'Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water' merges the two tribes, Julie McGee quits

Survivor: San Juan del Sur -- Blood vs. Water merged the two tribes and the new Huyopa tribe lost a castaway, Julie McGee, who decided to quit the game during Wednesday night's seventh episode of the CBS reality competition's 29th season.


Julie McGee, a 34-year-old model and owner of a spray-tan business from Atlanta, GA, eliminated herself from the running on Day 18 after she got overly emotional missing her boyfriend John Rocker and felt defeated as the outcast in the group. Her choice to leave the game and its harsh elements resulted in a canceled Tribal Council session that night.

"This has been mentally exhausting and I think I will have to deal with a lot of backlash. But I was the one here, I was the one close to dehydration, I was the one missing my loved ones with no communication for three weeks. Only I know how tough this was on me," Julie said after quitting.

At the beginning of Wednesday night's episode, the Hunahpu tribe featured the following castaways: Julie; Josh Canfield, a 32-year-old actor and writer from New York, NY; Alec Christy, a 22-year-old student from Winter Park, FL; Wes Nale, a 23-year-old firefighter from Shreveport, LA; Jeremy Collins, a 36-year-old firefighter from Foxboro, MA; Natalie Anderson, a 28-year-old student and crossfit coach from Edgewater, NJ; and Reed Kelly, a 31-year-old Broadway performer, model and aerialist from New York, NY.

The Coyopa tribe was comprised of Jon Misch, a 26-year-old financial assistant from Waterford, MI; Keith Nale, a 53-year-old fire captain from Shreveport, LA; Missy Payne, a 47-year-old owner of a competitive cheerleading gym from Dallas, TX; Baylor Wilson, a 20-year-old student from Nashville, TN; and Jaclyn Schultz, a 25-year-old media buyer from Las Vegas, NV.


On Day 16 at Coyopa's camp, Keith was still confused as to why he got some votes at the previous Tribal Council during which Dale Wentworth got voted out. Keith asked the group not to lie to him going forward, and he was pissed off Missy and Baylor were the ones who cast votes for him. He acknowledged he was done with them.

Hunahpu and Coyopa soon received Tree Mail, hinting the merge was coming. Hunahpu's majority alliance had wanted Jeremy out before the merge, but because that was no longer possible, he remained their No. 1 target. Jeremy told the cameras he allowed Josh and Reed to run things in the tribe thus far but that was about to change and he was ready to "crush it."

Meanwhile, Jaclyn said it was "a milestone" for her and Jon to have made the merge together. They planned to keep their options open. 

Both tribes then arrived at a new location and enjoyed a giant feast as a newly-merged tribe. It would all come down to the numbers.

The castaways were then instructed to head to former Coyopa's camp.


Since multiple loved ones were still together, Julie was missing John more and more. Keith was excited to play with his son Wes, and he spit on the idea of working with Missy and Baylor. 

Jeremy was convinced he had Natalie and Julie on his side. His goal was to get Jon and Jaclyn as well as Missy and Baylor to work with them. Both couples agreed to Jeremy's face they were onboard for an alliance of seven. Jeremy then revealed Josh should be their target.

After naming themselves Huyopa, a combination of their former tribe names, it appeared to be a battle between Josh and Jeremy for the numbers. Josh was well aware Jeremy was trying to gather his troops and vice versa.

On Day 17, Josh acknowledged there were four singles and eight people who were part of couples. Josh hoped the couples could stick together so they could competed with the ones they loved. Alec, Wes, Keith, and Reed were all down with the plan, so Josh tried to work on Baylor -- saying she owed him one.  

Baylor had one strong alliance in the game and it was with Josh. But Baylor's mom Missy, who had multiple alliances going, was with the other side. Josh reminded Baylor he had saved her life in the game and he was hurt she basically ignored it.


Missy told Baylor she had to be phony and nice to Josh yet still vote him off. While Baylor was worried Josh might hate her in the end and refuse to potentially give her his jury vote, Missy insisted he'd respect her move to blindside him. Missy therefore told her daughter to "suck it up" and knew Baylor trusted her.

