Recap of Survivor: Second Chance S31E5

SPOILERS!

Woo is psyched to be safe!
“He’s in a better place” – Andrew, on Jeff going home. He’s not dead, Andrew! Way to have a heart!
“Woo, was like fight!” That’s good English, Tasha.
“I needed to. I was freaking out!” That’s good English, Woo.
“I don’t like feeling like people owe me anything, but if [Woo] writes my name down, he’s dead to me” I’m pretty sure you’ve said that before Abi. Abi Mcrepeatsherself.
“I love you, little sister” Naw, Andrew and Tasha are so cute!
Tasha is playing the game. “It’s hard to go from the bottom to the top” but something about playing the game that she’s been dealt and running with it. This girl’s got brains. She’s still my favourite player of the season and I do hope that she takes out the win because I think her and Andrew could be a smart pairing to go all the way to the end.
Kimmi, Monica and Kelly go off looking for crabs.
“As women we should be strong and we should stick together” Monica has her eyes set on an all girl alliance. Way to think you’re Parvati, Monica.
“I think we should stop hunting” – Monica. I first though that she wanted to do this because she felt bad for destroying the environment but it turns out, she just wanted to make sure that they have enough food to last them for the rest of the game. This of course, annoys Kimmie. “We don’t need to eat food. Just leave it in the ocean, because we’re going to deplete the ocean”, she bitches. “I’m not living day to day, I’m looking at the whole bigger option” – Monica is happy to ration.
Kimmie says her biggest challenge is to work on her patience, but “if Monica is [my] biggest problem out here” then she figures she’s doing okay.

Reward

Ugh. Why do they show Kass first every. single. time.?!?!
Going for a roll in the barrel looks like fun – dizzy, dizzy fun!
First team to finish wines comfort in the form of chairs, tarp and other items plus refreshments. Second team to finish wins a tarp.
And this is also a second chance for Ciera whose tribe previously played and lost this challenge on her season.
So it’s Woo vs Monica vs Kelley in the barrels!
Monica sure is taking a little longer than everyone else. Zzzzz …. is it nap time yet? Clearly, she should have eaten more clams and crabs. Just saying.
“I’m upside down” – Monica. Oh no!
“Monica, once again, very slow” – Way to rub it in, Jeff!
Oh yeah, I forgot that Keith is in this season. He definitely has had a lack of screentime.
“Yeah Woo, yeah Woo!” – Andrew. Remove the caps and it sounds like some lame cheer. “yeah woo – yeah woo – yeah woo!” “Woo Woo, he’s our man. If he can’t do it no one … will!”
“This is all about finding that touch” – Jeff, just as Spencer drops.
Wow, Spencer got three in a row!
Keith is first to finish for Ta Kao. Angkor is second. No doubt Monica was the cause for Bayon. Yes, Spencer did good at catching up, but it does not look good for Monica.

“Winning is the elixir” – Terry
“If we don’t have food, we go into the supermarket out there (the ocean), to get it” – Terry, and off he goes to fish
Joe is trying to pull in the numbers, as he still feels like the biggest threat. Which he is, and will always be. But that doesn’t always mean that you can’t win the game. I think back to Ozzy, JT, Parvati, Tyson and Boston Rob and others who went far. It’s all about how you play the game and work with the cards that you are dealt. Although, I don’t think Joe is strategic enough to win the game. I think his game is about immunity and luck.
The Bayon team wants to “keep Terry feeling good” – so he’s not as comfortable as he thinks he is. Poor Terry.
“That was the problem with my season, I didn’t hook up with anybody” – Keith thinks he’s on Matchmaker.
“Five can bring you all the way to the end” – Keith is in it until the final five with his tribe
“Trend is we win immunity, and loose reward” – Spencer, we shall see if this be so.
Spencer wants to hook up with Jeremy. Keith is right, hook up is a fun thing to say!
I feel like Spencer is the Cochran of this season, although I much preferred Cochran. Cochran was smart but he was quirky in the way that was almost endearing, so weird yet so unique and cool that you just liked him. Spencer I feel is a little likable.
Spencer described himself as “awkward, geek, kid who couldn’t fish etc” but now he’s doing those things “living survivor” and he “feels proud” of that.
“I guess all the nights at Chuck E. Cheese playing ski ball (?) paid off” – Woo, on winning the challenge for the tribe.
Poor Woo and he’s story about his Mum. That’s really heartbreaking and it really does take you out of the game. You can think of it, and even use it, as playing the game – but I don’t think that’s why Woo shared the story. I truly believe he said it purely for all the right personal reasons. Although Abi, on the other hand, thinks Woo is playing the game – and she uses her transplant story as saying it’s pretty much the same thing. She has a piece of someone else in her leg ego, it’s the same thing. Ugh. Abi.
“Life is precious” – Tasha. “Yeah, I love life” – Woo.
“Woo and Abi are like night and day. She’s always worried. She’s a time bomb” – Tasha is not so sure that she wants to work with Abi. I’ve said it before that it’s going to be too much work to work with Abi. She is too single minded and will always think of personal reasons to vote people out and not strategic. Get rid of her. She will not help the game in the long run. And get her out before the merge, as there’s nothing like a women scorned that will make sure you don’t gain her vote at the end.

