Survivor: Island Of The Idols Episode 3 Recap - What An Idiot!

*SPOILERS OBVIOUSLY AHEAD*

We’re only three episodes in, but I am really liking this season of Survivor. Each episode is seemingly better than the last. The Island Of The Idols twist is working better than I expected, we have some entertaining characters, and every vote has been a blindside. Pre-merge can sometimes drag a bit, but this has been an incredibly entertaining start to the season, and I hope it continues throughout. But first a few complaints…

Unless I’ve just never noticed it before, it seems like it’s a new thing to show a quick few second preview for the coming episode at the start of the actual episode. Seems to have replaced “Previously On.” Makes no sense to me. It’s nice to have a refresher. They’ve now cut that, the intro song, and seemingly the reaction of the other tribe when showing who got voted out at the start of the next challenge. Just unnecessary changes. Survivor loves changing things that don’t need fixing, but I still love the show, and it’s lasted 40 seasons so maybe I should just shut up. Now let’s get on to the episode 3 recap.

Vokai Camp (Purple)

Jack and Jamal were on the outs after the Molly blindside. Jack seems pretty care-free about it. Jamal was a little more resentful but ultimately went with the right approach of “Forgive. Don’t forget.” Also a nice job by Tommy here trying his best to repair both relationships after the vote.

Elsewhere, Noura continued to be her typical annoying self. The lack of self-awareness from her is quite simply astounding. Dan preached the importance of making a move that benefits both himself and the tribe, which would make Noura a good option. But Dan’s problem is he can sometimes come off as a used-car salesman, probably stemming from his career as a talent manager. Sometimes people can see through this. It made Jamal throw out the idea of voting Dan out should they go to tribal. When approached with this idea, Tommy astutely observed that they shouldn’t make a move that benefits Jamal right now. As much as I want to hate Tommy because he stole my dream, he has proven to be a good player.

Ultimately, we didn’t spend a ton of time with the Vokai in this episode.

Lairo Camp (Orange)

An all-girls alliance continued to blossom at Lairo. I find same-sex alliances to usually be boring and kind of lazy. It doesn’t make sense to just say “Hey we’re all the same gender, let’s just vote together!” when you might have clashing personalities that make it a bad idea. But it is an easy way to form an alliance, so I guess I get it. The guys though did start to pick up on this.

A big storyline this episode was the Karishma pity-party. She was crying about how she’s so different that everyone else and feels like such an outsider blah blah blah. Meanwhile, she’s in a majority alliance of all-women that seem to getting along fine. She cut her hand and started to bleed as her bone popped out. I did feel kind of bad for her as she laid on the ground and nobody even came over to check on her. That’s just bad gameplay by everyone else. If someone would have extended a hand to Karishma there, they would have secured an ally for life seemingly. But instead she was ignored and just got taped up. She was being perhaps a wee bit dramatic overall, but I get her being upset at the treatment.

Island Of The Idols

The boat came for Vince to head to the Island Of The Idols and see Rob and Sandra. After he left, the rest of the tribe discussed how he’d have to be a target when he got back because of the idol possibility. Dean mentioned how “We can just split the vote.” The problem is that everyone was standing right there, so one of these people would have the votes split on them. Now it’s not the worst thing in the world to say because everyone was thinking it, but you need to have a little more self-awareness if you’re Dean there. Maybe not the smartest player.

On the Island Of The Idols, Vince arrived and we had waterworks. You would’ve thought this was the loved ones visit with all those tears. Give me a break, Vince. You can tell even Boston Rob and Sandra were thinking “WTF dude? Calm down.” His lesson involved staying calm under pressure. His challenge was to sneak into the other tribe’s camp and steal fire, or at least ashes if their fire was out. Now, this ended up being entertaining with some creative editing. It made it seem like he was about be caught on multiple occasions. He ended up being successful by grabbing ashes since their fire was dead and got an idol good for one of his next two tribals. But as entertaining as it was, I’m not sure how it really qualifies as “Survivor Boot Camp.” Sneaking into the other tribe’s camp is never really a part of Survivor, but I guess there are times you have to be stealth when looking for an idol and stuff, so it wasn’t too far-fetched.

Immunity Challenge/Pre-Tribal

Lairo got out to a huge lead. Janet was a good swimmer for Vokai but really struggled to untie the puzzle pieces underwater. But, as we’re seemingly seeing more and more in Survivor, the trailing tribe made a huge comeback for an unlikely win. Karishma and Dean choked badly on the puzzle, sending Lairo to tribal council.

Back at Lairo, three names were being thrown out – Vince, Karishma, and Tom. Vince, seemingly liked by everyone and in a good position, was a threat strictly because of his trip to the Island Of The Idols. One downside to this twist is it really puts an unfair target on a person’s back just for the making the trip. It’s not their fault they were randomly selected. Karishma was an outsider and challenge liability. And Tom’s old age made him a target, plus he didn’t really have any super strong alliances. The vote was likely going to be split on Vince and then Karishma/Tom.

Tribal Council

At tribal, Karishma tried to make the case that she was strong in challenges and a good athlete. A very tough case to make after her challenge performance. Tom preached the focus of keeping the tribe strong and saying he just wants to win challenges. This is from my pregame assessment of him. “Tom strikes me as a pretty easy guy to read. Older guy, former athlete who is probably drawn to Survivor for the physical challenges and survival aspect.” Talk about hitting the nail on the head.

It was time to vote and Jeff gave everyone the chance to play an idol. For some reason, Vince didn’t play his idol. SO GOD DAMN STUPID. You can only play it at two tribals. There is only a target on your back because you went to the Island Of The Idols. Play the idol. You’re safe this tribal. The target comes off your back. You probably don’t need it next tribal anyway. Such a breathtakingly stupid move. One of the worst in history I think. May sound like an exaggeration but usually when people go home with idols in their pockets, it’s at least because they want to save it for a future tribal. He only had ONE future tribal to save it for. Just so dumb. Vince went home with a 5-3-1 vote. The girls voted for Vince. Vince voted for Tom. The three other guys voted for Karishma.

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Winner Rankings

This is a running list I’ll keep all season long. 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. Kellee

3. Missy

4. Chelsea

5. Tommy

Contenders

6. Jack

7. Lauren

Longshots

8. Aaron

9. Jamal

10 Elaine

11. Elizabeth

12. Dean

13. Dan

 0.001% Chance

14. Janet

15. Tom

16. Noura

17. Karishma