Survivor: Blood vs Water Episode 3 Notes

Premiere

Redemption Island

The beginning of the episode is very explosive at Redemption Island. First, Galang got a glimpse of the person voted off from the Tadhana tribe last episode, Rachel. Tyson is not shocked at the vote as he figured Tadhana would try to get him to switch to weaken Galang. As expected, Tyson offers to switch places with Rachel if she wants. However, she realizes that Tyson is in a great position in his tribe and has the advantage of previous experience in the game. He has a great chance to get deep into the game. As the goal is for one of them to win, she wisely declines the offer. It is a decision I greatly respect. It is selfless as it is her first time playing and I would not blame her if she wanted to see how far she could get in the game. Nevertheless, Tyson is furious with Tadhana for voting out his girlfriend and warns them that they have no chance if they face him at Redemption Island. Specifically, he lashes out at Brad Culpepper. Moreover, Marissa curses at Brad for his role in getting her voted out. She correctly points out that the votes have been questionable as Tadhana has been voting out strong players. As a result, the tribe will continue to lose challenges because of that strategy. Rachel piles on and throws Brad under the bus for running the show on the tribe. This scene illustrates how Brad’s alliance is brilliant in allowing him to take the role of leader. He is not actually in charge. As I noted before, he is the figure head that is taking the bullets.

Next, there is no redemption for Colton on Redemption Island. He came into the show trying to show everyone that he has matured as a human being and not the bad person he appeared to be in Survivor: One World. He failed in every way possible. First, he did not adapt to the veteran players he is playing with in the current season. Colton was able to control and intimidate the players on his first season. However, the returning players in Blood vs. Water are too smart to allow Colton to get his way. Like a spoiled brat, Colton has temper tantrums and whines when things do not go his way. When his whining makes things worse for him, he outright quits rather than accepting responsibility for his shortcomings and get voted out. He does not even try to redeem himself by trying to convince his tribe mates that he is a better person and fighting to the end. It speaks very poorly of his character. Instead of showing that he is a better person than he is perceived, he hurts his image even further by also showing that he has no intestinal fortitude and toughness. With so many people waiting in line to play Survivor, it is disgraceful that he quits when he was given a second chance to play. Jeff Probst is infuriated with Colton quitting and calls him out. First, he mentions that Colton feigned appendicitis in Survivor: One World. As such, Jeff suggests that Colton quit in that season rather than being medically evacuated. Jeff completely piles on by calling Colton selfish. Next, Jeff suggests Colton is a quitter in life when things do not goes his way and a person who is better suited to stay on his couch to watch the show rather than get off it to play. As a final insult, Jeff says Colton can keep his buff instead of putting it in the urn to burn as that right is only reserved for players who compete. I agree with everything Jeff said about Colton.

In the duel, the players have to create a stack of blocks that will fall like dominoes to reach the end of the course to release a ball that will break the plate. Again, Candice has razor sharp focus and finishes quickly. As a returning player, she has a huge advantage in experience and staying calm. She is also very athletic, competitive, and intelligent. She will get more and more confidence each week and will be an extremely tough person to eliminate at Redemption Island. The new players, Marissa and Rachel, have a much more difficult time as it takes them awhile to finish the duel. Eventually, Marissa is able to complete it before Rachel. Tyson embraces Rachel before she leaves the game. He asks is she had fun in the game and she responds that she did.

Aftermath

Brad definitely has a huge target on his back as Galang holds him responsible for voting out its loved ones. It also hurts his wife’s position in her tribe and alliance. Monica worked her way into the majority alliance. However, Brad is being blamed for voting out the loved ones of two members of her alliance. As a result, her alliance could turn on her for retribution. Brad does make an excellent point when he notes that “In the past, you vote someone off and their dirty laundry goes with them. Now, you vote someone off and the dirty laundry comes back at you”. With loved ones in the game, voting out a player also results in her loved ones coming back at you and potentially making your loved on a target. The Blood vs Water twist also adds a lot of emotion to the game. Tyson has tears in his confessional when he speaks about Rachel being voted off. Tyson is a pretty care free guy and would never cry in the game if his girlfriend is not in the game. It makes Survivor more personal for every player and helps the viewer get emotionally attached to the game.

Caleb and Tyson are in better strategic positions with their loved ones leaving. When Colton leaves the game, Caleb is completely calm, understanding, and remains unnerved and ready to continue to compete. Both Caleb and Tyson are likeable people and in the majority alliance in their tribes. Without their loved ones in the game, their alliance has no reason to vote them out anytime soon. As Candice wins the duel again, she gets to give another clue to whoever she wants. Of course, she chooses her husband again. It is a gift and a curse.

Immunity Challenge

The immunity challenge is a one on one battle between players. The players are given pads and need to knock the other player off the platform. The first tribe with five individual match victories wins immunity. There are some interesting matchups. The first is between Gervase and Brad who have been trash talking to each other. Gervase puts up a good fight at the beginning. However, Brad is a former, NFL player and it is no surprise that he wins. Gervase did well to keep it competitive. John distinguishes himself for Tadhana as he quickly beats Aras. However, Aras redeems himself later when he faces his brother Vytas. Despite Vytas getting in a cheap shot in a move that Jeff calls “one of the biggest unsportsmanlike moves”, Aras still wins the matchup. Tadhana loses immunity because their two women, Ciera and Katie, go 0-4 in their matchups including losses to their mothers. The ineptitude of Ciera and Katie supports the opinion that Tadhana foolishly voted out their stronger women because of their loved ones on Galang.

Five Guys?

With a third consecutive loss in the immunity challenge and the women to blame, it appeared certain that the five guy alliance would stick together and vote out one of the women. However, Brad sees that Candice is doing very well and is concerned about her reentering the game as John’s allegiance would definitely be to his wife. Another factor in targeting John is that he has both clues to the hidden immunity idol and everyone knows it. As the idol is always a threat, John is a natural target. John completely mishandled the clues. Everyone knows he has it. As such, he should have just shared the clue with his alliance to keep their trust. Even when he tries to gain Brad’s trust by telling him the second clue, John messes up the situation by seeming suspicious by telling Brad he does not need him to help find the idol as he wants to find it himself. Brad gets the support from his tribe to vote out John. However, I do not agree with the decision. It is overplaying too early. It is way too early to be worried about Candice reentering the game. Voting out one of your strongest players in the challenges when the tribe has yet to win an immunity challenge makes no sense. Moreover, his alliance begins to distrust Brad as he showed he can turn on his allies quickly. Nevertheless, Brad’s alliance would be foolish to vote him out before the merge. Brad has taken the blame for all the decisions of Tadhana. As such, him and his wife would be targets for everyone near the merge and keep the attention off the other players in his alliance and their loved ones.

Pat Wong

About Pat Wong

Patrick is a contributor for Rookerville. He is an avid sports fan. Before joining Rookerville, he was part of a defunct New York Yankees message board, NYYankeefans, where he was its top poster and was inducted in its Hall of Fame for his contributions. Patrick is also a passionate fan of movies. He has enjoyed reading movie reviews over the years and is excited about the opportunity to review movies.

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