Heading into the eighth episode of Survivor 50, the only former winner still in the game, Dee Valladares, was just voted out and became the first member of the jury. To take the shot at the big target, Benjamin “Coach” Wade rallied 12 other players to enact his plan where splitting the votes between Dee and her number one ally Tiffany Ervin would protect their interests against a successful Shot in the Dark play. Coach’s attitude during the campaign rubbed a lot of people the wrong way, making him an easy target.
This week, Jeff Probst introduces another fan-encouraged twist that involves the tribe dividing itself into pairs, leaving one player on the side and sent to Exile Island while the rest face a Double Duo twist. Read on for our recap of Survivor Season 50, Episode 8, titled “Double the Fun, Double the Demise” which aired Wednesday, April 15 on CBS, to find out who becomes a member of the jury next.
The players still in the game at the start of the episode were: Aubry Bracco, Benjamin “Coach” Wade, Chrissy Hofbeck, Christian Hubicki, Cirie Fields, Emily Flippen, Joe Hunter, Jonathan Young, Ozzy Lusth, Rick Devens, Rizo “Rizgod” Velovic, Stephenie LaGrossa Kendrick, and Tiffany Ervin. And on the jury is: Dee Valladares.
“Let’s mingle a little bit like a dating app, seeing who you like, who you don’t like.” — Joe Hunter
In the fallout from Tribal Council, both Coach and Jonathan were personally claiming credit for the move against Dee, but only Coach was aware that the part he played in it had put a “scapegoat” target on his back. His allies Stephenie, Jonathan, and Chrissy wanted him to “settle down,” but they also felt “rock solid” with Joe, Ozzy, and Cirie as part of a dominating seven-person alliance. Their main concern was to target Aubry, Devens, Christian, and Emily because as “the middle people” they were best positioned to shift the power in a new direction. If Ozzy was fully in with Jonathan’s alliance, it didn’t stop him from admitting to Tiffany that he was one of the votes against her, attributing it to Coach and vowing to her that ultimately they should work together keep him on their “hit list.” Hoping to keep his enemy Tiffany “closer,” Coach approached her with a story that he “did not push for [her] name to be written down” but when she asked who did, he froze up and had no answer or accountability to offer her.
On day 16, a boat arrived bringing a request that the tribe divide itself into six pairs with the extra 13th person sitting it out. Clocking that this might be another twist involving the next vote, Devens, Cirie, Chrissy, and Aubry all volunteered to sit out. After Cirie was chosen as the 13th person, the others divided themselves into pairs: Jonathan and Christian; Chrissy and Coach; Ozzy and Stephenie; Joe and Tiffany; Emily and Rizo; and Aubry and Devens. Later, the pairs learned that their choice for a partner was directly related to their individual fate in the game because while they would vote as individuals at Tribal Council, one pair would win immunity and another pair would be voted out together.
“Why is there so many coconuts?” — Cirie Fields
At the Immunity Challenge, Cirie was sent to exile and informed that because a pair would be voted out, she was safe at the next Tribal Council. In the challenge itself, Joe and Tiffany, Ozzy and Stephenie, and Aubry and Devens finished the first phase within the top three and advanced to the second phase. After trailing the other two pairs in the second phase, Tiffany and Joe made a comeback to win immunity and a spaghetti lunch reward for themselves. For the five pairs vulnerable at Tribal Council, Jeff made clear that they would vote as individuals, possibly in different directions, but each vote would be for a pair and any idol played by an individual and/or a Shot in the Dark played successfully by an individual would apply to the safety of the pair.
On Exile Island, Cirie was offered the “simple task” of sifting through 2,000 coconuts to find the one marked with a phoenix before time runs out to gain the advantage of returning to camp and casting a vote at the Tribal Council; losing her challenge would result in spending the night on Exile Island instead. Almost overcome by the heat and exhaustion, Cirie pushed through and found the coconut, believing that it “could be the break that [she needs] to pave [her] way to the end.” She was adamant that having her own part to play in which two people go home could be a huge factor in the future of her own game.
“I’ve played four times and I still get underestimated.” — Aubry Bracco
At their private reward lunch, Joe bonded with Tiffany because of their shared win and with an offer to “link up.” In the offer he admitted to being one of the four that voted for her because of Coach’s direction. He also pitched Devens and Aubry as the two to vote out because as “main floaters” it offered them a chance to take out two at once. Tiffany added that Coach is “terrible at challenges and he’s not even that well-liked” and Chrissy is a “control freak” that will make themselves undeniable targets eventually anyway. Joe’s objective carried weight when brought to his other allies, but there was another plan brewing that didn’t sit as well with him.
Emily was the first to point out that “those five are sticking together,” meaning that Stephenie, Jonathan, Coach, Joe, and Chrissy are in an alliance and if they don’t dismantle it, then it’ll be a “steamroll right to the end.” For that reason she told Christian and Ozzy that they have to take out Coach and Chrissy in order to make a “pivotal” move. Rizo’s idea was a little different; he wanted Devens and Aubry out because they were playing the middle and, though he didn’t mention this part to Ozzy, it protected the connection Rizo had built with Coach. When Cirie returned to add her opinion to the conversation, she pointed out to Tiffany and Ozzy that “you can get the middle any time” and they might not get another chance to take out two from the other alliance at once, preferring that they go for Coach and Chrissy now. Cirie’s perspective put Rizo in the middle of his secret partnership to her and wanting to preserve another alliance he had with Joe.
At Tribal Council, the group admitted that the twist to make the vote one in six scared them all, but it also presented opportunities to strike a devastating blow to their opponents. Knowing that his life in the game was at stake, Devens admitted to feeling nervous — just before he got up to retrieve the fake idol that he and Christian planted in the fire pit, claiming that he had a clue about it and that he’d use it to keep him and Aubry safe. The move triggered a “live tribal” for people who were going to vote for Aubry and Devens to consider another plan. In the whispers, Joe told Tiffany that he wouldn’t vote for Coach “on principle,” Devens refused to show Stephenie the package he just claimed, and Rizo “fan-boyed” over Devens finding his sixth career idol. Prior to the vote reveal, Devens (who didn’t actually have an idol) did not play an idol and neither did anyone else, but Coach threw his Shot in the Dark into the mix unsuccessfully and was promptly voted out alongside Chrissy in an 11-1-1 tally that sent two more to the jury.
Next time on Survivor…
Emily and Christian come under fire while a “pissed-off” Stephenie seeks revenge.
