Survivor San Juan Del Sur Recap
Episode 11
Kind of Like Cream Cheese
By Kim Hollis and David Mumpower
December 4, 2014
BoxOfficeProphets.com
At consecutive Tribal Councils, Natalie has now been betrayed by Missy and Baylor and then antagonized every guy in the alliance other than Jon, all of whom were targeting their former friend, who is simply too whipped by Jaclyn for their liking. At the moment, we’re not really sure who is less popular between Jon and Natalie. Tonight’s episode(s) should be fun.
Back at camp, Reed and Alec are demoralized. They both tell Keith straight out that his blurting out, “Stick to the plan” at Tribal Council is the reason that Wes was sent home. When even Alec realizes that Keith’s Tribal Council performance was terrible, you know that it’s really, really bad.
Over at the other (shaky) alliance, Jon is trying to say that he was totally planning to play his Immunity Idol all along and that Natalie’s advice had absolutely nothing to do with it. For her part, Natalie is annoyed, but we’d be shocked if people actually believed him. He snipes at Jaclyn as well, telling her she should never give credit to someone else for what he did, because the jury will see him as weak.
This thoroughly annoys Jaclyn, who says that without her and Natalie, Jon would have been voted out. She’s aggravated enough that she says in confessional that she can go to the final three by herself. Ben Willoughby speculated in his power rankings that Jaclyn might sacrifice Jon to further her game, and this is looking like a distinct possibility.
After the credits roll, we head straight to the Reward Challenge, which is a “How Well Do You Know Your Tribe Mates” quiz. People who get questions right will have the opportunity to chop an opponent’s rope. Three chops is enough to knock someone out. Last person left standing wins the reward, which is a horseback ride through the countryside. It concludes at a beautiful resort where a barbecue feast will be served. The winner will spend a night in luxury and comfort.
Every question involves someone who has been in the game since the merge in order to create a fair playing environment. First question is this: Who besides Natalie has a twin sibling? Everyone gets the answer right (Jeremy) other than Keith, who guesses Jax. Jeff asks him who that is, and he points to Jaclyn. What a maroon.
Natalie and Jon converse about whom to chop first, and they both go after Reed. Probst says that it’s not looking good for Reed to go on a horseback ride, and he replies, “That’s okay, my family has 12.” It’s a pretty snotty remark, actually. Alec walks up and emphatically whacks Natalie’s rope.
Next up is Missy, who eliminates Reed altogether. Jaclyn is next, and she goes after Alec. So does Baylor.
Even though Reed is out of the game, he gets to whack someone’s rope. He chooses Missy. When Probst asks him why, he says, “Because she crushed my skull.” In this challenge, the third whack of the rope brings a weight down on a skull, releasing a bunch of “symbolic” blood.
Next question is: Who owns and operates their own tanning business? The answer is Julie (Rocker’s girlfriend), and they all get it correct.
Jon gives Alec’s rope a third hit, which means he’s (almost) done. Alec does get to whack someone on the way out, and he chooses Jon, naturally. Missy and Jaclyn both hit Keith, who retaliates by hitting Missy’s rope. Baylor then ends Keith’s presence in the game.
Now that we’re down to the alliance of five, they’re negotiating about who wins. Probst gets so annoyed that he asks why they’re even bothering to play out the string. He just asks them to go ahead and choose their winner. Missy is the designated Reward winner, and what happens next is a bit revealing. Jon immediately volunteers to go to Exile Island, which means that Missy has to choose two out of her three remaining allies (out of Baylor, Natalie and Jaclyn) to share the reward. Obviously she chooses Baylor, and her second choice seems pretty evident as well. Natalie will be joining the mother/daughter pair at the resort.
They’re very apologetic, and Jaclyn said that she saw it coming. Probst says something about her having to stay behind at camp with three guys who don’t like her very much, and Reed retorts, “We like her a lot.”
Baylor replies, “You like everybody, Reed.”
He says, “That’s because I’m a people person, Baylor. You’re a brat.”
Naturally, that raises Missy’s hackles. What follows is an absolutely ludicrous argument where neither Missy nor Reed comes off well, and probably seals Reed’s fate at the next Tribal Council.
Jaclyn then says, “I feel like Jon sacrificed for our alliance and I got the butt end and then the three top people just went off to go horseback riding.” She’s right. Will she do something about it?
“Them three right there are tight,” says Keith, and spits.
