Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X'ers - Episode Recap
Episode 10 - Million Dollar Gamble - Part 2
By Jim Van Nest, Gen X-er
November 30, 2016
Teams are drawn and they are: Hannah, Jessica and Adam vs. Will, Ken and Jay vs. Sunday, Zeke and Bret. David drew the white rock, so he will be going on reward no matter what. Hannah, Will and Sunday start off the relay. I have to say, seeing that Will starts to lose his shorts almost immediately, they might not have thought this one all the way through. Will and Hannah finish their leg first and Ken and Jessica take off. Finally, Sunday gets done, and Zeke heads out. Jessica is really struggling, while Ken cruises to tag in Jay, who goes through even faster.
Bret takes off for the final leg for Orange about the time that Jay, Ken and Will start on the puzzle. Jessica tags in Adam and he makes up a huge amount of time. Bret gets to the end, also losing his shorts along the way, and they've begun working on their puzzle. Due to Adam's crazy fast run, all three teams are now working on the puzzle. While two teams struggle with the puzzle, the Bret, Sunday and Zeke team finish the puzzle and win reward! And how perfect is it that Zeke and his arch nemesis, David will be going on the reward with the very two people they are both trying to recruit to their side? Ah, you gotta love the Survivor Gods, right?
After the commercials, we join the victors on their helicopter ride. Both Zeke and Sunday REALLY wanted to win the challenge with the helicopter ride. Once they hit the beach, they all dine and the drinking starts. Bret and Zeke comment on how they've become drinking buddies as of late. As they're pounding the beers, David oddly gets up from the table to take a walk. Um, what? Why would you ever leave these people alone together? Ever?? But he does and Sunday actually heads out for a walk as well, leaving Zeke and Bret alone at the table.
What happens next can only be described as inspired. It's an amazing and poignant scene that could only happen on something like Survivor. Bret decides to really bring Zeke into his confidence, "I will tell you, you're not the only gay guy out here." Say what?? Apparently, Bret is also gay. He says that he didn't plan to hide it, but when he landed on the beach with the manly men like Chris and Ken, he decided to keep it quiet. The conversation that happens here does more to support the whole Millennial vs. Gen X theme than all of the challenges, Tribal Councils and Probst's awful attempts to show the divide between the generations combined. Zeke never thought about hiding the fact that he's gay, while Bret comes from the older generation that used to keeping that stuff quiet. He admits that he's never had any trouble from the people he's told, but it's all in his head.
Zeke tells us that he owes such a debt to guys like Bret and his generation. He says he wouldn't have been able to come out at 15 if not for the fights and struggles that Bret's generation went through. Bret was in the military during "Don't Ask Don't Tell," and he's just used to living without people knowing. Zeke says that he's so glad to see Bret opening up and getting to reap the rewards of what he's sown. In all seriousness, this may be one of my favorite scenes in Survivor in years. Maybe ever. It's so real, so raw and just such an amazing conversation - seriously, they couldn't have written a better scene to really highlight the differences between Millennials and Gen Xers.
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