By Survivor Guest Correspondent Cho
ADMIN NOTE: My sincere apologies to Cho and all of you for the delay getting this post up. Cho is super fast at getting these recaps to me and I dropped the ball yesterday. There was a lot going on last night and I just screwed up. I’m so sorry.
Happy Wednesday! Can you believe that it’s April 25th and we still haven’t had consistently “nice” weather in Ohio? It literally snowed about a week or so ago. I’m just tired of the inconsistency kind of like the major twist with Ghost Island this season. The one thing that IS consistent is Wednesday night Survivor, so let’s get right into it! If you missed last episode where Angela literally swallowed a banana-sized slug during the immunity challenge, be sure to read that recap before moving on.
Too Long Didn’t Watch
We jump right into the morning after tribal council where Desiree reminds us that she used to be homeless, so she knows what it’s like to not have food. She then tells us that going along with the Naviti strong is not good for her, because she’s on the bottom. She takes Malolo aside and targets Kellyn as the the first to go. She claims to be able to pull Angela and Chelsea with her. If this is the case, why is she making her move so early?! Laurel has reservations about the plan considering she is close with Dom and Wendell. Once again, Laurel is the driving factor in whether Naviti stays together or not. The irony isn’t lost on me.
The reward challenge is a basic gathering of puzzles; the twist is that teammates are in cages, and have to be unlocked before continuing. Domenick has trouble keeping the boat near the first cage. Sebastian looks to have lost a lot of weight. He’s not as hot as he was on Day 1. Sebastian and Michael are leading their orange team to an obvious win if purple can’t catch up. Purple team has stacked puzzle makers though.The challenge gets really confusing when both tribes realize there’s an extra piece in the puzzle to serve as a decoy. Orange team ends up winning! Angela is randomly chosen for Ghost Island. This should be interesting if she gets the chance to play a game.
The winning team is flown via helicopter to this amazing picnic on a mountain. Michael relishes in the reward after having been given 7 votes last tribal council. He makes a pitch to his group that he would be a loyal vote if they kept him. Sebastian and Chelsea say that you never know what happens day by day and Kellyn takes this as meaning they are rock solid for Naviti strong. I don’t know about that.
Angela is excited about potentially playing a game on Ghost Island, and she gets her wish! 2 of the 3 urns have power if she risks her vote. She says her vote doesn’t matter if her alliance has the numbers… she ends up picking the urn with no vote. Ha!
Donathan and Laurel discuss Desiree’s offer to turn on Naviti. Laurel says she trusts Dom and Wendell more than Des and decides to rat her out. She throws Chelsea and Desiree under the bus hardcore. Dom isn’t surprised by this news from the “weaker Naviti girls”. Dom tells Kellyn who is completely shocked. She refuses to believe Laurel on the account that she’s been working with Desiree and Chelsea since day 1. In a twist that Laurel probably didn’t see coming, this news reinvigorates Kellyn to take out the Mololo even more!
Michael goes to look for an idol, and is upset that Donathan is searching with him, since he CORRECTLY knows that telling anyone about an idol is the dumbest move you can make. Donathan ends up finding Scot’s idol that he intended to combine into a super idol with Tai. This idol doesn’t have any power unless it is combined with an idol located directly under the shelter. Donathan is super nervous searching for the idol and laments everyone walking through the shelter and interrupting him. He ends up finding it after Mololo helps him distract the others. I doubt this is used to save Michael though, since he and Laurel are deep in bed with Naviti.
Angela returns from Ghost Island empty handed to join them in the immunity challenge. Survivors must balance a ball on a disk being held up by a rope structure. Wendell drops almost immediately followed by Jenna, Desiree, Laurel and Angela. Less than a minute, and half the Survivors are out. Donathan follows quickly. Domenick is out next, and it looks like he got a haircut! Am I imagining this?! Sebastian looks like a really attractive troll during this challenge. Does that make sense to everyone? Michael is out next, and the viewers at home are crying I’m sure.
