Season 2: Episode 5

Right after tribal council had ended and before Rachel’s snuffed torch stopped smoking, Dennis and Jim were off.  They knew that they had one last chance to find the hidden immunity idol before the merge.  They were working against the clock as the merge feast was set to take place in less than an hour.  The two of them quickly made their way across the island to the location that they believed the hidden immunity idol to be.

And they're off!

Once there, both Dennis and Jim explored separate areas in hopes of finding the treasure.  The search was long.  Jim began looking at areas that Dennis had already been just to make sure he hadn’t missed anything.  Dennis did the same.  At this point they were bonded as a pretty tight twosome and felt that having the idol was crucial to their long term prospects in the game.  Yes, it would be great to find the idol but both were hoping that the other didn’t find it first.

Dennis hopes there's an idol back there

After quite a bit of time and with maybe only 15 minutes until the merge was set to take place, Jim was combing through the area in which Angela had found Saltonstall’s idol.  The Mattabesset idol would not be able to be seen from any kind of a distance due to Josh’s contributions.  On a whim, Jim peered into a couple of cracks and was hit with a rush.  He had found the deeply buried Mattabesset idol!  Sensing that there was no good in hiding this information from Dennis, Jim told his partner that he had the idol.

Jim holds out his find

The two now felt a sense of game on and excitedly made their way back to camp to gather their things before the merge.

Rejuvination

Jim and Dennis headed over to the Saltonstall camp to find that two seats were graciously left open for them.  After exchanging pleasantries and settling in, the merge feast was told to be only minutes away.  During the brief period of rest and true to their intentions, Rob and Mark were the first to talk to Dennis and Jim.  The former Saltonstall tribe members pretty much laid it all out there that clear pairs had formed and that two of them were working together.  Jim and Dennis were conditioned to say yes to any offers they received and asked Rob and Mark if they thought they could get one more person to give them a majority.  With perfect timing, Josh joined the conversation.  Jim noticed that this could be an easy sell as a guys alliance against the three girls.  Handshakes went around but no one new if they could be taken to the bank.

Those on the bottom look to make a move

After everyone gathered back at camp, the merge feast was presented to the new tribe!  It consisted of chicken, salad, watermelon, green beans, asparagus, and drinks both alcoholic and non.  Mark found the bag with the new merge buffs and handed them out to the group.  The buffs were a sharp red.  The tribe then talked about what the new name of the group would be.  After some deliberation, the group picked the name “Cantwell” in a fitting tribute to the man behind the camera.

A new tribe is born!

With that, the first individual immunity challenge was ready to get underway.  The challenge was called “Change Game” and would be run in two parts.  In part one, all eight castaways would dig through the sand looking for one of three coins.  The first three to find a coin would move on to the final round.  In the final round, those three people would be asked a difficult math question.  To answer, each of the three would have to sort through a bag of change they would be given and lay out the correct amount of coins (in value) that corresponded to the answer of the math question.  The first to be correct would win individual immunity!

The big dig

Jeff called go and sand was flying through the air immediately.  Rob especially attacked the sand as if there was no tomorrow.  Josh threw his sand into places where others were digging.  Jim was most concerned with not letting the imprint of the idol show through his shorts as he was digging.  While many would have thought that round one would be over quickly, the search proved quite hard.  Angela asked if bigger coins could have been used for this part of the challenge.  Just as the energy of the group began to wane, Mark let out a joyful cry as he found the first of the three coins.  He was through to the final round of the challenge!  Now knowing that this was not an impossible task after all, the group dug with renewed vigor.  Dennis systematically made his way up and down the search area in rows.  Autumn was content to dig a hole as deep as humanly possible.  Just then, Rob let the group know that he had found the second coin and went to stand next to Mark!  Only one coin remained!  Amanda, always a fierce challenge competitor, was not to be denied as she found the third coin and took her place in the final round of the challenge!

