Survivor: Last Resort: Cape Verde 1.7 - Episode 7

Survivor: Last Resort: Cape Verde 1.7 - Episode 7
Writer: Chad Taylor

When everyone gets back to camp, they start trying to piece together the vote. Rajon is honest about having voted for Chad. Since the other Chad vote was Bonds, the question begins to be who voted for Francis. Francis is angry and wants answers. Everyone tries to absolve themselves but he is having none of it.

We see Francis in a confessional. The very first thing he says is that he decided to vote for himself last week. He was never truly in danger and found himself torn between two groups of allies. So instead of burning bridges with either Rajon or Chase and Laura, he wanted to make an impartial vote. Now the fun begins: who should he pin it on? Now that he knows that all of the former Togo members are voting together, he decides that it has to be one of them. Chad is the clearest physical threat of three, which makes him a target every week going forward. Jim and Jose, meanwhile, are players that he notices are working in the margins and he wants to try to out them.

Francis blames it on Jim since he thought he was the target last week. In response, Jim - an analytical thinker - breaks down the reasoning each person had to vote the way they did. Fiona and Megan were avenging Sally. Chad and Laura weren’t voting out Chad due to a previous promise and knew that Bonds was a power broker in the game. And the three Togo’s were just happy that it was anyone but them. Which leaves Francis, who is close with both Rajon and Francis and Laura. So he voted for himself to not get any blood on his hands.
In confessional, Francis says “Well, shit. They figured it out.”

Next is a individual reward competition. Chase wins it and is allowed to pick three guests to take with him on a private feast of Cape Verdean cuisine. He chooses Laura first, obviously. She whispers to him and recommends they take Rajon. His fourth and final pick is Megan.

At the feast, Laura explains to Chase in private that he needed to choose Rajon. Francis is clearly thinking about himself and so he may not be their closest ally. Since Rajon is a free agent now, they may as well try to pick him up. Rajon is very grateful for them choosing him and they all enjoy the feast. Megan can get along with just about everyone so she is having the time of her life. Talk moves to alliances and they all agree that, now that Sally and Bonds are gone, they should focus on voting out the remaining Togo.

Back at camp, Francis is bummed that he wasn’t chosen. He feels like he might have one too many shady moves and it is affecting the trust people have in him. Jim and Fiona talk more than they ever have before. Since Jim is good at reading people, she worries that he may catch on to her lying about her past profession. Luckily, he was pretty young when her band was most successful so she’s able to maintain her relative anonymity.

Meanwhile, Chad and Jose are scheming on their own. They talk about what they will do if they win. Chad would buy his dad a new home and take over the one they are currently living in for himself. Jose asks if he thinks living with his dad is hampering his prospects as a bachelor but Chad shoots that down - his dad is his best friend and he wouldn’t change that for the world. Meanwhile, Jose reveals to Chad a little project he has been working on: a fake hidden immunity idol. He has slowly been gathering materials and has strung them together to look like a passable idol. He is going to hide it, with the hopes that one of the Brava members finds it. They debate whether or not to tell Jim as he is still an uneasy ally. They won’t for now but will play it by ear.

In the immunity challenge, the castaways would have to go through an obstacle course of digging underneath a log, crossing a balance beam, and under a rope crawl. The castaways would then run across a field to where a spinning series of ten mathematical symbols would be displayed. The castaways would have to memorize the sequence of symbols, run back to starting line through the obstacles, and use the symbols in the correct order to solve a math equation. The first castaway to solve the math problem correctly would win immunity.

Chase, Laura, and Chad dominate the course and reach their symbols first. However, they did not memorize them correctly so head back. By this time, the rest of the castaways have made it through and reach the symbols. Everyone is having struggles with either memorizing the symbols or solving the math problem. However, Francis, one of the last to complete the course initially, chooses to slow down when he reaches the symbols and remember them in one fell swoop. This works as he gets to the platform and is the first to successfully solve the problem.

In a confessional, Francis says that he was worried a target was on his back so he really needed this. He explains that most phone numbers have ten digits so he read the symbols in his mind like a phone number and repeated it in his head. And then being an engineer didn’t hurt in solving the math problem, either.

Back at camp, it soon becomes clear that the battle lines are pretty clearly drawn: Togo vs. Brava. The Togo members find themselves out-numbered 3 to 6 but are not ready to give up. Chad tries to connect with Chase but it is clear that the promise they made at the pre-merge Tribal Council was only a one vote thing. Chad, Jose, and Jim convene and try to figure out someone to target. They want to break up the power couple but aren’t sure who to push for. Jose is persistent that it must be Laura. Everyone else is too worried about challenge-ability but they need to consider the long game. He watched how she convinced Chase to take Rajon to the feast and so it seems that she is the brains behind the organization.

They are aware that Rajon is a free agent so Jose tries to schmooze him first. However, Rajon does not forget that they left him in the dark in the last vote. He tells them maybe. Afterwards, Rajon talks with Francis but things aren’t as close as they were before. Still, Rajon acts like he is with him for now and they talk about whether their options this week and decide it is best to stick with Chase and Laura (which is what Francis prefers).

Jim’s last-ditch effort is to talk with Fiona and try to build upon their rapport from earlier. He lays out Togo’s reasoning for targeting Chase and Laura and it actually gains some traction. She tells him that most of the people are wanting to get rid of the former Togo members but she will talk with Megan to see what she thinks. He thanks her and tells her that even if she doesn’t vote with them this week, he understands.

At Tribal Council, the castaways pour one out for Jim Bonds and Kaiser, two of the most colorful characters out there. Laura points out that since they were both larger-than-life personalities, it has left a void and the remaining castaways are now put in a position to turn on each other. When Jeff asks how they are making their targets now, Jose says that everyone is taking a different approach. Some want to stick with old alliances, others want to take out physical threats and others want the schemers. So, basically, chaos.

Jeff follows up on the old alliances note, pointing out that Bonds was just voted out despite being in the majority tribe. Fiona laughs and says that Bonds was always more about himself than Brava. Rajon objects to this, considering he and Bonds tried to vote with their former Brava members last vote, only to be betrayed. Megan says that they will now have to start thinking less about former tribes and more about who you can beat in the end. Jim looks at Jose curiously, as they wonder if their push worked. Chase says that, while they will have to turn on each other eventually, the former tribes give you a blanket of security as it is better to stick with what you know. Jeff tells them it is time to vote.

First vote...Laura

….Laura

…….Chad

…..Chad

2 votes Laura, 2 votes Chad

….Chad

….Laura

….Chad

….The eighth person voted off of Survivor: Last Resort and the second member of our jury...Chad. The tribe has spoken.

In his post-show confessional, Chad says it was always going to be hard for the Togo to survive with such a big numbers gap. He is proud of the work they did in the Bonds vote, especially since he was being targeted. He hopes that Jose and Jim can pull off a miracle but he also doesn’t really hate anyone out there. He hopes that his dad is proud of the work he did.

Votes for Chad: Laura, Chase, Fiona, Megan, Rajon, Francis
Votes for Laura: Chad, Jose, Jim