Kellyn, Chelsea and Sebastian are the only Survivors to make it past the first 10 minute round. Everyone seems to be struggling somewhat except for Kellyn, and as I type this, she drops! Sebastian’s ball is all over the place as Chelsea’s entire body is shaking. Sebastian can’t control his ball and Chelsea wins with tears in her eyes. It’s noted that only women have won immunity thus far. Domenick says the goats are coming together to target him, so he’s not so sure he’s ready to get rid of Michael.
Kellyn confronts Desiree and Chelsea on what she’s heard from Domenick. She accuses him of being hyper paranoid. Kellyn believes in Desiree implicitly. Des backtracks and goes on the offensive. She lambastes Laurel for ratting her out, and then when Wendell walks over starts yelling at Laurel about how they never had a conversation!! HAHA Laurel is pissed that Des just blew her game up which is kind of hypocritical to be honest. There’s a bunch of he said she said, but at least Laurel is telling the truth.
Desiree goes on a tour around camp telling everyone that she’s telling the truth and everything the Mololos are saying is being made up about her. Domenick doesn’t believe her and wants to take her out immediately. Kellyn is confronted with the drama again, but believes Desiree was always on her side. She and Dom get into an argument about what to do, because Dom wants to vote Des out. Kellyn says the girls want Michael out now and are not changing their votes. Kellyn is SNAPPY!!! She is so aggressively wrong about this situation right now, and I find it to be hilarious. I can’t wait until tribal council!
Walking into tribal council, I don’t know what’s going to happen. It’s either Kellyn, Des or Michael. Libby looks amazing on the jury! Desiree and Laurel get into a fight. Desiree is super aggressive and screechy like usual, so Donathan, Jenna and Michael all jump in to tag team Desiree. Having flashbacks to when Mololo all ganged up on Bradley during tribal!! Finally, we get Chelsea’s opinion since she’s knee deep in the drama as well. She says Mololo is desperate to make Naviti not feel secure anymore. Desiree is ready to get to the vote, so Jeff sends them on their way. Desiree receives 4 votes. Michael get 2 votes, and the rest go towards Desiree. WOW! I’m kind of surprised by that outcome. She tells the ladies to keep winning on her way out, and at this rate, she’s right: let the slaughter of the rest of the female Survivors begin!
Next Time On Survivor: A twist reveals that 2 people will leave. Jenna lies to Donathan and calls him dumb. Kellyn and Domenick discuss Michael having an idol.
Final Words: Desiree is disappointed that she didn’t lie well enough and reveals that she had a master plan starting with Kellyn and ending with her making more moves. She’s a great sport about being booted.
Cho’s Top Takeaways
Too Early Too Fast
My immediate reaction to the events of tonight’s episode was pity on behalf of Desiree. If you look at the big picture, Desiree had the right idea: Domenick and Wendell were definitely the favored contenders at this point in the game. Her desire to turn on them wasn’t out of the realm of solid strategy. However, her desire to take out Kellyn really comes out of left field. I definitely think Desiree underestimated how strong of a connection Kellyn had with her. I mean, did you see how shocked and in awe Kellyn was of the news? Desiree’s mistake wasn’t that she wanted to take out those at the top; her mistake was that she struck too early. She and Chelsea should have waited until a few more Mololo were picked off before making their move against the core. What are your thoughts on Desiree’s failed attempt to prad her resume?
Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks
We’re not done with Desiree yet. There’s something to learn from the many mistakes she made tonight. When confronted with the fact that Laurel threw her under the bus (a decision that we can disect in the comments below), Desiree went above and beyond to clear her name. The way she switched tone and dialogue mid conversation with Mololo was theatrical in the best and worst of ways! Not only that, she then became so aggressive with Laurel that it actually made Domenick believe in her more. Obviously, the others on Naviti sans Chelsea felt the same way. It’ll be interesting to see how Chelsea twists in the wind now that her partner in crime has been booted. What are your thoughts? What would you have done if you were Desiree and just found out Laurel had exposed your plan?
