Survivor Results Recap: When Brawn, Brains, & Beauty Collide

Tonight on the Survivor 2014 premiere we’ll kick off Season 28 as eighteen new castaways hit the beach and compete for one million dollars and the title of Sole Survivor.

Survivor 2014 Cagayan - Episode 01 - 02
Survivor 2014 Cagayan – Episode 01 – Source: CBS

The three tribes arrive by three different methods. First up we’ve got the Brawn tribe, Aparri, coming in on a rough, old truck. It’s not a comfy ride, says Jeff, and they’ve been on the road for awhile.

Next we’ve got the Beauty tribe, Solana, and they’re doing it in style. The women on the Beauty tribe are sitting up front, wind blowing through their hair, and making the whole thing look good. Aparri is sure to make note of this entrance.

Oh but then we’ve got the Brains tribe, Luzon. They’re outdoing everyone else by landing in a helicopter like a bunch of helicopter riding smarty pants. *shakes fist in air*

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First things first. Jeff introduces the Survivor tribes and offers up a new twist. He earlier described this choice as selfishness vs selflessness. Each tribe picks a player to be their representative.

Solana picks LJ. Aparri nominates Sarah. Luzon goes with David.

The leader immediately has to select the “weakest” player on their team. LJ identifies Morgan as Solana’s weakest. Sarah picks Trish on Aparri. David nominates Garrett and says it was a down-the-road strategy.

Jeff explains those three will chopper back ahead of their respective tribes and face a decision. This now sets the worry on the shoulders of the remaining five players and gives the power to the “voted out” castaways.

Garrett arrives at Luzon’s tribe and discovers he can either give his tribe a second bag of rice or take an Immunity Idol clue for himself. No brainer, says Garrett, who immediately takes the clue and goes hunting. Trish decides to help her tribe with extra rice. Morgan goes solo and takes the clue for herself.

In his search Garrett comes up empty, but he keeps searching and sure enough there it is underwater by the waterfall. Good for Garrett. Bad for David.

Morgan is still out looking for the Idol when the rest of Solana shows up so she hightails it back to camp out of fear. Then she decides to lie and say her “pick” was for the camp building gear. Smart move.

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Trish tells Aparri about the rice vs Idol decision and everyone celebrates her choice that helps them out with an extra bag of rice. That really is huge.

Oh Luzon. Head butting mixed with big heads is fun for us, not for them. J’Tia is calling the shots and coming off as “bossy” to the other players as she “barks orders,” according to David, but doesn’t actually do anything. Early target here if they don’t do well.

Immunity Challenge #1:

Immunity is up for grabs! It’s the first challenge of the season so let’s see how they do.

Players move a cart along an obstacle course, collect chests, get the chests to the end where they’ll be assembling the puzzle. Looks fun, but tough, of course.

First team to finish gets Immunity plus a big set of kindling. Second place team gets a flint rock. Last place gets a free trip to Tribal Council.

All three tribes start out pretty even with Brains are just a touch behind the other two. Aparri starts to take a decent lead as they arrive at the next milestone.

Brawn is through the barricade while the Brains is falling apart at the challenge. Beauty is catching up. Brains have a long way to go, but we’re now at the puzzle portion.

Jeff actually says this is one of the “worst” out of the gate performance he’s seen ever in the history of Survivor. Ouch.

This challenge is coming down to Beauty vs Brawn and there’s just a few pieces left… Beauty wins! Wow. They really surprised me! Brawn gets second to earn safety and flint. Luzon, the Brains, are heading to Tribal Council where one of them will be voted out.

Lots of chatter back at the Luzon camp. Kass and David agree on J’Tia though David wants Garrett out. Garrett rallies the others to get out David. Let’s see which plan works.

Tribal Council #1:

Lots of back and forth between David and J’Tia at Tribal Council. I’m still expecting J’Tia to be on her way out when Jeff tallies the votes.

Votes are revealed: J’Tia, David, J’Tia, David, David, & David… Aww snap. They fooled me!

David Samson is voted off Survivor 2014 tonight.

Before we get to the next challenge there’s plenty of time for camp drama. Brice doesn’t like the girls using their bodies to flirt with the guys and he’s on to them. Then we’ve got Trish and Lindsey going at each other. Oh and Tony is out to get Cliff. Craziness everywhere.

Immunity Challenge #2:

Castaways dash out in to the water, climb over into a bamboo cage, and untie knots to collect puzzle pieces deep underwater. Back on the beach other players will assemble the very complicated puzzle.

Winner gets Immunity plus a great big fishing kit. Second place gets Immunity and a small fishing kit. Loser gets a date with Jeff.

Brawn is leading the way while Brains are catching up after being the slowest to their cage. Now the Brains are winning with Beauty way back behind.

Everyone looks exhausted. Brains are working through the puzzle. Brawn is taking apart their crates. Beauty is way, way, way back.

Sarah, Aparri (Brawn), is tearing it up and has just one piece left… yep, she’s got Immunity and the big win. Brains are crumbling as the Beauty tribe is catching up and quickly passing by J’Tia’s slow, slow puzzle progress.

Wow, wow, wow. Beauty blows past Brains who had started first at the puzzle. Luzon (Brains) lose the challenge and head back to Tribal Council. If J’Tia doesn’t go after her terrible performance then I’ll be shocked (I’m about to be shocked, aren’t I?).

Back at the Aparri camp Tony gets an idea to hunt for a clue in their luxury win basket. Sure enough there’s a clue and sure enough he sets off hunting and finds the Idol deep in the pond. Tony plans to keep this find a secret.

Luzon decides to put it out in front of everyone and they decide to vote J’Tia. That doesn’t go over well with the Tasha who wants to discuss these plans but Garrett says no-no. Now Tasha is pulling Kass off to the side to flip her vote. I’m guessing that wouldn’t take much work on her part to be convinced.

Ohhhh nooo! J’Tia just flipped their rice bag out on the fire. That was so dumb! Why do players do that?? Well so much for saving her Survivor butt.

Tribal Council #2:

Luzon arrives at Tribal Council to inevitably vote out J’Tia. J’Tia admits she made a bad decision with the rice. Tasha says she was trying to avoid this sort of situation by having the private discussions. That was smart of Tasha and not-so-smart of Garrett.

It’s time to vote and I can’t wait to see what happens.

Jeff tallies the votes: J’Tia, Garrett, J’Tia, Garrett, & Garrett.

Garrett is voted out of Survivor Cagayan with a Hidden Immunity Idol in his possession. Ouch!

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