Get That Money, Baby (S43: Episode 10)

Aright let’s just jump right into it. This episode starts with one of the most inspiring, impressive, epic challenge wins I have EVER seen. Noelle works tirelessly and creatively to figure out a method for collecting her sandbag and making it over the balance beam despite the difficulties posed by her prosthetic leg. At one point, it really seems like she’s going to give up. By the time she finally makes it over the beam, each of her tribemates have had many failed attempts at landing the sandbag on the tower, but Noelle gets in done in two tries and comes out on top with a win. It was one of the greatest comebacks in Survivor history, and I KNOW there is no way I was the only one reaching for the tissue box when she landed that sandbag. Major props to Noelle! What an incredible display of grit, perseverance, and athleticism.

Unfortunately for Noelle though, this was only a Reward Challenge and her show stopping performance seems to be the beginning of the end for her. She brings Sami, Jesse, and Owen to the sanctuary with her where they open letters from their loved ones at home. Throughout this season, I’ve admired Jesse’s ability to remain logical and level-headed about his goal while also building genuine relationships. During the emotional reading of his letters, his son tells him to “get that money, baby.” This further cements for Jesse that he needs to keep his head on his shoulders and his eyes on the prize. Back at camp, we see Cassidy beginning to stir the pot and circulate Noelle’s name amongst Cody, Gabler, and Karla. We have seen this happen 22 times before in Survivor history - The Individual Reward winner becomes the immediate target, and gets voted out in that same episode. We then head to the Immunity Challenge where Cassidy pulls out a win with her house of cards. Between last week’s Ryan vote out, this Immunity win, and now the Noelle vote out that Cassidy seemed to plant the seed for, she is definitely gaining momentum in this game. When they return to camp, Jesse walks us through his “checklist on how to blindside.” This either feels like production is giving Jesse his final big moment before he’s going to get the boot, or it feels like they’re laying the foundation for him to take the win. Just before tribal, Gabler (the black horse of this season) approaches Karla about taking out Jesse and Cody. Though it doesn’t come to fruition in this tribal council, it certainly has our curiosity piqued for the next episode. Noelle is voted out in a blindside by Jesse, Cody, Karla, Cassidy, and Gabler leaving Sami and Owen on the outs. With only 3 tribal councils left before the final 4, there are 3 idols still in play. And unlike our Fantasy League, it really still seems like this is any one’s game at this point.

The League! With the loss of Noelle, Peach (formerly Petra) is down to 4 tribe members. This means there is no longer anyone left with their full tribe of 5. Leigh, Abby, and Mel all lose their Sole Survivor and Mel becomes our second league member to have no one left on her tribe. Sorry Mel, your torch has been snuffed! Rachael earns 57 points this week which is JUST enough to keep her in the #1 spot ahead of Peach who earned a whopping 87 points this week. Peach is now only ONE point away from Rachael’s top spot on the leaderboard. The rest of this week’s rankings remains pretty much the same.

Enjoy tonight's episode! - Tribemasters Liv + Brian