SEASON 40: WINNERS AT WAR (Episode 9)

Hope everyone's hanging in there! To kick us off on a topical note... which Survivor quarantine island would you pick? I was so torn between 2 & 3 until I saw 6. 6. (If anyone says 5, you can kindly leave, thanks)

Let's jump in, shall we?

• The episode kicks off with a Nick and Michele post-tribal vent sesh. They were SALTY (i.e. "These people are all bumbling fumbling idiots. I can't stand them.") Neither of them reeeaaally give a crap about their friend Wendell being gone, they're just pissed they weren't a part of the vote. And it seems to light a fire under Nick's butt... "I'm ready for some revenge."

• Parvati and Danni use some superfan teamwork to figure out this week's EoE challenge. They find a 50/50 coin flip idol and for the first time this season, the player can name the price of the advantage they're trying to sell. I'm into this. It adds another small layer of strategy to the EoE gameplay.

• Sarah gave up her reward for Nick "as a human being to a human being." As much as I love Officer Sarah, I couldn't help but wonder.. Was there an ulterior strategic motive here? Was she scared she'd get the shits if she ate too much Chinese food? Or was she actually just being a kind human? Either way.. I'm not sure it was the best move. At this point in Survivor's history, gifting away a reward is basically just a way to put a target on your back and your name in peoples' mouths. But hey, it looks like she managed to be an outwardly good person while also staying in the game so kudos to her!

• Michele (as the richest person on the island) gets targeted to receive the advantage from Parvati, and she bites. I was screaming at my TV. 4 FIRE TOKENS???? FOR A 50/50 SHOT AT IMMUNITY??? As a viewer, it hurts to see someone pay 4 fire tokens for a 50/50 shot when other players bought a regular idol for 1 fire token. Could Michele have used those 4 fire tokens more wisely? Maybe. But clearly she feels like she's on the bottom after the Wendell vote so I can understand wanting to take that chance. She can only use it until there are 7 people left in the game so we'll see pretty soon whether or not the risk was worth it. 

• Immunity Challenge:

• Kim freaking Spradlin for the WIN!!!!!! She won this in true Kim fashion: cool, calm, collected. Though, Jeremy was the star of this challenge in my opinion with his hilarious sound effects/dismount (video below:)

• We then head back to camp and witness a wild series of back and forths while the tribe tries to come to a consensus on a vote. I was sweating just watching 6 minutes of it on my TV screen. I cannot imagine being in that experience for HOURS leading up to tribal. 

• The Ben/Adam standoff in the woods was incredible. Ben wanting information. Adam refusing to give it to him. Those two have always had some tension, but you could tell the pot was really starting to boil. Which then leads us to...

• Tribal Council. The Ben/Adam saga continues as they basically go through a dramatic breakup with each other while everyone else is running around whispering to each other. Adam then just blatantly asks the group if they're voting for him, and you can practically hear the Fijian crickets chirping it's so dang quiet. It's kind of like when your teacher would ask a hard question, and no one knew the answer so everyone would start awkwardly looking around the room avoiding eye contact with the teacher and pretending they were fixing their hair or scratching their eye or something. 

• Then we watch as Adam makes a last ditch effort to save himself by trying to pull the fleur-de-lis off of Jeff's voting podium. Did he make an absolute fool of himself? Yes. Was everyone wildly confused by him? Yes. Do I think he's extremely annoying? Yes. Were millions of people watching and laughing at him? Yes. But ultimately, he was playing the game to win. Imagine if that thing WAS an idol!!! He'd go down in history. But instead we just get to giggle at him for looking like a fool. Either way, I gotta respect his hustle. No guts, no glory.

How'd we do?

The heavy hitter this week was Kim who won group reward AND individual immunity, gaining her 31 points this episode. The three recurring leaders of our pack (Brian, Matt, and Joyce) all have Kim on their tribes so once again, they've held onto their leads for another week. Joyce brought in the most points this week (80), while Brian and Matt were right behind her with 74 points each. That leaves us with Matt (455) in the lead, Brian (446) in 2nd, and Joyce (442) in 3rd. Liv and Kath both have only one tribe member left so their futures are looking grim.... 

See you next time!

Your tribe master,

Mrs. Olivia Jeff Probst

P.S. SOMEONE GET ME THE SOUNDTRACK TO THIS SEASON!!! I don't know if they're just playing different portions of the same one song or if someone made a whole damn album about winners being at war, but either way, I'm here for it. 

P.P.S. This is a fun article for when you're pretending to work from home. Winners At War Cast Names Best Players to Never Win.