Game Changers Episode 8: Democracy In Action

Debbie talks about how they have a strong 6 now and are just gonna pick off the others one-by-one. Andrea and Zeke are making that job easier by fighting with eachother. Sarah tells Zeke they can get Andrea out next, but that she still wants to work with him.

Cirie pushes through it

The reward challenge sends two teams through an obstacle course and then has them pull out rings with a hook. Michaela is left unpicked, and is furious. But it's actually a great opportunity for her as there's an advantage right below her seat. Several players find the course tough...Troyzan loses his shorts, Aubry goes slow on the beam, and Zeke takes a while too. Sierra and Brad's team manage to get a good lead on the grappling, since Cirie can't even get up on the platform. Sarah dives in to try and help her, and even after the team loses, Cirie still wants to conquer her fears...and does. Probst calls it one of the most powerful moments ever, which seems a bit of a stretch, but it was pretty sweet. As they are leaving by boat, Michaela still hasn't noticed the advantage...but Sarah does, and manages to sneak on and grab it. That was smooth.

Sarah checks out her advantage and it's a vote stealer. She then says she's gonna be the first person to use it correctly - oof, shots fired at Fishbach. Meanwhile on reward, Debbie is talking about what an expert in airplanes she is. Sierra is happy that the people on the bottom are all mad at eachother instead of getting together. But Sarah talks with Cirie and is contemplating a flip.

The swing position

It all falls apart

The immunity challenge is to spell the word immunity on a wobbly table, which I'm sure Aubry and Tai remember. Tai struggles early on, arranging his blocks but then going back to correct them, with even Probst confused as to what he's doing. Andrea pulls into a lead with Troyzan and Brad behind her. Andrea falls, then Brad falls, leaving Troyzan with a lot of time to place his last one. Troyzan wins immunity and is safe.

Sierra and Brad are very irritated with Michaela, but they know that Andrea is the smarter move since she's a physical and strategic threat. Sarah walks in on the group huddle to see the plan has already been made without her, which pisses her off. Sarah and Zeke talk about making a move, but they'd need Andrea to do it. Andrea agrees (not that she had much choice), but then Sarah decides to maybe not flip after all once Sierra offers her final 3 with Debbie.

Debbie falls into old patterns

Debbie tells Aubry that Michaela is the vote, hoping to throw them off if there's an idol. She also tells Aubry that Sarah doesn't trust her, and you can tell that she really enjoys having power over her. But Aubry instead decides to feed all of this info back to Sarah, which is now making Sarah want to flip AGAIN. Stuck in the swing vote position, hopefully this goes better for her than it did last time.

Aubry about to serve some humble pie

At tribal council. Cirie gets to talk about her emotional moment at the reward challenge. Andrea then talks about how she needed immunity and that it's probably going to be her regardless of what they say. Zeke calls out the six, and Debbie smugly claims they're unbreakable. Troyzan makes the case they should just take final 6 and see what happens, but the others think that's BS.

The votes are read, and Michaela is eating this time. Debbie gets a rude awakening as the six fails to hold up. Welp, I guess Sarah flipped. Now Brad and Sierra are staring at eachother, wondering what to do next. To quote Zeke, the deck has been reshuffled in a major way! But remember, the other side still has three idols and a legacy advantage, so they're far from out of it.

STAR OF THE WEEK: SARAH LACINA

A solid episode for Sarah all round, she used her observation skills to get the vote stealer and made one of the game's biggest moves so far. Time will tell if she picked the right side, but she's definitely playing hard.

Game Changers Episode 7: Mob War

The night after the nastiness, Sarah still hasn't forgiven Varner yet. Zeke lets everyone know he was touched that they came to his defence, but also says he's happy to get back to the game.

Ready, set....food!

The castaways all arrive at the merge feast, and Sierra is eager for food. But Ozzy is more concerned about the covered table next to Jeff. The catch is...one person from each tribe must miss out on the food. Brad and Tai end up volunteering. They tuck into the feast, and the game has started already. Debbie is pretending to be drunk for some reason.  But she does also apologize to Brad, which is a better move.

Eavesdropper

Brad and Ozzy feel that they can do whatever they want and decide to keep it simple and pick off the outsiders Hali and Michaela. Sierra starts telling people that Michaela is the vote, but can't do so without Michaela interrupting her. Zeke, Andrea, Cirie and Sarah are ready to make their own plans though, and those might not involve Brad or Sierra. Hali lets Michaela know she's a target, and Cirie gives her some advice to not be so emotional.

