Survivor: Ghost Island - Episode Eleven Recap - The Finish Line Is In Sight
It's a race to the finish line! Only ten castaways are left on this season of Survivor: Ghost Island. It's been an incredible season, but a new Survivor twist shook up everyone. What happened this week? I got you covered!
After Des was voted out last week, it was a relief for Dom since he had to trust his gut and more specifically, Laurel. He immediately thanked her and even hugged her to reassure their alliance. This immediately brings confidence in her game.
Laurel helped Dom, Wendell, and Kellyn stay alive in the game during the last Tribal. Both Dom and Wendell are thankful for her, but Kellyn isn't sure if she can trust her entirely moving forward. Since Laurel wasn't initially on her tribe, she plans to keep her alliance "Naviti" strong without Laurel.
It's evident that the original Naviti tribe is running the show at camp. With only a few original Malolo tribe members left, it's sure that Naviti will be safe for awhile. This doesn't stop Dom's search for a Hidden Immunity Idol though. Dom has been so detailed since day one and has observed, searched, and found an idol before. He's willing to do anything in this game, as he explains in this episode that he's playing this for his wife and family back at home.
As Dom was looking, he did find something interesting in the grass -- a coconut with an emblem stamped on it. Dom cracked it open and found something powerful that he may not have expected. Out of the coconut came a fake idol, recognized in Survivor season 33, Millennials vs. Gen X.
David made this fake idol in season 33. In the season, he made a fake idol and planted it in a coconut to frame his fellow castaway, Jay. Jay found this interesting painted coconut and used the phony idol that David designed. It was that night that Jay used it and was voted out. This tainted idol that Dom found has not matured, however. The fake idol still holds no power, but Dom now has these tools and the ability to fool another player, just like Jay. Is Dom clever enough to pull it off and what castaway will he target to specifically?
Individual Immunity Challenge / Twist
In this challenge, it was all about arm strength. By pulling up on a bar, the castaways had to keep pressure to keep a ball steady. The last person to maintain their strength and not drop their ball won Immunity!
BUT there's a twist! Survivor introduced a new twist in this episode, and it sure was a good one. Host, Jeff Probst announces that there will not only be one winner of Immunity but two. There will be two Immunities to win in this challenge, but the twist was that there would be two people voted out at the next Tribal Council.
Not only that, but the ten castaways had to randomly draw two temporary tribes of five to compete against in this challenge! It was crazy. The two tribes meant that there would be two separate Tribal Councils for the two groups. The last person to stay in the challenge of each group would win Immunity, and the very last person to outlast everyone, along with their group, would go second to Tribal Council.
The stakes are higher than ever. Randomly assigned, the ten divided into a purple tribe and an orange tribe. The two temporary tribes were:
Orange: Michael, Laurel, Dom, Wendell, Kellyn
Purple: Chelsea, Sabastian, Angela, Donathan, Jenna
The ten competed together but were facing their mini-tribes to win their Individual Immunity. In the end, it was Chelsea who won it on the purple tribe, and it was down to Wendell and Dom on the orange. Both Wendell and Dom have been buddies this whole season, so they were both extraordinarily stubborn and had some friendly competition with this one. After 30 minutes, it was Wendell who let go just the slightest pressure and was out of this challenge. This finalized that Dom was also safe from Tribal and his group would be going to Tribal Council second.
First Tribal Council (Purple)
Chelsea's tribe had to attend Tribal Council first, and the strategy was between either Donathan or Jenna being voted out. Because they are part of the original Malolo tribe, they both knew they would be outnumbered with the vote. Jenna fought hard in this one though because she knew Donathan had an idol to save himself.
She knew she had to save herself, so she persuaded Donathan to give her the idol he found last week. She explains to him that she's certain it's her going home. She doesn't know this for a fact though and hopes that Donathan saves her. At one point, he told her that he would share his idol with her if he needed to.
When it came down to it, at Tribal, barely any questions were asked by Probst since Jenna scooted this council along and shared how confident she was going home. This persuasion tactic she used was explicit to influence Donathan to give her his idol. It didn't work though after all, because he used it for himself, and did not save her. This meant that the rest of the tribe had voted her out. Jenna was the next person on the jury, so she walked over with the rest of the jurors to witness the second Tribal Council.
Second Tribal Council (Orange)
Dom's team was ready for Tribal, as they were initially set to vote out Michael. He has been in danger this entire game because he's a considerable threat and seems to be the easy vote. He knew this was going to be an issue for him, so right away he decides to lie straight to Kellyn and tell her he's going to use an idol. He doesn't have an idol though, but Kellyn completely buys it.
Panicked, she shares this info with Dom. Dom, though isn't buying what Michael's selling and can tell he's lying about having one. He's pretty set on voting out Michael and wants to play it safe. However, in Survivor, is the safe move ever the right move? In this case, we knew it was, but Kellyn didn't. Since Dom isn't changing his vote, Kellyn decided to reach out to Wendell and tell him that she wants to also vote Laurel, just in case Michael's safe.
Michael has been acting very confident coming into Tribal, so Wendell can't tell if he has an idol or not. It's all part of his 'Hail Mary' to save himself in this game, and it seems to be working. Because he's unsure, Wendell also tells Laurel the scoop about Michael potentially having an idol. Everyone is pretty much on eggshells because of Michael's lie to Kellyn. If Kellyn weren't so gullible and believed Michael, none of this drama would've existed.
At Tribal, Kellyn was confident with her decision and wanted to play safe by NOT voting Michael. From her trip to Ghost Island, she received an extra vote in the game, so she finally used it to write down Laurel's name twice while casting her votes. Because Michael didn't have an idol, the votes were ultimately tied. Two votes Michael, and two votes Laurel (both from Kellyn).
The tribe of five had to revote, but only Wendell, Dom, and Kellyn had to decide between Michael and Laurel. Kellyn then came to her senses and realized that Michael lied to her after all. During this second vote around, sadly, Michael was also voted out in this episode. The guy played so well that the tribe even gave him hugs on his way out. He played a respectable game, all at the age 18.
Wow. What a twist in this episode! Two people got voted out this week, and I'll be honest, I was bummed to see Michael go. He was such a competitor and played a great game. Who are your favorites? Is it just me or does it seem like Dom may win this whole season? Or maybe Laurel? Or Wendell? Donathan? Tweet me @mick_cloudy and let's talk about this awesome season!
Don't miss Survivor: Ghost Island Wednesday's at 8/7c on CBS and don't miss my recaps every week!
