Survivor season 35, episode 5 recap: Finally, a blindside

Recapping all of the events and who went home on Survivor season 35, episode 5 ‘The Past Will Eat You Alive’ from Wednesday, Oct. 25.

Down to 14 players and with new tribes, it was time for another episode of Survivor: Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers. But with that came plenty of more drama, another idol, and much more. Let’s get right into the action from Wednesday night.

We started out at the Levu Tribe’s camp as they returned from the Tribal Council where Alan was voted out last week. Joe remained cocky about what had happened, having read Ashley’s face to know who to play his idol for. That was a big move, and one that led Ashley to believe that it was now a 2-v-2 situation on the tribe moving forward. However, Desi seemed a little dubious about trusting Joe.

Ben was next in the spotlight with the Yawa Tribe and a poignant moment. As they were making fire, the bamboo started exploding a bit. The former Marine had a strong, negative reaction to this (understandably) and had to go be alone. In a confessional, though, he admitted that one of the reasons he wanted to win was to show servicemen who have struggled with depression, PTSD and so on that there is life after war. Hard not to root for him after that.

That led us right into the Reward Challenge, where coffee, tea and pastries were on the line. For the challenge, three tribe members must push a ball with their their hands and ankles tied throughout three parts of a hilly course. Once at the final mat, all players had to get untied and the fourth player would have to shoot five balls into a high basket.

Levu absolutely dominated the challenge coming off of their visit with Jeff Probst at Tribal Council last week. Desi was big time as the first leg, but so were Ashley and Joe. It was then easy work for Devon as the shooter to win it for Levu. As for Soko and Yawa, Ryan’s struggles as the third leg for the former ultimately hurt his team in a bad way. That allowed Yawa to not be dominant, but get the smaller reward with relative ease.

Back at the camps, we got a look at Yawa where Cole wasn’t making many friends. Lauren, who has proven to be one not to hold her tongue to this point, voice her displeasure with how he ate like a pig.

Meanwhile at the Soko camp, Jessica continued to voice her concern over Cole as a player — which, who could blame her at this point? As a result, though, she began to work closely with Dr. Mike. And the two smart minds worked together to recall that Joe had found his idol by the well at their old camp. That led to them searching by their own well, and sure enough, there was an idol that Dr. Mike dug up. Now he and Jessica are even more closely aligned.

Time for an Immunity Challenge, and a fun one at that. We got to see the tribes have to move three big rice bags through a round hole in the water, then walk the bags up to shore over a balance beam. After that, they must cut the bags open and dig out one ball from each. From there, a player must be on another balance beam and guide each ball into a hole at the top of a maze using ropes — again, while staying on the beam.

Early on, it looked as if the dominant Levu tribe from earlier was a thing of the past. However, Devon and Desi saved that big time after forcing the rice bags through. They were able to come through and work back into a great position. Meanwhile, Soko brought up the rear as they struggled with getting the bags ashore. As for Yawa, they ultimately dominated with steady play, finishing first as Cole put the final ball in the hole.

Levu had a lead, but Soko wasn’t terribly far behind as they looked to move closer on the maze portion of the challenge. However, Chrissy had massive amounts of trouble on the beam and couldn’t stay on. She asked if anyone needed help, but no one stepped up. And as a result, they were the losers as Desi found the final hole.

Back at the Soko camp, Chrissy realized she was in trouble and tried to work with Roark, but the situation between the two still seemed rocky. Thus, the former would have to rely on previously formed relationships going into Tribal Council. In front of Jeff, it seemed like people were ganging up on Chrissy in this moment. However, she continued to try and deflect everything to Roark. And as it turns out, we should’ve paid attention to that.

Next: Survivor: Ranking The Best Seasons

In the first real, true blindside of the season. Roark was voted out 3-2 with JP, Chrissy and Ryan voting her off the tribe. That leaves an interesting dynamic moving forward with the Soko tribe, and a lot that could break up games across the board.