photo: cbs
Survivor: One World
The Beauty in a Merge
Original Air Date: Mar 28, 2012
Ryan O – Senior Reviewer
ryano@thetwocentscorp.com
Things are shaking out after the merge, which leads to a little friction between people who are in the minority.
Okay, I’ll admit it: watching Survivor after seeing The Hunger Games is deeply weird. (It’s been weird since reading the books but it’s after seeing the movie.) I feel very self-conscious about the whole thing. Well, at least no one is forced to deal with Jeff Probst and no one dies, they just get to eat real food and take a shower. Anyway, on to find out who the odds are ever not in their favor!
Quick reminder of who remains after Colton left last week.
Alicia, 25, Special Ed Teacher, Chicago, IL
Chelsea, 26, Medical Sales, Charleston, SC
Christina, 29, Career Consultant, West Hollywood, CA
Greg, 64, Plastic Surgeon, Houston, TX
Jay, 25, Model, Gaffney, SC
Jonas, 37, Chef, Lehi, UT
Kat, 22, Timeshare Rep, Orlando, FL
Kim, 29, Bridal Shop Owner, San Antonio, TX
Leif, 27, Phlebotomist, San Diego, CA
Michael, 30, Banker, Seattle, WA
Sabrina, 33, High School Teacher, Brooklyn, NY
Troy, 50, Swimsuit Photographer, Miami, FL
Pre-credits
Night 17. The merge feast is waiting for them when they return from not voting for anyone.
Alicia solo-views that maybe she’ll go back to her previous alliance she had with Sabrina, Chelsea, Kim, and Kat. Ha! Good luck with that. You are their safety school.
Pre-Challenge
They’re making breakfast. Jonas is cooking coconut. Jay is making coffee. Greg says he’d like some. Nope. Not happening. Jay tells him he didn’t win it so he’s not getting any.
Greg tries to get Mike to stick with the guys. Greg sells him on the fact that Alicia will go with the guys against the girls. Mike solo-views that he told Greg that he was in but says there’s no way he’s going with them. He doesn’t like any of them.
Reward Challenge!
They will be divided into two groups. One by one, four people will race through an obstacle course and retrieve puzzle pieces, which the other two people will put together. Please let Alicia be one of the puzzle solvers. Please! They’re playing for a pizza party. Plus a secret note.
Teams:
Alicia, Jay, Sabrina, Troy, Christina, and Chelsea.
Leif, Kat, Mike, Greg, Kim, and Jonas.
Jay gets back way ahead of Leif. Leif didn’t dig a very big hole and it’s causing trouble for Kim, who can’t squeeze through it. Kat, however, flies through it and makes up a bunch of time. Sabrina takes a lot of time digging up the bag of clues. Mike catches Sabrina. The two teams start the puzzle at the same time.
Jonas and Greg vs. Christina and Troy to solve the puzzle. It’s very close all the way to the end but Christina and Troy get it first and their team celebrates. Troy says, “This is my island!” as he slams his fists onto the puzzle board. No, don’t do that.
Also, the team with four women won. That needed to be pointed out, especially since Jeff didn’t do it.
Post-Reward
The group eats pizza and then opens the note. The note reveals that there’s an idol at hidden camp.
Jonas and Mike talk. Mike tells Jonas that Greg already told him the plan. Jonas doesn’t have any idea what Mike is talking about. Mike condescends to him that he should talk to Greg about it. Jonas solo-views that Greg is really unreliable. Jonas talks to Greg and says it wasn’t a good idea to tell the guy who is least likely to vote with them the plan. Greg says he told Jonas the plan two days. They get into an argument. Greg says he’s no longer aligned with them. Greg tells Jonas not to talk to him any more.
The next morning, Troy wakes up early and looks for the idol. It seems like it takes him about 10 minutes to find it. I know they want the idol in play but aren’t the producers making any effort to hide it at all?
Immunity Challenge! Immunity! Back up for grabs!
Each person will stand on log while holding a big wooden disk. They will balance a ball on the disk. After a while, another will be added and then another.
Greg is the first out of the challenge. He lasts less than a minute.
We get a close-up shot of Troy’s stupid finger shoes (the brand name is Vibrams). Dead. To. Me. As a runner who has not joined the super-minimalist, pseudo-barefoot cult, he is dead to me. Non-runners probably won’t understand or care, so I apologize, but I had to get it out there.
ANYWAY. A second ball is added. One of Christina’s balls falls off and then Mike loses a ball, too. They’re out. Chelsea and Kim are out at about the same time.
Three balls. Alicia is out. Jay falls off of his log. Jonas loses a ball. Sabrina falls off her log. Leif loses a ball. It’s Kat vs. Troy. Kat is rock solid. Troy is wavering a bit. And then all of the sudden, Kat can’t stay on her log and she steps off. Troy wins. He gets way too excited about Jeff touching him. It’s kind of gross.
Post-Challenge
Chelsea and Jay go into the woods. They’re set with sticking with the merged Salani as an alliance. They are ready to take them out since they have a 7 to 5 advantage. The larger group discusses voting for Jonas. Chelsea solo-views that she doesn’t like doing that since Jonas is a nice guy and a really good cook.
Alicia wanders over to Kim, who is relaxing on the boat. Alicia says that no one has approached her about who to vote for. Huh, no? I wonder what that means, Alicia? Kim casually tells her that the plan is to vote for Jonas. Then, she solo-views that they want to vote for guys on the other alliance just in case they need girls’ vote later on.
