Ah, merge week. Often the best – or at least one of the best – episodes of every Survivor season. And boy did this episode deliver. It was the Chris vs. Dom battle from beginning to end. And there was no beating around the bush with this one. Both were completely out in the open with all other tribemates with what their plan was. Both knew they were openly gunning for each other. And it resulted in a fantastic episode.
There are always battles and in-fighting in Survivor, but rarely do we get something like this. The only example that comes to mind is Boston Rob vs. Russell in Heroes vs. Villains, widely thought of as one of the best seasons ever (THE best, in my humble opinion.) The feud dominates the storyline and it dominates camp life. Even when we saw smaller groups of players talking, there talks were centered around the Dom/Chris feud. And it ended with Chris getting easily voted out at the first post-merge Tribal Council. And how did we get there? Read on for the recap.
Just a quick reminder of who we’re left with at the merge: (Name, original tribe, 1st swap, 2nd swap)
We open right away with the merge. As everyone greets each other, the tension between Chris and Dom is noticeable immediately. They waste no time making it known, and the producers waste no time shoving it down our throats (but in a good way).
As any Survivor fan knows, the merge feast is prime time for idols or advantages, or at least clues to idols or advantages. And we weren’t left hanging. Chris finds a note in his buff, which ends up being a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol. The idol is at Ghost Island and a boat will come in the middle of the night to take him there, if he is willing to risk it. This might seem like too big of a risk to take on, that the Survivor producers are giving The Noble One an impossible task. I thought the same, until I saw this tweet from the Hollywood Reporter’s Josh Wigler, which provides some interesting and valuable context.
For what it's worth, the island Naviti is on is incredibly close to Ghost Island. Five minute boat ride, give or take. That whole operation could easily have taken place in 30 minutes flat. #Survivor
Even with that, it’s still a big, bold move to make. If anyone sees you get on that boat in the middle of the night, they know something’s up. Chris gets away to Ghost Island with no problem. There he finds JT’s idol from Game Changers waiting for him, the one he left at camp the night he was voted out. It is only good at the next Tribal Council.
There are a bunch of the Ghost Island bamboo chutes we’ve come to know and love, in sets of two. If Chris is up to it, he can risk his vote at the next Tribal Council for a chance to extend the shelf life his idol. He goes for it and ends up picking one right before losing on the second pick. So his idol is good at one of the next two Tribal Councils at the cost of his vote at the upcoming TC.
Back at camp, the entire beach conversation continues to be dominated by the Dom and Chris storyline. In a great bit of editing, we get some quick-cut back and forth of Chris and Dom talking to the other tribe members, and of course another less-than-stellar-but-still-totally-awesome-in-its-own-way Chris Noble freestyle.
Our first individual Immunity Challenge was a pretty standard Survivor challenge. Each contestant was standing on a beam, holding a pole balancing a statue. Not getting too crazy here on our first individual immunity challenge. but for a first one, I’ve got no complaints. After a grueling battle, it comes down to Kellyn, Libby, and Chelsea and Kellyn pulls it out.
While everything before this was all well and good, it was after the challenge that things really heated up. Chris’s first move is to take every single person, sans Dom and Wendell, to the well to talk strategy. I get the idea in theory, but how can you possibly think trying to have a serious strategy talk between 11 people will effective? There’s no way everyone will be on the same page, but each person will likely agree with the masses here just to avoid any unnecessary conflict. And what happens? Donathan immediately tells Dom everything that was discussed, including that Libby and Jenna are not to be trusted, which, based on what we saw, was completely factual and valuable information for Dom to have.
While Dom and Chris each other’s demise, a potential alternative plan is forming. The four Naviti women, Angela; Chelsea; Des; Kellyn, discuss possibly flipping the script and targeting one of the Malolo women. Meanwhile, we get a shot of Libby saying “It feels really good to be safe tonight.” And you start to think that maybe, just maybe, someone other than Dom or Chris will be going home. And it makes some sense. How often do we see one or two people get marked as obvious targets only to have a surprise vote at the end? And factor in all the idols between Dom (also with the Legacy Advantage), Chris and even Wendell – who had been discussed as a back up vote if they were to split votes – it would have been very possible for a poor, unsuspecting soul to get the boot.
But alas, that was not to be, as Mr. Noble was voted off in what had to be one of my favorite Tribal Councils ever. We start with Dom telling “his side of things,” going all the way back to Day 1, when he said he didn’t necessarily agree with Chris’s decision in that initial challenge. Dom and Chris are both content with this being a showdown, and I am here for that all day. And we got a great shot of Sea Bass looking stone out of his mind talking about trusting your gut just for good measure.
And Survivor saved the best for last. Dom gets up to vote and pretty much shouts it out for everyone to hear. And why not? It’s not like it was any secret who he would be voting for, why keep it a secret now? And then Wendell with what is easily my favorite vote-casting moment in Survivor history. Luckily for all of us, my main man Dalton Ross of Entertainment is always on top of these gold nuggets and captured it.
Wow. My guy Wendell throwing it down. And there we have it. Just a great episode, from a great cast giving us a great season. If only we had more awesomeness from this episode. What’s that, Billy Mays? There is more? What a gift!
Our guy Chris managed to sneak in a quick little music video during his time at Ponderosa. Watch and enjoy then watch again and again.
Apologies for the quality. These were recorded off my computer on my phone. To see the full video in actual quality, head over to CBS.
