Survivor Branford: Season 2: Episode 1

Survivor Branford: Second Chance promised to be one of the best seasons ever seen. Seven former castaways returned from the previous year bringing with them all of the knowledge they learned in their first time through. All of them had at least one regret from their previous adventure and were determined to not let history repeat itself. That is except one castaway who was determined to make history repeat itself. Last season’s winner Angela returned brimming with confidence that she could once again rely on her strong social game mixed with a bit of strategy and cunning to find herself in front of the jury. She only had one fear. And as luck would have it that fear was realized immediately: water.

Angela is ready to defend her title

Right away, the two tribes were brought into their first immunity challenge. The idea of starting off Survivor Branford: Second Chance with an immunity challenge was indicative of how the whole season was bound to shape up: full of surprises and never a dull moment. The first challenge was called “Bombs Away”. To begin the challenge, all of the castaways would start on one of the rafts in the water. On Jeff’s go, three castaways from each tribe would jump into the water. The other three castaways on each tribe would be left standing on the raft. The three castaways in the water would then swim to the other raft and grab a bucket and three balls. Those in the water would then get the balls back to the castaways standing on the raft through swimming, throwing, or whatever system they work out. From here those on the raft would take turns throwing one ball at a time at the bucket held by someone floating in the water. Any misses would be rebounded by the other castaways in the water and thrown back to the shooters. The first tribe to score all three balls would win immunity!

The challenge site

After Jeff explained the rules, the two tribes huddled up and strategized for the challenge. The Mattabesset tribe talked along the lines of which roles the individual members would take. Most felt that they would be equally good at swimming or throwing. The only restriction was that Jim claimed that if he was a swimmer he’d have to take his glasses off and would be blind as a result. The rest of the tribe agreed to allow him to be a shooter. The Saltonstall tribe had a similar conversation. Angela was very relieved that the only swimming she would have to do was from the rocks over to the raft as she would be a shooter. Josh also asked to be a shooter given his expansive and successful background with carnival games. Rob, with his swimming prowess and Amanda with her diving prowess both felt at home in the water.

Mark dives into the water with perfect form

The challenge began with Steve, Danielle, and Meredith for Mattabesset and Rob, Amanda, and Mark for Saltonstall diving into the water and making a dash for the bucket and balls. The sudden shift of weight off of the raft had the shooters desperately trying to retain their balance as the raft swayed in the water. The shock was enough to actually cause Autumn to fall into the water! Saltonstall grabbed an early lead as Rob raced out in front of everyone to the other side of the course. This lead enabled Saltonstall to begin taking their shots as Mattabesset could only wait for their swimmers to return. Luckily when Mattabesset began shooting, Saltonstall had yet to make a shot. The learning curve took some time for both tribes to get over. Saltonstall broke though as Josh made the first shot for his tribe. Mattabesset evened things up as Dennis was successful in shooting into the bucket being held by Meredith. Autumn and then Rachel made shots to bring the score to 2-2 with the next successful shot winning immunity for their tribe. Angela lined up a shot for the win but was off the Mark (who was holding the bucket). This opened the door for Jim to win immunity for Mattabesset. His shot looked good but fell just short of Danielle in the water. On the very next shot, Josh put the ball in the bucket giving Saltonstall the win! The challenge ended just in time as all of the swimmers were completely exhausted from treading water and rebounding misses.

Action shot

The victorious Saltonstall tribe returned to their camp and reveled in their victory. Despite their win, mostly everyone began to strategize. It broke down into a pairs game as Amanda and Autumn made a deal to work with each other. Josh and Angela also teamed up as they remembered their successful alliance the previous year that took them to 4th and 1st place respectively. Mark and Rob sat down on the beach together, looked at each other, and shrugged. A third pair was born. The Amanda/Autumn and Josh/Angela pairs got together and merged into a foursome targeting Mark and Rob. This would be something they could come back to if and when they visited tribal council. But the more important thing at the moment was the hidden immunity idol hunt!

