Emily is appreciative of the tribe keeping her around. There seem to be better vibes than the very start of the game. Sabiyah gives Emily her Shot in the Dark back without hesitation. Emily is actually surprised, but why? It would be a terrible social move for her to keep it.
However, Emily picked up on the fact that someone didn’t vote. Brandon was voted out after just two votes, proving that there was at least one person who didn’t vote. Emily asks Sabiyah straight up if she didn’t vote. Sabiyah, of course, says she did vote. But now Emily might have something to work with, at least in her mind. Sean and Kaleb both know Sabiyah has the idol, so Emily can’t use the secret against her. But she could try to use the fact that Sabiyah has an idol as reason to target her on the next vote. It could be a valid play, but Emily might have been off keeping that to herself for the time being.
Belo
Jake kind of collapses and falls at camp. It almost looks like a sort of mini seizure. But he pops right back out of it almost like it didn’t happen. We don’t see the medical team come out at all, so I guess it couldn’t have been that serious. I’d assume they checked him out, but it’s got to be a good thing that it didn’t get shown.
After the fall, Jake and Kendra start to form a bond. She says this made her feel a little protective of him, and she might be thinking Jake is someone to work with going forward.
Reba
Austin is still trying to get his hands on the idol. He starts digging around with Drew playing lookout. But while this is happening, Dee talks to Julie about some suspicions about the two. She thinks they’ve got something. They end up coming up on Drew digging, but he doesn’t see them as his back was to them. Dee asks him what he’s doing, and Drew just…walks away? Not the best way to act, but Drew might have salvaged it.
He tells Dee and Julie that he and Austin think there might be something hidden there, lying that they saw Sifu digging in that same area. Dee kind of buys it, but she feels there’s something more they’re hiding. If nothing else, they were keeping it a secret that they were actively looking for something. Sifu still seems to be the odd one out here, so it might not rear its head, at least not yet.
Reward Challenge
Start in ocean race to ebach, one at a time toss a ball to overhead trap, catach at other end, after all four, shoot onti hooop, raise target, land three rings
Starting in the ocean, the players race to the beach. Then one at a time, they toss a ball into an overhead trap, where they must catch it on the other end. Once all four have done this, they shoot one ball into a basket, raising three targets. They toss three rings on to the targets.
The first tribe to finish wins a large fruit platter, with the second tribe winning a smaller fruit platter.
Winning tribe also gets to send one member of their tribe to one of the other two camps to steal one item.
On the back of Kaleb, Lulu finally gets their first challenge win of the season. Reba takes second. Voting Brandon off is immediately paying dividends. I think anyone who has been watching this season would agree that Brandon would have seriously struggled with this challenge. Him being there may have been enough to prevent Lulu from winning. It’s just one reward challenge though. Let’s see how they perform come Immunity time.
Lulu sends Kaleb on the camp raid.
Camp Raid
In addition to stealing one item, Kaleb also has a Goodwill Advantage he can give to one player on the other tribe. This allows that player to restore one lost vote. Kaleb arrives at Reba to raid the camp. Let’s take a quick sidebar here. “Raid” is a bit aggressive. He gets to take a single item. One. Item. I get using raid is a more ear-catching word to use, but it’s not quite a raid.
Kaleb tells them he’s taking the fishing gear, but he’s going to leave the spear. He asks to have individual conversations with each player. In talking to Drew, Drew reveals he has the Safety Without Power. Kaleb likes that Drew is a real player, and likes his overall vibe. He gives Drew the Goodwill Advantage. Drew’s immediate thought is to let Austin use it if needed. He wastes no time telling Austin and Dee.
Lulu
Sabiyah and Sean talk about their working relationship with Kaleb. They both like him and have a good level of trust. But they realize how much of a threat he is, especially after seeing his challenge performance. They consider going after him now, rather than waiting and having to rely on players they don’t know and don’t trust to vote with them. I mean, yeah, I get it. But they just voted out Brandon so they could win challenges. And now they want to vote out the player who is by far their best challenge performer? Also, they haven’t lost yet? Why put this out there in the open before it’s absolutely necessary?
Belo
While the boys go out fishing, the girls strategize. Kendra tells them about her new feelings about Jake. She even goes as far as saying Jake is not an option. And Katurah is fine with that, especially if that means Bruce could become the target. Kellie isn’t opposed, but she is tight with Brando and needs to make sure they’re on the same page.
Reba
Austin and Drew decide to tell Dee and Julie about the Beware Advantage. He told them he found it later than he actually did, but was otherwise fully truthful. Now with the four of them working together, three of them get back to digging, while the fourth hangs back at camp with Sifu and J. Maya. Eventually Dee and Julie dig up a rope under the palm tree. They keep pulling and pulling, eventually leading them to a hammer. On the hammer are the next instructions: Break a rock near the water well. They throw the rope away, just as J walks up. Julie gives the hammer to Austin and he and Drew head straight to the well and start breaking rocks. They finally get to the right one, giving Austin his idol.
But…the idol is only good for one Tribal Council. However, if he sacrifices his vote at the next Tribal, the idol extends to when all three tribes are on the same beach. And if he sacrifices it again, it extends again to the Final Five. What’s interesting here is Drew gets the confessional talking about and explaining the idol. You would think Austin would get that moment, but nope. It doesn’t necessarily mean anything about how either of them do in the game. Maybe Drew just gave the better sound bites. But it’s something to keep in mind as the game moves along.
Immunity Challenge
The tribes race out with a cart and release keys. The keys unlock heavy puzzle pieces, which they load onto the cart. They take the cart apart to get it through a barricade and then reassemble the cart. Then one player is the caller, instructing the other three to complete the puzzle. And in a tale as old as time, Lulu loses again.
Pre-Tribal
Kaleb tells Sabiyah they should put all their votes on Emily. Sabiyah suggests she will tell Emily Kaleb is the vote, and Kaleb should tell her Sabiyah is the vote. Sabiyah also plans to take her idol to Tribal and drop it in the fire, hoping it will melt all the wax during Tribal, so she can get her vote back for this vote.
Sabiyah brings Emily into the loop on everything, including the idol. But now Emily knows Sabiyah hasn’t been completely honest with her. Sabiyah is only doing this out of necessity. And Kaleb had been welcoming and honest with Emily, and she feels a sense of loyalty to him. So she goes to Kaleb and tells him Sabiyah is after him. But Sabiyah’s plan was to tell Emily that Kaleb was the vote, so Kaleb isn’t completely buying it.
Tribal Council
Sabiyah successfully melts the wax, but it seems there is a scroll to go along with the idol, and she doesn’t read it right away. She reads it at the voting booth, revealing it has the same limitations as Austin’s idol. If she fully believes Emily and Sean voted Kaleb, she could sacrifice her vote to extend its power. When the time comes, she does not play her idol. It proved to be the wrong play, as Kaleb voted with Emily, sending Sabiyah out of the game.
I didn’t pick up on anything that should have clued Kaleb into the fact that Sabiyah was voting against him. But maybe he just believed Emily was voting Sabiyah and decided he would rather work with Emily going forward. Either way, I’m looking forward to hopefully gaining some insight from him next week.
And that’s now three strong episodes in a row for Survivor 45. I’m sure it’s some combination of the longer runtime, fun personalities (we’ll see what happens when Lulu is less of a central focus), and no overabundance complicated twists and advantages (fingers crossed this part remains), but I’m having a blast with this season so far. Let’s keep it going!
