Survivor Millennials Vs. Gen X Episode Eight Recap: Organized Chaos - The Merge

By Mickie McLeod
CBS 62/CW50 Intern

You know you've made it far once you've reached the merge!  In Survivor world, the merge separates the great players from the mediocre players. In this episode, to say the least, there was a ton of chaos but organized in a beautiful fashion.

The Merge - New Tribe: VINAKA

On Survivor, the merge is half way through the season.  After this, each person is working for themselves individually, strategically and smart.  During this episode, we see a ton of individualism as everyone is scattered, wondering where they lay among the 13 tribe members.

If you missed the episode, you missed out on a lot of chaos!  I will try and break it down to the simplest way I possibly can.

Where do I start?  Well, Millennials and Gen. X seem to be divided again.  The Gen. X notices that the Millennials are still tight and are pretty concerned about their future game. Jay, Michelle, Taylor, and Will, in particular, are making the Millennials bond very obvious.

In the meantime, tons of relationship information is revealed in the episode, hats off to the editors of the show to make all the chaos very organized.  There are alliances showed, such as Zeke, Hannah, and Adam from the Millennials.  Jay feeling very confident from the last episode is now coming back with Taylor, who to be honest, seems to be on the bottom of the Millennials.

A lot has happened in the episode.  There're so many relationships shown in the episode that I'll stick to what's important.  In a nutshell, during this episode, Adam finds an advantage that says he can steal anyone's reward.  (Reminder: Adam also has had a Hidden Immunity Idol from weeks before).

Adam begins to play hard and works with what he has, now an idol and an advantage.  While Taylor was snacking one night, Adam tries to strategize and goes off with him on the beach. Taylor still doesn't trust Adam because of his earlier game of voting off his lover, Figgy.  Adam, on the other hand, is kissing Taylor's ass and reveals to him about his advantage.  Adam not only reveals to Taylor about his advantage, but also a strategy of voting Millennial, Will, out. The reason Adam wants Will is because he thinks Jay is too tight with him.

Fast forward to camp the next day.  Taylor tells Jay about Adam's sneaky move on voting Will out.  Jay doesn't like this idea at all, and now questions Adam's loyalty.  Taylor and Jay don't think Adam is loyal and decide they'll try and vote him out.

(More chaos): Zeke this whole time is such a gossip and hears Taylor and Jay's plan.  Zeke then tells Adam about it and also tells him to chill out.  Adam is shown as playing too hard in this episode because he is running around in panic.

Individual Immunity Challenge

The first Individual Immunity Challenge consists of a Survivor Classic strength challenge. The members must hold their arms up and balance.  The first person to lose their balance and strength will knock their bucket of water down and will be out of the challenge.  The last person to knock their bucket down will win the first Individual Immunity Challenge.

After a series of buckets dropped, it came down to two people at the end of the challenge. After an hour and a half, it was between Gen. X's Jessica and Millennial, Will. Will fought his way to possibly save himself from getting his name written down and won the first Individual Immunity Challenge.

Tribal Council

The first Tribal Council of the merge was interesting. It's clearly shown that Adam is on the chopping block. Adam is paranoid and it questions us at home if he will use his Hidden Idol to save himself. However, Adam ends up not using the idol as he trusts his decision.

As a result, Jay and Taylor couldn't pull enough votes to get Adam off. Instead, the Gen. X's along with Millennials Adam and Zeke, team up and vote off Millennial, Michelle. This makes Michelle the first member of the Jury and who'll have a say in who will be "The Sole Survivor."

I think Michelle was a fluff vote. I didn't see her going far in the game. I think they should've voted off a stronger Millennial if they wanted to make a statement.

Who is your current favorite? I still love Ken, but I'm enjoying watching both Jay and Zeke's game.

You can watch this season of Survivor, Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET on CBS.

Mickie McLeod is a Livonia, MI native.  She's majoring in Communication Studies at Wayne State University.  Mickie has been a Survivor fan since 2000.  Follow her @mick_cloudy for live tweeting about Survivor and look for her recaps every Thursday morning.