Survivor: Last Resort 2.5 - New Zealand Episode 5

Survivor: Last Resort 2.5 - New Zealand Episode 5
Writer: Chad Taylor

With last night’s double tribal council in mind, the tribes experience a whole new dynamic now that they know more about the other tribe.

The Maori tribe is down to six, with three obvious pairs: Rick/Bobby (Talledega Nights), Vionlia/Amanita, Sage/Kenny. The former two are in an alliance but with Mickey being gone, there is no clear target.

The Tasman tribe is at five, with a very fluid tribe dynamic: Bradley and Karin can never work together, Alexandra and Jill are inseparable, and Earl (who somehow survived) is a true lone wolf (or to think optimistically: a free agent). Karin is angry at her “alliance-mates” in Jill and Alexandra for leaving her out in the cold. She asks for an explanation from them out in front of everyone, and Jill stammers at an answer. In confessional, Earl has a big wide grin on and shrugs his shoulders. He voices his pleasure with being able to disrupt the power structure on the tribe.
This week’s immunity challenge is a Survivor classic: an eating contest of the delicacies of the wild. Specifically: there are five head-to-head rounds of seeing who can eat (and swallow) balut the quickest. Balut is a boiled bird embryo.

Kenny beats Alexandra. One point Maori.

In a close contest, Rick Bradley beats Sage, evening things up.

Rick Broller beats Karin, who refuses to eat - drawing the ire from her tribe. Maori 2, Tasman 1.

Jill beats Bobby, rather easily. Even.

Earl beats Vinolia, who really struggles with eating it. She is in tears in her confessional as she feels she let her tribe down. Tasman wins immunity!

As he has been doing for a while, Rick is insistent that they take out Kenny. They take this to Amanita and Vinolia, who are down with it - as they sense the merge can’t be far away. They debate whether Sage would be a better option but Kenny is more of a challenge threat, and taking him out would open up their own ability to win individual challenges.

Sage approaches Vinolia about her vulnerabilities this round. She says she feels like she is the target as she and Kenny have long been on the bottom. Vinolia tries to ease her worry without outright stating that Kenny is the target. She says that she thinks of herself as the top target, as she lost in the last round and thus lost the challenge for the tribe. Sage dismisses this and points out that Bobby lost his round, and at least she isn’t annoying to be around like him. Vinolia agrees with this. She says that she is frustrated at how Bobby thinks he is a mastermind and how he dismisses outside voices. And as we saw in the challenge, he can talk the talk but walking isn’t his strong suit.

After this conversation, Vinolia finds herself in a state of self-crisis. She talks this over with Amanita and they weigh their options, realizing they are swing votes. Sage talks about the conversation to Kenny, who says he gets good vibes from those two girls. Rick and Bobby, meanwhile, are already planning their future moves once the tribes merge. Afterwards, Bobby goes out to “look for firewood”. While out there, he finds a hidden immunity idol and does a victory dance. He says that this is part of the Survivor experience that he always wanted to have and now he feels like a true Survivor player. When he gets back to camp, he tells Rick about it in secret.

At Tribal Council, Jeff talks to them about the uniqueness of this middle part of the game, especially now that they know the other tribe a little bit better. Bobby talks about how it is like a big game of three-dimensional chess. As they talked about at camp, there are different traits that matter post-merge, such as athletic ability - a valuable trait when working as a tribe but dangerous when on their own. Ultimately, fielding a united front is the most important as they aren’t sure how solid the Tasman tribe are as a group. Everyone plays their cards close to their chest this Tribal. Jeff tells them it is time to vote.

After everyone votes, Jeff says if anyone has a HIdden Immunity Idol, now would be the time to play it. Bobby looks to Rick and smiles and ultimately chooses not to play his idol at this vote. Jeff says he’ll read the votes.

First vote...Bobby

….Kenny

….Bobby

…..Kenny

2 votes Bobby, 2 votes Kenny

…….Bobby.

Bobby lets out an audible “What?!”. Rick goes white.

The sixth person voted out of Survivor: Last Resort - New Zealand...Bobby. The tribe has spoken. Amanita and Vinolia do their secret handshake.

In his post-show confessional, Bobby is still in a stunned silence. After struggling for words, he says “well played”. He then apologizes to Jim Marshall for letting him down.