Season 2: Episode 8

Jim had survived the previous tribal council and should have been feeling great. But he had issues to handle…specifically hidden immunity idol issues. First was the fact that he was no longer in possession of the idol that he found. Having given it to Dennis for safekeeping, Jim wanted to get it back as soon as possible from him. A more pressing issue though was that there was another idol hidden out there and only Josh knew what the clue said. Because he trusted Dennis more than Josh, Jim would retrieve his idol from his ally a bit later. Josh was noticeably absent during the time between tribal council and the next challenge.

Jim's wrapped up idol

Jim scoured the island and saw Josh looking for the idol. He decided to keep his distance and spy on last year’s 4^th place finisher. Jim wanted to keep Josh in his sights until the next challenge. From the way it looked, Josh hadn’t found the idol yet. But Jim knew it wasn’t out of the possibility for Josh to pretend to look even after being successful.

Friends close, enemies closer

Just a short time later, the final five gathered at the next challenge site. The name of the challenge was Numbers Game. Jeff explained the rules of the challenge. Three stations had been set up. One contained sticks, one contained marbles, and the last had bottles. The castaways were responsible for running from station to station and counting up the number of each item found there. Once a guess was ready to be made, a castaway would run back to Jeff and provide their answer. If their answer was wrong, the castaway would need to revisit at least one station before being allowed to return and make a guess. The first castaway to correctly count each of the three types of objects would win immunity and a guaranteed spot in the final four!

Dennis takes a shot with the bottles

Jeff called go and the Cantwell tribe was off. A majority of the tribe used the same approach and ran to the furthest station to begin counting sticks. The only rule was that no one was allowed to touch any of the items to be counted. As usual, different strategies were clear. Mark wanted to increase his chances of winning as much as possible so to him this meant making as many guesses as possible. He stayed at each station for only a few seconds to get a rough idea of how many of each item there was. Mark wasn’t expecting to be correct on his first try but thought that he could refine his guesses as he went.

How many sticks?

Angela was very confident in her counting ability having won an immunity challenge the previous year by counting all the way from 1 to 100! She had a good feeling that as long as she could get over the running aspect that this challenge provided, she would have a great chance for a guaranteed spot in the final four. Angela quickly counted the number of sticks and bottles but took her time counting the marbles. The tricky element to this station was that the marbles were placed on a rotating disk! It would take patience to be able to correctly identify how many were there.

FLASHBACK: Angela is good with numbers in the original Survivor Branford

After a little bit of time, Jeff had begun getting used to telling each castaway that they were wrong on all three items. It was a frustrating challenge but one that was clearly worth winning. Josh became the first to provide a correct answer with the number of marbles. Dennis then was told he had correctly counted the number of bottles. Jim also figured out how many marbles there were. He knew that this upcoming tribal council was the last time he could use his idol. But he also knew that he had to make an honest effort in this challenge in the unlikely event that Dennis refused to return the idol to him.

Josh shows his frustration after a wrong guess

The challenge continued on and had reached a stalemate of sorts. All five castaways knew the correct number of bottles and marbles. The number of sticks scattered on the ground remained elusive. Everyone felt that they knew the answer give or take 5 sticks. But that would not be good enough here.  

This challenge is making Mark lose his marbles

While some continued to make an honest effort to count the sticks, others were willing to run back and forth to Jeff increasing their answer by one stick at a time until they were right. Just a few minutes later, Dennis hit the lottery! His latest guess was confirmed by Jeff to be correct. The stick station was by far the hardest and Dennis had been lucky enough to be the first one to guess correctly even if he was unable to actually count the number of sticks. But in Survivor Branford: Second Chance, luck is a huge element of the game. With that, Dennis won his second immunity challenge in a row and was now guaranteed a spot in the final four!

Dennis into the final four!

