I Don't Want to Be the Worm (S45: Episode 5)

These 90 minute episodes are proving to make a big difference in how much we’re able to get to know the players! We’re thankfully seeing a lot more camp life for all three tribes than we have in other recent seasons. Some highlights of this episode:

• Everyone is hungry. We get a few scenes of tribes daydreaming about food, and Kendra attempting (and failing) to eat a worm. This makes me worry a bit that we’re getting to the point in the season where players are going to be so fatigued and hungry that they start to suck in the challenges.

• The Reba Tribe is dealing with the fallout of Sean quitting. Dee remains unwavering in her claims that she voted for Sean even though she actually voted for Sifu. This causes chaos and confusion for Sifu who’s determined to figure out who did actually put his name down. As a decoy, J Maya comes up with the idea to tell Sifu that it was her who wrote his name down. Dee is of course on board with this as it takes the target off of her back. It was a really strong episode for Dee, and I’m excited to see how she carries this momentum into the merge.

• Over at the Lulu Tribe, poor Jake faints (seizes?) again. Anyone else feel like medical should be checking on him? We got to learn a bit more about his story and it’s refreshing to see how badly someone wants to be there after experiencing multiple quitters this season.

• Reba wins immunity and chooses to send J Maya, Kellie, and Austin on the journey. They are presented with a “majority rules” decision between: sandwiches or Amulet Advantages.

  • The caveat of Amulets is that they must be played with all other Amulets, and the power of the Amulet changes based on the number that are left in the game: 3 Amulets = Extra Vote, 2 Amulets = Steal A Vote, 1 Amulet = Immunity Idol. So ultimately for these three players who are not in alliances with one another, the Amulets act as a motivator to vote each other out more than anything.

  • The group ultimately chooses the Amulet Advantages, though Austin was really hoping for the sandwiches. (Usually I’m all for the “go big or go home” mentality on Survivor, but in this case, I agreed with Austin’s preference for the sandwiches. The Amulets are super high risk, with potentially very little reward, and strategically I can see the value of passing on this advantage. That being said, I think it was wise of him to go along with it without putting up a big fight that would easily put an even larger target on his back.)

• Going into tribal, we’re still unsure exactly where Emily stands as the Belo swing vote. She could either go with Brando and Kendra (OG Belo) or Austin and Drew (OG Reba).

• Austin sharing the truth about the Amulets with Emily was enough to convince her that she should stick with them. And ultimately, it seems like Brando’s efforts of trying to build a “nerd alliance” separate of Kendra come back to bite him when he becomes the #1 target.

• Austin uses Drew’s Goodwill Advantage to strengthen the power of his Idol while still getting to vote during tribal, leading to the downfall of Brando at a 3-2 vote.

• Brando becomes the first non OG Lulu member to be voted out this season.

THE LEAGUE!

We had some fun shake ups this week with our very own Tribemaster Brian making the leap from 10th place to 1st place!

J Maya and Kellie brought in the most points this episode thanks to their tribes winning Immunity/Reward and them going on the journey that resulted in getting advantages.

Unfortunately for anyone with Brando on their tribe, he provided them with ZERO points this episode before being voted out. Christie, Allison K., and Arianna lost their Sole Survivors. And John is down to only two remaining tribe members.

Signing Off!

-Tribemasters Liv + Brian

P.S. If anyone has a hidden advantage and needs to play it before tonight’s episode, now is the time to do so.