Survivor Season 51, Episode 5
“Not Here to Get a Pedicure"
Host: Jeff Probst
Cast: Brady Booker, Linnea Capobianco, Cristian Chavez, Sharonda Cox, Kristin Flickinger, Ori Jean-Charles, Lewis Kelly, Danny Kilby, Carter Krull, Alexis Levine, Angelica "Jelly" Loblack, Eric Macksoud, Maggie Nestor, Thien An Nguyen, Mike Pinsky, Devin Way
I am in need of a Survivor priest so I can give my confessional. I am sorry that I ever doubted the three tribe format and the abundance of advantages in the game. Forgive me for my sins.
This week's episode saw us send two teams to Tribal Council to whittle down the number of players from 16 to 14. We got one more traditional vote that continued the trend of last week's more Route 1 gameplay (though with a little bit of some cross-tribe dynamics), then one of the more wild votes the game has ever seen.
What was the fallout from voting out Jenna?
The Savu tribe returned to camp where Devin called their last vote a win win win win win. Alexis feels good with the group having been saved. Devin and Jelly are glad to have been on the right side of the vote on top of building trust with Ori and Alexis. With the four members of their group all feeling good because they voted together, they each share their "why" they are playing.
Ori talks about his mom. She worked so hard to make sure her son had everything he needed. Meanwhile, Devin lost two of his brothers, one younger and one older. He had a moment back home where he imagined his family members who had passed would watch his life and see him doing nothing, so it motivated him to take advantage of living. Finally, Alexis shares that she struggled with addiction and realized she was in a bad place. She turned things around and now she's on Survivor. All of it is very sweet and endearing.
Are Maggie and Brady working together?
At Toka, Thien An is still all in on her tirade against Mike. However, Maggie has her eyes set on Kristen, the lone outsider from the old Toka tribe. Maggie knows Kristen has a toolkit of Survivor knowledge, but is worried that the boys are enamored with her. Maggie talks to Brady about sticking together and voting out Kristen if they go to Tribal Council.
Approaching Brady seemed to have spooked him. He says that she changes her mind constantly and while he likes her, she's driving him crazy. She's a wild Brody! He's also a little upset that she has his Extra Vote.
How will Lewis find a way into the Dina tribe?
At the new third tribe, Dina, Lewis has recovered from being quite sick. He gives a confessional about pooping his pants — surely I would have thought if anyone would be doing that on their tribe it'd be someone named Cristian. Lewis says that he is having a tough time getting a word in around Kilby and Eric.
Lewis approaches Linnea about seeing if he can make in-roads, she doesn't seem to think that a Savu will be voted out if their tribe has to vote someone out. She has a genuinely good idea here — make Lewis think that the only way to make his way into the tribe is with her — but she specifically says that it will be Savu strong, preventing him from ever thinking he has a way in at all.
Who won the immunity challenge?
The tribes arrive for their immunity challenge. This time, only one tribe will be safe. The tribes would need to retrieve buoys, then have a team member throw them into some nets. The winning tribe would also win pastries.
Toka is the first tribe to get their buoys across to the last stage of the challenge, allowing Mike to shoot for his team. Shooting granny style, he gets a couple in before anyone else can get even close. While Dina finally gets to toss their buoys, it doesn't matter as Mike nails the last shot. Toka is safe from Tribal Council, sending Dina and Savu to vote out a player each.
What advantage did Maggie get?
Before they can start eating, the Toka tribe is told someone has to sit out of eating and get on a boat. Maggie gets her name drawn. She gets an Extra Vote she can give to a player at one of the losing beaches.
She decides to head to Dina where she believes Lewis and Kilby might be on the bottom. It becomes very clear that the old Savus are going to stick together. Realizing that one vote won't be enough to save the two boys, she also gives them the Extra Vote she got during the Mutiny twist in order to force a tie.
The bad news? Kilby is considering keeping the Extra Vote out and getting rid of Lewis. To say that I would have been furious at Kilby if he had done that would be an understatement. I think I would have tracked him down and, at the very least, talked to him very sternly.
Who got voted out from the new Savu tribe?
At first glance, things seem split down the middle at Savu. On one hand, you have Jelly and Devin. On the other, Ori and Alexis. You would have thought that if anything was going to change, it'd be that Ori would stick with the Helicopter Alliance and vote out Alexis.
But as the afternoon wore on, Jelly seemed to have second thoughts. While she would feel awful voting out her ally Devin, voting out another woman would be truly devastating. The only man eliminated from the game so far was Rhode Island Rob, who quit. Alexis made a strong pitch that was more than just a feminist rally. She told Jelly that Devin is already connected to every play Jelly is — keeping Alexis would make new in-roads for her as a player. It seemed to be somewhat convicing.
But it wasn't enough. In the end, Devin, Jelly and Ori seemed gutted to do so, but they voted out Alexis.
Did the Dina tribe go to rocks?
Before Lewis was given an Extra Vote, he tried to make a bit of a Hail Mary. We've seen a fake Idol before, but Lewis took it a step further. He tried to convince Sharonda he had a "Blood Ring Idol". While Eric believed it, Sharonda and Cristian were more skeptical (especially Cristian who has a knack for jewelry and heard Lewis talking about his ring a few days prior).
But once Lewis and Kilby have the extra votes from Maggie, the old Tokas have a new plan. They can force a tie and pray the others don't risk going to rocks. While Kilby seems torn back at camp, once he's at Tribal, he's all in. After two votes, things are still tied. Unless the players can come to a consensus whether to vote out Lewis or Linnea, the rest will draw rocks and one person will randomly be eliminated.
The old Savus give their best pitch to Kilby, but it's too late. He's already taken a shot. If he backtracks now, he'd be in an even worse position. Part of me wonders why Kilby didn't try to convince Eric to vote with him, but I can't fault him if he had worries about an immunity idol.
And so, it comes down to Cristian. Sharonda and Eric, who aren't willing to go to rocks, but it only takes one person to say they will for it to happen. Cristian ultimately decides not to tempt fate and agrees to send Linnea home.
It's a bit of bad luck for Linnea (or Lanneyah or Lanughyah or Linaegh or Linayyyyyaaaaaaaahhhhh), but this is how she goes out. She had a visibility spike this episode which already felt like a bad omen, but you never know.
It was a thrilling bit of television. I love Lewis (who isn't charmed by the accent?), so I'm happy he's sticking around. But it's hard to not also feel like Kilby's stock shot up 100% after his big move. It wasn't just that he did something strategic, it was also the way he vocalized that he sticks up for his friends. It was endearing and I loved it.
So, after a bit of a speedbump last week, Survivor 51 feels like it's back on track. Who knew it would take advantages and journeys to get there?
Grace Notes
- You'd think Eric was the first Survivor to reference Howl's Moving Castle but they actually had to edit out multiple scenes of Colby talking about Miyazaki
- Eric has now done improv and given a puppet show on the beach — incredible
- Brady with another epic line read of "That's a macaroon, Brody!"
- Kilby gets bonus points for his amazing move but gets a point deduction for his truly bad dive into the water after the challenge
