Last night's episode of "Survivor: Second Chance" featured new aspects of the game, more blindsides and a whole lot of rain. The remaining 11 contestants continue to prove that they will do whatever it takes to play the game better their second time around, but with so many competing for the same goal, things are getting a little confusing, even for them. Joe continues to be the biggest threat while Abi, Ciera and Kelley Wentworth have become three of the most evil players. Everyone continues to go against their original plan to get these three girls - who have such a strong alliance and have become known as "Witches Coven" - out quickly since they are at the bottom, but the sneakier they become and the more their plans work out, the longer they're going to continue to be trouble.
After Wentworth stole the show with her hidden immunity idol reveal at last week's tribal council, this week was all about finding the next one. Jeremy, who already has one in his pocket, ended up finding the next hidden immunity idol, and he's instantly become a huge hidden threat as nobody knows he has any, let alone two. As long as Jeremy keeps playing the game the way he's been playing, he has a pretty good chance of going far with two chances to save himself.
Just when we thought we'd seen it all on "Survivor," host Jeff Probst offered up an advantage during the individual immunity challenge that could change the game forever, and who better than Stephen Fishbach to be in on this little secret? The second Probst said that they had the opportunity to get some sort of advantage if they eliminated themselves from the challenge, Fishbach and Spencer knew what they had to do, and unfortunately for Spencer, Fishbach thought about going for it a millisecond quicker than he did, and Fishbach reached his buoy first and won himself the advantage.
Fishbach has been determined to get Joe out since day one, but Joe has made it clear challenge after challenge that he cannot be stopped. He's the only contestant so far to have won any individual immunity challenges, which means he's not only the best player in the game but also the biggest threat. The more he wins, the more people are going to want him gone, and if he can keep it up, great, but if he can't, he's in for a rude awakening when Fishbach finally gets everyone to go along with his get-rid-of Joe plan.
The advantage that Fishbach received did not come in handy last night but will definitely come in handy in the weeks to come. He now has the opportunity during any Tribal Council of his choice to steal another person's vote. Basically, whenever he feels the time is right, he just lets Probst know he wants to use his advantage, and he can take away anyone's vote and make it his own. This could mean big things as the game comes to an end, and hopefully he will be able to use it at the perfect moment.
"We wanted to give this group of second chance players the opportunity to really play big so we unleashed a lot of fun twists," Probst told Entertainment Weekly on giving out an advantage at such a crazy time. "This was a natural extension of last years 'extra vote' with just a bit more power. We do our best to unveil new twists in tiny bite-sized portions, but this season we definitely added in a few extras. The other thinking is that we are getting to a point now where we have so many twists in our history/arsenal that I anticipate another level of game play to begin to arise - and that's players lying about having certain advantages even when they don't."
Once Tribal Council came around, the vote was split once again. Half of the players wanted to try and get any of the three "witches" out, while they somehow convinced Fishbach, Jeremy and Spencer to vote out Kelly Wiglesworth. Tasha, Wiglesworth, Keith, Joe and Kimmi split their votes between Ciera and Wentworth, hoping to break up the evil duo, but once again, the Witches Coven took over and blindsided Wiglesworth. Wiglesworth was an interesting choice, as she was only a threat because she got along with everybody. She came from the first-ever season of "Survivor," so she was considered the ultimate old-school player, and the Witches Coven just wanted her out. Fishbach made it very clear that the alliances are kind of all over the place at this point in the game, and from here on out, it will be very hard to tell who's going to go home next as the remaining 10 contestants continue to play their heart out.
Fishbach had to do something to make a move, and getting Jeremy and Spencer to go along with him was definitely it, but was it the best he could do? "I think Fishbach is so consumed with making a move that it has robbed him of his greatest strength, which is to just sit back and evaluate and then make his best move based on assumption that everybody else is making their best move," Probst explained. "He's a very smart guy, but thus far he can't see the forest for the trees. Maybe this will wake him up."
As if the blindside of Tribal Council wasn't exhilarating enough, the contestants had to sit through one of the worst rain storms we've ever seen on "Survivor." Not only were they wet, but they were also so cold that many of the contestants said they couldn't even think straight. "It was a tremendous storm, absolutely unrelenting. The rain was heavy and it was cold and it was one of the highlights of the season for me," Probst explained. "Don't get me wrong: I don't enjoy seeing them suffer, but I do enjoy seeing them conquer. That's a very big part of 'Survivor' for me and maybe one of the most misunderstood in terms of people understanding my own personal take on the game. I like seeing people surprise themselves. But in order to really experience a high you have to have a low to compare it to. That downpour was a major low."
In the preview for next week, we saw a lot more rain, and "Survivor" fans are going to have an intense Thanksgiving Eve because there are going to be two back-to-back episodes! "Next week you get a DOUBLE DOSE!" Probst exclaimed. "Two episodes of 'Survivor!' Two amazing episodes. Episode 10 continues our theme of rain and forces a major decision. Episode 11 features one of the most daring moves yet. You'll love it. Make time in your schedule for a great night of 'Survivor.'"
