"That was a strong attack on the Culpepper name."

When I heard what the concept of Survivor 27 was, I am not going to lie—I was very wary. I thought bringing family members with their loved ones was another show (Amazing Race, anyone?). I thought we had already seen Redemption Island for two seasons too many. And I was not thrilled with the cast. Three people from One World? Candice Woodcock? The Boneham clan?

No, I did not have high hopes for Blood vs Water.

So imagine my surprise when I watched the first episode and really enjoyed it. And then the second. And then the third. Somehow, in between all the crazy twists and strategy that Survivor can’t seem to get away from, they have found a way to bring back the things I loved most about the show that I haven’t really seen in a long time.

The loved ones twist has brought back my favorite part of the show—emotions and characters. Suddenly the players care about one another again. The vote outs and challenges are emotional. The viewer is watching relationships be built, and it is only a matter of time until we get to watch these relationships break down. This isn’t forty-five minutes of searching for the idol. We are character building again.

And the place where we get the most emotion? The most character building? Well, Redemption Island, of course! Rather than being a waste of fifteen minutes where a few tribe members watched two people compete to reenter the game, only to be unceremoniously booted as soon as they weren’t immune, we are watching two entire tribes gather to vent their anger, sadness, and frustration at the position of their loved ones in this game.

Rupert Boneham is already gone, and Laura is playing a quiet (and smart) game. The One Worlder’s may not be long for Survivor 27. And I am not gonna lie—I like Candice at Redemption Island a hell of a lot better than I ever liked her when she was actually playing the game in Cook Islands or Heroes vs Villains.

This season is shaping up pretty nicely so far. No, it is not the Survivor of old. But this weird mash-up of twists has something going for it—a little bit of heart. A little bit more than just a game.

Now, I am going to recap a tiny bit out of order, because I want to talk about Colton first, and then be done with him. But first, a brief interlude into the history of quitters in Survivor.

I don’t think anyone even thought about quitting Survivor before Shawna in Amazon, but she stuck it out, making Osten the first quitter one season later. Osten sold all his clothes early on, and between that and the elements he was really struggling health-wise. On multiple occasions, Osten asked his tribe to vote him out, but they didn’t. And when the Morgan tribe had to go to tribal right before the merge, Osten offered himself up. He was sick, his heart wasn’t in the game, so shouldn’t he go over everyone else who really wanted to be there? But it wouldn’t be that easy for Osten. Survivor wouldn’t let the tribe just vote him out (something we saw in later seasons, such as Johnny Fairplay in Micronesia), instead choosing to wait until he said those two magic words: “I quit.” Because then the producers could make an example out of Osten. Survivor did not like quitters. Osten probably would have had it worst if it hadn’t been for All Stars Jenna Morasca and Sue Hawk quitting one season later for what were considered “valid reasons” (Jenna’s sick mother, Sue’s altercation with Richard Hatch). So Osten sort of lucked out. History does not look kindly upon him, but had Jenna and Sue not quit just a season later, it would probably be a lot worst.

Our next quitter came in season 10, Janu in Palau. Janu was also struggling for a long time before being sent to Exile Island. Upon returning, she decided she had accomplished everything she wanted to in the game and laid her torch down so Stephanie Lagrossa would have a chance to continue on. Similar to Osten, it was a long time coming, and both probably could’ve been quietly voted out by their tribe without so much hoopla.

Six seasons later, Kathy Sleckman quit the game without even waiting to get to Tribal Council. We all know that she couldn’t feel her family, and later found out she went off her anti-depressants cold turkey. Of all the Survivor quitters, she has stayed most active in the community, always willing to talk about her quit open and honestly.

