"Survivor 45" Episode 11 Recap - The Two Number Ones
Dee's math might get her into trouble...
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: Everybody was sure Bruce was going to play an idol to save himself until he didn’t…
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
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
Everybody is giddy now that Bruce is out of the game. Palm-frond weaving for everyone!
Katurah can’t even contain herself. It’s like Christmas morning.
Emily breaks down the move, saying that she told Bruce that Julie was coming for him. Which, as is the way of “Survivor,” impresses people and puts a target on Emily’s back.
Later on, the Reba Four makes a pact to stay together until the final four. Wait, they’re just now doing this?
When Drew and Julie head off to bed, Dee and Austin share some alone time, with Austin saying he intends to visit her as soon as the game is over. Oh, so Kendra was right! Toe-stin is real!
To really drive home the point, Austin says how much he loves the “Boston” Rob and Amber story. What?! You can’t have a Stephen and an Amber!
The duo then promises to take each other to final three.
The following morning, we meet up with Jake who’s a bit sad because he keeps getting votes at Tribal Council. But, in a bit of good news, Katurah is willing to work with him going forward.
Oh? Now that you’ve lost the numbers?
Katurah then shares her story of being taken out of the fifth grade because her parents joined a religious cult. Instead of going to school, Katurah worked three jobs. When she turned thirteen, the leader decided that she would be his new bride. This was enough to get her mother to leave the cult. However, they had to start over again with very little.
Welp, that’s the worst thing I’ve ever heard.
But, the fact that she was able to overcome all of that and become a lawyer who protects people is a pretty incredible story.
Later on, Drew approaches Katurah and Jake to see what they’re thinking as far as final three. His concern is that Dee, Julie, and Emily are now being seen as the biggest threats. This leads to Katurah seeing how Austin feels about potentially going for Mama J next. He’s interested, but he doesn’t want to upset Dee.
Emily’s Adventure
A boat arrives at the camp with an invitation for a secret journey. The players draw rocks to see who goes and Emily wins. This makes Julie nervous because she thinks Emily’s resume is very impressive.
She shares this emotion with Drew and Drew thinks it’s too soon to take out Emily. He then floats the idea of doing something creative with her idol, but she isn’t interested. Apparently she’s hanging onto Austin’s idol, which is gutsy, I’d so easily be guilted into giving it back.
All of this makes Julie a little wary of Drew. She takes these concerns to Dee and they decide they’d like to keep the Reba Four together, but they’ll consider getting rid of Emily to weaken Drew.
When Emily arrives at the mystery island, she needs to make a decision; she’s given the chance to complete the puzzle that everyone failed during the “Sweat and Savvy” challenge. If she completes the puzzle in the allotted time, she’ll be immune at the next Tribal. If she fails, she’ll lose her vote.
She decides against it. Which is probably the right choice. I’d be very intimidated by a puzzle that four people couldn’t complete.
Emily tells the truth when she returns to camp…but…c’mon…nobody is going to believe her either way.
Drew fills Emily in on what happened while she was gone, which is that Julie wants Emily gone and Drew, Austin, and Katurah are ready to send Mama J home.
Immunity Challenge Time: The players will be attached to a rope. They’ll have to untangle enough of their rope to complete an obstacle course. They’ll then use sandbags to knock over blocks. The blocks will be used to solve a word puzzle. The first person to complete this puzzle will win immunity and a do-it-yourself barbecue back at camp.
Result: It comes down to Drew and Austin with Drew pulling off the win. Drew is allowed to share his reward and he chooses Jake and Austin for Guys’ Night 2.0.
Cue the Kenny Loggins!
Pre-Tribal Shenanigans
As the guys enjoy their meal, they discuss getting rid of Julie because they think she’ll be a fire challenge dynamo and someone who’ll be tough to beat at the final Tribal.
Austin is very concerned that this move will ruin his relationship with Dee. His concern is that if he tells Dee, she’ll tell Julie, and then Julie can play her idol.
So, of course he tells Dee.
Hilariously, Dee refers to Julie as her “other number one.” Sorry, that’s not how numbers work.
Dee eventually tells Julie that she’s going to need to play her idol. Julie is shocked because she thinks there are still some easy votes left on the board.
Julie then goes rogue, talking to Emily and Jake about getting rid of Austin.
What?!
Emily then takes this information to Drew, who takes it to Austin.
Hmm…loose lips, Austin.
OK, Dee tells Julie that everyone (including Dee) is going to vote for Julie and Julie will vote for Emily. The Julie can play her idol and Emily will go home.
But in doing this, Dee refers to Austin as her “number one,” which Julie picks up on. Maybe Julie doesn’t know you’re allowed to have two number ones?
Tribal Time
Meh…
”’Survivor’ is hard.”
“We all really like each other.”
“I’m happy to have this immunity necklace.”
Blah blah blah…
Voting Time: Everybody votes for Julie…um…except for Julie…obviously.
JPro tallies and returns. He asks if anyone wants to play an idol or an advantage and…Julie does. Not a shocker. Although, Dee pretends to be shocked.
Oh…and Austin does not play his idol.
We’ve got six votes for Julie, and the twelfth person eliminated from “Survivor 45” is…Emily.
Verdict: Wow…so you’re worried about going to the end with Mama J…so you hand her the move of the season by idoling out mega-threat Emily?
That’s a bold choice.
Power Rankings Results: Frannie Marin had Emily in spot five while I had her in spot six. So, the current score is Team Marin 103, Team Holmes 93.
A-: Julie - I feel like Julie deserves a higher grade because she saved herself with an idol and got rid of a big threat. But, why do I feel like she isn’t as popular with the jury as they’re leading us to believe?
B+: Katurah - Does Katurah have the resume to win this thing? I don’t think so. But at least she’s out there swinging.
B: Jake - I’m very concerned Jake is going to win this thing because he manages to survive the Reba Four and turns it on at the end. But he hasn’t had much of an impact on anything thus far.
C: Drew - None of the rest of the Reba Four are getting high grades this week. They swore allegiance to each other and then immediately imploded. Just opening the door for Katurah or Jake to sneak in and steal it.
C: Dee - YOU DON’T GET TWO NUMBER ONES!
C: Austin - There’s a scene in “Ocean’s 11” where Rusty tells Danny that he may have to eventually choose between his ex-wife Tess and the money they’re planning to steal. Austin is trying to get both, he might wind up with neither.
Welp, that’s it! Check out my exit interview with Emily on YouTube this Thursday. And, also don’t miss the next round of the “Survivor” Power Rankings as I square off against Frannie Marin!
I wonder how things would play if Dee didn't tell Julie to play her idol until the votes were cast. Like after Jeff asks if anyone wants to play something, she very visibly proclaims, "Julie, play your idol, trust me." That way the jury sees her save Julie and she gets the credit for the move. That would possibly strain her relationship with all the others too much, but as it is, Julie is instead the one who looks like a genius.