Survivor season 35: Cole Medders reveals Mike’s unseen fake idol

One of the most baffling decisions from the latest Survivor season 35 Tribal Council makes some sense when Cole Medders reveals what actually happened.

Usually, players are a lot more self-reflective in their Survivor exit interviews, talking about their own downfall and the people involved in their elimination. If you’ve seen Cole Medders at all this past season, you would know he has a big mouth and is willing to share any and all secrets, so it’s no surprise that he was the first to reveal exactly what was going on at that baffling Tribal Council that sent him home.

The news comes from his Entertainment Weekly exit interview where he says that not only did Mike Zahalsky pull out his idol early, he had even made a fake idol for Joe to use. “It wasn’t shown, but Mike pulled out his idol before the votes happened and put it around his neck,” Cole mentioned. “And he also had a fake idol at Tribal Council that he put around Joe’s neck.

“He had been collecting tassels off the tribe flags and had created a fake idol and kept the write-up for Joe’s past idol that he had played and wrapped it up in that to make it look like a legit idol. It looked real. It definitely convinced everyone, I think. Once they put those two idols around their necks, that’s when everyone went, ‘Okay, guys. The plan is still the same: vote out Cole.”

On the Survivor subreddit, Cole clarified that while he may have misspoken about wearing idols on their necks, he does say that Mike pulled out both the real and fake idols ahead of the vote to intimidate the Round Table.

Still, on a base level, it’s absolutely insane to think that there was a fake Idol play that was just erased from the Survivor season 35 canon because it didn’t make it to air. There are a ton of reasons why certain compelling things don’t make it to air, and the fact we didn’t see it screams “Mike doesn’t win” to me is chief among them.

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However, until Mike is voted out of the game, the editors have to work around the idea that Mike isn’t just as dangerous to the majority as Joe, as he is willing to create just as much chaos as him at camp. It means that most viewers will see Mike as this timid guy who bumbled his way into trying to make a big move, instead of a calculated risk-taker who played with a lot more flash then previously let on.