The island gets hit with a huge storm overnight. Surprisingly, we didn’t get any comments about this being “the hardest season ever.” It’s a welcome change from the previous two seasons. Of course they talk about how hard it is, but thankfully seem to realize the context and don’t oversell it. That being said, Gabler is showing some signs of weakness, that he may already be fading physically.
Elie and Jeanine discuss their options of who to bring in for their third to form a majority. They leave Gabler out, and go back and forth between Owen and Sami. But while they think the guys aren’t doing anything from a game perspective, Sami gets to work on strengthening the Gabler and Owen bonds. He feels like Sami and Jeanine are underestimating the three of them, so it would be in their best interest to stay strong together.
I love that he even mentions he doesn’t think alliances should be based on something as simple as gender (something I hammered home last week). If it happens to be the case, like here? Sure. But the guys vs. girls wasn’t the driving force. It just happened to be the two girls teaming up and acting like it was their choice on who to bring along with them as their third.
Vesi
Dwight goes searching for advantages with Jesse as his lookout. It’s a smart move on Jesse’s part as he realizes Dwight is the one who is most on the outs. Jesse is pretty close with Nneka and Cody, and solidifying a fourth can keep their group secure, at least up until the merge. But Dwight hasn’t been able to connect with Cody like he has everyone else on the tribe. Cody is just out here for a good time. I love the attitude in general, but maybe not so much for Survivor. Yes, I’m all for trying to have fun while you’re out there. But at the end of the day, you’re still on a gameshow for $1 million! Gotta keep your head on straight.
Cody talks about his friend Devon, who passed away from cancer at a young age. And that sheds some nice light into his outlook on life. It makes a lot more sense why he acts the way he does. And I respect the hell out of that. Hopefully he can find a balance with having a good time in Fiji with playing the game.
Coco
Ryan leads his tribe in some stretches and workouts, which can be a precarious thing to do. Anything that puts you out in front like this can be risky. If people take to it, you can endear yourself to the others. But if they’re not on board, it’s just something that can annoy them that they can use as ammo to target you at a vote.
Immunity Challenge
The tribes dive into the water and swim to cage. They climb up and over to release a heavy snake tied up in the cage. After untying it, they have to get snake out of cage, and get it to a table back on the shore. From there they release number tiles, which they use to solve combination lock. Once they find the combination, they can move on to the final stage, a puzzle (obviously).
They’re also playing for reward this time. First tribe to finish gets a full fishing kit, with the second tribe winning a smaller kit.
Jeanine and Elie finish their puzzle, securing first (and getting their flint back) and the full fishing kit. Coco finishes soon after, sending Vesi to Tribal.
Baka
In a rare Survivor instance, we get footage from another camp! This week is a 90 minute episode, so they have to add time in somewhere. And I’m loving this. I’ve talked about it before, but you see with Survivor South Africa and Australian Survivor how much longer episodes can benefit the show. It doesn’t seem like this is a full-season thing, but getting longer episodes so early in the game allows us to get to know the players so much better than we otherwise would.
With Gabler out fishing, the rest of the tribe talks about his idol. They’re unclear if his idol was good through the first two Tribal Councils in the game, or the first two that Gabler goes to. They go through his bag, confirming it’s good through Gabler’s first two Tribals.
Pre-Tribal
Nneka is the initial target, as she was the weak link in the challenge. It’s a tough spot for the rest of the tribe. By all accounts they like Nneka, and she’s been great around camp. But if they’re basing it off challenge performance, Nneka would be the clear choice. But Cody has a strong relationship with Nneka, and she and Jesse have been getting closer. So her social game might be enough to help her stick around.
With Cody and Jesse wanting to save Nneka, they debate between Justine and Noelle. They settle on Justine, as she seems like a more dangerous strategic player. In talking to Dwight, Jesse pitches the Justine idea, but Dwight is leaning towards sticking with the girls. He’s big on keeping the tribe strong, and in his eyes that means voting out Nneka.
It’s an interesting move for Dwight. Without his vote, he has no real leverage at this point. From what we’ve seen, Jesse is the only person actively trying to build a real relationship with him.
Cody goes idol hunting and finds the Beware Advantage. Of course he opens it. Immunity Idol Bracelet. Each of the tribemates has a distinct bead on their bag. He has to convince each of them to give him their bead. The beads have to be willingly given, ie he cannot steal them. Until the bracelet has all the beads, he cannot vote.
This was a cool moment. It’s the first time the players in the game are playing having seen the Beware Advantage. Sure, the exact mechanics are different, but it was probably safe to assume that taking it would cost you your vote. I get the tough position Cody’s in, but this might have been a situation where you don’t take it. With Dwight not having a vote, they have a clear 3-2 majority. Yeah, the temptation is there, but he probably should have looked at the big picture a little more.
Cody tells Jesse. Jesse is calm with Cody, but is pretty upset at his partner’s mistake. Cody had earlier made a hat out of palm fronds and starts talking about wearing it at Tribal. He wants to “bedazzle” it and puts his beads on it, followed byJesse giving him his. One by one, he gets more beads, but Noelle is the final roadblock. She had already made a bracelet with her beads, and has no interest in giving them up.
But here’s the thing with this twist. What happens if a player gets voted out before Cody gets their beads? Is he just completely out to dry? As much as that might screw the player, I kind of hope we see that this season, just to see what happens.
Tribal Council
We see in a flashback that Cody was able to get all the beads, and Justine is voted out. But it actually wouldn’t have mattered, as Justine and Noelle split their votes on Nneka and Cody, so Nneka, Cody, and Jesse’s plan would have worked with just Nneka and Jesse’s vote.
