Recapping The Survivor: Island Of The Idols Premiere
*SPOILERS FOR EPISODE 1*
Survivor finally returned to our TVs last night with a 90-minute premiere. Overall, it was a promising start to the season. I’m still torn on the twist, but it wasn’t completely shoved down our throats last night which was nice. So without further ado, let’s get into the full episode recap.
To start, there was no big scene with Jeff welcoming everyone to the season and then making them jump off a boat for materials and all that. That is usually a staple to start a season, but this was a nice change of pace. Instead both tribes just went to their camps and we got to meet everyone.
Lairo Camp (Orange)
Early on, it seemed like a girl-power alliance was forming between the five of Elizabeth, Elaine, Missy, Chelsea, and Karishma. Everyone was instantly drawn to Elaine. She was making a lot of jokes and keeping things light. She reminds me a bit of Denise from Survivor: China except I find Elaine to be way more likable. Being so likable so early did put a target on her back. Ronnie tried to have a talk with Elaine where they could relate to both having a tough upbringing, but it was clear that Ronnie wasn’t being genuine and saw her as a threat, which Elaine did sniff out.
Another takeaway for me is that I think Missy will be a major player in this game. She got an emotional moment early on talking about her brain tumor and health struggles. If we use “edgic” here (logic + edit), this means I think Missy will last awhile based on the fact that she got a touching moment so quickly. She also seemed to get along with everyone well and form solid alliances. I’m shooting her way up my potential winner rankings.
Vokai Camp (Purple)
Over at Vokai, the first big scene was Janet being able to make a fire. As I said in the cast assessment blog, she was going to have a huge target on her back being an older woman. The fact that she was able to provide value to her tribe so early is a huge positive for her.
My preseason winner pick (and apparently Stoolie) Jason got off to a rough start. He went searching for the idol way too soon, and everyone realized it. This painted an immediate target on his back. You just can’t do that, Jason. Most important thing to do early on is stay with the crowd and bond with your tribe. I expected more out of you. Tsk, tsk, tsk. However, I will say that I can see the confessional of him saying “I just don’t want to be the first boot” looking nice in a winner montage.
As expected, Jack proved to be a likable, light-hearted presence around camp. He acknowledged that was his game plan, and it could certainly be an effective strategy. Him and Tommy, who also proved to be likable, seemed to form a nice duo. I will continue to unfairly hate Tommy all season though since he stole my dream of being a Tommy S from Long Island on Survivor. Apparently, he even teaches at my rival elementary school. This fucking guy.
The weirdest part of the whole episode was Dan being way too touchy with the girls on the tribe, like to a very creepy level. Before any of that happened, he had a solid confessional talking about how wrong Jason was to look for the idol and I thought, “Wow this guy has some promise and knows the game.” About a few minutes later, I was very much walking that back. He kept insisting on giving girls on the tribe massages/back rubs, and it was making them quite uncomfortable. While they did say it seemed somewhat harmless, it was still way over the top and you just can’t do that in real life and especially can’t do it on a game that’s such a social experiment like Survivor. They did talk it out, and things seemed to be smoothed over a little but still very odd and has to hurt his chances.
Immunity Challenge
The immunity challenge was a big win for Vokai. As you may know from my past episode recaps, I’m not someone who loves watching the immunity challenges, especially during pre-merge where it’s all variations of the same shit. I like the social and strategic parts of Survivor way more. But they are still a part of the game nonetheless.
As the losing tribe, Lairo had to pick names out of a bag to see who was heading to the Island Of The Idols – at this point nobody still knew anything about the twist. Elizabeth was sent there and was told she’d be back for tribal council. This should have raised some eyebrows as most twists like that – Exile Island, for example – last longer than just a few hours.
Island Of The Idols
Elizabeth arrived at the island to see the two giant statue heads of Rob and Sandra. Somehow, this did not sound any alarms that they were on the island with them, because she still looked absolutely shocked when they walked out.
The twist was explained. Rob and Sandra are not playing in the game but will serve as mentors. Some have mentioned it could be similar to a Big Brother twist where they might enter the game at some point, but I just don’t see that happening. I’d like to think Survivor is above that. Plus, we know that they’re both playing Season 40 anyway.
It did feel a little cheesy at points and felt somewhat overdone. “We’re going to teach you everything you need to know!” But I do like it more than twists like Exile Island, Edge of Extinction, or Ghost Island. It’s more unique and does give us a chance to see a couple of Survivor legends in different roles than just players. So I’ll try to remain optimistic on it. It’s also good that they didn’t spend too much on it. Granted, it was a 90-minute episode, and I’m not sure how they’ll adjust when it goes back to 60-minutes, but as long as it doesn’t take longer than 5-10 minutes, I won’t be too upset.
The lesson for Elizabeth was how to make fire with flint per Boston Rob. Then there was an offer. If she could beat him in a fire-making challenge, she would get an immunity idol good for the next two tribal councils. If she lost, she would lose her vote at that night’s tribal council. Elizabeth took the challenge, lost easily, and was sent back to camp without a vote. Rob then enlightened the audience that Elizabeth could’ve negotiated with him for a different deal and how she shouldn’t have just jumped at the first offer. To be fair to Elizabeth, there was really no way to know this.
I’m not sure what I would have done in this situation. Beating Boston Rob in a fire-making challenge is definitely a long-shot but it might have been a risk worth taking. If she was on the chopping block, it’s unlikely that having her vote would save her. It probably would’ve been a group decision made while she was gone and she’d be severely outnumbered, meaning an idol would be the only way to save herself. If she gets back to camp and she’s not in trouble, which she wasn’t, then not having a vote hurts a little but isn’t the end of the world at such an early portion of the game. So I think I do agree with her move to challenge him. But I do disagree with her move of not telling the tribe that what the Island Of The Idols is really about. It seemed to me like her story was a clear lie, and there’s no real downside to just being honest about it.
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Tribal Council
There were a few names being thrown around. Elaine was on the hot seat for being so likable. People just realized what a threat she was going to be down the road. Vince was in trouble as a challenge a liability and not being in a set alliance. Ronnie’s name was also lightly mentioned because of his interaction with Elaine and people not having the best overall perception of him. Going into tribal though, it seemed like it was pretty set on being Elaine or Vince.
At tribal, Rob and Sandra watch as they hide away in a secret box. Kind of a cool twist. Tribal then basically turned into a self-pity fest with everyone crying about how hard their lives have been. Gag. In a blindside move, Ronnie ended up being sent home with an 8-2 vote. Him and Aaron were the only ones to vote against Elaine.
I thought Ronnie had promise overall. I ranked him third in my pre-season rankings, a big reason was that he just sounded so optimistic on Cracking Aces when we interviewed him. But I guess he’s just a great actor. Unless there’s an unforeseen twist, he is out of the game for good.
Winner Rankings
This is a running list I’ll keep all season long. I did it pre-game but now it’s much easier to judge having actually seen these people on our screens.
This is NOT who will last the longest. Don’t look at the person ranked last as the person likely to go home next. Look at them as the person with the least chance to win. That person could very easily get dragged to FTC as a goat, but won’t win. This is ranking people based on their chance to actually win the game.
The Favorites
1. Jason
2. Missy
3. Chelsea
4. Jack
Contenders
5. Tommy
6. Molly
7. Kellee
8. Noura
9. Jamal
Longshots
10. Elizabeth
11. Dean
12. Karishma
13. Aaron
14. Lauren
0.001% Chance
15. Tom
16. Vince
17. Elaine
18. Dan
19. Janet