‘Survivor’ 44 Recap: Blindside Divides & Conquers Majority Alliance
Spoiler Alert
The Tribe Has Spoken
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[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Survivor Season 44 Episode 8, “Don’t Get Cocky, Kid.”]
Every season, players know not to get “Survivor confident.” And every season, someone gets Survivor confident anyway. Typically, when a player says the Survivor equivalent of uttering Macbeth in a theater, that’s the show’s way of hinting they’re going home that night. That was nearly the case in Survivor 44’s eighth episode when Kane, part of the dominating Ratu alliance, said the forbidden words. Did he jinx his allies in doing so?
Frannie returned to the beach in tears following Matt’s elimination from last week (don’t worry, they were reunited during tribal council — and they’re dating in real life!). Brandon, Kane, and Lauren further cemented their alliance, knowing Jaime (reassigned from Ratu to Soka) would side with them. The other half of Va Va were rushing to form alliances rather than be asked to join them. Heidi did damage control with Yam Yam, whom she instructed Lauren last week to vote for. Lauren, meanwhile, told Carolyn she should “be trying to work with” her. The reliably funny Carolyn’s response: “Oh, jeez.”
Essentially, it was a fight to establish the dominant alliance. Ratu already had a leg up here because of their numbers (four Ratus left vs. three each at Soka and Tika) and their challenge successes. Everyone else on Va Va knew that if Ratu weren’t divided and conquered in this episode, it never would. Kane felt similarly. “Don’t get cocky, kid,” he warned himself in a confessional interview, but he admitted it was hard not to.
“If it is not a Ratu member who wins this game, we messed that up,” he declared. The Survivor confidence — it’s glaring!
Robert Voets/CBS
Despite the growing chasm between the groups, the Survivor 44 cast proved several times in this episode that they’re an exceedingly compassionate bunch (with so many visits from the medical team this season, you must be). When Carson woke up ill, no one started gunning for his elimination. Who among them would want to end their Survivor journey over a stomach bug?
Tree mail revealed they’d be competing in pairs, and among the most surprising was the Danny-Lauren matchup. Danny had advocated for Lauren’s elimination last week but was unsuccessful. The same can’t be said for Episode 8.
The challenge was competed in three legs. The first was the net tunnel, which at this point can be considered a player’s nemesis, followed by building a bridge over a net, and then a painful balancing act. Pairs were eliminated from the challenge in each round. By the time the final leg came around, it was Brandon, Kane, Lauren, and Danny competing for immunity. Lauren ultimately won, leaving the guys from Ratu vulnerable, but neither seemed to feel the pressure.
Back at the beach, Brandon, Kane, and Lauren immediately set their sights on Frannie, who was left feeling “marooned” in Matt’s absence. Knowing her savvy strategizing and strong challenge skills, Brandon saw her as the most logical choice for the vote.
On the other hand, Danny was determined to make a big move. He quickly joined together with Heidi to plan a Brandon blindside. His strategy here was to tell the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, to select players. He revealed his hidden immunity idol to Heidi, saying he would play it for Frannie in tribal. Heidi then started collecting contestants to join their side.
Robert Voets/CBS
With ten players left, a six-vote majority would win the night, should the blindside plan go awol. Danny brought Frannie into the fold, telling her his idol plan, and Heidi lobbied Carolyn, Carson, and Yam Yam, the latter of whom asked for a reason to trust her. To convince them to join the blindside, Heidi told Carson and Yam Yam about Danny’s idol — the proof that their blindside could work. Trusting no one anymore, Yam Yam told the cameras he was playing both sides.
Wanting to cement himself into a strong alliance, Yam Yam debated whether he would side with the Soka/Tika team-up or defect to Ratu and tell them the plan. Danny intentionally didn’t tell Yam Yam about his idol, but Carson revealed that Heidi spilled the tea. Wanting to protect Heidi and Yam Yam, Carson offered to monitor Yam Yam. Heading into tribal council, Danny was internally panicking that Yam Yam would gab about his plan. But there wasn’t much strategic value in backing out of his blindside plan when it seemed like it would work by all accounts.
It did. Six of the votes went to Frannie, but none counted because Danny played his idol in her favor (much to both her and jury member Matt’s glee). The other four votes went to Brandon, and with that, Danny’s blindside was a success. He might not be riding that high for long. The Episode 9 teaser squares the target right on Danny’s back, with the Tika trio — Carolyn, Yam Yam, and Carson (aka “the three stooges”) — rising as the game’s new leading players.
Carson and Yam Yam voted for Frannie, while Carolyn voted for Brandon with Danny and Heidi. What will this split vote mean for this seemingly strong trio? Additionally, Carolyn has frequently been left out of majority votes. Does her siding with the blindside team signal a change in the tide for the fan-favorite player?
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