After a really fast premiere, where does this season go?

Edge

We go straight to the Edge with no recap/flash forward. Amber is bummed to be there but is happy that she is still in the game. Why was this 20 seconds of airtime here? It was pointless. Moving on to the actual game.

Sele

Rob gets Amber’s token and immediately assumes the worst. Him and Parvati talk about it and Rob convinces himself it could be Sandra but I think he knew that he was lying to himself. Ben decides to use his idol hunting skills as a way to build relationships and Denise finds the idol with Ben. It is not a regular idol but rather the half idol from season 38. Ben immediately tells Denise that she does not need to give him the other half and Denise decides to talk to Adam. Ben made a good decision because he now is bonded with Denise and could get Adam too. Adam is immediately nervous when Denise tells him that Ben was there because Ben is a loose cannon as we saw last time. Denise asks Adam if she should give it to Parvati. Adam rightfully says that it is a terrible idea and she should give him the other half so they have control of it. Adam is starting to get his footing in the game and he is impressing me by thinking things through as we will see later.

Dakal

Yul finds a new way to get the breadfruit. He uses a pole to knock it down but it is a small fruit. This transitions into Kim getting the classic idol find sequence and she finds the half idol as well. Kim wishes she had pants as Tony and Nick start coming towards her. Kim successfully hides it from them and decides who to give the other half to. You would think that Tyson would be the obvious choice but she gives it to Sophie of all people. Sophie even points out that Tyson is a better option in her confessional. Sophie plans to use this information to her advantage and she might cut Kim next. Sophie is the surprise favorite this season and has a good shot to win.

Edge

Amber and Natalie read a clue by the mast where they can find the next advantage for them to sell in the game. They search the entire island until Amber gives up thinking that maybe the clue is for tomorrow. Natalie goes to get water and stumbles upon it in the well. The advantage is the one that Janet rejected last season aka the one where you leave tribal for safety.

Sele

Jeremy buys the advantage and Natalie is officially the economic queen of Survivor.

Dakal

Now it’s time for the best scene in the episode. So Tony is trying to not search for idols so he decided to build a “ladder” to get the fruit off the trees. This ladder is just two pieces of bamboo attached by bamboo rungs as Sophie describes it. It is so unstable that the first rung falls when Tony tries to climb it. Tony does not give up and has the tribe boost him up and somehow the ladder worked without Tony dying. I loved that Tony did this to stick it to Yul for his pole from earlier. This scene is what people want on Survivor versus five million idol hunt scenes. Tony and Sarah officially become Cop R’ Us again. Sarah gets a great confessional when she points out that the other half voted out her last time they did this. This sequence of events is why Tony is such great television and why Survivor has been on air for 40 seasons.

Immunity

Rob finds out officially that Amber has been voted out and you can tell that he is crushed. Now, the challenge consists of the tribe collecting keys for three chest then getting the chests and the cart through a wall by taking apart the chest. Finally, a circle puzzle at the end. The reward is spices also known as the reward that Beast Mode Cowboy almost died for. After the physical portion, Dakal has a significant lead going into the puzzle. This week’s puzzle showdown is Sandra and Sophie vs Rob and Denise. Sophie and Sandra get a head start but Rob and Denise catch up until the second section. Rob decides to organize the piece which ended up costing them the challenge. Just like a group project, there was a whole bunch of organizing with very little reward.

Sele

We get back to camp and it looks like a straight forward vote between Ben and Jeremy until Danni feels excluded from her alliance and basically blows up her whole game. Danni tanked her game so quickly. Danni is now the target but she wants to target Parvati. This gives new schoolers like Michele, Jeremy and Adam the power to choose who is going home. The only other recent example I can think of someone getting targeted so quickly after spilling information is ironically EoE winner/ 3rd boot Chris Underwood. So they head to tribal with Danni and Parvati in the air with an outside chance of Ben.

Tribal

We start with Adam struggling to put his torch into the hole. This leads to Jeff asking Michele about the speed of the game in which Michele talks about being hoodwinked in the last tribal. Danni feels old from playing in season 11 and Ben calls out what Danni did at camp. Ben then is called out and starts to dig his own grave but Ben insists that he is not crazy. Ben is confident like Alan Ball. Rob pulls a mob boss move and makes everyone empty their bags. Denise pulls a sleight of hand and gets away with the idol being in her possession. Then we get to the vote. By a vote of 8-1…

Danni is voted out. With EoE’s track record this means that Danni is winning the game. Danni may have had the worst performance by a winner returning in the history of Survivor. She had no target going in and ended up getting voted out unanimously. The old schoolers lost on this vote because now they are down 3 to 5. Adam deserves MVP for this episode for convincing Denise to not make a bad move, getting a half idol and making the correct call of taking out an old school number while not drawing a line in the sand.

The most purple player is Nick. Michele was in an important scene before the vote and Sandra had a presence by beating Rob in the puzzle and giving him the look of “Yeah I voted out your wife and I don’t care how you feel”.

Next time: Adam and Denise want to target Rob and Parvati, Tyson vs Sandra will happen and Tony holds a live shark.

Grab your stuff and head back to camp!