Survivor: Winners at War: Why are some of these people still here?

Being the bad blogger that I've become, I logged in after a week and everything on my screen looks different in Blogger. This may be interesting getting the post to look like it's supposed to. More options... 

Ok, figure that out later. I've got Survivor recapping to do. 

Night 29... Koru camp. 

They just think they've been on the island forever. I haven't been in anywhere other than my house and my parent's house in 7+ weeks. This is the 8th Wednesday night that I have sat home watching Survivor instead of Wednesday night church. They've eaten a hamburger since I have. Eaten better pizza than the frozen ones than I have. If they have been supplied with any form of toilet paper, they've had more access than most of us.

Anyway, they are headed back from tribal council. Michele says it was a disaster as usual. She gave Jeremy an advantage, and he didn't use it. Now everyone knows about it. She wants to talk to Jeremy. She wanted to play an aggressive game, but feels like she took a butter knife to a gun fight. 

Jeremy wants to know why this is the third week in a row people have gone after him. Jeremy gives her the 50/50 coin back. He doesn't want his game to come down to that. Michele asks who they can trust. 

Day 30... 

Denise explains that her saying that she "was done" meant that she was done with the play stressing her out and how things were going. She's decided her new words she should have tattooed on herself are "endure" and "let go."

Jeremy and Tony discuss how much time they have left. Nine days. Tony says two weeks. Jeremy asks how he figures. Tony says you work 5 days... Jeremy tells him this isn't a work week. They argue this. There should be no conversation here.
Tony is an idiot. How is he still here? Are they carrying him because they think no one will vote for him? 

Tony thinks that if he keeps Jeremy around it keeps the hyenas away. Maybe this is cop talk. Sarah seems to understand the Cops R Us language. Together with Ben, Sarah thinks they are a solid three. Ben wants to get rid of Jeremy while Tony does not. Sarah thinks she's going to have to convince Ben to get rid of Nick. 

Ben asks Tony if they can blindside Nick. He can be onboard with keeping Jeremy one more round. 

Ben thinks Denise is in his pocket. I'm not so sure. 

Day 31...

Immunity challenge time. They race out to throw a ball up a track while running underneath the track and try to catch it on the other end before it falls. They have to do it twice. 

Jeremy gets his two balls first. There is a learning curve to this. Ben gets his second.

The next step is digging sand to get under a log.
Jeremy is first to his slide puzzle. Ben, Tony, Nick and Sarah join him before Denise gets to the dig. Michele almost gets her second ball, but drops it on the catch. 

There's a lot of puzzle shuffling, but I'm not sure who is making much progress. 

Nick has it! This foils the blindside plan. Michele is upset at her poor performance. Everyone tries to console her. 

Denise was on the blindside team because now she's wondering who it is going to be.

Back at camp, the scramble is on. 

While Denise is off somewhere, Sarah brings her up as the next person. 

Ben is friendly with Denise, so wants to cause distrust between Jeremy and Michele. 

Flash to shot of a snake making it's way around a tree. Foreshadowing to something sneaky. Something sounds amiss to Jeremy. He doesn't trust Ben at all. 

Ben was trying to convince Jeremy to get Michele's 50/50 and tells her that Jeremy is going to ask her for it. She says she isn't giving it to anyone. She is using it for herself.

Jeremy and Michele compare notes. They are going to try to get Ben. Will they be able to get Tony on their side? 

Jeremy and Nick run the idea by Tony. Tony goes and tells Sarah, Ben and Nick the plan, so they decide to go Jeremy. Which team is Nick actually on? Even Nick doesn't know.

It's time for tribal...

Jeff starts by asking Michele about her struggle. They move on to Ben and personas. Jeff asks Sarah about playing like a cop. They move on to playing like it's personal and how it changes you when you get home. Who do you trust? Do you let it get in your head? 

Jeremy says that everybody thinks they have a group. Do they really know? Sarah outs Michele's advantage. It's the last night she can play it, and does plan to use it. 

They have gone the whole time without whispering tonight. It's time to vote. 

Denise votes Michele. 
Jeremy votes Ben.
Tony votes Jeremy. 
Ben, Nick, Michele and Sarah's votes aren't shown as they vote.

Jeff brings the votes down and asks for idols. Michele pulls out the coin. Jeff gives the rules and asks if she is playing it for herself. Jeremy's eyes are super big. Ultimately, she decides it's for herself. She nervously flips it, and it lands safe.

Michele - doesn't count
Michele - doesn't count
Ben
Jeremy 
Ben
Jeremy
Jeremy

Jeremy asks who did it. Tony answers, "Sorry, dude."

If Michele played it for Jeremy, she likely would have been voted to Extinction in a re-vote. Jeremy bequeaths his two fire tokens to Michele on his way out.

But that isn't the end for tonight's episode... we have two hours of show tonight.

Ben and Tony ask if anyone needs water, and the two of them head to the well to talk. They talk about what would have happened if Michele had given the coin to Jeremy. They already talking about Michele being a hyena and needing to go. 

