If you missed last week due to the holidays, don’t worry! Lauren went to the Island of the Idols, succeeded in getting her idol, and played it at tribal council. Noura won immunity, and attempted to keep competing after her victory to allow people to eat longer. Unfortunately, it does not work that way, but it was a kind and smart play. Karishma also played her idol at tribal council. Unlike Lauren, she needed to. The resulting vote lead to a tie between Janet and Elizabeth. Elizabeth was voted out and will be joining her alliance on the jury. Now, on to this week!
This episode opens with the loved ones’ visit. This is always one of the most emotional times on Survivor. For the first time ever, a child gets to visit a parent. Dan’s son is thirteen and got to fly out to see his dad. Elaine and Tommy got to see their girlfriends. Lauren, Janet, and Karishma get to see their husbands. Noura sees her sister, and Dean sees his mom. For the challenge, they are divided into four pairs: Karishma and Lauren, Tommy and Janet, Dean and Elaine, and Noura and Dan. Noura’s sister is visually impaired, and Jeff takes her out into the water so she can see her sister. The teams are tied together by a rope and must swim and crawl in order to throw sandbags at a target. Tommy and Janet gain the victory, and win the reward of more time with their loved ones. The two get to choose one other survivor each. Janet chose Dan and Tommy chose Lauren.
Amidst all the time with their family, the four reward winners take time to strategize. The discussion is to split the vote between Elaine and Karishma. Back at camp, Noura passes Karishma when it comes to anger. She goes on a very long tirade about changing her loyalties after not being chosen. They decide they want Lauren out because she is a dangerous social player. They realize they have an opportunity to go idol hunting while the others are away, and all set out together. Elaine finds one, which means if the split vote plans go through, the team at camp will control the vote.
This immunity challenge involves standing on a block and supporting a ball against an overhanging piece of wood with a rounded paddle. This looks incredibly challenging. Dean and Tommy drop almost immediately. Surprisingly, Noura is out next. Next goes Janet, and she injures her foot badly in the fall. Karishma drops, leaving Lauren, Dan, and Elaine still standing. Dan drops. Lauren needs to win immunity in order to be safe from the plan she does not know is in place. Elaine has immunity, but does not want Lauren to have it. Lauren holds out long enough for Elaine to drop out of nowhere. This means the group on the bottom needs to change their plan if they want to change the game.
The plan as decided at the loved ones’ visit reward is for Janet, Noura, and Dan to vote Elaine. The remaining four (Tommy, Lauren, Elaine, and Dean) are supposed to vote Karishma. The four that teamed up back at camp, however, now want Tommy out since they cannot vote out Lauren. Everyone on both sides is worried about Noura. At tribal council, Dean tells Tommy that people want him out. Whispering breaks out across the tribe. Everything is disintegrating, people are standing up. Noura speaks up loudly for everyone. She spills the plan and reveals Elaine’s idol. Now no one trusts Noura and everyone is talking about voting her out.
Elaine chooses to play her idol, just in case. Noura is talking like she is still on the right side of this vote. Somehow, Karishma is the one voted out instead of Noura. It seems her nine lives are up. There is no doubt that if Noura does not win immunity next week her name is coming up. Tommy now owes Dean a debt as well. Karishma leaving does mean there was no power upset, and makes the likelihood of it happening now is much slimmer. Let’s see if Noura actually leaves next week.
