Season 2, Episode 3 - "Trust No One"
“14 people are left. Tonight one more will go.” - Probst
Day 7
Mike distances himself from Kucha. Mike wants to go spear a pig, despite not seeing one. Mike is super worried about food and is willing to create a make shift spear using the tribe’s knife to accomplish his goal.
“The spear, the spear, the stupid spear. That’s classic Mike, he’s an idiot.” - Jeff
So far we have only heard criticism from Jeff, but in this case, he’s right. Mike is an idiot. Chances are he will lose the knife or the spear and find himself at the next Tribal Council seeing his name written down and his torch snuffed out by the other Jeff.
REWARD CHALLENGE
The tribes compete for a fishing kit including line, lures, and nets. To win they have to load buckets of water onto the opposite team’s strongest player. Whichever water bearer lasts longer, wins for their tribe. Everyone has to transport the water to the opposing tribe’s water bearer via balance beams.
The key to the challenge is Mike (Kucha) vs Colby (Ogakor) because both tribes end up getting all of the buckets onto each water bearer. Then, Mike’s pole breaks. Chalk it up to early Survivor challenge flaws, but the solution to this challenge malfunction was a competition for who could get more buckets onto the water bearer in an allotted time. Ogakor wins again. Ogakor wins the fishing kit and it leads to them finally catching fish.
KEITH COOKS THE FISH
Amber, Jerri, and Mitch catch some fish and get it to Keith. Keith puts on a master class for how to filet fish, properly salt and season fish, and how to cook it. Does it rise his stock? Maybe. Or maybe he taught everyone how to replace him. If I had to guess I’d think that when casting this season and they learned that Keith was a chef, they must have thought that would be an interesting character and story to showcase. How would a chef make it work in the outback? How would a chef’s skill set be utilized or used against them in the game of Survivor? Well, I think it’s safe to say they are getting their answers, and so far, it doesn’t seem to be favorable at all. The chef is expected to be a chef. The reality is a chef isn’t needed in a survival situation. Jerri proved it last episode and even when Keith can prove his value and credential as a chef, it’s shrugged off as a positive by others and instead becomes a reason to potentially target Keith. Plus, Jerri has been undermining Keith and butting heads with him for 7 days already, which doesn’t help either.
RELATIONSHIPS
Rodger and Elisabeth
“Your parents got a lot to be proud of with you.” - Rodger
There is a bit of father/daughter relationship being portrayed. Elisabeth has already made it clear that she won’t be voting for Rodger. Rodger has had some shortcomings in challenges but Elisabeth’s support will help him stick around longer.
Tina and Mad Dog
Both are a little older and can just relate to each other a bit easier.
Colby and Jerri
Both are young, attractive, and clearly see each others’ strength. They both are alphas and seem to be keeping an eye on each other.
Jeff and Alicia
These two seem to be the two most concerned about strategy on the Kucha tribe. They are thinking about the future of the game and a final four.
“Elisabeth can’t be in the final four…cause she’ll make it to the end.” - Jeff
“Nick is lazy.” - Jeff “He’s too secure in his position.” - Alicia
Jeff and Alicia seem to present the possibility of forming a voting alliance like the one formed in season 1. Who should they pick? Tough one. There is no Rudy at Kucha. Mike is too worried about himself, Nick is lazy, Kimmi is a wild card, and that only leaves Rodger and Elisabeth. Rodger and Elisabeth would be the best bet at aligning with but then you run the risk of bringing Elisabeth to the end. She would be a tough player to beat in the end and Jeff and Alicia know it, but they may have to align with her and Rodger to help them get further in the game.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE - Obstacle Course
Teams race to complete an obstacle course while being tethered together. What this challenge comes down to is someone will be exploited. In other words this is a challenge to see who has the worst physical player. The battle for weakest player between Rodger (Kucha) and Mad Dog (Ogakor) was won by Mad Dog. Her dead weight was just a bit heavier than Rodger’s. Tribal Council awaits for Ogakor as a result and it likely won’t end well for Mad Dog.
PRE TRIBAL COUNCIL
Mitch and Mad Dog are on the block. Keith is making moves to get rid of Mitch and the voting block of Jerri, Amber, Mitch, Tina, and Colby are leaning toward Mad Dog. The question becomes do you get rid of someone who is a liability in the challenges or someone who is a liability at camp? Unfortunately, both the reward and immunity challenges in this episode highlighted the strength and endurance of the tribes and that leaves someone like Mad Dog headed to the pound.
