We need to start off on a sad note, with the tragic news that Keith Nale has passed away. Keith was such a pure spirit for the show, was loads of fun to watch, and by all accounts was just a genuinely good guy. Much love to Wes, Big D, and his family, RIP Keith.
Va Va
Coming back to camp, there is basically no damage control for anyone, because of last week’s awful, awful setup. But while it’s not damage control, Frannie has to do a big time mental reset with Matt now gone. They were each other’s rock (and still are because as of this writing, they are still dating) and she now needs to find a new path forward.
Heidi is really the only one who has work to (immediately) do, talking to Yam Yam about her thought process for having Lauren vote for him. The interesting thought, though, is whether or not Heidi *had* to use the advantage. If she truly believed that she couldn’t change the outcome of the vote – as she says here – could she have just left it alone?
Now at this point, Carolyn, Yam Yam, and Carson apparently are all in the middle, lumped together as a trio. And Kane is getting cocky. He feels that this is Ratu’s game to lose right now, even saying, “If one of us (Ratu) doesn’t win, we messed up.”
The tribe gets Tree Mail, telling them they must divide into five groups of two to compete in the immunity challenge. Can we get one straightforward immunity challenge, please? The note does say only one will be safe, so at least there’s that. But come on. Just give us a regular, free for fall challenge. It’s not rocket science.
Immunity Challenge
The pairs for this challenge are:
Kane & Brandon; Frannie & Yam Yam; Carolyn & Carson; Danny & Lauren; Heidi & Jaime
The challenge is run in three stages, with players eliminated each stage. In the first stage, the players, one at a time, crawl through a muddy, twisted net, dig up planks, and race back to their mat. The first four pairs to finish advance. Carolyn and Carson are eliminated, as Carolyn barely gets through the net before the last pair finds their planks.
In the second stage, they climb up a cargo net, use the planks to cross a rope bridge and then go down a slide. The first two pairs to finish advance to the final stage. Brandon & Kane finish first, followed by Danny & Lauren, setting up the final stage.
The third stage is an individual challenge, a Survivor classic. Balance between to two frames with their feet in narrow footholds.
Danny and Lauren make it to the final, teeny tiny foothold, and Lauren outlasts Danny to win immunity.
And on a positive note, no journey this week! Good things can still happen in Survivor.
Pre-Tribal
Kane and Brandon want to put the votes on Frannie. But Heidi gets to work on a counter plan, wanting to take out Brandon. Danny reveals his idol to Heidi, saying he would be willing to play it for Frannie to blindside Brandon if needed. The Tika trio want to stick together, but are a little hesitant. Heidi tells Yam Yam and Carson about Danny’s idol as a way to push them to vote with her.
Danny wants to keep the plan small, but Carson tells him that Heidi told Yam Yam about the idol, so now he has to worry about Yam Yam telling the other side about the idol. He’s still willing to play the idol for Frannie if that’s the read. But that seems shakier now, and he might feel he has to play it for himself instead.
Tribal Council
Danny sticks with the original plan and plays hid idol for Frannie. And it was the correct move, saving Frannie and sending Brandon to the jury.
This was actually a decent episode! Pretty standard, aside from the clunkiness of the immunity challenge setup. But overall, this was about what a Survivor episode should look like. Add in an idol play to blindside someone who thought he was in a great position of power, and baby, you got a stew goin’. There was really nowhere to go but up after last week, so I’m not getting too excited yet. But let’s hope this upward trend continues!