Rob is $0.25 richer

While the five eliminated Cantwell members watched, Mark, Rob, and Amanda readied themselves for another race.  With a bag full of coins, the three were ready to do some quick mental math and take home the immunity necklace.  Once the long and complicated question was asked, the sound of coins hitting pavement filled the air.  Amanda talked to herself to try to figure out the answer while Mark wrote on the ground with his finger.  Rob seemed unsettled on his answer as he was constantly shifting his coins from one pile to another.  Finally, Amanda said that she had the answer.  Mark and Rob were required to stop while Jeff verified that Amanda had laid out the proper amount of change.  Jeff announced that Amanda was wrong!  The challenge was back on!  After just a minute, Amanda called time again.  Again she was wrong!

The finalists count out their coins

With the tension building, Mark now called time.  Jeff walked over to Mark and counted out how much change Mark had put forward.  Jeff announced that Mark was right!  The opera singer had won the first individual immunity challenge and now had a 1 in 7 chance to win the $1,000,000 (minus $999,880) prize!

Wear it proudly Mark

Amanda was disgusted that she hadn’t won the challenge.  On top of it, Mark had!  The person she wanted to take out most!  She originally wanted to keep her former tribe together but the sneakiness of Mark and Rob was really getting to her.  Knowing that Jim and Dennis were expendable at any time, she had set her eyes on knocking out the Rob/Mark pair.  Her top choice was Mark, so now Rob was her target.  Her closest ally Autumn was on board with this plan.  Amanda then went to Josh and Angela and asked if they were fine going after Rob.  They were but Angela questioned why not take out Jim or Dennis.  Amanda felt that those guys were desperate and could be trusted while Mark and Rob were sketchier.  Also, Mark and Rob had been with them since the beginning and knew the tribe dynamics better.  With those two gone, the secret of how tight a foursome Amanda, Autumn, Angela, and Josh would be better guarded.

Amanda sees where Josh and Angela are at

Right after this conversation, Josh met up with Rob and Mark.  Josh told them that he didn’t know what was going on.  Mark asked Josh if he was interested in sticking with the guys and targeting one of the girls.  That was not in Josh’s best interest and told them that things had changed and that everyone was on board with staying Saltonstall strong.  Josh promised Rob that he would not vote for him and that their best chance was to put Dennis’ name down.  Once Josh left, Rob and Mark felt they had no chance but to remain loyal to their original tribe.  Without the numbers to target one of their own, they felt that it was Dennis that was bound to be sent home.

Josh in his spy shack

Only a little while later, everyone not named Rob or Mark found themselves in a circle.  Amanda reiterated to everyone that she wanted Mark out but since he was immune, it would have to be Rob.  Jim was ready to go along with this since it spared him at tribal and also put Mark in the positon of being in the most trouble at the next tribal council.  He thought that either he could ride this wave and last two tribals or attempt to pick up Mark’s vote after he lost his tightest ally.  It sounded win win for him.  After making sure that he and Dennis were on the same page, Jim wanted to see if talking to Rob or Mark one more time would yield anything.

A quartet of power players

Once Dennis had some free time, he located Angela.  The two had developed a close bond in a short time and were interested in looking out for each other.  Dennis was already well set up with Jim but wanted to have options in case something unexpected happened later on.  Angela thought it was inevitable that she and Josh could not coexist with Amanda and Autumn for the rest of the game.  Knowing that she would need others in that event, she made Dennis an offer to join her and Josh in an alliance.  Dennis gave Angela his word that they were solid.  As the conversation ended, both were feeling pretty good about their secret alliance.

No one else knows about this conversation!

Rob had bad vibes and was able to fit in one last conversation with Amanda before tribal council.  He wanted to corroborate Josh’s story that Saltonstall was sticking together.  She told him that this was the plan and that Dennis was the target.  Though this matched Josh’s story, it did not ease Rob’s worries at all.  Amanda knew that she had control over Autumn’s vote and that she had enough sway to get the vote off of Rob and onto Dennis.  She did think back to earlier in the game when she toyed with the idea of working with Rob and Mark instead of Josh and Angela.  It did make sense in some ways!  And even if she couldn’t make up her mind now, voting out Dennis would provide more time to figure the situation out without rocking the boat too much.  She looked for a place to do some thinking alone in the last few minutes before tribal council.

