Back at Naviti, the tribe shows their support to James after that night’s tribal council. But we don’t spend much time there as we quickly head to the beach for the the tribe switch. I was surprised they stuck with two tribes and didn’t switch to three 6-person tribes. But I do like the 9-person tribes. There’s a guaranteed majority for one tribe, but it’s almost never that simple at the next tribal. Having larger tribes allows for more possible moves to be made, and the more hectic, the better. Our post-switch tribes are:
Naviti Angela Chris Dom Donathan James Laurel Libby Morgan Wendell
Malolo Bradley Brendan Chelsea Desiree Jenna Kellyn Michael Sebastian Stephanie J
Over at Malolo, Brendan shows everyone around, and Bradley wastes no time complaining about his new home. That’s two potential power players who could be quickly coming into conflict. Everything goes much smoother at Naviti, as the former Malolos are excited for the serious upgrade in living conditions. But Chris is wary of his new situation as he didn’t feel particularly close to his non-Angela carry-over tribemates. He tries to pull Angela in by disclosing Dom’s idol, but Angela is a little put off by his approach, saying he talks “at you” instead of “to you.” Chris then includes Libby and James in the information free-for-all. Libby is also privately keeping her distance from Chris, not wanting to commit fully to that alliance. Chris had some seriously negative pre-season perceptions, from fans and players alike. It seems like his act isn’t quite winning people over like he thinks it is, with both Angela and Libby not wanting to get in too deep with him.
At the Malolo water well, Kellyn makes what I think is an interesting strategic decision. She tells Jenna and Stephanie how much it must suck for them to be in the minority all of a sudden, especially since none of her five will turn on each other. This might not be wise for a couple reasons. In telling them how strong her alliance is, she might as well be saying “Your only chance at survival is finding an idol. Why don’t you go out and search why we sit back and do absolutely nothing about it.” And that’s exactly what happens. Stephanie and Jenna start idol hunting, as they should. Brendan and Michael soon join them in their search, and Michael finds one James’ fateful idols from China. The second reason: Is she forgetting that Ghost Island is a thing? If they lose the next immunity challenge, any one of the five could get sent to Ghost Island, thus evening the numbers at four apiece. For someone who seemingly knows the game so well, I thought it was a misstep, though it’s not uncommon for players to feel complacent when they suddenly find themselves in a position of power. I like Kellyn a lot, so hopefully she’ll straighten herself out and refocus her mindset on the game going forward.
At the challenge, the tribes compete for immunity and a tarp. They must race through series of walls, dig through a sand pit to find a ladder. The ladder is then used to retrieve a rope to use to climb a tower. Then one final ramp is there, where a puzzle awaits at the top. After some back and forth, both tribes arrive at the puzzle at basically the same time. But it doesn’t matter as Kellyn and Bradley cruise through the puzzle with seemingly very little difficulty, give Malolo reward and immunity. Once again, Kellyn absolutely destroys a puzzle. I hope the others are filing this away as something to remember as the merge draws closer. So many challenges have some sort of puzzle element, so Kellyn would at worst have a fighting chance in any of those. Not someone you want to keep around too long once you merge. The Ghost Island decision comes down to a rock draw, as Malolo cannot come to a unanimous decision. On the rock draw, Chris draws the white rock, sending him to Ghost Island. He’s not exactly enthused by this, saying he’s “spooked” (cue the eye roll) about being away from his tribe.This is interesting as we are now left with four former Malolo members, and four former Navitis. Could make for a potentially very tight 4v4 vote.
Nothing too exciting this time around at Ghost Island. Chris does not get the chance for an advantage. He discusses his relationship with his mom and how much motivation that provides him. He cries a little bit. And that’s that.
Angela is adamant on staying loyal to Naviti, and talks to Wendell about it. They are planning to vote Libby with the expectation that a rock draw will be the result. However, Wendell is not on board with this plan, and goes to Morgan to discuss voting out Angela, as she is assumed to be Chris’s right-hand woman. Dom shows his fake idol to James, Laurel, and Libby in an effort to gain their trust, and to throw the scent off the idea that he also has a real idol. James doesn’t trust Dom and the three former Malls debate over who to vote out between. There are seemingly four possible targets here with Angela, Dom, Morgan, and Wendell all being mentioned in the pre-tribal talks.
We get to tribal and I am completely nervous, considering Wendell was my first round pick in the fantasy draft and is my winner pick. But Wendell didn’t get a lot of air time during the episode. He seems like an engaging, likable guy. I would think that we would have seen more confessionals from someone like him if he were the one getting voted out. Luckily, Wendell doesn’t receive any votes, as Morgan is voted off in a 4-3 (Angela)-1 (Libby) vote. I think the credit for this vote has to go to James and Laurel. James was immediately suspicious of Dom’s true intentions and Laurel pushed for Morgan as Wendell was deemed more valuable for challenges. James had a nice little redemption this week after having a real rough go of it with the water challenge fiasco.
Another solid entry in what’s shaping up so far to be a great season. I’m really looking forward to next week. It’s always interesting and fun to see the tribe dynamic when someone comes back from exile. And there was lots of idol talk in the preview, which probably means exactly zero idols will be played.
One quick note for next week. I will be on vacation and I am not sure if I will be able to watch the episode live. I would bet not, though. So I will get up a shorter recap when I get back, hopefully going up Friday or Saturday.
