You know the drill. Please post all comments regarding tonights episode here, in the East Coast Update Thread, until the show has aired in it's entirety tonight on the West Coast. And, no siggies please!

• Here we go!,Flowerpower1, 08:06 PM, 04-13-16
• Post intro, pre-RC...,Flowerpower1, 08:18 PM, 04-13-16
  • RE: Post intro, pre-RC...,tribephyl, 08:29 PM, 04-13-16
• Boys + Julia win RC....Chinese take out....yummy,Flowerpower1, 08:25 PM, 04-13-16
• pre IC....I think?,Flowerpower1, 08:39 PM, 04-13-16
• Yes!,PepeLePew13, 08:55 PM, 04-13-16
  • RE: Yes!,SquidProQuo, 01:17 AM, 04-14-16
• Pre TC drama....,Flowerpower1, 08:56 PM, 04-13-16
• Bye bye DEBBIE,Flowerpower1, 09:01 PM, 04-13-16
  • Votes: ,Flowerpower1, 09:10 PM, 04-13-16
    • Aubry,Flowerpower1, 09:13 PM, 04-13-16
      • RE: Aubry,Sheldor, 09:28 PM, 04-13-16
    • RE: Votes: ,Sheldor, 09:17 PM, 04-13-16
  • RE: Bye bye DEBBIE,Sheldor, 09:12 PM, 04-13-16
    • RE: Bye bye DEBBIE,Flowerpower1, 09:17 PM, 04-13-16
      • RE: Bye bye DEBBIE,Sheldor, 09:25 PM, 04-13-16
        • RE: Bye bye DEBBIE,SquidProQuo, 10:21 PM, 04-13-16
          • RE: Bye bye DEBBIE,SquidProQuo, 01:15 AM, 04-14-16
            • RE: Bye bye DEBBIE,Flowerpower1, 08:39 AM, 04-14-16
              • RE: Bye bye DEBBIE,SquidProQuo, 08:51 AM, 04-14-16
  • RE: Bye bye DEBBIE,Jims03, 10:24 PM, 04-13-16
    • RE: Bye bye DEBBIE,Flowerpower1, 08:46 AM, 04-14-16
      • RE: Bye bye DEBBIE,SquidProQuo, 09:02 AM, 04-14-16
        • RE: Bye bye DEBBIE,kingfish, 09:33 AM, 04-14-16
        • RE: Bye bye DEBBIE,CTgirl, 10:06 AM, 04-14-16
    • RE: Bye bye DEBBIE,CTgirl, 10:11 AM, 04-14-16

Previously on Survivor:

Brawn and Beauty were in the majority alliance and were targeting the brains, but irritated Cydney, got tired of the men controlling the game so she rallied the women to take out one of the men....at TC, Tai talks about the Superidol, Tai made a big mistake but for Cydney everything fell into place when the women sent Nick to the jury leaving Scot Tai and Jason on the bottom, who's next?

thunderstorm sounds,

Tai: girl power

Scot: the girls pulled a good one and blindsided us, now it's Jason Tai and I
Tai: at TC I said Jeff that is the super idol, oh no opened my mouth again, I was so fearful, panicked, and voted for Jason, told them that I voted for Debbie
see the boys talking to play their idols
Tai there is only three of us but if we perform tighter = super idol
Now see them conspiring to take away their food

lJason: take away the ax and machete, take away their food, psychological warfare, did it all the time, I love it

Tai: I know this is a game have to go with strategy, but the way that Scot and Jason talk about the game, take away the food, I am not part of that, not the way I live my life, they will do what they do....

see at night, the guys are up, Joe is up...

Scot: the main reason for sabotage is to weaken them, I am hoping for a crack, time to make life as miserable as possible for everybody else...see Scot get the tools at night....let's go put these somewhere
here's a good path, went back int he jungle and we hid the tools, certainly I am not just going to lay down and say good game, we will fight, and if fighting means making everybody else miserable, that's what I am doing

From the intro, I got a big it's Scot vibe....

Dara day 23....see chicken, see the fire, see the boys and joe....okay Jason do you mind, if you hold I'll pour

Debbie: TC was beautiful, the people that were in control now see it was an illusion, now they are poor sports, they are not gentlemen,

they are all looking for the ax and machete...

