"Survivor 45" Episode 10 Recap - No Plan Survives Contact with the Emily
Can the last Lulu standing pull off a mega move?
Every Wednesday after the “Survivor” episode airs you’ll be able to find a full recap along with individual player grades right here. The next day I’ll have an exit interview with the latest castaway on my YouTube Channel. And…get this…every Monday I’ll be squaring off against “Survivor 44” challenge beast Frannie Marin in the “Survivor” Power Rankings! That too is available on my YouTube Channel.
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Last Week: Belo’s teamwork continues to be low as Kendra was the latest member to be blindsided…
39 26 Days, 18 Players, 1 “Survivor” Blog
Let's take a look at the tribe as it currently stands...
The Dakuwaqa Tribe (wearing orange)
Austin, 26 - Grad Student
Bruce, 47 - Insurance Agent
Dee, 26 - Entrepreneur
Drew, 23 - Grad Student
Emily, 28 - Investment Analyst
Jake, 26 - Attorney
Julie, 49 - Estate Attorney
Katurah, 35 - Civil Right Attorney
Quick Aside: I wrote and illustrated a graphic novel! It’s about professional wrestling (but it’s really about marriage), if you’ve ever enjoyed any of my writing or my “Survivor” press, I’d really love it if you’d check it out. ORDER YOUR COPY HERE!
Post-Tribal Shenanigans
We return from Tribal and Jake is in high spirits because he thinks his time in the doghouse is over and he finally has some allies he can work with. Drew seems to disagree.
However, Drew’s top priority is flushing Bruce’s idol, which is challenging as Bruce has apparently turned into new era Ozzy Lusth.
The next morning, Julie is having some feelings about betraying Kellie and Kendra. She worries that portraying a mother-type role makes the betrayals worse. Probably true.
In other news, Emily is starting to weigh the possibility that the Reba Four might never split up. (Ya think?!)
Her concerns about working with classic Belo are that they have traditionally worked together about as well as the Three Stooges. Plus, Bruce doesn’t want to use his idol strategically, he just wants to use it to save himself if/when he loses immunity.
And to prove that classic Belo still works together horribly, Katurah tells Bruce that she’s excited to finally be on the same page with him. And, Bruce tells Katurah that he gave his idol to Kellie in case of Knowledge of Power, and now he doesn’t have it anymore.
Which is a lie.
Oh wait, apparently he was practicing lying. He tells Katurah the truth and she thinks this is a terrible idea. This also seems to make her hate him more…if that’s possible.
Bruce then feeds this story to Jake in the hopes that he spills it to Reba. I’m not against this plan. But, that test run on Katurah seems like a mistake.
Reward Challenge Time: The players will race through a series of obstacles, retrieving a ball along the way. They’ll then maneuver the ball through a labyrinth. The first person to finish will win a trip to…the Sanctuary. There they’ll receive turkey, mashed potatoes, pie…so Thanksgiving leftovers? They’ll also get to spend the night with pillows and blankets and receive a letter from home.
Result: It comes down to Emily and Austin with Emily picking up the win! She’s allowed to choose three people to join her and she goes with Julie, Katurah, and Dee.
Oh Yes It’s Ladies’ Night…
It’s great to see Emily get her flowers from the other women as they enjoy their meal. She really has come into her own as a player after a disastrous start.
It’s also hilarious to see Katurah immediately tell everyone about Bruce’s Knowledge Is Power stratagem. The quartet decides to have Jake be the back up, but they’re considering throwing more votes to Bruce in case he doesn’t play the idol or plays it for Jake.
Back at camp, the guys are talking about farts.
Yes, seriously.
Oh my gosh! There’s then a “Top Gun” volleyball-esque montage of them being manly men. They even play the ‘80s classic “Playing with the Boys” from Kenny Loggins. That couldn’t have been cheap.
And eventually, Jake tells Drew that Bruce’s idol left the game with Kellie. And Drew seems to buy it.
