Winners At War Episode 10: The Kids Are Alright

Too much love to even fit in one frame

Jeff brings the contestants out for a challenge and surprises them with an earlier-than-usual loved ones visit. Kim's husband and her 3 kids are first. The other parents all get to see their kids (with Denise's grown daughter towering over her providing a fun contrast), and seeing Tyson cry is quite a rare sight. But it's Val and the Collins clan who steal the show. Then Jeff tells them there is no challenge and they can all just go back to camp.

The players have all let their guard down and are having a family day out on the beach. Meanwhile on Edge of Extinction, they're all apprehensive when a boat approaches...but it's a family visit there too. Nadiya is there, as is John Fincher, and the Mariano daughters.

First boot sisters: Natalie looking for some auntie luck

A fun callback to a past misspelling

Back to the game now, with an immunity challenge that involves stacking blocks on a table, and two fire tokens for the winner. Tony, Kim, Tyson and Nick are the early front runners. Kim losing her blocks opens the door for some of the chasers, with Tony now looking good. Tyson, Nick and Jeremy drop, leaving Tony and Ben in it. Both guys place their last block, and Ben has to decide if he's gonna try and go faster or hope Tony drops. In the end, Ben drops and Tony takes the win. "Wow, I won a game of patience" he exclaims.

People are coming to Tony now since he's safe and Jeremy wants to split up Sarah and Sophie, but Tony shoots it down. Sarah and Tony also have conflicting targets, with Sarah wanting to go for Kim and Tony for Tyson, but after some bickering, they eventually go with Sarah's plan, Jeremy then goes off to talk with Kim, which sketches out the guys, and now Tony wants to blindside Jeremy.

Kim, Tyson and Jeremy (remnants of the poker alliance) agree they need to stick together and want to vote out Sophie. They try to get Michele and Denise on their side, as Kim reveals her idol. Sarah is annoyed when the vote has changed, but is OK when she hears Jeremy was coming for her. Jeremy reveals he can leave tribal but Tyson urges him not to since then they won't have enough votes. Sophie wants Sarah to use her vote stealer since that will avoid a tie.

Who shot first?

At tribal council, Nick is over his sour grapes and feels like he's playing Survivor now. Both sides are whispering as Tony says he's glad to be safe. After it calms down, Jeff is ready to call for a vote, and Jeremy and Sarah both call for Jeff at the same time. Both want the other to go first and eventually Jeremy relents, choosing to use his advantage and go back to camp. The other side are now not sure what to do, and Sophie wants to taker her five off to the side to make a decision. The leftovers of Jeremy's squad debate their own plan. Sarah then plays her vote steal to take Denise's vote.

One return trip he was not looking forward to

Kim then gets up to play her idol and decides to play it for Denise. Whoa! The vote is 2 for Denise, 2 for Sophie and the rest for Tyson. Kim laments her misplayed idol but not even their whole crew stuck together. Tyson has no tokens so he just flips off the drop boxes as he walks past. For the final scene we get to see the jury all hug Probst as a thank you for the family visit Aww!

Well we now have two clear sides, even if it would've been nice to see them fleshed out a little more. Did Jeremy make a cowardly move? Perhaps, but with a game this fast-paced, who's to say alliances won't change anyway? Next week could be anyone's time to go.

STAR OF THE WEEK: TONY VLACHOS

Tony was lucky enough to get to sit out of the drama after securing his safety with the "bulletproof vest". And he was able to be on the winning side and get out who he wanted. This new side of Tony has been very successful in managing to not stand out too much.