Last episode’s Tribal Council was either a tough act to follow or something to forget, depending on how you felt about Malcolm. The big question is do JT and Debbie recover from what has happened and what's about to happen?

Players at the start of the episode (16)

Mana: Brad Culpepper, Debbie Wanner, Hali Ford, Sierra Thomas, Tai Trang (5)

Nuku: Aubry Bracco, Jeff Varner, JT Thomas, Michaela Bradshaw, Sandra Diaz-Twine (5)

Tavua: Andrea Boehlke, Cirie Fields, Ozzy Lusth, Sarah Lacina, Troyzan Robertson, Zeke Smith (6)

JT has to face the wrath of the people he screwed over with his move last night. After telling Brad their target allowed for Malcolm to be blindsided by Tai’s idol, JT is left allyless and Nuku has more reason to want him out. JT tries to cover his tracks by denying he told Brad Sierra was their target, but to no avail. JT goes looking for the idol and he manages to find it. This gives JT a lifeline in the game as long as he uses it to blindside the right player. But just because a plan seems logical doesn't mean it'll be followed through.

At the Day 12 Reward Challenge, Tavua is shocked to see only Nuku lose a member. Ozzy is especially shocked that Malcolm was voted out. Maybe Ozzy is worried that with two strong physical guys being voted out in a row, he could be an easy target. The reward was PB+J sandwiches, which Tavua and Nuku won thanks to Debbie struggling with the balance beam.

This is the first snowflake that culminates into the avalanche that triggers Debbie’s rage. She isn’t the best when it comes to accepting she messed up. Instead of apologizing for her performance in the challenge, she unleashes some “alternative facts” and blames Brad and Hali. She claims Brad is a dictator who never takes anyone else’s input and that “Princess Hali” took forever on the balance beam. In reality, Debbie volunteered for the balance beam portion of the challenge and Brad simply agreed, while Hali performed well in that part of the challenge. Debbie’s antics has everyone scared. The best part is we get to see the Mana tribe’s coping mechanisms in stressful situations. When Debbie is mad, she does angry push-ups...which make her less mad? I couldn’t tell. And when Tai is scared of a crazy lady, he wanders away and goes looking for an idol. He manages to find a clue. This time, he must keep an eye out for his tribe’s “motif”. In Millennials vs Gen X, this method of hiding idols was used. You would look for an idol within a log or a shell or something with your tribe’s colors on it. Finding it though will still be a tough task.

Not much else happens with Tavua other than Sarah forming a side alliance with Troyzan. Sarah isn’t complacent. She wants to have as many connections as possible, which is smart because you never know when you may need someone. This is good for Troyzan because now he may know how to more effectively use his idol to his advantage.

JT and Michaela’s coffee drinking habits (thanks to the coffee reward Nuku won last episode) gave Sandra some inspiration to cause some drama in the Nuku camp as well as make sure JT is targeting Michaela over her. She eats the rest of the sugar, knowing that JT loves Sugar in his coffee and that Michaela was the only other person who put sugar in her coffee. Jeff was in on it and he and Sandra enjoy the fireworks that began to spark from JT and Michaela’s confrontations. This was a genius move by Sandra. Not only does it ensure the target stays away from her, it solidifies Michaela will vote with her against JT and it solidifies her alliance with Jeff.

Day 13 Immunity Challenge: This was a weird one, so courtesy of the Survivor Wikia: Three tribemates must tumble a large timber cube towards a stand. One castaway will get atop the cube and retrieve a key. The two other tribemates will use the key to unlock a crate of 100 sandbags, then they must carry these sandbags across an uneven balance beam. Finally, one castaway will use these sandbags as ammunition for a slingshot to knock down five wooden targets.

Brad, JT, and Ozzy competed in a shootout to ultimately determine the result of the challenge. Once again, Brad proves to be a clutch player and gives Mana their first immunity challenge win of the season. For JT and Ozzy, it came down to the last target, but Ozzy pulled it off, keeping Tavua safe (and their screentime minimal) and sending Nuku to their second Tribal Council in a row.

Thanks to the event I will refer to as “coffeegate”, JT and Michaela were dead set on targeting each other. Interestingly, Aubry sided with JT and felt that Michaela needed to go. Sandra still held a grudge against JT for screwing up Nuku’s plans at the previous Tribal Council. So Jeff was the swing vote, and he had reasons to go with both sides. At first, I was wondering why this was even a debate. Surely JT knew he needed to use his idol this vote, so as long as he played his idol, however many votes Michaela would receive would be enough to send her out. At Tribal Council, JT and Michaela continued to go at it and it started to get a little personal. Shockingly, Sandra and Jeff began to side with JT in citing how useful his challenge strength would be to the tribe. But ultimately, they were playing JT, Aubry, and the audience. Queen Sandra remained queen, Michaela gave JT her best Kermit the Frog impression with her “tea”, Jeff blindsided JT, and JT’s torch was snuffed. After JT left, Sandra revealed that she started the sugar conflict. Michaela, Jeff, and even Aubry admitted how genius it was.

By The Numbers

3 idols have been found so far this season. But since JT was voted out with an idol in his possession and Tai used his on Sierra on Day 11, Troyzan is the only person who currently has an idol. That could change with Tai finding another clue.

4 time players have had mixed results in Survivor, though it’s been a small sample size. Rupert Boneham was the first person eliminated in Blood vs Water, though this happened only because he lost the first duel on Redemption Island after taking his wife Laura’s place, who was voted out from her tribe on Day 1 in a twist. Rob Mariano finally won Survivor on Season 22: Redemption Island, which was his fourth tribe. Ozzy and Cirie have already done better than Rupert but could one of them succeed on their 4th try like Rob did?