Reviewing the Reward Challenge, Missy had two hits and was about to be eliminated. Jon and Jaclyn could at least have made it interesting by eliminating her and then forcing Natalie and Baylor to continue to play the game. Jon was trying to show goodwill, but since they’re clearly the bottom two in the alliance of five, there wasn’t any real benefit to it. Probst seemed to think that he was shaking things up by ending the game, but it probably would have revealed a lot more if he had let it play out.
We join Jon over at Exile Island, and he’s obviously looking around for the hidden Immunity Idol. He finds it pretty easily. The plentitude of the idols is starting to be really annoying.
The “top three” are enjoying their reward, and there’s not really much to talk about here. They worry briefly about Jaclyn turning on them, but mostly they seem to be celebrating their future in the Final Three.
Back at loser camp, Reed regrets fighting with Baylor, while Jaclyn talks about how annoyed she is with Missy for choosing Natalie. “Then do something about it,” we say to the television. She talks about how she and Jon are in the middle of things again, and says that she and Jon may switch to vote with the guys at the next Tribal.
When Missy, Baylor and Natalie return from their reward and they’re very worried about Jaclyn’s flirting with Alec. They’re totally outraged on Jon’s behalf (yeah, right) and wonder if she might be thinking about flipping to vote with the guys. Alec and Jaclyn talk about partying when they get back to the States. He notes that hanging out with her and being nice to her might not sway her vote, but it certainly doesn’t hurt anything. We think Jaclyn’s actually flirting with him to strike back at the other women. She’s annoyed with them and making them freak out a little makes her feel better.
Probst Returns: The Probstening. It’s time for the Immunity Challenge, and Jon is absolutely filthy as he returns from Exile Island. Who knows why.
Today’s challenge has the players trying to balance six balls in specific spots on a paddle. The first person to get all six balanced wins immunity. Early on, Jon takes a quick lead, but soon Keith has caught up to him. He actually has order to the way he’s placing his balls, and it works well for him. Jon is a bit more haphazard. Although the editing tries to make it look like Jon has a chance, Keith has won the challenge while Jon still has two to go. Everyone spit!
After the challenge, Jon had hoped to just spend a little romantic time with his girlfriend, but she wants to talk about what happened while he was off at Exile Island. She’s pretty hurt that he doesn’t seem to want to listen to her. He’s exhausted from Exile Island. Both of them are emotionally strung out, and it’s a tough situation since both of them had seen his return play out differently in their heads.
Reed comes over to talk to them, and Jon starts telling Reed that he trusts him more than anyone else right up until the point that Natalie walks up. He then says, “I don’t think I can trust you, Reed,” in a really fake voice as he winks at Reed to indicate he doesn’t mean what he’s saying. Reed is frustrated because he’s not sure whether Jaclyn even knew what was going on. She’s mad enough that she really doesn’t even want to speak to her boyfriend at the moment.
So… he runs off to talk to Missy. Jaclyn mentions that he’s kind of a momma’s boy, so Missy fills that role for him here on the island. He tells Missy that he has an idol (unless editing has led us astray, he didn’t reveal this to Jaclyn) and they sit and chat for a lengthy period. Jaclyn gets more annoyed and bitches about it to Natalie and Baylor, who worry that the couple may not vote as a block, making Tribal more unpredictable.
Jon tries to apologize to Jaclyn, but she walks away. In confessional, Jon says that it’s almost time for Tribal and it’s the worst time for Jaclyn to refuse to speak to him. Five hours pass and he finally approaches her again. She’s still pouting and flirting with Alec.
Finally, she decides it’s time to talk, and Jon isn’t having it. Now it’s his turn to pout. Reed worries that he’s about to be eliminated because the two of them are fighting before Tribal Council. He’s probably right.
Probst quizzes them at Tribal Council and we rehash the whole thing again. It’s pretty uncomfortable for everyone surrounding them, and Reed comments that it’s tough for everyone to play the game when they’re fighting. His argument continues to be that Jon and Jaclyn are clearly at the bottom of the alliance of five. Missy calls B.S., saying that Alec is trying to flirt with Jaclyn in order to earn her vote.
There’s nothing so awesome as Keith’s blunder last week, and no one plays a hidden Immunity Idol. Reed receives five votes, and Missy receives the other three. At least he’ll get to be at Ponderosa with his boyfriend.
This episode closes out with Probst talking about how Blood vs. Water is so challenging because personal relationships between the couples/families can enter into the game in really volatile ways. Jon and Jaclyn both say, “I love you,” and we move on to the second hour of the extra long episode.
Check back on Friday for the recap of part two.