Night 28 started with the tribes getting back to camp and the image we see is Kim stumbling and nearly falling to the ground. 
Although we saw Tony helping her stay up, this looks like an omen of what was about to happen in the episode.
Jeremy had the opening interview, telling us that Tribal Council was crazy, that Ben tried to make a move against him and he was now angry. Jeremy called him a child.
Sarah, telling the group that it was a grimy move, went off to talk with Tony while we heard her interview: “This was Tony’s idiotic move but I told myself: “Sarah; keep your cool and don’t be pissed.”
The cameras immediately showed that she didn’t keep her cool and she was pissed! “You just sunk my game; I’m done” she yelled at Tony.
Sarah’s confessional continued, telling us that Tony’s move wasn’t good, that they were doing fine before.
That analysis matches the one we made at the end of the last episode; Tony made the move too early. However, he will have recovered before the end of the episode.
In his interview, Tony told us he was surprised by the reaction: “Usually you blindside somebody, you get back to camp, you hash it all out and everybody says it’s OK. Not this time. This time it’s deep wounds, man! This is war; stop crying and put your man panties on and go to war.”
Tony certainly has a strange way with words but it works for him.
Tony told both Ben and Sarah that he had an idol.
Ben told us that, despite Tony telling him about his idol, he wasn’t sure if he could trust him. He was still fixating on getting Jeremy out of the game.
The answer is simple Ben: Don’t trust ANYONE! By the way, what can be made of the image of bird poop apparently falling on Tony’s arm? There used to be a school of spoiling thought that a bug seen on a player’s body was enough to eliminate that player but what about bird excrements?! I always said Tony was one of the luckiest winners ever and now he is full of sh*t, literally! In Russia, having a Bird Poop on you means good things are coming your way and in French, a lucky person is full of “merde” (sh*t). So his lucky streak may continue.
Day 29 started with a running Tony telling us that he was looking for a way to spy on people. His new spot would be up in a tree overlooking the water well. No one seemed to come except Sarah so he climbed back down.
Sarah’s confessional told us she didn’t approve of Tony’s method: “If we were in the real world and Tony and I were partners, one of us would be fired.” She told us that they were protecting each other’s back but his relentless drive could get him voted out.
Right then, Kim was in camp trying to rally the votes against Tony. Jeremy and Ben were there with her but Ben, once more acting like a child, didn’t want to talk to Jeremy. Still, talking to each individually at first, Kim got Jeremy, Denise, Ben, Michelle and Nick’s attention. Tony had to go and they all agreed.
In her interview, Michelle explained why she was turning against Tony. “This game is about power and this is the opportunity to gain a little control and take out Tony’ she said.
If only the plan had worked...
On the Edge of Extinction, we saw that Natalie and Sophie still had a lot of energy in the tank, finishing their arduous task first and earning two fire Tokens each. Yul, Tyson, Parvati and Wendell also completed the task with Danni unfortunately finishing one spot out of the money. Rob fell and hurt his elbow badly. He said it cracked.
Back at Koru, Jeremy was telling Sarah that Ben had called him his “ride-or-die” but now he didn’t even want to talk. Then we saw Sarah arguing with Tony again.
This led to Nick’s interview: “The more people are fighting, the more there is a war, the more there is friendly fire, the more I can crank it up.” He was thinking about who should be at the end with him and how to get everybody else out.
Despite a very poor role up to now this season, Nick is certainly sitting in a good position. He is with all the factions and hasn’t ruffled any feathers. However, he doesn’t have much of a case to present to the jury so thinking about who to take to the end is critical for him. He knew that Jeremy, Sarah and Tony would beat him in the end.
Nick then approached Michelle and Denise. Michelle astutely pointed out that the three of them were on an equal playing field.
Nick could do well facing these two although I’d still favor Denise.
Nick’s confessional continued with him telling us that he knew he had to make big moves in order to stand out.
There is still time for that big move but we’ll see that Nick is still just turning with every little breeze that comes along.
At that time, Sarah told us that Sophie’s idol had to be out there waiting for someone else to take it.
That launched a big search in the woods.
Working with Tony, Ben was the one to find it. He momentarily tried to hide his find from the cop but he didn’t do a good job of it. That made Tony worry for a bit but finally, the two hugged.
In dueling interviews, Ben and Tony told us what happened. Tony was a little hurt that Ben didn’t trust him while Ben wanted Tony to be reassured because he also had an idol and Ben wasn’t sure which way he wanted to go.
The Immunity Challenge
With two necklaces in play, one for the men and one for the women, and the competition down to only 3 women and two men, it was surprising to see Kim, Michelle and Nick choosing to drop out for Peanut Butter and Chocoloate, giving immunity to Denise and Tony. At least Nick got one of Tony’s Tokens for dropping out.
At least, Probst gave Michelle, Kim and Nick a few minutes to enjoy the food because the challenge ended right when Nick stepped down. Imagine the cruelty that he could have displayed, saying: “You opted to eat until the challenge ended but that ended the challenge so eating time is over!”
In his post-game interview, Tony said that paying one token for the immunity necklace was a great deal.
After the challenge, a group of five seemed to form centering on Kim. It included Michelle, Denise, Nick and Ben. In order to satisfy Ben they agreed to target Jeremy.