Laurel’s Commitment
Do you take this episode as Laurel’s commitment to her alliance with Domenick and Wendell? She really went to bat for them despite Desiree’s target being Kellyn first. I think it bodes really well for Laurel’s health in the game long term, especially when you consider the rocky round before between Laurel and Wendell. We also see Domenick being annoyed by Kellyn’s aggression. Could we be seeing our final 4 players? Surely, it won’t be that easy of a path for Domenick, Wendell, Laurel and Donathan. Even though lines are still clearly Naviti versus Mololo, this is what I would consider the core of the tribe. Do you think Laurel was right to commit to this alliance?
There are some other points I’d like to comment on such as Chelsea’s position, where the fuck Sebastian’s loyalties lie and what Angela thinks, but I’ll leave that for the comment section below. Do leave your thoughts below!
Please No Spoilers In Comments
Wow, very interesting episode. The whole Des thing came out of left field for me and it makes me wonder what we don’t get to see. I agree that she had generally the right idea in terms of strategy but her impatience killed her. I thought Laurel handled the confrontations with Des really well. Laurel never lost her cool so she never looked crazy or unpredictable. On the other hand, Kellyn’s reaction to Domenick was the exact opposite. I almost fell off my sofa (ok, a bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point) when she demanded they take Michael out. It was so emotional and made her look unpredictable. I really don’t like Kellyn so I won’t be disappointed when she gets voted out. One more thought, I would never have expected to be discussing Donathon as a major influencer in this season. I don’t think he’s a power player by any means but I have enjoyed watching him make it far in this game. I would have preferred Michael to have found that idol but shame on Michael for underestimating Donathon.
Thanks for the recap Cho. I always enjoy your perspective. 🙂
Yes! The way Laurel handled Desiree was perfect. She kept her cool and never went crazy. Desiree definitely over compensated. She went above and beyond to prove a point which made everyone NOT believe her.
Kellyn’s reaction to Dom was VERY intense. I also was knocked off my chair at her extremely emotional response. And then Dom just nodding his head like a child being scolded for not cleaning his room. Very shocking yet funny scene. haha
Donathan is definitely someone to watch! He is playing a fantastic under the radar game right now. He has the idol and correctly didn’t use it to save Michael whom was in danger. I’m a bit more impressed with Donathan than I assumed I would be.
I enjoyed this episode, lot’s to think about. EW/Dalton Ross did an in-game interview with Dom after Chris was voted out. Dom admitted he made a really bad move raising his hand at the beginning of the game. However, his reasoning why was fascinating. First of all he thought Des. was the wrong person to solve that first puzzle, he thought Bradley should have done it. Dom found Bradley “highly intelligent” and Dez not so much. Dom says he and Chris are very much alike in many ways. The main thing was neither one wanted to be “out-duped” by the other one. He and Chris are both very competitive people. Dom said that in the beginning of the game, after Dom told him about the idol, Chris said “if you show me you have an idol, we can make something happen together.” (I actually remember this statement.) Dom though there was a possibility that Chris may want to “hold on to it” and Dom did not want to risk the possibility that Chris may keep it.
Dom got to know Bradley during the pre-game and was amazed at the vast knowledge that he had of the game. He knew a lot of data on past players, season stats, etc. He initially wanted to align with him, but apparently, Bradley was 100% more obnoxious then they showed on TV. Dom was surprised more of his awful comments did not see air time. He said there was a significant showmance between him and Kellan. He became so awful to everyone, he was no longer useful as a “shield” and needed to be voted out.
I never saw Dez as a particularly crafty player. She has stepped out of line several times, personally I never saw her as a serious contender to go to the end. Last night was a serious mis-calculation, that move was way too soon. When she got caught she became very animated and ran around camp like a whirling dervish, it smacked of insincerity. Des seemed like a perfectly clueless recruit, never watched the show, was probably told during casting she needed to make big moves and then flubs it!
I feel like both Donathan and Dom are finally settling into the game. Donathan has been very observant and loyal. Dom has become more laid back and now listens. Kellan demanding Michael be voted out now, while Dom calmly sipped teas was an interesting juxtaposition. Wish we could have seen how he/they eventually convinced her to vote Dez. Almost every time someone proclaims they have the game under control, they get sent packing. She was close to going!
All of the individual immunity challenges this season have been won so far by the women. In fact, I checked back through last season and except for Cole, all of last season’s winners were all women as well. I also found it interesting that the immunity challenge had the teams “rescuing” women in cages. Next week should be interesting!
