Crossing the Don on Episode 11

Everyone is sad that the Immunity Queen lost.

The Immunity Queen is down! I repeat, the Immunity Queen is down! Tasha was vanquished, and Survivor: Cagayan continued tonight with another great episode. Let's recap it from the top. (Image credit CBS)

The backdrop of the entire episode was a Kass vs. Tony feud that, of course, stemmed from Jefra's blindside last week. After Tribal, they're both arguing with each other, and Kass calls Tony (in confessional) the "cult leader," the "Don," and the "mafia king." It's crystal clear that she's not happy. Trish, meanwhile, smartly hides any anger she has.

Things are no better the next morning. While telling Woo and Spencer that he's been shot at three times as a cop, and is never scared, he mentions Kass's name in the context of something like "Is Kass still asleep?" Innocuous enough, right? Wrong. Kass isn't asleep, and she overhears her name.

Assuming he's dragging her name through the mud, Kass starts another argument with Tony, which is funny because Tony is yelling and shouting emphatically, but is telling the truth for once.

Kass, Woo, and Spencer get a
come-from-behind victory at the reward.

Kass gets her opportunity for revenge for the Jefra and LJ votes at the reward. She, Woo, and Spencer get a come-from-behind puzzle victory and the opportunity to deliver toys and school supplies to the children of Cagayan, much like Malcolm and Co. did back in Philippines.

This was one of my favorite scenes of the episode; a mass of kids stormed out of the elementary school and the three castaways were overwhelmed...and excited. At least, Woo was--Spencer admitted he doesn't really like kids. Woo brought out his inner Flight Time/Big Easy, doing basketball tricks and showing off his karate skills for the kids.

It really painted Woo in a positive light and as someone to root for; he's a cool guy. Kass and Spencer also came off relatively well (although here's a tip, Spencer: don't tell a national audience that you don't like kids. Only Courtney can pull that off).

While eating lunch near the school, Kass and Spencer hatch a Final 3 plan with Woo, who is iffy at best. Although this Final 3 is terrible for both Kass and Woo, he should have gone along with it and not given any doubt...but it doesn't matter in the end. Kass wants to split the vote (with Tasha) and have a 2-2-2 tie against Trish and Tony. They'll flush the idol and then vote out Trish. Simple, right?

Wrong. But we'll get to that later. I have to go through and count how many words I've written as part of this week's immunity challenge.

The challenge isn't over yet?

25 minutes later. Oh, the challenge isn't over yet? Well, I should get back to writing. I'll admit I do like a variety of challenges, of course, and I even suggested they have a challenge like this on Cagayan, which I recall from both Exile Island and Tocantins, where the castaways had to race out, memorize a bunch of symbols, race back, and then recall them. Those challenges were both fun, but this one just wasn't doing it for me.

Even throwing in some crabs and masks to count wasn't cutting it. The one thing that did keep me in suspense was the possibility of Tasha tying Kelly's season 1 record of 4 straight immunities, which I mentioned as a possibility on last week's podcast and Jeff brought up tonight.

Alas, Tasha's immunity run was nipped in the bud, with Spencer pulling out the win, making Tasha the default target for tonight if the majority alliance held together.

Back at camp, Tasha's trying to pretend that she knows she's going home, but Tony's not buying it. Spencer asks him if he has the special idol, and Tony's response is wonderful (read in Jersey accent): "I have plenty of stuff, kid. At this time, I cannot confirm or deny."

Tasha has a conversation with Kass and calls Tony their season's Russell Hantz. They both go on to refer to him as not likable and a bully, prompting Kass to wonder if everyone hates Tony as much as she does. If this is true, she ponders, should she keep him around and Natalie White him at the end? (Hint: Kass is not a Natalie White)

Kass and Woo decide to defect from the new alliance and stick with the old plan. Tasha, for all of her savvy arguments at Tribal, is voted out, and Spencer is left on the bottom once again.

Time for three burning questions.

It's too early for Woo to take out Tony.

1: Did Kass and Woo (now called Koo) make the right decision?

Absolutely. I wrote down in my notes in all caps halfway through the episode "IT'S TOO EARLY for Woo to take out Tony." And he followed my advice. While Tony is a wild, dangerous player with two idols, Spencer and Tasha are huge threats to win the game! Finally someone's wisened up to that fact and send Tasha packing.

Make no mistake; I really liked Tasha, and thought she was probably the favorite of the jury, but that is exactly why Koo (mostly Kass) made the right decision in getting rid of her now. Even though she's jumping at the bit to vote out Tony, next episode Koo needs to stay the course and get rid of Spencer before voting out Tony at Final 4, or Final 3 if it's a F2 scenario.

2: What happens to Spencer now?

Spencer should be the next to go.

Spencer should be the next to go. By all rights, he should have been out of here already. But he's stuck around due to Tony's craziness and some good social maneuvering. That still shouldn't be enough to save him, and even if he gets Koo back on his side, they can't split the votes anymore. Unless all three vote for Trish (not totally unlikely, now that I think about it), Tony can always play his idol and send Spencer home himself.

There's also Spencer's edit to consider, however. It's still nearly flawless, so unless the editors are tricking us (like with Malcolm in S25), he has a strong chance to win the game. I can't bet against Spencer, even at this point, because of that.

3: Will we have a Final 3 or a Final 2?
A Final 2 would be extremely exciting. The last time we had one was in Tocantins, 10 seasons ago. And in Micronesia, a surprise Final 2 (due to the two medivaces and quit) messed with everyone's endgames. Many claim that Cirie was robbed of a victory by the Final 2, but I say that she should have played a better social game and established stronger connections with Amanda. Queen Parvati deserved her win.

Sorry about that little rant. What was I saying? Oh, right. Well, everyone had this same thought before, as I recall...three seasons ago. Going into the finale of the Philippines, Abi had just been voted out and we had just 4 players left, and 2 hours to get through, so a lot of people predicted a Final 2, with two Tribal Councils.

Instead, we got a reward challenge and a Final 3. Same deal with Caramoan; Erik is evacuated 5 minutes into the finale, but instead of a Final 2, there's a reward. I want to say that China was the same way, because I remember a reward challenge taking place at the Great Wall, but that's a total guess.

So even though I would love to have a Final 2, I'm going to say no. The one difference is that the players--like Kass tonight--having been mentioning it this season, so it's certainly possible. I'm cautiously optimistic.

That just about sums up tonight's episode; tomorrow I will try to get my podcast with Ethan recorded and I would love to get a chance to catch up on Big Brother Canada and post something sooner. If not, definitely expect something Friday. You can also check out the post I wrote earlier today about location spoilers for the upcoming seasons of Survivor right here. Stay tuned!