Surviving One World, Episode 7: New Tribes/Old Tribes

Last week, Chris Harris covered the recap for me in one of the most game-changing episodes of Survivor ever. Heck of a week for me to have a conflict! But big thanks to Chris!

A couple weeks ago, I discussed how Colton had tweeted a sort-of apology for the things he’d said about Bill (and then I followed up by asking Colton about those statements and others in my interview with him). This week, I’d like to address some other tweets related to the show. Specifically, last week we saw Alicia treating Christina just horribly. After the show, Alicia tweeted, “I am ashamed of myself. I was a bully. No one deserves to be bullied. [Christina] I am truly sorry.” Christina replied, “Girl, you are totally forgiven. I don't support the harsh response by others. I'm very protective over my Survivor Family. Xo.”

I don’t know much about the “harsh response,” other than people calling Alicia out for her behavior (there of course may have been some who went too far), but this sort of immediate post-episode interaction continues to be of interest to me. We see one thing on TV and then the contestants try to make up for it almost right away. It’s a new twist on a situation that’s been around for some 12 years now.

But enough of that – now it’s time to move forward with the next phase of our game! We pick up immediately after Tribal Council as the newly-merged tribe arrives at camp to find food and drink. Troyzan tells us this really seems like Survivor to him now – him against 11 people. “Bring it on.”

Wine starts being gulped straight out of bottles – except that Jonas doesn’t drink, so he passes (even if he really does drink, it’s always a good idea to pass on the wine when you’re on Survivor, because nothing good can ever come out of being drunk while trying to plan strategy). Alicia tells us Christina probably now thinks she’ll be around for a while and that Alicia is now screwed over a bit because Colton left. This reminds me of the bombshell dropped by Colton in our interview, when he claimed that he intended to vote out Alicia, not Christina, when they went to Tribal Council. It’ll be interesting to see how things play out from here in that regard. As for Alicia, her plan is to go back to her “homegirls” and take out the guys. “The backstabbing’s gonna begin.”

The following morning, the issue of a new tribe name is raised and they quickly agree on Tikiano – “tiki” means god and “ano” means year. So godyear? Sounds like a tire company.

Jonas cooks up some coconut for breakfast, but he describes how he’s trying to turn it into something that tastes like a potato chip. This is the first we’ve seen of his cooking skills. Then again, we haven’t really seen much of Jonas at all!

Jay scoops out some coffee and Tarzan tells him he only wants one scoop. Jay says it’s only for the people who won it, but with his accent, it sounds like he says people who want it, so Tarzan says he wants it. Jay repeats himself more clearly and notes that Tarzan wasn’t among the tribe that won it. Tarzan somewhat-dejectedly says he thought everything was up for grabs among all of the 12.

This leads to Jay telling us they’re all one big happy family now – read that with heavy sarcasm. Indeed, he’s back with people he didn’t want to live with anymore, like Tarzan (and we’re led to believe Leif as well, but he doesn’t specifically say that). Jay says Salani is looking at this as a chance to vote out the “old Manono tribe” because they have the numbers. I believe he means the new Manono, not the old (which was of course all men).

Tarzan has picked up on this situation as well, as he tells us he was hoping the guys would be solid but that seems not to be the case. So he tries his luck by talking to Mike – which is an amusing scene since Mike is over a head taller than Tarzan. Tarzan believes Alicia will jump to the guys’ side and break the tie (obviously not having heard her talking to us earlier!). Mike claims to be okay with the idea but he tells us quite the opposite: He neither trusts nor likes Tarzan and his allies.

Enough of that for now, it’s time for a reward challenge! Host Jeff Probst welcomes them and explains what they’ll have to do. For today’s challenge only, they will be divided back into two tribes. In other words, the whole Colton thing took them by such a surprise that they had planned for one more team challenge – whoops! Anyway, a member of each “tribe” will race through a series of obstacles – the usual thing of digging through sand under a log, crawling under branches, etc. They’ll dig up a bag of puzzle pieces, race back, and tag off to the next person. Once they get all four bags, the two remaining tribe members will use those pieces to solve a sea turtle puzzle.

What does the winning “tribe” win? An afternoon of pizza and cold beer – plus a secret note. So they randomly divide into “tribes” as follows: Alicia, Jay, Sabrina, Chelsea, Christina, and Troyzan against Leif, Jonas, Mike, Kat, Kim, and Tarzan.

And they’re off! Leif and Jay are the first for their “tribes” as Probst notes that one tribe sent their biggest and strongest guy while the other sent their smallest. Jay squeezes under first, but Leif gets stuck partway through. Jay gets the first bag of puzzle pieces and returns. Leif finally wiggles his way out but Chelsea is already grabbing the second bag for her team. As he returns, his tribe encourages him to go under the log on his back rather than his stomach, and it’s much easier.

Kim and Alicia head out. Kim gets stuck as well because the hole really isn’t all that big (that’s what happens when you send your smallest person first). Alicia returns with the third bag before Kim gets her team’s second.