Normally, there aren’t many promotional shots ahead of Loved Ones visit episodes, but Survivor: Island of the Idols episode 12 press photos are plentiful.

The Survivor: Island of the Idols episode 12 press photos for “A Very Simple Plan” are screenshots of what will appear on television when it airs this Wednesday.

Earlier this year, we saw how getting to the Loved Ones visit became a tool for the powerful to control who they saw as the puppets in Survivor: Edge of Extinction. It proved to be fairly manipulative, and some players within that group saw through the facade when it was determined clingers’ votes were more important than their voices, as Gavin and Julie flipped the Kama powerhouse.

In Island of the Idols, it appears as though there are those power vacuums set up for immolation. Old Vokai was outnumbered by old Lairo after the merge week, yet were able to turn the tables back with a back-to-back split Tribal twist of their own. Now the Survivor: Island of the Idols episode 12 press photos boil it down to eight people who just want to see their family.

Just as important as seeing the players react to seeing their loved ones is Jeff Probst explaining how a brother-sister dynamic is different because one of them is not the parent. I look forward to more of Probst’s inquisitive mind as he learns what a family is.

No matter who you are or where your allegiances lie, one of the few things that bond everyone in the game on a human level is talking about your family. This picture reflects that.

I’ve never seen Noura like this, especially since she’s been able to suppress her emotional state to achieve a zen-like state anytime she prepares or plays a challenge.

Want your voice heard? Join the Surviving Tribal team! Write for us!

The Loved Ones challenge will see two winners, as Dan and Noura, Janet and Tommy, Elaine and Dean, and Lauren and Karishma, will be tied together by a rope to start the challenge.

The true difficulty of this challenge begins when both players need to navigate their rope through obstacles, but it seems like Karishma and Lauren are slow out of the gate. There seems to be a woman in pink wearing shorts off to the side in the water behind Jeff. Whose family member is it?

The bars are fairly low, and the slack seems to be unforgiving, especially when two players are connected to each other.

Only Dean and Elaine are seen tossing sandbags at the next stage, as it seems like after the bamboo obstacle, teams will need to dig themselves under a bar lying on top of the sand to get to whatever this last (?) stage requires.

It’s not just family members and challenges; there are some discussions had between players that aren’t normally shown strategizing together, like Dean and Noura right here.

Chronologically, it could be some of the players who are sitting out of the Loved Ones reward plotting to get somebody from within, especially if Elaine is not enjoying the reward.

For that very reason, there aren’t that many Survivor: Island of the Idols episode 12 press photos that aren’t isolated shots of players, because that would give away spoilers. For now, let’s look at the Immunity Challenge.

It’s a new variation of a classic “hold up a thing for a long time” endurance challenge, as players have to use a round paddle to hold a ball to a post while standing on a narrow wooden beam. Karishma is much higher than the starting width on her post, so who knows if that is within the rules or makes it harder to compete.

The first half of this gallery are some other photos for the episode, while the final six are press photos made available after last week’s episode for spoiler reasons.