Pulling the Trigger

Pulling The Trigger is the fourth episode of Survivor: Nicaragua.

Challenges
Reward/Immunity Challenge: Seers and Doers One person from each tribe will be the caller. The rest of the tribe will be blindfolded and paired up. Using only verbal commands, the caller will direct their tribe mates to collect ten items scattered in the field. Once all ten items have been collected, the caller will direct one pair out to find a set of keys. Those keys will unlock a chest. The first tribe to get their chest and all ten items back to the start wins immunity and the reward

Medallion Advantage: Two items will already be placed onto their tribe mat, thus reducing their requeired number of items to eight. Reward: Tribal Immunity and the right to pick three selected items among these items used in the challenge: a toolkit, a tarp, rope and a knife, fishing gear, a collapsible chair, and a grill.

Winner: La Flor

Night of Day 8
After losing former NFL coach Jimmy Johnson, the older Espada tribe struggled to stay dry amid another terrible storm. Jimmy T. expressed his feelings for Jimmy J.'s elimination, saying: “He definitely wasn’t a Jimmy T. fan and I wasn’t going to get a lot of playing time with him calling the shots and if he was a player he wouldn’t have been on my alliance, that’s for sure. So I’m not going to miss him too much.” He goes on by singing while the whole tribe huddled for warmth, annoying his tribemates. Losing patience, Marty fumed: “Jimmy T. is just putting on the Jimmy T. show, annoying, singing, trying to do his best, but it is Jimmy T man. It’s just obnoxious. So all you got to do with Jimmy T. is give him just a little bit of rope, that’s all he needs and he’ll hang himself from the nearest branch.”

Day 9
After last night's miserable weather, Espada witnessed what the rain left of: a shore filled with tons of driftwood, mud and other debris. The fish in their fishing area were already gone. Dan commented: “This place is God forsaken.” Adding insult to injury, their rice supply reached an all-time low. Jill explained: “So we’re down to two cups of rice a day and our rations are probably going to put us down more than that. So we’re starving and we’re pretty sick about it.” Seeing Jimmy T. failing to catch fish after seeing a pelican preying for one, Jane admitted she missed Jimmy J.'s leadership, saying: “Every team I’ve ever been on had a captain and a co-captain and they made decisions based upon the ability of the tribe. And I’m hoping somebody’s going to step up and say 'I want that role'.”

At the younger La Flor tribe, NaOnka and Brenda reviewed the second clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol, where they successfully found the idol (a large wooden key similar to what Marty had found). NaOnka bragged: “This is the key to OUR life in the game.” She continued, “The immunity idol is mine. It’s mine. It’s mine. It doesn’t belong to anyone else. Brenda helped me find it, but ultimately I figured it out and it’s mine.” After hiding it in her sock, NaOnka regrouped with her tribemates. Sensing that they are still in danger after siding with now-voted out tribemate Shannon, Alina and Kelly B. tried to search for the Idol, not knowing that NaOnka already found it. Seeing them attempting the already found idol, NaOnka followed them and gloated her good position in the game, even outright telling them they she doesn't like and trust them. In a confessional, Alina complained about NaOnka's rude behavior toward Kelly B., saying: “NaOnka’s psycho. Kelly B. never did anything to Nay. Never. Except for going for the same clue.” Kelly B. added, “Nay is a bully. She wanted a reaction out of me and I wasn’t going to give it to her but at the same time, it’s really hard to contain yourself.”

Day 10
Evening at Espada camp, the older tribe decided to strategize for the next challenge. Marty insisted to have a "one voice" system at challenges, where he nominated Tyrone. Everyone agreed, except Jimmy T. by rebutting that he was a good leader in his hometown and nominated himself in the process. Marty completely ignored Jimmy T., with the latter venting, “Marty is definitely not a big Jimmy T. fan. It has to stem from insecurities because I’m an easy going guy.” While Marty still monopolizing the discussion, Jimmy T. made a side comment: “A couple times, I’d like to tell Marty, 'Will you shut up?!' You preppy little bitch, you wouldn’t last a minute in my world.”

Day 11
Upon receiving Tree Mail with a blindfold, Espada thought that the blindfold will be an integral part of the next challenge, so they decided to practice with their 'one voice,' with Tyrone leading. While the rest of the tribe was overall receptive of Tyrone's direction, Jimmy T. interrupted him and gave advice of how it should be done. Marty vented: “I nominated Tyrone last night as the leader of the challenge and by the way, I knew it would rile Jimmy T. JT is delusional. He suffers both paranoia and delusions of grandeur.”

