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!