It’s been a few weeks since I did a Survivor photocap, and quite frankly it’s only because I’ve been lazy. Utterly lazy. That being said, Survivor Nicaragua has been heating up lately. I’ve had some discussions with friends recently who have derided this season, with some going so far as to say it’s been one of the very worst. I highly disagree. While it’s not the best, it’s certainly been entertaining; although, admittedly, there was a little lull in the post Jimmy Johnson / Jimmy T era.
Things lately have been getting all sorts of screwy on the show. It actually reminds me of the bonkers Casaya tribe on Survivor: Panama (right next door geographically, coincidentally) which saw so many bizarre power shifts thanks to everyone being totally nuts (ie. Shane, Courtney, Danielle). The same thing’s going on here in Nicaragua. Between kooky Holly, gritty Jane, cagey Shane, wacky Naonka, goofy Fabio, grumpy Dan, and surly Benry, this tribe is a mess, with alliances shifting so wildly, I honestly can’t even keep up anymore.
Going into this week’s episode, the tribe was split in two factions: Team Jane (Jane, Holly, NaOnka, Chase) and Team Marty (Marty, Benry, Jud, Dan). In the middle were Sash and Brenda — and oh yeah, Purple Kelly, who continues to be a silent threat (minus the threat). Seriously, what is up with Purple Kelly? And why do they keep calling her Purple Kelly now that the other Kelly is gone? And why does she never wear purple? I just don’t get her. And when at the end of this week’s episode she cast the lone rogue vote for Benry, I couldn’t help but laugh and shake my head: oh Purple Kelly. Will you ever learn?
Nevertheless, with Team Jane and Team Marty firmly in place, Sash and Brenda drew a line in the sand and joined the Janers, getting rid of Marty in the process. It was exciting and fun, but I knew that for the next few weeks, we’d have to just sit there and watch the Janes pick off the Martys. Imagine my surprise then when this week’s ep opened up with Holly and Benry kicking their alliances to the side and realizing that they had to work together to dethrone Sash and Brenda (the respective queen and king of the game, according to Brenda).
I wish I could explain to you clearly how it all shook out over the episode, but it was so frantic and over the map that it was hard to follow at times. You see, Holly started getting her ducks in a row, including NaOnka who flopped on Brenda pretty easily. Holly’s first mistake, however, was approaching Chase, who is widely known as Brenda’s biggest lapdog. Holly let him know about the plan, and then of course he told Brenda. Luckily for Holly, Brenda had a very laissez-faire approach to retaliation — as in, she didn’t really do it. Instead, she and Chase set their eyes on Benry.
While they trained their ire on Benry, the rest of the gang chatted about how they couldn’t trust Chase at all… and yet that didn’t stop NaOnka and Holly AGAIN from going up to him and talking strategy. Even stranger was that NaOnka spilled the plan to Sash, who is also widely known to be Brenda’s right-hand man. I mean, if you’re trying to get out Sash and Brenda, and one of them has an idol, why let them in on the scheme? I think maybe NaOnka wanted Sash to join her? I’m not sure. All I know is that suddenly NaOnka got blamed for starting up this whole shitstorm, and so Brenda began targeting her at Tribal Council. It was all a mess. But in the end, Brenda opted to play it cool and seem like she was in control, perhaps assuming her minions would do her dirty work. However, they didn’t, and pretty much everyone (including Sash) voted her out. Oh, and Purple Kelly voted for Benry.
I wasn’t sure why Brenda didn’t play Sash’s idol. I just have to imagine that he didn’t want to part with it. Either way, she had been a great player but like many great players in the past, hubris got the best of her. All Brenda had to do was start some story around camp about how Benry wanted NaOnka out or vice versa. Her inability to get down and dirty is what did her in, and now once again the tribe is left without a major player. This leaves only Sash as the prime strategist, but who knows how that’ll go. It looks like we’re just gonna have a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off running around camp — and hey, I’m down with that. Let the craziness continue!
p.s. I love Jane.
Holly: “You wanna lick my finger?”
Benry: “Me want! Me want!”
“Hey Jane.”
“Yep?”
“I just shat in this barrel.”
“I kind of have to go to the bathroom. Maybe I should ask Brenda first.”
“What a disaster! Who would have thought if we surrounded a campfire with large wooden objects that they would catch on fire from the aforementioned fire that was mere inches away???”
“Oh no! Everything burned down! Our rice! Our flour! Sash’s twig dolls of Cher and Christina Aguilera!”
“As the biggest bachelor in Manhattan, I can say that I’ve never seen such a flaming mess.”