I’m totally not surprised by Dom’s take on Bradley. I knew from his bio that he would be a doozy. Bradley seems to revel in being an asshole. I’m so happy he didn’t cement his position as an entertaining villain. It would have been good to see more of his awful comments though.
Dom’s take on his and Chris’ relationship translated well to the show. They’re both arrogant and obnoxiously competitive.
Spot on analysis on Des. Her mantra of making big moves fell completely flat. Big moves aren’t made every round of Survivor. Timing is the most important thing, and Des’ timing was horribly off.
I am also very impressed with Dom this episode and how he handled the vote. Not only did was he observant and intuitive enough to see through Des’ lie, but he handled Kellyn PERFECTLY! Donathan also has impressed me more than I thought he would. He’s playing a great game right now.
LOL @ Women being in cages. My friend Lisa and I have a running joke about women being in cages and how we’re sick of it. haha
OMG that you two for those DETAIL comments. Let’s have a conversation! I’ll be back to reply a little bit later tonight. Ahhhh There’s so much to think about this episode!
Thanks for the awesome recap Cho…..Forgot to say that in my original post 🙁
And I forgot to say THANK YOU for your comments. It is really awesome to have a community here that will discuss Survivor with me. I do these blogs for you all. <3
I’m just glad Michael survived. He is so nice and people are targeting him while there are way bigger threats out there like Dom! I however hope that Kellan goes next week. She just annoys me endlessly. I am also glad they brought back an old Survivor favourite of eating local gross delicacies. I wonder why they did not have it for so many seasons…Perhaps because they are so starved already and got really sick eating fish eyes and worms?
Yes, I am very happy that our eye candy Michael is here. The thing is, I don’t think Michael is there for long unless Dom is serious about getting rid of some of the weaker competitors first. I think Dom/Laurel/Wendell/Donathan are in the driver’s seat for a while.
Kellyn can be endearing, but she’s also very zany.
That’s a good question regarding the eating challenge! I would like to see it more often actually. It gives me such a “Fear Factor” vibe! Did you ever watch that show?
Bye Des….
Won’t miss you.
Exactly why did she think Kellan was a huge threat?
Ooh, big move….NOT.
WHY do people do stuff like this? She tried to it with way too many people around.
So glad Michael is still there.
I really don’t like SeaBass much…He’s so strange.
Her targeting Kellyn seemed out of left field. If she were going to target an original Naviti, it should have been Wendell or Dom. And furthermore, like you said, she involved way too many people. She incorrectly assumed that none of the Mololo (Laurel/Donathan) had relationships with Naviti. I said in my pre-merge recap that Desiree needed to build relationships outside of Naviti. Those relationships would have surely come in handy this episode, no?
I LOVE SEA BASS!!! He is like the hottest troll every. I mean, he does look kinda strange, but I’m kinda obsessed with him. He’s so goofy and childish and innocent. And he also has the nicest abs this season.
I’ll preface this by saying I am a die hard fan of Survivor. Have watched every episode of every season
since the beginning. However, this season I can’t get into. The people all look alike, they are almost all
way too young to be interesting, nothing makes anyone stand out. I don’t know why, but it doesn’t have
the old excitement of previous seasons. I’ll continue to watch, but without the anticipation of previous seasons.
I felt that way about last season. To me, last season was awful, I disliked almost everyone, throughout the whole game! Then there was the hidden idol meddling.
This year I connected with a few of this cast early on, although I would agree the women kinda did all look alike. I like the Wendall/Dom/Laurel/Donathan alliance. I was sorry to see Brendan go early as he had a lot of game left in him. Hang in there! 🙂
Don’t EVEN bring up how much of a rig last season was. I was actually enjoying last season until the latter half of the merge. Really disgusting display. Chrissy will forever be a robbed goddess of Survivor.
I think the issue is that so many great stars were picked off early. People like Stephanie, Brendan and even Morgan had potential to be really awesome characters.
Hopefully you stick around and are at least enjoying the recaps!
