Reality Roundup: Nov. 3

“Survivor” Season 45 Episode 5 Recap

The fifth episode of “Survivor” displayed strong strategic play from some, and… questionable strategic play from others.

The episode opened with Nicholas “Sifu” Alsup interrogating the three women of New Reba on who voted him in the previous tribal.

Despite Sean Edwards requesting to be voted out, there were two rogue votes. Edwards ended up voting for Dee Valladares, while Valladares questionably cast the vote for Alsup.

Neither Valladares, Janani Krishnan-Jha (J. Maya) nor Julie Alley fessed up to voting for Sifu, which led to him feeling ostracized and making some very questionable countermoves.

The three women all incorrectly believed Sifu had an idol after he was caught idol hunting in the first episode. Valladares and Alley were among the group that helped Austin Li Coon find his idol at the Old Reba camp, so it is unknown why they did not realize that Sifu could not have found any kind of advantage on the Reba beach.

Sifu constructed a fake idol for some unknown reason since he did not show it to any of his tribemates. Instead, he hinted to each woman individually that he had an idol and they could not vote for him. It is a confusing attempt at a bluff, but one that had Valladares and Alley contemplating switching the vote to J. Maya if they were to go to tribal.

New Lulu also caught someone attempting to idol hunt.

After being left alone at camp, Katurah Topps took this as an opportunity to search for an idol. The other four members of New Lulu ended up running into her while she was searching, and her halfhearted attempt at explaining she was gathering papaya was not even considered by the rest of her tribe.

Topps once again displayed her extreme displeasure with Bruce Perreault throughout the episode, but she was joined by Kaleb Gebrewold who was ticked off by the bossiness Perreault has shown.

Gebrewold also formed a connection with Kellie Nalbandian after telling her the fate of the idol found by Sabiyah Broderick. He has done a great job creating individual connections with everyone he has been on a tribe with, giving him multiple options to choose from as the merge approaches.

Jake O’Kane once again had a seizure-like event and opened up to the viewers about his struggles with binge eating and feelings of failure on the island. O’Kane promised that he would not let his physical struggles remove him from this game, which was refreshing in a season marred by quitters.

New Belo lost the immunity challenge, setting up a duel between Old Reba and Old Belo with Emily Flippen in the middle.

Before that, each tribe had one tribemate sent on an adventure. Li Coon, J. Maya, and Nalbandian were the three chosen, and they had a choice between sustenance and strategy that would be decided by a majority vote.

The sustenance option included sandwiches, which Li Coon was an advocate of.

The strategy option involved an amulet that each player would have to use together for it to have any power. The catch is that the fewer amulets that are in the game, the more power the amulets have, theoretically incentivizing the players who have them to target each other rather than work together, which Li Coon realizes.

J. Maya was an advocate for the strategy option, and Nalbandian chose strategy as the deciding vote. This was much to the dismay of Li Coon, who had his heart set on those sandwiches.

In the meantime, chaos ensued at the New Belo camp despite their efforts at attempting to strategize diplomatically.

While Li Coon was on the journey, Drew Basile was on his own representing Old Reba. He had the job of pulling the swing vote, Flippen, on their side so they could vote out an Old Belo. He knew this and shut down Brandon “Brando” Meyer’s attempt to work with him.

Brando proceeded to offer Basile his Shot in the Dark and said he would be down to vote out his Old Belo partner Kendra McQuarrie. Confused, Basile went to Flippen with this information, who then relayed this to Old Belo.

Brando lied to both McQuarrie and Flippen, saying targeting McQuarrie was Basile’s proposed idea. This led to Basile becoming the target of the Belo duo.

Flippen went back to Basile with this information, to which he was adamant that it was not his idea. Flippen was put in a difficult position, hearing two contrasting stories and not knowing which one to believe.

When Li Coon returned from his journey, Flippen shared her suspicions about Basile with him. Li Coon told her about the amulet he gained on the journey, which eased her mind and allowed her to trust the Old Reba duo.

Flippen ultimately decided to side with the Reba duo, voting off Brando in a 3-2 vote much to the shock of McQuarrie. Li Coon sacrificed his vote to extend the power of his idol but regained it after using Basile’s Goodwill Advantage.

The preview of the next episode revealed the “Earn the Merge” twist is upcoming, putting an end to what felt like a very short pre-merge. Despite the internal conflicts, Reba goes into the “Mergatory'' at full strength with only five Belo and two Lulu joining them.

Player of the Week- Austin Li Coon, New Belo Tribe.

Li Coon was crucial in regaining the trust of Flippen after Basile nearly threw it all away.

He and Basile have nearly every advantage in the game, and extending the duration of his idol on top of gaining the Amulet Advantage just gives the powerful duo even more strength in the game.

Li Coon deserves a sandwich after another great episode. - Alex Perez

“Dancing With The Stars” Season 32 Episode 6

“Dancing With The Stars” had its annual Halloween-themed episode, “Monster Night,” for week six of the competition, and it was definitely spooktacular.

The nine remaining couples danced Paso dobles, Argentine tangos and more for the costume-clad judges who were joined by guest judge and “Dahmer – Monster” star Niecy Nash-Betts.

Xochitl Gomez and her partner Val Chmerkovskiy alongside Ariana Madix and her partner Pasha Pashkov were tied at the top of the leaderboard after the first round of dancing, both earning a 37 out of 40.

On the other end of the leaderboard, Harry Jowsey and his partner Rylee Arnold found themselves at the bottom again with a score of 28 out of 40 for their alien-themed Argentine tango.

There was a second round of dancing for the celebrities and their partners, where they took part in the Dance Monster-thon to earn bonus points.

All nine couples took the stage at the same time for four minutes of dancing as the judges removed them one by one. Gomez and Chmerkovskiy came out on top and earned five bonus points putting them at the top of the leaderboard.

As this spooky episode came to an end, one couple faced the ultimate scare: being eliminated from the competition.

The three celebrities up for elimination were Mauricio Umansky, Alyson Hannigan and Jowsey. Unfortunately, Umansky and his partner Emma Slater were the ones to go.

Week seven of “Dancing With The Stars” will be “Music Video Night,” as singer Paula Abdul will join the judges panel as a guest judge. - Sarah Gavlak

Alex Perez is a 2nd-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email app5877@psu.edu.

Sarah Gavlak is a second-year majoring in telecommunications. To contact her, please email sng5393@psu.edu.