The immunity challenge is to balance a block whilst standing on your tiptoes. Hali, Troyzan and Zeke don't last long, and Cirie isn't far behind. The script seems set for a Michaela win, but then she falls and...well, it's anybody's now. Soon down to 4, the new favorite is Sierra - but her and Sarah are both out next leaving a showdown between Andrea and Tai. Probst points out that a woman has never won this challenge before, but that doesn't deter Andrea, and she takes the win. She's now the first woman to win immunity on three different seasons.

Sheriff Thomas and Deputy Wanner

Sierra thinks Hali has an idol, so is hoping to split votes between her and Michaela. They're telling Michaela that Zeke is the vote, but she knows better. Cirie thinks Sierra is hoping to recruit Hali as a number for their side down the road, so would rather get her out. Zeke challenges the logic of not putting the most votes on the person they think has the idol, and Sierra is not especially receptive. Cirie tells Michaela she's putting in work to save her but she has to still vote Zeke so that nobody knows they're together.

Debbie declares she's happy to be at tribal council, which she calls the Colosseum, because she doesn't expect to be shocked. Both Hali and Michaela claim to be in the dark, with Michaela not really sure why she's a target. The possibility of idols are brought up and Hali offers to be strip-searched to prove she doesn't have it. Nobody takes her up on this, sadly.

Michaela and Hali are both voting Zeke, but we know it's between them. Cirie casts her vote for Michaela, but says that she's still hoping she stays. She gets her wish, as Hali is voted out. First juror once again? I didn't consent to this!

Voting out Hali should be unconstitutional

Grandma or aunt, Cirie is head of the family

Michaela trusts Cirie now since she pulled through for her, and that's looking like it will pay off for the nurse's next move. Cirie calls Sierra the Godfather and is pulling together numbers to get her out - Zeke, Andrea, Sarah, Aubry, Michaela and Ozzy. Andrea suggests keeping Tai and Debbie in the dark. Zeke however is not sure about this plan, thinking that Cirie and Andrea might actually be the bigger threats.

The reward challenge is to pull fish out of the water, put them on hooks to carry them, and then use them to solve a puzzle. The winning team get an awesome spa day. Troyzan and Ozzy come out of the water first for the blue team after Sarah and Brad lose a fish and have to go back. But then it's blue's turn to screw up when Andrea and Tai miss a fish and have to go back and do it twice. Cirie and Sierra have a big headstart over Zeke and Debbie on the puzzle...but Zeke pulls it out again to get an upset victory. This guy is easily one of the top tier puzzlers in Survivor history.

Rewards are for scheming too

The winners all get cleaned up and tuck into their food, with Tai deciding to go streaking. Zeke tells Debbie and Tai he's worried about Cirie and Andrea being tight duo, and spills about how Andrea has been trying to leave Debbie out of the loop. But Debbie is a little skeptical of this and is planning to verify it later. Uh oh, don't see this going well for Zeke.

Could Ozzy have met his match?

The immunity challenge is to hold onto a pole. Cirie is out first, then Brad. Aubry and Debbie both fall off, and Zeke can't hold on either. Troyzan, who has been in some discomfort for a while, finally drops and Sarah is right behind. Ozzy then starts talking about how he's going to beat his record, and Michaela decides to give up. Andrea then takes a hard fall, which leaves only Tai and Ozzy for a gruelling showdown. Ozzy remains confident he can handle it, but just when you think Tai is about to drop, Ozzy comes down instead. Looks like we have a new champ!

Andrea strikes back

Zeke tells Sierra that her name has come up, but that he'd rather do Andrea instead. Sierra doesn't really trust Zeke, so tells Cirie what he said. Cirie takes this back to Andrea, and she's furious. She wants to vote out Zeke now, and tells both Ozzy and Sarah this. But the actual decision comes down to Debbie and Sierra, who decide they'll make their own plans and take out Ozzy. Debbie spreads the word to Troyzan, Tai and Sarah...would be a huge move if it goes through.

At tribal council, Ozzy says this season is a lot more cutthroat than his other seasons. Sarah says she feels like they're all singles looking to hook up, which gets a lot of laughs. Zeke says he's thinking a lot about who can beat who, and how he fits into that. Tai cosigns what Zeke said...though I doubt he truly understood it.

