Blood Vs Water Episode 8: Blood Brothers

Vytas is relieved to have survived tribal council and solidifies his ideal final five - the four people he's with, plus Aras. Tina tells Monica she deems her worthy of taking Gervase's coveted "fifth wheel" spot. But Monica's no dummy, she's obviously looking for better.

On Redemption Island, Laura Boneham is heavily critical of the decision to keep Vytas. Next morning, they get the news that one of the three of them will be re-entering the game, and the two losers will be out for good. Ciera rather surprisingly almost doesn't want her mom to get back in, as it could hurt her game.

A dejected John watches the battle of the Lauras

So the three competitors cling onto a pole for dear life, and Laura Boneham starts slipping almost immediately. John enters some discomfort and eventually takes off his shoes (smart move - historically, this challenge has always been won barefoot). John is the first to drop and is extremely disappointed in himself. Laura Boneham eventually follows, meaning Laura Morett fulfills her promise and rejoins the game. The motivation of getting to see her daughter was the extra incentive she needed. Jeff makes Laura and John burn their buffs, in the opposite order from how long they lasted in the challenge. Maybe that's just a minor nitpick, but it bothered me a little. Jeff then tells the tribes they are merged, and offers Laura control of the clue again. He might as well not have bothered, since it once again goes in the fire.

Brother from another tribe

Laura asks her daughter for directions

The new tribe get together on the beach, and the question on Hayden's mind is whether Laura coming back will ruin the alliance he has with Ciera. Laura gets to talk with her daughter and she fills her in on everything that's happened since the swap. Laura feels powerful as she can decide whether the pairs or the singles take over the game, but Ciera urges her not to overplay.

Tyson decides to follow Caleb's directions to where the idol is and manages to find it. It took a whole 8 episodes this season, that's a modern-day record. Aras and Vytas talk about how perfectly they think they're set up right now. It does briefly cross Vytas' mind that people should start to be thinking they're threats, but he's not sweating it. They decide giving Laura the revolving door treatment is their best move...which I guess makes her decision a hell of a lot easier.

That night, Tyson decides to fill Monica in on the plan. Monica isn't quite as receptive to it as he was hoping, mainly because she doesn't believe Gervase would really turn on Aras, and it's really getting on his nerves. Not even a promise of final three seems to placate her.

The Yoga play: Good memory runs in the family

The immunity challenge is a memory game. Only Laura, Ciera, Gervase and the Baskauskas brothers survive the first round. Laura, Ciera and Gervase are systematically eliminated and it comes down to Aras and Vytas, for like the 3rd time this season. It's a tense one though, as it could determine who goes home. Vytas wins immunity, and if the two of them were a big target before, they just managed to get even bigger.

Katie doesn't blink at the thought of voting out Ciera

Laura starts getting paranoid that Aras might have the idol. Ciera tells her to calm down. Aras wants to split the vote between Ciera and Laura, thinking everyone else on the tribe is against them. But as Gervase points out, that just simply isn't the case...and the king might just be getting a rude awakening tonight.


At tribal council, Jeff asks Tyson about the multiple layers of the game and he claims that the couples are obviously going to stick together. Aras doesn't deny this, but points out the two of them can hardly do it alone. Laura and Ciera comment on the role reversal they've had since the merge and how Ciera is the one controlling her mom.

Katie votes for her friend Ciera, and Aras votes for Laura for the second time. But the shoe is on the other foot this time as it's Aras that ends up getting voted out, in one of the biggest blindsides in quite a while. I wasn't rooting against Aras, but it's good to see he isn't getting a free ride like it looked like he would earlier. Vytas has his back up against the wall once again and is now going to have to re-evaluate his game plan and pull another rabbit out of the hat. Whether he succeeds or not, there's still plenty of room for twists and turns in this game.

STAR OF THE WEEK: CIERA EASTIN

She seems to be managing a potentially tricky situation very well, and I like how she's still aware that it's an individual game. It's funny to say, but she's actually a better player than her mom. Her cool head should keep her around for a while.