Joe: one of the girls trying to find the tools, gone? they were taken by the brawn, don't go and hide utensils for the hold tribe

Michele: the boys think they can break us down but we just use our smarts and figure it out another way
with 20 minutes we figured out a new method...syceny gets a coconut open with the saw

scot: I am listening to them, we will cook up coconuts the old way, made me mad, I am steaming so I am going to do something stupid....he pours the entire water can over the fire,
why would you sabotage us? why would you sabotage us? They don't even know what to say
Michele: I don't tolerate that behavior in real life, why would I do it now? See the guys talking together:
tai, and the boys, they started it, and they will do it again, we will put it out again they had no problem putting us under the bus last night, let's think of some other fun stuff to do.....says Scot

Aubry tells Jeff what is going on, Debbie: sabotage going on at camp, missing machete, and scot pours water over the fire.
Scot: the mangos exist because I lift tai up and he gets them, cydney: cI can climb a damn tree

RC: unbraid the rope, unspooled then unclip and knock a series of blocks off the ledge, playing for Chinese take out delivered to camp. We were going to do a school yard pick , but if you guys can agree to line up we will do it, Joe sits out. 2 foursome that want to run? Jason asks, do one of the girls want to run with us....Julia says I 'll go.

Sydney: Julia swoops up and goes with them
Julia: wants to make moves and play her games and those guys can be very beneficial to my game

Wow!

For reward they are off: Cydney Michele, Debbie, Aubry all vs. Scot, Jason, Tai, Julia

Women doing well, then guys doing well...Julia opted to go with the men and so far it's working....women all tangled up, men there first, up and over, all of them are un clipping, and throwing sand bags....Jason is throwing first....onow women are unclipped. Jason continuing to fire...Scot is throwing now....Debbie now throwing for girls, debbie is nailing them, catching up....Debbie has an arm. Scot has only a few more, debbie almost winning...down to three for the men, 2, down to 5 for women.....Jason down to one....and he does it! Boys plus Julia win reward...

huge effort, with teams you chose...chines take out will be delivered. Sydney michele aubry debbie, nothing

Aubry: Julia and the boys won the reward, I see that she is playing both sides, I cannot trust her as far as I can throw her!

Calling upon the "OhGawds" of J'Tia and Brandon...
Scot: "I am listening to them, we will cook up coconuts the old way, made me mad, I am steaming so I am going to do something stupid." ... He pours the entire water can over the fire.
Wow! No wonder.

LAST EDITED ON 04-13-16 AT 08:27 PM (EST)

Post RC:

Debbie says that she is happy for them....
Jason: at today's challenge we won, we are back on the upswing right now, not on the top of the mountain right now, but we are on the upswing!

Scot: Julia tai, jason the chicken and I got to eat chinese, time to pick her brain....Julia getting rid of you guys would be a bad decision on my part, I'm on the bottom with that other group.

Julia: it's all about my game, at this point anyone on the jury would not vote for them, she is going with the boys

Debbie and guys talking here they come
I think she is lost to the dark side, says Joe
Debbie: some people think Julia is playing both sides of the fence, But I don't, Julia tells them no way are they pulling me in to Debbie....

Sydney: her BS radar is up, she thinks she 's slick....I got it, Cydney has her number and says so in confessional

Sydney talking to Aubry: want to get Julia out now
Aubry: Julia isn't someone that wants to have alliances, she's playing both sides and sometimes the guy in the middle gets run over, and I hope it's her!

At this point I wouldn't be surprised if Julia won the IC.....we'll see!

Night 23: see the fire and Joe....Tai: I woke up in the middle of the night, I am committed to the boys, I was upset, if necessary for me to take a step back...if they si war, make the other side uncomfortable, right now it is them and us...he puts out the roaring fire...

In AM, it's out, maybe more water was poured on it...

Aubry: there is a part of the sabotage that is childish, but they probably have idols, my gut tells me with a big blinking sign, that Julia has to go

Debbie wants Scot to go
Aubry: Scot is doing it deliberately, he is trying to shake it up because they have idols
Aubry: it's killing me that debbie is going with scot right now, wanted to tell her that she is going with rational right now, not her guy. Deb is putting her foot down right now, she's not voting for Julia but I believe with all my heart that Julia needs to go.

