RECAP: #SurvivorCambodia “Everyone Deserves Second Chances” [Episode 1]

Survivor Second Chances aka Survivor Cambodia starts out with Jeff talking about the former castaways making mistakes and losing a Million Dollars. The fans voted on who will get a second chance to play Survivor. During the finale of the last season, Jeff introduced us to who will play again. Some have waited over a decade. 20 former players who have only played once get another shot to win a Million Dollars.

Next Jeff introduces us to Cambodia. A country with it’s own stunning, powerful, and humbling history that stirs the emotions. It serves as a vivid reminder of how the past can haunt us. It’s here the castaways will seize their second chance.

First we meet Kelly Wiglesworth. She played on the very first season of Survivor. She almost won. (Flashback to the finale. Richard won by 1 vote) She says that’s why she’s doing this. It’s been poking at her for 15 years. (Little by Little) She says she’s much stronger, smarter, and she’s a mom now. She’s given birth. She can do anything.

Next we meet Andrew Savage from Pearl Island. He says he’s living the dream right now. He has a perfect life with a wife and kids. He has a great job. He doesn’t have any bad things in his life except Pearl Island. His exit has haunted him for 12 years. He’s not over it. To “cure his Survivor pain” he’s getting a second chance, and he’s putting 1000% of himself into the game.

Spencer Bledsoe is from Cagayan. He says last time he played he was cocky. He thought of Survivor in terms of Chess. He’s done some emotional growing since his season. People are not Chess pieces. They need to be related to on a human level. Being more mature, he feels he’s more emotionally ready to play the game.

Kimmi Kappenberg was on Survivor Australia. She feels like her experience was cut way short. She wants to have a second chance at her dream, and getting to the end. She talks about the Cambodian temples. It’s a metaphor for  Survivor. You can get damaged, but build yourself back up. 14 years is a long time to finish the last chapter in a long book.

Kelley Wentworth played on Survivor San Juan Sur. The last time she played was with her dad. She says playing with her dad was her downfall. She probably should’ve written his name down, but she can’t go back on it now. She wants to have a second chance. Make the moves she wants to make. She wants to play a better game.

Ciera Eastin (Blood vs. Water) says she messed up the first time around being scared. After she figured out she could socially make her way through the game she thought ok it’s time to make some moves. Unfortunately she had to start with voting her mom out. This time she wants to be fearless. She wants to be the person from the end of the game not the beginning. She wants to leave it all out on the island.

Tasha Fox was also on Cagayan. She says the first time she played she was nice Tasha. It was the least strategic game she’s ever played. She didn’t want her family or her church to be disappointed in how she played the game. She says when she returned home, her church members were saying she should’ve been more aggressive. She should have done some backstabbing. She’s there to win a Million dollars. After she wins she’ll pray for forgiveness. 

Jeff Varner says this means the World to him. He jumped off a pole in the Outback for some peanut butter, and gave away a Million dollars. To replay that for 14 years over and over does a number on you. This is his opportunity to rewrite his own story. He’s more mature. He’s smarter, and he’s not jumping off anything for peanut butter.

Joe Anglim was on last season. (Worlds Apart) He says growing up he would watch Survivor with his dad. It was really hard not getting his dad out here for the loved ones visit. It was something he wanted to do to prove he could make it that far in the game. He came up short, and it was devastating. This is his time to make it. Right now.

Any Survivor fan can’t forget Kass McQuillen. (Cagayan) She admits to being a trouble maker her season. Everyone has a little devil in them. (Flashback to the Tribal Council she flipped off a fellow Castaway.) She says the devil in her is somewhere deep within her. If she doesn’t change someone is going to take her down. She kind of likes her legacy. The only thing that needs to change is their perception of her. If she makes it to the merge all hell will break loose.

Abi Maria Gomes admits she made a lot of mistakes. (Survivor Philippines) She says she created a lot of trouble. That was a mistake. She threw coconut at someone’s head. That was a mistake. She was too blunt with a fellow castaway. She shouldn’t have done that. She has a second chance to come back and patch her little mistakes. “I like having fun. Villains have more fun.” 

Jeremy Collins (San Juan De Sur) says the last time he played, half of him was always with his wife. (Flashback to Jeremy sending his wife to Exile Island) He says it’s emotional, and he loves her. He cares about what she would do if he wasn’t focused. He was blindsided by his own alliance. He went home, and took it hard. He wants the money more for his wife. He’s back for some redemption.

