SURVIVOR RECAP!
Timbira Tribe (Black Buffs): Brendan, Coach, Debbie, Erinn, Jerry, Sierra, Tyson
Jalapao Tribe (Red Buffs): JT, Joe, Sandy, Spencer, Stephen, Sydney, Taj
Losers: Carolina, Candace
CANDACE VOTED OUT
The Jalapao Tribe returns from Tribal Council having just voted out Carolina. As they attempt to make fire with the flint they just received at Tribal Council, Sandy, who was previously viewed as an outcast, thanks her fellow tribemates for keeping her in the game. “I believe I’m underestimated in this game. I wanna win this thing and as long as I’m here, I can win it,” Sandy confidently states. Despite Sandy’s confidence, her tribe secretly plans to oust her next. “Now that Carolina is out, I mean we all pretty much agreed that she just swapped places with Sandy,” Spencer declares. “Sandy was going to be first and then Carolina after that. Now Carolina was first and Sandy after that.”
TERMITES!
The next morning, as the Jalapao Tribe nibbles on vegetables, everyone agrees that they need protein. Joe, Stephen and JT trek into the woods to hunt for termite mounds and are successful. Joe kicks open a termite mound, revealing hundreds of tiny termites and one obese termite that they deem, “Mama Termite.” Joe and Spencer decide to split this delicious feast by having Spencer take the head, and Joe take the tail. As the Jalapao women squeal in disgust, Spencer bites the head off. Stephen winces as he chews up a gooey creature. “I didn’t try the worm,” Sydney admits. “After I saw Stephen’s face…blah.” Stephen gags on the worm. “I feel like I’m gonna vomit,” he says.
THE FIRE PIT
Back at the Timbira camp, Sierra continues to feel the effects of being dubbed the weakest link by her tribe. Her only hope now is to find the hidden immunity idol, which she received a clue to on day one. “I’m still on the outs in my tribe so I most definitely need to find it, and I need someone to help me with that,” says Sierra. “In this game you need people on your side, and Brendan’s the one person that didn’t vote for me, so he’s the one I trust the most.” Sierra confesses to Brendan that she holds a clue to a hidden immunity idol, and the two head off to the beach to find it together. With the help of her first clue, Sierra comes across a large stick in the sand where she discovers another clue. Sierra reads it aloud: “With your back to the river, walk towards the lone tree. Dig after ten paces at the place you will be.” After following the clues, Brendan and Sierra set about digging a large hole at the beach. To their surprise, Debbie catches them and asks what they are doing. Sierra quickly fabricates a plausible answer that will keep her and Brendan out of hot water. “We’re building a…massive fire pit,” she says. “Oh cool!” exclaims Debbie. “We can pretend we’re at the beach somewhere.” The three return to camp where Debbie boasts about the so-called “fire pit” that Brendan and Sierra have worked so hard on. Candace, however, isn’t buying it. “I just don’t think it makes that much sense,” she complains. I probably won’t go.” Sierra shrugs off the comment, but is thankful that she and Brendan narrowly escaped getting caught. “I don’t think it’s worth it to continue looking for the hidden immunity idol, even though I know where I stand at this camp with these people,” Sierra concludes.
PERSONALITIES CLASH
As the day progresses, the Timbira Tribe complains about their lack of food. Candace presents an alternative to Tyson. “I was thinking I really want to steam like a big like sea bass with like some olive oil and fresh lime juice and wrap it up in aluminum foil and let it steam,” she suggests. “We could find most of that stuff,” Tyson replies. “Are you serious?” Candace asks. “No. I lied straight to your face and you ate it up,” Tyson says. Candace then proposes cooking the rice and beans in one pot. Coach immediately corrects her, stating that the rice soaks up all of the water, which would end in the beans being undercooked. As the two continue to bicker, Coach becomes agitated with Candace. “Candace, she has a personality like mine. She looks to find faults in other people. I do it because I’m a coach and I do it because that’s my job and I think that maybe she just does it because that’s her nature.” After taking a moment away from the situation, Coach returns to Candace and kisses her hand. “I don’t want to fight with you…I just want to kiss you,” he suavely admits as he caresses her hand. Candace clearly despises Coach. “That man’s got an ego bigger than Brazil. That will be the death of him is his ego.”
