SEASON 40: WINNERS AT WAR (Episode 10)

This week's post is sponsored by Fiji Airways:

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WHAT. AN. EMOTIONAL. WEEK. Loved one visits are always incredible, but who knew how much we NEEDED a loved ones visit amidst this pandemic. There is no way the film crew could have ever anticipated how impactful, beautiful, poignant and important this episode would be given the current climate. Just seeing everyone reunite, hug/kiss for the first time in almost a month (wow, this is hitting too close to home!) was the best form of comfort we as fans could have ever received. Bravo, CBS/Survivor and THANK YOU, Fiji Airways!

OK...HERE WE GO!

•  WE HAD ALMOST 25 MINUTES OF UNINTERRUPTED, NEARLY-COMMERCIAL FREE (thanks, Fiji Airways) LOVE. AND LOVE OF ALL KINDS - INCLUDING THE BABIES!!!!

• We about to go on a GIF overload:

Tony and "Babycakes"

• And then the fact that there was no challenge to play for love?!? It was perfect!! Also why do I love Jeremy's family so much?

• Then CBS gave me maybe 25 seconds to let it sink in: aw shit, this means Rob and Ambuh won't get to see the girls....AND BAM! we hear Natalie yell out, "IT'S OUR FAMILIES!!"

IN.STANT.CHILLS.

• Danni literally looking like she was going to snap in half and get washed up by the ocean.

Ethan with his "wife" - aka not Jenna Morasca (we stan!)

(seriously my favorite relationship!!)

And of course, Rob & Ambuh with the girls.

GIVE THIS SEASON ALL THE EMMYS DAMMIT!

• Because this week's episode was so heavy on the loved ones surprise, we didn't get as much camp life/strategy content, (I'm not complaining - JUST GIVE US MORE CBS!!) we hopped right into the immunity challenge:

• Friggin' Tony Vlachos. Finally an individual win!! It was so exciting - and what was even more exciting was to see him play with the security of an idol. He went all out.

• What's been really interesting this season is how the voting block strategy has evolved. In the past yes, there were the "blocks," but people still had side-close-alliances that would still vote together within these blocks. This season, there seem to be less side-close-alliances [Sophie & Sarah, Sarah & Tony, Michele & Jeremy(??), Jeremy/Tyson/Kim(?)..am I missing anyone?? They're like never mentioned more than once!] ...and these "close" alliances don't always vote together or are a part of the same discussions. Yes, it makes all of these episodes exciting - but it makes it almost impossible to follow because we don't get the full sense of the camp.

• The tribal was full-stop chaos. Sophie is really turning into this boss and I can't believe she's been able to stay so under the radar! ("Hey guys, why don't the FIVE of us just make a decision?")

• ANDDD THEEEEENN we get a confusing vote! What should have been a 3-3-3 vote (Majority alliance +Sarah's steal-a-vote split 3-3, and then 3 votes from Kim/Tyson/Michele alliance with no vote for Denise)- so that the majority alliance would block an idol play and go to a re-vote, we got a 5 Tyson-2 Denise-2 Sophie vote - someone flipped - and that someone was Michele. I've watched the tribal council now 4 times and I do not understand how she could have been privy to this information. Are her and Nick still playing together? Why did she jump ship?

We may never know....

• But then arguably the best moment of the night.

Anyways, thanks fr th mmrs Fiji Airways! What happened for us?

This was a pretty even scoring week - everyone cried - people who stayed in the game got their survival points - Sandra got 0. The only real point shake-up was Tony who won individual immunity and a bonus two fire tokens. Had Kim played her idol on Tyson, we would have had to dole out biiiiig points, but since it was played incorrectly on Denise, she got nothing. When Livs and I were coming up with the point categories we also didn't know how many different types of advantages that would possibly be in play so unfortunately  there is no point category for playing one, just for gaining an advantage OR going home with an advantage in your possession (sorry, Sarah & Jeremy). That being said, we had our first 3-way tie for first! Brian, Casey and Rachael all earned 76 points this week! Although we have some new big point earners, our top 3 players in the league remain unchanged: Brian (522), Matt (503) and Joyce (500). QUICK PROMO: We have some fantasy league PODCASTERS!! Matt & Pete started a new series called BLINDSIDED - Jill and I have been listening. Great job!! Y'all should support!!

BLINDSIDED PODCAST