Survivor: Kaoh Rong -- Brains vs. Brawn vs. Beauty featured a tribal swap and then the new Gondol tribe voted out former Beauty castaway Anna Khait during Wednesday night's broadcast on CBS.
ADVERTISEMENT
After the three tribes became two and the new Gondol tribe lost the Immunity Challenge, its members voted out Anna, a 26-year-old pro poker player from Brooklyn, NY, on Night 13 at the game's fifth Tribal Council session. Due to Caleb Reynolds' medical evacuation, Anna became the sixth person to leave the game but only the fifth person voted out.
"Oh my gosh, this hurts so much. I did not expect to be out this early. You know, I thought I was playing a pretty good game, but maybe I was playing a little too hard. But that was my strategy. I was going to go all in and go with my gut. When [Tai Trang] showed me the idol, I thought, 'Oh my God, we're going to blindside [Peter Baggenstos] and it's going to be awesome,' but he blindsided me!" Anna said following her ouster.
The Survivor broadcast began with the Beauty, Brawn and Brains tribes still intact.
The To Tang Tribe (Brawn) featured Cydney Gillon, a 23-year-old body builder from Douglasville, GA; Kyle Jason, a 31-year-old bounty hunter from Detroit, MI; and Scot Pollard, a 40-year-old former NBA champion from Carmel, IN.
ADVERTISEMENT
In addition to Anna, the "Gondol" Tribe (Beauty) was made up of Michele Fitzgerald, a 24-year-old bartender from Freehold, NJ; Nick Maiorano, a 30-year-old personal trainer from Redondo Beach, CA; Julia Sokolowski, a 19-year-old college student from Boston, MA; and Tai, a 51-year-old gardener from San Francisco, CA.
The "Chan Loh" Tribe (Brains) was comprised of Peter, a 34-year-old ER doctor from Minneapolis, MN; Aubry Bracco, a 29-year-old social media marketer from Cambridge, MA; Joseph "Joe" Del Campo, a 72-year-old former FBI agent from Vero Beach, FL; Neal Gottlieb, a 37-year-old ice cream entrepreneur from Sausalito, CA; and Debbie Wanner, a 49-year-old chemist from Reading, PA.
On Day 12 over at the Brains tribe, Joe had a bad cut on his finger. Since Peter felt like "a neutered dog" since he had "no play," he decided to go into doctor-mode and become functional and useful in the tribe. He exploited his ability to provide medical expertise as a way to get himself out of the mess he initially got himself into.
Neal, however, called Peter "a cancer" and went off looking for a hidden Immunity Idol. Neal hoped to find the idol so he could keep it out of Peter's hands and give it to his alliance of four.
Neal appeared to quickly find a clue in the slit of a tree, and then he discovered the idol in a box locked underground. Neal's next clue led him to the key inside of a canister high in a tree. He used a tool to knock the key out and then grabbed the idol, learning about the potential to combine two idols into one "Super Idol" that could be played after the votes are read at Tribal Council.
ADVERTISEMENT
Afterward, the three tribes met Survivor host Jeff Probst believing they'd be participating in a Reward Challenge. But Jeff announced he was going to switch the tribes up. Because Caleb left unexpectedly, they were stuck with an uneven number of 13 instead of 14, which means they couldn't divide the castaways into two equal tribes.
As a result, Jeff instructed the players to draw buffs at random. There would be six blue buffs, six yellow buffs and one red buff. The person to draw the only red buff must go back to Brawn's beach alone and fend for him or herself when it comes to food, fire and water.
In another twist, that exiled and isolated individual would not have to participate in the next Immunity Challenge, meaning he or she would not have to attend Tribal Council and therefore can't get voted out.
However, that player would be unable to strategize and make new alliances after the swap. He or she would have to rely on current alliances until being allowed to rejoin the game. The one person at Brawn's camp would join the tribe who lost someone at the upcoming Tribal Council.
In the end, Julia picked the red buff. She had a gut feeling she would.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Chan Loh Tribe -- who picked the blue buffs -- was comprised of Jason, Nick, Cydney, Neal, Debbie and Michele. There were two former Beauties, two former Brawn and two former Brains members.
The Gondol Tribe -- who selected the yellow buffs -- was made up of Scot, Tai, Joe, Peter, Aubry, and Anna. There were three former Brains castaways, two former Beauties, and one former Brawn tribe member.
The three girls who were completely solid on the Beauty tribe all got split up, and they were quite disappointed about that.
After the swap, at Gondol's camp, Peter realized he was in the majority and therefore believed he was set to make it to the merge. Scot knew he was on the bottom of the totem pole, but he hoped people would trust him and want to work with him, especially because he was a physical asset.
Peter then talked to Aubry about taking out a Beauty since that person would ultimately be replaced by Julia, another former Beauty. Aubry said it made sense to work with Peter but she didn't trust him as far as she could throw him. Scot agreed with Peter and Aubry they should go after a Beauty member for the sake of numbers, but he knew things could turn on a dime.
ADVERTISEMENT
Over at Chan Loh's camp, new alliances needed to be made since there were three pairs. Debbie tried to stay on the offense and declared to the cameras she wanted to work with former Brawn members. Cydney thought Debbie had "a motherly vibe" about her, so she was excited to get to know her and buddy up with her as well. Cydney revealed in a confessional she didn't give off a "smart vibe," but she goes to an Ivy League school.
