SURVIVOR PING!
Timbira Tribe (Blue Buffs): Ben, Brendan, Candace, Debra, Erinn, Jerry, Sierra, Tyson
Jalapao Tribe (Red Buffs): Carolina, James "JT", Joe, Sandy, Spencer, Stephen, Sydney, Tamara "Taj"
Episode 1 title: "Let’s Get Rid of the Weak Players Before We Even Start"
Sixteen new contestants begin the adventure of a lifetime in the highlands of Brazil. Host Jeff Probst promises us a great season with lots of likable characters and many twists. In fact, the first twist occurs in the first five minutes of the game.
Reward/Immunity Challenge: Titled "A River, Run Through It." All the players except one for each tribe will race over some sandy hills and into the river to retrieve a raft carrying wooden planks. The remaining player for each tribe has to figure out which plank goes where as part of building a staircase to a tower. Once they build it and get to the top two other players will do a table maze. The first tribe to get through the maze and raise their flag wins reward and immunity.
Spoilers (highlight to see):
The first twist is that right at the start of the game, before the contestants even make the hike to camp, they are told to vote on the weakest player from each tribe, based entirely on first impressions, supposedly to eliminate them. Instead, the players voted weakest (Sandy from Jalapao and Sierra from Timbira), rather than having to make the 4-hour hike to camp in 110-degree heat, are given a helicopter ride to camp. The rest of the players are going to get an hilarious surprise when they get there!
Reward/Immunity Challenge winner: Jalapao
Voted Off: Sierra
Back after the show with the recap.