After last week’s fantastic merge episode, I was worried we might be in for a bit of a letdown. And, well, we were and we weren’t. What we got was a completely middle of the road episode of Survivor. Which, given the circumstances, I’m totally okay with. It would be hard to expect the producers to give us another hammer of an episode directly following such an intensely entertaining one. Maybe it’s nothing but a gut feeling, but I think this bodes well for the rest of the season too. Anyway, on to the recap.
We start, as we often do, back at camp immediately following Tribal. Everyone seems to be happy now that Chris is out of the game. Well, everyone except for one person. And that one person would be Libby. She is wondering who voted for her. That doesn’t exactly bode well for that “Parvati 2.0” designation from Dom earlier, does it? I’m still waiting to see it from Libby. I’ve said it multiple times already, but she doesn’t seem to have it. She comes off as perfectly nice and likable. But there’s been no evidence to us, the viewers, that she has that killer instinct that’s been tossed around throughout the season. Let’s see how that plays out tonight, shall we…
Wendell wants to stick to his alliance of four Dom, Laurel, and Donathan. In talking with Laurel, Wendell confirms Dom’s idol to her and tries to firm up their Top 4 agreement. To further this plan he tells her about his idol as well. Laurel is worried about how little she knows about what’s happening with Dom and Wendell. And I don’t think she really needs to be, not right now at least. She’ll have to blindside at least one of them, likely both, at some point in the game if she wants to win. I don’t think she could beat either in the Final 3; she certainly couldn’t beat both. But for right now, it appears as though she could hide behind them for a few more votes, using them as shields. Everyone else will want to get them out before Laurel. She should use that to her advantage while she can.
The reward challenge again was nothing special but still entertaining. There were two teams of six . One at a time, a player races across a floating bridge to a sling shot where they launch sand bags toward a series of targets. Every player has to attempt at least one sling shot. They will be playing for an afternoon of tacos, burritos, quesadillas, and margarita. In addition, the winning six will send one person to Ghost Island. The two teams ended up being:
Dom, Kellyn, Jenna, Sea Bass, Des, and Michael vs. Angela, Laurel, Wendell, Chelsea, Libby, and Donathan
Both tribes eventually settle on the strategy of getting their weaker players’ attempts out of the way so the stronger players can get back into it. Wendell and Laurel crush the challenge in leading their team to the first reward win of the season. The best part for me might have been the couple great Jeff Probst quotes.
“Sebastian cannot get it done. He is high every time.” -A joke that has been ever-present throughout the season and it will continue to be funny until further notice.
“Chelsea fulfilling her goal of participating now heads back.” -A very apt description of Chelsea’s game so far.
Yet again we go to rocks for Ghost Island (*sigh*) and Jenna draws the white rock. At Ghost Island, her urn reveals no game for her. And that’s pretty much it. No emotional confessional, nothing. And Jenna’s near-invisible edit continues.
At the reward Libby brings it back to “What am I doing wrong?” Chelsea and Angela say it had something to do with her perceived strong relationship with Michael. And that was about it for the reward. No big strategy talks, no idol or advantage clues. Just a relaxing taco feast for the victors.
Back at camp, I don’t know if Angela was still drunk off the margaritas or what, but all of a sudden she’s talking and planning and actively participating in the game. She decides to try to stir the pot a little bit. “There’s going to be casualties all over and I’m going to be standing tall and proud because I made those casualties.” Not exactly an appealing visual, but whatever, you do you, girl.
She tries to turn the tide against Michael, telling Kellyn and Chelsea he told her those two couldn’t be trusted. She then tells Wendell and Dom about his desire to break up their twosome and wanting to get Wendell. So her big plan was to get the tribe to target Michael, who was already likely on everyone’s radar as someone to get out sooner rather than later? Kudos to her for finally trying to get herself into the game. It just wasn’t the best way to do so. But still, it will be interesting and fun to see going forward if this version of Angela is here to stay or not.
The immunity challenge is a Survivor classic: the “food” eating competition. It starts off with two rounds of six players each. In his heat, Wendell barely even attempts to get down the fish eyes (more on that later). It comes down to final of Michael vs. Angela, and Angela ends up pulling out the immunity win.
The majority has a plan to split the votes 5-4 between Michael and Libby, in case Michael has, and decides to play, an idol. But Donathan might have other ideas. He wants the Malolos to consider the idea of targeting a Naviti while their defenses may be down. And Libby’s tough game continues as Dom tells Libby she’s safe and to vote for Michael. And that is immediately followed by Donathan telling her that she’s the back-up for the split vote. Poor Libby, she just doesn’t know what to think at this point.
The pre-vote conversation at Tribal doesn’t give us much. Michael correctly decides to play his idol, saving himself. Wendell is the first vote shown after Probst runs through all the Michael votes. Thankfully though that would be the only time we see Wendell’s name tonight as the next three votes come up Libby, sending her to Ponderosa as the second member of the jury. Libby had a tough game, kind of like this kid. (Okay, maybe not the greatest comparison, but come on, that gif is hilarious. I just wanted an excuse to use it.)
Okay, so back to Wendell at the immunity challenge for a moment. He made less than no effort to eat those fish eyes. He just sat back and watched as the other five took them down. Normally you would expect Probst to roast someone over that kind of decisions, especially at an immunity challenge. But this time around, he simply acknowledged it and moved on. Now I don’t buy into the “Winner’s Edit” theory completely but there is something to be said for someone getting a great edit. And if the producers are intentionally giving him a good edit, this was a great way to slide something in in an episode where he was talked about as a dangerous player while also affirming that in a dominant reward challenge performance. It was small, quick, and subtle; not everyone is going to pick up on that. And backing me up here is the Know-It-All himself, Mr. Stephen Fishbach.
Again, I’m not saying this edit guarantees a Wendell win or even a Final 3 or 4 finish. But his portrayal so far does make it seemingly more likely that he will be around for a good while longer.