Being able to take comfort in the fact that he was safe, Dennis felt that he had more room to weigh all of his options before the next tribal council. They really were endless. He and Jim had been tight allies since the beginning of the game and Dennis felt he could trust Jim. There was also the under wraps alliance that he had made with Angela. And there was also the hidden immunity idol that Dennis currently owned. Dennis knew that through his possession of the idol and his ability to play both sides, he could probably make anything happen that he wanted to at the next tribal council. He just wanted to take care to minimize any damage he might cause at the vote.

Dennis checks in with Angela

Mark had done a great job at progressing in the game once Rob was voted out. He knew that his best argument at this point was to position himself as a swing vote between what he still figured to be two pretty tight pairs. He talked to Josh and Angela and tried to build as much trust with them as he possibly could. The three of them could only target Jim given that Dennis was immune. They all felt good about this idea and as they disbursed, hoped that Jim wouldn’t be able to piece things together.

"1, 2, 3, vote Jim out!"

Everything for Jim hinged on getting his immunity idol back from Dennis. If Dennis was truly loyal to him, this wouldn’t be a question especially as Dennis was immune himself. But Jim was unable to find Dennis! He figured that he was out doing his due diligence and talking to the other castaways left in the game. Jim had had earlier conversations with Josh and Angela about voting out Mark at this point but felt that those talks weren’t very real. Assuming he got the idol back, Jim figured that he could choose who would be voted out. After thinking, he concluded that Mark was easiest to beat in a final three while Angela was less likely than Josh to win a final four immunity challenge. With that, Jim decided that he would be voting for Josh. With moments to spare, he found Dennis and made a beeline for him to get his idol back.

Where's my idol?

Josh felt secure in his position. He, Angela, and Mark would be voting for Jim. He also knew that there was a chance that Dennis would vote with them given the promising conversations that the two had shared. But Josh wanted to make full use of his time. Having an idol at this tribal council would give him that much more security. Josh remembered the clue that he ripped up and thought that hunting through flower beds would be the most promising thing to do. Taking care to not trample the plants, Josh was very thorough. Just a few minutes before tribal council, Josh returned to camp and announced that he had found the idol and that it was in his bag for safekeeping!

Josh looks for extra insurance!

Cantwell arrived at tribal council and it set in that there were less than half of the starting players left in the game. When Jeff asked who was nervous at this tribal council, Mark and Jim raised their hands. Mark expressed that while he had been able to maneuver to this point, he knew that without a number 1 ally that his time could be up at any point. Jim noted that he had been to every tribal council to this point and it was his goal to participate in the next two as well. Angela admitted that she was nervous but didn’t raise her hand because it would show weakness to the jury. She felt good about her chances of advancing and was really trying hard at this point to focus and not give in to the thoughts of winning back to back seasons. Josh said that he had had his most productive period of the game right before tribal council. He had both set himself up in a good spot for this vote and had plenty of time to seek out the hidden immunity idol. Dennis concluded by saying that he respected the other four players for keeping cool without the promise of immunity. He thought that without the necklace, his stress would be evident. It was time to vote!

Tribal time again

Jeff tallied the votes and returned with the urn. He stated that this was the final time to use any immunity idols and that if anyone wished to play one, now was the time to do so. Mark, Angela, and Dennis all turned to their right as someone stood up! Jim came forward and presented his idol to Jeff! Its authenticity was confirmed and Jim could punch his ticket to the final four.  Josh wondered if his bluff of having found the other hidden immunity idol would have any impact on the vote.

Heads turn...

...and Jim makes his play!

Jim took delight in a successful idol play as the first three votes all came down for him. Josh couldn’t believe it as the fourth vote was shown to be for him. And with the final vote also for Josh, he became the 8^th member of the jury! Josh had turned in solid back to back performances but making the final three would elude him for another year.

Another near miss for Josh

The votes:

They had the numbers...

 

Old tribal lines rule the day

Next time on Survivor:

- It will take a very steady hand to win the final immunity challenge!
- More final three deals and handshakes than sticks, marbles, and bottles combined!
- The jury is completed and the final three is set!