Guts And Glory Episode 1: Custody Battle

The 18 contestants begin their battle for sole survivor with a camp-out, in freezing 22 degree weather. As they set up the tents, Mollie snags an early advantage by finding two idol clues that she later shares with Alex and Brian. Matt is off to a strong start with his socializing, and Shannon makes a good first impression as well. Sherry struggles to find common ground with the other players, being from China, and even asks people if they've heard of Shanghai (!?). She does however find a potential ally in Matt, who speaks Chinese.

Blue is the warmest color

The next day, Austin starts dividing the tribes up, handing out six red buffs and six white buffs. When the other six are left hanging, they eventually realize they're a tribe of their own. Yep, there's three tribes this time - very little room to hide! This format has proven successful in providing dynamic gameplay, so it should be a hit here. Each tribe put on their war paint, with Brian giving himself an epic mustache. Elyse and Evan both think they have the best tribe, whereas Sherry just wants not to lose as she thinks she's screwed. The teams are:

ULA ULA: Rene, Brian, Katie, Allan, Elyse, Emily
SOHCAHTOA: Michelle, Alex, Evan, Micah, Mollie, Shannon
AZULA: Priya, Matt, Brandon, Mikey, Nicola, Sherry

The first challenge is to wheelbarrow across a course, complete a bolo toss, then transport balls on planks up stairs, climb over a rope, and finish with a puzzle on top of a platform. Matt and Mikey take an early lead for Azula, but Priya and Sherry end up having to switch and lose a lot of time. Sohcahtoa are first to finish, but Azula overtake Ula Ula due to the slowness of Elyse and Katie.

White power!

After the bolo toss, it's onto transporting the ball...something that proves a great leveller when all three tribes suck. A back-and-forth race sees Ula Ula be the first to get a ball across, but when Evan and Shannon manage to get into their groove, they take Sohcahtoa from last to first. They maintain their lead going over the wire and Alex does an impressive flip. Less impressive is Mollie's faceplant. Having got to the puzzle at the top, it falls to Evan, Shannon and Alex to solve it. Elyse, Allan and Emily work on it for Ula Ula whereas Mikey, Matt and Priya give it a go for Azula. Sohcahtoa claim first place, with Ula Ula in second. It was a really close contest in which all three tribes gave it their all, but somebody had to lose, and that happened to be Azula.

Azula pretty much know without having to say it that Sherry is their first boot, a fact that's not lost on Sherry at all. On the winning tribes, Evan and Shannon's bond has only strengthened as a result of their great teamwork in the challenge, and the pair go to look for the idol together and talk about aligning with Micah. On Ula Ula, Katie finds Emily too loud for her tastes. Brian tries to make an alliance with Katie, but when she starts to question him, she ends up taking his pokemon collection as collateral. Already taking no prisoners...I like it!

Sherry is scrambling to save herself, and Matt wants her to stay as well. Having had no luck with Priya, Sherry tries to get Mikey and Nicola to vote her out, and wins Nicola's respect with her strong effort. Brandon and Nicola seem to have become a duo, so they debate the merits of a Priya vote vs a Sherry vote. Sherry is definitely weaker in challenges, but Priya is the bigger threat. Nicola also worries that saving Sherry here will lead to her teaming up with Mikey and Matt...so there's a lot to consider!

At tribal council, Sherry admits it was hard for her to get to know people at first, but Matt denies that she's an outcast. Priya says she likes the collaboration the tribe has shown, but when Austin points out they still have to eliminate someone, she admits she's confident of knowing who is going home.

At the vote, Sherry seems prepared for the worst, and whilst Priya and Brandon both cast votes against her, we see she has Matt in her corner at least. It's a 4-2 blindside of Priya in the end - I guess her pre-tribal nerves were justified. Already we've got players going for the jugular...but will this prove to be right move for Azula in the long run?