I have nothing clever to say so let’s get into it.

We once again skip the recap and go to the merge camp where everyone figured that Wendy and Keith left. Aurora tells us that she will go with the numbers if she has to. Ron and Eric are thrilled about this votes as it gains trust between them and David and Rick. Ron promises them the family visit. This is a theme of this episode I will address now. The way Ron and Eric talked about that reward is almost cult like and it was kinda creepy.

On the other side, Wardog suggest Lesu brings in Aurora and bands together to go to rocks. My thought was that it was that Wardog was going due to Lauren previously saying she would not go to rocks for him.

We cut to extinction for literally a minute of Joe being sad.

Reward

This is the standard race then a plank puzzle. The reward is chinese food. If any of you read my blog last season when this was a reward then you know my thoughts on chinese food as a reward. For all of you new readers, I HATE this as a reward. Chinese food makes you feel sluggish and is not a good reward similar to how coffee being a laxative is not a good reward.

The teams are

Kelley, Gavin, Lauren, David, Julie and Ron.

Rick, Eric, Aurora, Julia, Victoria and Wardog.

Ultimately group 2 wins reward. We leave the challenge with a confessional about Ron being a puppet master… OK RAVEN.

Camp

Lauren is starving and foreshadows what happens at the challenge. Kelley apologizes to David while being attacked by a bug. A few feet away, Aurora vents to Ron about being left out of the vote. He pushes the family visit again and Lesu talks about getting the majority to split the vote so that they can vote out a Kama. Wardog and Rick talk about the plan and Rick is on board except, He is not on board and why would he want to work with you. That was so funny when Rick blew up. He does not want to get Wardog’d and wants him to stop barking.

Rick and David break up over the well but each of them have half an idol so they’re stuck together. The half idols are delivering by forcing players to try to get the other half. Rick should work with them but they voted for him TWICE. Abi Maria is clearly in Rick’s camp.

Extinction

Chris hands out bottles to everyone with a clue inside. Of course, we get a mad dash for the advantage. Aubry already has her shoes on because it is Black Friday on Extinction. She finds the practice advantage but also the extra vote she was given. Now she has to give it to someone else. Is the advantage cursed? we’ll see!

Immunity

They have to balance a block between their head and a post to be the last one standing. The challenge goes as normal with the four fittest people in the game (and Rick) dropping until Lauren feels dizzy. Lauren passes out on the ground and medical checks her out. During this, Aurora is making a deal with Victoria to win immunity. It was great how much Aurora did not care and wanted to win. Unlike Julie, I don’t think this is wrong since Aurora was in a precarious position and the challenge was not stopped. Lauren is fine. In fact, she was not concerned about her passing out because her first word when Jeff told her she fell off was, “Dammit”. Thank you Lauren for denying the sentimental moment. Aurora wins without a deal and beat those damn skinny girls.

Camp

Aurora gets the extra vote from Aubry and Kama has a public meeting on the beach. Once again, Ron mentions the family visit. Eric want to split the vote on Kelley and Lauren. Why split when the numbers are close? This baffled me. David and Kelley talk about their situation and will see you on Extinction. Wardog has an open communication with Julia, Victoria and Gavin one on one about how the older members of their alliance are pulling in David and Rick to take them out. This is Wardog’s best moment so far as he took a unique approach to getting them to flip by using age instead of gender or just saying their on the bottom. Wardog also did not chastise them for “not playing the game” when most of the time that means you are not playing with me so you’re not playing. Julia tests Eric and sees if she could put out David’s name with support. Eric fails so Gavin, who is suddenly not tight with Eric, and Julia try to pull in Victoria. Victoria says they should wait a round and she is right. The numbers are too close to flip and not be on a new bottom with a fighting chance. Gavin and Julia are #gamechangers (their words not mine).

Tribal

At tribal, David and Kelley push using the you’re not playing the game strategy describing the members of Kama as black pieces of paper and they need a resume. I hate resume talk because it puts the way to win in a box versus the many ways you can play without making a BIG MOVEZ play that destroys your game. Ron displays more cult leader like tendencies. It’s time to vote. Somehow Kelley and Lauren don’t play their idols and the vote is 8-2-2 for Eric.

Eric played a decent game but he got comfortable and like Aubry before, you should not get comfortable. I would have waited like Victoria said then go for Ron especially if I was Gavin. I don’t know why Gavin sacrificed his “tight” ally that has loyalty to him versus Ron who does not. The winners are Lesu minus Rick. The losers are Kama minus Aurora. I think Kama gave the game to Lesu here. Eric goes to Extinction but dude, don’t get excited. This is why I like Reem.

The purple player of the week is Julie as the only non Extinction member to not get a confessional. Chris did not get one either but Extinction did not get focus tonight.

Next time: Rick and David fight over the idol and something happens at tribal that has never happens. Fist Fight?

Grab your stuff and head back to camp!