Survivor Guatemala: Survivor Live Recap, Episode 13

This week’s castoff guest is zookeeper Cindy Hall, the Invisible Woman in The Fantastic Four. My own occasional comments are enclosed in square brackets like this [I see the headlines – Zookeeper Is Driven off the Island!]

The hosts start off with some programming notes. Before the finale Sunday the 11th, the hosts will be on the red carpet, doing interviews with the final four, and others. This is visible on the CBS website. At 2PM Monday, they will interview the third- and fourth-place finishers on Monday, then the winner and runner-up on Tuesday the 13th.

As we first see Cindy, my initial thought is that her hair is really straight and she has cleaned up “real good!” Proceedings begin with Dalton asking Cindy about the car. Cindy says she did it for her twin sister Mindy, “who is, obviously, the center of my world.” Both hosts say they like exotic Mindy. Cindy says Mindy is very different than her, because Cindy likes animals and Mindy is more into fashion.

And surprise – we’ve been punk’d! That wasn’t Cindy, it was Mindy! Cindy comes out next. She looks hot too, but with the more-familiar saucy curls.

Dalton immediately directs conversation back to the cars. He thinks that giving up the cars might not have gotten Cindy all the way to the end, but probably would have earned her three more days. Cindy stands by her decision and feels there was a target on her anyway.

Dalton notes that Rafe said he couldn’t vote her out if she gives him a car and Jenna thinks Rafe is a straight shooter, but Cindy isn’t convinced. She was surprised to find that Rafe thought Cindy was selfish for keeping the car, and doubts that he knew her very well after all. She says she didn’t ramble on and on about the car, she was just answering their questions. [But were they prompting her, Blake like?]

Both hosts state that their belief that the right decision is to give away the car, nothing more than strategic butt kissing to earn more time on the island.

Jenna recalls that on Survivor: Amazon, they were ready to vote Matthew out but he bought himself extra time when he gave up his family visit for them.

Jenna thinks that Cindy was one immunity win away from the finale, if she had gotten past this week. Cindy did too, because she hadn’t betrayed anyone [yet].

Cindy feels that there was no guarantee of immunity for her. Cindy notes that this group is cutthroat. Judd gave Stephenie a reward, and got cut the next day. Then, the same thing happened to her – so, giving away the cars might not have gained her anything. [Giving away food didn’t help Jamie, either.]

Dalton is forced to run the clip of the reward challenge run, Cindy’s “ride of her life” and her fateful decision. I note Lydia’s very quiet and subtle “Go, Cindy” during the last leg against Stephenie.

Cindy says that she took Stephenie on reward to separate Rafe and Stephenie so they wouldn’t plot together. Dalton remembers that it cost Burton and Fairplay [in Pearl Islands] and Jenna adds the Palau example of Gregg leaving Tom and Ian alone. It almost worked, but it’s now obvious that Rafe is the real puppet-master and using Stephenie as his scapegoat. Cindy says, “I’ve been saying that all along.” Jenna says, “In Survivor, we always DO shoot the messenger.”

It’s time for the first phone call, and it’s Don from Canada again. He notes that she complained less than anyone else about the weather. She says, “No one in the game enjoyed the environment like she did.” It seemed more real to her than he regular life, and loved every minute of it.

Ernie from Ohio asks Cindy, which previous Survivor did she model herself after? She missed most of the first season, but watched it all after that. After a bit of hedging she decides she relates to Rupert, who truly enjoyed the environment and the experience

Mark from Washington wonders about the difficulties using the keys in the last challenge. She says it wasn’t a physically grueling challenge requiring endurance, but several of the keys looked alike and it was difficult to move through the ropes and keep the twenty-odd keys straight. Jenna was surprised Rafe didn’t fall down. There was a lot of luck involved in selecting the right keys, Danni had no luck and Steph guessed right more often.

Dalton enjoyed Lydia getting pumped up to try and win the challenge. [Only Lydia thought she had any chance at all.] Dalton wonders if Lydia deserves to still be there. Cindy says her hard work and her positive attitude is what has kept her in the game.

A Dalton note that since Lydia doesn’t win challenges or rock the boat, since she’s made the individual part of the game she has a good chance of lasting longer than others who are trying harder and more effectively to influence the course of the game. Cindy implies she wouldn’t have voted for Lydia at the end. There’s some discussion of the Under the Radar [UTR] strategy. No one likes it much, and Cindy feels you can only finish second that way because a jury won’t respect your play.

Dalton is playing devil’s advocate to stimulate the discussion, but we can tell he agrees with the others. Cindy comments on UTR, saying, “It’s not enough,” and Jenna adds, “It’s not worthy.”

Jenna wonders if Lydia is just playing like that or not know any better. Cindy says, “That one’s a hard call. Sometimes it seemed like she knew what was going on and sometimes it seemed like she was oblivious.”