Matthew is thrilled how Tribal went. Brandon stayed in the game, and he didn’t have to show his cards by playing his Shot in the Dark. Lauren is also thrilled, coming back to camp with her extra vote. The danger, however, is that it’s now public. Kane could be in trouble, though. With Maddy gone, he’s the only person left in the tribe who cast a vote against Brandon. He has work to do.
With Brandon’s idol already played, Kane goes idol hunting. But he’s obvious about it, and everyone is on to his game pretty quickly.
Soka
Could a showmance be brewing over on Soka? Matt is still dealing with a break up, but he might have found just the fix in Frannie. He’s definitely smitten, and they get along in the game sense too. Matt tells Frannie that he lost two votes, the only person he’s told so far. However, Frannie is wary of becoming too close. An obvious tight twosome will at least be seen as a threat.
As far as we know, Soka hasn’t found their key yet. Most of the tribe is content to just hang around camp, but Danny spends lots of time looking. And that pays off, as he finds the key, and even better, all by himself. He says he’s going to keep it to himself, but we’ve seen that game before. Hopefully he actually will keep it a secret.
Danny goes to the bird cage in the middle of the day and retrieves his idol, along with his powerless silver coin. Matt and Claire go to inspect the cage, but Danny is able to replace the bag, lock the cage, and get out before they arrive.
Tika
Tika hasn’t found the key to their cage yet either, and they discuss looking for it as a tribe, which they do. Carolyn eventually finds it, and like Danny, is by herself. She too decides to keep it a secret. Carolyn eventually makes her move and gets the bag. Buuuuut, she gets back to camp and realizes she left the cage open. She also took the bag with her. Double the trouble. She makes a beeline for the cage and replaces the bag and locks the door. Thankfully she remembers to take the idol with her. HOWEVA.
The rest of the tribe makes their way back to the cage, and get there shortly after Carolyn left. It’s so soon after that the bag was still swinging and see that it looked open where they didn’t think it was before. Those four go back and empty their bags out together. They all try to read body language and have their own suspects. But nobody thinks to mention Carolyn? The one person who was off by herself all this time? I have to hope this was an editing choice. I simply refuse to believe none of them considered Carolyn.
Immunity Challenge
The tribes race up and over an obstacle to a pile of large sand bags. They empty the bags until they find a a bag with a ball. The next step is untying a ladder, that one person climbs up to retrieve a rope. The rest of the tribe uses the rope to raise a bridge. The tribe races across the bridge and down a slide to the finish, where one player uses the ball to navigate a snake maze. They’re also playing for a reward of fishing gear kits.
Matthew gets the through the maze first, giving Ratu immunity and the better fishing kit. Josh closes the deal for Soka, sending Tika to Tribal. Talking to the tribes on the mats, Matt tells Jeff he built a replica of the snake maze to practice on. Cool story, sure, but why broadcast that to everyone?
Pre-Tribal
Carson, Helen, and Sarah have formed a strong 3, and also feel good about Yam Yam. Carolyn quickly becomes their first target. However, Yam Yam has connected with Carolyn, so he goes right to her to come up with a counter plan. They both agree on Helen. Carson approaches them and plays up his relationship with them, acting that he’s okay with their Helen plan.
Tribal Council
Carolyn does not play her idol, and it proves to be the correct read, as Helen is sent home in a 3-1 vote. This would seemingly firmly put Sarah on the outs, as all we saw from her gameplay was her alliance with Carson and Helen. You never know, of course, but she’ll have lots of work to do.
This was an improvement over last week’s premiere, but it was still just a basic episode of Survivor. My expectations on the season as a whole haven’t really changed, but I’ll take that after the disappointing start.
Quick note for next week. I will be on vacation, so likely no recap, same goes for Talking Llama.
