the hut and assures him that since everyone is targeting Randy, he will give it to him. The two meet in the jungle for the pass off, and Randy pledges to vote for Bob to win the million dollars should he make it to the final three without him. Bob reports back to Sugar that it is a done deal, and Sugar calls Bob a genius. In the hut, Sugar assures Ken and Crystal that this will be the funniest night of their lives.
TRIBAL COUNCIL
At Tribal Council, Randy bickers about the cookie incident with Sugar, citing her reaction as being harsh. Susie insults Randy, and says that she feels sorry for him now that he has shown his true colors. The rest of the tribe point out that Randy has been rude to Susie and the others, which has stirred up a lot of animosity toward him. Before the votes are read, Randy plays Bob’s fake immunity idol, thinking that he has just blindsided Susie. Jeff reveals that it is not a true immunity idol, and Randy is humiliated as the rest of the tribe laugh at him. In the end, Randy was voted out with five of the eight votes cast against him. Randy Bailey, the 49 year-old wedding videographer from Eagle Rock, Missouri, became the eleventh person voted out and third member of the jury of SURVIVOR: GABON: EARTH’S LAST EDEN.
Coming up next week...everyone's favorite! The rec(r)ap episode! Of course, it is Thanksgiving, so not many people will be watching anyway.
Contestants in order of how much I want them to win: Bob, Corinne, Matty, Ken, Sugar, Susie, Crystal
Contestants in order of how likely I think they are to win: Ken, Crystal, Susie, Sugar, Matty, Bob, Corinne
Have a happy Thanksgiving, everybody.