Finally, all the castaways meet Jeff. All of them are in boats. Jeff welcomes them. He says it’s a unique season because they are all returning players who have only played once, and didn’t win. Another way of saying they failed in their goal, and they have been given a second chance to finish what they started. Rub it in a little more there Jeff. He says they have been voted in by the people who watched them play the first time. (Our Audience) He asks Ciera her feelings on that. How does it feel to know they were selected by the Survivor production team. The fans selected them to play again. She says there’s a level a pressure. You don’t want to let your family and America down. Jeff asks Jeff Varner about people maybe forgetting about him. He played 14 years ago. How often has he thought about playing again. Jeff Varner says a whole lot. Jeff says he can hear the butterflies in his voice. Jeff Varner says yes. There’s nervousness. There’s emotion. There’s a lot going on. He says Joe has played on the most recent season. It’s like going home, taking a shower, and coming back out. He fangirls out. He says he’s with all the great players he’s watched growing up. Players he based his game on. They paved the way for this game. He checks in with Kelly Wiglesworth. The first runner up 15 years ago. She says it’s weird hearing how long ago it was. Someone else chimes in with “We’re old man.” Jeff further rubs the salt in poor Kelly’s wounds by saying she lost by 1 vote. How often does she replay that tribal council? She says everyday.

Alright Jeff says it’s time to get going. 20 players from 30 seasons all there for a second chance. Inside their bags they will see a buff and a map to their camps. He names who’s on what tribe. On The Bayon Tribe- Joe, Jeremy, Ciera, Stephen, Tasha, Kimmi, Kass, Keith, Monica, and Andrew. On the Ta Keo Tribe- Vytas, Spencer, Terry, Abi-Maria, Woo, Peih-Gee, Shirin, Jeff, Kelly Wentworth, and Kelly Wiglesworth. Both tribes are named after famous temples.

On another boat, there are supplies that would make their camps more comfortable. When Jeff says go, they have to race off the boats they’re on to the boat with the supplies. They need to collect as many supplies as they can. There’s a twist. On another boat there’s 1 large bag of rice. The first person who gets to the boat wins it for their tribe. The dilemma is how much time to they spend collecting supplies, and when do they release their rafts and race to the boat with the rice on it. It’s their first challenge, and it begins now. Everyone dives into the water and swims to the boat to collect supplies. Jeff continues motivating them. Both tribes jump on their rafts and chop the rope to release it. It’s a race to the rice. Wiglesworth is swimming ahead of the raft. Ta Keo is off to a early lead while Bayon is struggling. Joe jumps into the water to catch up to Wiglesworth. Woo jumps into the water for Ta Keo and swims past Wiglesworth. He makes it to the boat first, and gets the bag of rice. Ta Keo gets a bag of rice on top of the supplies the already collected. Jeff sends them off to their camps. The game is on.

Woo sees their tribe flag. He says he wants to cry. He compares it to winning his first blackbelt. It’s honorable. Ta Keo gets to their camp, and brings in all their supplies. You have to love how awesome Woo is. Everyone hugs. Everyone meets officially. Kelly says seeing the beach reminded her of Borneo all over again. Kelly immediately thinks they should get to work on their camp. They start talking about building their shelter. Kelly says it’s important to her to stay useful around camp. It was clear to her who the workers were. Terry, Woo, Spencer, Kelly, and Vytas. She says when it starts raining and they need to stay dry hopefully they will remember Kelly helped build the shelter. She called herself “Old school Survivor.” Terry says it’s been awhile since he’s played. There’s a difference between old school and new school. Terry made Vytas honorary old school because of his brother. He says now the game immediately starts when you hit the beach. Old school days started with basic needs. Fire, and shelter. He says his social game has haunted him. He hears his wife nagging him about people wondering off by themselves. He has to make sure he gets into the social game because it’s a big part of Survivor. Spencer calls Terry “the backbone.” He’s the one who can get everything done. Terry tells Spencer his son is a Survivor fanatic. He wrote Terry a dossier on all the castaways this season. Terry says his son told him he needs to align with Spencer. He’s a good kid, solid, and loyal. Spencer thanks Terry’s kids for telling their dad to trust him. He doesn’t trust anyone. He’s going to do what’s best for him. Terry and Spencer talk more about being loyal to eachother. Spencer talks about how he wants to play different. Spencer says he’s a “new school player, but an every school fan.” It’s important to build relationships, and know what people are thinking. He wants to have more one-on-ones with people in the first three days. More than he had his last game total. Meanwhile Abi-Maria starts flipping out about losing her bag. Apparently it’s gone missing. It has her bracelets in them. Woo tries to help her out by offering her another bag. She says she wants HER bag. She describes what her prized bracelets look like. Abi says last time she played the game she let her emotions get the best of her. That was her downfall. She told herself this time she’s going to control her emotions, and her temper. She says it’s so hard not to pull out the fangs.

