The Recap Report

[Marisa Calihan]

Recap Report
Round 1 Summary

"If anyone presumes I have fake boobs....I'M PRESSIN' CHARGES !"
~Amanda~

Ah, Tortuga, located in scenic... Hum. Mexico? Haiti?... Venezuela? Well, the where of Tortuga isn't quite as important in the long run so much as the what-- The fourth season of the JW Presents Survivor series! After all, what better location to play a game that emphasizes strategic, clever and cut-throat game play than a region once known for cutthroats and pirates of it's own?

Enough of the geography lesson, though. This season of survivor is set to be one of the most interesting yet-- From the eighteen castaways that set course for the game, for the first time yet, three tribes were formed at the start, rather than the usual two. Bossa, the all-male tribe in blue; Swan, the tribe of Green-buffed women; and Sparrow, the not-so-traditional mixed tribe, formed by the choices of the rejects of the other two, Adam and Amanda, whom are decked out in red. Quite an interesting twist-- but of course, when was the last time (Short of Palau) that someone voted out at the start of the game really left the game for good?... Silly survivors, that just wouldn't be good television! It's much more interesting for initial vote-outs to get to build their own third tribe, anyway.

Of course, as the number of tribes increases, the number of people in each tribe decreases proportionally; leaving each tribe with only six members to start with. And when it comes to smaller tribes, there are a few things you can bank on...

• One, that lines will be drawn in the sand rather quickly, to give some peace of mind to all those people nervous about being the one left on the outside of the alliance-- because even a small alliance is dangerous when three votes make up half the tribe.
  
  
• Two, tough choices are going to have to be made-- because eventually, unless your tribe manages to keep winning consistently, the list of 'expendable' players will just keep getting shorter and shorter.
  
  
• And Three... Any shuffles or mergers these castaways see will be even crazier than usual, with not two, but THREE tribes worth of strangers suddenly colliding at once.
  

Needless to say, social skills will be at their most vital this season. And, speaking of communication skill, the first immunity challenge did not disappoint in that regard! ... Aheh, unless of course you happen to be a member of the tribe that lost the challenge. Shortly after deciding their tribes, the castaways had to select two players per tribe to do the challenge. And in those roles, the players had to row a canoe in tandem, to retrieve a torch from a *Cough*Imaginary*Cough* boat, resting just off the island's coast. The first two tribes to do so won immunity, and the stragglers were sent to Tribal Council for a date with their charming host. Not quite dinner and a movie, but the life of a host is a busy one!

Now, as for the challenge itself, the first to shore... Were the lovely ladies of Swan. And then, the challenge was solely between Sparrow and Bossa; the manly men against, well... The other two tribes' leftovers. Now, looking at the challenge from this perspective, Bossa would seem to be favored to win, with the boys even in their canoe a full minute before the players of Sparrow. However, looks can be deceiving-- and, not only did Sparrow close the gap, but a five minute fumble in the boat courtesy of Charlie and Brady cost Bossa the challenge entirely!

And so, heading into tribal, the Bossa tribe- Aras, Bobby Jon, Brady, Charlie, Jeff, and Stephen- seemed to have an easy choice for them, with Stephen being the only member of the tribe to miss the challenge in its entirety. However... Once again, things were not quite what they seemed to be. Although wanting to target Charlie, Brady put it aside to strengthen the tribe by removing Stephen. ... While his other tribe mates put a rapidly formed alliance to the test, and targeted Brady himself. Opting to take their chances with the possible dead weight rather than an annoyance, Brady Finta was the first one forced to walk the plank by a 4-2 vote, with the only vote on his side being a self-vote from Stephen.

Hm! One round in, and we already have our first blindside! Poor Yasmin'll be so disappointed to see one of her gut-picks for success get shot down, well... Immediately. But, still... I'm happy to say, it looks like this season's living up to its locale, after all.

[Marisa Calihan]

Recap Report
Round 2 Summary

"Like, the more I talk to Ashley, the less I like her. That's probably not good..."
~Cirie~

Last time, on JW Presents: Survivor Tortuga... Oh, wait. Recapping a Recap is redundant. ... But what the hey! To refresh everyone's memories, after dividing into their new tribes, the eighteen players faced their first immunity challenge. Having lost the first challenge, the men of Bossa elected to send home outcast Brady over weak-link Stephen. Yet, despite the unity of the four-man alliance of Jeff, Aras, Bobby Jon, and Charlie against Brady, something deeper was stirring beneath the surface... Which we'll come back to later. Hah!