Rob's scramble face

It was a packed house at tribal council tonight.  General sentiments were that everyone had a sense of what was going on but were just confused enough to still feel a little nervous.  Mark was happy to have immunity and said that he was lucky because the last challenge really played to his strengths.  Dennis told Jeff that he didn’t feel good after going into the merge down numbers.  He knew that voting for him or Jim was an easy sell to the former Saltonstall members.  Jim felt a bit of the same but liked having a bigger group.  After having survived tribal councils of only three and four people, he felt his odds here were good.  Angela was at her first tribal council since she was crowned the sole survivor the previous year.  She already could tell that this year the game was so much more dynamic and unpredictable.  Going all the way this time would be a much bigger accomplishment she thought.  Josh didn’t say a lot but was thinking plenty.  He was going to stick to his promise to Rob and not vote for him.  He knew that it was possible that this could land him on the wrong side of the numbers but thought that the points he would earn with Rob were worth the risk.  With that, it was time to vote!

Are a couple of people missing from tribal council?

Found them, nevermind

Voting took more time than usual as there were eight votes cast and several mulled their decisions over at the voting table.  Once done, Jeff returned with the votes and offered anyone with an immunity idol the chance to play it.  Neither Angela nor Jim thought this was a necessary action this time.  That time having come and gone, Jeff opened the urn.  He unfolded the first piece of parchment and showed the Cantwell tribe one vote for Dennis.  The second vote was for Rob.  The two traded votes again leaving two votes for Dennis and two for Rob.  Dennis was not any bit relived yet as his recognized Jim’s handwriting as well as his own on the votes for Rob.  The fifth vote added another to Dennis’ tally.  The sixth vote leveled things again, Rob with three votes and Dennis with three votes.  Jeff waited an extra beat before revealing the seventh vote.  It was for Rob!  The decisive final vote was shown to be for Rob as well!  By a 5-3 vote, Rob became the first Saltonstall member voted out and the fifth member of the jury!  With that, the Cantwell tribe had removed quite possibly the biggest challenge threat left in the game.  Mark saw his closest ally’s torch snuffed and wondered if it was symbolic of his own game.

Autumn is on the right side of the numbers

Rob is set to drink his sorrows away

Next time on Survivor:
-       One castaway plants a spy in a rival alliance!
-       Someone does not hold back their true feelings for their supposed allies!
-       Fireworks go off after tribal council!

Season 2: Episode 4

After their third straight tribal council, the Mattabesset tribe couldn’t have been in high spirits.  It seemed like it would have been an even matchup against Saltonstall but to this point the blue tribe had dominated the challenges.  Despite this, Dennis and Jim still felt some hope after having found a clue to the hidden immunity idol shortly before the last tribal council.  They knew that there would only be one more tribal council before the merge and that once the merge hit, the opportunity to find the Mattabesset idol would be lost.  They decided to search for the idol for the first time after the next challenge.  If they lost the challenge, it would become a little trickier as they would have to split their time between the hunt and strategizing with each other and with Rachel.

Dennis and Jim dream of life with an idol

Both tribes arrived at the challenge location with equal motivation to win.  No one on Saltonstall had advocated for throwing a challenge before the merge.  Though it is a good thing to see where you stand within your own tribe before the merge, none of the Saltonstall members felt confident enough about their own position to try to pull this off.  Plus, all of them probably had to think a little bit that they could easily be the final six.  Once Saltonstall got their first look at the new Mattabesset to see Meredith voted off, there was definitely speculation about who was driving the votes and how the events up until now had transpired.

Mark can really only speculate what is going on with both tribes at this point

This challenge was a traditional Memory Match.  30 paper bags would be arranged in an open space.  One at a time each tribe would send out a representative to open a bag and show everyone the contents.  The same person would then open a second bag.  If the items match, they bring back the bags and items to their tribe and the tribe scores a point.  If no match, the items in the bag would be replaced and the bag put back in its spot.  Whether or not a tribe gets a match on their turn or not, it is the other tribe's turn next.  First tribe to 8 matches wins.  The tribes would be allowed to huddle and compare notes but once their representative steps forward all talking must stop.

An intimidating looking challenge

Saltonstall had to sit out three people in this challenge.  Autumn and Rob were forced to play since they sat out of the last challenge.  Amanda volunteered to team with them to take on Mattabesset.