When the women return, Emily lets Drew know that the Knowledge Is Power scenario is all made up. Well, that lasted a good five minutes.
Before we hit the immunity challenge, Emily decides to do a little jury work by letting Jake know that others are targeting him. Jake is very surprised to hear that Drew is among those who want him gone.
Jake tries to get Emily and eventually Julie on board with turning on Drew, but he has no luck. When Drew gets wind of this, he feels somewhat betrayed because he saved Jake from the Kellie and Kendra votes. He tries to find out who told Jake that he was gunning for him, but Jake stays silent.
Quick Aside: See, that’s where Jake could have caused some cracks.
Immunity Challenge Time: The players will lie on a ramp suspended over the water. They’ll hold themselves up with handholds. As the challenge goes on, they’ll move down to smaller handholds. The last person on their ramp will win immunity.
Quick Aside: Probst says this challenge is like something fun you’d do at a carnival while you have a scone. A scone? At a carnival?
Result: Katurah has a bit of a panic attack and leaves the challenge under her own power. It eventually comes down to Austin and Bruce with Austin pulling off his first individual immunity win.
Pre-Tribal Politicking
The early discussion is to split the vote between Jake and Bruce with the belief being that Bruce will definitely play his idol.
However, Katurah floats the idea of getting rid of Julie to Emily. Her thought is you can’t go to the final three with someone whose nickname is “Mama.” That’s some sound logic. Are you sure you aren’t a lawyer, Katurah?
Emily runs with this and tells Bruce that Julie isn’t as close to him as he thinks. They decide to take a shot at Mama J. Buuut…this is all a ruse from Emily in the hopes that Bruce possibly doesn’t play his idol.
When Bruce tries to bring Jake into the Mama J plan, Jake wants to know why Bruce lied about Knowledge Is Power. Yeah, dude. Now you know how Katurah felt about your ring lie.
First Katurah, now Jake! All the lies about this idol are killing classic Belo!
Tribal Time
Julie gets a chance to talk about how challenging it is to be “Mama J,” because it made her feel terrible about voting out Kellie and Kendra. Very smart to lay that groundwork.
Jake says that he’s feeling kinda dumb because of how often he’s bought people’s lies. He also gives his pitch for people to work with him for the third straight Tribal.
Also, everyone is convinced that Bruce will be playing an idol tonight.
Voting Time: Drew votes for Jake, Bruce votes for Julie, and the rest of the votes are secret.
JPro tallies and returns. He asks if anyone wants to play an idol or an advantage and…Bruce does not! We’ve got three votes for Jake, one vote for Julie, three votes for Bruce, and the eleventh person eliminated from “Survivor 45” is…Bruce.
Wow…
Verdict: I can not believe that after everything he’s been through that Bruce didn’t play that idol. Mind blowing.
So…Emily win this thing, right?
Power Rankings Results: Frannie Marin had Bruce in spot two while I had him in spot four. So, the current score is Team Marin 98, Team Holmes 87.
A+: Emily - The caterpillar that made horrific moves in the beginning of the game has transformed into a badass butterfly!
A-: Austin - We saw next-to-nothing from Austin outside of his immunity win, but he must be doing something right because his name is never coming up.
A-: Katurah - The great Katurah/Bruce war has finally come to an end with Katurah being able to raise her hand in victory.
B+: Julie - She had a really nice moment where she was able to explain herself to the jury. Will it help?
B: Dee - Not much from Dee this week, but it’s clear her social game is on point.
B-: Drew - Everything went the way Drew wanted, but butting heads with Jake was an awkward look. If Jake ends up on the jury, that could bite him.
C: Jake - He keeps surviving, but it isn’t his doing. He’s the only one of the final seven I can’t see winning.
Welp, that’s it! Check out my exit interview with Bruce on YouTube this Thursday. And, also don’t miss the next round of the “Survivor” Power Rankings as I square off against Frannie Marin!