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.
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| 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.
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| 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."
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| Spelling bee champion |
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| 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,
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| 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.
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