The sit-outs cheer on their tribe

Saltonstall of course won the right to determine whether or not they wanted to go first.  They elected to make the first picks.  Right away their strategy became clear.  Amanda chose the bag placed in the upper right corner and then chose the one right below it.  Revealing a deck of cards and a glass jar meant no match and the items were placed back.

Amanda gets things started

Rachel led off for Mattabesset.  They decided to pick bags at random in hopes that they would confuse Saltonstall (but hopefully not themselves!).  With so many bags out there the odds were against Rachel getting lucky and picking correctly by guessing.  That proved true as she revealed a screwdriver and a single puzzle piece.

Rachel: more likely to drink a screwdriver than use one

Rob and Dennis stuck to their tribe strategies but achieved the same results.  Rob choosing a Kleenex packet and a light bulb while Dennis picked a pack of post-its and a spool of ribbon.

Rob gives it a go

Autumn made her way forward and chose the next bag in accordance with Saltonstall’s strategy.  It contained a glass gar!  The match had been revealed earlier in the challenge…would Autumn be able to locate it without help from her tribe?  She made it look easy as she was able to find the other glass gar without so much as a hesitation!  Saltonstall led again in a challenge.

Autumn is successful!

Jim came forward for Mattabesset and chose a bag which contained a glove.  Not knowing where the other glove was, at least Jim could select a bag that had not been chosen yet in order to improve his odds.  He did just that but was not successful.  The other bag contained a quarter.

Jim: losingest tribe challenge competitor in Survivor Branford history

Amanda came forward next and picked the next bag in line.  It had a light bulb in it!  Rob had just revealed the other one not too long ago.  Could Amanda remember?  She did as she found the other light bulb making the score 2-0 to Saltonstall in a race to 8.

Amanda and Rob strategize before she makes her move

Rachel made her next selection which was a spool of ribbon.  The other ribbon had already been seen!  Would Rachel be able to get Mattabesset back into the challenge?  She walked over to the bag she thought would contain the match and opened it.  But she was disappointed to see that there was only a pen inside.  Mattabesset had left a point on the table!

Guess again

Like it was nothing, Rob came up and found the two matching ribbons to increase Saltonstall’s lead to 3-0!

Dennis was desperate to get his tribe back into the challenge.  More bad luck for Mattabesset though as the bag he picked contained an entirely new item.  This one was a Survivor Branford: Second Chance logo.  He took a guess at where the match could be and found the second puzzle piece.  He sighed as he placed the items back having a good feeling at what was coming next.

Mattabesset can't buy a point

And he was right.  Amanda easily recalled where both puzzle pieces were and gave Saltonstall a now 4-0 lead!

Jim came up and chose his first bag which contained post-it notes.  He knew that Dennis had shown the match earlier and had a general idea of where Dennis was when that happened.  Unfortunately though for Jim and Mattabesset, there was no match as Jim picked the bag with the other quarter in it.

They're all pointing at different bags

Like clockwork, Autumn came up and put both puzzle pieces together for a 5-0 lead.  Quickly the situation repeated itself as Rachel pulled a napkin and a deck of cards.  No sooner than she had returned to her tribe did Rob score again for Saltonstall with the matching decks of cards to make the score 6-0.

Not a fair fight at this point!

Dennis had seen both quarters revealed and at this point just wanted to save face.  He was able to make a match and bring the score to a still not very respectable 6-1.  Dennis worried that since the years on the quarters didn’t match that this was a trick.  Jeff assured him that that was not a trap and that Dennis had scored.

Things didn’t change much in the next round as Amanda found two napkins (7-1 Saltonstall) while Jim haplessly drew a CD and a fork.

All smiles for Amanda and Saltonstall

 Autumn came up next and selected a new bag which contained a pen.  Victory was in her hands if she could go find the other pen which was previously shown by Rachel.  Autumn took a slow walk around and arrived at what she hoped was the correct destination.  She peered into the bag and held the pen it contained up high as Saltonstall won the challenge in a blowout, 8-1!

How nervous would Amanda be in an actual tense situation?

 Mattabesset left the challenge immediately while Saltonstall put an exclamation point on the pre-merge part of the game!  Saltonstall had proven their mental and physical superiority at the challenges!  Would it keep up in the individual portion of the game? 