Come on in guys:

Tai gives back the necklace: stack a series of blocks while attempting to avoid knocking them down with hitting the obstacles, get them all stacked and get through obstacles and hit gong, winner!

Here we go....

one block at a time, must be inside with both feet before you place your first one, faster you go more risk you take, space them like dominos, just right, overtime you drop a block you have to go back and get more...
Joe and Cydney falling out of this, Jason loses everything, first to have a toal disaster, Scot loses everything, giving michele a nice opening....tAi, loses everything
he's out now, Michele Aubry and Debbie, Julia is slow and steady this entire challenge, Abury racing an loses everything
Michele debbie and julia and cydney loses everything, with her last block
Michele: does she have them spaced right, but no does not do it.....opening the door for Debbie and julia, it's debbie's to win, Jason not waiting to find out....debbie giving it a shot for the win......and NO does not, falls short, the door is open again, Julia is restocking her missing blocks...Jason lost but still in it, scot drops everything out, Julia is almost there.....one away...debbie now restocking, Jason is done, for the win.....and NO, doesn't do it.....Julia places her last block, Debbie is doing it, and no, falls short, Julia for the win..... and YES, JULIA wins IC!

See Aubry....see the boys
youngest person in this game and still going strong one in 8 shot,

Aubry: the worst possible thing happened, my plan went out the window, my whole plan, what do I do now?

Bye, Debbie.

I always thought she had too complex of an edit to go all the way to the end.

Pepe, I'm with you on this. Even though I really enjoyed her as a character, I couldn't get on board with Debbie as a winner. Felt the comical music, changing job titles, negative SPV, etc. were all red flags.

LAST EDITED ON 04-13-16 AT 09:07 PM (EST)

See an eagle soar, two of them....see them return....good job says Debbie, trick was to use them all, good girl, I know we are all going to talk quickly says Debbie, split the vote between Tai and Jason, if it goes 3 3 3 we revote for scot

Aubry: Oh no, debbie takes control, wants to split right in front of Julia
tie, 3, 3, Julia is playing double agent pretty well and if this goes awry, then the whole plan goes down the drain.

Julia tells them the plan, split the vote between you and Tai....
Scot: we are pulling it all out to make sure we stick around, we don't have an option

Sydney and Aubry are talking, concerned about debbie
Aubry: Debbie is not logical, I need some one that is logical and do I need to cut debbie loose?
See Aubry and Cydney talking: I don't want debbie to go, when people show me who they are that is what I am good withI have michele, says Cydney
Sydney: Aubry and I are on the same page, Debbie will take us all down before Scot and Jason will, we are voting Debbie
Sydney is telling Michele the plan
Aubry has honest conversation with Joe....why is debbie doing this
Joe refuses not to vote for Debbie....
Aubry says we don't have the numbers
right now we need to talk to Julia, cause now Julia the person I wanted out is the person I needed right now...Cydney and Michele are talking to Julia...they are going to vote for Debbie...
Julia: I definitely feel that having 2 alliances has given me a lot of power....Julia says the guys are voting Cydney, but I want Debbie gone, so it's who I choose to vote for....

WOW, this is WAY BETTER THAN I THOUGHT IT WOULD BE!

Jury comes in...

Let's go back to RC...DEbbie it's clear there was a division in this tribe, yes, really tough, we are not eating , no hatchet, or machete, our literal lives are on the line
Aubry: is that what they are trying to do? yes, all went up, symbolic....
Julia: you went with Tai scot andjason on RC....debbie defends her....debbie tells her I just thought you wanted Chinese food...
Michele, says she can sit comfortably with either side, an d I think I know which side it's going to be...
Tai says he thinks that idols will come into play if idols exist
Jason and Scot say: Tai's got an idol, tai is not going anywhere, he pulls it out...debbie says, can I see it....Jason says wait a minute, the idol has a brother, there is two of them and he shows them
Tai says I have an idol and I am playing it....and Jason you have another idol, and guess what, winner gets the idol to play, and loser is on the block, will let fate decide if I stay in the game or if Scot does...
Michele: Tai could give his idol up
See Cydney whispering to Joe, Debbie whispering to Joe...Julia: how great is that necklace right now....are we good, Aubry asks to debbie, yes, Jason says yes....WOW

THIS IS CRAZY, I have no idea who it will be....

see them vote
they are not showing any votes
Jason and Scot are doing rock paper scissors, they give Jason idol to Tai...he accepts it....and he is going to sit down...Aubry is laughing..