6 seasons have passed since 4 of the first 5 contestants voted out of Survivor have been male. Tony, Caleb, Malcolm, and JT’s eliminations have contributed to this statistic. Game Changer contestants Tony and Sarah participated in Season 28: Cagayan, where Dave, Garrett, Brice, and former NBA player Cliff Robinson were among the first 4 voted out.

13 days without Tribal Council is what Andrea, Cirie, Ozzy, Sarah, and Zeke have enjoyed so far this season. Not taking anything away from them: they’ve each played their part in dominating challenges and deserve what they have accomplished. Sometimes going through 1/3 of the game without voting and testing alliances can be a setback though.

100 day milestone tracker: As I predicted last episode, JT’s slim chances of reaching 100 days this season were not likely to last much longer, and that’s exactly what happened. Between 39 days in Tocantins, 27 in Heroes vs Villains, and 13 this season, he finished with 79 days. Despite playing one fewer season, his close friend from Tocantins Stephen Fishbach has lasted 68 days (39 in Tocantins and 29 in Cambodia). As for the players still in this season, Andrea is at 83 days, Sandra at 91 days, and Cirie at 98 days. There are very few Survivor episodes that only take place over the course of 1 day, so Cirie should reach this milestone next episode.

Dock of Shame: JT Thomas

Going into this season, this was JT’s chance to make amends for one of the dumbest moves in Survivor history. He did win his first season Tocantins convincingly, defeating superfan strategist Stephen Fishbach 7-0 in a jury vote and never receiving a vote against him that entire season. But in Heroes vs Villains, JT played with fire a lot, and eventually he burned himself with a big move gone wrong. That move in question was giving a Hidden Immunity Idol to Russell Hantz on the opposite tribe, hoping it would convince Russell to flip and give JT’s alliance a 6-4 advantage in the merge. Little did JT know Russell was in control of his previous tribe and instead of flipping, he gave his idol to Parvati which would be played on Jerri, negating JT’s alliance’s votes and sending JT out of the game. This time, he seemed to not care what people would think and was perfectly fine with making more big moves. That’s just who JT is: go big or go home. After marooning his tribe in the ocean to go idol hunting, telling Brad Nuku’s plans and accidentally getting his buddy Malcolm voted out, and riskily not even bringing his hidden immunity idol to the Tribal he was voted out from, he lived up to that philosophy. Fans will question how good of a winner and player he is, but he was an entertaining player to watch and I’m glad he came back this season.

Now to reveal the contestants standing on today’s Survivor Olympic Podium

Medal count:

Gold: Brad, Sandra, Tai (1)

Silver: Brad, Jeff, Sierra (1)

Bronze: Hali, Malcolm, Troyzan (1)

Current Leader: Brad 1 Gold 1 Silver

Bronze: Tie Hali Ford and Sarah Lacina

If you remember the Olympics, the Judo event awards two Bronze medals for each event. So it’s not a total cop out to give them both a bronze medal. Aside from Sandra and Jeff, not too many people stood out but I am impressed with the slow but steady progress Hali and Sarah are making this season. Hali, like JT and Troyzan, was given a bad draw during the swap. Without the aid of idols (since Tai keeps hording them), Hali did a good job convincing her tribe to vote Caleb over herself, she proved her loyalty to Mana in the joint Tribal Council where Malcolm was blindsided, and now she’s doing the opposite of Debbie: keeping calm and carrying on. Nothing crazy, but an effective way to ensure Hali can go far in the face of adversity. Sarah made a small and subtle move, but these kinds of moves have proven to save players in the past, especially in seasons with several idols available. Previous winners like John Cochran and Jeremy Collins had good relationships with players in and out of their alliances, and the runner up of Worlds Apart Carolyn Rivera had backup plans in case her alliance went south, which it eventually did. In an episode where Nuku was in the spotlight, I do feel both Hali and Sarah deserve some credit.

Silver: Jeff Varner

Losing challenge after challenge swiftly put an end to Varner’s season in Cambodia, but despite visiting his 4th Tribal Council this episode, he is chillin’. He’s not the mastermind but he is a key vote, and so far his decisions are working out and no one is coming after him. Not only was JT the right move for him, if his alliance loses power in the future, people will more likely come after Sandra and Michaela over him, and he is a savvy enough player to adapt to new situations. Socially, there are few players playing better in this game than he is.

Gold: Sandra Diaz-Twine

The queen of Survivor gets another addition to her trophy cabinet this week after another impressive display. She is like Michael Jordan or Darth Vader at this point. You know what’s coming, but you still can’t stop her. Her game could have easily ended tonight when JT found that idol. All he would have to do is play it that night and vote for Sandra. But instead, Sandra made JT feel comfortable, which should have been an impossible task after his controversial move at the Malcolm Tribal Council. Although it is concerning that her allies and numbers are outnumbered by the original Nuku players, she is working wonders with the players she has played with so far, especially since many of them considered targeting her at some point. Despite that, she has yet to receive a vote cast against her this season. Each week that passes, Sandra is proving her wins were no fluke.

Next time on Survivor:

The preview hints at another tribe swap, and with Exile Island in play, this should mean that this swap will create 2 new tribes of 7 with one person being isolated from the game but essentially given a free pass for one vote. I love tribe swaps because they give everyone a new chance to take control of the game. We’ll see next week who ends up doing so.