A celebration befitting being named sole survivor

After the challenge Saltonstall returned to their camp and congratulated each other on making the merge.  They had completed an unbelievable run of challenge dominance!  The tribe sat around in a circle and voiced the obvious “let’s stick together” approach post merge.

Unlimited leisure time for Saltonstall

While some would have been fine doing this, others were aware enough of their standing to realize that this was not in their best interest.  From the moment the game started, Saltonstall tribe dynamics were that of three pairs.  With an early agreement between the Amanda/Autumn and Josh/Angela pairs, they stood in the majority.  They never had to test this pact which could lead to an entertaining blindside later in the game.  Amanda could not help but think that everything was going perfectly.  If she kept Saltonstall together to the final six, her core four alliance could then knock Mark and Rob out.  She was sensing the final four already!

Amanda's in a great spot

Rob and Mark despite being first timers picked up on the fact that they were likely in the minority.  Both of them realized that there was much more talk that excluded them than included them.  Yes, they could probably coast into the final six.  But then what?  The guys made it their first priority to talk to the two Mattabesset tribe members that would join them at the merge.  At this point several members of Saltonstall went and made one last attempt to find the idol before the merge.  Of course some made legitimate attempts while Josh, Angela, and her idol went out looking just for show.

Mark and Rob feel that they have work to do

Mattabesset knew how it went with three people.  There would basically be three separate individual conversations between each combination of tribemates.  Whichever conversation produced the strongest bond would win out.

Jim knew that Rachel would be loyal after the merge.  But that did little good against such a large opposition.  He figured that if he went with Dennis to the merge that he could use the perceived threat of Dennis to protect him.  With Saltonstall likely to target Dennis first, Jim thought this gave him more room to maneuver.  Also, he wanted to keep Dennis so that it would give him another person searching for the idol increasing their chances of finding this powerful advantage in the game.  Though he didn’t like it, Jim would be voting Rachel.

Jim looks a little too comfortable

Rachel liked both of her tribemates but knew that one of them had to go.  She thought that her best chance after the merge would be to assimilate in with the Saltonstall tribe.  If she could get Dennis or Jim in on that, great.  She felt that if she could just make the merge she would be fine.  Saltonstall probably had unresolved issues and she would never be the target at tribal council.  If she could just make this one step, she was prepared to make a deep run.  Ultimately she decided to vote for Jim because twice in a row now he had told the person who was eventually voted out to write her name down.  She wanted to pay Jim back for that.

Don't mess with me

Dennis thought about a lot of these same things when making up his mind.  He had a good sense that his tribemates would be voting for each other.  Therefore, he felt confident that he would make the merge and had the power to decide who he would be taking with him.  He knew that it would take a lot of strategy to make it further than the merge and had worked with Jim closely to this point.  He knew that Jim would scramble to keep both of them in the game after the merge while he didn’t know how much Rachel would fight for it.  Dennis had a feeling that there would need to be some post merge chaos to further himself in the game.  With all of this in mind, Dennis felt that his best option would be to vote out Rachel.

Dennis wants to kick the hornet's nest come the merge

That having been squared away in all of their minds, there was still a productive use for the time until tribal council.  Dennis and Jim hadn’t had an opportunity to search for the idol yet.  Unfortunately they couldn’t shake off Rachel and look alone.  They lied and said that they found the clue just a few minutes ago and mentioned the hint about being “thrown out.”  Rachel correctly assumed that this meant that the idol was hidden around the garbage area.  Both guys suddenly realized their mistake!  Since they were both about to vote Rachel out, they couldn’t afford to have her find the idol!  Jim improvised and suggested that “thrown out” actually meant the nearby baseball field.  Dennis caught Jim’s drift and agreed with that suggestion.  Rachel seemed skeptical but went with them.  After looking for a bit, Jim and Dennis wanted to go back to camp to defuse the situation.  All three started to walk back and talk.  After a bit, Rachel stopped participating in the conversation.  Dennis and Jim wondered why she got so quiet.  They hoped that she hadn’t figured out that she was going home.  Dennis looked over his shoulder to see that Rachel was gone!  They knew that she had gone to look for the idol at the correct location!  They had to hope that she would not be successful with the little time she had left…

Does Rachel have the idol?

