Hayley survived Redemption Rock. Can she survive this week? Let’s find out.

Episode 16 (Barbara Anderson)

• We immediately get the aftermath of Hayley reentering the game. Like many theorized in the comments last week, Dani respects that Hayley fought to get back in, even if she was initially surprised by her return. Emmett, Cara, and George are worried about the possibility of Hayley having an idol from Redemption Rock. Everyone else seems to be worried about what is Hayley going to do next. Flick, Gerald, Emmett, and Dani meet to discuss that they should just vote out Hayley again since Brawn still has the majority with Cara and George even with losing Chelsea.
• We then hear from Hayley who is worried about coming back to a tribe where everyone voted her out. She then discusses how her big mistake was trying to control everything and make big deals by burning her allies, but she is trying to rectify that by apologizing to them. She goes to Cara and talks about how she wants to undo what she did before she left the game. Cara just wants a commitment from Hayley because after a lifetime of having serious trust issues, she just wants to play the game with people she likes and trusts, like George. They return to the former Brains where Cara suggests that everyone should give Hayley a hug. Only Wai obliges because everybody else is still pissed. Hayley then reiterates that she will not screw over the former Brains again.
• George emphasizes to us that the numbers in the tribe are 4 former Brains, 4 former Brawn, and Cara and George in the middle. George also notes that he respects Hayley’s game, but he doesn’t know if he can trust her. He is happy that her reputation is not great right now though.
• Time for awkward silences and PR statement at the challenge mat as JLP talks about Hayley coming back into the game. After that, he introduces the reward challenge. The tribe will randomly draw rocks (unfortunately no purple ones!) to make two teams of five. Then, one at a time, one person from each team will get to the dock and memorize symbols. They will then swim back and try to recreate them. The first team to two wins a trip to the Survivor Outback Pub where they will win a KFC fest with beer because I guess Outback Steakhouse would just be tacky to do on this series. Despite a great run by Hayley, that team loses after a strong round by Dani (who is the focus of many random shots of the noncompeting castaways)
• The winning team of Dani, Gerald, Laura, Flick, and Wai are excited for their KFC. Dani mentions that she wants her wedding to be similar to the Outback Pub, so I hope her partner is paying attention. Laura is excited to talk across alliances. With that idea in mind, Dani proposes that this fivesome goes after Emmett. However, Flick and Gerald don’t seem to be on board, which Flick confirms in confessional. She is worried that Dani is too volatile and claims that taking out Emmett is a “dumb move”.
• On their return to camp, the five that went are stuffed. George then licks Dani’s pocket because it had chicken in it at one point (which I suspect Production caught her doing and stopped her from bringing it back), which I will not be including here because you don’t need to see that again. Flick is still mad about what Dani wants to do and pledges to tell Emmett, which she does the next day with Gerald in toll. Flick acknowledges that both Dani and Emmett are big threats, but Flick wants to keep the Brawn alliance strong. Emmett knows now that he needs to win Immunity.
• At Immunity, the castaways talk about KFC and Hayley coming back to the game. We then get to the challenge. Using only their feet, they will hold a weighted disk while their body is sitting on a stool. After Geroge, Wai, Dani, and Laura drop out, they plot to take out Emmett if Hayley drops, which she eventually does. After two hours, Emmett drops his to Flick’s disappointment. Fifteen minutes later, JLP instructs Flick and Andrew (the last two left) to put their hands behind their head to end the challenge…I mean to make the challenge harder. Flick then takes a hand off her head, which means that Andrew wins Individual Immunity. The plots to take out either Emmett or Hayley can continue.
• Back at camp, Dani is happy that Emmett lost, so she can take him out with her KFC alliance. Laura suggests to convince Emmett that there is still beef with Hayley, so he won’t be aware. Dani does that with Flick in attendance, not knowing that Flick has told Emmett about her plan. Emmett then suggests to Gerald that they should go after Dani. He thinks this will work because he has the alliance with Flick, Gerald, George, and Cara plus Flick’s idol, which he does his best to convince her to play for him.
• Once told of this plan, Geoerge is excited because the Brawn is turning on each other. He then comes up with his “blindside within a blindside”, or taking out another Brawn.
• Throughout this sequence, I noticed that Cara’s arm is bandaged up and she is not getting wet. I hope everything okay.
• Anyway, George approaches all former Brains except Cara and pitches Gerald because the idol isn’t getting played on him and he is a physical and social threat. Laura is down as long a former Brawn goes. Hayley is stoked because all of this means that she is likely to survive this Tribal, but she is worried that this is a double cross from George. Dani, Emmett, and George are hopeful their plans will work out at Tribal.
