Phone Taps, Lies, And Baseball Fans: Surviving Barstool Episode 1 Recap
Surviving Barstool Season 2 premiered last night and it was a doozy. An outstanding first episode filled with drama, lies, betrayal, phone taps, and baseball fans. It is an extremely random cast filled with people from all walks of life. There's really no friends or people who work closely together on this cast. That means we could be in for utter chaos, and utter chaos was certainly delivered in the premiere. I'll be recapping these episodes all week long so be sure to follow along. Let's get into it.
Cast
I already wrote a bit about the cast above and did a little more analysis in this blog from a few weeks ago that you can READ here. But going into it, I put Rudy at the top of my winner rankings due to his charm and affability. And he's not as dumb as he should be which is annoying. Jackie is a wild card who puts her foot in her mouth but is also oddly endearing and likable. Caroline has a big uphill battle being the newest employee. Steven Cheah is an analytical guy who could be the strategy mastermind of the season, but is also a robot who may not understand human emotions. Eddie is a reality TV show guy which is a huge leg up, but he's also an outsider to the New York office and it may be hard to give $10,000 to the Tesla driving host of the Dave Portnoy Show. Grace O'Malley should be able to get people on her side, but she also is rather manic. Kontent Kim in real Survivor would be either the first person out or dragged to the end as a goat. That always happens to the mom character. But could her fate be different in Surviving Barstool? How can anyone bring themselves to voting out such a sweetheart? And Tiko Texas is finally getting her chance at reality TV which is what she was born for. So that's how I assessed the cast going into the series. Basically, it's anyone's ball game.
Opening Challenge
Tiko Texas put herself at an immediate disadvantage by showing up 90 minutes late. When the game starts, people are just looking for a reason to vote someone off first. You have to do everything in your power to NOT stand out and put a target on your back. Being 90 minutes late was enough to immediately put Tiko on the hot seat.
For the opening challenge, the contestants had to find three key tags with their names on them hidden in a big fort of Mattress Firm pillows and bedding. This was not an immunity challenge. But it was for a night of unjunked sleep in the Mattress Firm Suite. God I miss unjunking my sleep!
Jackie won the challenge and chose Kim to spend the night with her. For some reason, she also exposed that Tiko Texas was on her period.
I'm not sure what Jackie was going for here but it perfectly encapsulated the enigma that is Jackie. Winning the challenge was impressive. Talking about Tiko's menstrual cycle was not. Jackie also said that she actually didn't want to win this challenge but somehow did anyway? Feels like a very very challenge easy to lose if that's your goal. But that's Jackie.
Immunity Ring Hunt/Sleeping Arrangements
Every contestant this season was told to watch Season 1 of Surviving Barstool so they knew what to expect. And since the handsome, smart, genius winner of Season 1 laid out the blueprint of looking for and finding the idol on the first day, people this season decided to look right away. But they weren't having much luck at first. (Shoutout to Tiko for the savvy move of watching through the security cameras). Eventually, Jackie found the clue in the Mattress Firm Suite that said "When push comes to shove, having the immunity ring puts you one step above." Me, Jeff D Lowe, and Logan wrote these clues together and we thought this was one was a lay up. But I guess not. Jackie put the clue in her bag and then Rudy saw her do that so he went through her bag to see the clue for himself. A dirty but smart move. Shows Rudy has some serious potential as a player. He put the clue together in the middle of the night and found the next clue that said something like "Having this award would certainly be golden, the immunity ring is what you'll want to be holdin."
As for the sleeping arrangements, we saw a couple of possible showmances form. Steven Cheah and Tiko Texas both slept in the green room which perfectly displays how random this cast is. What a duo. The new Rob and Amber some are saying. Then there was Rudy and O'Malley who also had sparks flying.
Immunity Challenge
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For the challenge, the contestants had to get 3 eggs from the bottom to the top of that wire contraption and safely place them in the bed. Jackie showed a bizarre amount of skill at this and won pretty easily. So she was safe at the vote and chose Kim to join her again in the Mattress Firm suite (Kim does not get immunity too though). Jackie had now won the first two challenges and you have to wonder if that puts a target on her back going forward.
Pre-Tribal Scramble And Alliances
At first, it seemed like there would be an easy vote: Tiko Texas. Everyone was annoyed at her being late on the first day, and as I said above, it just made her an easy target. People are just looking for any excuse to vote someone out at the first tribal, and Tiko provided them a reason. But Eddie was thinking bigger. He wanted to bring Tiko to his side, noting that she's fiercely loyal which could make her a solid ally. He approached Tiko and told her that the girls, specifically Grace and Caroline, were targeting her and that Tiko should come work with the guys. Eddie and Steven had already teamed up pre-game. They probably know each other the best from outside the show, and Rudy just naturally got brought in as the only other guy.
But unfortunately for Eddie, this move backfired and Tiko ran to Grace and the rest of the girls to tell them what Eddie said. I have mixed feelings on this move from Eddie. I get wanting to team up with Tiko. If I was on the season, she's someone I would've tried to play with because I do think she'd be loyal. But on the other side of things, she's also kind of a wild card who's very unpredictable. So telling her sensitive information right off the top could backfire, and it did. It probably would've been smarter for Eddie to just stick with the easy vote and not rock the boat. He instead put himself on the hot seat.
The girls gathered in Eddie's own bedroom to concoct a plan against the guys, led by Tiko. Tiko showed some serious potential as a player and clearly understood gameplay and strategy. She pulled me aside asking for advice that day and I was really impressed with how well she was grasping the game. But unfortunately for her, she got phone tapped.
Enter Eddie with an all-time move. He went in the room and pretended to get his laptop, but in reality he placed down his phone to record their conversation.
He heard Tiko leading this all-girls alliance and coming for his neck. It was a diabolical move. We haven't seen a phone tap in the Barstool Reality Universe yet and you have to wonder if it's something we'll see more of in the future. Points to Eddie for the creativity.
Now, the three guys had to scramble and figure out which of the girls they could best swing to their side. They decided on the gullible Jackie. And they offered her what they dubbed the "deal of a lifetime." In reality, the deal was just an alliance. The basic core premise of the show. They promised her Final 4 instead of Final 5 and that they'd vote for her to win in the end. Not exactly the most groundbreaking idea. But Jackie ate it up.
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I mean how could you refuse a deal when you're getting that threatening look from Steven Cheah with a baseball bat?
But the problem was this sitll only gave them four votes against Tiko. The rest of the girls were all set to vote off Eddie. At best, they were looking at a tie which would've gotten chaotic. But then Steven Cheah pulled off a great move. I would say it was the move of the episode, even better than Eddie's. Right before tribal council, he whispered to Tiko that Caroline was planning a power play against her and that everyone was going to vote off Caroline instead. Since it was so close to tribal, Tiko didn't have time to fact check it with everyone else.
Now you may ask, why would Tiko believe it? But in the moment before your first ever tribal council on your first reality show, paranoia is naturally going to be very high. Everyone is going to be anxious and nervous. Steven Cheah took advantage of those emotions, and planted a seed of doubt in Tiko at the perfect time to throw her off course. It's a play right out of the Tony Vlachos playbook who used to concoct his plans right as the sun was setting so he knew tribal council was near. But with the luxury of clocks and a set tribal council time, it made things even easier for that robot Steven Cheah.
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Tribal Council
The highlight of tribal for me was Jackie asking KFC if he was allowed to ask questions. The host of the show. Ultimately, Steven's last second Power Cheah was enough to convince Tiko to vote Caroline. So 4 votes went to Tiko (Eddie, Steven, Jackie, Rudy), 3 votes went to Eddie (Grace, Caroline, Kim) and Tiko's stray vote to Caroline ended up sending her home, leading to the reality TV show explosion that Tiko was born for.
I would've loved to see more of Reality Tiko but unfortunately for her, she got Steven Cheah'd. It was a very impressive first episode for Cheah who showed some serious strategic thinking. But the question for him is if he'll be able to connect with enough human beings to make a deep run. This is more of a social game than anything else. Elsewhere, Rudy showed promise. We know he's charming but he showed strategic skills as well. Jackie won two challenges and finds herself in an alliance. Eddie made a blunder but saved himself with the phone tap. Caroline, Grace, and Kim are now seemingly on the outs but maybe they can swing Jackie back and take advantage of the girls majority? A lot of things to play out. A very promising first episode for sure.
You can also watch me and KFC's after show here and be sure to tune into Episode 2 tonight at 7 PM.