Survivor: San Juan del Sur - Episode 5 - Recap and Results - Blood Is Blood
Recap and results for Survivor: San Juan del Sur - Episode 5 - Blood Is Blood:
Welcome to the recap and results for Episode 5 of Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water, "Blood Is Blood"!
Last week's episode saw the elimination of Drew after he ran his mouth one time too many. Tonight, a tribe shakeup could completely change the game, and shift allegiances into entirely new formations. Can the players in control maintain their power? Which loved ones will end up on the same tribe? It's a potential free-for-all!
Who will go home? Let's get this show on the road!
Credit: CBS
AFTER TRIBAL COUNCIL
So Hunahpu comes back, and Jon is still reeling from Drew's elimination. He acknowledges that Drew stepped on a lot of toes, but he was still his ally. Jon does damage control by saying he would have loved to have been in on the plan to vote out Drew. He even starts trash-talking Drew. Jeremy isn't buying it though, feeling that Jon is only on his "apology tour" because he knows he's next. Jeremy feels he's in a good position.
Over at Coyopa, the tribe prepares to head out to the arena. Alec is eager to battle Drew, since he figures there's no way Drew would be eliminated first at Hunahpu. He's too big of a physical asset! But little does Alec know...
REWARD CHALLENGE
As Hunahpu files in, Alec is desperately searching for Drew. When Probst announces that Drew has been voted out, Alec is absolutely STUNNED. Even Baylor's jaw drops. And I have no idea why.
Alec surmises that it must have been because Drew was a physical threat. "That MUST have been it," Alec decides. Baylor is shocked because she had assumed Drew was "Mr. Popularity" at Hunahpu. This assumption prompts Kelley to laugh. I feel like Alec and Baylor are burying themselves with all these assumptions about the other tribe. It'd probably be better for them to keep their mouths shut, for the moment.
When Probst expresses surprise that a rival tribe would be stunned by a decision that didn't involve them, Josh plays diplomat and admits that they don't know what's going on at Hunahpu, but they still speculate among themselves.
The shock over Drew barely has time to fade before Probst announces, "Drop your buffs."
IT'S TIME FOR A TRIBE SWAP!
They choose from separate sacks of buffs to reveal their new tribes.
Hunahpu: Wes, Alec, Jeremy, Julie, Natalie, Reed and Josh (1 pair of loved ones...and everyone else)
Coyopa: Kelley and Dale, Missy and Baylor, Jaclyn and Jon, and Keith (3 pairs of loved ones...and Keith)
So Keith is on the outs over at Coyopa, while Reed and Josh are in a position to offer two votes to any alliance willing to have them. This is very interesting, as Josh still has Wes and Alec from Coyopa. Reed's presence gives him the majority at Hunahpu. Meanwhile, Keith is a potential swing vote between the three pairs of loved ones. Granted, only 2 pairs need to team up to have the majority, but there's no guarantee that will happen.
Credit: CBS
NEW TRIBE DYNAMICS
So this is Jeremy's worst nightmare, as he's no longer in the excellent position he was in that morning. He fears Josh will work Reed over, and cause him to jump ship, since Jeremy himself would be the natural first boot. The new Hunahpuans are shocked, however, to discover just how little rice the tribe has. They surmise that the sheer amount of rice they were consuming must have been why they kept winning every challenge. Tribe dynamics begin to settle in, and Alec looks so shockingly like Drew while wearing his blue buff that I wonder if they brought Drew back without telling anyone.
Over at new Coyopa, Jaclyn is wondering how Jon's arrival will change her individual game. The notion that she even has an individual game, at this point, is a complete surprise to me, since we haven't gotten much of an opportunity to see her exert any agency of her own. That said, for all I know, she's perfectly capable of making worthwhile decisions to advance herself, now that she's been separated from the contest of her previous alliance. Baylor thinks Jon and Jaclyn's lovey-dovey attitude around camp is adorable, although she jokes about how hard it is to watch since she and her mother are single. They joke, but I do wonder if that affectionate attitude might work against Jon and Jaclyn. It's Survivor 101 not to let a power couple last long. Granted, on the first All-Stars season, Boston Rob had a strong enough alliance to guarantee that he and Amber couldn't be broken up. But Ozzy didn't have such assurances in Micronesia for himself and Amanda. A romantic pairing just demands to be split up in a way a familial pairing wouldn't, in my opinion.
Credit: CBS
ROUGHING IT
At Hunahpu, Alec has now decided he feels like bad-mouthing Drew again, once again illustrating that he has deep-seated issues with his brother that he needs to work out. He feels he's on a strong tribe, meaning they likely won't suck the way his old tribe did. "I knew Drew couldn't rough it," he says, suddenly going from insisting Drew was a physical threat at the tribe swap, to deciding his brother was a weakling who couldn't hack it. Then he goes right back to being bummed out that Drew is gone. Jeremy decides he can play on Alec's ego in much the same way he played Drew's, saying Alec is pretty much a mini-Drew. The more I see of Alec, the more I think he's right.
Over at Coyopa, Missy is irritated with Dale because he's guarding the rice like a hawk. Sentiment escalates against Dale once Baylor tells Missy that he's been trying to vote her out since Day 1. Dale explains that he's annoyed with Missy because she's taking their conservative portions, and suddenly handing out double helpings of rice. He's trying as hard as he can not to slap the rice bowls out of their hands. Kelley, however, does damage control, calming her father down. She convinces him to just let it go, since it's not worth jeopardizing both of their games over an extra scoop of rice.
