Well, here we are, a week out from one of the most controversial episodes in Survivor’s long history, and what can we even say? Last week was rough. Kellee and Jamal were voted out in a special two-hour episode that managed to make basically everyone on the cast look bad, as Kellee continued to express how inappropriate Dan’s behavior was while basically no one else, including production, seemed to care. And now we are left to watch (or not; if you chose to bow out after last week, I would not blame you) and pick up the pieces. Let’s go.

Mary: With no mention of what happened last week in tribal, we see Janet trying to pull herself together after being essentially betrayed by everyone. But, Janet says, she doesn’t want to quit or have people see her quit, so she decides to keep on going. This only makes me love Janet more, honestly. She stops and thinks that in order to stay in the game she must switch up her gameplay. She also wishes that she still had her idol, and I wish she still had her idol, too. 

Enter Noura, who has some encouraging words for Janet...I guess? I still wish Noura wasn’t here. 

Todd: Yeah, Noura is not great at reading people, or reading a room, but I do suspect she will be here for the long haul. At the finale, she will stay convinced that her strategic gameplay got her there, and not her erratic behavior.

That night, there is a rat in the shelter, which is definitely A mEtApHoR. It climbs on Karishma and makes her bolt upright and scream, irritating other people who did not have rats climb into their mouths, so maybe count your blessings, Elizabeth!

Then, it rains really hard throughout the night and we see a rainbow emerge, which is the closest the episode comes to commenting on the events of last week. Elizabeth contemplates whether she should quit because of how hard the game has been, which is real rich coming from Elizabeth, but she ultimately says, “I haven’t come this far to only come this far.” Okay, Liz.

Usually, I would commend Survivor (probably wrongly) for trying to move past a difficult episode and continue with the game. However, the events of last week still cast a pall over the game, especially since the people most to blame are still in the game. Given that Jeff said he will “never let this go” and then promptly did, how did you feel watching this episode, Mary?

Mary: I think they entirely let it go, and for the worse. News outlets that hadn’t reported on Survivor for years had stories running after last week’s episode, and there was considerable public outrage online (in my opinion). I’m not sure why they wouldn’t address it. I just want to say that Christ Harrison has had to address mess like this more than once, and while it always feels insincere and too little too late, it’s something. I did find myself actively rooting against Elizabeth and Missy this episode, and sort of cringing every time Dan talked. BUT THIS IS THE GAME WE LIVE IN NOW. 

The mouse was truly my favorite moment of the episode. Karishma jumped up SO FAST. It’s one of those silly things that would happen in real life, and it’s nice seeing the contestants react. I, too, would yell if a mouse climbed in my mouth. 

Todd: Truly, who wouldn’t?!?

Noura tries to whip the rest of the tribe into voting for Karishma because Noura thinks she is cRaZy, which is, once again, rich coming from Noura, who has never met a thought she didn’t immediately shout out loud. It was around this time, when it seemed like the episode wanted us to think Karishma would be going home, that I decided that was probably the last thing that would happen this episode.

And then a delightful thing happens: we get the beginnings of a comeback arc for Karishma. We see Noura ask her to go get coconuts, and while she is gathering them she talks about how her game has had a different trajectory than she thought it would. She thought she would rule the jungle but instead basically no one wants to work with her and she has been an outcast. She knows she is viewed as a goat but she says she doesn’t make a very good goat because she is unpredictable--AND THEN SHE FINDS A HIDDEN IMMUNITY IDOL. This was all very exciting.

To top it off, when she returns to the well where Noura, Lauren, and Tommy are strategizing, she realizes she has been gone for an hour and only has two coconuts so she pretends that she feels worse than she does--and they buy it! Lauren says they should just call medical and get it over with and Karishma says, “Are you trying to get me med-evac’d from the game?” At which point Lauren balks and then Karishma says she feels better already. This was all very fun to watch!

Mary: It seems like the rest of the cast has been truly mean to Karishma, or if not mean, rude. It could be the edit, but they all seem to ignore her until it’s convenient for them. While Karishma’s acting skills need some work, it seemed to convince everyone that Karishma wasn’t a threat. 