Debbie then told Cydney that she and Neal were close, however, they stayed away from each other in order to not make that known. Debbie wanted a woman to win the game, and Cydney was right there with her. Debbie discussed how two former Brawn teaming up with two former Brains just made sense. Jason got in on the plan as well, and once again, Debbie was the "mastermind" behind the scenes. She noted that the Beauties wouldn't see her coming.
On Day 13, at Gondol, Tai noted he missed his dear friend Caleb but he was going to try to make new ones. Scot really liked Tai because he kept things "jovial" and had many useful skills around camp. Tai climbed up a tree and got mangoes for his tribe, and Scot admitted he had "a man crush" on him, calling Tai "the No. 1 most valuable member of the tribe."
Meanwhile, Anna and Aubry bonded. Anna acknowledged she was in the "worst spot ever" because if Julia came back, the former Brains would never keep both Beauties around. She knew the vote was going to come down to either her or Tai, and Tai knew the same thing. Anna, a professional poker player, told Aubry that Tai needed to go because he was off looking for an idol, which was a lie. Anna also told Joe and Peter that Tai was being sneaky and selfish.
Over at Chan Loh's camp, Nick said he loved the rebirth of the tribe, although it was going to be a battle of the pairs. He was with Michele and needed more people to join him. Nick and Jason talked about how cool Cydney and Michele were. Nick thought he was the smartest person in his tribe, but Jason believed he and Cydney were going to be the swing votes and therefore the most powerful players in that tribe. Jason said he had Brains on the left of him and Beauties on the right.
Around this time, Julia was losing her mind as the only member of the new To Tang tribe. She was super dehydrated and shaky. Julia felt her body shutting down, and she got emotional due to a combination of dehydration, loneliness and paranoia. She was upset because she figured there was no chance to reconnect with her former alliance. At the young age of 18, Julia wished she had more life experience in order to survive better on that island.
The two tribes then met Jeff again for an Immunity Challenge.
Jeff explained that two members from each tribe had to swim out to retrieve a net full of fish puzzle pieces and get the net back to shore. Two other tribe members would then untie those fish and hook them onto a pole. After carrying the heavy pole up to a platform, the remaining tribe members would then use those pieces to complete a fish puzzle.
Scot performed brilliantly at the beginning. At the end, the puzzle came down to Peter and Anna vs. Neal and Debbie.
Chan Loh won the challenge, forcing Gondol to vote off one of their own. Jeff explained that Julia would therefore join the Gondol tribe at the next Reward Challenge. At this point, it was still going to be a battle between Anna and Tai from the former Beauty tribe.
After the challenge, Peter apologized to the tribe for the loss. Tai questioned whether to play his idol, but he didn't want to. He knew the target was him or Anna, and he didn't want to go home with an idol in his pocket. Aubry told Joe and Peter she wanted to vote out Tai, which surprised Peter because he was their primary provider. Peter said the plan was fine, if that's what everybody wanted to do, but he preferred going after Anna since she was an intelligent, attractive schemer.
ADVERTISEMENT
Joe thought about it and confided in Aubry that it probably made sense to blindside Anna as long as the Brains were protected. Joe said although Anna was sweet, they needed to play the game smart and Aubry agreed. Peter then admitted right to Anna and Tai's faces the tribe was going to target a former Beauty.
Tai didn't like Peter, so he tried to devise a plan in which he'd play his idol and send Peter packing. Tai told Scot and Anna he had a hidden Immunity Idol, suggesting they play it and blindside Peter instead because he just didn't trust him.
Meanwhile, Aubry had told Scot to vote Anna. Scot realized that if he kept Tai in the game, he'd be the only person playing Survivor to know where two idols were since his buddy Jason also had one on the other tribe. Scot therefore loved the plan of going after Anna and keeping Tai's idol hidden. Scot told Tai to save his idol because Anna was definitely going home.
Tai was so worried he was being tricked. Tai questioned keeping the idol for himself or maybe even sharing it with Anna. He determined that he wouldn't make the decision until watching how things played out at Tribal Council.
At Tribal Council that night, Aubry told Jeff she was absolutely sticking with Peter and Joe from Brains. Jeff pointed out that Scot was either in a great or terrible spot because he had no buddy. Anna also confessed she knew she was on the chopping block with Tai. Anna explained she was strong and competitive, that while she didn't have big guns, she had strong legs.
However, Tai was a straight shooter and reminded his tribe he's a workhorse around camp who has a lot of skill and resources. Tai also argued he never complained about doing so much work.
Joe told Jeff he didn't think there was a twist about idols this season. And Tai sneakily agreed with Joe, saying he actually got caught looking for one on the former Beauty tribe and came up empty-handed.
Peter didn't think there was a crack in the Brains tribe, and he believed they had Scot on their side as well. Jeff, however, acknowledged another possibility of Scot siding with the two Beauties and then executing a tie vote. Jeff said if they didn't do that, it's possible the Brains would pick them off one by one going forward.
When it became time for the castaways to play any idols, Tai kept his under wraps and opted not to. Anna's face was one of immediate confusion.
In the end, Peter got one vote from Anna and everyone else voted for Anna.
About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski