Special Guest Barbara Anderson shares the best bonus scenes from the previous episode of Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers.

This Week In Secret Scenes

”Ben Feels the Heat”

This week’s Secret Scene is actually an extended scene of everyone’s favorite fight of the season: Ben vs Chrissy after Tribal. Despite the fact that roughly half of this scene made the episode, there is still a lot going on here. First of all, Chrissy and Ryan are still extremely dismissive of the then-majority alliance, which is extremely surprising, I know. Also, Mike is not as tight with Ryan as their side convo at Tribal made it seem. During the Ben and Chrissy fight, Mike is actually down at the fire with everyone else “sucking up” as Ryan put it. Finally and most importantly, if this scene made the episode, this would be the first instance of the majority alliance not knowing how to handle strategic conversations when their potential target walks in on them in this very episode. This is important context because it gives some reason why he would make the fake idol besides to embarrass Chrissy at Tribal. Ben is now alert to the fact that not only is he a target, but those three may have found a new fourth in Mike. He could use his real idol if he needs to, but as we saw in the episode, he wanted to hold it as long as possible. Unfortunately, this crew are not good liars. If Survivor Rule #2 is Have a Plan B, Have a Convincing Poker Face has to be Rule #5 at the very least.

This Week In Confessionals

”Another Reason Chrissy Has to Go”

So, besides Ben’s emotional vendetta against Chrissy, he is actually extremely scared by Chrissy’s love of the game. He also knew that he had no shot at seeing his wife once Chrissy won because he knew that she wouldn’t pick him. He then accurately calls why Chrissy chose Ashley (which spoke to the witch in me). TL:DW: Ashley is seen as easy to sway over and easy to win against at FTC. In a season that many see as bland, Ashley may be the blandest goat in Survivor history. Last note: Ben used the word “tacticianer”, which makes me want to discredit some of his strategy talk in this confessional.

”She’s My Angel”

Let’s stick with Ben for a little bit as he explains how important his wife is to him. I will admit to fully tearing up watching this video because I am a sap for loved ones visits. Also, Ben’s quick-paced Survivor play may be more true to off-island life since he bought a house and had a kid in the first year of knowing his wife. I guess when you know, you know.

”My Reason for Picking Them”

Part of this confessional made the episode, so I feel obliged to share it. There is some fun stuff going on here. I love the fact that Chrissy dismisses the Terry Deitz rules of loved ones because it is not objective enough (Note: She doesn’t call them the “Terry Deitz rules”, but she is definitely beating around that bush). She has also been keeping track of challenge stats, which may fuel her reasoning for targeting Ashley sooner rather than later. My personal favorite thing is that self-proclaimed strategic and social mastermind Chrissy freely admits that she has no idea what is going on in the majority alliance. Sure, she rightly guesses two of the three masterminds behind the previous boots, but she still doesn’t realize how much power Lauren had in that group to begin with.

”People Might Think I’m Crazy”

A running theme in the confessionals this week is how stupid Devon was for his actions during the Immunity Challenge. Instead of highlighting all of those confessionals, why not hear from the man himself? Once again, we are seeing some good strategic chops from our beautiful, beautiful light. He also brings up that Ashley is important to him because she has disclosed everything that she thought about in this game, which is an underlying theme of Devon’s game this entire season.

”I’m Not Going Home”

I know Ben is not high on a lot of people’s lists because he has his jerk tendencies. I get it completely. However, I love me some giddy Ben. If you wanted to see Ben explain the method behind his madness during the aftermath of the Immunity Challenge with a big grin on his face, this is the confessional for you. An important note: Despite what was shown on the episode, he was going to play his idol during this tribal council regardless in order to break up his former alliance and make Ashley and Devon even bigger targets as a “power couple”. He also shows some decent understanding of two Survivor principles: don’t show your hand to everybody else in the game and if you are going to try to attract votes, then you have to back up your boasts with actual action (cough Mike cough).

This Week In Ponderosa

”Damn, I’m A Dummy”

Lauren’s Ponderosa is low-key fun. She calls Joe “shug”, potentially spoils Titanic, and goes on a crabbing expedition with Joe aka Mr. Cheapy-Cheapy. Sure, she does have a little bit of tension with Joe in the post-boot dinner over why they went with him, but the rest of the nine minutes is easily the most relaxed I have seen her (and Joe) all season. I know this is going to be shocking to all of you, but this Ponderosa is weirdly light on Desi and JP and HEAVY on Lauren and Joe. However, the big game takeaway is that Lauren is convinced that Ben has screwed himself because of his rogue nature. Let’s see how that plays out.

This Week In Gifable Moments

When you are looking for anything to distract you from finals

When someone says that Cambodia is their favorite season