Cagayan Episode 8: Opportunity Knocks

A bromance about to be broken

Picking up votes at the last tribal council puts Tony into scramble mode almost immediately, as he wonders why they're always targeting him. Trying to get the target onto someone else, Tony baits LJ into saying he wants Woo out by repeatedly stating his fear that Woo has found the idol. He's gonna "lead the horse to water, and also make him drink". Very fitting analogy.

The castaways learn they can win a spa day if they win the next challenge, which is hooking down sandbags to throw through a net, which then need to be bounced into the appropriate holes. The three teams are LJ/Jefra/Trish, Tasha/Kass/Woo and Spencer/Tony/Jeremiah. Jeremiah gives his team an early lead by getting their sandbags early, and LJ is not far behind them. Woo is left bringing up the rear. Eventually it's a throwing contest between Tony and LJ, and Tony wins the challenge to get the boys a reward.

LJ's staying the course

Back at camp, LJ and Trish talk about Tony's paranoia and both agree they need to calm him down - because the last thing they want is Tasha, Spencer or Jeremiah slipping through the cracks. But Tony is using the spa day as a chance to make a move. Telling Jeremiah and Spencer he wants to work something out with them somewhere down the road, it doesn't quite have the effect he wants as both treat him with a healthy skepticism.

Tasha is trying to make some moves of her own, and approaches LJ about blindsiding Tony. But LJ trusts Tony and doesn't want to go along with her plan, deciding to leave her hanging as she goes off to meet him at another part of the beach.

Once again, Tasha is denied a side conversation

Misty, water-colored memories

The immunity challenge is a simple test of memory - well, simple for people who haven't been roughing it for 25 days. Trish and Woo both screw up early. We're soon left with a final 3 of Tony, Tasha and LJ, who all pick different colors. Tony knows he's blown it before Jeff even reveals the answer and thinks LJ has won. He's right on the first part but wrong on the second...Tasha wins immunity!

So now LJ want to split the vote between Jeremiah and Spencer, thinking nobody is gonna flip. Even chaos Kass thinks it's too soon! But chaos cop starts turning Woo against LJ, by spinning things so that he was the one after Woo. He then tells Spencer that the hit on LJ is a-go, and he fills in the rest of his allies. Tony is still stirring shit up when he talks to Trish, but she's already been told by LJ that Tony was actually the one trying to break up the six, so doesn't really believe him. Alienating Trish might be the dealbreaker that causes Tony not to go through with his plan.

Spencer hopes luck is on his side

At tribal council, Jeff probes to see if any of the majority are thinking about flipping, and Tony says he's pulling out his bag of tricks. That's not really enough to tip off LJ, who still thinks everyone is going to stay loyal tonight. If anyone is still going to tribal council feeling safe at this stage, they haven't been paying attention.

After the votes are read, LJ gets a horrible wake-up call and is voted out. And thus ends the pseudo-feud between LJ and Tasha that didn't even exist before tonight. He can't even muster up any enthusiasm after getting blindsided, droning on in his final words about how he waited too long to make a move or something. Can't say I'll miss LJ with so many more interesting players left, and it's good to see they haven't lost their knack for big moves.

STAR OF THE WEEK: TONY VLACHOS

Tony never lets the game stay dull for long so of course he was the first one of the Solana alliance to make a move. Was it a good move? Probably not, but at least he brought the season back to life. Using reward challenges for their strategic value is a lost art.