I'm as clueless as you

As the votes are being cast, Andrea is still clearly pretty mad as she tells Zeke "you suck at this game, see you never." Cirie casts a vote she claims is to spice things up. Debbie seems intent on doing that too as she decides to play her extra vote. Jeff starts reading the names...Ozzy, Zeke, Sierra, Aubry....man, this is a clusterfuck. Zeke and Ozzy are the two it's between, which is a surprise to both of them. Ozzy ends up being the one blindsided, and this time, Cirie's not the one orchestrating it. He leaves throwing out a jab about how they're gonna miss his provider skills. Pretty much sums him up.

Well, the post-merge is clearly not Ozzy's forte. But you've got to imagine Zeke is in a pretty bad position now as well, having had one side turn on him and the other side leave him out. Will Andrea and Cirie be able to talk their way out of trouble? Guess we'll see.

STAR OF THE WEEK: DEBBIE WANNER

That episode made me a believer...I think Debbie could actually pull this off. She planned and executed the biggest move of the game so far and now has a solid group that should want to go deep with her.

Game Changers Episode 6: A New Low

Settling in with her new tribe, Debbie is really milking the sympathy for her terrible "Exile" experience. Tai is still confused over tribal, and it appears he really did want Ozzy out after all. Varner is mad that he got blindsided, but Zeke is trying to make him feel better and let him know that he genuinely wants to work with him.

Pizza dance!

The reward challenge is to unwrap rope to release a key, build a ladder, crawl through a net and then fire balls into holes. The prize is pizza, which gets a much bigger reaction than it probably deserved. Sierra's strategy during the unwrapping is to tell the others to stay still, whereas Andrea, Ozzy and Sarah do it much faster by working together. It's now onto Zeke and Varner to put the ladder together, which they do much more efficiently than Brad and Troyzan. Ozzy starts firing balls well ahead of Mana. Brad only gets one before Nuku win the challenge.

After missing out on the pizza, Mana are struggling. Brad gets emotional and says he has a much better understanding of what Monica went through now that he's been here a bit longer. Aubry and Cirie both thank him for opening up, and it looks like the football player has picked up some new allies.

Time to make a move

Ozzy is getting props from Nuku for his challenge performance, but Varner is hoping to use this to his advantage. He tells Sarah that he wants to take Ozzy out since he's a big threat, and now Sarah is starting to think about keeping him around.

The immunity challenge puts 4 tribemates in the water, diving down to retrieve buoys and stacking them in a boat. Once they've all been collected, the remaining tribemates must use them to solve a word puzzle. Ozzy is a great diver for Nuku and gives them a good lead, especially when Brad comes up with nothing. On the puzzle, Varner tries to go for something shipwreck-related, but no luck. Hali comes through from the sidelines and gets Mana the win with "Metamorphosis."

Spelling bee champion

Willing to raise Hell - but at what cost?

Varner asks if he can grab everyone for one-on-one talks to make his case, since he knows he's in trouble. Debbie asks the group if the plan is still Varner, but Sarah wants Ozzy out. Zeke shuts it down and then tells Varner it's a no-go. Sensing an alliance between Ozzy and Zeke, Varner goes and throws Zeke under the bus by letting Sarah know he was trying to shift the blame to her. He also hints at having other bullets in his arsenal if he needs them,

Zeke details his own metamorphosis

Varner is letting loose at tribal council by openly encouraging the rest of the tribe to vote Ozzy with him. But then things take a nasty and unexpected turn when Varner decides to out Zeke for being transgender, calling it a "deception". Zeke is shell-shocked and the rest of the tribe leap to his defence, with Andrea reduced to tears and Tai the angriest I've ever seen him. Varner tries to backtrack but Probst doesn't let him off the hook. Zeke, remarkably composed, explains how he didn't want to be "the trans Survivor player", he just wanted to be Zeke. Sarah gives her own emotional speech, saying she still loves Zeke for who he is, even coming from a very conservative background.

Jeff decides to skip the vote and just snuff Varner's torch right there. He exits in shame and can't even finish his final words. I still have no idea what he was thinking and I'm not sure if I buy his spin, but let's not make this about him...I'd rather talk about the incredible strength Zeke showed in such a difficult situation, and join him in saying that hopefully something good can come of this.

STAR OF THE WEEK: ZEKE SMITH

Being outed on national TV is no joke. Nobody should have been put in Zeke's position, but to be able to handle it as well as he did showed a maturity and courage that goes beyond the game.

Game Changers Episode 5: End Of An Era

Aubry gets back from tribal wondering why they voted out J.T. over her, and Sandra says for revenge...basically. The nerd is an awe of Sandra's gameplay and calls her the best player here. Elsewhere, Tai wakes up in the middle of the night after figuring out where the idol is hidden...and heads to the water well. He wets the board to look for his tribe symbol and then digs once he finds it. Now he has an idol again.

