Survivor Tocantins: Week 5 "Spencer Outed!"

This week, the secret 4 alliance continued their plans for world domination, scapping up the second and final hidden immunity idol. Taj, Sierra, and Brendan seem to be totally committed to the plan, while Stephen admits to us that he's keeping options open. In other words, he'll go along as long as it makes the most sense for him to do so.

Taj proved that she might not be the best strategist, allowing Stephen to hold onto the hidden idol (because he has pockets?), and then shouting at her tribemates for an immunity loss in which she played a prominent role. But she survived the week, and now we're drawing very close to the merge, so bouncing her based on a lack of physical toughness no longer seems likely.

The challenges were lots of fun. The first one was creative and new, involving tribe members being spun to the point of dizziness, and then racing across balance beams. The immunity challenge is one we've seen before, in which some tribe members launch balls into the group, while everyone else tries to catch the balls in their nets. The challenge would have been boring but for a heroic, doomed, effort by JT in which he lost both immunity and half a tooth. He scornfully threw his tooth into the mud, leading Jeff Probst to call a bemused tooth-hunting timeout. Once again, "Coach," who can't bear to share the same space with people who don't win, disappeared during both challenges and contributed absolutely nothing.

In other news of note, the wily and willy-waving Tyson's sense of paranoia kicked in, and he is sniffing around the way that Brendan is interacting with people from the other tribe. We'll see if this bears fruit in time to stop the secret foursome from dominating the game.

In the end, Spencer was voted out, and it seems like his biggest flaw was just that he didn't mesh in with his tribemates. JT yelled at him for not contributing during the challenge, and Spencer told us that he didn't come out to his tribemates as gay because he thought it might hurt him in the game. Spencer had one of the shortest, non-eventful storylines in Survivor history, but outside of the game, he has made some headlines as the boyfriend of Todd Herzog, who walked away from a previous season with the million dollar prize and the title of Ultimate Survivor. So I'm sure Spencer's not losing any sleep over being voted off. He may not have won, but he's rolling in the hay with a winner, and maybe that's good enough.




The Pool:

Hope this isn't too confusing! You're seeing the scores in this format:
Current Score (+ Starting Points for Second Prediction Set, +/- Spencer Boot in First Set, +/- Spencer Boot in Second Set, + Immunity Pick Bonus) . So, the first number is your actual score, and everything that comes after shows what affected it this week.

1st: Matt 295 (+200, +5, -8, +12)
2nd: Carl: 291 (+200, -7, -8, +0)
3rd: Paul 282 (+200, -11, -20, +12)
4th: Kim 278 (+200, -4, -6, +0)
5th: Stats 278(+200, -2, -8, +0)
6th: Dawn 275 (+200, -6, -6, +0)
7th: Brian 270 (+200, -2, -12, +12)
8th: Mike 265 (+200, -5, -14, +0)
9th: Mom 254 (+200, -6, -16, +0)

I jumped up from 6th place into first this week, powered by accurately predicting both Spencer's ouster (in my first set), plus Timbira's immunity win. My gain is Carl's loss, as he relinquishes the lead for the first time in a couple of weeks, although he is only four points down. The other big mover this week was Brian, who jumped out of the cellar for the first time since the pool began. He's climbed up to seventh place, while Mom is languishing in last.

Please send me your IP for next week's episode: Jalapao or Timbira!

Good luck, everyone!

For those of you keeping score, everyone's second set of picks is below:

Carl:

12th: Erinn
11th: Debra
10th: Coach
9th: Tyson
8th: SPENCER
7th: Joe
6th: Sydney
5th: Sierra
4th: JT
3rd: Stephen
2nd: Taj
1st: Brendan


Mom:

12th: Coach
11th: Erinn
10th: JT
9th: Joe
8th: Brenda
7th: Debra
6th: Sydney
5th: Tyson
4th: SPENCER
3rd: Sierra
2nd: Stephen
1st: Taj


Matt:

12th: Sydney
11th: Debra
10th: Coach
9th: JT
8th: SPENCER
7th: Tyson
6th: Joe
5th: Erinn
4th: Taj
3rd: Sierra
2nd: Brendan
1st: Stephen


Dawn:

12th: Erinn
11th: Sydney
10th: Coach
9th: SPENCER
8th: Debra
7th: JT
6th: Tyson
5th: Sierra
4th: Joe
3rd: Stephen
2nd: Taj
1st: Brendan


Brian:

12th: Brendan
11th: Coach
10th: Debra
9th: Taj
8th: Sydney
7th: Stephen
6th: SPENCER
5th: Sierra
4th: Joe
3rd: Erinn
2nd: Tyson
1st: JT


Kim:

12th: Debra
11th: Joe
10th: Coach
9th: SPENCER
8th: JT
7th: Erinn
6th: Sydney
5th: Brendan
4th: Stephen
3rd: Sierra
2nd: Tyson
1st: Taj


Paul:

12th: Debra
11th: Tyson
10th: Joe
9th: JT
8th: Stephen
7th: Sydney
6th: Coach
5th: Erinn
4th: Taj
3rd: Stephen
2nd: SPENCER
1st: Brendan


Mike:

12th: Taj
11th: Joe
10th: Coach
9th: Stephen
8th: Tyson
7th: Brendan
6th: JT
5th: SPENCER
4th: Erinn
3rd: Debra
2nd: Sierra
1st: Sydney


Stats:

12th: Sydney
11th: Sierra
10th: Debra
9th: Erinn
8th: SPENCER
7th: JT
6th: Brendan
5th: Tyson
4th: Stephen
3rd: Coach
2nd: Joe
1st: Taj