Nick explained in interview that he wanted to win the immunity challenge but that he was about to fall off. For him, getting the food and one Fire Token was a good compensation. Sending Jeremy to EoE still made it a win-win situation.
Michelle was distraught. She explained that she was closest to Jeremy.
Informing Tony that the group was voting against Jeremy, Ben informed Tony that he was their original target.
In his interview, Tony told us how he felt after learning Kim’s plan: It was a big deal to him.
Tony asked Nick if he heard his name being mentioned as a possible target.
Nick had the absolute worst poker face I have ever seen.
Caught completely off guard, Nick just stared at Tony as if the cop had spoken to him in Chinese. He was trying to remember if he had heard Kim and Denise saying that Tony had to go. He played with his beard, he scratched his shoulder, he shook his head, he shuffled his feet left and right, he looked to the heavens and then closed his eyes to concentrate on the question and, before he finally admitted being part of the conversation, his prolonged silence had already told Tony exactly what he wanted to know.
Tony was 100% worried about Kim trying to get him out. Ben and Sarah agreed they had to work with Jeremy to prevent a takeover of the game by Kim’s group. Tony went to work on Ben toichange his vote from Jeremy to Kim, telling him Kim had to be stopped. Tony proposed an alliance between the soldier, the two cops and the fireman.
Wanting to save Jeremy, Michelle gave him her 50/50 advantage.
Having paid 4 Fire Tokens for this advantage, you’d think Michelle would have asked Jeremy for his Fire Token but she was never considered a smart contestant. Since Jeremy didn’t play it, I hope she demands it back.
Jeremy talked to Ben who finally agreed to listen. Jeremy suggested they vote against Kim but Jeremy wasn’t sure if he got through.
The StoryThere was a great lesson to learn in tonight’s episode: A group cannot settle on only one target before the immunity challenge. Kim’s five set their sights solely on Tony so when he won they had to scramble for another option. They really should have adopted another line of play: Either work strictly on solidifying the group before the challenge and waiting for the result to choose a target or choose at least two targets before the challenge and have a ready fallback plan if one of them wins immunity. Since the biggest friction was between Ben and Jeremy, Kim should have kept her options secret.
The CharactersKim: I’ve rarely considered the players sent to the Edge of Extinction but I will make an exception with Kim: As far as I can remember, she’s the only one in this cast to have mentioned winning the challenge to return to the game in her last words. Maybe it’s a hint that she will indeed come back into the game.
Ben: Being compared to a child and someone who doesn’t know how to play the game by a respected player such as Jeremy is a death blow to Ben’s chances of winning this game.
Denise: She only had a small confessional during the Idol search so we can’t put our money on Denise to win this thing. The way she cut Jeremy, refusing to hear anymore of his arguments before the vote, pretty much told him that she was voting against him. If Jeremy was still open to vote another way, that forced him to vote against Kim. It was a really dumb move from Denise.
Jeremy: People keep coming after him but they never finish the job. Like we heard, Jeremy is a huge jury threat, someone no one wants to face at the end so why are they still balking at the idea of voting him out? Jeremy’s main chance is that we constantly heard that he wanted to be a leader but we constantly see him playing as a follower. It’s been completely out of necessity instead of choice but, in nature, natural selection doesn’t ask how the adaptation occurred, just that it did.
Michelle: I definitely see Michelle sitting in the Final 3. In fact, she’ll probably be the one saved by the player who wins the Final 4 Immunity Challenge but what case can she present to the jury? If only Jeremy had played his coin and saved himself with it then she’d be able to brag about it but now? She has nothing.
Nick: Nick is flowing with the wind but he is in a very comfortable place. His name never comes up in voting discussions so the camouflage is working nicely. If we do see him making moves then he could still steal this victory. His role has been very small up to now but there is still time for a big final push.
Sarah: She said that her game was sunk when Tony made a move without her and, indeed, it seems that she cannot win without him and she’ll have a lot of trouble convincing the jury to vote for her if she’s with him! It is quite a conundrum for Sarah because she is damned with him and damned without him.
Tony: As the jury said, Tony is the boss of the situation but his safety relied on Ben and Jeremy voting together against Kim. Even with her gone, can he keep both in line? Or will the two make up and decide they don’t need Tony! It seems he will have to sacrifice one for the other and then he could find himself and Sarah alone fighting the remaining 4 and he’ll have to face those numbers twice because the returning player should be coming back when 5 players are left as they did with the first Edge of Extinction and with the different Redemption islands. If we’ve learned anything from this season is that there are many players wanting to be the boss (the Lion) but that it isn’t easy to remain the boss.
In a season with multiple leaders, a FOLLOWER is more likely to win and, I hate to say it, but the biggest follower we have is Nick. Not only that but despite his small role and his weak edit, Nick’s “winning quotes” are still making it on the air. Why? Well, maybe it’s because they are about to come true. Suppose Nick sits at Final 3 with Michelle and the player returning from the Edge of Extinction. There would be two schools of thought, I think, on the jury: Some may feel compelled to vote for the person that lived with them for a while and bonded with the other jury members, a totally unfair practice, while others may feel that a player who has been voted out doesn’t deserve to win. Chris won his season despite coming back from the Edge of Extinction but this jury might be more purists of the game.
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