Survivor: Winners At War Episode 2 Recap - Chaos On A Ladder

*SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY AHEAD*

We're two weeks into the most anticipated season in Survivor history, and it has not disappointed. Last week was two jam-packed hours, and last night delivered another solid hour of entertainment. We'll get right into the recap: start with the Edge of Extinction, then each tribe, the immunity challenge, and tribal council. Let's go. 

Edge Of Extinction

Amber joined Natalie on the Edge of Extinction. She was understandably upset that she got booted so early after her and Rob both left their four kids. (I like Boston Rob and Amber, but if you take a shot after every time they mention their four kids, you would die of alcohol poisoning). But she realized that she could still influence the game and maybe get back in eventually, which gave her a boost to keep going. 

They found their next clue that said to "reflect" on their time. I immediately put together that "reflect" meant a reflection on water. Kudos to me. They took a little longer to put this together, but Natalie found it at the water well. While they were originally looking together as a team, you do want to be the one to find it so you can control who gets it and also get the fire token. This was the "safety without power" advantage. It gives you the opportunity to not go to a tribal council and thus be safe, but you can't vote at it. She sold it to Jeremy, knowing he had an extra fire token that she gave him, and he wisely accepted it. So Natalie now has two fire tokens by my count. Jeremy still has one and now has this advantage. 

Sale Camp (Blue)

Boston Rob got his fire token and knew it meant that Amber was probably voted out, although he couldn't know for certain. A major error in his judgement was thinking that maybe Sandra got voted out and gave him the token since they spent Season 39 together. Uh, Sandra absolutely hates you dude. You spent the entire season together and didn't tell her you were coming back so she targeted your wife. Major miscalculation by him. He did eventually acknowledge that it would mean "war" if Sandra was the one who voted out Amber. 

Elsewhere, Ben decided he needed to work on his social game and teach people how to hunt for idols and advantages instead of just finding them himself. Mixed thoughts on this. It's good he's aware that his social game needs improvement. I think he's done a good job of that so far. BUT I think he can improve his social game and also find idols. Instead, he just walked Denise right to one. It's not your normal idol. Denise keeps half of it, and she had to give the other half to someone else. If combined, it becomes a normal idol. I mentioned last week how I hoped that idols and advantages could only be granted from Edge. Eventually, we're going to get to a point where basically every person in the game has some advantage. It's just too much. But at least this half-and-half twist adds a layer of intrigue. A lot of strategy goes in who you give the other half to, and of course, when to combine it and play it. Ben didn't pressure Denise into giving him the other half, which made her trust him more. They could instead use it to pull someone else in. 

Denise told Adam and suggested they give it to Parvati. WHAT!?!?!?! That was the reaction of me, Adam, and probably everyone watching. I thought Denise was a solid player, but this was a mind-numbing suggestion. You're going to give one of the greatest players of all time, who you're not even aligned with, more power in the game? Adam talked her out of that and into giving him the other half. A move that makes way more sense since they are working together and have a good relationship. 

So to recap the advantages on this tribe - Adam and Denise each have half an idol. Jeremy has the safety without power advantage. Boston Rob has one more fire token than everyone else. If I'm missing anything, let me know. 

Dakal Camp (Red)

At Dakal, Yul was coming up with some genius innovation to get fruit down. It obviously worked. 

I honestly think Yul might be the most complete human being to ever life. I want to be friends with him so bad. 

Kim decided to hunt for the idol, knowing that she's on the bottom. She found it, and it was the same half-and-half idol that Denise found over at Sele. She decided to give the other half to Sophie, getting a feeling that they'd work well together. This was a highly questionable move. Sophie, herself, didn't understand it. Why not give it to Tyson who you're on the bottom with? I get wanting to gain an ally in Sophie, but it's a huge risk. We'll have to wait and see if it works out for her. So to recap the advantages on this tribe - Kim and Sophie each have half an idol. Sandra has a hidden immunity idol good for two more tribal councils. Everyone has one fire token except Sandra, who doesn't have any since she used hers for the idol. Once again, let me know if I'm missing anything. 

We took a break from all the advantages to see a fun, camp life moment. These are always great, and I hope we get a lot more of them this season. This involved Tony being a lunatic and building a flimsy, bamboo ladder to climb on and get fruit. As Tony said, he needs activities like this to do to keep his mind occupied so he doesn't run off finding idols. People didn't expect him to actually go through with climbing on it, especially as it fell apart, but Tony was a man on his mission. 

