Monty Brinton/CBSWhile Stephen and J.T. were off having a "meat festival," Coach was busy catching up with himself in exile.
That all sounds gross, so let us explain: The Survivor: Tocantins ringleaders got to enjoy a night away and a Brazilian feast thanks to J.T.'s reward challenge win, and Coach took the "monastic approach" to Exile Island, refusing food and fire and opting to meditate for two days.
Despite the fact that, according to the self-proclaimed "last of the Mohicans," he had slipped discs in his back, his left arm was killing him and his asthma was flaring up.
Erinn wasn't a big fan of what she perceived to be Coach's martyr ruse—and Stephen wasn't a big fan of Erinn lashing out at poor, decrepit Coach.
But "Coach Wade's foundation is built on a rock," according to the man himself. "Inside here [gesturing to his heart]—unbendable, unbreakable, unyielding, immeasurable, immovable, invincible."
OK, then, onto the immunity challenge.
Coach hadn't eaten for two days and has a bad back, and J.T. had feasted on skewer after skewer of meat. Hence, the 24-year-old cattle rancher outlasted his elder competitor in the perch-on-tiny-footholds challenge.
Although it was J.T. and not him wearing the immunity feather necklace around his neck heading into Tribal Council, Coach believed in J.T.'s assurance that the two of them and Stephen would make up the final three.
Taj and Erinn were off plotting against Coach, but so what?
Turns out Stephen wants a better chance of being able to beat whoever ends up in the final three with him and J.T.—so the 29-year-old New Yorker stuck a fork in Coach, who was voted out 3-2.
"There was some sadness tonight as I left," Coach mused after the fact. "Stephen was not the right wizard; he was the evil wizard in the end."
[Exit dragon slayer.]
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