I’m not sure that Karishma is going to get a full redemption arc, but she definitely saved her butt this week, which is exciting. I think a lot of the contestants had a clear vision for what would happen this week, but petards were hoisted high and that made for an exciting episode. (Todd: *cue Mike White gif here*)

I guess this is the point where we need to say that this week’s episode had a twist! The tribe was split into two separate groups to participate in an endurance challenge (or a skill challenge? It was weird and wonderful and involved lots of spinning balls). The winners from both teams would be immune at tribal, but both teams will go to tribal and vote someone out. So TWO PEOPLE WENT HOME THIS WEEK. The person who went out last overall won peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for their team.

Todd: This led to one of the funniest moments of the episode, in which Noura is the last person standing for the Purple (Definitely not Vokai) tribe and then immediately steps off, even though the Orange (definitely not Lairo) tribe still had Missy and Elaine fighting to see who would win, thus ensuring that Orange would get the PB&J. Noura seemed oblivious that she had let her Purple comrades down, and it was very funny. It is also a perfect encapsulation of who Noura is. She then said, “Maybe they will share?” No, Noura, they won’t. For Orange, Elaine manages to best Missy. Importantly, both Noura and Elaine hug Jeff, and Elaine even sneaks a kiss! Go Elaine!

Mary: I loved that Elaine said she won because she’s good at “redneck games.” Coming from a super rural town, I know exactly what she’s talking about. I could see a group of folks playing “spin the ball around the circle” at the creek on the weekend. I’m happy Elaine won! She’s one of the least-bad people this season, now. 

Todd: Mmhmm. 

Mary: After the challenge, the losing team has to stay at the old Lairo camp, and they are super bummed about it. It’s understandably a MESS. Immediately, both groups begin strategizing who will go home, and initially it seems like an easy vote; the crew at the old Lairo camp (Aaron, Dan, Janet, Noura, Lauren, and Dean) say they want to vote out Janet, and the other group (Karishma, Missy, Elizabeth, Tommy, and Elaine) says they want to vote out Karishma. This all seems simple, until things begin to turn in both camps. 

Missy thinks she can convince Karishma to vote with her to vote out Tommy, but the way she goes about it is aggressive. She tells Karishma what to do, and Karishma doesn’t like that very much. She heatedly walks away from the conversation and refuses to talk to Missy until later. When Missy asks her when she’ll be ready to talk, Karishma says, “I don’t know. I don’t have a watch.” *chef’s kiss*

Todd: Iconic.

Mary: Karishma begins to hatch a plan to vote Missy out, and quickly realizes that she has the power to do this, especially now that she has an idol. Karishma goes to Elaine and tells her she doesn’t like the way Missy’s been talking to her, and Elaine is sympathetic. For this week, Elaine and Karishma were my power duo. It really seemed like they listened to each other and tried to help one another--and although there were game reasons for doing so, it still managed to feel sincere. Elaine begins to help Karishma in her plan against Missy by talking to other people, including Tommy.

When Missy is able to talk to Karishma, she brings Elizabeth with her as backup. Karishma acts as if she’s on their side, as if she was just overwhelmed earlier. Missy apologizes...sort of...and then proceeds to tell Karishma she’s “always” wanted to “work with” her. Hmmmm. 

Todd: Lucky for us, Karishma can sniff out that Missy is just using her. “Talking at” her instead of “playing with” her.

Mary: Yes, Karishma can smell a rat, but only when it crawls directly into her mouth. 

Todd: Fair. Around the same time, we also get confessionals from Tommy where he basically re-asserts that he is a schoolteacher. He thinks Missy is being a bully and he says he really likes Karishma (despite zero evidence of this prior to this episode). Regardless, Tommy says Karishma has gone “from the least popular kid in class to the most popular kid in class.” His teacher wordplay was exhausting (says the schoolteacher).

Mary: At this point in the episode, I really started to worry for Janet. I wanted her to find a way to stay in the game, but things weren’t looking too good for her. 

Todd: Yes. At the very least, Karishma had an idol to play if it still seemed like votes were headed her way. There was no such luck for Janet, but the Survivor gods had something up their sleeves (and I’m not talking about Dean’s rolled up sleeves that show off his muscles!). Suddenly, the Purple group, led by Noura of all people, begins to consider voting Aaron out instead of Janet. As we are consistently reminded throughout the episode, Aaron does not have an immunity necklace, and so it seems like a good time to get him out, especially since he had already won 2 individual immunity idol challenges before this episode. This was a fist-pumping moment, but it is then followed by a groan-inducing one, as Janet has to patch things up with Dan. Bleh.

