After Mel’s boot, Michelle knows she has work to do. Being the second half of the split vote, it makes sense that she would be the next target. But Mel called out Josh as the leader of the power alliance. That’s where Michelle thinks she has to focus her work.
However, Josh might have his sights set on someone else in the alliance, Jordie. Jordie told Josh about Mark’s idol, and now Josh isn’t so sure Jordie is someone he can trust moving forward. He tells Sam, Mark, Chrissy, and Dave all this, and that he envisions that group as the top four. But Sam isn’t so sure. Jesse is her closest ally after Mark. And Sam thinks Josh might make a better target anyway.
Sam talks to Jesse about who they would target first within the alliance. She doesn’t suggest a name, and lets Jesse throw out Josh, saying he and Jordie both think he should be the first to go from the six.
Reward Challenge
Tethered together in pairs, each team races to collect a series of blocks. They stack the blocks on a wobbly platform. Winning team wins a trip to the KFC Billabong Lounge. With an odd number, one person will not participate, but gets to bet on who they think will win. Get it right, and they get to join on the reward.
Dave is the odd one out, and picks Jesse and Josh. Jordie and Chrissy win. They get to pick two other people to join and they pick Jesse and Mark. Then JLP lets them pick one more, and they choose Josh.
Reward
Jordie finds a clue at the reward, which he shares with Jesse. The clue doesn’t explicitly say it’s for an idol, just a “powerful tool.”
Lava
Back at camp, Sam notices Jordie acting a little suspicious, so she (correctly) worries that he and Jesse found something. She doesn’t want to automatically go against the loved one of such a close ally. When talking with Mark and Jordie, she asks if they found anything at the reward. Jordie denies, but Mark is confident Jordie is lying.
Immunity Challenge
For this challenge, the players stand on a post, holding two ropes to balance a ball on a hanging track. Periodically they move back to smaller posts. Ball drops and you’re out.
Jordie wins.
Pre-Tribal
The boys pitch and agree to a Shay/KJ vote, but Jordie and Jesse fully intend to vote Josh. But Mark doesn’t trust Jordie, or even Jesse. He wants to keep working with Josh, so he tells Josh and Dave. Josh wants to turn the vote around onto Jesse. The tricky part is how close Sam is with Jesse. Jesse and Jordie are the first to try to make a move against the alliance, so she can justify it. But as she says, Jesse is her best friend in the game, Mark notwithstanding.
Jesse and Jordie start to get a little spooked, so they kick into idol hunting mode. Jesse finds it, but while he’s reading the note, Sam finds him. Jesse doesn’t have a good place to conceal it, so Sam puts it underneath her sarong to get it safely back to camp. As far as we know, Sam still has the idol heading into Tribal Council. This puts Sam in a *very* interesting position.
Tribal Council
Jesse is voted out, as Sam turns on her ally. In doing so, she gains Jesse’s idol, but also Jordie’s wrath. Before leaving, Jesse has a quick chat with Sam, in which she confirms she knew about the plan. He doesn’t out her to the entire tribe, but does tell Jordie that Sam has the idol.
It’s undoubtedly a big move, arguably the biggest of the season. The risk here was always big, but even bigger knowing Jordie is still there. But Sam said it, Jesse was a victim of Jordie’s actions. And of his own, in giving up possession of his idol.
I love the move, personally. Worst case scenario, she has to burn her idol early, but still lives to see another day. Yes, the vote could flip to Mark, but he seems fairly well-insulated. Plus he still has his idol to use. They have massive targets, but they’re in an extremely powerful position.
Episode 16
Lava
Back at camp after the vote, Sam tries to mend things with Jordie. She proposes he stick with her and Mark, and that her idol truly works as a team idol. Jordie agrees, but what else is he going to do in that situation? If he blows up, it only gives her reason to target him next. By staying calm, he at least buys himself a little bit of time.
But Jordie isn’t about that. He doesn’t view Sam as having “an” idol, but rather having “Jesse’s” idol. He seems a bit bent on revenge. And revenge is dangerous motivation in Survivor. But Jordie also seems intent on keeping his head on straight. He realizes the power that he can wield by being the only other person who knows about Sam’s idol.
Immunity Challenge
We have yet another classic Survivor challenge, with a little twist. The players stand on narrow footholds while holding onto two ropes, periodically moving down to smaller footholds.
Coming down to Shay and Jordie, Shay steps off and passes out. They don’t spend much time on it, so it can’t have been too serious. They brushed past it without much fanfare. I suppose that’s a good sign for Shay, but still, just maybe felt odd.
Pre-Tribal
The couples are now outnumbered, though Dave and Chrissy have been working closely with Mark & Sam and Josh & Jordan. Sam knows she needs to firm those two up, to prevent the singles from flipping the game.
And that’s exactly what Jordie tries to do. It’s an obvious move, but that doesn’t make it the wrong move. Jordie pitches Mark as the vote. He doesn’t think Mark would see it coming, sending him out of the game with his idol. And he thinks Sam might self-implode if she loses Mark. But Dave is hesitant to make a move now. He wants to wait one more vote.
So that’s when Jordie drops the idol bomb, that both Sam and Mark have idols now. He continues the play, telling Shay, Josh, , Chrissy, and Jordan. It would have been great to see some of their thoughts in confessionals. I’d be very curious to hear what the other players think. Sure, we might get some at Tribal, if things start to pop off. But Tribal Council is theater; you can’t be certain people are giving their truly honest thoughts.
Tribal Council
Shay is voted out of the tribe, but not out of the game. We knew we had at least one non-elimination left, so it’s not surprising. She heads to Purgatory, which I can only assume is some sort of Exile/Redemption Island. And we see on the Sunday night preview that someone else will be joining, most likely leading to Sunday night’s elimination to be done by way of a challenge between the two. At least I hope they do it that way, and don’t wait for the beginning of Monday’s episode.