• Speaking of Tribal, we get there and JLP introduces Baden as the first jury member to much acclaims. He straight up looks ten to fifteen years younger.  After asking Andrew about winning Immunity, we focus a lot of time on how confident Dani, Emmett, and to a lesser degree Flick are with their alliances, while still trying to smoke screen that they are taking out a Brain. George then says that his decision tonight will show who he wants to play with for the rest of the game. Gerald then says that people will be shocked about the equilibrium of power that will happen tonight. Dani is 100 percent confident on the timing of her move. Hayley is worried that it will be her tonight.
• Time to vote! We see a vote for Gerald, Dani, and Emmett as expected. When it’s time to play an idol, Flick happily plays her idol for Emmett, much to Dani’s disdain. The votes come in. One for Emmett, which doesn’t count, then three for Dani and then three for Gerald. We then get a fourth for Dani and finally two more for Gerald, making him the second member of the jury. Everyone notes that George “dogged” them.
• During Gerald’s bummed final words, we see that Cara voted for Dani. Maybe George didn’t loop her in?
• Next time on Survivor, George gets a hidden secret. Yay. But, it apparently leads to a tribal surprise.
• In general, this episode was just weird. At first, it felt like it would be a filler episode because it seemed like they would just target Hayley again. Also, we got a lot of the same confessionals from people. We heard a lot about Hayley wanting to redeem herself, George wanting control of the game, and Dani and Emmett targeting each other. It just felt a bit redundant.
• It then takes a weird turn once Dani decides to go after Emmett. I personally think she should waited until 9 because odd numbers are a good time to strike ( look at the Joey vote in the pre-merge). She didn’t have a great read of Flick and Gerald at the reward at all and seemingly waited until it was too late to check in. She also still looped in George, even though she wasn’t a fan of snitching. However, it did feel like she was grasping at straws in desperation after losing Chelsea, which makes sense. Wouldn’t you struggle after losing your closest ally in a non-tribal setting suddenly? I don’t know if she can recover from this , but they might go after George next.
• In general, this episode is another example of bad editing. We barely heard from Gerald throughout the season, so this blindside didn’t have the gut punch it probably should have had. He seemed extremely well liked in his tribe and had some decent instincts for the game, but it felt like he was maybe too passive to play a great game. We also had Flick and Emmett being super tight out of nowhere, when we saw her actively avoid to play with him in the premerge. I know that she was closest to Kez and Shannon, but it still feels like they have been tight since the merge for no real reason besides Brawn Strong. Let’s see if they can stay Brawn Strong tomorrow.

Episode 17 (kemperboyd)

• Previously on: I don’t understand why Flick played her idol for Emmett but hey ho. George made the right move taking out Gerald not Dani, this way Emmett and Dani should be against each other and unable to pull anyone across.
• Emmett is pissed! Dani didn’t know what was happening but happy to see Gerald go.
• Flick has realised her move was dumb to vote for Dani. Her integrity is really important to her, so she goes to apologise to Dani, they say they love each other. Basically Survivor is hard because you forge real relationships but also have to lie and cheat. Flick has a really hard story that her mum has early onset dementia, she is now in a home and non-verbal.
• Haley diagnoses George perfectly, as a bombastic player who wants a huge resume and that it’s dangerous for him. As her voiceover goes on, George finds a scroll.
• George’s secret power is hidden in camp. He finds a key to an immunity idol hidden at tribal. It can be played in secret. I really don’t get the benefit of clean hands at this point, surely we are talking about end game Survivor where everyone wants their big moves to be seen by the jury to shape their views?
• Flick goes missing and is off with production, she was informed that her mother passed away. I can’t imagine receiving that kind of news when you are playing a game like Survivor, to be away unable to talk to anyone. I was working away when my dad died and I can’t remember most of what happened between me being told by the police he was in hospital and being told by my mum he had died the next day. I have no memory of calling my brother or mum about it but I must of. Just being a few hours away by train was awful. My heart goes out to Flick.
• It’s weird to discuss the edit at this point but it’s very odd that Dani was given the confessional about it.
• Flick is allowed to talk to her family on the phone and decides to keep playing which is laudable but also it’s an unimaginable decision to have to make.
• This is also a very interesting study in how grief can settle over time, how long term illness, specifically things like dementia that take away the person before their body fails affect family members. To lose a parent is horrible but to there is a relief that comes with the release of someone from their suffering and the release of a family from their own burdens. It’s not something spoken about often because people fear it makes them seem callous but emotions are messy and relief can exist alongside grief and sadness without it being something anyone should be ashamed of.
