Worlds Apart Episode 12: Birthday Blues

Tyler still covering his ass

Mike has a shit-eating grin following the last tribal. And why wouldn't he? He got them to turn eachother. Tyler and Will both try to explain themselves, and Dan appears to make up with them. But does he really buy it?

Will leads the celebrations for Rodney's birthday in the most childish way possible. Carolyn brings back tree mail and announces the next challenge will have a chance for them to "nourish their soul" (good thing Shirin isn't around, then). They've all agreed to pick Rodney and now he has a 0.0000% chance of not going,

Fail and fail again

Jeff brings out a truck at the reward challenge, saying the winners will hand out supplies to an orphanage. The challenge is to run around a maypole to free a key, then build a ladder and unlock a bag of balls. They'll then go through a net and launch balls with a catapult. Mike, Sierra and Carolyn are taking on Rodney, Dan and Tyler with Will left unpicked. Sierra is the first to get the key. Blue team have trouble when Jeff yells at them for doing the planks wrong. Then Dan gets stuck in the net, then Rodney forgets his bag of balls and has to go back. Its just setback after setback, but somehow it ends up close, coming down to the last basket between Dan and Mike. Mike wins, securing his team reward. Rodney bitches when nobody gives up their reward, reminding everyone it's his birthday. But they don't budge, because it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for everyone else too.

Mike, Carolyn and Sierra are treated like Kings at the reward, and Mike takes the opportunity to get to know the girls better. Now Carolyn is considering possibly aligning with Mike, since he's gonna be sticking around for at least a little while. Rodney is washing dishes back at camp, very unhappy. He goes on a full-on rant about how Carolyn screwed him over, making even Dan uncomfortable. He later decides to turn it into a strategy, saying if he pretends he's checked-out and wants to go home, Mike might not play his idol. Tyler doesn't think Mike would fall for that and begins to get nervous.

Rodney on a rampage

It's nighttime now and the others are back from reward....and Rodney is still bitching. Despite him repeatedly saying he wants to be voted out, Mike has sussed out it's a ruse. Tyler knows he's Mike's target and goes to Carolyn to ask if she would consider using the idol on him, and she doesn't really commit. Better win immunity, then.

A visual representation of Dan's whole game

And now he has a chance to do just that, with a challenge that involves holding on to a rope over the water. Rodney starts struggling from the beginning and starts chatting with Jeff about how bad his birthday was. Will and Dan are the first two out, as always. Sierra and Rodney follow, meaning Mike, Carolyn and Tyler end up as the final three. Mike can't repeat his success and falls in. Tyler drops soon after and Carolyn wins the necklace again.

Swinging votes, or just swinging?

Carolyn proposes a split vote between Tyler and Mike. Dan doesn't trust Will since he wrote his name down before, and he knows his advantage is a hot topic. Sure enough, Tyler is working to get Will to vote Dan using that exact reasoning. Mike tells Carolyn his vote is going towards Tyler, and Carolyn starts running the pros and cons of voting that way too...it gets rid of the person who knows she has the idol, for one. I thought she was just blowing smoke before, but could Carolyn actually be considering turning on her closest ally?

At tribal council, Mike talks about how he's been trying to switch things up for a while and now is the time to do so. He cracks a joke about popcorn, causing Rodney to chip in and remind everyone how hungry he is. Jeff asks Dan if anyone has asked about his advantage and he says everyone has. Sierra thinks there's gonna be a big move tonight, and Tyler says he'd be surprised if it's him.

Well he gets Mike's vote as expected - the Texan has been gunning for him for a while. Dan writes down Mike's name..what a waste. Mike plays his idol when Jeff asks him to because it turns out he has a functioning brain. The girls' votes come up, and they send Tyler packing. Yeah, even Mama C voted him out. It's a quiet exit for Tyler, but he was pretty quiet in the game too.

The strong six finally breaks, and I guess Rodney's core 4 wasn't so airtight after all. Just when you thought you had the tribe hierarchy figured out, now it's anyone's guess.

STAR OF THE WEEK: CAROLYN RIVERA

Carolyn voted out her closest ally like it was nothing, proving herself a ruthless player and an immunity beast. Now she's the last White Collar standing and still has the idol. Yeah baby!