Immunity

Ooh I remember this challenge!
This is Joe’s redemption challenge, as they played and lost the first time around.
Joe connects on his first go. He’s perfect. Yes, he is.
“Stephen, only successful in giving Angkor a point” – Jeff pointing out how useless Stephen is.
Tasha scores on her first go.
Abi fires once and then is out. She’s done. No more.
“Kimmi come down” – the team don’t want Kimmi to pull a Stephen.
Angkor wins! It’s their first immunity challenge win!
Ta Kao is second. And this marks a redemption for Joe too.

Well it’s a bad day for Bayon. Not only did they lose reward but also immunity. Clearly Spencer’s theory isn’t always true. I do see Ta Kao as the power tribe, but I think this also has to do with Joe being on that tribe.
“The majority of you haven’t been to tribal yet” – Jeff, about Bayon.
It looks like it’ll be Spencer or Kelly going home tonight. Spencer hopes that “some of the bonds at least stick” and hopes he will be saved.
“Being the guy at the bottom, which I’m used to being” – Spencer. Insert joke here.
“Check in. Check in. Check in. Make sure I’m good.” Spencer wants to scramble but he “have to play it cool” so he will be able to stick around.
Monica is stuck on that all girl alliance again …
Kimmi is now worried “[Monica is] a loose cannon. She’s a flipper” “She’s a snake in the grass” “Monica is playing for Monica”
Way to throw Monica under the bus, Kimmi.
“Don’t you think we should keep our women’s numbers up” – Kimmi, mimicking Monica.
“It’ll be cool to see Monica out first, to show a message” – Jeremy is on board.
Stephen points out that Monica has other ties but she’ll “flip flop” about. But Spencer and Kelly also have people on the other side. It’s a tough decision. They also have to consider that if they vote out one of their own people, how it’ll look to their original tribe members come merge time.

Tribal

“Based on trust and who should you be loyal to” – Monica is voting on trust. It’s the old school vs new school way of thinking.
“This game is still tribal and not individual yet” – Spencer is thinking tribal.
“Loyalty, trust, challenge strength” – Jeremy is voting on all of those things.
“I believe it’s locked in” – Monica is sure that the vote is locked and she’s safe. So will it be Spencer or Kelly for her?
“Build strong bonds to build strong alliances” – That’s Survivor 101, Stephen.
“You invented the phrase ‘I’m not here to make friends'” – Spencer, while voting for Kelly. He hopes he’s convinced the others, even though she has more friends than he does.
And the results are in ….
MONICA IS GOING HOME!
Monica and Spencer voted for Kelly, Kelly voted for Spencer, and Jeremy, Kimmi and Stephen voted for Monica.
Wow. Monica looks shocked and almost pissed!
“I feel like my second chance was a little bit of a disappointment” but Monica is fine with the blindside, although she wishes she could have stayed longer.
Jeff points out that it’s clear that the tribe is playing the new school way of thinking.

Thoughts

I was thinking about if I thought they made the right decision on voting Monica out but I don’t think her being voted out will make much of a difference. If they are worried about their old ties being worried about then not staying true to their original tribe mates, I don’t think this’ll be so. All that they would really have to say is that Monica was considering flipping and she wasn’t staying loyal so they had to get rid of her. I don’t think that anyone wouldn’t believe that on the other side, nor care too much.
The problem is now that it’s a three vs two split and if someone flips they could easily take out one of the core three, thus changing the game. I don’t see this happening without it having negative consequences to them and the other tribe. It wouldn’t be in anyone’s interests.
I also don’t think that Monica was suggesting an all-girl alliance. I think if given the opportunity, she would have jumped on it straight away. But I don’t think she was going to turn on her alliance for the sake of an all girl alliance if it wasn’t possible. I think Kimmi used this as a ploy to get Monica out because she didn’t like her much and she saw the opportunity to throw her under the bus to the others. Yes, probably part of it was because Monica was out for herself, but I don’t think it should have been taken to such an extreme reaction. I think Monica was merely making the suggestion.
Saying that though, Monica did suck in the challenge so as the tribe-whole, she won’t be much of a loss to the tribe at all regarding challenges.
So in conclusion, I don’t think Monica deserved to go home over the tiff, but I don’t think it’ll cause much harm or good or likely to affect anything. Of course, this is Survivor and things change. But I think Jeremy, Kimmi and Stephen won’t cop any flack from the others over this and they still should all be able to perform in challenges just as well.

Until next time!