A new episode of Survivor: Island of the Idols airs tonight on CBS. Read a live recap and join the discussion here.
Lairo returns to camp after tribal council. Aaron is mad. He was the only one excluded from the plan to blindside Ronnie. He says he doesn’t trust anyone on his tribe. Vince doesn’t feel bad for Aaron. Missy approaches Aaron, and she says he needs to calm down. She tells him that they still need him for physical challenges, so he shouldn’t be worried. However, in her confessional, Missy says she plans to stay loyal to the girls alliance.
At the Vokai tribe, Noura is rubbing her tribe members the wrong way. She complains about the lack of work ethic and tells everyone that she didn’t get any sleep last night. Molly says in her confessional that Noura is annoying. Noura complains about Molly. She calls Molly the popular girl in high school. She vents to Jason, and he tells her that she needs to try to be calm. In his confessional, Jason notes that he and Noura are on the outs of the tribe. Noura says that Jamal, Molly, and Jack are running the tribe. She says the tribe has a King, a Queen, and a Jack. Meanwhile, Molly and Jamal talk game down by the water. Molly wants Noura gone; Jamal wants Jason gone. In her confessional, Noura compares the game to high school. She says Jamal, Molly, and Jack are the cool kids who everyone else wants to fit in with.
Back at the Lairo tribe, they are struggling to get fire. However, Chelsea finally manages to start a fire for the tribe. Tom says it was a hit to his male ego. Afterwards, Chelsea stumbles into a hidden immunity idol while gathering firewood. She was worried people would see her snatching the idol, but no one noticed. Chelsea is amused how the girls are running the tribe and the guys are falling behind.
Back at the Lairo tribe, Lauren leads a yoga session. After they finish doing yoga, a messenger arrives to their camp with a note. The tribe is informed that Kellee must get on the boat and make her way to the Island of the Idols. Kellee is stunned, but her tribe members wish her well before she departs for the Island of the Idols.
Kellee arrives at the Island of the Idols, and she is pleasantly surprised to see Sandra and Rob. She says they are legends. Sandra and Rob ask her about her background, and she tells them all about herself. Afterwards, Rob and Sandra tell Kellee about their backgrounds. They share personal information, including their family members’ name and ages. After the conversation, Rob tells Kellee that her lesson started when she arrived on the island. Sandra says that learning about her tribe members and forming bonds is a key to succeed in the game. Sandra says this is how to build trust with people. Rob informs her that she will be quizzed on what Sandra and Rob told her about themselves. If she answers correctly, then she will win an immunity idol. If she answers incorrectly, then she will lose her vote at the upcoming tribal council. Kellee is unsure, so Rob sweetens the deal. He says she will only need to answer 3/5 correctly. If she succeeds, then the immunity idol will be good for the next three tribal councils. “YOLO,” Kellee says. She agrees to play.
The first question is what branch of the military does Sandra’s husband serve in? Kellee says Army. That is correct. The second question is how many daughters does Sandra have? Kellee says two. She is correct again. The third question is to name one of Sandra’s dogs. Kellee says Papa. She is correct again. Kellee wins an immunity idol. Kellee cries happy tears. In his confessional, Rob says that Kellee’s tribe members shouldn’t underestimate Kellee. Kellee must draw a random name from a bag without looking at it before leaving the Island of the Idols. The name she draws will be the name of the next person to visit the island.
Kellee returns to camp and comes up with a story about how she had to choose from urns. She tells her tribe members that she doesn’t have an idol. She also starts crying, trying to fool her tribe members into thinking she’s worried about being targeted for something she doesn’t even have. However, Kellee has hidden the idol in her hair. She’s glad she has an idol no one knows about.