TAJ BONDS WITH THE BOYS
Back at the Jalapao camp, the tribe members get to know each other a little better when Taj reveals that her husband is Eddie George, a Heisman Trophy winner and former NFL player. Joe, Spencer and JT are immediately awed by the revelation. “You just changed your whole perspective to everybody,” Joe proclaims. JT later confesses that he thinks that Taj has given them a good reason to make sure she doesn’t win the game. “I hate to judge anybody by how much money they have, but I know I definitely need the million dollars more than Taj does.”
REWARD/IMMUNITY CHALLENGE: BASKETBRAWL
Jalapao and Timbira arrive and their respective colored mats just as a rain storm begins. Host Jeff Probst explains the rules of the challenge. Three members of each tribe will race through a court flooded with water to grab a ball. They will then work together in an attempt to shoot the ball into a basket while members of the other tribe will attempt to stop the opposing tribe any way they can. The match-ups will be determined randomly with an equal number of guys and girls in each round. The first tribe to score three baskets wins immunity and fishing gear. In addition, the winning tribe will send one member from the losing tribe to Exile Island where there is a clue to a hidden immunity idol. There is a twist to Exile, which will be read after the challenge. Since the Timbira Tribe has one extra member, Debbie is elected to sit out of the challenge.
In the first round, Taj, Stephen and Sydney of Jalapao, take on Tyson, Sierra and Candace of Timbira. Jeff tosses the ball into the water and, as lightning flashes in the distance, the tribes are off to a spirited start. Both tribes kick up water as they run to retrieve the ball. Candace brutally tackles Sydney, tossing her in the water. Taj wildly launches the ball toward the basket, but it is intercepted by Candace, who scores a point for Timbira. For the next round, JT, Joe and Sandy for Jalapao take on Tyson, Erinn, and Brendan for Timbira. An all-out war ensues as JT and Tyson battle it out. JT slams Tyson into the water, and Brendan and Joe fight for the ball. Sandy grabs Erinn’s top from behind and swings her free arm wildly like a rodeo rider. Ultimately, Tyson scores another point for Timbira who now leads two to zero. For the next round, Candace, Sierra and Erinn of Timbira take on Taj, Sydney and Sandy of Jalapao. All six women end up piling on top of each other as they fight hard for the ball. Taj successfully pulls the ball out from the pile of women and runs for the basket. Candace attempts to stop her, but is thrown off by Taj. Taj overshoots the ball, but Sydney recovers and scores the first point for Jalapao. In he next round JT, Joe and Spencer of Jalapao team up against Brendan, Coach and Jerry of Timbira. Brendan grabs the ball for Timbira, but is held back by Joe. Brendan throws the ball toward the basket and it is retrieved by JT. Jerry attempts to block JT, but JT fakes out Jerry and scores another point for Jalapao, tying the game two to two. For the final round, Stephen, Sydney and Taj take on Sierra, Candace and Tyson. Sydney retrieves the ball and passes it to Taj, who is tackled by Candace. Tyson steals the ball for Timbira and throws it wildly, missing the basket. Stephen retrieves the ball and, despite being held down by Sierra, he is able to score another point for his tribe, winning immunity for Jalapao. Jalapao sends Brendan to Exile Island and Jeff Probst reveals the twist: Brendan must choose one member of the winning tribe to accompany him on Exile. Brendan chooses Taj, and the two begin their trek to Exile Island.