Nick finds Michele, and she tells him she wondered if he was going to have the balls to show up and talk to her. Michele asks what exactly he thinks the plan is now. Now, Nick is ready to get Ben out. She points out how Nick is on the bottom now. She reminds him that if she doesn't win immunity, she is out. 

Day 32...
Michele wakes up mad. She thinks everyone is playing scared. She talks to Sarah, saying she sees the writing on the wall. Sarah tries to tell her it's not. Michele tries to play Sarah and points out how everyone thinks Tony is running the show and is going to get final votes. 

Sarah goes back to the others and tells them how she's trying to pit them against one another. Sarah doesn't bite.

On Edge of Extinction, Yul and Ethan are trying to be Zen. They show Jeremy how little rice they get.

Yul finds the next note and reads it to the group. Everyone starts running off. Jeremy doesn't know what he's chasing. 

The hunt is for the throne of stone. Is it out in the water? Is it at the top of the rock? 

Wendell heads up the rock, but Natalie knows that's not where it was. She finds it. She wanted to take it away from the group, but opens it among everyone. This holds the power to put someone at a disadvantage for the next immunity challenge. She can sell it for as many tokens as she wants to get. 

Someone recommends selling it to Denise who has a bunch. Someone else says they are going to pool them together anyway.

(Day 33) Nick finds the advantage in his bag. He has six tokens, so he is two short because he needs eight. 
He's going to try for Michele. She is excited he got an advantage and is willing to pay up. If she gets voted off, she has to give them away anyway, and they won't do her any good. 

Day 34... It's immunity challenge time again... The last day to earn any fire tokens.

They have to set up dominoes on a beam while not tripping over the obstacles and knocking everything over. The ground obstacle gets tighter to maneuver closer to the end. They have to knock them down to hit the gong in order to win.

Now, for the disadvantage... the player selected will have 30% more beam and 30% more blocks to place. Ben was the one selected for the disadvantage. He grins as he has not gotten a single token or advantage all game.

Do you go fast or slow and steady? You can only take one block at a time. Michele, Sarah and Tony are in the lead. Michele is trying to space hers further out, but dorps one of hers and has to go back. 

Ben is still in it, even with his disadvantage. 

Michele is the first to go for it. She wins immunity. She even has a dance. Jeff asks if it's this win or any win. She says it's her do or die day. 

As he leaves, Ben asks if he can find out who handed out the disadvantage. Jeff tells him it's a negative. 

Back at camp, Denise has a proposal. She figures she is on the chopping block, but she wants to go with a full belly. She's willing to give up coins to buy the rice. (It's all a ploy though. She's not planning on giving up.)

Ben doesn't think he will play the idol tonight. He thinks he's safe. 

Nick, Michele and Tony talk. They start talking about if they have to do a fire making challenge. Ben has already been there, done that.

Tony decides to go up in his spy nest again. He listens to Denise, Sarah and Ben. Denise doesn't want to go up against Tony in the end. This means Tony is out for Denise. 

Tony goes to Sarah again. They debate Nick vs. Denise. Both have won immunity. Both could get votes in the end. 

When it's time to go to tribal, Jeff starts by asking about the immunity challenge. Michele says she knew she was on the bottom. Jeff asks how she knew. He then says that may have provided juice. He asks Ben about the disadvantage and how that may have hurt him. He still wonders if it came from a jury member on Edge or if it was one of the remaining five alongside him.

Jeff asks about the element of coins and advantages. They talk about it being a bigger part of the game. Then, Jeff asks about the possibility of someone coming back and alliances. 

They move on to discussing Denise's fully belly. They also talk about acceptance of "what is" rather than Denise actually giving up. The jury realizes this is a fakeout from Denise. 

Time to vote!

Nick votes Denise, but that's the only one we see at the time.

It's time for idols to be played. Nope. Votes.

Nick
Denise
Denise
Nick
Nick
Nick

And then there were five. Tomorrow, someone from Extinction will be coming back. 

Day 35 on Extinction...

The time has come. What they have all been waiting for.

Amber is emotional. She's been out on the island for a month. They head up to the top of the mountain to watch the sunrise. 
Tyson reads the clue. It's time to pack up. It's time to battle.

Rob has an immunity idol he purchased before the last challenge, and it's still good. 

Wendell brings 14 scrolls so everyone can see what they can do with those fire tokens. Everyone who has tokens plans to use them for advantages. Ethan has nothing, but Natalie will have three advantages and an idol. She has 14 tokens. Oh, and she also bought some peanut butter. With six more tokens, she bought Tyson an idol. Tyson is touched by Natalie's generosity. 

The fourteen of them head off the island... But we'll have to tune in next week.

So, they can't do a live finale, so I don't know how the winner will be announced next week. I looked it up, and this season we are watching now was actually filmed in May-June of 2019, so it's been almost a year since they got back home. Season 41 was supposed to start filming at the end of March, Jeff would have been back in the US for the live finale show, then season 42 would be filmed beginning at the end of this month. Filming was delayed due to Corona Craziness. 



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