Mary: Yeah, this felt weird to me, but I also understand where she’s coming from. Without the benefit of the all-seeing cameras, all Janet knows is that Missy and Elizabeth lied about Dan and made her look stupid for sticking up for them. *sigh*

After Noura begins talking about Aaron, everyone else seems to jump on the bandwagon, more or less. Aaron’s a physical threat, I guess? He’s also just kind of a jerk, if you ask me. Which no one is.

Todd: While I don’t disagree, it does bring up an interesting philosophical question, re: physical threats in Survivor. Especially in earlier seasons, it was easier for physical threats to get further into the game, but that has basically evaporated by this point. Should Aaron have purposely not won immunity twice in a row? Or did he need to win immunity twice to ensure that he get as far he got? (And also, was there ever really a time when big physical threats could go far in the game? Thinking even as far back as Pearl Islands, Rupert was basically always seen as a huge threat after the merge, but that might have also been because he was so beloved by everyone.)

Mary: ALL THE GROUPS GO TO TRIBAL AND THINGS GET WILD. The Old Lairo Camp group is the first to go, and they talk around who they want to vote out. Aaron makes a big deal about it being the first week he’s not immune, while Janet confesses she’s the “low man on the totem pole.” Tribal for this group is pretty quick, and the voting begins. AARON GOES HOME! Jeff tells him to take his spot on the jury immediately, and Aaron obeys. He says that he respects the move, and I do too. 

The other team is SHOCKED when they walk in to see Aaron on the jury, and Elizabeth starts crying. I guess I didn’t know/remember they were that close? It seems like a big reaction. 

Todd: Yeah, Elizabeth, Missy, and Aaron have been tight since the tribe swap, but it is still weird. Missy also says something very dumb when Jeff asks about her reaction to seeing Aaron on the jury: “That’s not really how the jury should be looking.” 

It is a tone-deaf thing to say and Jeff rightly points out that it makes Missy seem like she is the one who should decide who gets voted out when. I was smiling from ear to ear when this was going down.

Mary: This is truly the dumbest thing she could have said.

Todd: So dumb. The tribal focuses on the rift between Missy and Karishma, and Missy gets really heated when Karishma calls her a bully. Could you make sense of her reaction, Mary?

Mary: Not really. She says that she’s always talked like this and that it doesn’t make her a threat. I don’t think that anyone was arguing that Missy is a threat (though she certainly could be). They’re arguing that she treats people poorly and acts like she’s in charge of everyone. From what we’ve seen, I can’t say I disagree?

Todd: Mmhmm. Even more egregious, Missy says she can understand lying to get someone else out, basically accusing Karishma of doing to her what SHE DID LAST WEEK TO KELLEE. Double bleh. But also--this petard keeps hoisting higher and higher. Before the vote happens, Missy takes a moment to call Jeff out on not pointing out that two African-Americans had won individual immunity last week, a first according to Missy. As we discussed while we were watching, this is an important moment, especially for African-American fans of Survivor, and definitely worthy of being pointed out, but it surely would have played better before last week’s episodes, where Missy and Aaron both came off looking real bad.

Mary: I agree. It kind of cheapens the achievement to have Missy be the face of it, but who am I to say, I guess. 

Everyone votes and the vote is very telling. There are two votes for Tommy (Elizabeth and Missy) and everyone else votes for Missy. Instead of just leaving and getting her torch snuffed, Missy spends a lot of time walking around and asking who did it and just generally not leaving. This made me mad, and I wish we’d gotten more shots of Jeff’s face during Missy’s walk-around.

Todd: We did, importantly, get to see Sandra telling Missy to move it along, which was truly Sandra speaking for all of us. Also, I do not like her telling Elizabeth to go after Elaine, especially since KARISHMA WAS THE SWING VOTE. Karishma got basically no credit for voting Missy out, which sucks but seems typical of this season. 

THE MERGE 

Mary: I was sad we didn’t see more of Sandra and Rob this week! 

Todd: Me too! But then, the last time we went to their island, Jamal got historical hosed, so who knows. 

Tommy had a very dumb moment when he was voting for Missy, when he said, “When you bring up my name, you pack your bags.” I guess he couldn’t think of any teacher-y wordplay for that.

That’s all this week. We will see you here again next week for a special Thanksgiving edition of

SURVIVOR:

ISLAND

OF

THE

IDOLS!