By Andy Sloan

 

It's the 3rd to last episode of the season, and with dwindling characters left in play, big moves can drastically alter the course of the game. Welcome back to your favorite Survivor Recap site, where like Rodney, we think we're the center of attention.

 

Last night saw not only another blindside, but for the first time ever, revealed next season's potential cast, before the show even started taping. We'll get to that in a little bit. But first, lets dig into the top highlights of Episode 12.

 

No Reward for You:
The episode kicks off with a reward challenge splitting the 7 castaways into 2 teams of 3. Ultimately, Will was not chosen to compete, thus could not partake in the reward. Shocker.

 

The Red Team consists of Carolyn, Mike and Sierra, while the Blue Team consists of Dan, Rodney and Tyler. The Red Team starts off with an early lead, unraveling rope from a pole, putting together a ladder puzzle and unlocking a bag of balls.

 

The highlight of the challenge comes when Rodney FORGETS the bag of balls as the teams make their way through a net obstacle. It may be his birthday, but it's a mistake that could potentially cost them the game.

 

At the launching station, Mike and Dan face-off launching balls into nets, resulting in a RED TEAM victory and Rodney tallying 0-4 on reward challenges (and 0-10 on challenges since the merge). When Jeff asks anyone if they want to switch with Rodney, they rightfully decline and are off to deliver supplies to a nearby village. Rodney, however, isn't too happy.

 

It's His Birthday Day and He'll Cry if He Wants To:
Back a camp, Rodney says this situation, "turns me into the psychotic person that I am." His words, not mine. Because it's his birthday, Rodney feels entitled to a reward that he didn't earn. Not only did he not earn it, he potentially is the reason his team lost having forget the bag of balls.

 

Rodney then tries to spin his emotion into strategy, attempting to convince Mike that he wants to go home, so Mike doesn't play his immunity idol. If you can get past the English, here are some highlights from Rodney:

 

On Tyler being cautious of Rodney's plan:
"Why would he play it if I'm acting so good and I'm giving the speech on how I'm done."

On Carolyn not giving up the reward:
"That's like if you leave your son home and you go out partying and leave your son deserted at home, doing chores. While you were out on my birthday and I claim to be your son."

Dan says, "Even in my opinion, that was a bit much." When you have Dan saying something like that, you know Rodney is getting out of hand. Maybe he needs some #RodneyTime.

 

Hanging on for Survival:
In this episode's immunity challenge, the final 7 must lean back and hold onto a rope. The last one standing wins immunity.

After a bit more complaining from Rodney, Will is the first to drop, followed by Dan, Sierra, Rodney, Mike and finally Tyler. For the 2nd time this season, Carolyn is safe a tribal and after 2 weeks of immunity, Mike is put on the chopping block... well with his hidden immunity idol.

 

Back at camp, the vote seems simple. The solid 6 send 4 votes to Mike and 2 votes to Dan. However, Carolyn keeps her options open, considering aligning with Mike to vote out her closest ally Tyler.

 

Lets break it down. The entire jury has said they will vote for Tyler to win. If he makes it to the end (presumably without Mike), then he'd be given $1 million. Therefore, the sooner you get him out, the better chance you have at taking someone to the finals that the jury won't vote for. HOWEVER, Tyler is Carolyn's biggest ally. If he's someone that has your back, you don't want to vote him out too early.

In the end, Carolyn's here to play and make big moves. Mike plays his idol and Tyler becomes the 5th member of the Jury.

 

Jeff ends with the most accurate statement of the night, "If there's one thing that should be most concerning, it's the admission that everyone wants to take the weakest to the end."

 

So now I ask you, what has Will done the entire season? Someone please answer that.

 

Second Chances:
Next season of Survivor will be a season of Second Chances. Meaning past castaways who have played ONCE before will be given a 2nd chance to play again. However, America will be voting from a pool of 32 contestants, 20 of which will be given a second chance.

 

One piece that's caused a bit of controversy is the inclusion of Mike and Carolyn in the list of possible 2nd chancers. Does that mean they don't win this season? No. Jeff Probst recently clarified in an interview with EW that if Mike or Carolyn were to win, they'd be ineligible to compete next season. Thus, the 11th voted or male or female would be chosen to compete.

 

For the women, the potential cast reaches all the way back to season 1, with the original runner-up Kelly Wiglesworth, who lost to Richard Hatch by just 1 vote. For the men, season 28's Spencer Bledsoe tweeted he wants back in the game and has already gotten over 700 retweets. It'll be 2 weeks of campaigning, so make sure you vote for who you want to see play 1 more time!

 

That's all I have for you today. See you back next week for the penultimate episode of Survivor's milestone 30th season!

 

Photo credit: CBS