“OMG, I can’t wait to see this on TV. I’m going to have sooooooo much airtime!”
“Hey guys, if this volcano erupts, do you think we’ll survive? I mean, we’re playing Survivor, you know?”
“Seriously, Chase, just tie Benry up to a stump, bend him over, and I’ll do the hell out of him.”
Jeff: “Dig deep! Find the strength that you know is in you! A million dollars on the line! You can DO IT!! Except you, Danny. You’re worthless.”
Jeff: “Purple Kelly, does it bother you that we put you on the turquoise peg? MWHWAHAHAHAHA!!!”
“Yup, I could stay up here forever.”
Brenda: “You should drop.”
“Okay!”
“I could stay up here longer than a pickled goose on a frying pan.”
Jeff: “Huh?”
“Just a country sayin’, Jeff. Like riding a donkey to a ferris wheel in the middle of a pudding storm.”
Chase: “I kind of like this driftwood. What do you think?”
Brenda: “I hate it.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“God, Chase is a pussy.”
“You know what I feel like doing? Sittin’. Man, I love sittin’.”
“Jeff, I’m not going to scramble. If you scramble, it shows you’re desperate. I’m just going to sit back and be fine. Because, you know, that works.”
“OMG, I just realized I’m an actually player in this game! I thought I was interning for Mark Burnett!”
What did you think about the episode? How do you think this will all shake out?
I love Jane, too. Poor Fabio. What’s his real name anyway?
I love Jane as well; my dad hates her. Fabio = Jud.
His name is Jud, but they have Fabio at all of the challenges AND in the opening credits. Poor guy. bwaaaaaahahahahaha!
I love how Jeffery called out Brenda on her scramble shit. Brenda assumed that just because she hates scramblers and makes fun of them that others would do the same to her should she scramble.
Purple Kelly acts like she’s been drinking some purple drank.
hb
I still don’t understand why they thought the wooden chests wouldn’t catch on fire, duh
I hate to see Brenda go. I have no idea where the rest of the season will lead to now. Anyone can win at this point. Well beside Dan.
Kelly Purple had a purple streak in her hair when the game began — it has faded now, but that is why the named her Kelly Purple. She doesn’t get much screen time, so you probably didn’t know. A better name for her is Kelly Invisible.
Sash giving Brenda the HII would have been suicide for him — Brenda would have stayed, NaOnka (or Benry outed) and next week it would be the entire tribe against him, Brenda & Chase. At least he can now maybe work something back in with NaOnka (she was his original “minority alliance” partner) & he has the HII for leverage/protection.
Brenda was good looking and she was an ok player — not great — way too cocky, relying on others to “save” her and too above scrambling. She expected everyone else to lay down like lambs while she voted them out. Stupid strategy for Survivor. Sash is a much better player because he seems to get along with the others (he had the Marty camp thinking he was with them last week) while Brenda has made it pretty clear who is “with her” and who is going next. Also, it is never a good idea to tell someone as emotionally unstable as NaOnka that she is your goat, as Brenda did at TC last week.
If you pay attention to Jud (Fabio) he isn’t as dumb as he is acting. He said in his pre-show interview that he was going to play up the surfer-dude-airhead image so that people would want him around camp because he was “fun” and not see him as a threat. So far it is working & is probably the best strategy with this group because from the beginning the perceived “leaders” or those who wanted to be “leaders” have gotten the boot — Shannon, Jimmy J., Jimmy T, Marty & Brenda simply because of that fact.
Jane is kick-a$$ but, like Brenda — she makes it too clear who she “likes” and who she doesn’t, and that can’t bode well for your chances on Survivor. In the post-Russell world of Survior, people forget that the social aspect of the game is as important (if not more important) than any other aspect. And don’t forget, Russell got his a$$ handed to him twice because he was such a fail on the social aspect. Unless she keeps winning ICs (which is possible) I can’t see her getting to Final 3.
Fabio FTW!!!
And she turned her head slightly, not moving her eyes as her lips parted.
So quiet,, only her seat mate heard, she whispered Fabio…………………………………
I’m going out on a shaky limb and say Fabio is going to win the whole thing.
Your captions made me laugh out loud again this week. The fire caption, “I love sittin’ ” and the country sayings… I’m crying…….
I can’t stand Jane. I liked her in the beginning when she started fire but something changed. I guess it was the vindictive, spiteful way she went after Marty. Unless they edited a lot out, what did he do to her that was that bad? I mean really? She was getting a little crazy with her evil comments. It’s not like he stole her socks or hid the food.
I favor novel writing. It simply seems more poetic and real to the reader. I can imagine this better than if I’m scripting it.