Scot
Sydney
Scott
Sydney
Sydney
Debbie
Deb
Debbie
tied
Debbie!!!

WOW!!!

Did NOT see that coming!

Debbie: the tribe has spoken

well rarely is there a theme as strongly as the one this season, no matter how badly you think you are it doesn't mean yo are out and no matter how safe you feel it doesn't matter...

Score one for EPMB!

Did anyone anywhere vote for her? Ha! I love it!

Next time on Survivor:

Did Julia tell the guys that the rest of them were splitting votes between Scot and Tai....so she didn't tell them any differently, because she wasn't in on it.

With the power of the super idol the boys feel they are invincible
Jason: we are unstoppable
JiffY: but Aubry tries to lure Tai away from the dark side
Aubry: tai is not like Jason and scot
Aubry to Tai: they are despicable people
Tai: I don't know what to do

The big surprise to me here is the girls chose to get rid of a girl, it makes it more difficult to win, they played a better game! Graceful loser!

SO, I think Jiffy gave us a TEASE for NEXT week....wtf? He said in his tease: Tai faces a moral delimma....that sounds like it would fit with next week!

Debbie and Joe voted Scot
Scot, Jason, Tai voted Cydney
Sydney, Aubry, Michele, Julia voted Debbie

Aubry totally took control of this vote. She's a sure contender for the win at this point....just saying. Guess Joe will now latch on to Aubry.

Now it really gets interesting as the apparent split is:

Jason, Scot, Tai, Julia vs. Aubry, Michele, Cydney, Joe

I've been thinking Aubry is our winner ever since Neal got voted out and she had that epic confessional about the Oregon Trail.

Julia could have voted with the men and eliminate Cydney but she opted to vote with the women to eliminate Debbie.

So whose side is Julia really on?

She revealed the 3/3 split vote to Jason/Scot/Tai but then she votes with the women.

3 Brawn(Jason/Scot/Cydney)
3 Beauty(Julia,Michele,Tai)
2 Brains(Aubry/Joe)

Original Tribes probably have very little bearing

4 Women(Aubry/Cydney/Julia/Michele)
4 Men(Jason/Joe/Scot/Tai)

The 4 Men did NOT vote together so it is probably more along the lines of this:

4 Aubry/Cydney/Julia/Michele
3 Jason/Scot/Tai
1 Joe

However what will Julia and Joe do?
I can't see Joe joining the men.
Julia told Jason/Scot/Tai the women's plan but then voted with the women.

Outsider32 is the ONLY one that voted for Debbie

"SO, I think Jiffy gave us a TEASE for NEXT week....wtf? He said in his tease: Tai faces a moral delimma....that sounds like it would fit with next week!"

Yeah, Jeff said:
"the compass of morality stares Tai straight in the face."

There was one photo of Debbie post Immunity Challenge

that had me wondering if it could possibly be Debbie but unfortunately I dismissed that idea.

Congrats Outsider. Definitely I didn't see that coming. Her confessionals were stellar all season long. I thought with her 2 confessionals last week that she was back to baseline. I really have to admit that debbie was a complete blindside for me! I LOVE IT!

Yeah ONLY Debbie and Tai had a Confessional in every episode and now it is down to only Tai!

I thought the 5 Confessionals for Scot or 3 for Jason last week meant one of those two were going home especially after they pulled the rock, scissors, paper stunt and gave the idol to Tai!

And still 4 NO Intro Confessional players in the game (Aubry, Cydney, Julia, and Michele)!

Wow, great episode! I figured based on that beach shot of Debbie walking alone that she was a target, but didn't think it would be the girls who turned on her, ha. Smart move on Aubrey's part.

LOVING the Aubry and Cydney duo! Two very smart ladies. Aubry really has the emotional intelligence to read people and we've seen all season that Cydney is observant and has the street smarts.

A few quick edit observations:
- Cydney got the recap credit for bringing the girls alliance together
- They zoomed in on Debbie when Jeff said "3rd person on the jury," sealing her fate
- When Jeff said "1 in 8 shot of winning the game," they showed Julia and Cydney

So does Tai still have possession of both idols now? If Aubry can win Tai over per the teaser for next week, that will be huge.