THE ODD COUPLE
“One, two, three, PAO!” exclaim the Jalapao members after winning their first immunity challenge. Excited to be on the winning tribe, Sandy lets out a sigh of relief, knowing that she is safe for another week. “If we lost immunity, there was probably a fifty percent chance of me going home and I’m here for another several more days!” she cheers.
As the tribe makes use of their new fishing gear, JT emerges as the tribe leader. “He is Tom Sawyer and I am the angsty city boy,” admits Stephen. Despite their differences, the two begin to bond as JT teaches Stephen how to fish. Stephen puts on his diving mask and dives deep into the river to hunt for fish. Although no one is successful in catching any fish, Stephen admits that he is more excited about becoming friends with JT. “I know that it makes me look like his goofy awkward right hand man, but if he thinks that I’m his goofy awkward right hand man he’s gonna wanna keep me around longer.”
EXILE ISLAND
Brendan and Taj arrive on Exile Island, a desolate place of high orange sand dunes. Upon arrival, they find a bag of rice and a small table with two urns and a sign that reads, “You must each choose an urn.” Taj picks an urn first, but finds nothing inside it. Brendan finds two notes in his that say, “Open in private.” He excuses himself from Taj and walks off to a secluded area where he reads a clue to the whereabouts of a hidden immunity idol. The second note says that he has the option to switch tribes, if he wishes, at the end of his stay on Exile. “No chance that I’ll go to Jalapao,” Brendan decides. When Brendan returns to Taj, she floods him with questions about the contents of the note. Brendan politely brushes her off, but Taj does not give up. “When my tribe found out who my husband actually is, Eddie George from the NFL, I could just tell that they were thinking well she doesn’t need this,” Taj reveals. She is finally able to convince Brendan to share the clue with her, which identifies “tribal homelands” as the location of the hidden immunity idol. “Our homelands are where we live,” says Taj. With the realization that an immunity idol exists at both camps, Taj and Brendan decide to find one person at each of their camps to join them in the hunt for the idol. They will then be able to get themselves or their allies sent back to Exile Island to retrieve more clues.
THE CANCER IN THE TRIBE
With Tribal Council on the horizon, the Timbira Tribe reflects on what went wrong during the challenge. “Honestly, I didn’t see Coach playing that hard,” Candace points out. “At the end of the day, I really don’t see what Coach is bringing to the table except a lot of talk,” she continues. Debbie informs Coach that Candace is bad-mouthing him to everyone, which instantly motivates Coach to lobby for getting rid of Candace. Coach fumes, “At first I thought I’m going with the plan and vote for Sierra. Now Candace is, boy I mean, talk about cancer on team.”
Brendan returns from Exile Island and tells his fellow tribemates that there were two urns, and that his was empty. He seemingly convinces them that Taj, who claimed to be on the outs with her tribe, received the only clue to the hidden immunity idol and declined to share it with him. The discussion soon turns to the impending Tribal Council and the decision that must be made. Candace and Erinn propose ousting Coach due to his lack of athleticism. Tyson, Coach and Jerry join them at the shelter and Coach claims that he is sticking to the plan, which is to vote off Sierra. Although he admits this in front of Candace, he secretly has other plans. “For me, the obvious choice is Candace. She’s just the cancer on the tribe [and] hopefully Candace has her bags packed because she’s out of here.”
TRIBAL COUNCIL
At Tribal Council, Sierra admits that the first vote against her was valid due to her physical condition at the time. Candace complains that she resented Sierra for getting the opportunity to take a helicopter to camp while the rest of the tribe hiked for four hours. When Brendan’s stay on Exile is brought up in the discussion, Coach declares that he trusts Brendan one hundred percent. Erinn snaps that trusting people this early in the game is impossible. With this, the Timbira members cast their votes. In the end, Coach’s plan worked, and Candace was voted out with seven of the eight votes cast against her. Candace Smith, the 31 year-old attorney from Dayton, Ohio, became the second person voted out of SURVIVOR: TOCANTINS: THE BRAZILIAN HIGHLANDS.
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