We then move onto season 21, where Na’Onka and Purple Kelly called in quits in the same episode. Na’Onka had threatened to quit much earlier, and Purple Kelly barely even got a confession until episode seven, so it’s tough to know where her head was at. Jeff told them to think about it, and let him know at the next Tribal Council, which they did. Na’Onka was the first quitter since Osten to really be vilified for her actions. She was in a good position in the game, had already made the jury, and could’ve gone to the final three. She had even just won a big reward challenge right before quitting. Purple Kelly didn’t become a Survivor villain, but instead a nobody—she was basically edited out of the show so we never got a chance to know anything about her. Two quitters: one a villain, the other an invisible edit.

The Nicaragua quitters were followed by Dana in the Philippines. A season built around the return of medical evacuees, Dana got sick enough to have the medical team called in, but not quite enough to be pulled from the game—so she pulled herself.

We had people ask to be voted out over the seasons, but these people were our real quitters. And for the most part, there was a common theme. These people were sick (physically or mentally) and struggled for a long time before giving up—some of them even making it to the jury. A quitter is still a quitter, but at the end of the day, don’t we feel a little bit better about it if we can rationalize it? If we can say Osten quit because he was sick, and Jenna wanted to be with her mother, and Kathy needed to be on her meds, we can at least justify it to ourselves.

Enter our latest quitter, Colton Cumbie.

The Colton quit really doesn’t sit well with me. Colton’s tribe hadn’t even gone to Tribal Council yet. The game hadn’t even begun. But when Aras told him outright that he was in trouble, Colton decided he wasn’t going to give Galang the satisfaction. Why let yourself be voted out when you can just quit, right? Tina pegged Colton perfectly: “He knows he can’t win the game.” And to Colton, that was reason enough to take the power away from his tribe and walk away on his own.

Jeff Probst was not very nice to Colton during this whole exchange at Redemption Island. In fact, he made some serious claims that I am not sure he has been able to back up—namely that Colton was already a quitter before Blood vs Water began. Jeff stated that Colton (who was in a position of power at the time) “feigned” appendicitis to quit in One World. Now, I am not a Colton fan, but this seems a little hard to believe. Colton was running the show on his tribe. And the medical team that left poor Dana in so much pain in Philippines because her condition was not life-threatening had actually pulled Colton for faking? They are actual doctors. That seems a little far-fetched.

We do know that Colton did not, in fact, have appendicitis. But I have to believe that he was sick, and he was pulled because medical was truly concerned for his safety. I’d prefer to have faith in the Survivor medical team, than to call Colton a two-time quitter. But Probst has a lot more riding on how Colton is perceived. Because he can say he didn’t want to bring Colton back all he wants—but he did. So he either brought back a quitter (something Survivor insists they will never do), or he brought back someone who, to use his own words, should have never left the couch.

Survivor producers dropped the ball on this one, and all the back-pedaling and Colton-bashing won’t change that. Colton should’ve never been asked back to play a second time, no matter how much he loves the game. I can think of name after name after name of players who would be better returnees. But we got Colton, and we got another Survivor quit. He is the ultimate loser his week, and I feel I have already wasted enough time on him. This ends Colton’s time on Survivor, and the time I will spend talking about him.

So onto our second Redemption Island duel!

When Tyson realizes Rachel was voted out of the Tadhana tribe, he is not happy. But he is also not stupid. He immediately calls out Tadhana on their plan to vote out Rachel so Tyson would take her place, giving Tadhana a chance to win immunity. Rachel then won the hearts of America by telling Tyson not to switch with her. Just like Tyson, she knows what Tadhana’s brilliant strategy is, and she wants to make sure it does not come to fruition. She takes a bullet for her man, and makes it clear that she will be competing in the duel.

Now, we start to call out Brad Culpepper. “Mr. Football over there, smiling at me like he does,” Tyson says. “You can be big, but that’s the worst thing in this game.”

Marissa chimes in by adding that Brad is basically an idiot, keeping weaker people on his tribe for no real reason, ensuring that Tadhana will continue to lose immunities. She also adds seemingly everyone’s favorite line from the episode: “Fuck you, Brad Culpepper.” Monica cannot be thrilled about this. But we as the viewers are. I know I am not the only one who is loving the build up for an epic Brad Culpepper downfall.

