The third week of Survivor-Bloomsburg brought a complete switch of tribes with it, as each player was told to choose a burlap sack, which determined the tribes they would be placed on. This week also sent Octoraro and Shenango to Tribal Council, where they voted off Caleb Brown and Ethan Sickler, respectively.
Stretch, Tug, and Feud
The first challenge of this week’s episode was called “Stretch and Reach Quad Battle,” and the winner of this challenge was the new Kinzua tribe. The name of the second challenge was “It Snow Joke—It’s Tug of War Folks!.” Kinzua also dominated this challenge. Due to their success in the first two challenges of the night, Kinzua was safe from Tribal Council for this week and their work was done after the second challenge. Lastly, the third challenge of the night was titled “Cupid’s Survivor Family Feud,” and Lakota was the winner of this challenge. Therefore, Lakota and Kinzua were both safe for the week, meaning that Octoraro and Shenango were sent to Tribal Council. Shenango decided to vote out Ethan Sickler, and Octoraro voted out Caleb Brown.
Inside the Mind of a Castaway
Jack Holcombe is a freshman creative writing major and he is on the Lakota Tribe in Survivor. Holcombe expressed that he has greatly enjoyed his time thus far on Survivor-Bloomsburg. His favorite part of the previous challenges is that “they have been different every single time too, which is something that I like. It is not all physical or its not all mental; it is kinda like a variety, which is nice.”
Holcombe stated that his favorite thing about the competition is the uncertainty about whether or not he will be eliminated. Holcombe states, “The thrill of that like knowing this could be like my final day on here kinda makes it interesting.” On the flip side, he expressed that the most stressful part of the competition is volunteering yourself to do a challenge because “the team is basically trusting your judgment that you are going to be able to do this well and if you don’t do it well, then it’s like, ehh.”
Holcombe expressed that his favorite challenge so far in the game was the very first one, where each contestant had balloons tied to their feet and then opposing tribe members were trying to pop the balloons. He said, “It was very interesting and it played out differently than I expected it to, and it was kinda fun just like running around and stomping on people’s feet.”
Holcombe has made it through the third round of the competition, so he definitely has some strengths that his tribe can benefit from, but he might also have some weaknesses that his tribemates should be aware of. Holcombe said that his strength physically is running, as he is very fast. Mentally, his strength lies in the social alliance portion of the game. Holcombe states that his strength is “drawing people in and getting them to hear what I have to say and kinda tipping them to sway them in my direction.”
One weakness Holcombe believes he has is conveying his ideas and communicating with his tribe. He explains, “I am not a very loud talker so sometimes I’ll say something and people don’t hear it and because of that, I don’t always repeat it.” He goes on to say that he would like to work on better expressing his opinions to his tribemates and conveying his ideas in a better way.
“Out of my comfort zone”
Overall, Holcombe has enjoyed participating in the game and he thinks he will leave with a few friends he never would have made without this experience. Holcombe states, “It wasn’t really like my personality to do this type of thing, I kind of went out of my comfort zone when I tried out, and I would say that it has definitely been worthwhile.”
However, he would like to change one thing: Tribal Council. Holcombe states, “The first time that I went to Tribal, we didn’t have time to talk it though, and for that reason, we all kinda didn’t know who to vote (off) and we didn’t have time to like strategize or anything.” Due to this, Holcombe’s one change would be revolving around how Tribal Council is run, as he hoped it would allow players more time to strategize and think about who they want to vote off before having to actually vote.
“I think we got lucky not going to Tribal last time”
Holcombe also weighed in with his opinions on the tribe switch that occurred at the beginning of this week’s competition. He said, “I thought it was interesting. I would have rathered not have a team switch because I like where I was but the people that we have, I think they offer me the opportunity with creating different alliances.” He also expressed that his tribe is not super strong when competing in challenges yet, so he is a little concerned about their future. He states, “I think we got lucky not going to Tribal last time.”
Holcombe ended the interview with some advice for future students who might be interested in participating in Survivor-Bloomsburg. He said, “I would say that if they are tempted to try it, just try to apply at the very least and maybe you can opt-out last second if you aren’t feeling like you want to do it. ” He encourages students to “go for it and kinda just go to have fun and, like, have a good time overall.”
$500 on the line, these castaways have a lot to lose
The castaways on Survivor-Bloomsburg are competing for $500 and a trophy, so the stakes are high. There are now 18 players left in the game going into the fourth week of the competition. The next episode will be held in the back gym of the Student Rec Center at 7 p.m. on February 20th. Come out to cheer on your friends and see what this next round of challenges brings for the remaining castaways.