Meanwhile, back at Hunahpu, rice is dwindling down as Reed realizes their store is dwindling. Josh feels the original Hunahpu was foolish, since the old Coyopa easily could have made it 39 days with their liberal portions of rice, whereas Hunahpu has virtually gone through their entire supply in a fraction of that time. Of course, because Alec is Drew's brother, what's his first suggestion? To barter with Probst for more rice! Reed feels like this is a terrible idea, since Drew made them all look foolish by trying to barter with Probst last time. "This isn't Survivor Market," he says, and he's right. Probst isn't going to set a precedent that tribes can barter with him any time they decide they don't feel like roughing it.
Credit: CBS
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
The challenge is an obstacle course in which 20 sandbags must be retrieved from separate stations throughout the course. The entire tribe must go through these obstacles together. They involve digging bags out of the dirt, moving through mud, and shaking bags free from a giant basket attached to a pole. Once they reach the end, they must shoot ten of the 20 bags onto a scale.
This is a downright embarrassing challenge for Coyopa, illustrating that just because the members have changed, their awful luck hasn't. Hunahpu speeds through the challenge while Coyopa struggles to retrieve all its bags. Coyopa hardly even makes it to the end of the course before Jeremy lands the final bag on the scale, winning the challenge for Hunahpu and getting them back to their winning ways.
HUNAHPU WINS IMMUNITY!
Interestingly, after rejecting the idea earlier, it's Reed who speaks up to Probst after the challenge, asking if they could maybe make a deal for rice. They explain that the old Hunahpu was going through two portions a day, leaving them with hardly any rice to sustain them. Unlike the previous attempt at a trade, Probst doesn't laugh this one off. He tells Hunahpu to go back to camp, since they have enough for tonight. He then says he'll meet with them the day after tribal to discuss a solution to their problem. And here, I thought he'd make them give up immunity for rice. Hell, it's considerable restraint on Probst's part that he didn't go in that direction.
DEAD MAN WALKING
Keith believes he's the obvious choice to go, so he needs to find his way in with another couple. Meanwhile, Dale realizes that all that needs to happen is for one loved ones pair to align with another to have the majority. So Dale plans on working with Jaclyn and Jon, telling them that Baylor got all the girls to vote for him on Day One, and arguing that the mother/daughter pair can't be trusted. Jon and Jaclyn isn't sold on working with Dale and Kelley just yet, since they don't know which loved ones pair is their best option. They talk with Missy and Baylor, who defends her play style from earlier in the game, acknowledging that she didn't get to work with Jaclyn one-on-one back at the old Coyopa. She tries to make amends for that now, but Jaclyn is still worried since Baylor flipped on her once before, and could flip on her again. Missy suggests splitting the vote since Kelley is likely off searching for an idol. So now, Jon and Jaclyn have to choose sides: Dale and Kelley or Missy and Baylor? I feel like Dale and Kelley are the obvious choice, since Missy and Baylor don't seem trustworthy. But if you can form a tight four-person bond, even someone duplicitous should be able to see the sense in staying put.
TRIBAL COUNCIL
Probst notes that, with an odd number of castaways remaining, now usually is the time big moves are made. He asks Jon for his thoughts, and he admits that things are in flux right now. Dale acknowledges that there has been friction between himself and Baylor, saying she had initially gotten the girls to vote against him at Coyopa before flipping her vote to align with the guys. It leads to more uneasiness on both sides. Missy says she's struggling to get past the fact that Dale has been gunning for Baylor since the beginning, which is causing her "Mama Bear" instinct to kick in. Keith supposes this is good for him, since the heat isn't on him at the moment, but he feels torn because he likes both Dale and Missy. Probst acknowledges that Keith's one vote won't be enough in an odd-numbered tribe dynamic, but Dale notes how important the vote really is, since choosing wrong means going back to camp with people you potentially can't work with. In a very real way, you have to live with your decision.
Probst gathers the vote...
BAYLOR
KELLEY
BAYLOR
KELLEY
DALE
DALE
KELLEY
KELLEY IS ELIMINATED FROM SURVIVOR: SAN JUAN DEL SUR!
Credit: CBS
Dale is more devastated than Kelley is, and the look on his face while his daughter gets her torched snuffed suggests his heart isn't in this game anymore. Well, either that, or he's plotting his revenge.
In her exit interview, Kelley feels working with her father was more of a hindrance than a help. She surmises she'd still be in the game if she hadn't inherited his grudges. She says that, more than anything, she wishes she were back at her old tribe. A little harsh, but I don't really blame her. Dale would have been best served letting bygones be bygones and working with Missy and Baylor. Or at least trying to. Then again, there's no guarantee he could have even made that alliance work.
Either way, Missy and Baylor's vote-splitting plan was a success, and we apparently have a five-person alliance, as Keith's vote would have been needed to give them the three-vote majority to dump Kelley. But with only one outlier on Coyopa, in Dale, then that alliance won't have long before it starts to cannibalize itself. And in that scenario, Keith is the obvious first choice to go. So he'd better link up with Dale and try to get Jon/Jaclyn to work with them to oust Missy and Baylor, or else it's bad news all-around. Of course, Dale could just play his idol when the time comes, but it's best to try and work the numbers so that it doesn't have to come to that.
But what do you think? Did Jon and Jaclyn make the right call? Sound off in the comments! Until next week, thanks for reading!