My apologies for not providing a recap last week – I was somewhere between Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal in my own version of The Amazing Race meets Survivor so I missed the last two episodes. Thanks to PVR and Rogers On-Demand, I am now all caught up on Season 21.
Where to start? No need for a full episode 2 recap, but I will say that there are some real loony-tunes playing the game this year. Maybe it’s the heat, lack of food or sleep deprivation, but something is bringing out the craziness in some of the castaways.
On the older Espada tribe it’s clear that Holly is nuts and capable of anything. Who fills someone’s alligator shoes with sand and dumps them in the ocean? And then, to make matters worse, who then comes clean with their tribe and confesses? To be honest, I’m not sure who’s crazier – Holly for doing what she did or Danny for bringing $1,600 shoes to Survivor?
Over at La Flor, Naonka makes her presence felt by going nuts over missing socks. Guessing there is a conspiracy at play to irritate her, Naonka decides to steal Fabio’s (Judd’s) socks and berate her tribe. La Flor is not impressed.
At the immunity challenge, Estrada puts the Medallion of Power to good use and beats the younger La Flor tribe, sending them to their first tribal council. Estrada gets a clue to the hidden immunity idol at their camp and Marty, with the help of Jill and Danny, finds the idol.
From this point on, the La Flor tribe implodes as the power-struggles and backstabbing tactics went in to high gear. Once at tribal, Shannon goes on the attack against just about everyone on his tribe. He targets Chase for a lack of loyalty, Naonka for being Naonka and he even questions Sash’s sexual orientation. Despite going in to tribal council as the leader of La Flor, Shannon, is kicked off the tribe and out of the game.
In episode 3, Marty becomes increasingly paranoid about Jimmy J’s position in the tribe. He believes the other Espada team members are a little star struck with the former NFL coach and he sees Jimmy’s natural leadership skills and positive personality as a major threat. In an attempt to solidify his position in the tribe, Marty shares his immunity idol find with the tribe. He tells them he will use it after the merge to keep Espada strong and united. The move seems to work as Jimmy T, Jill and a few others congratulate Marty on uniting the tribe. Tyrone doesn’t buy in to Marty’s plan and is sceptical about Marty’s true intentions.
Over at La Flor, more craziness from Naonka who has no filter when speaking candidly to the camera. She thinks Fabio/Judd is stupid (ok she may be right on this one) and she takes every opportunity to tell us how she doesn’t like Kelly B. or her prosthetic leg.
At the immunity/reward challenge, the tribes must each collect and arrange ten large barrels across a field and then toss sand bags on to the top of each barrel. The younger tribe decides not to use the Medallion of Power and the decision looks like a good one early as they move their barrels quickly across the field. Once Estrada has their barrels in place, Tyrone makes quick work of the first few tosses giving them a solid lead in the challenge. Meanwhile, Benry gets in a groove and starts to land a few sand bags of his own. While this is going on Jimmy T is practically begging coach Jimmy J to let him in the game, but Jimmy J has a few SuperBowl rings and decides to stay with his starter, Tyrone. The move backfires as Tyrone’s early success fades and Benry gets hot to take the challenge for La Flor. By the time Jimmy J puts Jimmy T in the game, it’s too late.
La Flor wins a basket of fruit for their win and Kelly B. and Naonka carry the prize back to camp. They both notice a note hidden in the basket but decide to wait until they are back at camp. Once they arrive, the two La Flor women are down on the sand wrestling for the paper and a clue to the hidden immunity idol. Naonka is relentless and pushes Kelly B. down to take the clue. La Flor is one again shocked by Naonka’s actions but she sees the clue as a million dollar advantage.
At tribal council the question of strength and weakness is at the centre of Estrada’s decision on who to vote out of the game. While Danny has struggled around camp, he feels he is an asset in the challenges and a strong player. Everyone on Estrada feels the same, except for coach Jimmy J, who admits at the age of 67, he is the weakest player on the team. With this admission, the NFL great assures himself a ticket off of the tribe and out of the game.
The game is just starting to heat up, and time will tell if Naonka and her big mouth can outlast Kelly B. on the La Flor tribe. While Marty has the idol and the apparent leadership position on Estrada, I like the way Jill is positioning herself as a strong #2 in the game. She can use this strategy to fly under the radar and go to the end.
The Scribe Has Spoken… 
