The specter of John Rocker is quickly fading away from "Survivor" land. His Atlanta-based girlfriend Julie McGee is still around but she was safe and barely on camera this week because her tribe won an immunity challenge.
(In fact, McGee has yet to make much of an impression since her tribe has been the immunity challenge winner four out of five weeks.)
The "Survivor" producers this week decided to scramble the tribes into two new teams of seven. Originally, the related couples were separated. Now randomly, four of the five remaining couples reunited.
One (Keith and son Wes) remained separated. Four solo people were part of the Hunaypu. I presume this shake up will benefit Julie since she is now part of a group packed with singles and the dynamics may help her long-term survival.
The problem: Hunaypu tribe had almost no more rice left. They didn't ration. They ate like kings, relatively speaking. Coyopa had rationed their rice out and had plenty left, which may have also hurt them in challenges.
The newcomers to the Hunaypu tribe were understandably appalled by how little food is left. And Dale, who helped kept the rice supply at Coyoa at reasonable levels, was equally annoyed when Baylor's mom Missy started doling out huge portions. He kept his mouth shut - but is steaming more than the rice.
The bad streak for Coyopa, even with new members, continued in the immunity challenge. They lost badly, didn't even get to the final sandbag portion of the challenge before Hunaypu finished. Having loved ones together did not turn them into a super team.
Hunaypu, despite the victory, still has that pesky food problem and Reed told Probst they are dangerously low on rice. Probst said he'll deal with it tomorrow. Obviously, a merge will happen soon enough but it's clear the tribe's rice won't even last a day with what they have left.
While food issues have cropped up occasionally in past seasons, this is one of the more serious ones. And Hunaypu apparently is having no luck finding anything else to supplement their already meager diet.
The final 15 minutes focused on how the new Coyopa tribe would decide how to vote someone out. With three couples and Keith, the lone solo guy, it appeared Keith would be an easy target. But instead, the tensions between Baylor and Dale just doubled thanks to their loved ones' presence. This gave the third couple Jon and Jaclyn all the power to decide who to support and who to peeve. Ultimately, they chose to support mama bear Missy and daughter Baylor and force Dale to scramble without his daughter Kelley.
In her post-elimination interview, Kelley said she realized Dale's presence didn't help her at all. (Then again, she was pretty ineffectual without him as well.) Much to his certain relief (despite an immunity idol in his pocket,), Keith somehow stayed out of the muck.
Next week, a desperate Dale shows a fake idol (not the first time that has happened) and Probst offers rice to Hunaypu but with a stiff penalty. What will he make them do? One interesting penalty would be to have them lose two members at their next immunity challenge. Or give up one of their members to Coyopa.
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