Once tribal council had ended, each of the remaining six
castaways went their own way. Many of
them had a lot to think about.
Dennis had run out of defenses. His former alliance was gone and his immunity
necklace was only temporary. Now was the
time for the ace up his sleeve. Just in
case of a situation like this came to be, he had made his own fake hidden
immunity idol! He found it in his bag
and thought how best to leverage it. Of
course he would look for the real one but this could be just what he needed to
buy himself more time in the game. But
would anyone believe it?
Angela was wondering how she got three votes. It was clear that Diana and Dennis voted for
her but she didn’t know that Larry was the other. She knew that either Steve or Larry was the
guilty party but didn’t know which. She
wanted to find that out. In her eyes,
the dissenter may have just given Dennis a reprieve at the next tribal council.
 |
| Angela tries to put the pieces together |
Josh was still pondering his move. He knew that whomever he wanted gone at the
last tribal council would have their torch put out. But he couldn’t help but continue to think
about whether or not it was the right move to switch back to voting for Diana
when he had just created a plan to take Angela out. He sat down to get some rest and as luck
would have it, a clue to a hidden immunity idol was cleverly hidden right next
to him! This clue had gone into play
once Dennis had played his immunity idol two tribal councils ago. Josh read the clue and was off. It suggested looking atop a high ledge near a
familiar basketball hoop-shaped landmark a short walk away from camp. Josh found where he was going in the dark and
began to search. He needed some extra
height so he began to climb up the structure.
After sweeping the area out of his sight with his hand for a minute, he
found the wrapped up idol! Not literally
five minutes after he found the clue, Josh now had a hidden immunity idol! His position, already a good one, just got a
little better.
 |
| Josh's idol! |
The tribe awoke to an early morning immunity challenge! This challenge was called “Squared Off” and was another
Survivor classic. Each castaway would be
positioned on a square on a lifesized game board. One at a time each person would move to an
adjacent square and mark the one that they had just stepped off of. Marked squares could not be stepped on. Once a castaway ran out of squares to move
to, they were eliminated. The last one
standing would win immunity!
 |
| Steve assesses the gameboard |
Meredith won the draw and made the first move. She marked the square she stepped off of with
an X and moved forward. She was followed
by Larry, Steve, Dennis, Angela, and Josh.
After a few moves it appeared that the most popular strategy was to make
a beeline for the center of the board.
Only Josh began to move laterally.
 |
| Early stages of the challenge |
Several moves later, the situation appeared hopeless for Larry, Steve,
and Meredith. They had more or less
boxed themselves in and could easily see the number of limited moves they had
left. Larry made his last move and was
out. Then Steve ran out of room and was
eliminated. Meredith quickly
followed.
 |
| Things tighten up |
At this point, Dennis, Angela,
and Josh were all walled in to their current spots on the board. With a scan of the board, the writing was
literally on the ground for Dennis and Angela.
Neither would be able to outlast Josh.
Dennis took his fate silently while Angela bristled at the fact that the
challenge must be finished out rather than just hand Josh the necklace right
then.
 |
| Angela knows it doesn't look good |
Just a couple of minutes later,
Angela made her last move and was out of the challenge. Josh had won his second individual immunity
challenge! This outcome wasn’t the worst
news for the Sangria tribe as the objective had been to play keep away from
Dennis.
Josh was riding high after returning to camp. Combining his immunity necklace with the
immunity idol he had found the night before, he knew that he was guaranteed a
spot in the final four! After all,
immunity idols were only good up through the final five so unless unusually
arrogant, he would be playing the idol at that tribal council. As a result of this security, he decided to
be very passive in the lead up to the next tribal council. He’d listen to what others were thinking but
he was quite comfortable letting others get blood on their hands this time.
 |
| Josh takes it easy and does work around camp |
Dennis knew that he needed to go idol hunting right
now. He decided to check the beach and
do some digging. After putting in some
serious labor, he found nothing. He then
decided to go check the rock wall that he knew so well. He thought that since he found his first idol
here, it wasn’t unreasonable that another could be hiding in the expansive
structure. After some more time, he was
still empty handed. He decided that strategizing
now took precedent over the search.
While he was looking, he did make up his mind about his fake idol. He would not say anything about it until
tribal council.
 |
| Dennis searches in vain |
The duo of Angela and Meredith got together to talk. Angela was still a bit miffed about what
happened at the last tribal council.
