Warning: Here be series-wide spoilers!

PREVIOUSLY ON SURVIVOR: TOCANTINS…

LET’S GET THIS SHOW STARTED!

After Forza get back from Tribal Council, everyone is feeling thankful that their main source of drama is now gone. However, Coach is fuming at Taj and Erinn, because they voted for Debbie and Stephen respectively which he believes was totally undeserved.

Debbie tries her best to calm him down, and deep down is now starting to lose patience with his long-winded rants.

It’s now Day 31! And Debbie is seriously reconsidering her alliance with Coach, and tries to arrange a plan with J.T. and Taj to vote him out next. However, J.T. doesn’t trust her motives one bit.

He and Stephen discuss matters, and shortly afterwards Debbie walks in on them making impressions of her nagging. She then makes a pitch to them about a final three pact between them. However, Stephen is equally as suspicious as his partner-in-crime about her motives.

REWARD CHALLENGE!

It’s the auction! Each castaway is given $500 to bid in $20 increments on food and prizes. No sharing or pooling allowed.

First item: A big bowl of fries with dipping sauce. Debbie wins with a $120 bid.

Second item: Chicken parmesan with garlic bread and a glass of red wine. Coach wins with a $320 bid.

Third item: A secret item. J.T. wins with a $160 bid. And the secret item is… A big bowl of cheesy nachos with guacamole and salsa.

Fourth item: Another secret item. Stephen wins with a $100 bid. And the secret item is… A skewer of chicken hearts.

Last item: A video message from a loved one on a Samsung Instinct phone. Jeff says that money can be pooled this time. Everyone decides to hand the rest of their cash to Taj so she can win the prize, and you’ve seriously got to have a heart of stone to not be the slightest bit moved watching this.

Taj watches the video message from her husband Eddie, and is a sobbing mess once it’s over. So much so that she missed the very last thing he said… “see you back at camp”.

Taj is then given the option to spend the day alone with her husband at Exile Island in exchange for allowing the rest of the tribe to see their loved ones too, which she accepts straight away. Everyone goes into hysterics.

Over at Exile Island, Mr and Mrs George are reunited in a wonderful display of #MarriageGoals, and Eddie is amazed at how “island hot” his wife is.

Back at the Forza camp, the other five castaways arrive to find their loved ones waiting for them.

We have Erinn’s father, Debbie’s husband, J.T.’s sister, Stephen’s brother… And Coach? He brought over his assistant coach.

And gets a DIY chiro session.

It’s now Day 32! And J.T. is getting bombarded by Coach and Debbie wanting to arrange the next vote. Debbie still wants to get rid of Coach, and Coach still wants to get rid of Taj after the last Tribal Council.

Debbie even goes so far to promise Stephen and J.T. that she will do everything in her power to make sure they get to the final three, and would even give up final immunity for one of them so the boys will be in Final Tribal Council together.

The boys confide in Erinn, who tells them flat out that she needs to go next. The boys highly doubt that Debbie will keep her word, because “no-one wants third place in this game”.

IMMUNITY CHALLENGE!

The castaways have to go through an obstacle course by digging under a log, crossing a balance beam, and under a rope crawl. They then have to run across a field to find a spinning series of ten mathematical symbols. They then have to memorize the sequence of symbols, run back to the starting line, and use the symbols in the correct order to solve a math equation. First one to solve the math puzzle correctly wins immunity.

Off we go…

After a while, most people start working on the math puzzle, while Stephen is behind by some margin because he keeps stumbling off the balance beam.

Everyone else has to keep running back and forth to remember all the math symbols, and Stephen decides to try and catch up by remembering all ten symbols in one pass. Will he come from behind and live up to his Wizard moniker?

Stephen wins immunity!

An amazed Jeff asks Stephen how on earth he managed to remember all those symbols, to which Stephen gives an incredibly complicated number system that makes him sound like a human computer and makes my brain hurt.

Back at the Forza camp, Stephen is over the moon as he feels that he and J.T. are now running the game. They ponder over whether or not to actually take up Debbie’s offer and keep her, partly due to the fact that they’re seriously beginning to find Coach incredibly insufferable at this point.

TRIBAL COUNCIL!

Before the questioning begins, the three jury members decide to troll Coach big time by imitating his famous coat-sling move upon their big entrance.

Jeff then asks Coach about his “going to the end with the best” statement, and whether or not that holds true for the other five castaways. He blabs on about how Stephen and Debbie are strong in their own ways. He also says that he fully trusts Debbie, which if you’ve been paying attention to this recap, he has no reason to.

Taj then flatters Coach by saying that he’s played a great game and throws all the warrior and Dragonslayer nicknames back at him, leading Jeff to ask if some Amazonian village chief bestowed the name onto him, much to everyone else’s amusement.

Jeff then asks Coach what makes Taj a noble warrior in his eyes, to which he replies that she’s made the ultimate sacrifice in leaving her family behind to compete in the game.

Jeff asks Erinn if tonight’s vote will surprise anyone. In a nice bit of foreshadowing, she replies that it might do.

It’s time to vote!

Let’s read the votes! Who will become the fourth member of our jury?

Goodbye Debbie, I guess you were too shrewd for anyone’s comfort.

See you guys for episode 13!