The Strongest Man Alive

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The Strongest Man Alive
Episode Information
Version	United States
Season	Tocantins
Episode Number	4/15 (263)
Original Release	March 5, 2009
Viewership (in Millions)	11.85
Ratings/Share (18-49)	3.8/10
Episode Chronology
Previous	"Mama Said There'd Be Days Like This"
Next	"You're Going to Want That Tooth"
Subpages

The Strongest Man Alive is the fourth episode of Survivor: Tocantins.

Story

Day 10

The next morning after Jerry Sims's vote-off, the Timbira tribe decides to huddle up and think of selecting a leader for real, as it was brought up at Tribal Council. The tribe agrees they should select one person. Brendan Synnott is once again a candidate for a leader, and Coach Wade, while he would prefer the role, agrees Brendan can be the leader, and Erinn Lobdell apologizes to Coach for arguing with him about it last night. Deep down, Coach confesses he still believes he would be a much better leader than Brendan.

On Jalapao, the tribe slept well, but everyone is worried for Taj Johnson-George because she was sent to Exile Island twice, and that could affect her physically. Taj begins to make her move, pulling Stephen Fishbach aside and telling him about the Exile Alliance she and Brendan have made. Stephen is excited, and Taj tells him if Jalapao wins, they need to send Sierra Reed to Exile Island.

Back on Timbira, the tribe gets their Tree Mail for the Reward Challenge, and the tribe begins thinking of sending Taj to Exile Island again should they win. Brendan realizes he hasn't had time to talk to Sierra about the Exile Alliance.

The tribes arrive for the challenge. Three members must hold a pole on their shoulders while the other two add sandbags to the sides; the person they add bags for is ordered by the members of the other tribe. The first tribe to have all three members drop their poles loses, and the other tribe wins. Jalapao and Timbira hold strong in the first few rounds. Brendan drops first at 200 pounds, latter followed by Tyson Apostol, leaving Debbie Beebe as the last standing for Timbira. Soon after, J.T. Thomas drops for Jalapao, quickly followed by Joe Dowdle, leaving Taj as the last standing for Jalapao. In the end Taj holds out for Jalapao, winning her tribe a chance to raid Timbira's camp. They send Sierra to Exile Island, and Sierra takes Taj to join her, much to Brendan's relief.

Timbira is worried about what Jalapao will take from them, as they have very little. J.T. and Joe arrive for the raid, and decide to be merciful and only take one of their two bags of beans, and one water can.

Joe and J.T. come back from the raid, the rest of the tribe greeting them. Sandy Burgin confesses they could've gotten more than they did, and at the fire she begins joking about the type of beans they stole. Sandy's antics start to get on the tribe's nerves. Sydney Wheeler flirts with the men, and Sandy takes notice, seeing her as a threat.

On Exile Island, Taj gets another clue to the Hidden Immunity Idol, and she now knows where to find it. She fills Sierra in on the secret alliance and all the advantages it has, giving Sierra goosebumps. She eagerly agrees with the plan.

Day 11

On Timbira, everyone is having a day of relaxation. Tyson comes in with nothing but a loincloth, making everyone laugh. Erinn is frustrated she can't seem to connect with anyone, and is worried if she does it will bring up bad memories of her ex-boyfriend. Tyson notices Erinn's social distance towards others, and confesses he'd love to see her freak out after being voted off.

At the Immunity Challenge, each tribe must race out on a cross-cross path to collect puzzle pieces and race back, using them to solve a puzzle at the end. Jalapao takes a slight lead over Timbira, until Sydney struggles with the knots on her turn, allowing Timbira to overtake them. Both tribes work on the puzzle, and in a close race Timbira wins, sending Jalapao to their first Tribal Council in a long time.