The Bayon Tribe is also working hard on their shelter. Ciera has hope. She says everyone is getting along, and it’s peaceful. She hopes by being out here a second time she can re-write her story. The girls are working hard on getting their camp together. Kimmi is all high spirits about being out there a second time. Keith says he didn’t know he was going to make the cut, but he’s happy to be there. Keith talks about his last time playing. He says he coasted along without an alliance. It got him to 4th place. 4th place is a hard thing to swallow. He’s not going to change a lot. He’s going to tweak a little bit. His second time will be a whole lot different. Jeremy and Keith talk about making a new start. He says he feels good. The last time they saw him as a threat, so he decided he needed to talk to Keith. Jeremy says he’s going to play more strategic this season. Jeremy starts trying to put an alliance together. Fishbach feels like fish out of water again. He tries to be helpful by cutting up wood. He says it could be the same narrative as last time. He’s super out of place then connects with someone. Then they go all the way to the end. Fishbach says he was destroyed at the end. He doesn’t want that to happen a second time. Fishbach says he doesn’t know how helpful he can be. He’s out of his element. Either he’s going to run the tribe, or overplay and burn out quickly.

Back to the Ta Keo tribe. Vytas talks about the last time he played. He was on a tribe full of women who were gunning for him.(Abi and Vytas tell eachother they’re happy to be on the same tribe) He got into their good graces. Some say he manipulated the women. He didn’t manipulate the women. He manipulated their perspective. That’s what Survivor is about. He’s good at that. Vytas asks Peih-Gee where she’s from. She says she’s from Hong Kong. Vytas says he had a friend from there who was very beautiful. She just laughs. He doesn’t want to be perceived as a manipulator. That could be considered a threat. Especially early on. He wants the women to think he’s a nice guy who helps out. They want to get to know him, and see what he’s about.

Shirin isn’t falling for Vytas’ act. She says he comes off slimy. (Both his last season and now) Shirin says she wants to lock down good people, and make an alliance. She doesn’t want to waste her second chance. Shirin goes to Jeff and Spencer to report how slimy she thinks Vytas is. She thinks Vytas and Terry are close, but they keep it on the DL. She talks about how many connections to the others Vytas has. (On both tribes) Jeff tells Shirin how observant she is. He has to become observant too. Get in the game. Jeff talks about Shirin going a mile a minute. He’s on a train going fast. He doesn’t care who’s driving it. Yes is his answer. Jeff says she’s going to fast for him. She needs to slow down. The train will only go as fast as the conductor will let it, and Shirin is hitting the gas! Jeff says last time he played, it was about adventure. Now it’s all strategy. He’s out of the loop. Is this how you play it now? Jeff says it’s a good time for him to play. He’ll be 50 next year. Most men go through mid life crisis. They by a corvette. They cheat on their wives. He goes on Survivor. It’s not a mid life crisis. It’s a mid life quest. The second half of his life begins with Survivor Second Chance.

FINALLY Abi-Maria finds her prized bracelet. Inside Peih-Gee’s bag. She says she doesn’t know what to think about that. At least she found her bracelet. Hallelujah we were going to hear about that all season! She saw Peih-Gee’s bag. She sticks her hand in there, and finds her bracelet. Ok ya’ll it’s not a diamond 50k bracelet. It’s a leather one with fake gold. Come on now. She tells Jeff it’s very interesting. Abi-Maria decides she needs to walk around and tell EVERYONE where she found her bracelet. She’s not going to say anything TO Peih-Gee about it. She thinks Peih-Gee was trying to awaken “The Brazilian Dragon.” She says she may want to go off on people, but she can’t. She has to keep her emotions intact. Peih-Gee decided she needed to straighten it out ASAP. She goes straight to Abi-Maria. She says there was a bag with no name on it. She grabbed it not realizing Abi’s prized bracelet was in it. Abi-Maria says she was giving her the benefit of the doubt. Peih-Gee says she knows Abi was looking for it. She wanted to straighten it all out. Peih-Gee says last time she played, she didn’t make the connections like she should’ve. Now she’s learned keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Everything is all good between them.