First things first, especially so in the mind of any survivor returning home from Tribal Council is, 'what is my next challenge'? Well, the second challenge, true to pirate form... Was a matching challenge. Because every good pirate needs a good memory, if they're ever gonna remember where the heck they buried their treasure in the first place! Anyway, the tribes took turns picking pairs of hidden items, out of a total of thirty items, making fifteen pairs. In order of their placement last challenge, Swan got first picks, followed by Sparrow, and Bossa taking up the rear, and then continuing in that loop.

Bossa had an early lead in their matches, but the competition quickly leveled out to an even playing field, until the final match was made... And all three tribes were tied, with five matches apiece. Ouch... Talk about tense. However, rather than some sort of new tie-challenge on the spot, or-- *Gasp* --all three tribes going to tribal council, the challenge continued on a... Reduced scale. Now running on ten items instead of thirty, with only five matches, at least one tribe was guaranteed to be a loser. And when the pressure trippled... Bossa failed to triple back, and had an unlucky loss; despite the tribe (minus Stephen) working together to keep track of potential pairings. And so, Bossa would be expecting tribal council... Again.

Now, rather than get complacent, the other two tribes have taken their free time to lay some strategic ground work. Within the Sparrow tribe, Adam has become the clear sixth wheel, and everyone-- including Adam himself-- knows it. Missing two challenges in a row, as well as the season premier, has painted a rather large target on the back of Adam's head, and he realizes that in order for him to survive, his tribe either has to continue winning, or something must dramaticaly change in him. Between the other five members of his tribe, the real power group could be in either the team of Ozzy, Tom, Amanda, and Candice, or the smaller women's group of Amanda, Candice, and Kim. Perhaps underestimating his female competition a tad more than he should, Ozzy considers the mixed foursome to be the clear better players of the tribe, specifically Tom and himself; while Candice's trust and relationships seem to lie more in the other women. Even in the mixed tribe, the season's divisive gender split-twist seems to hold true!

And speaking of women... The Swan tribe has been living high on the hog, after two successive victories. The morale seems to be high for them over all, but some players are still on their toes around camp. Monica and Sue seemed to be on a chopping block of their own; Monica for being a smaller presence in the tribe and Sue for being kind of... Well, weird. Ashley is pulling out alliances left and right, however, and seems to have secured a place in the tribe for herself, for now; having aligned with Debbie, Jenna, and Cirie, all as separate alliances. Though she distrusts Cirie, the feeling is mutual, so these two 'allies' may not stay together for long.

Meanwhile... On the other end of the island...

Within the JABC(Pronounced Jay-Bee-See) alliance, past the initial goal of a 'perfect final four', the individual members each have their own ulterior motives to attend to. while Aras remained confident in the strength of his alliance; Charlie, feeling on the outs of the four, attempted to forge stronger bonds with the others, especially with Aras himself, in an attempt to keep himself safe should the tribe lose again. And unbeknown to the other two, Jeff and Bobby Jon formed a Final 2 pact, considering the option of looping in Stephen as the last true outsider in their tribe, in order to take Aras himself out for seeming too crafty for his own good. So, while Aras and Charlie expected their alliance to drop Stephen when necessary, another possible blindside seemed ready in waiting...

Come time for Tribal Council, with the boys fidgeting and ready to go for elimination, one key factor was missing. ... Stephen. Stephen was given until 10:01PM to show up for the Tribal Council, under penalty of unanimous removal from the game. And come time, with an empty seat and a heavy hand, Stephen's torch was snuffed and he was removed from the game. ... No plank walk for you, stephen! Only the players that actually play get the old heave-ho. And so, with that, Stephen Fishbach was the second elimination of JW Presents: Survivor Tortuga. Leaving Bossa down to four tribe members... And a very interesting choice, should they be visiting Tribal Council again.

[Heidi "Torpedo Tits" Strobel]

This is AMAZING. Keep it up girl.

[Nick Stanbury]

Thanks Marisa! I can't see the Confessionals so I am clueless!