Day 12

Jalapao is disheartened by the loss, but Taj suspected it was coming sooner or later; she plans to find the idol tomorrow as Tribal Council is more important. Joe is glad they are going to Tribal Council, because they are planning to get rid of someone in particular: Sandy. However, J.T., Stephen, Taj and Sandy discuss in the water who to vote, and Taj believes Sandy did better in the challenge than Sydney did. Sandy is hopeful she will stay another few days. J.T. is conflicted on whether to vote Sandy or Sydney, and he talks to Stephen about it in private, who is also conflicted. Later, when gathered around the shelter, the tribe talks about what they love about Survivor, and Sydney brings up she loves how you can be sneaky when you can't at home. Stephen gets concerned by this.

At Tribal Council, Sandy believes she recovered from her first impression, and when asked by Jeff Probst she agrees that age can play a part in the game, proceeding to call out Sydney for being flirty. Sydney admits she does have a flirty personality, especially with Joe. Taj says people may want to align with Sydney over herself because of her looks, and is fine with that, though Jeff does not buy it. Sandy ends the conversation saying there may be some people upset by the vote-off tomorrow. Jalapao casts their votes, and Sandy is sent home 5-1-1 against Sydney and Joe.

Challenges

• Reward
• Immunity

Challenge: Shoulder the Load
Three members (two men and one woman) from each tribe will have a pole across their shoulders. Each round, weight (20 lbs.) will be added to each pole. The decision about which tribe member gets the weight will be made by the other tribe. When the weight becomes too much to bear, the tribe member will drop the pole and be out of the challenge. Last person left standing wins reward for their tribe.
Reward: Tribe Raid of two items of the losing tribe by the winning tribe
Winner: Jalapao (exiled Sierra Reed; Sierra chose Taj Johnson-George to accompany her.)

Challenge: Try-Any-Angle
One tribe member at a time would race along a winding path to retrieve a puzzle piece. Each puzzle piece is a large wooden triangular prism with letters written on each of the three faces. Once eight puzzle pieces are retrieved, they would need to be placed in their correct spot in a frame. The pieces would then need to be rotated to display a scrambled phrase. The first tribe to solve their puzzle would win.
Winner: Timbira

Tribal Council

Tribal Council 4: Jalapao
Voted Against	Voter
Sandy (5 votes)	J.T., Joe, Spencer, Stephen, Sydney
Joe (1 vote)	Taj
Sydney (1 vote)	Sandy
VOTED OUT: Sandy Burgin

Voting Confessionals

Sydney's confessional was shown in the episode. Sandy was shown writing Sydney's name on the parchment.

	Joe	“	(voting against Sandy) You're one of the toughest and funniest ladies that I know. Good luck. It's been a pleasure.	”

	Sandy	“	(voting against Sydney) I'm giving you my vote because you asked me to, so...	”

	Stephen	“	(voting against Sandy) This may be an enormous strategic blunder, but I think it's the move that I have to make right now.	”

	Taj	“	(voting against Joe) I just didn't wanna vote Momma K's down, so I'm gonna...	”

	Spencer	“	(voting against Sandy) Overall, you've been great to have around. I appreciate you being the mother figure for the tribe. but, uh, lately, you've been getting on my nerves quite a bit and, uh, I just think it's your time to go. Sorry.	”

	Sydney	“	(voting against Sandy) It's just your time to go.	”

	J.T.	“	(voting against Sandy) Sorry, Momma K. It's just too early to make that move. Good luck.	”

Final Words

	Sandy	“	I was the slung out, you know, right off the bat. The first day without anybody knowing me or anything and then I kinda got in with them. I was like the mother, uh, mother hen over all these little ducks, and I stayed around a lot longer than I thought I was going to and I didn't quit. So, I'm real proud of myself.	”

Still in the Running

Carolina 16th	Candace 15th	Jerry 14th	Sandy 13th	Brendan Timbira	Coach Timbira	Debbie Timbira	Erinn Timbira
J.T. Jalapao	Joe Jalapao	Sierra Timbira	Spencer Jalapao	Stephen Jalapao	Sydney Jalapao	Taj Jalapao	Tyson Timbira

Trivia

• Both J.T. Thomas and Brendan Synnott matched the record of 220 lbs. held in Shoulder the Load by Rupert Boneham in "Me and My Snake".
  • That record would later be broken by Jim Rice and Brandon Hantz, who both held 240 lbs. in "Survivalism".