• To talk about the game again, how to vote someone out who just lost their mum? You become a huge prick to do it, even if it’s strategically correct.
• I’d also like to say that Australia Survivor is a good production from what I can see, they allowed a call, possibly facetime between Flick and her family without removing her. JLP hugs her at the challenge and tells her everyone is there for her. The reality is, it’s just a game and just a tv show, it’s nice to see everyone being actually human about it all.
• Immunity Challenge: JLP explained it and I wasn’t massively paying attention, climb a hill loads to get puzzle pieces then a puzzle. But then he said the last 4 people are the only ones up for elimination at tribal. Leave it out Production, this is too big at 9. They’ve found another way to give Emmett immunity, even if he comes 5th he’ll get it. Yikes. And likely Andrew.
  They say puzzle but it’s honestly just persistence, if you need to just move each piece all the way round with each piece and it gets easier as each piece goes in. It’s actually a physical challenge really.
• Honestly I loved Cara saying to Haley and Dani “don’t vote for me, they’ll turn on you eventually”. Andrew, Haley, Emmett, Flick and George are safe.
• It can only be Dani, Cara, Wai and Laura  and Andrew says it’s an easy vote for Cara, he calls her a master manipulator and it’s the most I’ve heard him speak all season.
• Andrew tells literally everyone. George goes to Laura and Haley to plead his case for Cara, which makes sense she has been his ally for the whole game.
• George is gunna play that idol and it’s gunna bounce back on Laura or Wai isn’t it?
• Cara is voting for Wai and George wants Wai to stay and wants it to be Laura.
• Laura says they don’t need to split the vote, of course you do! Always do it, if Brawn are on Cara and you feel sure, put a vote on Dani. Dani is going to Cara to make sure it’s not her, so if the OG Brains go 3-3, Flick and Emmett’s votes don’t matter, even if they vote with Cara for Wai or Laura. COME ON.
• At Tribal JLP asks Cara if her loyalty to the Brawns alliance makes her a target, she says “nice guys finish last”, eurgh. George says “Cara saved me at Brains, sometimes it’s luck that saves you”. George makes eyes at Cara to vote for Laura. George asks Haley “is there no changes” and after she says no she asks George “are you going to do something to save Cara?” but George tells her he can’t. When he goes to vote George takes the idol and plays it for her.
• When JLP says the secret idol is an idol and was played for Cara everyone looks annoyed except Cara who looks confused, George who looks concerned and Haley who looks delighted. She legitimately looks like she’s having the time of her life.
• All the votes come for Cara, until a vote comes for Laura.
• George says “you’re a cockroach Cara” and Emmett says “no you’re the cockroach George”. I did like George saying “next time you find something tell me” to her.
• Overall I’m not sure this is good play from George, he and Cara are too tight, way too tight for people to let them be, as the next time on shows. I felt someone from Brains should have dropped a stray vote on Dani and blamed Emmett, if they wanted to save Laura. I do however think Dani is better tv and a better player.
• A hard episode to get through and another big move by production, then  by George. Too many twists production, too many twists.

Episode 18 (Assistant Dragon Slayer)

• George gives Cara the key and the accompanying note and tells her she should claim to have played the idol on herself. This is meant to give George plausible deniability and Cara a (fake) resume entry. Cara starts parading the note around, and almost everybody immediately senses that she’s lying. Who’s the empath now?
• Andrew, Hayley, Flick and Emmett gather by the water well to compare notes. When George sidles up to the well, Andrew gives him the third degree, then says he thinks it was actually George who played the idol (saying, without actually saying, that Cara’s too incompetent to pull off such a stunt), then tells him to buzz off so the four of them can talk in private. The others do their best imitation of the Homer Simpson/bush GIF. Being this aggressive with George is not good gameplay, but damn, where has this Andrew been all season?
• Hayley and Andrew say that George and Cara need to go now, and Emmett is more than happy to help.
• Reward challenge: It’s the Albert Destrade Memorial Drop Your Damn Stack Challenge. The reward is a top-of-the-range Isuzu D-Max. Dani wins the challenge, the car, the car curse, and a picnic that she can share with three other people. She picks fellow Brawns Emmett and Flick and Brawn-adjacent Andrew. Ugh. There are two things you must not do when taking people on a reward: reveal your true pecking order and leave people who are plotting against you behind at camp. Just ask Fairplay and Burton.
• Emmett and Dani have apparently forgotten that they went after each other just two votes ago. To be fair, they don’t really have any choice but to stick together at this point. Dani is also keen to get rid of George, so that makes it five votes. Easy peasy.
