'Survivor Cambodia' second-chance recap: week 3

Oh Survivor… this is your 31st season, and you show no signs of slowing down. Every episode is just as exciting as when you first premiered!

With that being said, let’s recap: Last week Spencer was given a new lease on life after his tribemates voted out Shirin on the condition that Spencer focus on making connections instead of strategizing. Having established a new group harmony, Ta Keo walked into what it thought was an immunity challenge ready to prove it was a solid unit. Unfortunately, that no longer mattered since the tribes were switched up. Oh, and instead of it being just two groups, the contestants were split up into three because why not complicate things even further?

Here’s a breakdown of the new tribes:

Angkor

Abi-Maria Gomes (formerly of Ta Keo)

Andrew Savage (formerly of Bayon)

Jeff Varner (formerly of Ta Keo)

Peih-Gee Law (formerly of Ta Keo)

Tasha Fox (formerly of Bayon)

Woo Hwang (formerly of Ta Keo)

Bayon

Jeremy Collins (formerly of Bayon)

Kelly Wiglesworth (formerly of Ta Keo)

Kimmie Kappenberg (formerly of Bayon)

Monica Padilla (formerly of Bayon)

Spencer Bledsoe (formerly of Ta Keo)

Stephen Fishbach (formerly of Bayon)

Ta Keo

Ciera Eastin (formerly of Bayon)

Joe Anglim (formerly of Bayon)

Kass McQuillen (formerly of Bayon)

Keith Nale (formerly of Bayon)

Kelley Wentworth (formerly of Ta Keo)

Terry Deitz (formerly of Ta Keo)

Bayon and Ta Keo went back to their respective beaches, with the former Ta Keo members at a bit of a disadvantage since they were outnumbered by the former Bayon members. Sure, there’s always the chance that the former Bayon members can adapt and form new alliances, but Survivor is a numbers game, and two can’t beat four. Or can it?

The newly created Angkor tribe arrived at their new beach forced to start over as if it were Day 1. Shelter, fire, food, the whole nine yards. And on top of that, Savage and Tasha found themselves in a spot since there were in the minority against the former Ta Keo members. Rather than give up though, the two went to work to find any possible cracks between Abi, Varner, Peih-Gee, and Woo’s foursome. Let’s just say they didn’t have to try that hard.

Following Angkor’s loss at the immunity challenge, an incident occurred that I still don’t quite understand the reasoning behind. It all started when Varner tried to mouth something to Wiglesworth on another team. It looked like he said “Monica,” but whatever it was, Tasha saw it, tried to break up the rest of the communication and called him a “rat.” That prompted Varner to tell host Jeff Probst that Tasha herself was a rat who ran around camp making deals with everyone. Naturally, this led to a classic Woo moment of dumbfounded disbelief when he learned he was once again out of the loop.

Thus, when they finally got back to camp, it seemed Varner would be the one voted out. Savage and Tasha made their pitch to Abi, Woo, and Peih-Gee, but when the three of them tried to come to a consensus, past tensions between Abi and Peih-Gee resurfaced. That’s when Peih-Gee changed her mind and decided she wanted Abi out instead. When she asked Savage and Tasha to help her, they could only laugh at the absurdity of the situation. Why would you give up an alliance where you have the numbers, only to side with the minority?

In any case, when Savage and Tasha told Abi about Peih-Gee’s outburst, the three agreed that Peih-Gee would go before Varner. When Abi approached Varner with this latest plan, he was so relieved he wasn’t the target that he probably would have voted out his own family member, if he had to.

Tribal was intense right up until the votes were read. What should have been a no-brainer vote to get rid of the former Bayon members ended in a blindside for poor Peih-Gee and her ally, Woo.

Other highlights included:

• Spencer sharing his “feelings” with Jeremy… in a story about not having told his girlfriend that he loves her.
• Kass being unnaturally pleasant. I’m sure the woman isn’t as evil as she portrayed herself to be in her original season, but still… this tamed version has me worried about what’s to come.
• Jeremy finding a hidden immunity idol during the immunity challenge, no less!
• Previews of next week’s blindfold challenge promises it’ll be a good one!

What did you think of tonight’s episode? Any thoughts about what’s to come?