Bayon is trying to make fire. All the alpha males are gathered around watching Joe work at it. Kass says she was worried about getting voted back in because she flipped off someone. People know bringing her back will bring some fireworks. Some of the castaways have something to prove. Kass just wants to win. She doesn’t care how she does it. Stephen is off on his own. He told his tribemates he was looking for wood, but he’s also looking for the immunity idol. He says it’s a huge area. Lots of trees and swamps. He needs the idol or he needs to form solid relationships with his tribemates. He hopes the others don’t catch on how hard he’s looking for it. Back at camp, Joe gets a fire started. Everyone is so happy. Savage calls it incredible. He thinks it’s a good sign.

On Ta Keo island Vytas and I think Kelly Wiglesworth are doing a morning Yoga routine. Jeff is complaining about how fast the game is going. He can’t keep up with it. He says he’s trying to play hard without looking like he’s playing hard. Peih-Gee and Jeff agree. “The Shelter People vs. The Beach People.” Jeff says “The Shelter People” are “Old School.” They work hard. “The Beach People” or “New School” just take off on the beach and make alliances. He doesn’t want to turn on “The Shelter People” because he’s done both. He’s playing both sides. He doesn’t know what to do.

Kelley took on the job of collecting coconuts because it gives her a good chance to look for the Immunity Idol. She acts like she’s finding things to bring back to camp, but she’s secretly looking for the idol. Sneaky Sneaky. After looking around for awhile she finds something in one of the trees. It gives her a clue at where the idol might be. She has the chance of finding the immunity idol after their first immunity challenge. It requires her to be “daring.” During the middle of the challenge she has to put her raft on a certain spot, and the immunity idol will be there. Is she brave enough to do this in front of her tribemates? There’s a drawing of where it will be.

On Bayon island they got their first tree mail. The first challenge will be the first challenge ever on Survivor. “First Challenge ever done.” Kimmi says the first tree mail, and she’s getting butterflies in her stomach. Savage gives them a peptalk about being a team, and they have to work as a team.

Joe decided to teach a Yoga Class. Keith isn’t doing it. He says he gets up, drinks coffee, and goes to work like 99% of Americans. No one wants to see him do all kinds of bending and all that. Joe’s a pretty boy with a free spirit. Yeah great. Help around camp. He’s willing to chop stuff, but no Yoga for Keith. Tasha called it “JOEga.” She found it hard to concentrate because of Joe. She feels like they are in a good spot to win this challenge. She’s excited.

Ta Keo has the same idea as Bayon. Vytas teaches Shirin some Yoga moves. Shirin calls him over the top. She tries everything Vytas is teaching her while her tribemates giggle in the backround. She thinks Vytas is flirting with her. She says it’s not sexy in any way. She calls him a bug. She wants him to go away. She wants Vytas gone. He annoys her. Vytas says Abi is a tough person to deal with. She gets annoyed easily. He wouldn’t be surprised if she was whispering about getting him out. He has to make sure he doesn’t get too comfortable. That was his mistake last time he played.  Terry talks about getting Abi out first. Vytas says Abi would be easy to get rid of because no one likes her. If everyone agrees Abi has to go, he has to go along with it.

Immunity Challenge time! Jeff returns. Both tribes will race out to a raft, and light a torch. They will use that torch to set a series of fires. They will make their way to a stand where they will place their raft. One person will use a long pole to retrieve a key. First person to open their gate, and light the final torch wins immunity. They are also playing for reward. The reward is a Survivor fire making kit. This is the very first challenge on the very first season. He reminds Kelly Wiglesworth she was there, and she lost. Losers go to the very first Tribal Council. He gives them a minute to strategize before they begin. Ta Keo has all their fires light first. Kelly Wiglesworth starts putting her pole together. It has to be strong enough to retrieve the key. Her pole is too short, so she had to go back and make it longer. Bayon catches up and wins the very first immunity challenge/reward. Ta Keo is going to Tribal Council.

Jeff meets Ta Keo at Tribal Council. Jeff asks them how it feels to lose the Immunity Challenge after the fans for them to return and get a second chance. Spencer feels like you let down your friends and family. You also let down everyone who wanted you to have the second chance. Jeff asks Woo about the differences in how people are playing the game. Woo says there’s a division between the old school and new school way of playing the game. Terry talks about the social aspect of playing the game. Jeff asks Peih-Ghee about playing a different way from the first time. She talks about learning from past mistakes. Can she correct them? Abi also talks about learning from mistakes. Vytas says enough people have talked. They know where they stand. The voting happens. The very first person voted off Survivor Cambodia is Vytas! He says there’s no hard feelings.

Well, the game has started. Vytas was the first to go. Who will be next? Tune in next Wednesday to find out. 

 

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