The tribes meet up and are faced with another swap. Drawing a Nuku buff, we have Zeke, Tai, Sarah, Ozzy, Andrea, Varner and Sandra. Drawing a Mana buff, we have Brad, Sierra, Hali, Troyzan, Cirie, Aubry and Michaela. Left with no buff, we have Debbie - who is told she will be sent to Exile Island. That's gotta suck...but not as much as Sandra's new tribe draw.

Man-to-man

Troyzan is happy to return to Mana, but doesn't like that there's only two guys on the tribe. Brad at least sees Troyzan as a potential connection since he played with his wife. Brad convinces Troyzan that they can trust Sierra, leaving them only needing one more.

Sandra is pretty relaxed about her dire situation, thinking she just needs some time to work her magic. As a superfan, Zeke knows better than anyone just how dangerous Sandra is. He wants her gone ASAP but doesn't want her to know since she might have the idol. Andrea suggests making Tai the decoy target, but not telling him in case he gets nervous. But he starts getting antsy anyway, and decides to check their water well to see to see if there's an idol there also. He's in luck, and Tai manages to claim his second idol in an episode. Nobody has ever done that before.

A treasonous plot

Cochran showing up for no reason? What is this, a reunion show?

Debbie is transported to Exile, but it turns out "Exile" is a luxury yacht full of food. Oh man, I love this twist. In addition to that, we also have a mystery guest, that turns out to be...Cochran? Yep, they found some way to shoehorn him in. He's here to talk strategy with Debbie, but this is pretty much the worst person he could've got for that as of course Debbie already thinks she knows everything. He does his best to pump her up and also gives her three possible advantages to choose from - a fake immunity idol, an extra vote or a challenge advantage. It's not a difficult decision and she takes the extra vote.

Zeke and Varner begin to bond, despite Varner's position on the bottom. It's here that Zeke throws out Tai's name and Varner tentatively takes the bait. Sandra is a little more skeptical.

You have to pull your own weight for this one

The immunity challenge starts in the water, then sees them climb across monkey bars to puzzle pieces, which they have to put in a sled and take to the puzzle table. First tribe to complete the puzzle is safe and doesn't have to have Debbie on their tribe. That seems like motivation enough! Sandra has the most trouble on the monkey bars, holding Nuku back a little bit. Sierra and Brad lift Mana's pieces, with Zeke and Ozzy doing it for Nuku, and they are able to close the gap. But pulling the sled is no joke, and Troyzan almost gets crushed under it. Sierra, Cirie and Aubry get going on the puzzle and solve it very quickly before Nuku barely get started.

Sandra isn't quite convinced she's safe yet, so goes to Sarah and Ozzy to preach the dangers of the Kaoh Rong three. Sarah finds her argument quite convincing, but wants to stay the course and target the threat. Tai gets nervous and tells Varner they're voting Sandra, which really pisses off Ozzy. Now Tai might end up being the target for real.

At tribal council, Ozzy says he's debating what to do, which leaves Tai worried. Sandra says she thinks she's going home and Tai admits he's scared too. Sandra offers Tai the opportunity to tell her a name, and he tells her Ozzy. But as Tai openly explains why he wants Ozzy out, Varner whispers around that he's still sticking with the Tai plan. Zeke then blows up on Tai for his skittishness, asking him "Who DO you trust in this game?", and accuses him of looking for idols all the time. Well, he's not wrong.

Where were you when the queen went down?

We get to the vote and Tai seems safe enough to not play the idol, which is a bit of a shock. The votes then start coming out for Sandra...how much of that was planned, then? Sandra is finally voted out, ending her 94-day undefeated streak, and it's a moment treated with the reverence it deserves. Jeff lingers a while before snuffing, and then the rest of the tribe all give her an ovation. She exits gracefully, but reaffirms there will never be another two-time winner.

Well, that episode felt like witnessing history. Another huge target bites the dust, and at this rate, it doesn't seem like they're ever gonna stop dropping. Varner has the numbers even more against him now, but we'll see what he can do.

STAR OF THE WEEK: ZEKE SMITH

Zeke managed to do what nobody else on Survivor has ever done before: vote out Sandra Diaz-Twine. And as much as it sucks for us, his logic was absolutely spot-on. As a fan that seems to be geeking out around legends, he helped take down the biggest of all.