Survivor Nicaragua Episode 9 Recap: The Madness of Marty

Survivor Nicaragua just keeps getting more interesting as each episode airs. Last night the irascible Marty Piombo continued his quest to rid the tribe of Jane Bright, the 55 year old North Carolina native who quickly joined forces and bonded with the younger tribe after the two groups merged. Marty and Jane have had a hate-hate relationship since the beginning of this season. Seeing Jane as the biggest threat to everyone in the game, Marty has done his damnedest to get her voted off. Meantime, Jane has led a crusade of her own to get Marty out because she sees him as “evil.” Needless to say, these two don’t like each other.

It’s been great fun watching Marty do himself in over the course of the past three weeks. Thinking he had sway and influence that he clearly did not have, he talked to the very people he should have kept quiet around. Even worse, he ticked off the ones he needed in order to keep himself alive in the game. Trying to be a master strategist instead of a team player when it is still so early in the game was ultimately his undoing. In a surprising landslide, he was ousted in a 7-2 vote during the ninth episode.

Marty just didn’t have the foresight to keep his head down and try to stay under the radar until a few more days passed. His rant during the eighth episode’s tribal council about how Jane was the most dangerous player in the game did make a big impression with a lot of his tribe mates. He’s not the only one who knows Jane would win if she makes it to the end. Yet his abrasive verbal tirades during tribal council were just too much for his fellow competitors to overlook. No matter how much sense his strategic ideas made (forcing NaOnka Mixon to use her idol – that he originally found and then stupidly gave away – while attempting a blindside of Jane) he turned out to be his own worst enemy. With Marty now on the jury, his impact on the game will be minimal at best. No one likes him enough to listen to him anymore.

The reward challenge was great. Split into men vs. women, with Chase Rice sitting out as the men had an extra player, the two groups battled to overcome a net course, a hay stack climb, a bamboo barricade, and then storm through a brick wall to open three locks, thereby raising a group flag which would indicate a win. Jane proved to be the women’s biggest liability during this contest as her early exhaustion cost them valuable time, leading to a smooth victory for the men. When given the chance at the start of the challenge to pick a team to support, Chase chose the women and lost out on sharing in the reward with his boys.

The men then went zip-lining over the canopy of trees in the Nicaraguan jungle before enjoying a delicious feast that included fresh vegetables, fruit, barbeque and pie. Instead of using this as a bonding experience with Benry, Sash, Dan, and Fabio, Marty instead turned it into a chance to advance his agenda of flushing the idol out of NaOnka and blindsiding Jane.

What none of the guys knew is that Sash and Brenda (who won individual immunity in a battle of memory against Marty), in their secret alliance, are using their swing votes each week to maneuver themselves into better positions to keep moving ahead in the game, and Sash reported back to Brenda on every word that was said. While it looked at first like these two would go with Marty’s plan to oust Jane, in order to keep him around as a pawn for everyone to dislike, they ultimately went with the group and voted him out.

NaOnka went on another tirade of her own during tribal council about how she disliked Marty and Fabio and wouldn’t change herself or her game play for anybody. After last week’s embarrassing stunt when she stole reward food herself, and was exposed - thereby having to fess up to it, this week’s verbal ass-showing on her part again confounded Jeff Probst, who couldn’t figure out why she’s being kept around. Probst must not be privy to all the footage shot during the days leading up to a tribal council.

So Marty is out and Jane remains safe within her alliance for now. Next week’s preview was quite enigmatic; showing several cast members in obvious shock after discovering something as of yet unseen.

Favorite quote of the week: Jane (discussing Marty) – “I’d like to take him out back of the woodshed and whip his ass.”