BWW Recap: SURVIVOR- BLOOD VS WATER 10/1; Full Results!

Is there anything better than a Wednesday evening spent dodging sand crabs, whittling spears, and sleeping on planks of bamboo? Yes. Many, many things are probably better. So why endure the perils and discomforts of island life yourself when you can sit back and watch 18 (oops, 17, now) strangers do it for you?

If you missed last week's premiere of SURVIVOR 29, I am very disappointed in you. However! The beauty of reality tv, specifically a challenge show like SURVIVOR, is that it can take a few episodes before anything really, well, how do I put this, starts to actually happen. Missing Episode 1 is by no means a good reason to miss Episode 2, because we're all still very much in that awkward first day of school phase anyway. You know the one. You don't know anybody's name, where the cafeteria is, which teachers to avoid, yada yada yada. Sure, in this case, we're on an island, but y'know, same basic principle. I still don't know these people's names, who's on what tribe, and who to root for. But it's still fun, a bit more carefree, I guess, because it doesn't really matter who gets voted off at this point so early in the game. You find stupid reasons to cheer people on--ie, my support of Dale last week purely because he made fire out of his glasses (and, yeah, okay, the serious sunrays probably helped). Nothing particularly strategic, nothing special in the immunity challenge, but the guy's like clearly a magician. I hope we get to see some more of his sorcery on Episode 2. "For my next trick, I require a volunteer from the audience! Does anybody have a flip flop? Ah yes, thank you, Val. I will now use this flip flop, and only this flip flop, to boil this pot of rice!" You say it's impossible, that it can't be done, and um, yeah, you're probably right. But it's a funny image, anyway.

Alright, alright, jokes aside--one thing I think I can legitimately hope to see in Episode 2 is an even greater emphasis on the whole "blood vs water" situation. We got a taste of it last week, but with the first casualty of the season officially sent packing, this game just got a whole lot more real, for one particular contestant most of all: how will Natalie react when a Nadiya-less Coyopa tribe shows up for the next reward challenge? I'd have to imagine it would sound a little bit like this: "AGAIN?!" After being the first team eliminated from last season's Amazing Race, it's gotta be kind of deja vu-ish, right? Poor twinnies. They just can't catch a break. It'll also be interesting to see what the girls on Coyopa think of "swing vote" Josh, who seemed to have "swung" in a pretty affirmative direction last tribal. Already Josh has had to show his hand, which could ultimately hurt or help him, but it's probably too early to tell.

But what do you think? Whose torch will Jeff snuff out next? Will Josh's vote last week come back to haunt him?

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8:02 Wait a second, Josh voted for Baylor? That was either super clever or super shady. Or maybe he just thought, "Oh my gosh, we've been here like two days, what am I supposed to dooooo..." I'm gonna go with that. Either way, it probably was a pretty good idea, but you gotta wonder why he didn't clear it with Baylor first. I mean, it's just common courtesy.

Oh poor Hunahpu, don't you guys know that in this game fire represents life and when your fire's gone so are you?! Doesn't everybody know that?

8:12 Wow, watching John go through this obstacle is like watching a little kid learn to hit a baseball, "I can't do this, Dad!" *throws down bat* Predictably, it's another loss for Coyopa. And just when I was about to feel bad, John pulls the whole "I lost to a girl" card. Hmph. Have fun in exile, Prince Charming.

8:16 An unprecedented move! Barter with Jeff? Oh, no way, dude. Papa Probst is not pleased; not one bit. They should be grateful he's considering a trade at all. Flint or fish? Seems pretty obvious to me. Hint: Flint. Take the flint.

8:22 I love the "We Just Won a Challenge" music; it's such a jaunty little tune. Poor Natalie though. But I mean, somebody's got to go home first...and you'd think those twins would be used to this by now, no?

Oooh, conspiracy brews on Coyopa as John's true idenity comes into question once again. Weirdly, his last name could actually help him, for a little bit anyway. He'll always be a target as long as he's around.

8:30 Here we go, a classic SURVIVOR meets American Gladiator challenge. Round 3 with Natalie and Val may go down as my favorite 10 seconds of this episode. The two of them are practically crawling on the floor, well they're barely moving at all, actually, and yet somehow, Val still manages to topple into the water. I don't know why that was so hilarious to me.

Poor Baylor! Oh my goodness, imagine if your mom just rammed into you with some giant foam thing and split your lip! Good for Missy though; looks like she more or less threw it, which was definitely a nice thing to do after drawing blood from her own daughter. Like, it was the least she could do, right?

And it's another win for Hunahpu. Y'know, this seems to be a trend that's developed over the last few seasons. It's like once one tribe wins, it pretty much always wins.

8:43 The search for immunity idols always stresses me out a bit. How these people are able to follow these clues and actually find them is beyond me. Like you literally just end up digging through rocks until you find...basically a fancier rock.

Oh ha, that's cute. Rocker's the first one to dig through those rocks and find the fancier rock. Didn't see that coming.

Okay, maybe Rocker's not such a bad guy...It's nice that he's trying to help Val out, anyway. Just play that idol, girl, play that idol. Y'know, the one you, er, don't actually have. And actually, lying about having not just one, but two immunity idols may be a bit much. Two, Val? Really?

8:50 Baylor or Val, Baylor or Val. I'll feel pretty bad if it's Baylor. Just because she "flipped" and voted against some makeshift alliance that only existed for like 24 hours doesn't mean she should go. At the same time, I'd be a little sad if Val goes home, because anyone who's going to lie about having two immunity idols has got some serious chutzpah. Like what other hilarious lies could she come up with?

8:54 The first tie of the season! Already! What happens now? At a moment like this, Season 28's Woo Hwang comes to me, speaking words of wisdom in a California surfer dude voice: "Do we vote again? Do we draw rocks? Do we make fire? Do we fight to the death?"

And after another vote, Val becomes the next contestant to leave San Juan del Sur. That's too bad. I feel like that girl had some more kooky shenanigans up her sleeve. But I guess we'll never know.

The tribe has spoken for a second time! What did you think of tonight's vote?

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Photo Credit: Monty Brinton | CBS

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