Survivor season 35 episode 9 recap: Idol overexposure

Making friends by telling them what’s in your pants is absurd outside of Survivor, but Ryan took it to an extreme degree in season 35 episode 9.

With ten players left in the game, Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers is getting closer to a strategically tricky territory. How long can the “take out all the Healers” plan between the Heroes and Hustlers last? As this episode of Survivor showed us, it’s not a strategy falling apart quite yet, but the cracks are widening.

Survivor season 35 episode 9 begins with Mike, Lauren, Ben and Ryan sitting on the beach as Mike starts throwing out names for who to vote out. It’s clear he’s playing the “me” game over the “we” game when it comes to the Healers alliance, but how will selling out his former tribe work out for him in the end?

Somehow, some way, Lauren was able to avoid voting and maintains her Secret Advantage. Ben and Lauren seem to have insane trust in each other, as does Ryan and Devon, with Ryan letting him know that he has the Hidden Immunity Idol. It’s clear that they’re telegraphing a certain imbalanced level of trust, as Ryan wants to keep Devon loyal to him and keep him looking up to Ryan.

After the first commercial, we’re once again jumping right into the Reward Challenge. Two teams will swim up to a ladder, jump into the water, then dive down to retrieve keys. Once five have been unlocked, they must throw balls into nets, with the first team to complete the task winning the challenge. The reward; a luxury yacht that tours the Fijian locale while being served sandwiches, wine, beer and chocolate.

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The red team, with Chrissy, Cole, JP, Mike and Joe, saw an early lead due to Cole and Chrissy’s quick swimming. Ashley made up for Ben’s slow start by showing off her lifeguarding skills. JP showed off some insane breath-holding skills, jumping into the water and not even coming up for air once. However, the real star of the challenge, in the end, was Joe. He looked natural with his basket-sinking style, overcoming Ben’s granny-style tossing to win the challenge for Red.

That yacht reward was fairly awesome for the winners, and everyone saw it as a strategic opportunity. Joe saw it as a numbers game, Chrissy saw it as a chance to control the conversation, Cole saw it as a chance to eat enough to fuel his next Immunity Challenge attempt and Ryan and Ben (who weren’t even on the reward) got the chance to establish a deeper relationship by Ryan revealing exposing his Idol.

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Betsided

Man, was there ever a focus on Joe looking for an advantage this episode. He knew he was boned, so after digging for hours, he went back to option B: insulting everyone possible. He’s going for the Russell Hantz strategy, except this time he’s not quite in control of the game. It may lead to a Final Tribal Council appearance, but just like Hantz, it may not go quite his way in the end.

An interesting turn of events saw Ben declare his wish to sit beside Devon at the Final Tribal Council. He established that level of trust by revealing he’s aware that Ryan has an Idol. Devon’s entire trust in Ryan was blown up at that moment, as he learned that Ryan lied to him about being the only one who knew he had that power.

Could this be the moment that Devon vaults himself into a true winner mentality? His wish to make “big moves” in the game and move his allegiance to Ben could start to see him be a bit more cutthroat than he’s comfortable. It’s necessary to win, and it could be the shifting winds of fate at play.

The Immunity Challenge saw players squatting as they held an urn full of water on sticks. Go too high, and it tips over, while going too low will raise a flag to note you’re out. Ashley and Mike dropped out quickly, followed by JP, Devon and Joe. Ben dropped before we got to the 20-minute mark, with Chrissy and Ryan following close behind. The standoff between Lauren and Cole was tense, but in the end, Cole dropped his urn. Lauren wins her first Individual Immunity Challenge of the season, giving Cole pause and concern about his safety at the next Tribal Council.

Once again, Ben directed the strategy talks after the Immunity Challenge. Him wanting to get rid Cole or Mike in the split vote strategy saw Ashley starting to voice her displeasure. Chrissy and Ryan agreed while Ben told Mike that Cole’s the target. Mike pondered using his Idol, while Chrissy pleaded with Ben to swing the vote back to Joe.

Honestly, there was so much chaos before Tribal Council that it became difficult to determine where the plan would end up. Even as Desi came out to take her seat on the jury, Mike asked Joe to follow his lead. It’s clear to Mike that he’s on the outs with the majority, so he made a huge move to try to swing their vote for morality.

Mike played the heel role very well, bringing up strategy as an annoyance tactic. It’s true; after the Healers are gone, how can three Hustlers beat out four Heroes? It got everyone talking, although they weren’t aware that they couldn’t get up and walk around like it was Game Changers.

For the first time in a while, we saw a legit shock at someone playing a Hidden Immunity Idol. It didn’t end up amounting to anything, though, as he played it for himself and not on Cole. With a minimum five votes to him and two going to Mike and one to Ben, he was voted out in 10th place and took his spot as the second member of the jury.

Next: Survivor Winners: Ranking All 34 Sole Survivors By Season

Next week of Survivor will be a two-hour affair, as “Buy One, Get One Free” airs on November 29 from 8 – 10 p.m. ET.