‘Survivor: Blood vs. Water’ review: Drawing rocks, and Hayden Moss draws up a plan

Hayden Moss, where have you been on “Survivor” all season long? Tonight was the first time that the “Big Brother” champion realized that he was in enormous danger, and he therefore managed to stir up some of the craziest stuff that we’ve seen on the show in quite a while. The reigning “Big Brother” champ was active, in the zone, and did almost everything that he could to make up for some earlier errors. While all of it worked to keep him around, it’s just for another week … for now.

Before we get to the insanity that we haven’t seen since season 4 in the Marquesas, let’s first talk about Tyson finding that additional immunity idol, and following this scene where he actually got emotional about how he wanted to make sure that he wanted to win this game for his girlfriend Rachel. A truly “winners’ edit” sort of moment, no?

But we don’t want to focus too much on that, since we just want to get to that incredible tribal council that included a return to drawing rocks. Hayden smartly convinced Ciera to flip, though Gervase and Monica did a pretty awful job before that of actually making her believe that they wanted her, and she was anything other than fourth place. She did the right thing from her vantage point here, and it’s hard to blame her, given that she’s not going to go on any sort of immunity run. The biggest risk-taker here was clearly Tyson, who had the most to lose going into this. Ciera and Katie had everything to gain, since there was no way that they would be in the final three anyway, as currently constituted.

But alas for Katie, she went home while Hayden got a chance to stick around. Since he and Monica received the votes, they were both immune from the ceremony. It’s somewhat sad to see anyone go on luck, but she had opportunities to save herself long before that. It just did not quite work out for her.

We mention all of this, and we really don’t talk about Caleb Bankston’s elimination much. This is the sad part of this Redemption Island twist; it sort of dilutes the exit of people who were extremely memorable the week prior. We really liked Caleb in the game, and it’s a bummer to see him leave.

In the end, the biggest winner from tonight (save for us as a viewer) is Hayden. He bought himself another week, and that’s all that should matter for him right now since he’s capable of winning a few challenges. Personally, the best moment for us was Gervase writing down “HAYDONE” on his parchment. Genius. We’ll have plenty to analyze this weekend, and after this incredible episode, we’re looking forward to it. Grade: A.

Before we close this “Survivor” review, we want to pass along some of our dearest sympathies to Tina and Katie, who had a major family tragedy this week as Tina’s son and Katie’s brother Taylor Collins died in a car accident.

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Photo: CBS