Survivor: Cagayan - Episode 12 - Recap and Results - Straw That Broke the Camel's Back

Recap and results for Survivor: Cagayan - Episode 12 - Straw That Broke the Camel's Back:

Welcome to the recap and results for Episode 12 of Survivor: Cagayan -- Brawn vs. Brains vs. Beauty, “Star That Broke the Camel's Back”!

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Credit: CBS

Let's get this show on the road!

AN EXPLANATION

-I SINCERELY, DEEPLY apologize for my lateness this week. My computer arbitrarily decided to have THIS be the week where it decides it doesn't want to do a single damn thing I want it to, requiring a complete restart. Thus, I missed the first few minutes of this episode. But I had it DVR'd, so...

AFTER TRIBAL

-After last week's Tasha blindside (if you want to call it a blindside. It says a lot about this season's excitement level that the inevitable still manages to seem surprising), Spencer is frustrated. He has no idea why Kass and Woo didn’t stick with the plan, since that was their chance to change the game. He confronts Woo about this, and Woo rationalizes his decision to stay true to Tony, saying that he already has a final three deal in place. I know Woo has been catching hell for not making big moves, but I'd still argue that doing nothing and just staying put in an alliance that works IS a move. Maybe not a big move, but a move nonetheless. And Survivor isn't really about making big moves all the time, it's about making little moves that get you to the end, and making bigger moves only when absolutely necessary. And really? Tasha was the bigger threat last week, so I'd argue Woo chose well.

-However, not long after, Tony reveals he has no real plans of keeping Woo. As he explains, it would simply be bad strategy to take such a likable guy to the end. And you know what? Tony is 100% right about that. Has Woo made ANY enemies this season? I mean, even Spencer is more irritated than actually vindictive about Woo's decision to stick with Tony. If this is a jury that rewards likability, Woo could be a million dollars richer before it's all said and done.

Credit: CBS

REWARD CHALLENGE

-So it's that wonderful challenge where people throw themselves through the mud like pigs and race back to a bucket in order to fill said bucket with mud. Whomever has the heaviest bucket by the end of the challenge will win reward. The reward, of course, is a pizza delivery directly to camp. For once, it's an actual individual reward challenge. No teams for this one. I hope this means that someone will be forced to choose another person to go along for the challenge.

-Tony takes a commanding lead early on, and...well, no one ever really catches him. It's insane the way Tony just throws himself into the challenge, and kind of disgusting just how heavy his bucket gets. In fact, when time runs out for the challenge, Probst makes an assessment of all the buckets and Tony's is so full that he gives the other castaways the option of just calling the challenge for Tony right then and there. Of course, it comes across as Probst brow-beating them a bit, but whatever, there was really no question of who won this challenge.

TONY wins reward!

-So Tony has the option of taking someone along. And who else would he take but Trish?

Credit: CBS

REWARD AND CAMP LIFE

-Kass is leery about all the power Tony has, saying that no one should have that much power (okay, Kanye). Spencer, for his part, makes a keen observation: the reward challenge is a symbol for the game as a whole, as Tony is winning everything and he's taking Trish along. I wonder if the rest of the jury will see it that way? I mean, to be fair, Trish is the person who got Kass to flip at the crucial merge vote, a move that gave Tony's alliance the dominant majority in the first place.

-At the reward, Tony and Trish enjoy pizza (with Tony getting downright Shrek-like in his consumption), but it isn't long before strategy talk begins. In a confessional, Tony announces his latest ridiculous plan which may/may not actually work: he plans on telling the other castaways that the idol with special powers can be used up to final four, another lie that he hopes will guarantee him final three. It's a risky strategy, but I could honestly see these people allowing him to get away with it. I suppose this is part of the problem with having a game mechanic like the special idol, in that the nature of the idol itself means that only one person ever knows what that idol actually does, meaning he can lie with impunity to everyone else about the limits of its power. And while this makes for good TV, it doesn't exactly make for the fairest game.

-Back at camp, Tony confronts Kass about last week's vote, saying that Woo told him everything about her attempt to vote for him. He understands why she was considering it, but says he thinks it was a bad move on her part. He swears on his wife and child that he will take her to the final three, even buttering her up by saying she can beat him at the end (but noting that neither of them will be able to beat Woo). Kass agrees to the deal, but then turns around and confronts Woo about spilling the beans to Tony. Tony walks in on the conversation and flips his lid, showing himself to either be paranoid, a shrewd strategist, or a complete hypocrite in how he doesn't want Kass going around doing any strategizing like he's been doing. He calls her to the carpet for making drama out of everything and blabbing secrets left and right. Tony declares that Kass has just sealed her fate, but Kass mostly just rolls her eyes. According to her, it's time for "Chaos Kass" to come back. And now I'm rolling MY eyes.

