Austin, Drew, and Emily do some damage control with Kendra. It’s the usual back and back forth. They’re all saying the right things. Kendra says she wants to work with the other three going forward, but that’s not something you can count on. She even believes Emily flipped on her. Which, sure, I guess? But they hadn’t voted together or really done anything together yet.
Lulu
Kaleb gets the rest of the tribe looking for the idol. If he doesn’t have it, he at least wants to know who does, so he’s glad everyone is looking. Eventually Bruce finds the Beware Advantage. This one says the idol is buried under the shelter, with the usual caveat that he can’t vote until he finds it. This is usually a good one, but it’s a lot less fun when four of the five players are seemingly all on the same page. Katurah, of course, is the odd one out. So at least there’s some potential drama there. Bruce gets a chance to dig without Katurah, but she returns before he can find it. Jake takes matters into his own hands, saying he lost one of his rings in the sand, using it as reason to start digging.
After receiving the letter alerting them to the merge, Bruce finds his idol just before they leave for Reba beach.
Merge Beach
It doesn’t take long for Bruce to start giving marching orders, getting everyone started on expanding the shelter. Speaking of Bruce, Emily thinks back to her comments towards Bruce at the marooning. She’s worried they could come back to haunt her. She apologizes to Bruce, but he’s not ready to let it go. As amicable as their conversation is, Emily knows it doesn’t guarantee anything going forward.
Austin tells Dee and Julie about the amulet choice he had, that he’s upset with J and Kellie. He also has his other idol, which he wants to extend again, but that means he has to give up his vote at the next Tribal Council. He, Drew, Dee, and Julie, finally able to reconnect as a strong foursome, discuss their plans. They all want J out, and not just for the amulet reasons. They believe she will be quick to flip on them, and they want to get her before she gets them.
Kaleb and Emily are in an important position. With 6 original Reba and 5 original Belo, they could either become the all-important swing votes, or they could find themselves seen as an easy vote or two. Kaleb starts working his relationships, trying to weave in and out, find where the best opening might be for them to get a foothold.
On the other hand, though, nobody is talking to Bruce. He starts getting worried. He wanted to go Belo strong, and realizes they might be behind the 8 ball, as he sees Reba talking, strategizing, putting in the work. Even with his idol, Bruce might be finding himself in a bad spot. Obviously he would love to hang onto his idol past the first merge vote, but he may not have a choice if things keep going this way. Kellie in particular would have no issue voting Bruce. She’s annoyed with him, he has an idol (he said it was a group idol, but that’s just all talk until he proves otherwise), and those two reasons might be plenty reason enough to go after him.
Immunity Challenge
We’re at the stupid “earn the merge” part of the game. It’s so dumb. It’s the merge, just without the buff or tribe name to make it “official.” So stupid, so pointless. Whatever, it seems like it’s here to stay (I’ll be back to complain again for Survivor 46, I’m sure.). But hey, at least production was smart enough to get rid of the all-time bad “change the past” idea.
We have the usual two groups of six. One at a time, the players crawl under a net, to get to a cart. Once all there, they push the cart through a field, collecting heavy sand bags along the way. The sand bags are used as a makeshift ladder to climb to the top of a tower, where they retrieve keys. They slide down the other side, and then have to climb to the top of a different platform. They unlock the puzzle pieces, and two players solve a puzzle. Then two more players solve the last piece of the challenge, a word puzzle.
Blue: Sifu, Drew, Bruce, Austin, Julie, Kendra Red: Kaleb, J, Jake, Dee, Emily, Kellie No color: Katurah, who backs the Blue
Blue wins, securing their safety plus Katurah’s.
Pre-Tribal
Sifu opens the voting discussion, and offers up J as the first vote. He receives no resistance. Kendra brings up Kaleb and Emily as two possible options, focusing on Kaleb with how dangerous she views him. Bruce hops right on board. This is news to Katurah, who thought Kaleb was in tight with them. She wants Kaleb to stick around, seeing him as a solid alliance partner.
J gets to work pushing for Kaleb as well. She still thinks the other five Rebas have her back, but Dee tells Jake that she wants to go after J. She also goes to Kaleb with this. Jake and Kellie discuss J as well, and they’re both on board. Kellie even mentions the “upgrade” in her and Austin’s amulet if J were to be voted out. Immediately offering a rebuttal to why she shouldn’t have taken the amulet!
Katurah touches base with Kendra and Kellie, pitching J. She believes Kaleb is Belo strong, and she wants a Reba girl gone, in this case J. But Bruce is fighting hard for the Kaleb plan. Drew and Austin fill in Dee on the Kaleb update, but make an error in doing so in front of Emily. She now has to decide between keeping Kaleb, her tight partner, or going along with the larger group.
She decides pretty quickly and tells Kaleb that the votes are working against him. Kaleb tells Sifu and Drew about Bruce’s idol, and continues trying to get the votes back on J. He’s scrambling, and making some moves, but the Shot in the Dark could be in play as his only potential saving grace.
Tribal Council
Austin sacrifices his vote, now giving himself a fully powered idol. Kaleb does pull out his Shot in the Dark. And he’s safe! Although there was no real suspense, considering this happened with 10 minutes still left in the episode. All 11 votes were for Kaleb, triggering a revote. Let’s goooo!!! I still hate the Shot in the Dark, but I hate it a little bit less now. And with the 11 negated votes, Kaleb now holds the Survivor record for most votes negated by an idol or advantage. What’s surprising here, though, is the unanimous vote. Nobody in the six felt compelled to throw out a safety vote?
On the revote, J is voted out unanimously, with her push for Emily falling on deaf ears. Additionally, this means Kellie and Austin now have a Steal a Vote to use between them (not that it’s likely to matter, but still). Austin’s Sandwich Revenge Tour kicks off on a successful note.
J seemed nice enough, but from a TV standpoint, I think she was the best person to go. She never really popped on screen, and I want as many big personalities to remain as deep into the game as possible.