Kim tells Troy they’re thinking about Jonas. Jonas solo-views that Jonas is providing for them and they should wait. Troy then tells Jonas that people are talking about voting for him. Naturally, Jonas is concerned. I’m concerned, too, since Jonas is the only guy that I kind of like. (I don’t mind Leif but we haven’t seen enough of him to like him.) Jonas solo-views that it makes no sense to vote him out since he’s the least threatening guy there. Well, maybe more of a physical threat than a few guys but certainly less than Jay and Mike.
Jonas goes to Greg and apologizes for their earlier tiff. Greg, Jonas, Leif, and Troy all decide to vote for Kat.
Chelsea spends a good deal of time working on cleaning her clothes. The last step is putting them in a pot of boiling water. Greg comes over and toss his underwear into the pot with her clothes and assures her that it’s not poop on his underwear, it’s dirt. Chelsea takes her clothes out and is clearly grossed out. Greg assures that once the water boils, everything is fine, which is true on an intellectual level. On an emotional level and a social nicety level, it’s a HUGE misstep. You have to be hyper-aware of not stepping on people’s toes and Chelsea had her toes stepped on — she solo-views that she’d love to vote for Greg. She thinks that Jonas deserves to stay longer than Greg. Jonas works hard for the whole tribe. Greg annoys people.
Chelsea talks about voting for Greg with the rest of her alliance. Jay wants to stick with the original plan as does Kim.
Tribal Council
Jonas says he can’t believe that his name has been circulated. He compares himself to Mike, who points out that he can’t balance balls on a disk very well, so he’s not a challenge threat. Mike announces he’s voting for Mike and wants everyone who knows what he’s talking about to do the same. Greg shakes his head. He says “he disrespects what Jonas just did” and essentially says he won’t be voting for Mike. Jonas tells Greg that he does have to worry and that they don’t have the numbers for eliminating Kat. Kat’s surprised and asks Greg what she did. Greg says Jonas is lying and then tells Jeff they might as well vote for Jonas since he’s so worried about it.
Chelsea points out that more people have issues with Greg than with Jonas. Sabrina says she’s had issues with Greg but not with Jonas. Greg says Jonas is more likeable but he’s less awkward in his environment — a hospital operating room. He admits that he gets irritated when he has an idea to help someone but they don’t use it.
Voting!
Jonas, Mike, Mike, Jonas, Jonas, Jonas, Jonas, Jonas, Jonas and Jonas is the first person on the jury.
Jonas gets up and stands in front of Greg, “No hard feelings.” Greg comes back with, “Hard feelings to you.” Wow.
As he’s leaving, Jonas waves to the tribe, “Hey, good luck with that food situation” and laughs.
Bubbling Under
Wondering who’s in control of the game right now? Troy might think it’s him but it’s not. It’s Kim. She’s a good bet to finish in the top three. Do you think Greg is starting to occupy that “jerk you want sitting next to you at the end” spot or is it too early for that sort of thinking?
What do you expect to happen in the coming weeks? Let’s hear your Two Cents!
TheTwoCents 
a couple of things..
1. “Troy wakes up early and looks for the idol. It seems like it takes him about 10 minutes to find it. I know they want the idol in play but aren’t the producers making any effort to hide it at all?” – Agreed…thought I was the only one to realize it. Boston Rob and Christina from s22, and Kim and Troy from this season..it just seems like it doesn’t require a lot of work to find these idols, you just wish for it and you’ll find it. Then again, film editing can always make us believe on thing….
2. it’s funny that you say Jonas is one of the few guys you actually like; not only can I not stand Jonas but i’m actually rooting for the other guys to win as opposed to the girls. The girls are totally kicking ass and i’m proud of them, but there’s something that irks me about them, especially Kim and Chelsea. They kind’ve have the Matt air to them…a little cocky, think that they’re safe and have nothing to worry about at all…. I’m rooting for Jay, Michael and Troy. Even though they are clearly beasts physically, they’re kindve of the underdogs since the women are clearly dominating the game this season. I’m quite surprised with Troy because initially, I saw him as a second Tarzan: feeble and a little off beat lol but he has proved otherwise. Moving onto number 3…
3. I feel so sorry for Tarzan. Clearly he doesn’t do well in social situations and I can sympathize with him. The mystery of whether the chocolate stain on Tarzan’s underwear was dirt or shit will forever haunt the Survivor lands…*cringing* but i’m glad he called out Jonas on his tirade against Mike. I don’t care if he was fighting for his life, to throw someone under a bus like that when you’re part of a SOCIAL GAME is idiotic.
1. Yeah, all it really seemed to take was just looking for it.
2. Kim and Chelsea haven’t done anything to annoy me yet. They’re almost actively laying back and trying just to be cool while still being aware of the game. It’s style of play that I appreciate. They don’t seem to be mean, so that’s a plus, too. Not looping Alicia (and possibly Christina, who just disappeared this episode) might’ve been a misstep but Kim seemed to take care of it.
3. I feel for Greg’s social awkwardness. As for Jonas, he was doing anything he could to stay in the game.
Kim is totally in control. We’ll have to see what happens next week with the teaser about girls vs the boys going forward.
Greg is too annoying to keep around for the final vote. Jonas was more of a strategic threat but I was really hoping that they would have voted Greg off last night.
I was just thinking about the girls could decide that Mike or Jay pose too much of a threat and eliminate them now that they have a 6 to 5 advantage. That could happen next week.
I meant to mention this but not only is it high on the gross scale to toss your underwear in with someone else’s clothes, it’s also high on the lazy scale.