Survivor Millennials Vs. Gen X Episode Nine Recap: Secrets Revealed

By Mickie McLeod
CBS 62/CW50 Intern

The drama has stirred up since the merge! This week's episode was all about payback and ultimate consequences.

On the last episode, Millennial Michelle is voted off and is the first member of this season's Jury. This week, the Millennials Jay and Taylor feel as if they are on the bottom of the tribe because of last week's surprising vote. Jay and Taylor have continued to have bitter feelings towards Millennial Adam.

Both Adam and Taylor have secrets in this game. In last week's episode, Adam shared with Taylor his secret of having an advantage of stealing one's reward. During this, Taylor shared his "secret bunker" food stash that he buried in the sand. Each other now know one's secret, but aren't necessarily on good terms with one another. Adam seems to be aligned with the majority, as Taylor is on the bottom.

Reward Challenge

The challenge this week was split into two teams. The two captains were randomly selected, Gen. X, Chris and Millennial, Hannah. The first team to complete the series of obstacles was rewarded a BBQ at a resort which contained burgers and cocktails.

On Chris' team were all Gen. X members minus Jessica, plus Millennial Taylor. On Hannah's team was the opposite, all Millennials minus Taylor plus Jessica. It seemed like Hannah picked her team for strategy rather than strength.

Ultimately, it was the Chris' team's strength that won the reward. The team relaxed by the resort pool, as Brett and others got a little tipsy off cocktails.

The rewards during the merge are what makes this game interesting. During rewards, people are separated and can find who they want to form an alliance with more easily. However, on this reward, the only interesting strategic conversation was made by Sunday. Sunday thinks that Jessica could be a possible threat later on and tells Brett that they need to keep an eye out for her.

Immunity Challenge

Once the merge hits, the Immunity Challenge becomes more difficult. You're not only fighting for just yourself but usually, temptations are brought in by the host, Jeff Probst. This week, a temptation of grilled ham and cheese sandwiches, soft drinks, beer and potato chips are a choice instead.

This means that the tribe members had a choice to participate in the Immunity Challenge or feast on sandwiches instead. It was Millennials, Zeke, and Will who decided to feast on grilled ham and cheese than fight for Immunity. The rest of the tribe had to balance on a beam while balancing a ball on their post.

It was down to Millennial Taylor and Gen. X Ken fighting for the Individual Immunity. Ultimately my favorite person, Ken, won his Immunity and Taylor, my least favorite, had just missed his shot at winning.

Tribal Council

Tribal this week was filled with drama. The clear decision of splitting the votes between Taylor and Jay were from the majority of the tribe. On the bottom, Taylor and Jay decide to make up a plan to sabotage Adam at Tribal.

In this episode, Taylor reminded me a little of "Jonny Fairplay" from Survivor: Pearl Islands. He's such a snake for stealing food, but it did make good T.V. He uses his information on Adam and shares it with Jay as both of them snack on the rest of Taylor's secret stash of food.

At Tribal, the only way for Taylor and Jay to possibly save themselves was to throw Adam under the bus. Taylor accuses Adam of also eating the secret stash of food and gets him fired up. Adam defends himself, as we all know this isn't true.

The argument between Taylor and Adam goes on as Taylor shares Adam's secret of his advantage. Taylor evolves into looking like a bigger idiot than he is. The tribe then sees more of Taylor's immaturity than anything it seems.

Since Jay was less of an idiot than Taylor, he votes him out along with the majority of the tribe. Taylor is voted out and is declared the second member of the Jury.

As Taylor walks out, he jokingly apologizes for stealing all the food. Jeff Probst then said, "Almost every single vote at Tribal is about strategy and ever so often it's just about consequences."

I suppose Taylor got his consequence. What do you think of the episode? I don't think I like Jay all that much now. I'll still be rooting for my favorite, Ken!

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.