The duel itself isn’t interesting (dominoes, basically) but it still somehow managed to be a nail biter. Candice beats everyone by completing her dominoes in about five minutes as any Redemption Island assassin would do. We’re left to watch Rachel and Marissa struggle in the 114 degree heat, neck and neck, for forty-five minutes. And yes, along with all of Galang (minus Gervase) I was rooting for Rachel. I like Marissa, but after sacrificing herself for her man, I wanted to see more Rachel Foulger. But, alas, it was not to be, as Marissa just barely beat Rachel out to take second in the duel.

Candice gives the second immunity idol clue to John (bad play, Dr. Candice), and Tyson hugs Rachel, asking, “Did you have fun while you were here?” Rachel says she did.

Back at Galang after the duel, we see a whole new side of Tyson. He’s not just a funny dude who kicks ass at challenges. He’s a sensitive guy who loves his girlfriend, and knows there is more to life than this game. “Too many people take it too serious and it shouldn’t be.” Tyson knows what he’s talking about.

Aras tells Tyson he made the right decision although it was hard, and Monica complains about all the shit being talked to her husband. Tyson admits, “being here with Monica is a little weird.” This doesn’t bode well for the fifth member of the Galang power alliance. Tyson is clearly pretty high up in this alliance, although I think Aras and Tina are running the show (it’s hard to tell in a tribe that never loses who is in charge). It’s impossible to know that one Culpepper voted out your girlfriend in an attempt to remove you from the game, and then align with a second Culpepper 100%. We may be seeing the beginning of Monica’s downfall as well, completely by no fault of her own.

Over at Tadhana, Dr. John Cody is thinking about those two votes cast against him last Tribal. He is thinking that maybe he wasn’t as smart as he should have been with the immunity idol clue last time around. So this time, he goes to Brolliance leader Brad Culpepper, and paraphrases the clue. But he doesn’t want Brad to search for the idol with him or anything. Because then the rest of the Brolliance may get suspicious (as if they aren’t already). John isn’t being as smart as he should be in regards to this idol, but Brad is overthinking John’s actions. When two guys who don’t seem to know much about how to play a good game of Survivor are “running” the game, it does not really bode well for your tribe.

Episode three’s immunity challenge was very intense. Galang sat out Monica, obviously because they knew Brad couldn’t handle watching someone from his tribe try to knock her into the water and feared for Katie and Ciera’s safety. We then got to watch Brad annihilate Gervase without even giving him a chance, Laura Boneham took out Katie, Dr. John beat Aras, and Kat ended Ciera’s chances on one push. Hayden also beat Tyson with one push, but this may have been partially due to a shoulder injury Tyson sustained almost immediately. Medical came in and noted that he popped his shoulder out and possibly tore a tendon. How this will affect Tyson’s game going forward remains to be seen, but today it keeps him from being able to compete in anymore battles. Now Tadhana has some momentum, and Katie Collins is about to face off against her mother. Katie should probably care a little about this—she knows her position in the game is not great. She knows a win here could really help her in the coming days. So what does she do? She giggles, and bad ass Tina Wesson takes her out. My god, how can you not love Tina?

Survivor had been hyping an emotional battle, and when Aras told us earlier, “When I was a kid, my brother never looked out for me,” it was clear that they were going to be it. And while it may not have been as intense as all the hype, it showed us so much about these two people with just a few minutes of screen time. It was the longest battle we got to watch, with athletic Aras getting the upper hand early. He decides to give his brother a chance to get his footing and start from square one midway through their battle. As soon as he turns his back, Vytas takes a cheap shot at his brother, “one of the biggest un-sportsman-like moves,” trying to knock him out while his back is turned. This backfires, and Aras beats Vytas. Aras tears up, and we get some real, raw emotion from the former winner. “Do I feel like I’m seven? A little bit, yeah,” he tells Jeff. Then, “He’s my brother. I don’t wanna fight against him. We’ve done it enough.”