Cho- thank you again for the recap. I almost always share your point of view and it always fascinates me that we arrive at the same conclusion for different reasons. I agree with you about Sebastian. He looks worn out. He used to have a carefree glow but now he doesn’t look like he is having fun. Michael looks better than ever! I’m starting to like Dom. He is acknowledging his mistakes and adapting as the game changes. I know that people lie in the game but for some reason when Desiree denied lying it really bothered me. I’m not sure why. Did anyone else have that reaction to her? Sometimes when the players lie they have a twinkle in their eye or a little smirk, almost like everyone would laugh about it later. But with Desiree I didn’t get that.
Aww Kerry thank you for the thoughtful compliment! omg I’m so happy you’re actually answering one of my questions in the recap regarding Sea Bass. It breaks my heart. He looks worn, tired and used up. My heart breaks for him and his waning beauty. Maybe he’ll win a reward where he can take a shower soon. He needs it!
Very astute point on Domenick. Now that Chris is out of the game, I think he has been able to relax more and think things through. He’s become more introspective about his game and others. It’s a good look, and I think it will get him towards the end game.
I wasn’t offended by Des’ lie. My reaction was more of shock and laughter because of how AGGRESSIVE her lies were. It reminded me of a child who had gotten caught eating cookies, and had cookie crumbs all over their mouth but proceeded to still lie. It was just like: “dang, she STILL lying about something that everyone knows is a lie!!” LOL It was really entertaining to see her stick to her guns.
Cho- Yeeees! That’s it about Dez! It was the angry denial that bothered me. Hopefully Sea Bass can win a pampering reward and scrape the barnacles off and be renewed..
YAS! Sea Bass needs a renewal like Ramona from New York City Housewives!!
Desiree was so INDIGNANT about her lie which is what made it so off putting to most. I gotta give it to her though: she stuck through it all and was a good sport about everything after she was booted. haha She’s actually super cool. You should check out her Ponderosa videos!
I’m liking this Season, but then again I like EVERY Season lol. Late to watching so late to the recap. So glad TT is featuring and loving Cho’s take. I thought I would hate the Ghost Island twist, but turned out kinda cool. They all seem to be going with the draw rocks vs actual strategy picks. Not sure how I feel about that.
I liked Des but looks like I’m in the minority. I think she put too much faith in Laurel and yes, too many people involved in her too soon move.
Thank you for your comment first of all!
Second, I didn’t dislike Des. I just didn’t respect her game very much. I don’t think she was good at building relationships. And if she WAS good, the others were simply much better. She did put way too much stock into Laurel, who is playing into Dom’s hands. Little does she know that he will definitely cut her before she cuts him.
I love the theme of Ghost Island. In theory, it is an amazing twist. However, the lack of consistency has made it very underwhelming for me. Who are your other favorites remaining?
Dom got screwed! Regardless of whether you think he outplayed or, outwitted, which he clearly did, by the way – the ambush vote by Laurel sealed his fate. There was no way Laurel was going to vote against Wendell. You could see on both Dom and Wendell’s face that as soon as Probst announced that Laurel would be the deciding vote, they both knew what the final vote was.
So, Survivor makes the third person ( The one who has no chance of winning ) the final jury member. That is completely unfair to the two finalist who played their butts off to the finals.
I thought it was very unfair.
I think the show should eliminate the third person and let the jury decide on the two remaining heavyweights. Instead of the third place scrub deciding their fate.
Thank you so much for the comment, Michael.
After getting that out of the way, let me stop you right there. Your suggestion doesn’t make a lot of sense in this scenario. Eliminating Laurel altogether would leave us with a TIED VOTE. This ruling isn’t new to Survivor. It was introduced way back when F3s began with 10-member juries. The only thing that makes this situation unique is that it’s the first time it has gone down to a tied vote.
To me, it does make a lot of sense to have the 3rd placer be the deciding vote, because they essentially are out of the running just as much as any juror. Laurel made many a blunder by keeping both Wendell and Domenick as strong as she did, but let’s not take away her accolades. Let’s remember that the reason Wendell and Domenick made the finals was because of Laurel. Her story arc makes perfect sense now with her having to choose the winner.