Cagayan Episode 1: Blood, Blow-ups And Blindsides

We're back in the Philippines again as Jeff Probst unveils the new gimmick - sorry, twist - for the season: splitting castaways by their personalities. On helicopter are the Brains tribe, where Spencer and Kass both seem to be competing for the villain role. On a speedboat are the Beauty tribe, where the narcissism of the hot girls is already shining through. And in the rickety old truck are the Brawn tribe, full of the competitive and surprisingly violent people like Sarah and Trish.

Jeff tells them the theme for the season, and they figure out pretty quickly which tribe is which. Now the tribes have to select a leader, and the three lucky ones chosen are LJ, Sarah and David. But now Jeff tells them that the leader will have to select the weakest member, and Sarah's face drops.

What, you think we'd vote someone out day 1?

LJ chooses Morgan as the weakest, whereas Sarah picks Trish. David without hesitation selects Garrett, which Jeff notes as an odd choice, but David is seeing him as a big threat already. He might come to regret that move, as the three "weakest" are just getting a fast ride to camp in a helicopter. Classic psych!

Morgan looks for the idol...and the audience looks at Morgan

So the first ones at camp get the option to either secure an extra bag of rice or take a clue to the hidden immunity idol. Garrett takes the idol clue without thinking twice, and soon finds it in the lake. Morgan goes looking for the clue as well and she is less successful. The tribe arrive on the beach whilst she's still searching and she's forced to tell them her choice was just to pick out fishing gear and camp stuff. LJ doesn't really believe her, and still prefers the other "cuter" girls. Brice however quickly schmoozes Morgan and builds a bond, as he thinks the other girls and guys have already broken off into pairs.

Trish tells the rest of the tribe she got them some extra rice as a way of hopefully winning some ground back, and she is heralded as a hero. Tony commends her, but says it's not the choice he would've made. Cliff is quickly outed as a basketball player by virtue of Woo being a fan of his. Not that there was much chance of keeping it secret, I mean, look at him! The good news for him is nobody really cares.

Good cop, bad cop?

Sarah has outed the profession of another member of her tribe in Tony, asking him straight up if he's a cop. She's correct of course, but Tony is telling everyone he works in construction. He should know better than anyone that you can't fool the police. Since Tony clearly isn't being open with her, Sarah now wants him gone.

On the Brains tribe, J'Tia wants to work on the shelter. Well, she wants to tell everyone else what to do anyway. Her plan is to have it raised off the ground I guess, but it doesn't work and Tasha breaks it when she sits on it. The rest of the tribe are beginning to be rubbed the wrong way by their physicist, particularly Kass and David.

And this is supposed to be the smart tribe

The immunity challenge is to retrieve keys from atop a tall pole that will unlock chests containing puzzle pieces. Then put the chests on your cart, and get them through an obstacle course to the puzzle...which involves dissassembling and reassembling your cart. The Brawn tribe work together very well and make it through the obstacle course quickly, Cliff's height making collecting keys very easy. The Brains tribe don't get their chest on very well and it causes them problems. The situation escalates when their chests end up flying open and losing their puzzle pieces, generally causing a huge disorganized mess. 

On the puzzle section, Lindsey and Sarah take on LJ and Alexis. It's close between the two but Beauty pull it out. Sending the message loud and clear not to underestimate them. Unfortunately the Brains could not use their intellect to catch up, and are the first to see tribal council.

Kass wants J'Tia out as the least valuable member, but David is still fixated on Garrett. Kass is honest with J'Tia and tells her straight to her face that she wants her out, and it's enough to make her break down and cry. Garrett wants to turn the tables on David, still mad over his stupid decision on the opening day, and wants to pull together Spencer and the other girls to make it happen. Only Spencer is cautious, worried that David might have the idol.

Brains face the rain

At tribal council, J'Tia is the first to bring up the elephant in the room as she knows Jeff is gonna get to it soon. Talking about her idea for the shelter, she admits her plan didn't work. She throws out however that David should be the one to go, which surprises him. He gets another surprise when we get to the vote as 4 votes ensure the Marlins president is the first person taken out of the game. Let that be a lesson to you: stop thinking about day 39 so early, or you won't even make it to day 4. 

Garrett has vanquished his nemesis, but he doesn't seem to be having much fun in the game. They don't have fire, don't have food and the elements are kicking their ass. Garrett and Spencer decide to make a deal with Kass to be their third, but she was still blindsided by the David vote-off, and is considering her options as the swing vote.

Batman had Robin, and Cliff has Woo

Cliff is struggling with the boat and topples it, even with Woo as his wingman. Tony sees that Cliff has amassed quite a fan cub and is starting to get annoyed about it. On the Beauty tribe, Jeremiah is getting flirty with Morgan, and her and Brice are starting to see him as an extra vote. Their target right now is Jefra. I'm really impressed with how well Brice is playing the game.

Lindsey and Trish have started to clash after Lindsey feels she's being badgered about firewood. We see them both doing mean impressions of eachother behind eachother's back. Tony reassures Trish to stay strong, and he has a plan. That plan, rather hilariously, is to build a spy shack. Yup.

LJ is the workhorse for the Beauty tribe

The next immunity challenge is to dive into the water and retrieve fishtraps full of puzzle pieces. The Brains are slowed down by J'Tia's swimming but are the first to come out with their traps. Brawn and Beauty both suck, but Beauty are left miles behind. J'Tia really struggles with the puzzle whilst Sarah makes good progress with a cut finger, and beats her to the finish. LJ finally gets to the puzzle and flies through it. Now J'Tia really starts to crack under the pressure. The Beauty tribe win immunity. Much to everyone's surprise, the Brains have faltered again...on the part that they're supposed to be good at.

The Brawn tribe go back victorious with their fishing stuff, shrugging off their injuries like the warriors they are. Tony decides to look for a clue to the idol in the stuff, and he finds it. The clue tells him it's in the lake just outside their camp, and this is enough for him to be able to pull it up. He's not letting anyone know he has it for now, as he doesn't want a "sneak attack".

Tony finds his plunder

Back at camp, Garrett decides to have an "open forum" about who should go, and declares J'Tia. His intent is to get Kass to prove her loyalty to the guys, but it mostly just causes Tasha to get annoyed with him for preventing her from strategizing. When she does get a chance to talk to Kass, she tells her that they can flip the game and take out the dictator. Garrett comes down to monitor their conversation, leaving J'Tia alone at camp. Big mistake, as she ends up tipping out the tribe rice. This gives Kass second thoughts about aligning with her.

At tribal council, Spencer talks about the stupid open forum idea, and J'Tia criticizes Garrett's tactics. Most bizarrely, Kass seems to blame Garrett for J'Tia dumping the rice. Garrett reminds Kass that they had a final three deal, which shocks the other girls. Garrett insists that they need to keep the tribe strong tonight, but Kass and Tasha both say they don't feel good about their position.

You're not the only one who can make big moves

We get to the vote, and a shocked Garrett is voted out 3-2, leaving Spencer pretty surprised as well. "Who wants to welcome me to the bottom?" he asks, and Kass tells him "eh it's not so bad". I love this tribe! Just when I was ready to welcome Garrett as the new power player, he ends up following his victim out the door. This season is off to a great start.

STAR OF THE WEEK: SARAH LACINA

With one of my winner picks having bitten the dust already, and another turning out to be a lunatic, I'm just about ready to go all-in on the Sarah train. She's already being seen as a leader and took a commanding role on the second challenge. I can see her putting her detective skills to good use.