Survivor season 35, episode 6 recap: A little twerp

A recap of Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers episode 6 ‘This Is Why You Play Survivor’ in the wake of a blindside.

The merge looming, blindsides finally happening and everyone starting to feel the effects of nearly 20 days, Survivor season 35, episode 6 was a crucial one for the season and the 13 remaining players in the game.

We started out at the Soko tribe after they had just voted out Roark at the last Tribal Council. Ali was peeved at the rest of the tribe for not filling her in as she voted for Chrissy and wasn’t in on the plan. Ryan took the brunt of the blame, and said that might put a target on Ali’s back because he can’t have enemies in this game. He’s not wrong.

At the Yawa tribe, Dr. Mike was feeling both confident and generally good after catching a fish with a spear. However, he had a little more trouble in terms of trying to cook the fish as it fell in the fire. However, the determined sex-doctor caught his catch a second time and was going to eat it, which Ben joked about.

What wasn’t a joking matter was a talk about food. Cole was talking about his eating habits, which had been brought up as ravenous in earlier episodes. He then got snappy with Lauren about it and then was super arrogant about it as well, saying that he needed it to help everyone at the challenge. However, when he and Jessica walked away, the rest of the group talked about their relationship as Ben confirmed it. Lauren then said that Cole was “digging his own grave.”

Reward Challenge was next on the docket. This called for two players from each tribe to run through an obstacle and carry a buoy between two sticks. Once done, the other two players on each tribe would come behind and go over the balance beam, though with no buoy. They would then have to get a boat untied, pull a rope to a platform and shoot a slingshot at two targets. First to knock both down win. The reward: Pizza and soda.

Soko jumped out to an early lead, but Yawa caught up. Meanwhile, Ashley and Desi were struggling in a bad way with the buoy for Levu. However, Levu caught up to the other two tribes before they had started hitting targets. Swells then came rolling in on the beach, making shooting the slingshot that much more difficult. However, J.P. was tremendously patient, and ultimately used that to win for Soko. Yawa right behind finishing as they picked up on the patience as Levu never had a chance to get comfortable shooting at the targets.

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Enjoying pizza back at Soko, Ryan was of course still strategizing. His thinking was to target J.P. as a physical threat with merge looming. He then dogged on his tribe-mate a little bit, saying that he didn’t have any strategy to his game at this point.

Back at Levu, Ashley and Devon were wondering if Joe and Desi would go to rocks for one another. However, their thought was that Desi might flip at that point. Ashley and Desi talked and she was responsive, knowing that Joe would use her to a point and had no intention of taking her to the end. Speaking of Joe, he found another idol clue, sneakily doing so while Devon was around and watching him. Ready to get the idol and not tell anyone, he did so under the cover of night while his tribe was a sleep.

Then at Yawa, a famished Cole passed out, and it was scary for everyone. Maybe he wasn’t just being arrogant about his food intake (okay, it was still a little cocky). However, Mike, Ben and Lauren then agreed that he’d become a liability and would be the one to go if they lost an Immunity Challenge. Between bad strategy and then that, it was bad news for him.

Speaking of, the next battle for Immunity was up next. Yawa seemed out of things as they were trying to balance blocks that spelled out Immunity as they stacked them. They were in the lead, but then saw it dissipate right at the end. But then they changed strategy and made up a ton of ground as the others continued to move slow. That change was pivotal as it allowed for them to not only come back, but to finish first.

A race for second ensued and went at a snail’s pace as they tried to walk back to their spot. However, Soko dropped and Levu managed to keep blocks up as Devon walked back. That meant another trip to Tribal for Soko.

Ryan tried to mend his relationship with Ali, knowing that’s what it would take to get J.P. out. She seemed somewhat hesitant, but they agreed that they had to get Chrissy to come over or the plan wouldn’t work. That seemed like a tough task as she was resistant to both what Ali and Ryan had to say. And that all led to a meeting with Jeff.

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The cases were made around the board, from Ali feeling left out to people talking about what J.P. brings to the table and how big of a threat he was. Then came the votes. Ultimately, it wasn’t the physical threat that was taken out, but the one who felt betrayed and let her feelings be known. Ali was sent home as the sixth person voted out of Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers on a 3-1 vote.

Down to 12 players now, and the merge is coming — even getting a patented Probst tease. And that means we’re getting the merge next week. Let’s ride.