They may not have been any contestant on “Survivor” called out, cussed and given the finger as much as Brad Culpepper, the NFL star leading the losingest tribe on season 27’s “Blood vs. Water.”
It’s almost rote for Candice to flip him the bird as she enters the Redemption Island arena each week. She was particularly emphatic this week since it was her husband, John, who had been the latest to be blindsided by the guy.
Brad is in an odd position. The Tadhana team of loved ones is supposed to be full of the inexperienced, probably weaker half of the loved ones, so Culpepper, used to some fame and playing on a big battlefield, is the exception.
And it’s true he’s been kind of a deceptive leader who calls all the shots of his Tadhana tribe that has yet to win a single challenge. He even has the word Judge tattooed on a bicep.
But by now, his wife Monica, the returning “Survivor” player of the couple on the Galang tribe, is starting to get ticked off at all of this thrown at her husband and tries to defend him. Other people had to vote these people off, she says.
John says he was lied to by Brad all along and people should think about “kicking the king off his throne.”
Brad’s defense: “He was wrong to trust me.”
In the Redemption Island challenge that mostly involves solving a puzzle, John comes in first, his wife Candice is second and Marissa, who was first to be voted out at a tribal council, came in last and has to go home. The winning couple get to spend some quality alone time together on Redemption Island.
First, John, as winner, gets to choose to whom to give a secret immunity idol clue. Because his wife had won twice before, he had been the recipient, and those two clues (which had added up to nothing; he never found it) put a target on John’s back, even though he told Brad all the info.
Now, in order to place a similar target, Candice has a suggestion: “Give it to Monica.”
“Does she always tell you what to do?” Jeff Probst asks.
(It is a marriage after all).
Monica gets the clue. But her husband has his own suggestion. “Walk it down and put it in the fire,” Brad says, even though he’s on the other tribe. She does just that.
“That is the first time has ever happened,” Probst says, regarding a burned idol clue.
“Doin’ what she’s told!” says Candice.
Then it’s time for the overall immunity challenge. Tyson makes a big deal of taking part with one arm in a sling from popping his shoulder out last week, figuring he’s still stronger than most people on his team. Of course, he also says he’s been faking it at camp to get out of work and to earn sympathy. Also, he and Gervase have been stealing and draining coconuts and not sharing with their tribe all along — a two man jerk alliance.
The challenge involves a boat, knots and more puzzle pieces. Seems like a lot of challenges this season are puzzles.
Because they’re better in a boat, Tadhana gets an early lead, before the large crates they’re picking up start to spill into the water. Once more Laura is up against her daughter on the final puzzle and once more, mom wins big. It’s Galang’s fourth consecutive win to Tadhana’s zero.
And it’s pretty devastating. “We lost to a one armed due and three moms,” Hayden laments.
So the loved ones will take the familiar walk to tribal. Brad, starting to feel sensitive about being accused of calling the shots and voting out loved ones as a way to target returning players, considers Caleb, another member of his supposed men’s alliance. Since his loved one Colton up and quit last week, Caleb’s ouster wouldn’t have ramifications on Galang and the heat will be off, Brad figures.
On the other hand, Ciera blew the puzzle for a second time, and how long can the two remaining women Ciera and Katie, weaklings both, last?
It’s either Caleb or Ciera as they walk to tribal, but once there Caleb calmly says that he’ll be writing down Brad’s name — the first time that idea came up this week (or the first we’re seeing it in the episode). That gives enough people ideas to make the final vote split 3-3 between Ciera (Brad’s final choice), and Brad.
To break the tie, everybody but Ciera and Brad have to vote again and Hayden, changing his mind and crossing out names twice, is the only one to vote Ciera.
Brad walks off looking like he’s the only one not surprised by this. I’m not mad at you, he says to Caleb and the whole tribe. He really doesn’t want to have anybody flip him the bird any more.
Probst says it’s the one of the most shocking votes on the show and represents one of the biggest shifts of power. He’s overplaying it. Plus he’s not considering the motley crew that’s left. Caleb suddenly imagines himself kingmaker in previews for next week. But the real fireworks might come at Redemption Island, where both Candice and John will be awaiting him.