SPOILER ALERTS: Recapping Episode 8 of Surviving Barstool and Looking Ahead to Episode 9

WARNING: THIS IS A FULL RECAP OF SURVIVING BARSTOOL SEASON 5 EPISODE 8. SPOILERS ARE INCLUDED THROUGHOUT, SO DO NOT KEEP READING UNLESS YOU’VE WATCHED EPISODE 8.

If you want to watch a recap show for Episode 8, check out the Breakdown Boys!

We are down to the final six, and Episode 8 opens with a little animosity after everything that happened at the Ring of Fire. Dana wants to know why Tommy Smokes was pushing him to play his idol before the last vote. Tommy originally says he thought people were coming after Dana, but the truth is a little more complicated than that.

Tommy eventually explains to Dana and Marty that Rone had approached him about blindsiding Dana before the Nicky Smokes vote. Tommy ultimately decided to go back to voting Nicky, but he wasn't completely convinced Rone didn't still have the numbers to take Dana out. So why not tell Dana to play the idol? If Rone's plan was still alive, Tommy saves Dana. If it wasn't, Dana wastes the idol and Tommy can eventually point to that as a move he made if he's sitting in front of the jury.

I believe Tommy 1000% here. It makes sense either way! The problem is Dana doesn't see it that way and thinks Tommy was simply trying to take advantage of him and flush the idol. Now Tommy is on an island and scrambling to do some serious damage control.

Things get even more interesting after Tommy leaves the room when Marty tells Dana that Rone has an idol. Dana immediately starts wondering why Marty has been keeping that information from him, and Marty has his own problem to worry about: every alliance he made before the game is somehow still here. Brandon, Glenny, Dana, Tommy and Rone are all still alive with Marty in the final six. Sounds great until you realize you eventually have to start stabbing some of these people in the back!

Final Six Challenge

Jeff D. Lowe introduces a challenge featuring a puzzle he says has never been done on any reality show before. Players have to navigate a maze while carrying a pedestal and collect five different Dave Portnoy totems: Brady Four Dave, Emergency Press Conference Dave, Pizza Dave, Tea by the Sea Dave, Dog Dad Dave. Once they collect all five, they use keys from the totems to unlock the final vertical puzzle.

There's also a pretty important twist: you can swat other people's Dave totems off their pedestal and force them to start that portion over. That leads to plenty of swatting early before everyone eventually gets to the puzzle, with Rone and Glenny among the first to get moving.

Also, the Dave totems are fucking amazing. Barstool needs to do what Barstool does best, slap a price tag on those things and start selling them!

In the end, Dana Beers aka the puzzle master wins immunity and guarantees himself a spot in the final five! That leaves Brandon, Marty, Rone, Tommy and Glenny vulnerable.

Tommy Starts Scrambling

Tommy immediately goes to Rone and suggests Marty, which I actually thought was a pretty good idea. Brandon seems willing to follow Rone's lead, and Marty is obviously a major threat this late in the game. Unfortunately for Tommy, Rone then goes to Marty and tells him he won't write his name down and that the two of them aren't going to screw each other.

Well, so much for that plan.

Tommy is working his ass off trying to turn people against Marty and even tells Brandon the truth about Marty's fake injury that earned him an idol. Marty had also previously told Tommy that he wouldn't take him to the final three, so Tommy has plenty of incentive to take his shot now.

The problem is nobody seems to trust Tommy anymore.

Rone goes ahead and tells Brandon to vote Tommy. Then Marty tells Brandon to vote Tommy. Then Dana tells Brandon to vote Tommy. Brandon is paranoid as hell and isn't completely buying what everyone is selling him, but at least the guy knows something is up.

At Tribal, Jeff reads the second Tommy vote and Tommy immediately turns toward Glenny and asks if he fucked him... pause. At that point, you could see Tommy knew exactly what was coming.

Tommy Smokes is blindsided and becomes the seventh member of the jury. Tommy and Marty voted for Brandon, while everyone else put their votes on Tommy.

That leaves us with a final five of Brandon Walker, Marty Mush, Dana Beers, Rone and Glenny Balls.

Tommy is PISSED afterward. In his exit confessional, he even goes as far as saying he isn't sure some of his real-life relationships with the guys will ever be the same after what happened. That's probably the most interesting part of the episode because it shows just how real the emotions can get when you're playing for $250,000 with people you're actually friends with.

Dana also takes credit for constructing the plan to get Tommy out, saying Tommy trying to flush his idol was the last straw. That's a pretty solid piece to add to Dana's case if he reaches the final three, but he's also starting to build quite the collection of pissed-off jurors. Nicky Smokes and Tate were both wearing shirts showing Dana as the Grim Reaper with their heads on the ground, essentially saying Dana stabbed them in the back.

Probably not two votes Dana should be counting on!

My Thoughts On Episode 8

After loving Episode 7, this one was pretty boring to me. This season continues to lack some of the drama and storylines we've gotten in previous years, and the challenges haven't done much for me either. Tommy getting blindsided was a little surprising and his reaction afterward was interesting, but when you're down to six people, somebody with a strong alliance is eventually going to get stabbed.

Now we're down to five, and this is where things HAVE to get interesting. Three players still have idols they can use in Episode 9, and after that, those idols are worthless.

No more easy votes. No more hiding behind these giant alliances.

We'll see you Wednesday for Episode 9 where it will be the final episode before the final 3!

Winner of Episode 8

WINNER: DANA BEERS — Hard not to go with Dana here. He secured himself a spot into the top 5 stress free. Seems to be in control of things and in a good spot. I'm not sure you could feel more comfortable if you're Dana Beers.