The existence of Redemption Island means that the Survivors have less to lose week-to-week. Because there’s even the smallest chance of getting back into the game somewhere down the line, they’re not as afraid of being voted out. As a result, we get reckless moves that sound exciting on paper (“The Survivors draw rocks for the first time since season four!”), but really don’t have much of an impact. With a safety net in place, are Ciera’s daredevil antics actually that daring?

After Hayden and Caleb’s coup failed last week, Hayden went from being in a safe place to being dead last. Coming into this week’s episode, he had nothing left to lose. He calls out Tyson as the obvious winner, telling the rest of the tribe to wake up. They don’t stand a chance against him in the final three, so they better learn to be happy with second place. Gervase is not happy with that assessment, quickly jumping up to expose the truth: Tyson has actually been his puppet all season!

READ MORE: 'Survivor: Blood vs. Water' Recap: Episode 10

At the Redemption Island Arena, Tina, Laura M, and Caleb compete to build an eight-foot tall house of cards. Laura easily wins her umpteenth Duel, reaching eight feet before either Tina or Caleb have made it half way. The other two don’t even come close and end up racing to have the tallest tower before time runs out. Tina panics and looks to be doomed until Caleb’s tower crumbles at the last second, costing him the game. None of the other Survivors (I’m guessing the same could also be said of viewers) are sad to see him go, but they’re not all that happy about it either. It’s an unremarkable exit from an unremarkable player.

Ciera once again gets the clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol from her mom, but—knowing that Tyson’s Idol is out of play—she decides not to burn it in hopes that there’s a new one to find. Learning from John’s mistakes, she decides to share the clue with her entire alliance to avoid suspicion. Unfortunately, this just leads to Tyson once again finding the Idol for himself.

The Immunity Challenge sees the Survivors balancing a ball atop an increasingly long pole as they navigate an obstacle course. Monica’s laser focus sets her off to an early lead. In contrast, Katie is predictably terrible. She takes not one, but TWO balls to the head (which is only funny because she’s dropping them on herself). The second part of the challenge is knocking over poles with a set of sandbags. Here, Monica stumbles and allows Gervase to steal Immunity right out from under her.

Hayden was counting on immunity to keep him in the game, so all he has left is a noncommittal agreement from Gervase before the Immunity Challenge that if he can get Ciera to vote against Tyson, he will too. In the time between the challenge and Tribal Council, Ciera isn’t convinced. She feels safe in her alliance with Gervase, Tyson and Monica. There’s nothing for her to gain by changing her vote.

However, the game changes for Ciera at Tribal Council. Gervase seems to have since doubled-down on his commitment to being Tyson’s sidekick (this guy is all over the place this week), and goes on and on about the returning players sticking together. This ruffles (rustles? Russels? I don’t think Hayden and Tyson ever found agreement on which was correct) Ciera’s feathers. It dawns on her that she’s gunning for fourth place by sticking with her current alliance. If she votes with Hayden and Katie, the worst she could do is third.

Tribal Council becomes a battle for Ciera’s vote. Hayden argues that she needs a big move to convince the jury that she deserves to win. Tyson argues that Hayden and Katie are the reason her mom was voted out (the second time). Gervase argues that coming in fourth place to an honest group of people is better than coming in third to a bunch of liars (Cue jury laughter).

In the end Ciera votes with Hayden and Tyson, even recommitting herself upon revote after a 3-3 tie between Hayden and Monica. At this point, Jeff gives the Survivors a chance to break deadlock. If Ciera, Tyson, Gervase and Katie can unanimously choose one person to vote out, they won’t have to proceed to a tiebreaker. At this stage of the game, the tiebreaker is drawing colored rocks from a bag. In this scenario, Hayden and Monica become safe and one of the other four is randomly sent to Redemption Island.

Ciera knows that even if she’s the one sent to Redemption Island, she has a better shot of returning than she does of making it to the final three with her current alliance. She stays the course and tells Jeff to get the bag of rocks, they’re going to draw. Hayden, Monica and Gervase (who won immunity) are safe and either Katie, Ciera or Tyson is going to Redemption Island.

Katie draws the white rock, meaning she’s the one leaving. Ciera has traded safety for trouble, while Hayden and Tyson are left in the same spot they were in a week ago.

What did you think of this week’s episode? Did Ciera make a huge mistake? Can anyone stop Tyson? Will Tina throw the Duel for her daughter?

 

Reach staff reporter Reid Nakamura here.