Vytas’ response? “He’s the college athlete… I’m the junkie… He beat me. I’m proud of him.”

Vytas and Aras’ relationship has had it’s ups and downs, and there is also still clearly a lot of tension between them. We’ll probably never know the whole story, but this interaction showed us so much about both of them. The Baskauskas brothers are compelling to watch. I can’t wait to see more. 

After Vytas and Aras, Laura Morrett gets the chance to compete against her daughter. Unlike bad ass Tina, Laura is a little weepy, saying, “That’s my baby.” But, the two compete. And Ciera loses the pivotal battle, despite the fact that Laura really seemed to be taking it a little easy on her daughter.

Katie and Ciera could not be feeling good about their challenge performances. They each had two chances, and couldn’t pull out one win between them. And with Tadhana about to attend Tribal Council yet again, how could their heads not be on the chopping block?

Well, because the tribe is being run by the brilliant Brad Culpepper, of course. And what does Brad think? “John—he’s a strong player. He needs to go.”

Great plan, Brad!

The problem with all of this is that Brad’s logic is flawed. He complains that Candice will win Redemption Island, and John will reconnect with her. “Brad doesn’t control John anymore. Candice controls John.” The only problem with this is the fact that everyone (minus Caleb) has a loved one they can reconnect with. And of all the loved ones, isn’t Candice actually the best for the Brolliance? She doesn’t have her own alliance over at Galang. In fact, she has been planning their downfall for days now. Wouldn’t sticking with John just give Brad another vote at the time Candice was to reenter the game? Wouldn’t Candice just become an honorary female member of the Brolliance?

But more on Brad’s poor gameplay later on.

We get the red herring of Brad perhaps being voted out by his allies after some serious strategizing from Hayden, who is concerned that the Brolliance is already going to cannibalize itself—which “could be like opening Pandora’s Box.”

But Tribal Council went pretty much as predicted—John was blindsided after Vytas explained that “trust is the currency of this game.” John knew there was a target on his back, but he trusted that his allies would see the value he brought to the tribe. Not exactly smart, considering the fact that Tadhana consistently keeps weak players in the game in favor of voting out stronger competitors for strategies that may or may not work down the road.

And then Jeff Probst tells Tadhana something that sums up exactly how I feel about this tribe: “It appears you’re voting people out based on the future. It also appears that with each vote, your tribe is getting weaker.” Know what this means, Tadhana? You are not playing a smart game! Wise up, please! I am so sick of seeing you at Tribal Council.

So who is in a better position than they were last week?

Week 3 Winners

So, Vytas can’t be a winner every week, I guess. Not that he was a loser—but I think his stock has stayed pretty level.

My pick of Caleb as a winner is simple. Just like Laura Boneham’s place in the game rose dramatically upon Rupert’s exit, Caleb’s is going to do the same with the loss of Colton. No one can get paranoid and vote him out because they are afraid he will reconnect with his loved one like the tribe did with John. And no one can blame him for things Colton is doing, like Galang may or may not do with Monica. Caleb is a free agent, and when the tribes merge and start voting out people who are in pairs, Caleb is going to be able to fly under the radar for quite awhile.

His first few days on the island, Hayden seemed overwhelmed. Survivor and Big Brother may have some similarities, but I don’t think Hayden realized how hard things would be. But now that he has gotten his footing under him, my BB12 friend is starting to strategize. He realized that once his alliance is willing to vote out one of their own unnecessarily, it’s only a matter of time before the whole thing crumbles. He was the one who suggested voting out Brad because “John is a threat, but I am starting to think Brad is equally dangerous.” And Hayden is right—but he also probably realized as far as challenges go, voting out Brad is the last thing they should do. I liked seeing a little life from Hayden this episode, and based on what I already know about him, I think this bodes well for his time in the game. Hayden could sneak up on everyone and suddenly be in the final three.

