SEASON 40: WINNERS AT WAR (Episode 8)

...Crazy couple of days! I hope everyone is safe and healthy in their quarantine.**

With that being said....shall we get into it?

• CBS jumps right into this week's episode with ALL KILLER, NO FILLER and shows us the Edge of Extinction players prepping/making final purchases for their EoE challenge! I did have to do a little back-end research because it was a little confusing but Rob and Natalie both purchased 1 advantage and 1(potential) idol if they won their way back into the game. Tyson, Danni, Ethan all purchased an advantage in the challenge and Amber, Parvati and Yul (having no fire tokens) had to play the challenge as/is with no advantage.

• When Jeff called in all of the Extinction players to the challenge, I couldn't help but feel sad not seeing Sandra...it even stung when he explained how she lifted the flag to "quit" the game.

• After an emotional Tyson pre-challenge interview (foreshadowing????), Jeff goes on to explain the CLASSIC win-your-way back-in-challenge (seriously I think they've done it every redemption island/extinction season..someone might need to fact check that, I know I've seen Ozzy/Rob/Tina all win these)...they do what I like to call the Pirates of the Caribbean challenge AKA "build a long stick to get a key." And I said it to Jill before it even happened: "Calling it, it's going to be a Rob/Tyson showdown"

• What I couldn't predict was HOWWW much of a nail-biter it turned out to be..FRIGGEN YUL WAS SO DAMN CLOSE AND HE DIDN'T EVEN HAVE AN ADVANTAGE!!! AND ROB....ROB!!!!!!! WOW. I guess I'm out here caring more about the players on extinction than the ones still in the game. Anyways it was an emotional win, go Tyson!

“Now we know why Sandra went home. She wasn’t doing this.” -Tony

• ANDDDD since neither Rob or Natalie won the challenge, they lost their potential immunity idol and are back down to ZERO fire tokens. Jeff Probst explains this a little bit better in an interview here.

• With Tyson now back on the new merged, Koru tribe, we got a feast (no clues to idols/advantages!!) and we're seeing the dynamics shift. With all the old school players out (minus Tyson who is now a free agent), these players seem to be divided by big targets vs smaller targets.

• THEN COMES THE RAIN!!!! Yiiiikeeeesss. Moments like this really bring Survior back to earth and make it feel like you're not just watching a gameshow. 

• The rain continued all day/night right into the DOUBLE immunity challenge: (one that I'm crushed Parv couldn't play!!!) hold onto the pole for 5ever. Denise SAVED herself from a potential easy first boot by winning the female immunity and Jeremy won the men's. I always think of this challenge as a waaayy more female leaning challenge (they're bodies are naturally smaller) but it was crazy that the final 3 were all men. I really think this came down to a mental breakdown with the cold rain (I SEE YOU SOPHIE!)

• We get back to camp and the scrambling begins. Jeremy wants to protect Wendell but wants to split him from Nick, Wendell's #1, but doesn't want it to look  like he was the one who hatched this plan. But Sophie/Sarah are smarter than that...they like Nick and think they can work with him. They want Wendell -but then Nick wants Adam...it was all over the place!

• Also, is it just me or is the music this season is the most epic it has EVER BEEN? Like I was bouncing up and down during this tribal - it got my heart pumpiiiiinnnnn. THE DRAMA!!...and just like that WENDELL becomes the "8th" jury member...your energy was no bueno this season. Byeee. 

This Week's Points:

THIS WAS THE BIGGEST SHAKEUP WE'VE HAD TO DATE! Everyone's alternates are now LIVE, draft picks earn you TEN points for each week of survival-post merge and individual immunity/rewards are now in play (15 points). People with Tyson on their tribes saw a huuuuge boost this week (+25 points) thanks to his EoE challenge win! For the first time ALL SEASON we have Amanda coming in with the top points this week (112 points) followed closely by Jill (109) and Matt (96). Even with the big Tyson shake-up, our top three leaders remain unchanged: 1st Matt (381), 2nd Brian (372), 3rd Joyce (362) [but Jill (353) is HOT on their tails!].

'Til next week!!!