[Marisa Calihan]

Recap Report
Round 3 Summary

"So then the votes were being read and I was ready to shat myself."
~Jeff~

They say that familiarity breeds contempt. ... If that's true, by now, Bossa must be really contemptuous of Tribal Council. I guess it's natural-- especially when you lose two challenges in a row. With their morale lower than ever, Aras, Bobby Jon, Charlie, and Jeff returned from Tribal Council down to their core alliance, with all the excess trimmed from the tribe that they could. And, like it or not, the tribe was subtlely dividing itself from the original JABC alliance, into pairs. Jeff and Bobby Jon committed to one alliance, and Charlie hoping to do anything to keep himself safe; and seeing Aras as a useful tool to that aim. Through casual conversation, Charlie told Bobby Jon of his worries about the vote, from how much he hoped to stay, to a desire not to vote for Aras, if at all possible. On the way back to camp, Charlie talked Bobby Jon effectively into a corner-- deciding to go against either Charlie or Aras to their faces would make him a target, and from there the only option besides himself remained Jeff-- and so Bobby Jon had no visible option but to agree to a pact... Should Bossa lose again, they would vote out Jeff. But before that...

... Would come the castaways' third challenge! This one should be familiar to a lot of people: The old Over-Under Relay. Of course, this one had a twist... Cannons. Yes, Cannons! Sadly, the challenge didn't involve anyone being shot OUT of a cannon, but rather someone designated to fire one. Each tribe needed three players for the challenge, two to navigate the course, and one to fire the cannon each time the duo climbs over the hurdle. And the first two tribes to reach ten Cannon firings-- you guessed it-- won immunity! Of course, the catch being that both players within a pair must move in unison. Not just moving together before moving on, but having to move within the same minute as one another, as well. And of course, the cannon must be fired before the pairs can move on to go under the next logs. Aheheh... Sounds like a regular barrel of laughs, huh?

Anyway... The tribes all get off to a good start; Aras and Jeff, Debbie and Jenna, and Candice and Amanda with Bobby Jon, Ashley, and Kim as their Cannoneers, respectively. All three tribes leapt out the gate at 11:09, and as expected... There were some difficulties. Sparrow took to the challenge rather well, getting full over-under motions done within the same minute with ease from the start. Swan and Bossa, however, weren't so lucky. On Swan, Debbie and Jenna stumbled for several minutes straight before getting back into their rythem early on; and while Bossa kept pace well fromt he start, Jeff and Aras's communication issues were slowing them down, and giving them a few stumbling blocks of their own. However, in the end, the tribe that finished only about two minutes behind Sparrow was... Swan! ... Huh. Deja vu.

Back at the Sparrow tribe camp, Ozzy basked in the glory of their tribe, even without his help in the challenge. Finally reassured that the tribe wouldn't crumble without him doing 'all the work', Ozzy laid back to take it easy. Meanwhile, Candice celebrated the win-- and, more than that, the success of her main alliance, the women of the tribe. Though he may not realize it yet, Ozzy giving all the responsibility to the ladies this round may just show them how sufficient they are without him. Whoopsie! I don't think that was his goal!

Aaaaanyway... Touting their third consecutive loss, Bossa returned to camp to prepare for another Tribal Council. To himself, Aras blamed Jeff for their loss; despite his own poor internet connection and issue on the forum, he felt Jeff wasn't doing his job by telling Aras when to post-- and at times missing the mark on time himself, entirely. However, sensing a possible tie between the two pairs, Aras set to talk to him, and swing Jeff against his main ally, using the pact with himself and Charlie against Bobby Jon. Jeff agreed to the plan to vote against Bobby Jon in order to gain Aras' trust. ... And then proceeded to take the conversation Aras had shown him, where he'd confessed the entire plan to vote Jeff out and blamed it on Bobby Jon and Charlie... And show it to Bobby Jon and Charlie themselves. Once again, probably not the desired effect Aras was hoping for.

With Tribal Council rapidly approaching, it seemed pretty up in the air what would happen. Everyone expected something different; Charlie expecting to either tie or see Jeff leave; Aras expecting Jeff and himself to vote out Bobby Jon in order to prevent any possible tie; Bobby Jon expecting the others to be voting against Jeff; and Jeff hoping above all that Bobby Jon would stick with him. As the players were called up to vote one by one, Jeff passed Aras a faked vote-slip; pretending to have already given in a vote for Bobby Jon by altering what he'd actually submitted. Confident in his success at swaying Jeff, Aras voted against Bobby Jon himself. And in the end, the votes were read... One vote Jeff... One vote Bobby Jon... And two votes Charlie. By sticking together in the vote, and keeping to their Final two plan, Jeff and Bobby Jon kept themselves in the game another day. Meanwhile, Charlie Herschel took a long walk off a short pier, making him the season's third Elimination by a vote of 2-1-1. Well, that's three down-- tune in next round for a surprise in store for the players, as well as another elimination, and (Hopefully) not a fourth loss for the boys of Bossa!