But I couldn’t choose the biggest winner this week. By losing Rachel, Tyson is in the same boat as Laura B. and Caleb without a partner. Aras and Tina really seem to have a good handle on things. Gervase is part of the majority alliance, and his niece keeps winning duels. Plus, as a whole, Galang just cannot lose. So I can’t just pick one. The Galang tribe as a whole are the ultimate winners this week. They haven’t lost yet, and at the rate Tadhana is voting out strong competitors, they may be pulling a Koror before we know it. 

Week 3 Losers

As I said earlier—I am done talking about Colton, which is why he is not on my Losers List. At the end of the day, he is really the biggest loser of them all. But I’d rather focus on people who are actually playing the game of Survivor.

Which is something John Cody may not be doing for much longer. He tried to smarten up and share his clue with Brad, but it was too little, too late. He felt too comfortable with his tribe, and if Survivor seasons past have taught us anything it’s that when you feel too comfortable—it’s because you are about to get blind-sided. Now Dr. John may get to hang out with his wife (and Marissa) for a few days on Redemption Island, but then I think he is going to lose the duel and be tossing his buff in the fire. I am pretty convinced that John’s game ends here. We all know Candice cannot be beat, and Marissa is starting to go on a nice little second place run. John’s hemming and hawing and inability to play Survivor with some intelligence (if everyone knows you have the clue, share the clue!) has brought his game to an early end. Another person somewhat high in my pre-game power rankings bites the dust.

Monica Culpepper is a loser by no fault of her own. She is actually playing the game smart. But she married a guy with zero clue on how to play Survivor, and then she brought him along with her to play the game. As the face of the Brolliance, Brad is taking all the heat at Redemption Island, which is not reflecting well on Monica. Tyson already made mention to how uncomfortable it all was, and I don’t think that’s the last time we are going to hear something like that. Laura B. or M. may be replacing her in that majority alliance, and she may be joining fellow One Worlder Kat at the bottom of the Galang totem pole.

So, clearly, the biggest loser of week 3 is the man behind the Brolliance himself, Mr. Brad Culpepper. We already talked about Brad’s flawed logic for voting out John, a much, much, much stronger competitor than Katie and Ciera (who also both have loved ones in the game). But to make this even better, Brad then tells the tribe that he thinks he’s going to vote for Ciera while everyone else votes for John. You know—in case John actually does win Redemption Island. Then he won’t be mad at Brad. Brad is doing jury management before there is even a jury, and on top of that he is telling everyone that that is what he is doing. Even former loyal allies are concerned at “that level of shiestiness.”

So now Brad has turned against his main ally, while telling everyone else he doesn’t want blood on his hands and might cast a throwaway vote, alienating John and the rest of Tadhana. He is being blamed by everyone at Redemption Island for their position in the game—publicly, in front of the other tribe that his wife is on. He consistently decides that keeping the two weakest players on his tribe is a good idea, because he is paranoid about the future of the game. Brad’s tribe has not won an immunity challenge yet, and he has no one to blame but the Brolliance that he professes he is in charge of. The buildup to his downfall is almost complete—now it’s just a question of whether Galang loses and votes out his wife, or his own tribe turns on him first. But the Culpepper’s are going to be out of this game or at least competing against each other at Redemption Island before we know it.

And that ends my ramblings about the third episode of a season that is shaping up to be so much better than I had expected

Will we ever find out where Galang stands by watching them at Tribal Council? Is a tribe swap inevitable—or is it even fair when some people could end up with their loved ones on their side? Will Candice be so in the zone at Redemption Island that she’ll pull a Sophie Clark and yell at John to quit the challenge and help her win? And how many more Tribal Councils before the looming Culpepper blindside?

I, for one, cannot wait.