After last week’s elimination of Kendra, finally!, the competition has thinned out to just five pirates! As the show starts (online, grrrr) and I watch the intro along with the theme music I’m reminded of just how much I enjoy this show. I’m so disappointed in CBS and their decision to let it go. It’s great entertainment and something much different (despite its Survivor spin) from anything else out there right now. Sigh. I’ll miss you Pirate Master! But in the mean time… Let’s find out what happens on Pirate Master Episode 12!

Once again, just like last week, the show starts with Ben expressing his concerns over Jay’s sneaky pirate behavior. Once Jay I think Ben should be pretty worried, but that shouldn’t be an issue this week as they seem to still be on good terms. Other than that life on the boat is going well for everyone as Captain Christa is a benevolent leader who doesn’t force her crew to do any work. This is quite a change of pace from the days of Joe Don! With so few crew members left on the ship the show doesn’t waste any time getting right to the big treasure hunting event.

Treasure Hunt:

As the reigning Captain Christa is the first onto the black team. As the only other woman Laurel is sent to the red team. Well now that’s sexist. The rest of the pirates will split oddly this week to form teams of three and two with the captain’s team having the advantage. The rest of the black crew consists of Ben and Jay. Holy crap this bunch is lucky! That means the red team will be just Laurel and Louie. Geez, they aren’t nearly as lucky. I’d say it’ll be pretty heavy in the black team’s favor.

Prior to the start Ben says he’ll need to keep a close eye on Jay as he’s still nervous about Jay’s relationship with Christa. Apparently Christa and Ben have now teamed up against Jay, but he doesn’t know the tide has shifted already. Right off the boat and into the water the black team takes the lead as they swim in. This lead expands as they climb the hill leaving Louie and Laurel behind. The black team picks one of the two paths after the first clue and hilariously gets caught in a rope net trap. Doubling back Jay, Ben, and Christa still get to the next clue first, but just barely.

Arriving at the last stage the two teams are neck and neck. Wisely though the black team decides to head to higher ground as they search for planetary symbols. With a plan in mind Jay, Ben, and Christa head back down to the valley where Jay amazingly drops to his knees and starts digging. This man is a pirate through and through! On his very first guess on the location Jay nails it 100% and pulls out the treasure chest. The black team has won, again, leaving Christa in power. Ben notes this will allow him to put his plan with Christa in place and get Jay nominated.

Back on the ship the winning team counts their treasure to find $30,000. Christa remains as the captain and must decide who to nominate. This is where things are going to get really, really tough on Christa. Ben and Christa pulls and questions her dedication to their plan for getting rid of Jay. Christa is clearly hesitant as she expresses concern because Jay has kids. What? Are you kidding me Christa?? Now don’t get me wrong I want to slippery Jay to win this game, but Christa, he is so dangerous! Christa has a kid too and this is her big chance to win for that kid.

Sensing his rising danger Jay pulls Christa aside and tells her Ben told him he wanted to cut Christa loose before the end as he feared her. Now I believe this is a lie from what I remember of what we’ve seen. To sort this out Christa sets up a little Captain’s Court in her quarters with Ben and Jay. Jay admits he said he wanted to get rid of Christa, but Ben denies he ever said the same. At this point Christa is crying and Jay looks to be in real danger. Again Christa decides to speak with everyone individually and this is where Laurel details Ben’s discussion on siding with Laurel over Christa. Has this shifted Christa away from Ben? I don’t know, the weight is heavy against Jay, so let’s see.

Christa arrives at her decision and announces she picked the black spots on who lied and who she felt was the easiest to nominate. With that she throws the four letters on the floor and heads back beneath the deck. The letters are sorted out and the results revealed. The first black spot goes to Laurel and the second goes to… Ben! Are you kidding?! Haha, that’s awesome. I’m still rooting for Jay and I thought for sure this was the end of his voyage.

Elimination:

Pirate court has arrived. There are only two voting pirates this week so the nominees try and influence those voters. Laurel first explains that she still loves playing this game and everyone knows where she stands, despite Christa’s comments on her being too difficult to read. Ben’s speech is much more poetic and he pledges his life and love to the game saying his very existence stands on whether or not he gets to keep playing. It’s a little over the top for me, but I can’t blame him and he needs to tug at all the heart strings he can here because he just needs one vote to keep him alive.

Just two votes tonight coming from pirates Jay and Louie. Both of these guys has their own allegiance to one of the endangered pirates. If Jay was smart he’d strike now and eliminate Ben, but the danger there is he could have an angry jury member to go against him in the final vote. So just as Jay always does he pushes the votes to the next round. There is one vote against Laurel, from Jay, and one vote against Ben, from Louie. This makes it a tie and forces Christa to step in and cast the final decision. This was very wise of Jay as if Christa votes against Ben he’ll be able to retain Ben’s vote in the final round over Christa.

Jay isn’t so lucky though and Christa decides to set Laurel adrift. I’d consider this a terrible decision as Laurel was weaker than Ben and easily defeatable in the end on many levels. Laurel says she’s happy to get off this ship as it wasn’t fun anymore and that she’s ready to go back to her van down by the river. Well okay, not really down by the river, I made up that last part.

There are now only four pirates left and two episodes left to go. Who will be the Pirate Master? I’m still hoping for Jay to win! What about you? Keep checking back here at Wild Bluff Media to get all your Pirate Master coverage as we’ll go all the way to the end.

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