It’s time for the immunity challenge. Both tribes must swim out into the ocean and release a ladder. They must then use the ladder to retrieve a bag of balls. They must then go back to shore and land the balls into three targets on a table. The first tribe to finish will win immunity. In addition to immunity, the winning tribe will win spices for their food. The challenge begins, and Lairo is the first tribe to release their ladder. They stay in the lead as Vokai struggles lifting their ladder. However, Lairo cannot locate the bag of balls Chelsea retrieved. She tossed it into the ocean, but they can’t find it. Vokai has a chance to catch up, but Molly falls from the ladder as they try to hold the ladder steady for her to retrieve the bag of balls. Lairo finds their bag and make their way to shore. Molly falls from the ladder again, but she manages to get the bag on the third attempt. Vokai make their way back to shore too, but Lairo is already working on landing the balls in targets. Nonetheless, Vokai manages to catch up as both tribes land two balls on their tables. It’s Missy vs. Jamal to land the final ball for their respective tribes, and Missy lands the final ball for Lairo. Lairo wins immunity! Vokai will go to tribal council tonight. We hear a confessional from Tommy before the commercial break. He says Jason and Noura are on the chopping block. He feels bad for them, but he says he needs to separate Teacher Tommy and Survivor Tommy.
Vokai returns to camp, and Noura says she wants to stay in the game. She talks to Jamal right away and claims she’ll be loyal. However, in his confessional, Jamal says the plan is to split the vote between Noura and Jason. However, as far as the target, Molly and Jason are still in disagreement about which of the two should go. Later, we see Lauren, Kellee, and Janet talk game. They are aware that Molly is trying to push the target on Noura too hard even though most seem to want Jason gone. Janet agrees that she has too much power in the game, especially over the boys. Lauren brings up the idea of blindsiding Molly tonight. They agree that she is a threat, and they are not okay with Molly, Jamal, and Jack running the game. Lauren says in a confessional that a blind man could see that Molly, Jamal, and Jack are running the game. She doesn’t want to be a sheep and let them dictate the game. Noura and Jason are clued in on the plan by Lauren, and they are excited. “Revenge of the nerds!” Noura says in glee as she and Jason talk alone. She starts dancing, but Jason warns her not to dance so others won’t suspect there’s a plan. Meanwhile, Janet tells Tommy about the plan to vote out Molly. Tommy says it’s way too early to make a move like that. He fears he would lose Jamal and Jack’s trust in him, and he doesn’t think it’s worth it just to vote out Molly. He’s torn what to do. Will he stay loyal to his original alliance or make a big move at his first tribal council?
It’s time for tribal council. Sandra and Rob are once again observing as they are hidden above in a tree house-like hut. Jeff begins the discussion by asking which people bonded right away. Jason says everyone but him bonded right away. He says he’s “been in purgatory since Day 1” simply because of the paranoia of him searching for an immunity idol. Jeff asks if this is an easy vote, and Tommy agrees it could be since no one wants to be the first one out of the tribe. Kellee says the group culture was to figure out the shelter instead of searching for idols. Jason stands up and empties his bag in an attempt to prove that he doesn’t have an idol. Kellee says he doesn’t need to do that. Noura adds that she feels like she sticks out and doesn’t fit in with the tribe. She says she feels like she’s been on the outs in her real life, too. She says the problems in her real life is being magnified in this game. Molly says the tricky part of the game is trying to figure out how to play based on the first few days. Jeff asks Noura if she can start from scratch, but Noura says she’ll “tread water until she drowns.” Dan adds that the game is more about playing chess instead of checkers. Jamal says that the game has to start slowly. Jason calls out Jamal for not bringing his bag to tribal council, meaning Jamal is confident he’s safe tonight unlike Jason. Kellee says they’ll all be doing what it best for their individual game, and the group won’t be the same after the vote. Afterwards, it’s time for the vote.
Jeff reads the vote. The first vote is for…
Jason
Noura
Molly
Jason
Molly
Molly
Molly
Molly
Molly is the second person voted out of Survivor: Island of the Idols.
Molly is clearly blindsided, as are Jack and Jamal. After Molly walks away, Jeff says that blindsides can be exhilarating. But he warns that if it can happen to them, then it can happen to you.
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.
