Tasha vs Keith

The game is on after the elimination of Joe, the biggest challenge threat in the competition. Abi-Maria apparently is taking great pleasure in voting out Joe. Although he came off great on TV, some things he said seemed to rub her the wrong way. Most of the tribe celebrates that with Joe gone, the rest of them have an equal chance to win the individual challenges. Keith however, was not in on the plan to take out Joe. He wanted to get rid of Tasha instead and unfortunately for him, she is very aware of it. Tasha tells us that by voting against her at the tribal council, Keith just put a target on his back.

The next day, Jeremy, Kelley Wentworth, and Keith pat themselves on the back for making it so far into the game. An underreported story of this season is that the three of them were all members of the same tribe during their first time playing in Survivor San Juan Del Sur. It’s crazy to think that the three of them have made it to the final seven and they haven’t officially aligned in the game, but Kelley Wentworth says she’s keeping her options open like she’s being doing the entire game. Spencer and Jeremy wander down the beach and reflect on the decision to vote out Joe. While Joe was an obvious threat, Jeremy and Spencer are now wondering if voting him out was the best decision. The fact is that the 3 remaining men in the game are outnumbered by 4 remaining women. Tasha has already promised her loyalty to Jeremy and Spencer, but they aren’t sure she isn’t going to align with the women to pick off all the men one by one. The key to making it through this round is to secure 4 solid votes.

The Reward Challenge

On day 33, the reward challenge is yet again a challenge from Survivor San Juan Del Sur. Keith was the winner of the challenge the first time they ran it back in Season 29, so he now has the chance to repeat his victory. The castaways are competing for the chance to go to the Siem Reap Temples, where they will be fed and spend the night. The challenge involves dragging a long rope across an obstacle course and maybe Keith’s experience dragging a water hose as a firefighter gives him the edge because he easily wins the challenge for the second time. When it’s time for Keith to go to his reward he has to choose 3 other castaways to go with him. After struggling to rationalize his choices he ultimately picks Kelley Wentworth, and Spencer. Tasha can’t figure out if Keith is just pretending to be a clueless to play up his Southern Charm or if he actual is just playing the game without any rhyme or reason. But when Probst asks her if she’s upset about Keith not picking her, she says that getting left behind at camp can still be advantageous to her strategically. Wentworth is ready to bond with Keith and Spencer on the reward because she wants to find someone she can trust in the game and build a strong alliance that will help her make it to the end.

When the remaining castaways who are not picked for the reward get back to camp, Abi points out that Keith is a great challenge competitor. Kimmi even goes as far as to suggest that Keith could keep winning the challenges and should be eliminated next. Abi wants the members of the tribe to think that she will be easy to beat so that they will all want to sit by her at the final tribal council. The majority of the tribe seems ready to vote out Keith, but Jeremy looks sullen by the notion of losing another male and possibly strengthening the Women’s Alliance. Tasha really wants Jeremy to trust her but if he doesn’t she is willing to make moves with someone else. Kimmi, Tasha, and Abi all have their minds made up that Keith should be the next to go.

Keith, Wentworth, and Spencer spend their reward at the Siem Reap temple. Over lunch, they discuss that their next move should be to solidify Abi-Maria as the fourth member of their solid alliance. Wentworth assures Keith and Spencer that Abi would never be willing to vote with Tasha, Jeremy, and Kimmi. Wentworth’s main goal is to make it to final 3 so she, Spencer and Keith make a pact to stick together to the end. But Spencer reveals to us that his ideal endgame consists of Abi-Maria and Keith, not Wentworth. He just needs a way to make that happen. Spencer tells Wentworth and Keith that they should align with Abi to take out Tasha first and then Jeremy second. The only problem is that Spencer knows that aligning with Abi-Maria can be a dangerous move. She can be quite the spectacle and a dangerous partner.

Back at the Orkun camp, Tasha tries to get a moment alone to talk to Jeremy and strategize but Abi-Maria looks pretty upset about being left out of the loop. Her attitude turns off Jeremy and Tasha to the point that Tasha wants to turn against her. Tasha thinks the game will be much more peaceful without Abi-Maria in the game and Jeremy is very receptive to the idea of having one less woman to compete with. But Tasha doesn’t know if she can trust Spencer to vote with them after spending the day with Keith and Wentworth at the reward.

The Immunity Challenge

The individual immunity challenge is an obstacle course that involves running, swimming and completing a 5-piece puzzle. The challenge is grueling and tires the castaways out rather quickly. After over 30 days with limited food and harsh living conditions, it’s very hard for them to keep up their stamina to compete. This is painfully apparent with Tasha who is so exhausted she can barely even swim. Jeremy arrives at the puzzle first followed by Spencer, Keith, Kimmi, Kelley, and Abi. Jeremy and Spencer start the puzzle and within seconds, Spencer wins immunity. But Spencer’s glorious moment is quickly overshadowed by Probst having to send the medical unit out into the ocean to rescue Tasha who is on the brink of drowning. The medical unit assesses that Tasha was exhausted and had a panic attack from struggling to swim, but she will be okay to move forward in the game. After all the commotion, Probst finally gets the chance to give Spencer the immunity necklace and pronounces him safe from the next tribal council. Keith notices that Tasha does not have immunity so he and his allies will be reeling in Abi to vote out Tasha.

Tasha makes it clear that she still wants to target Abi once they arrive back at the beach. But Spencer, Kelley and Keith move forward with their plan to secure Abi’s allegiance to take out Tasha. Abi tells them she doesn’t care who is eliminated voted out as long as it isn’t one of the four of them. Her goal is simply to make it to the end.

Tasha and Jeremy approach Spencer about voting out Abi-Maria. They tell him that taking Kelley Wentworth, Keith or Abi to the final 3 would be a disservice to the fans that watch the show. Playing both sides of the tribe against each other, Spencer agrees that taking out Abi-Maria should be their next moves. As tribal council approaches, he needs to decide if he actually does want to target Abi or if he wants to remain with Kelley and Keith to vote out Tasha.

The Tribe Has Spoken

At tribal council, Jeff Probst discusses the reward challenge with the tribe. Although Keith was able to win the reward, Probst points out that the majority of the tribe was left back at camp with the chance to strategize. Spencer agrees that while he was on the reward trip with Keith, it was hard for him not to think about what he could be missing at camp. Kimmi talks about the idea that each alliance needs to have a contingency plan in the case of a hidden immunity idol being played. Probst is fascinated by the fact that this was one of the few times the tribe has acknowledged different alliances in the game at tribal council; often times they generally speak of “voting blocs” instead. There is a lot more cryptic conversation about alliances, but it’s obvious that everyone acknowledges a distinct division in the tribe. Keith tells Probst that he is confident that his alliance will be the one that comes out on top, but Jeremy, Spencer, and Abi feel a lot less confident

When the votes are tallied, it turns out there is yet another blindside. Keith and Kelley Wentworth stuck to the plan and voted for Tasha. But Kimmi, Spencer, Tasha, and Jeremy voted for Abi-Maria. The craziest part of the entire vote is that someone convinced Abi to go with her idea of voting for Keith. But the tribe has spoken and Abi-Maria is voted out of the game and named the 7th member of the jury.