So this answers the Tai / idol question:

Jason
@sargjason
Tai gave it back the min we got back to camp

The "dark side" of Tai that Neal referred to in his post-game interviews finally came out tonight.

So, did Jason give the HI to Tai as a scare tactic? Then if the vote was for either of them, Tai would give it back to them after the vote?

After all the Superidol, 2 together, can be played after the vote. But, can someone possessing the idol, super idol, play it on someone else that has been voted out, or do they only get to play it on themselves if they have it before the votes are read?

Confusing...

It is confusing and it's hard to say what the girls know about the rules. But my understanding is that they can only use it individually / on themselves before the vote appears. So they were smart and maximized its use this week:

- They used it as a scare tactic by threatening to use it individually
- And they also threatened to use it together as a post-vote Super Idol
- So as long as they trust Tai (in this case), they were all safe

Jeff talks about this in his post-game EW interview -- I just posted it in the teaser thread. The big question is whether the 3 will stick together again and 1 stray votes screws them up. One stray vote can screw them up.

Amazing season. It's official that Jiffy was trolling us pre-season.

But was that one of the weirdest votes in Survivor history?

You know what I mean? The Julia plan was a somewhat uncommon one in the grand scheme of things... But we see that from time to time. Alliances eat one of their own when sketched out by them playing the middle. But then Julia wins immunity and they choose to go after one of their own? With two idols still in the minority alliance? Also requiring them to use Julia, who they were already worried about? And without using Joe at all?

Super weird play by Aubry and Cydney. They might get away with it, but it's a very unconventional play. Trying to think of another vote that resembles it.

LAST EDITED ON 04-14-16 AT 08:47 AM (EST)

I can totally see why they turned on Debbie. She was too rigid. We saw it last week and then we see it this week. It's too hard for the others to get themselves to the end working with someone that is too stubborn. So, I thought it was a great move on their part. I agree that I can't recall a similar vote, but then again, this is the first season with a "super idol".

I am still scratching my head over the Jiffy tease, that Tai would face a moral delimma....shouldn't that be the tease for this week? That is the one thing that really threw me off. I voted for Jason based on that, that Tai would be faced with giving up his HII to save another after they were already voted out, and I didn't think he would do it. Which, is exactly what I am am thinking will happen in the coming week, perhaps?

The interesting nuance to me is that Aubry tells us in the water that Debbie was too emotional / not logical when we've seen Aubry herself cry a lot and be emotional and talk about the importance of emotional intelligence, but clearly there's a difference between being inflexible and emotional game play vs. being emotional about the conditions, etc.

I'm figuring the moral dilemma Jeff mentioned for Tai this week was whether he should a) tell Jason he voted for him and b) go along with his alliance's sabotage. We saw Tai struggling with the sabotage but then he went ahead and put out the fire. So he caved to the dark side, at least for this now.

FloPo, I agree with you on Tai for this week. We see Aubry playing to this in the 'Next Week" preview -- she's trying to win Tai over by appealing to his higher moral ground and saying "you're better than this." So perhaps he will regret his decision and come around. He earned the guys' trust this week at TC and apparently gave the other half of the SI back once they got back to camp, but could he switch sides this week?

I think This episode just gave us another entry into the Survivor's Manual - Inflexibility ain't good. An inability be reflective about one's opinions combined with an autocratic disposition is fatal unless you're in the Army.

One would think that that would be fairly obvious.

I am also not unhappy that I was blindsided, even though a Scot/Jason eviction would have made me happier. I would've preferred to see Debbie at F3 because there is no way she could win. Their (S&J) odds just improved, and unless the girls play it right, one of them might get to the final TC.

I agree the moral dilemma was whether to stay with the guys and their sabotage and it came to fruition when he put out the fire. (I bet he regretted it as soon as he did it!) Typical Jeff hyping us up over something not-so-big!

I don't think Jeff was trolling us especially if a girl wins. He is always down on female winners. If the girls do succeed in eliminating the bad boys, that is his worst case scenario for a final LOL.

He also doesn't have a good read on what the audience will enjoy. Before the season aired, he is the one who told us that we would love Red Collar vs Blue collar vs No Collar totally overlooking all the misogyny that happened. IMO, he really miscalculated on how that would be viewed.