Cambodia Episode 7: Thirteen's A Crowd

Savage is grovelling to his tribe and promising to never vote for Spencer again, but behind their backs he's calling them "pieces of shit". Finally, he drops the nice guy facade. Spencer and Kass have come together like Rocky and Apollo Creed, and it's a truly beautiful thing to behold.

Spencer and the girls pledge to find the crack

Kimmi reads tree mail in the style of an old town crier. A lot of the tribe are shocked that a merge is this early and some don't even quite believe it. Tasha is cautiously intrigued at the prospect of being reunited with her Cagayan peeps, however. The other tribe react much the same, except Ciera is worried about Savage, given that she just blindsided him. But Kass is willing to rally the troops to take him down. Aww shit, this is war!

Bayon and Ta Keo meet at the picnic basket and get their new orange buffs. 13 people is a lot, as Joe makes note of, and the scrambling starts as soon as they disperse from the feast. Savage and Jeremy count numbers: they think they can get Stephen, Kimmi and Wiglesworth. Kass and Kelley think they have Spencer locked in, and are trying to rekindle their Ta Keo connection with Joe. Savage also sees Joe as a key vote, and tries to pledge his loyalty to him. As the kingmakers of the new tribe, Spencer and Joe run numbers on the sand...as there's people they trust in both groups.

The Cambodians get cabin fever

Everyone is huddled under the shelter, due to the rain. Stephen recites a poem. Kass tries to see where Tasha's head is at, but since Tasha still doesn't trust Kass, she just feeds her B.S. about being done with Bayon. Kass doesn't take kindly to that and tries to use this to blow up Tasha's game. Ciera even gets into it as well, accusing Savage of turning on Jeremy and Joe.

Oh, balls!

The first individual immunity challenge is to keep a ball balanced on a platform, which Tasha won the last time it was played. Stephen is the first out, with Keith, Ciera and Kimmi not lasting much longer. Abi is out as soon as the 2nd round starts, which also claims Kass and Kelley. We're down to Savage, Jeremy, Spencer, Joe and Tasha as the last five left. Tasha drops, which gets a smirk from Kass. We end with a Joe and Spencer showdown. Spencer shows some crazy moves to try and save it, but Joe is the one who wins immunity. You were already safe, dude - why did you not throw this??

Savage still not getting his way

Savage wants Ciera out as he is still bitter at being bested by her, and gets frustrated his allies would rather go for the unreliable Kass. Spencer senses the shift in power (even Keith has come over now) and thinks he can't do anything except go with it. But with Jeremy proposing a split vote between Kass and Ciera, the others now have the opportunity to just grab one more and get Tasha out. Kass makes the case to Spencer for why he should flip. Will he come through for Kass, the way she came through for him last week?

Orkun sit down for their first tribal council, and Jeff Probst wants to talk about the chaos that's been going on. Kass says she hasn't been involved, and throws it back at Tasha, an accusation she adamantly denies. Ciera is worried about guilt by association, but tries to make a case to Spencer that it's better to take a risk and be with a smaller group that's tight, than to follow the herd and just get picked off helplessly. It's a passionate plea, but Spencer reminds us that there's many more chances for big moves later on.

A name she should've written down a long time ago

Everyone casts their votes and it seems a lot of people either can't spell Kass or are deliberately being petty. Kass, Ciera and Tasha all await the results to see who it's gonna be, and even Savage sees his name written down. The majority goes to Kass though, and she becomes the first member of this oversized jury. Spencer chickened out, I guess. No surprise there!

I thought Kass did great to last this long considering the size of the target on her back. This season has just lost a major shit-stirrer, but if the tribe swaps have done their job, this giant merge will be full of twists, turns...and yes, chaos.

STAR OF THE WEEK: CIERA EASTIN

I'm really loving the way Ciera plays the game. This tiny little woman has more backbone than anyone out there, and would rather go down swinging than be a sheep. I am praying as hard as I can that her alliance can find a way to overthrow smug Savage.