Survivor NZ Episode 13 & 14 Recap

It’s that time again, time to get ready to rumble and by rumble I mean watch Survivor NZ. In the immortal words of PJ and Duncan “watch us wreck the mic, watch us wreck the mic, watch us wreck the mic, psyche!”

Episode 13

At Redemption Island Mike isn’t shocked at all that Sala is there. He expects RV to be coming to Redemption which is just annoying because the dude’s name is Avi.

Speaking of Avi, he is not happy when they return to camp; he wants an explanation for the blindside and he wants it now. Avi displays utterly abysmal  Survivor play by going after Nate, Shannon and Barb for the move t blindside Sala; and to their credit, well Shannon and Barb’s credit, they shut him down. Shannon is completely right to tell Avi that they had a solid three she wasn’t in and the time was now and Barb is a stone cold killer when she looks Avi in the eye and says “I know everyone has underestimated me”. Avi continues to have full blown meltdown about the stupid game, like no Avi you couldn’t just be nice and win. No one wants to watch that game. That game doesn’t get 35+ seasons in the US.

Avi gets a confessional that turns me completely off him. He doesn’t think anyone deserves to win, because they won’t use the money to send their students to school or something nice. Fuck off Avi, what the fuck show did you think you were going on?

Barb needs to cool it on the mafia boss shit (or as it’s known in Survivor the Kim Spradlin). Barb is lying in the hammock and having everyone come to her to talk; it has been noticed by Shannon and Shay though.

We go to Redemption Island for the duel. Mike has a message for Shannon, he’s been holding onto it since he was booted. He is butthurt that Shannon promised to never vote him out, he thinks she’s fake. To be fair to Shannon, she is apologetic but Mike doesn’t believe part of her decision was down to not wanting to draw rocks. Why would a player you have 5 out of 5 in your alliance be willing to draw a rock from you when there is a chance to be 4 out of 6 on the other side? The male ego strikes again here; she didn’t do what he wanted her to, I don’t think there is an answer that will satisfy him. Shannon is the perfect person to take to the end now, every one of her tribe mates must see that. I get the feeling that this is going to be a very bitter jury (if we believe in those). The duel is a memory challenge and Mike wins again.

After the duel back at camp Shannon has a breakdown over the kind of person she is. Barb and Jak have a chat in the shelter about how Shannon now cannot jump back but Shay is the one who took her off to talk and a deep bond has been formed. A plan is brewing; Shay thinks she can pull Shannon over with her and Avi and to vote out Tom but as Culpepper math tells you 3 out of 7 won’t go.

We then get surprised by an immunity challenge invite. Maybe we are getting lucky and someone is getting voted out in both episodes of the week. The retro Survivor theme continues with the Survivor Blair Witch Project challenge.  The winner is Tom.

The plan is for Jak to go, Tom and Jak think it’s Avi and Avi is playing up the fact he’s going and can’t fix it. Let’s see if Tom and Jak are complete arseholes to Avi about his acting? But Nate wants to tell Jak that Nate will be voting for him, probably a bad plan all round.

Walking into Tribal Council and Jak is wearing his stupid loincloth. The answers at Tribal are as expected, there is a lot of paranoia, a lot of emotion and a lot of unpredictable. IN the end, Jak is blindsided and we get to see a great big blur of his arsecrack as he leaves and it’s the first time he’s made me laugh out loud all season.

Episode 14

The next morning we are back at camp and Shay and Avi are talking about Barb and her power. Avi says something completely contradictory in his confessional. He says “Barb is a threat because everyone wants to sit next to her in the final 3 because she hasn’t done anything this entire game” then he says “she’s also come up with some huge plays like with Sala”. Well, which is is Avi? Is she a goat or is she a power player? WHICH IS SHE? Either way, Avi is cooking up a play to remove Barb from the game. Shannon and Nate are also thinking Barb might be the logical next move.

Individual Immunity Challenge again which leads me to think that the next Redemption Island duel will be a truel and the winner will come back making it to final 6. The challenge itself is a Reynolds Tofer sandbag throwing special.  Tom wins his third immunity in a row. (Matt says 3/3 but that only works if you discount that Mike and Jak each won once). This throws a spanner in the works of blindsiding Barb.

As Barb and Nate go off for a walk and discuss that Barb wants to talk about Shay, the other four are discussing it being Barb. Shannon has decided that she needs to listen to her conscience (stop it Shannon). Tom wants to get rid of Shannon as she’s a strong player and splits up the Shay/Shannon alliance. Nate sees the Tom/Avi relationship as very tight but for some reason thinks it should be Shay here. Avi is the swing and is swinging towards Barb. Barb is totally right that Shannon is the wrong move, she’s a golden goat at this point. The true joy of final 6 is everyone is going after everyone else, their minds are going all over the place. Tom is playing this very well. He sets up Shay to say she wouldn’t want to sit next to Avi then uses that info when Avi comes back to him asking them to go with Barb instead.

In the end, we see Shannon go to Redemption. It’s an odd choice considering Mike and Lee hate her and no one wants to sit next to Avi at the end.

How did you guys feel about this week?
Who would you have taken out at F6?
Will Shannon win the Redemption endurance challenge that tends to favour women?
And at this point who do you think is winning this thing?

Survivor NZ Edgic

Call me mad but I think the edgic is saying that Dee is going to win.