Josh could tell Baylor was influenced by Missy as they spoke, that Baylor had fallen under Missy's spell. As a result, Josh made a play to get Jon and Jaclyn on his team. Josh explained to the pair that Jeremy would be the strongest competitor going forward and the firefighter would likely win the money over two successful Broadway stars -- himself and Reed.

Jon and Jaclyn were in the middle of two alliances again, and they felt like they were the power couple. They had a lot of opportunities to control their fate and realized sticking with the couples would automatically get them to the Top 6. 

On Day 18, the tribe noticed they were missing some trail mix and believed one castaway was hoarding the food without sharing it.

Jon then went through Julie's bag when she walked off for a bit and found the trail mix. Everyone agreed it was a totally selfish move and she must've felt "entitled" in the tribe. Julie, however, didn't really see anything wrong with what she had done, and she planned to share the food with those close to her.


When Julie returned to the crowded spot at camp, she could tell everyone was mad at her. Because of the tension, Julie thought her trail mix had been exposed. She felt awkward and disliked.

Huyopa then met Jeff Probst for the season's first Individual Immunity Challenge.

For the challenge, each player was required to balance a ball on a disk attached to ropes. At regular intervals, the castaways must move their hands farther back on the rope, making it more difficult to balance the balls. After 25 minutes, a second ball would be added. If a ball dropped at any time, that person would be out.

Keith and his son Wes were the last ones standing in the challenge, and Keith ended up winning immunity.

Jeremy was shocked that Julie made it even further in the challenge than he did. He thought he'd "kill the challenges," but he admitted to the cameras he sucked.


Julie then began contemplating quitting the game. In a last-ditch effort, Missy tried to talk Julie into staying, telling her that they were loved ones together and they'd have each other's back. Missy was clearly lying, as she said in a confessional it was "obnoxious" for Julie to steal food and not share it.

Missy didn't seem aware of how serious Julie was about quitting, and Julie didn't believe her little speech. Julie felt the tribe just needed her for numbers and they'd use her to get what they wanted. Instead of giving the tribe what they wanted, Julie wanted to make a decision for herself -- a decision that would be best for her.

Afterward, Jaclyn and Jon warned Jeremy that Josh was gunning for him. Jeremy said Josh was the only person in his alliance playing the game. Likewise, Josh gave Jeremy props for playing the game well, noting it was just frustrating they happened to be playing for opposite sides.

After spending a little more time with Josh, Wes and the guys, Jon found himself making "a complete 180."

Jon told Jaclyn they should support the couples rather than the singles, especially because he didn't really trust Jeremy. Jon told Jaclyn that blindsiding Jeremy would be best for their game. He wasn't worried about being at the bottom of the couples' alliance and believed working with Josh, Reed, Alec, Wes, and Keith would present the fewest bumps for them down the road.

Julie then met with Jeff and explained how the game had taken a major toll on her. She said she lost her head and simply couldn't regroup. Julie was overwhelmed to play the game without John for potentially 20-plus more days, as the pair had never spent more than four days apart from each other.


Jeff suggested the tribe would view her decision as a way to eliminate herself from the game before getting voted out. Julie, however, didn't seem to care because she didn't want to compromise herself for others she barely knew. She only felt bad about the idea she could be costing any of her alliance members a million dollars considering they'd be down a number.

Julie made the decision to quit, and Jeff was forced to share the news with Huyopa. Jeremy's alliance was angry and disappointed, calling Julie out for having done nothing in the game but allow people to feed and take care of her. Meanwhile, Josh was happy because his odds were better with Julie gone.

But in a twist, Jeff announced there would be no Tribal Council that night. Josh saw that as a negative because he couldn't get Jeremy out immediately. He thought there was an 80% chance Jeremy would've been voted out, but on the flip side, Jeremy was frustrated because he thought Josh was going to be the guy to go.






About The Author: Elizabeth Kwiatkowski