It did end up being successful, and he didn't die which was nice. I think it was a good moment for Tony's social game. Him and Sarah walked off to cement their alliance. People expected them to be close due to their previous experiences playing together, and they sealed it with a secret "Cops R Us 2" alliance. Let's hope it has more success this time around. 

Immunity Challenge

Both tribes arrived at the challenge, and Rob officially saw that Amber was ousted. The challenge was for immunity and also a spice kit for reward. The challenge involved getting some chests, unlocking shit, and doing a puzzle. 

The Red tribe got out to a decent lead. Rob and Denise were trying to make up time on the puzzle. Boston Rob seemed to be employing some strategy where they'd separate the pieces by color and then it would all come together quickly. Because it was Boston Rob, you just assumed that it would work out for him. But it seems like he overthought it, as they got absolutely crushed. Dakal won immunity, sending Rob, Denise, and the rest of Sele to tribal for the second time. 

(Also I loved Tony trying to fake everyone out with the fake cheers. He's just so god damn entertaining). 

Pre-Tribal

It seems like we're going to have a new school vs. old school showdown. Rob threw out Jeremy and Ben as possible targets. For some reason though, Danni thought she was in trouble. I guess Parvati hadn't talked to her in a couple of days? It was the ultimate case of paranoia. She went from not being in trouble at all to immediately being on the chopping block. It didn't help when she mentioned the old-school alliance in front of Ethan and Ben. Ethan was like "you realize Ben is very much new-school?" and this basically confirmed the old-school alliance to Ben. It was basically a clinic of how to not play Survivor put on by Danni. 

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To make matters worse, she then went to Boston Rob and suggested getting out Parvati, thinking that Parvati was targeting her. This showed zero game awareness as Parvati is Rob's closest ally at this point. So Danni had put herself firmly on the chopping block after being in no trouble whatsoever. It could have been an easy vote where both new-school and old-school players came together and made it unanimous. However, Adam threw out the idea of maybe getting Parvati out since the old-school players were already going after each other. And Parvati is obviously a way more dangerous player than Danni. So going into tribal, it seemed like Parvati or Danni would be heading home. 

Tribal Council 

Tribal started with a funny moment when Adam couldn't get his torch in the hole and needed help from Ben. Things then got hectic. Ben was saying a lot of stuff that made no sense. Rob whispered something to Jeremy which started a lot more whispers. Eventually, Rob said "Let's all empty our bags and see who has the idol." What a bold move. People have emptied their bags before to show they don't have it, but I've never seen someone demand everyone else do it. And the craziest part? EVERYONE LISTENED! Rob really gives off this Godfather vibe where you just can't go against him. It's hypnotic. Denise and Adam both were able to conceal their half idols. Adam couldn't have been more suspicious though saying "Why does it matter? Why do we have to do this?" Feel like he'd instantly crack under a police investigation. Also one weird thing was everyone has the same blue bag. Never noticed this before. Maybe it's just for this season. 

Well, it was time to vote. 

For a chaotic tribal, the actual vote was pretty straightforward. Danni went home with an 8-1 vote. She voted for Parvati. Everyone decided to just take the easy vote. Overall, it was a crazy bad performance from Danni. But I'm glad it's her going home instead of a better player like Parvati. We've been lucky so far. The three players who have gone home are Natalie, Amber, and Danni. None of them are flashy names or super entertaining players. Good for us. 

Winner Rankings

This is a running ranking I'll keep all season long of who I think is most likely to win the game. The person ranked last isn't necessarily my prediction to go home next, but I just think they have the least chance of winning the game. It's based on "edgic" which is a mix of "logic" and "edit." 

Previous Week Rank in ( )

1. Jeremy (1)

2. Yul (2)

3. Wendell (3)

4. Sophie (6)

5. Michele (4)

6. Nick (5)

7. Kim (8)

8. Ethan (7)

9. Boston Rob (9)

10. Tony (10)

11. Sarah (14)

12. Tyson (11)

13. Sandra (13)

14. Parvati (15)

15. Denise (12)

16. Adam (18)

17. Ben (16)

On Edge

18. Natalie (19)

19. Amber (20)

20. Danni (17)

See you next week