Rachel gave nothing away when she arrived at tribal council and took her seat.  Jeff didn’t know where to start with this group.  He knew that Mattabesset wasn’t so much dysfunctional as they were just not able to perform in challenges.  Jim shared with the group that now between two stints playing Survivor he had never won a challenge.  He was hoping to get a few more cracks at it in the upcoming individual immunity challenges.  Dennis wanted desperately to make the merge and escape from this mess of a tribe.  He still felt that he was the swing vote but didn’t ever want to get too comfortable.  Rachel said that she did all that she could to make sure that she’d stick around.  When Jeff inquired, she said this both meant through conversations and through “other activities.”  Jim thought she was bluffing but wouldn’t be betting his spot in the game on it.  It was time to vote.

Smiles at tribal

 Jeff came back ready to reveal the votes and stated that now was the time to play a hidden immunity idol.  All eyes were on Rachel.  If she had found the idol with those few minutes it was likely that she would be playing it.  After what seemed like the longest five seconds, she didn’t move!  Jeff went forward with the votes and quickly showed that Rachel and Jim had each received one vote.  Rachel pinned her hopes on the fact that Dennis changed his mind and voted with her against Jim.  He did not come through for her.  It would only take two votes at this tribal council for Rachel to be voted out.  She took the vote in stride but knew she was so close to reaching a big milestone in the game.

Without an idol, the plan goes off without a hitch

Nothing can get her down!

Next time on Survivor:
-       Dennis and Jim make one last desperate attempt to find the idol before the merge!
-       Saltonstall and Mattabesset are no more!
-       One word describes the next tribal council: crazy!

Season 2: Episode 3

With Danielle and now Steve gone, Mattabesset was reduced to the core alliance that had dictated how both votes had gone so far.  They knew that if they lost the next immunity challenge, it would lead to the hardest vote yet.  Dennis was very open about his fears of this happening and let his uneasiness show.  Wanting to nip this fear in the bud, Rachel being ever the realist, put the situation into context by reminding Dennis that this was a “first world problem.”  This comment considerably lightened the mood and helped inject some confidence into the tribe before attempting to get their first victory against Saltonstall.

Rachel tries to lift Dennis' spirits

When the two tribes gathered down at the beach for their next challenge, there was a general sense of surprise among Saltonstall to see Steve voted out at the last tribal council.  Some were probably taken aback that Mattabesset chose to part with one of their stronger guys.  Others must have thought that it was not easy to outwit someone with a proven track record in this game.  Nonetheless, this iteration of the Mattabesset tribe was ready to compete and Saltonstall would need to focus on the upcoming challenge and not what had happened in the past.

Here comes Mattabesset

The immunity challenge was another throwback to older Survivor seasons:  Shoulder the Load.  The challenge would work so that two players from each tribe (one guy, one girl) are the designated strong people.  They will each hold a large bucket in front of them.  Two other players from each tribe will be the designated water people.  At the same time the water people from each tribe will go to the water, fill up their containers and dump them into the buckets of the opposing strong people (whomever they want, strategically).  Once a strong person drops their bucket or spills what is deemed to be a significant amount of water, they are out.  The tribe with the last person standing wins.

Saltonstall listens attentively...then there's Rob

Saltonstall took inventory of their tribe and knew that this was a definite advantage over Mattabesset since they had the luxury of choosing between more candidates to be the strong people.  Angela offered to arm wrestle Amanda to determine which of them was strongest.  Ultimately, Amanda volunteered to be the female representative from her tribe which probably relieved both Angela and Autumn.  The guys were largely indifferent.  Mark thought to himself that he was stronger than either Rob or Josh and also wanted to taste challenge glory again.  He didn’t say this of course, rather he let his actions speak for him as he simply stepped forward and grabbed a large bucket.

Mark asks Angela to flex

Mattabesset was much quicker in their strategizing.  Rachel more or less asked Meredith to step up and be the female strong person.  Meredith wasn’t gung ho about the idea but probably thought she was the right choice.  Jim however, was very gung ho about the idea of being the male strong person knowing that his desire to win the challenge was stronger than both the muscles of Mark and Amanda.  He confidently strode forward and readied himself for the weight.

