We start out tonight's episode coming back from last week's Tribal Council where Hali was voted off, and there's...something crawling on the beach - wait, it's a sloth! It's adorable! Can we spend an hour watching that instead of these people? That would be awesome.
And to prove my point, Dan obnoxiously has to point out to Shirin the difference between a flip and a blindside. Shirin knows that she's on the bottom, and she's scrambling to stay in the game.
Now that Hali's gone, Jenn seems to have lost the will to play the game. Suck it up, buttercup; it's a game for a million dollars, and there's only 10 days left.
Shirin goes to Mike for a new alliance; she must really be scrambling. Mike is willing to entertain the idea, mostly because no one would suspect him of it. She suggests getting rid of Carolyn, because they know she's working with Rodney, but she's not a part of the Blue Collar tribe.
Reward Challenge time! This week it's an obstacle course, but it's on water. That's totally different, guys. The players are divided into two teams, and the reward is a product-placed smorgasbord of chocolate. They are all given one piece of candy-coated chocolate that happens to have a letter of the alphabet on it (what, they aren't paying me any money to mention them by name).
Blue team is Mike, Tyler, Shirin, Sierra and Dan, and the Red team is Rodney, Carolyn, Jenn, Will and Joe. Mike and Rodney are first up, and they are giving this their all - I guess that piece of chocolate really was motivating. They end pretty even. Will and Dan are up next, and both are super awkward, but Dan makes it just a little bit ahead. Carolyn falls twice on the balance beam, causing Red to fall even further behind, lifeguard makes it up and then some, and then Shirin falls on the balance beam for Blue. This is not going to endear her to anyone on her team.
Red is the first to start using a grappling hook to pick up rings. Blue catches up and is the first to snag a ring. They go back and forth a bit, but Mike proves to be awesome at the grappling hook, and the Blue team wins the challenge.
Jeff talks to the players after the challenge. Mike, not surprisingly, is super happy. Jenn is not and is super whiny about it. Joe (also on a losing team) states for the record that he's still happy to be here, and he knew what he was signing up for. I think Joe is losing patience with whiny Jen.
Blue team goes on their reward, and it's product-placed chocolate everywhere. It looks like there's also popcorn and drinks.
Back at camp, the losers decide to slaughter a chicken. Maybe not the best idea when half the tribe isn't there. Jenn is upset because she considers the chickens "hers" and they went and killed it without asking her. Whatever, Jenn.
Rodney imitates Mike and Dan, and he actually does a really good job. Jenn even laughs. Joe recognizes that there's a part of Rodney that can't stand Mike, and he sees it as a strategic opportunity. I think Joe is way too much of a threat for that to work. He'd better keep winning immunity.
They get Treemail, and we have to listen to Dan's smarmy reading of it. They are advised to "keep on their toes" which usually means some kind of endurance challenge, but we'll have to see.
Joe and Jenn do yoga on the beach, and while she knows she might go home, she wants to make sure she does. She promised Joe that she'll give him Immunity if she wins. We'll see what happens if she actually gets that necklace around her neck.
Immunity Challenge time! They have to balance on their toes with a block of wood wedged on the top of their head. Lose your balance and you're out. Oh man, that totally looks like it sucks. I guess they were sick of the endurance challenges taking a long time, because I don't think this is going to take very long.
And sure enough, Carolyn, Will and Shirin are out in a couple of minutes. Rodney is next, followed by Dan. Joe wobbles for quite a while and is having to do funky things with his head to stay in it, but he does. Sierra is out next, but then Joe finally falters and drops.
Only Jen, Tyler and Mike are left. Mike is shaking like crazy, and so is Tyler. Jenn is rock solid. Mike falls, and only Jenn and Tyler are left. They make it to 30 minutes, which is absolutely crazy. They are both shaking, but it's Jenn who falters first, and Tyler wins Immunity.
So now Jenn's plan is to find some way to get everybody to vote for her instead of Joe, because she doesn't want to play anymore, and she knows everyone will be gunning for Joe.
Shirin, Joe and Jenn talk about it, and Shirin runs the numbers - if both Joe and Shirin also vote for Jenn, then Jenn will go home and Joe will live to fight another day.
Mike goes to Shirin, and apparently Mike has realized that Jenn might go home as well. He tells her that if she votes for Joe, she will be going to the final four. So I guess Shirin will be the swing vote?
Joe tries to talk to Dan, and Dan flat out tells him that there's nothing he can do. Joe runs off and makes a fake Idol, trying to convince them that he has one. He's very crafty - it actually looks pretty good. I forgot he makes jewelry.
He tells Mike about it and offers to give him his Immunity Idol. Uh, if he actually had one, wouldn't he just use it instead of offering to Mike? I mean really.
Tribal Council time! Jeff asks Jenn whether she wants to stay in the game or not. She admits that she likes some parts, and other parts make her want to go home. She admits that she would have given the Idol to Joe. Jeff asks her why she doesn't do the "No Collar thing" and quit, but she's adamant that she's not a quitter. Good for you, Jenn. I actually respect you for that.
And I guess Joe gave the Idol to Mike before Tribal after all, because Mike asks if Jeff can verify if it's an actual Idol, which Jeff says he can't do until someone tries to use it. Tricky!
Voting time! We see Tyler vote for Jenn, and he wins me over a little by saying "I have no idea what's going on" as he does so. We also see Rodney vote for Joe (which must be from Jenn), and he's equally as confused as Tyler. Joe votes for Jenn, but we don't see who Shirin votes for.
Jeff tallies the votes, and Mike tries to redeem the fake Idol (for Will, apparently) and Jeff confirms that it's a fake. The votes come down 4-4 for Joe and Jenn, with a random vote for Dan thrown in. The last vote is for Joe, and the golden boy is voted out and the second member of the jury.
Next week: Will freaks out on Shirin, and Rodney and Mike must finally have had enough of each other.