Clues Destroyed And A Near Brawl At Tribal Council (Surviving Barstool Behind The Scenes & Episode 2 Recap)
Eight Barstool Sports employees living in the office for one week. Only one person can walk away with the $10,000 grand prize. The sole winner will be voted on by the five that were voted out. Surviving Barstool Season 2 Presented by Mattress Firm rolled onto Episode 2 last night (if you missed episode 1, get caught up here), but let me give you a behind the scenes look on what happened and why.
EPISODE 2 SPOILERS BELOW
This episode starts off right with everyone after the wild finish to episode 1. A lot of people were shook when the announcement was made that Tiko was out.
It was a mystery that people had to connect. I would like to address one point. I did not reveal that this was all me. Unfortunately, for my game, it came out after the vote as people were able to connect. So at that point, I did admit to pulling that move. But I never volunteered that information. That being said, owning up to it did buy me some credibility for being honest, even if it was honest about pulling a shady move.
In episode 1, Jackie found the first clue, then Rudy went into her bag and took a picture of it, which allowed him to find the second clue first. What was a concern though, was Rudy had blabbed about this clue to several people. Not even just people in our alliance. I had actually never even seen the second clue, Rudy just recited it from memory to me. With the clue being something about golden, we just had to sift through the 50 some-odd Dunkin Awards and other gold items lying around people's desks. Lucky for me, I found it in literally the first Dunkin Award I turned over with Eddie by my side. We couldn't figure the clue out, but knowing that Rudy had gone through people's stuff AND was telling people clues, I had no choice but to destroy it. Eddie and I would have a leg up in looking for it while everybody else would be overturning golden Dunkin Awards.
Walking into the challenge I think we were all excited to do it. There were thoughts it could be a food/eating challenge, which nobody was looking forward to, so we were all relieved. Putting on those giant suits wasn't super comfortable. Running around the office, especially in an area I used to work in wearing that with meetings and stuff going on, far less comfortable.
Caroline did an awesome job getting all her bags and then figuring out how to put the puzzle together spatially. She completed the puzzle a solid 2-3 minutes before anyone else and won the safety necklace, which was pivotal as she was a target going into the day. That certainly threw a wrench in our plans.
With the win, Caroline got to choose who she wanted to bring into the Mattress Firm Suite with her. She asked people to pitch for why they should go in. O'Malley immediately said that she snores so wouldn't want to put Caroline through that. I didn't necessarily want to talk strategy with Caroline as I knew she was deceptive and had aligned with O'Malley. So we were on opposite sides. But I volunteered that I sleep fine on couches and don't need as much sleep because I'm a father of two young kids (I'm typing this blog at 1am not to brag). But I immediately regretted it as Caroline seemed shocked multiple people didn't want to bunk with her. She then said it was between myself and Rudy and she chose Rudy. My heart sank because I trusted Rudy, but I knew that Caroline was sharp and would try and persuade him.
Luckily for our alliance, Rudy was nails and deflected attention from us to an easier target in Kontent Kim. Kim is a delight as a person, but hadn't been playing the game like the rest of us. I determined I didn't want to work with her the week before when she said she could not tell a lie. She also made a big stink Day 1 when Tiko had claimed to have a secret alliance with her going into the game but she voiced out loud to several people she didn't agree to that. Very sloppy gameplay.
One thing about this game is if you're involved in a group conversation, way more often than not, you won't be the vote because nobody wants to tell you to your face that you're the mark. We are all co-workers and at least cordial and respectful to each other. So to be a straight up asshole to their face doesn't really play. In this scene on the scaffolding (which we were almost immediately banned from by the building), there are five of the seven people here. The only two missing: Kontent Kim and Eddie. Eddie basically had immunity that day because Caroline, Grace, and Kim all felt bad for voting for him Day 1 AND people were respecting that he legit had to work (you can't exactly flake on your pod with Dave, even if you're taping a reality show that week), so he was mentioned as untouchable because of those two reasons. Shoutout to Caroline and Grace for suggesting that. Classy move.
So naturally with Kim not involved in this conversation and Eddie essentially immune to a vote, she's the only choice. We had smaller, separate talks throughout the day, but from my perspective, I wanted to go Kim because I wanted to build up trust with Jackie. Jackie did not want to vote Grace out, so I wanted to empower her that we were behind her and would vote with her.
Coincidentally, Rudy and Caroline had both agreed on Kontent Kim, so it just made sense all around. Going Grace here could rock the boat which could lose us Jackie. If that happened, it's be 3-on-3 and a whole new game.
Going into the game, I was determined to play an honest game. I thought that would help me if I were able to make it to the final because all of these people vote on the winner. Multiple people had also mentioned they just didn't want to be blindsided and I can respect that. I was open to helping Kim. But she asked to talk to me for the first time about 45 minutes before the final vote. I was just honest with her and told her that she was likely my vote, but definitely not settled. I threw out to her that I needed a reason to not and wanted her best offer. She couldn't really offer much outside of not voting for me the next day. At that point, I told her that offer wasn't good enough, but I'd be open to reconvening.
She came back with a decent offer. She'd vote wherever we wanted the next day if we didn't vote her. I asked our alliance into a room and presented them with that info to see if that would change anybody's feelings. Eddie and Rudy wanted Grace to go citing that she was more of a threat. I wanted to do whatever Jackie wanted to do. I wanted to water that trust tree and help it grow. If Jackie feels invested in the alliance, she's less likely to betray it. The room was starting to lean Grace, but then O'Malley burst in super nervous and again, if you're in the room where the decision happens, it likely won't be you. We assured her we're sticking with the plan.
Tribal Council that night was a much more relaxed atmosphere. Everyone outside of Kontent Kim was on the same page. We would get the vote done and have some fun. Grab some drinks, talk, and actually get to know each other.
But just when you think things are going as planned in Surviving Barstool, you have no idea. Tiko Texas got right up in our faces and showed why she is a reality star in the making.
The vote then did go as expected, 6-1 in with Kim being voted out. A lot of sad awoogas in the chat, but it was a strategic play for the long-term. What we didn't see coming was KFC cursing at Kim. I know his line is, "pack your bags and get the fuck out" is kind of his line, but doing it to Kim in that moment hit different.
Things are starting to settle into place two shows in, but are we due for a shakeup? Find out tonight when episode 3 airs at 7pm eastern.
Want more Surviving Barstool chatter? Check out the Episode 2 post-show with Tommy Smokes, Kelly Keegs, and Feits.