Survivor season 35 episode 5 preview: Bring out your Idols!
After a tribe swap and an intense Tribal Council, our Survivor season 35 episode 5 preview looks at who will snatch power, what challenges to expect and more!
With just 14 players left in Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, we’re just a few weeks away from the merge. That makes Survivor season 35 episode 5 quite important, especially with a three-tribe format, as having even four players against teams of five is such a huge disadvantage. Will Levu head back to Tribal Council? Who will be voted out next? Will someone get an eye infection due to sand particles a la Jessica Lewis’ pink eye?
Reward Challenge makes you do the (sand)worm
There’s a reason why I mentioned that incident; the Survivor season 35 episode 5 sneak peek gave viewers a view of the Reward Challenge. In it, tribes will compete in a ball relay race with their feet tied together and arms tied to their sides. Sliding around a sandy maze like a worm, castaways will push the ball from one relay station to the next, with the fourth player shooting five balls into a high-up basket. The first two tribes receive ice coffee, while the first-place team will receive an assortment of pastries and coffees/teas to bring back to camp, as well.
While this could have easily been another Survivor cop-out that doesn’t provide much in the terms of meaningful content, from an editing perspective, it’s interesting to see Ryan’s reaction make it into the edit. “It’s gonna run right through us, I don’t even care” is not the right thing to say to a tribe eager for that reward, and the lack of reaction from anyone else hints at the tribe not taking what he says into account.
Early on, we’ve been getting a whole lot of Ryan content, some of it even being positive. But after making fun of Simone in episode 3 and this jab here with an inserted negative sound effect, you have to wonder why the editors left it in for the viewer to see.
Idol dreams and Survivor nightmares
The Survivor season 35 episode 5 promo commercial gives away a ton of information about the upcoming episode, but because CBS airs the commercial on television and posts it on their YouTube channel, it’s fair game. Dr. Mike Zahalsky finds the idol alongside Jessica, but worries about how this benefit could come back to haunt him.
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What’s more interesting (and perhaps dire) is Ben Driebergen’s storyline. “And what brings this Marine’s past back to haunt him?” asks the narrator, as Ben suggests that life is bigger than the game. I really hope that Ben stays through this game all the way to the finale, but even if you’re not his biggest fan, the idea of a traumatic event possibly taking a player out of the game is just unfortunate.
A multi-faceted Immunity Challenge
In this week’s Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers Immunity Challenge, we have tribes carrying huge rice bags through water, stuff them through a hole in a fence they have to climb over, carry over a series of balance beams and bring to a table on the beach. Once on the table, players will stab the bags open to uncover three balls needed to move up a swiss cheese maze.
The catch here is that three different players will have to navigate the maze at the end. The Yawa and Soko tribe will need to incorporate Chrissy and Lauren into this Immunity Challenge, as they sit out in the Reward Challenge. How that will play into the dynamics of each tribe’s competitors will have a big impact on who goes home.
Next: Survivor Winners: Ranking All 33 Sole Survivors By Season
Survivor season 35 episode 5, “The Past Will Eat You Alive,” airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET.