Day 31, and Todd says he misses home. Now we know which episode this is.

The Reward Challenge is dividing into pairs, wearing blindfolds and working through a maze. Sure enough, your partner is your visiting loved one.

We meet Erik’s mom, Amanda’s sister, PG’s dad, Todd’s sister, Courtney’s dad, and Denise’s husband. Six Survivors and only one is married. Another sign this is a young group.

Todd asks his sister how their other sister is doing and she says she miscarried. Jeff asks Todd what her sister said so he tells them as he chokes back tears.

The winners get a meal on a boat and a call from home (courtesy of Sprint). The Challenge begins and Amanda and her sister use bird noises to try and find each other. Denise finds her partner first. PG finds her dad but he tries to point which way they should go and Jeff makes fun of him. Jeff says Courtney is having trouble finding her dad and she says, “Oh, stop it, Probst.”

Denise and Mr. Denise hold their lead and win. She gets to choose two pairs to come with them and she quickly chooses Todd, then thinks for a while and picks Amanda. Obviously a political decision.

While they eat Denise gets a call from her daughter. They finished third in their tournament.

Back at camp PG is mad at Denise for not returning the favor after the martial arts trip. Erik says he doesn’t believe Todd’s story and Courtney agrees. She says it could be like Jonny Fairplay’s undead grandmother. Is that the first time an active Survivor made reference to a former Survivor?

The winners come back and bring chocolate. On their hands. Not in their hands, on them, like leftover frosting. And they offer to let their tribemates lick it off. And they do. That’s definitely the first Survivor licking.

Todd tells Amanda (and us) that the sister story is true. Ouch for Erik and Courtney.

Todd and Amanda say they’ll vote out Denise before Courtney because they think the jury would vote for Denise.

PG tells Denise she’s upset and Denise admits she made her picks to avoid being voted out next.

The Immunity Challenge is being clipped onto a rope and following it though an obstacle course. At the end are two statements about Chinese inventions and you have to decide which is true. Then you take your key all the way back to the start and if you were right your lock opens. It takes three keys to win.

Here are the invention pairings if you want to play along at home:

Crossbow / Barbed Wire
Wheelbarrow / Fortune Cookie
Gunpowder / Fortune Cookie
Chinese Checkers / Gunpowder
Barbed Wire / Wheelbarrow

Todd has a big lead thanks to Amanda getting a question wrong. He has to decide between Chinese checkers and gunpowder for the win and he is wrong. PG comes up behind him and takes the victory.

What do the Chinese get credit for? The crossbow, wheelbarrow and gunpowder.

Back at camp Todd has his hair poofed up and his best George Michael scowl. He wants to vote out Erik. Erik talks to Amanda about Todd maybe faking the bad news. PG and Erik tell Denise she’ll finish fourth if she sticks with her alliance but she’ll be at least top three with them. Denise tells us she’s considering it.

At Tribal Council James is bald and angry. Denise says seeing her happy family life might make people not want to go against her in the final. PG makes a plea to anyone thinking they might be last in their alliance to join a smaller group. Todd says he trusts people.

Todd and Erik vote for each other. Denise’s vote isn’t shown but she says it’s probably going to be her biggest mistake in the game.

The tally reads: Erik, Todd, Todd, Erik, Erik…Erik.

Next time on…Survivor: Amanda talks to PG and Denise about targeting Todd.

So Denise stuck with the sure thing instead of risking a tie. It would be better to be in an alliance of three instead of a group of four if you still have the majority, but it means you have to trust your new alliance, and you have the hope the tiebreaker doesn’t bite you somehow. And, as we see in the preview, Denise still has a chance to make a smaller alliance, so she did well.

And she didn’t even have to lick anybody.

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