Survivor Season 39 Island of the Idols Week 11 Recap and Live Blog

A new episode of Survivor: Island of the Idols airs tonight on CBS. Read a live recap and join the discussion here.

The episode begins with the castaways greeting Jeff. He lets them all know that they reached a milestone in the game. Their loved ones are there to see them, which makes the castaways very emotional. Among them are Lauren’s husband, Tommy’s girlfriend, Karishma’s husband, Noura’s sister, Janet’s husband, Dean’s mother, Dan’s son, and Elaine’s girlfriend. After the reunions, Jeff lets them know the details of the challenge. They will be tethered together in pairs as they have to go through an obstacle course. At the end is a table that they must land a sand bag on. The challenge begins, and the pairs are Janet and Tommy, Dean and Elaine, Noura and Dan, and Lauren and Karishma. The challenge begins, and Dan and Noura take an early lead with Lauren and Karishma trailing behind. However, Lauren and Karishma are able to catch up as the rest of the pairs struggle digging under the sand to go under an obstacle. Dean and Elaine are the first pair to pass that obstacle. They get to work on throwing the sand bags onto their table. They are followed by Janet and Tommy, but the rest of the pairs get to the sand bag tossing portion of the challenge before anyone completes the task. Finally, Janet and Tommy are the first to land a sandbag on their table. Janet and Tommy win reward! They are allowed to choose two more castaways and their loved ones to come along. They pick Dan and his son and Lauren and her husband. As they walk away, Karishma says this was a moment of clarity. She wants the four of them not chosen to go on the reward to band together and put a “wrecking ball through their heads.”

During the visit with the loved ones, Tommy, Janet, and Dan talk game. They discuss targeting Elaine, maybe even splitting the votes between Elaine and Karishma. Dan and Lauren are also confident the other four won’t be banding together. However, back at camp, Noura is very bothered to not be picked. She vents her frustration to everyone, and she lets them all know that she will be with them at the next vote. Noura says she’s a very loyal person, and she will help them target one of Tommy, Lauren, or Dan. Dean is happy to hear Noura is willing to vote against one of those three, and the four of them agree to vote out Lauren at the next vote. Afterwards, they all go searching for a hidden immunity idol together. After working as a group, Elaine finds the hidden immunity idol. In her confessional, Noura is in tears as she’s emotional about everything seemingly coming together for her. She says she is taking her fate into her own hands. She refuses to be a sheep, and she will make a move that’s best for her game.

It’s time for the immunity challenge. It’s another endurance challenge that requires the castaways to balance on a perch while holding a ball above their heads that will be pressed against a wooden plank. If they drop their ball, then they are eliminated from the challenge. The challenge begins, and Dean is the first one to drop his ball. He’s followed by Tommy. Noura and Janet are the next two to drop from the challenge. Janet falls to the ground, resulting in a bloody injury to her foot. The challenge continues, and Karishma is the next one to drop. Dan is the next one to drop, meaning it’s down between Elaine and Lauren. Lauren struggles a lot with her ball, but Elaine seemingly drops hers out of nowhere. Lauren wins immunity!

The castaways return to camp after the challenge. Lauren says it’s a dream come true to have won immunity after being a fan of the show for eighteen years. Lauren, Tommy, Janet, and Dan discuss the plan for tonight’s tribal council. They agree to split the votes between Karishma and Elaine with the plan to vote out Karishma. Dan says Karishma has had nine lives in the game. Dan discusses the plan with Noura, and Noura realizes she is in the swing vote position. In her confessional, she says she’s glad to have power tonight. After her conversation with Dan, Noura lets the rest know that Lauren, Tommy, Janet, and Dan are planning on splitting the votes between Elaine and Karishma. Karishma says that’s fine as the rest of them will decide who goes. Since Lauren won immunity, they agree to vote out Tommy tonight instead. Noura continues to go over the plan with her new allies, but Elaine and Dean are annoyed by how pushy Noura is and how she keeps overthinking everything. Before tribal council, Tommy points out to Lauren, Janet, and Dan that it’s possible Noura could flip on them. He doesn’t have immunity, so he’s concerned he could be the one voted out tonight.

It’s Night 32 and time for tribal council. As always, Sandra and Rob will be observing from their secret shack. Jeff begins the discussion by asking about the loved ones visit. Janet says it was amazing and there was a renewed energy from seeing their family again. As Karishma tells Jeff her thoughts of the family visit, Dean whispers to Tommy that he’s going to be targeted tonight. Dean tells Tommy he’s getting three votes, but he won’t be voting for him. Tommy then whispers to the people around him, which Jeff notices. Soon enough, tribal council becomes chaotic as Tommy, Lauren, Janet, and Dan learn about the plan to vote out Tommy. Noura denies going along with the plan and insists she was never going to jump ship. Karishma, Dean, and Elaine say that Noura was 100% going to vote Tommy out tonight, and Noura ends the whispered conversations and tells Jeff that it was a ruse. She also reveals to everyone that Elaine has a hidden immunity idol. The chaos continues as more conversations take place in separate groups. Noura tells Tommy that she is still on his side, but he says that he would be going home tonight if Dean didn’t tell him what was about to happen. Elaine tells Tommy that she was not planning on voting for him either. Noura calls out Dean and says that she knew he was someone that could not be trusted. Dean simply just laughs, whispering to Tommy that Noura is crazy. Lauren asks Noura if she was going to vote out Tommy tonight, and Noura says she was not. However, she admits she considered it when it was first presented to her by Dean. Noura keeps trying to throw Dean under the bus as there are talks to vote for Noura. Janet asks Karishma if she would be willing to vote for Noura tonight, and Karishma says that she already is going to. As they are watching, Rob comments that Noura was caught in a lie, and he and Sandra believe she will be voted out tonight. Finally, the madness ends and Jeff asks if they are ready to vote.

Before Jeff reads the votes, Elaine plays her hidden immunity idol on herself.

The first vote is for…

Karishma

Noura

Noura

Noura

Karishma

Karishma

Karishma

Karishma

Karishma is voted out and the seventh member of the jury.

“Thank God,” Noura says to herself. Rob and Sandra are confused how Karishma ended up getting voted out after all of that. Over on the jury, Kellee remarks how it was a dumb move to vote out Karishma. Karishma gets her torch snuffed and walks away.

And that wraps up tonight’s episode of Survivor. Thanks for reading, post your thoughts in the comment section below, and come back next week for another live recap.

About Steven Curtis 538 Articles
Steven is a graduate of the University of West Florida with a bachelor's degree in communication arts. He enjoys watching reality competition shows, such as American Idol, Survivor, Big Brother, and The Amazing Race.