Mattabesset figures things out

The challenge began with Dennis and Rachel from Mattabesset and Josh and Angela from Saltonstall walking to the water with their gallon sized containers.  They each filled their containers and returned, emptying the water into the large buckets held by each of the strong people.  Differences in strategy were evident from the get go.  Rachel and Dennis decided to load Amanda up while only giving Mark the occasional gallon of water.  They thought that if they could quickly knock Amanda out of the challenge, they would win the 2 on 1 situation against Mark.  Josh and Angela decided to split the water evenly among Jim and Meredith.  This plan counted on the fact that both of Mattabesset’s strong people would grow tired from having to hold all of that water for a prolonged period of time.  Josh decided to employ a next level strategy of holding the gallon container way above Jim’s large bucket and pouring the water out hoping to get Jim’s hands wet!  Even if that didn’t work, the fact that this approach could irritate Jim left little downside.  The strong people also demonstrated differences in strategy.  Both Meredith and Jim held their large buckets on the sides using the handles.  Amanda and Mark however, decided to cradle the large containers and hold them in their arms from underneath.

Which tribe is looking stronger?

As more and more gallons of water were added to the large containers, the strong people began to show signs of the strain.  The water in Amanda’s bucket sloshed around dangerously as she came close to losing it several times.  She needed to rely on using her knee to steady her bucket a few times.  Meredith was silent but looked to be in pain.  Jim was holding up ok but was complaining of the pain in his fingers as they were being pinched by the handles under the growing weight.  Mark seemed to be doing just fine because of the strategy that Mattabesset was employing by only giving him every 4th gallon of water or so.  He was bearing a significantly less amount of weight than the others.

Water is gathered...

...and delivered

Adding to the pain of the strong people was Jeff who reminded them that each gallon of water is approximately 8 pounds.  At this point in the challenge Meredith was probably holding around 60-70 pounds.  Out of nowhere, she could not hold it any longer and dropped her bucket to the ground!  Saltonstall now only had to outlast Jim to win their third immunity challenge in a row.  This pivotal moment of the challenge prompted Dennis to encourage Jim to keep going while Angela could not hide her feelings as she said that she felt really bad repeatedly adding water for the others to hold.  A huge advantage that Saltonstall now held was that Jim would receive two gallons of water each and every round while Mattabesset still had two buckets to fill.

Meredith drops!

After a few more rounds, Jim was still fighting while holding maybe a little more than 100-110 pounds of water.  Amanda and Mark may have had about 80 pounds each as Dennis and Rachel shifted their focus more towards Mark given that they underestimated Amanda’s strength.  Despite the fact that Jim felt he could last another few minutes in the challenge, it was not to be.  His choice in strategy regarding how to hold the bucket backfired as the weight of the water caused the handles of the bucket to pop off!  He looked around holding just the handles waiting for a ruling.  Unfortunately for Mattabesset there would be no do overs.  Saltonstall won their third straight immunity challenge and didn’t lose either of their strong people from the challenge!  It would be the same song and dance for the Mattabesset tribe once again.

Jim is left holding just handles

Once Saltonstall returned to camp, the general sentiment was if they would ever need to go to tribal council.  Most in the tribe felt that nothing had really changed in the game and that prior strategizing continued to hold up now.  Overstrategizing could be a way for someone to unnecessarily put a target on their back.  Mark and Amanda wanted to sit and relax after enduring such a grueling challenge.  Autmun and Rob also decided to take it easy knowing that they were safe once again.  This opened a door for Angela and Josh continue their search for the hidden immunity idol.

Rob now with a 1 in 9 shot at being sole survivor

Having not yet been successful, they knew that it was crucial to find the idol before the merge happened.  Without any reason to suspect that the idol was in a different place than originally thought, the two returned to the area where they had been previously searching.  Luckily for Angela, the clue that she put back was found by what was probably her closest ally in the game.  Neither truly trusted the other though and were paired more out of necessity than by choice.  

Best frenemies?