SOLARRION

-Kass confronts Tony and says that she did what she did because she doesn't trust him. Tony, however, doesn't want to hear it. He accuses her of trying to turn an ally (Woo) into an enemy. So he storms off to go get some coconuts without her. Kass is fed up with Tony (you know, more so), and decides to talk strategy with Spencer and Woo. Kass talks about how Tony swore on his wife and child, a promise he's probably extended to the other two at some point. Yet Woo states that Tony never made such a promise to him, which distresses him greatly, since it means Tony is almost certainly thinking of blindsiding him.

-Woo realizes that it makes no sense for Tony to take him to the end, since he doesn't have a bad rep with the jury. This places an even greater fear in Woo's mind that Tony is thinking of getting rid of him. So Kass decides to feed on that paranoia by suggesting they mess up Tony's endgame plans...by voting for Trish! This will remove one of Tony's options for a "goat" to take to the end, while keeping any of them from having to risk blowback from Tony playing his idol. It's a solid plan, except Trish overhears the entire conversation. She keeps her fury to herself, but needless to say, she's absolutely livid that Kass would refer to her as a "goat," given how hard she's been trying to be nice to Kass. For his part, Spencer is loving this. He notes that his strategy going into today was simply to win immunity, but now he realizes he actually has cracks to work with. Of course, he's still going to "fight like hell" to win immunity anyway.

Credit: CBS

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE

-For the challenge, the castaways must solve a braided rope puzzle to release a key which will open a chest of ladder rungs. They must then find out the order in which those ladder rungs fit, and build a ladder to a puzzle that awaits them at the top. It's a Survivor slide puzzle, and the first person to solve it earns a spot in the final four.

-This is a pretty back-and-forth challenge, as Tony is off to a quick start, only for Trish and Spencer to catch up. Kass and Woo have a lot of trouble with the first puzzle to release the key As the challenge wears on, Spencer grabs the lead. Tony, however, makes a hell of a comeback. His ladder built, he races up to the puzzle. Trish, Kass, and Woo fall so far behind they might as well be out of the challenge altogether. And Spencer begins to fall behind as well, giving Tony a positively insane lead on the puzzle. But Spencer quickly catches up. However, instead of just tackling the puzzle immediately, he hangs back and studies it first. Tony is still sliding his puzzle around furiously, unable to figure out the solution. Now Spencer is gaining on Tony's lead in miraculous fashion. He's working so fast, in fact, that it only makes Tony more frantic. Ultimately, Spencer pulls off one of the great come from behind wins in Survivor history, solving the puzzle just moments before Tony is able to put the solution together. His celebration is also an all-time great immunity celebration, as he slams his palms on the table and shouts "YES!" repeatedly at the top of his lungs. As Probst puts the necklace on him, he sounds almost choked up when he says, "I needed it."

SPENCER wins immunity!

Credit: CBS

-Tony says the "worst case scenario" has come true, as Spencer has won immunity, necessitating the cannibalization of his alliance earlier than he would have liked, which is funny when you consider that Tony has been cannibalizing his own alliance for weeks now.

BACK AT CAMP

-Spencer calls winning immunity "nirvana," saying that the alliance now has to "cannibalize" itself (actually using that word!). And right away, we're off to the races: Trish goes right in on Kass, asking if Kass thinks she's stupid or deaf. Kass says she knew Trish was listening to the "goat" speech (either she's lying or she's terrible at this game for letting Trish hear that), but Trish flips out and says Kass always plays the victim, but she's not going to listen to it anymore. Kass retorts by calling Trish "Skeletor," which is admittedly a fairly decent comeback, but it makes Trish even angrier. She outright threatens physical violence, saying she would tear Kass apart in a minute! Tony tries to break up the argument, and pulls Trish away to have a talk. Woo joins, and it becomes a strategy session, as Woo is now worried that Tony never promised him final 3. Tony admits he didn't make that promise, but is making that promise now. He goes as far as to swear on his late father that Woo is coming to the end with him, but it's too little, too late. In a confessional, Woo states that he just doesn't trust Tony anymore, and now might be the time to flip.

-Woo goes to Kass and proposes going with the Trish plan. Both Kass and Spencer think this is awesome. In short, they note that the only hope they have of getting rid of Tony at Top 4 is if Trish isn't here. Woo asks for a reassurance that, if they eliminate Trish, they will make a final 3 pact with him right here and now. Spencer and Kass agree to the pact. However, in classic Woo fashion, he begins to waver later on, noting that he's the swing vote and can decide whether Trish or Kass goes home. "I still haven't made up my mind," Woo says in a confessional before tribal, and his uncertainty is exacerbated by Tony confronting him and swearing on his late father again, telling Woo "I NEED you!" In a confessional of his own, Tony notes that he's being honest with Woo, but he may have to break that promise and change his plans if it comes to it.