However, she had been no closer to figuring out whether it was Larry or
Steve who was the one who cast a vote against her. In talking through things with Meredith, they
decided that it would be too big a risk to guess who it was and potentially
vote out a loyal ally. Cooler heads
prevailed and Angela came to the conclusion that Dennis should be voted out at
this time. He did have several friends
on the jury. With him gone she along
with Meredith and Josh would have the numbers advantage on Larry and
Steve. Their shenanigans would soon be a
thing of the past.
Larry and Steve were also talking. They knew that it was easiest to get rid of
Dennis next. Since Josh was immune and
Meredith was not viewed as a huge threat, their only other option would be to
target Angela. Steve was able to deduce
that Larry voted for Angela at the last tribal council. But this was only because he was not in the
know about Josh and Steve flipping at the last moment. The two were unlikely allies and had no
problems with each other. As they came
across Josh, they noticed he was unusually passive. Steve asked Josh what the plan was. Josh simply said that Dennis was the target.
 |
| Larry and Steve check with Josh |
Dennis was smart enough to know he was squarely on the
chopping block but was having little success maneuvering. He was getting shut down by everyone he
approached. Josh bluntly told him that
there was nothing he could do. He hoped
Dennis would respect his honesty. Then
Meredith half heartedly told him that she would be interested in voting out
Larry or Steve but only if Dennis could get the numbers. Angela told Dennis that she didn’t want to
vote him out over some of the others but it would be best for her game going
forward. Larry claimed to not know what
was going on and said he would be open to ideas if Dennis if he had them. Steve simply went the other way whenever
Dennis got within shouting distance.
Minutes before tribal council, Angela, Meredith, Steve, and
Larry got together. They were all able
to agree that Dennis would have to be voted out next. Larry relayed to the group that Josh was also
in on this. They agreed on playing nice
this time and then at final five they could begin the backstabbing. Every person in the group of four had the
same idea. “I have one solid ally and
we’re against the other two. We need
Josh to come with us on the next vote.”
 |
| Last minute discussions |
At tribal council, Josh opened up the discussion with some
general strategy talk. He humored
himself by talking about techniques to flush out hidden immunity idols and
noted that this was the last time it would make sense to split votes. Dennis interjected and asked Josh what he was
planning to do with his winnings as sole survivor. He went on to say that Josh was clearly running
the game. His plan was to create as much
uncertainty in the rest of the tribe as possible. Meredith quickly defused that statement by
saying that Dennis was out of the loop and was only trying to stir up
trouble. Steve, not able to hold it
back, asked Dennis what he was planning to do with his 6th place
winnings. Dennis smiled. Larry noted that this wasn’t one happy family
but for one day they could agree on the fact that Dennis was going home. He commended Dennis for making it this
far. Angela said that she felt a little
less scared than usual but would not be relaxed until after the vote. She asked Dennis if he was voting for
her. He said yes because she was used to
it and would be the least offended.
 |
| Survivor: Branford's 7th tribal council |
But he also said yes because at that moment he pulled out
the wrappings from his immunity idol earlier in the game now containing his
fake immunity idol. He put it around his
neck and said that it was time for Sangria to come up with a new plan. That plan being to vote alongside him for
Angela.
 |
| A fake idol! |
Josh instantly told the tribe
not to believe that this was a real idol.
But he couldn’t be quite as convincing as he would have liked without
revealing the fact that he had recently found an idol himself. Meredith despite having an idol of her own
and knowing that what Dennis claimed to be an idol didn’t look like one said
nothing. Larry, Steve, and Angela
mentally threw their plans out the window.
It was time to vote.
 |
| He's not buying what Dennis is selling |
 |
| Nor is she |
The votes were tallied and it was time to play any immunity
idols. Josh did not play his real
idol. Meredith did not play her real
idol. Dennis couldn’t play his fake idol
without suffering embarrassment. The
first vote came down for Angela. "Here we
go again" she thought. Then Dennis
received a vote. And then Larry. Dennis had a glimmer of hope! The fourth vote was for Anglea giving her
two. Dennis then got a second vote
himself. As it was announced “the 7th
person voted out of Survivor: Branford…” Angela smiled a disappointed smile and
uncrossed her legs preparing to stand up. But then she gasped as that last vote was for
Dennis. He became the 6th
place finisher!
 |
| The nonbelievers |
 |
| Dennis only managed to convince Steve |
 |
| Angela tries to hedge herself |
The group had dodged that bit of trickery despite his best
efforts. For better or worse they had
managed to do what they set out since the merge started. But now there were no more clear
enemies. What would lie in store for the
Final 5?
 |
| Game over for Dennis |
Next time on Survivor:
-
The castaways lace up their running shoes!
-
Those left begin to think about the Final 3.
-
It is the last tribal council to play hidden immunity
idols!
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