TRIBAL COUNCIL
“Jerri, who here would you say you are closest with so far?” - Probst
She names Amber, Mitchell, and Colby, aka the young people. Jerri is telling us who the alliance could be for Ogakor. Does that make her the “Richard Hatch” of the group? Absolutely not. Jerri isn’t in Richard’s league in terms of self awareness, observation and ethics (Rich’s 3 qualities for future players he laid out before winning season 1) but Jerri is influential in her own way. She is connecting with enough people and could be onto something with this voting alliance. I don’t think it’s quite as strong as Rich, Rudy, and Sue at this point but time will tell.
“Jeff, I’m conjoined with Tina, she is a constellation. And…the cowboy.” - Mad Dog
Mad Dog shows her flare, her genuine spirit, and her likability. But, it doesn’t stop people from voting for her, including her “conjoined” friend and constellation Tina.
Voting
Keith - MITCHELL “It just seems like you’re tired.”
According to Keith, Mitch is a liability around camp and isn’t doing much more in challenges. Plus, he is one of Jerri’s “voting block” at this point.
Tina - MAD DOG : ( “Mad Dog I love you…it has nothing to do with you. I hope you’ll understand.”
In other words, I thank you for what you said about me and our bond, but I’m going to vote your ass off now because you are killing us in the challenges.
Votes - Mad Dog (5), Mitch (1), Jerri (1)
PROBST’S CLOSING THOUGHT
“Well, I don’t think I have to ask how you guys are feeling tonight, I think the last vote probably says it all.”
Probst sees that the tribe isn’t happy voting Mad Dog out. The tribe liked her and she brought a value to the tribe for sure. Unfortunately, being a liability in the challenges was just too big a risk for the rest of them going forward. At this point, Ogakor is down 1 to Kucha in the numbers game and keeping Mad Dog around would have only increased the odds of being further outnumbered at the merge.
CATEGORIES AND AWARDS
Keith proves he really is a chef. All screenshots via primwire.li
1 - Biggest Move
Keith preparing, filleting, and cooking the fish. It’s the biggest move in a not very “big move” episode because he proved his skills and value to the group. If you get him some fish then he can hook it up and make people very happy. Keith stock rises.
2 - Biggest Mistake
Mad Dog not being able to get through the obstacle course at all. It was kind of pathetic and sad. She was hitting the floor and needed to be picked up by Colby a handful of times just to get to the finish line. She cost them the Immunity Challenge and paid for it at Tribal.
3 - Challenge Corner
Balance Beam Water Bucket Hold vs. Obstacle Course. Both weren’t great. I think they realized that they picked two strong males in Colby and Mike and put them on opposite tribes, so they needed to use their physical strength at some point. I did like the balance beam part of the challenge but that was about it. It feels like the location is limiting what they can do with the challenges.
4 - Trending Up
Tina craving Doritos at camp. All screenshots via primewire.li
First, Tina seems to be able to appeal to both the young crowd (Jerri, Amber, Mitch, and Colby) but also the older members of the tribe (Keith, Mad Dog) which puts her in a good spot. Second, even though she is older, she isn’t a challenge liability like Mad Dog. Third, she made it through the previous Tribal Council when she lost immunity for the tribe in overtime of the Eating Challenge against Kimmi. Last, she’s got that great Knoxville accent that makes her just so likeable.
5 - Trending Down
Mike. At Kucha, he seems to be bothering people with his pig hunting ideas and previously thanking God for making him the leader and provider. The preview for next episode also showed him bleeding and putting lines of blood under his eyes like he is some Aboriginal warrior. He’s not.
6 - Hatch Award (Strategy)
Jerri’s voting block - Amber, Mitch, Colby, Tina, and Jerri - voting out Mad Dog seems like the right move. Even though Mad Dog was a good person and seemingly bright light to have at camp, you have to win challenges to best position yourselves at the merge. She needed to go.
7 - Best Screenshot
When the actual chef in the tribe cooks something other than rice!
Amber loves the fish cooked by Keith. All screenshots via primewire.li
8 - Best Quote
“I guess it’s more of a camaraderie than friendship” - Keith
Keith is playing the game. If he can keep himself from the jaws of Jerri long enough he may be the dark horse of the group. Everyone else in Ogakor, especially the young people, seem to be in this experience and throwing around the word friendship. Keith clearly isn’t and it should serve him well.
Keith wins episode 3. All screenshots via primewire.li
9 - Who won the episode?
In a very lack luster episode let’s give the nod to Keith. He proved that he actually can cook, despite Jerri’s lack of confidence, and he gave the impression that he is playing a game and not looking for friends. In that respect he stood out this episode and like his hat says “life is good” for Keith in this game.
Thank you for reading and sharing in this journey. Don’t forget to outlike, outcomment, and outshare the rest.
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