Amanda demonstrates that it is a pairs game

Saltonstall set out in search of a clue and nearly tore their camp apart doing so. After a little while of searching, Angela discovered a clue to the idol cleverly hidden behind a painting in the tribe’s shelter! The clue read that “If you don’t want to be thrown out of the game, it would serve you well to find the idol.” Angela memorized the clue as she tried to figure out what to do with it. Still wearing a bathing suit, she cursed her lack of pockets. But rather than destroy the clue, she placed it back in the spot in which she had found it! Little did she know that Josh saw this. When the coast was clear he pulled out the clue and read it for himself…

Sneaky Josh

Mattabesset returned to camp and began planning for the unpleasant event waiting for them. This felt all too familiar to Meredith and Jim as they were tribemates on a losing tribe previously. After the group was done bemoaning how close to victory they were, conversations started happening. Dennis and Jim broke away and began talking about who should be targeted first. As they narrowed their candidates down to Rachel and Danielle, Steve joined in the discussion. When asked who he would vote for, Steve said he felt Danielle was the right first target. As Meredith joined the growing conversation, she said she was also on board with voting for Danielle. The group of four made a final agreement and went their separate ways.

Jim says his piece to the group

While this was going on, Danielle and Rachel were having a productive one on one talk. They made a quick connection and prepared for the upcoming vote. For them, it came down to weighing three criteria. Those criteria were past game performance, trustworthiness, and ability to get on peoples’ nerves. From here, they concluded that one of their tribemates had just the right amount of each (or lack thereof) to be targeted: Steve. Meredith got the scoop as she joined the tail end of this conversation after having already heard the plans from the other side of the tribe.

Danielle is targeting Steve

Meredith didn’t finish 2nd place the previous year by being passive. She was able to pull Rachel aside and let her know that the other side was targeting Danielle. Rachel wasn’t pleased to know that the others were targeting her new friend but she did remember that as long as it wasn’t her she was fine with it. Meredith thought it would be best to build trust with Dennis and Jim by telling them that Steve’s name was being floated around. Minutes before tribal council she and Rachel found Dennis and Jim. This foursome shared information and concluded that none of them were in trouble at the vote. Steve would be voting for Danielle and Danielle would be voting for Steve. All this group would need to do was pull the trigger in one direction or the other.

Meredith clues Rachel in

Jeff welcomed the Mattabesset tribe to their first tribal council. Rachel said that even though this is not the place you want to be, she was excited to experience a tribal council. Jeff was quick to ask her if that meant she felt confident about the vote. Rachel had nothing to hide and said that she was indeed confident. When Jeff pointed out that this was déjà vu for Jim, last year’s 12th place finisher could do nothing but agree. He said that he hoped he had learned enough from his short time in the game to be able to dodge the first vote this time. Steve stressed that even though he made it to the final tribal council the previous year that he was not a threat at all. He vowed loyalty to Mattabesset and a promise to help lead them to victory at the next immunity challenge. Dennis admitted that he had bad vibes going into the challenge. When Jeff responded by asking Dennis if this was a self-fulfilling prophecy, the construction worker felt this was a fair point. He definitely did not think that Jim or the Mattabesset beach were cursed. Danielle said that while she was still getting used to the speed of the game, she felt she had found her place in the tribe. Meredith concluded by saying that you never know exactly what will happen at tribal council until the votes are read.

Some of Mattabesset during tribal

The Mattabesset tribe cast their votes and Jeff went ahead and made the tally. Before revealing the votes he stated that if anyone had a hidden immunity idol that now was the time to play it. None of the Mattabesset tribe stirred. Jeff opened the urn and revealed that the first vote was for Danielle. He then showed a vote for Steve. A second vote for Danielle was then taken out of the urn. After a third vote for Danielle, the writing seemed to be on the parchment for her. And with a fourth vote for Danielle, she became the first castaway voted out of Survivor Branford: Second Chance! She took it well as she retrieved her torch and presented it to Jeff. Danielle wished her tribe well and noted that she’d enjoy the rest of the weekend more than the rest of her tribe for sure!