TRIBAL COUNCIL

-Kass recounts the post-challenge conversation to Probst, calling her a "wild skeleton blue-eyed banshee," which stuns Probst. Trish takes umbrage with the notion that she has a "capacity for hatred," saying she hasn't had a confrontation with anyone outside of Kass, nor has she had an argument with anyone on the jury. Spencer admits that things were pretty crazy today, and that his immunity win sped up the process of this alliance's collapse. Woo agrees that the alliance is unstable, and boldly declares that he feels it's more like "three brawn vs. two brains" and that Kass is in a very vulnerable position. Kass says she didn't think Trish's "psycho-bitch" side would come out, but notes that Tony was caught telling both her and Woo that they were final 3. Tony calls her delusional, explaining his side of the situation, doing a pretty hysterical Kass impression while recounting their Woo-related argument from the day before. He mocks her for having the same facial expression all the time, and for ridiculously thinking that she's such a good strategist that this was somehow all a part of her plan.

Woo feels caught in the middle of the worst family ever, saying he feels like a foreign exchange student. Everyone laughs, and Probst notes that he's never seen people laughing this close to the end. This is the point where things get wild, as Tony whips out BOTH of his idols and reveals he's untouchable. He doesn't reveal what the special idol does, however. This is MADNESS! In his vote for Trish, Spencer says the catfight with her and Kass has to stop. In her vote for Kass, Trish says Kass should get a book on self-awareness. I get the feeling that would apply to at least 60% of the people on this season.

-Tony decides to play his regular hidden immunity idol for himself, since he has no use for it anymore. Really, Tony? You can't think of ANY other decent use for that idol? He may just cost himself Trish's vote if she goes home over this.

TRISH
KASS
TRISH
TRISH

TRISH is voted out and eliminated from SURVIVOR: CAGAYAN!

Credit: CBS

-In her exit interview, Trish feels she might just be too nice to play this game. She feels very fortunate for what she has, and is anxious to get back home to it. "Peanut M&Ms, anybody?" She then breaks down laughing, "I'm so damn hungry!"

THOUGHTS

-Tony may have just made the blunder of the season by not playing one of his idols for Trish. It wasn't stupid because of the fact that he ended up not getting any votes cast against him anyway (he couldn't have known that would happen, although given how good he's been at reading people in the past, he probably should have been able to); no, it was stupid because he decided to hang onto the special idol out of an absurd belief that he'll be able to convince people he can play it at final four. Look, if Tony can make that plan work, he deserves a spot in the Survivor: Hall of Fame. But honestly? If I'm one of the other three, the first thing I'd do at tribal council is straight-up put Probst on the spot and ask him if the special idol is good at final four. I'd imagine he'd feel compelled to answer, if only because he's supposed to be the arbiter of rules. Then again, he could claim it's not his job to get involved with how the game is played, which would be kind of silly, given how often he's gotten indirectly involved in the past (whether by asking leading questions at tribal, or through his expositional challenge commentary). Basically, instead of keeping the numbers for himself, he decided to keep an idol on the vague notion that the other three castaways will be stupid enough to let him get away with playing it at final four. And if they are that crazy to let it happen, then more power to him. But what does he do after Top 4? Since we're going into the finale with just four people instead of five, the implication is that there's a final 2 instead of a final 3. It will have been eight seasons since a final two, and the finale for Survivor: Philippines started with just four people and still ended with a final 3 (IIRC), so there's no guarantee. But I get the feeling we're in for a massive twist either way.

EDIT: Apparently, Tony voted for Trish. So um...nevermind all of that above. I'll be interested to see if this week's deleted scenes reveal the thought process that went into voting her out. Because I just don't understand otherwise. It's like Tony is trying to be every bit as unreadable to viewers as he is to the other castaways. It's amusing but also kind of maddening.

-Meanwhile, I think Woo is actually starting to build a case for his win. I'm of the mind that there's no such thing as an undeserving winner, in the sense that if you're able to make it to the end and get those votes, then you deserved to win. Russell Hantz never won Survivor because he was great at playing a game that would get him to the end, but not a game that would ever allow him to get the votes necessary to win. And any game that doesn't allow you to get the votes necessary to win once you get to the end isn't a good game. Or at least, not as good of a game as the game of even the weakest winner. Jury management is every bit as important as the social play that allows you to advance.

So why am I saying all this? Well, it's because I imagine a lot of people would view Woo as an unworthy winner if he were to get to the end, since he hasn't really done much of anything to deserve the win. But my argument is that if he makes it to the end, and is able to get the votes, then he played exactly the right game. Doing nothing IS a move, and his decision to stick by Tony in crucial moments has been every bit as crucial as his decision to flip here and get rid of Trish, a move in itself that's worthy of citation in a final jury argument. He also knew well enough to bail on the Cliff/Lindsay alliance when the writing was on the wall. In short, while Woo would in no way be my preferred winner, I could easily see the argument for why he wouldn't be an undeserving one, or even necessarily a bad one. Getting rid of Trish was exactly the right move for Woo, Kass, and Spencer this week, as it leaves Tony relatively defenseless. In fact, I can't remember a season where the final four were on equal footing to such a degree as this. The next few tribals could have virtually ANY outcome. And that makes this exciting as all hell.

What did you think of tonight's episode? Did the right castaway go home? Who made the right move? Who made the wrong move? Sound off in the comments!