After a little while of searching, the two were still empty handed.  It was hard to recall where they had looked and what hadn’t yet been explored.  Angela turned around to search off in the corner of the area and saw a brown piece of paper jutting out from a crack near the entrance.  In disbelief she walked over and unearthed Saltonstall’s immunity idol!  This time after making a discovery, she decided not to put it back where she found it.  She informed Josh of her find and was full of excitement about her chances for going deep in the game once again.  In a twist, Mattabesset’s idol was hidden right next to Saltonstall’s.  Josh pushed Mattabesset’s idol further into the crack making it harder for the other tribe to find.  Despite his claims for playing an honest game, Josh was being subtly sneaky!

Angela's beautiful idol

Mattabesset returned to camp and had work to do.  Meredith spoke up first and said that she was taking responsibility for the challenge loss due to her being first to drop and leaving Jim with carrying the weight of two.  Everyone said that an apology was not necessary and that it would not be held against her.  Jim and Dennis were left alone as Meredith went off to treat her sore arms while Rachel went to get water.  The two Mattabesset guys thought that they were probably the tightest twosome on the tribe.  They promised each other to stay together on this vote, target one of the girls, and let the other in on the plan at the last minute.  The biggest reason they thought to get rid of Rachel would be because of the challenges.  A win had to happen for their sake.  But they both felt that her loyalty was true and that she wouldn’t be making any big moves in the game.  Meredith worried them because they thought she could easily jump ship at the merge.  Also, Meredith was last year’s runner up so the threat she was was not to be questioned.  But she could be a useful shield at the merge if the Saltonstall tribe viewed her as the biggest threat.  It could help to buy both Jim and Dennis another round post merge.  The two made up their minds and they agreed that Jim would tell Meredith to vote for Rachel while Dennis would tell Rachel to vote for Meredith.

Jim plans his next move

As the two finished their conversation, Dennis saw it!  The clue to the Mattabesset idol was behind one of the oars to the tribe canoe pinned to the wall!  With renewed energy due to something finally going right, Dennis took the clue and he and Jim read it.  It pointed to the location that the Saltonstall idol was formerly hidden.  There would be time to look for the idol after tribal council.

Each of the two girls thought that the other would be voted out.  As a result, the strategizing they did with each other was not very truthful.  As intended, Jim did get a chance to talk to Meredith alone while Dennis found Rachel by herself.  Dennis briefly considered that if Jim were to be voted out, he would be the only one left on the tribe to know where the idol was.  Those thoughts were quickly pushed out of his head once he realized the amount of things that could go wrong in trying to pull of the blindside.  Minutes before tribal council, Meredith and Rachel wished each other good luck at the vote.  Good luck on the jury that is…

Jim has words with Meredith...

...while Dennis and Rachel chat

At tribal council, even Jeff had sympathy for the Mattabesset tribe.  He as much as anyone was sick of having to see them.  Rachel said that maybe their strategy in the challenge wasn’t so well thought out but she believed that everyone involved gave it their all.  Meredith reiterated that she felt that the blame for the loss was on her but once again the rest of the tribe quickly dismissed that.  Dennis said that he had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen but that in Survivor you are always a bit paranoid.  Rachel gave him the “first world problems” look to remind him that this was just a game.  Jim concluded by saying that he still has full confidence that the tribe just needs one break and that whichever part of this four makes the merge has a good shot to make some moves and keep going in the game.

Yet another tribal

Mattabesset voted and Jeff tallied the votes.  When asked, no one presented a hidden immunity idol.  Rachel had grown accustomed to seeing her name written down so as the first vote was shown she did not get too nervous.  Vote #2 was for Meredith tying things up.  The pivotal third vote was also cast for Meredith!  Despite her hopes for a tie vote, Meredith could do nothing but watch her game end as Jeff announced that she had been voted out 3 to 1.  In her exit, Meredith was gracious in saying good game to all.  Because she had easily outperformed her expectations the previous year, she was ok with her result this time.  As Meredith walked off, Mattabesset took one look at each other and knew that there was no way they wouldn’t be facing an uphill climb from this point.

Three votes for Meredith

 

Meredith becomes the third person voted out of Survivor Branford: Second Chance

Next time on Survivor:

-       Can Saltonstall make a clean sweep of it before the merge?

-       Both tribes are put through a serious mental test at the next challenge!

-       On the brink of a merge, one castaway holds all of the power at tribal council!