The two competing tribes then convened for their next challenge, where once again they will vie for both Reward and Immunity. After Jeff explained the mechanics and the Medallion of Power advantage, La Flor used the Medallion of Power (left unused at the last challenge), thus transferring it to Espada's possession after the challenge. With the challenge only requiring seven participants for both tribes, Dan's leg pain made him sit out again for Espada, while La Flor chose Kelly B. and Kelly S. The callers were Brenda for La Flor and Tyrone for Espada.

With La Flor using the Medallion, their first actual collected item became their third. With Brenda's leadership, La Flor pulled further ahead. On the other hand, Espada quickly struggled when their tribe members found themselves tripping each other and stumbling through the course. To make matters worse, Jimmy T. completely ignored Tyrone's orders by walking his own way. In the end, La Flor won after a lopsided 10-5 win, thus sending Espada back to Tribal Council. La Flor's chosen items were extra fishing gear, cookware and tarps. Right after the loss, Jimmy T. complained that he couldn't hear Tyrone's orders.

After losing yet another challenge, Dan pointed out that they should have fared well at the challenge, had La Flor used the Medallion of Power, Tyrone agreed. Meanwhile, Jimmy T. was still furious about not being given a chance to prove his leadership. Tyrone commented: “Jimmy T., he’s digging his own hole. Bottom line is he’s very much about himself and it’s becoming more and more clear. And the comments today, I didn’t dig at all.”

Over at La Flor, Chase found a third clue leading to the Hidden Immunity Idol that NaOnka already found. But torn between keeping NaOnka's secret of having the idol and Chase seemingly unwavering trust for her, Brenda confessed to Chase that NaOnka already found it. Brenda then begged to Chase not to ask NaOnka about anything to do with the Idol. Troubled by Brenda's revelation, Chase “You really cannot trust anyone in this game, but sometimes you have to. NaOnka and I don’t have a great trust, but we do have Brenda between us, so as long as Nay is not coming after me, then that’s fine.”

Back at Espada, while the tribe scoured sea urchins for lunch, Jimmy T. argued with Marty about being a 'tribe player.' Angered Jimmy's move, Marty fumed: “Jimmy T. is trying to tell me that I’m not a team player and calling it out in front of the whole tribe. That’s the equivalent of putting a gun to your mouth, pulling the trigger and blowing your brains out, as far as I’m concerned. During the afternoon, the tribe was torn between Dan's continuing leg problem and Jimmy T.'s assertive personality. Marty told Jill to vote Jimmy T., though Jill had reservations. Marty explained that though Dan's injury might hinder them to win future challenges, he was part of Marty's numbers and stressed that Jimmy T.'s assertiveness will be more of a problem in the long run. Jill then approached Tyrone about their plan, though he was almost decided that Dan should be eliminated. Unconvinced by Jill, Marty came up to Tyrone and told him that Jimmy T. was too volatile to keep around. Meanwhile, Jimmy T. were begging to the other tribe females to keep him longer to prove his worth. Yve, already fed up by his voice, responded: "I'm a mother, and I don't coddle my kids that much."

At Tribal Council, Jimmy T. argued to the tribe that he needed to prove himself as an efficient leader, with Holly defending him saying all he wanted was a chance. Marty outright rebutted that his 'leadership' was not needed and he suffered from 'delusions of grandeur'. Despite eventually apologizing for his misdeeds, a 5-3 vote sent Jimmy Tarantino home, making him Espada's third casualty and fourth eliminated castaway from Survivor: Nicaragua.

Voting Confessionals

 * Holly: "Dan, I'm sorry about your shoes, I really am, but you sat out two challenges, you're the weak one on the team, you need to go."


 * Dan: (none)


 * Jane: "Danny, Danny, I love you to death, and I can't wait to party with you. But right now I do believe Jimmy T is a little more athletic, so I think he'll be stronger for the tribe. His little antics don't bother me at all. That's just the way I am. I try to take everything with a grain of salt and I try to take humor in anything anybody does, whether it's good or bad."


 * Jill: "You're a good guy, and I'm sorry about tonight."


 * Jimmy T: "You need it the least and you've contributed the least. It's not my fault you don't know how to make fire. I'm just trying to help you out, brother."


 * Marty: "See ya, pal. You made your first mistake within one hour of playing the game. You made your big mistake when you crossed me yesterday."


 * Tyrone: "Alright, big homey. The Jimmy T Show is over. I encourage you to swallow your pride, become more vulnerable, accept your faults, and try to move forward and learn from them so you can be a better human being."


 * Yve: "Jimmy T, you've just gotta trust you're enough, and have some more confidence. I'm sorry. You really are a wonderful man."

Links

 * CBS Episode Summary