• Back at camp, George tells Hayley and Wai that actually he was the one who found the key and played the idol, as a way of saying that, just as he played the idol for Cara and not himself, he’ll look out for them. In confessional, Hayley says that George has blown his game up and is in desperation mode. She senses opportunity. Double Agent Hayley is back, baby!
• Immunity challenge: It’s the chimney sweep challenge, but instead of a frame the castaways brace their arms against, they have a rope to hold onto. It’s not quite as visually striking as the usual version, but it does make it possible for neighboring players to talk strategy. George, Dani, and Wai drop out relatively quickly. Weirdly, they can’t climb down the footholds and need assists from JLP. For the same reason elephants can’t climb trees, this challenge favors a low ratio of mass to foot surface area, and unsurprisingly, Hayley eventually wins.
• This means that Emmett and George are both vulnerable, and Hayley is both safe and has the power to decide who goes home.
• Hayley and Wai join forces with Brawn+Andrew. Smartly, the alliance of four lets the newcomers call the shot. Wai says to split the vote, four on George and two on Cara. Hilariously, everybody wants to vote for George. Eventually, Dani says “Fine, I’ll vote for Cara”. This is a crucial mistake, possibly a game-losing mistake, but it happened so fast and amid so much cross-talk that it was easy to miss. More about this later.
• George implores Hayley and Wai to vote out Emmett, but doesn’t say (nor do Hayley and Wai ask) where the fifth vote for Emmett is supposed to come from.
• Hayley and Wai go over their options at the water well. They could stick with Brawn+Andrew and vote out George, but then they (and Cara) will be in a minority of three against a tight four. Alternatively, they could stick with George and Cara and vote out Emmett, but then their fates are tied to George and Cara, and if those two flip again, they’ll be in a minority of two against an unstable five. They seemingly agree that the best move is to vote out George.
• But George has been spy-shacking snake-and-cow-poo-infested-grass-shacking them the whole time. With time and options running out, George and Cara go idol hunting, and Cara finds one. George says she might have to play it for him. I didn’t catch this until the second time I watched the episode, but George knows the other side is planning to split the votes 4-2 between him and Cara, so he’s trying to talk her into idoling herself out of the game. AGAIN!
• Emmett sees Hayley and Wai talking to George and is getting worried. He tells Hayley that more than winning, he wants only worthy players to get to the end, by which he means himself, Hayley, Andrew, Dani, and Flick. Hayley immediately and correctly interprets this as a promise of fifth place. No thanks.
• Tribal council: Holy cats, you guys, Jury Laura is hhhhhot! JLP notes that Hayley’s individual immunity win is the first by a woman this season. Andrew basically says he let her win, which is not great. George with a straight face calls Andrew out for switching sides. The rest of the discussion, yada yada. Time to vote.
• Emmett votes for George, George votes for Emmett and channels Anneliese by shouting his voting confessional for all to hear. Interestingly, they show Hayley voting for Emmett. This is right out of the Survivor South Africa playbook: transparency over suspense. So the vote is not really a surprise, even though they stack it so the fourth Emmett vote comes up last.
• Cara didn’t play her idol for George. Maybe she was throwing him under the bus. Maybe she realized there could be a vote split and votes coming her way. Maybe she forgot she had an idol.
• OK, this was Brawn+Andrew’s big mistake: In a vote split you always put the reliable votes on the real target and the unreliable votes on the backup target. If they had done that, the worst-case scenario was a 4-4 tie, and George probably goes home on the revote because Hayley and/or Wai are not going to rocks for him (more likely, they don’t defect in the first place, because they can also work out what would happen in a 4-4 tie). After that, Brawn+Andrew could have tossed Hayley and Wai aside and marched to the end. That’s what I mean when I called it a potentially game-losing mistake.
• I can’t definitely say that Hayley insisted on being on the George side of the vote split to give herself an off-ramp, but given how masterfully she engineered previous vote splits I think she probably knew exactly what she was doing.
• Like Simon, Emmett was actually a pretty decent Survivor player who hid it behind a narcissist/meathead persona, and was a good sport about getting voted out.
• I hope production was paying attention to this week’s run of episodes. In one episode, excessive twists. In the other two, no twists and the players had the freedom to execute two blindsides, in both cases taking advantage of a vote split to get rid of someone with only a plurality of the vote. That’s exciting! Trust your cast!
• Note also that this vote was exciting even though on paper it was just the boring and obvious move of getting rid of Emmett at the first opportunity.
• Who had “George, Wai, and Cara make the final 7” on their bingo card?
• There are seven castaways left in the game and six episodes left in the season, so I figure there will be one more non-elimination episode.