Warning: Here be series-wide spoilers!

PREVIOUSLY ON SURVIVOR: TOCANTINS…

THERE WAS ALSO A FILLER EPISODE THAT I TOTALLY SKIPPED OVER…

LET’S GET THIS SHOW STARTED!

The Jalapao tribe have just gotten back from Tribal Council, and J.T. is concerned about potentially going into the merge in a 6-4 minority.

It’s now Day 16! And Sydney is concerned that if they lose the next Immunity Challenge, the men will gang up on her and Taj.

Joe tries his best to console her, mainly because he’s got the hots for her.

Over at Timbira, Coach thinks the others are undercooking the beans, so he tries to get his own way.

Much to their annoyance, the beans end up as charcoal. Considering that they’ve been living on rations for the past two weeks, I’m amazed that they didn’t drown him in the river right there and then.

Back at Jalapao, the atmosphere at camp is getting a little strange…

Taj tells Stephen that she wants to tell J.T. about the Idol, because she trusts him and wants to use his vote to get to the merge. Stephen isn’t so sure if it’s a good idea, and realises that he’s now acting as the middleman between the two.

REWARD CHALLENGE!

Each tribe has to use a bunch of poles to build a barricade in two cube frames belonging to the other tribe, because the game involves the castaways throwing a ceramic pig to each other which they must try to prevent. The tribe with the most pigs intact within 10 mins without dropping wins a waterfall trip with a barbecue. Exile Island is also at play.

As Timbira have an extra member, Erinn sits out. And off we go…

After a while of many pigs smashing, Timbira manage to get one on the bench, on the other side, Sydney keeps dropping pigs.

Both tribes eventually find a breakthrough and go through a run of seamlessly throwing pigs. Mostly.

Despite a head start, a series of smashing pigs causes a Jalapao lead. However, the smash bug switches to them , and it’s now neck-and-neck.

Timbira ends with 14 pigs, while Jalapao have 13. Timbira wins reward!

Time to pick our Exile Island castaways, and Taj is desperately hoping that Timbira picks someone else for a change. They must be psychic because they pick Joe. He picks Erinn because he thinks he can convince her to flip at the merge. So we have two Exile Island virgins this time.

A victorious Timbira arrive at their barbeque, and are determined to eat until they puke.

Now it’s fun with inflatables!

Over at Exile Island, Erinn and Joe find the urns and get a clue, completely unaware that both Idols have already been found.

Back at Jalapao, and Stephen and Taj realise that Joe will have enough information to look for the Idol at Tree Mail, so they set about making a fake one to cover their asses.

On a scale between Ozzy’s stick in Micronesia and Bob’s fake Idol in Gabon, I rate this a solid 7.

Taj then tries to hide the real Idol in a bag, however, she didn’t do a very good job of it considering that J.T. immediately finds it while looking for fishing gear.

Oops.

He then goes straight to Stephen and tells him about his discovery. In a complete panic, Stephen claims that they just found the Idol that morning.

Stephen then tells Taj what just happened. She calls over J.T. and shows him the Idol that he literally just saw about 5 mins ago, and promises that she’ll share it with the two boys if they ever need it. Now everyone is all smiles and sunshine.

And thus the Jalapao Three is born.

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE!

Each tribe has three towers with tiles. Each tile must be smashed by a slingshot to release the sand inside and reveal the next tile as well as drop a bag of puzzle pieces. First one to complete their puzzle wins, losers get Tribal Council.

As Timbira have an extra member, Debbie volunteers to sit out. Our shooters are J.T. and Tyson. And off we go…

Tyson smashes Tile 1 at the second attempt. After some chipping away, J.T. eventually gets his first tile. Both manage to break their second tiles at roughly the same time. However, J.T.’s second tower isn’t pouring out sand fast enough for him to break Tile 3. Tyson is a bit more lucky, and completely obliterates it.

Timbira get a huge head start on their puzzle, and after chipping away for ages, J.T. finally manages to break his last tile.

Despite Jalapao making up for lost time with the puzzle, it isn’t enough…

Timbira wins immunity!

A dejected Jalapao are now back at camp, and J.T. is really beating himself up over the challenge despite everyone else saying otherwise. Meanwhile, they also notice that the wound Joe picked up in Episode 5 is swollen and leaking.

He eventually excuses himself and heads over to Tree Mail to grab the Idol. Taj is watching him run off and tries to contain herself.

He finds Taj’s fake Idol and completely falls for it.

The discussion turns to Tribal Council, and just as the beginning of the episode foreshadowed, it’s very obvious that it’s either Sydney or Taj going home.

Joe is adamant that he wants to keep Sydney, and will use his (fake) Idol if he has to (it’s a shame that he didn’t try because that would’ve been hilarious). Stephen and J.T. are at a loss over what to do. They’re now in an alliance with Taj and want to honour that, however, if they blindside her, the two boys get to keep the Idol for themselves. Decisions decisions…

TRIBAL COUNCIL!

Once Jalapao take their seats, Jeff starts asking about their feelings regarding the merge. Stephen and J.T. are worried about going in with a minority.

Joe then talks about how he’s going to base his vote on trust. Jeff then suggests to Taj that maybe her time on Exile Island has caused the rest of the tribe to not trust her. She tries to spin it by saying that there’s not real reason why she shouldn’t be trusted, it’s just her situation that has caused distrust.

Jeff then asks Taj and Sydney what they could bring to a merged tribe. Taj says that the bonds she’s built with some of the Timbira tribe could potentially open the door for her to make them flip. But J.T. plays devil’s advocate by suggesting that she could easily flip herself.

Sydney then tries to throw Taj under the bus by claiming that she’s loyal.

It’s time to vote!

Let’s read the votes, which of our lovely ladies is going to bite the dust tonight?

Sorry Sydney, being pretty can only get you so far.

See you guys for episode 8!