Survivor season 35 episode 13 recap: The devil has horns

Heading into Survivor season 35 episode 13, Ben had made himself out to be “The Survivor Devil.” But does the devil have a trick up his sleeve?

We’re squarely into the final third of this season; the portion in which Jeff Probst promised “one of the best finishes” he’s seen in Survivor. Sure, he’s an executive producer of the show, making him economically tied to the well-being of Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, so he has stakes in how things shake out. Still, for the second straight week, viewers witnessed a crazy Tribal Council that will certainly have people talking.

Survivor season 35 episode 13 kicks off with the fallout of Ben’s historic 1-0 idol save, as literally everyone immediately agreed he was too powerful and too good at Survivor to stay in the game. However, as Devon so rightly pointed out, feeling safe in Survivor is a death knell. Even if Chrissy wanted everyone to agree on Ben as the next target, you need to have a plan B and plan C as a backup.

Ben knew that it was a bold move, though, and it did allow him to decide who goes home. As such, Ben pulled off all the stops in searching for an idol, with Chrissy actively acknowledging that he was looking and did nothing to stop him. Seriously, why does every passive player let aggressive players do what they want this season? Andrea Boehlke had the right idea in mind when she actively followed Malcolm in Caramoan; where’s the hustle this season?

Either way, after the first commercial break we entered the Reward Challenge. This wasn’t highlighted in the episode’s press photos, but it saw pairs tied to a rope, where they must navigate their way through an obstacle course and throw five rings at a target to finish. Lamb, chicken, lobster, chocolate mouse and a night of bed rest on a private island were offered as the reward.

Ben and Ashley, Chrissy and Devon plus Ryan and Mike were the teams of players, with Ryan and Mike starting out with some communication problems and getting tied up on the submerged wooden posts. Ashley seemed to rush her way through the third segment of the rope navigation, but Chrissy and Devon made up a ton of time. However, all teams had zero rings on their post at the final stage.

Ultimately, Ben made up a lot of ground with three-straight successful ring tosses, but Devon was more accurate over a longer period of time, with him and Chrissy winning the reward. Of course, you can’t have a late Reward Challenge without picking someone to go with you, and Chrissy pleaded successfully for Ryan to come with them.

This saw Ashley give a thousand-yard stare of shock, totally upset at Devon for not taking her. I can understand, 34 days in, food and rest are the crown jewels of a reward. However, do you want to keep Ben, Ryan and Mike alone at camp in order to create more chaos, or do you want to eat? Devon did not anticipate such a reaction, clearly, and it would come back into play later in the episode.

We don’t even return from commercial to see the reward, but we see Mike venting about how Ryan doesn’t deserve a reward. Ben is not taking things personally but instead using Mike and Ashley’s bitterness against them. Ashley, at the very least, isn’t taking Ben’s divisiveness at face value, knowing how to keep her options open and not take everything told to her as truth.

Thank the Survivor gods Ryan finally got some food in him, but in the big movez era, it quickly focused on a Final 3 pitch between the three of each other. Devon knows that he’ll need to make a move soon, so abandoning his number one confidant and bringing Ryan and Chrissy with him to the Final Tribal Council may be an excellent strategy. Considering who would be on the jury in that configuration, it’s weird that Chrissy and Ryan want to go with that Final 3, too. You would think Devon would win that, no?

We jump straight to Day 36 for the Immunity Challenge, where players navigated through a series of obstacles to unlock a series of sandbags. Once you get one in a basket, you would then go to another series of ladders (including a ball toss to knock a ladder down) that led to a cog puzzle similar to the end of Survivor Cagayan.

This was a challenge that Ben Driebergen essentially needed to win in order to stay alive, and you could tell he was digging deep in this challenge. Ben knocked down his ladder first, but everyone essentially had a fair chance at the cogs section. Having to use all the cogs of various sizes with even more empty spots to place them was a challenge, but quite suddenly Chrissy won her second Individual Immunity of the season.

By winning, Chrissy secured both Ben and Ashley being available for elimination at Tribal Council. That was her mindset back at camp, with her pitching Ashley before Ben as if she’s a big threat to win the game over Mike as a secondary vote. It seems like only Ben knows that Mike is in the middle of two core groups, also knowing how much of a threat he can be at the Final Five.

Everyone is a freaking idiot for letting Ben look around camp for an idol, as he found a clue at camp that showed the whereabouts; underneath the bed at camp. We didn’t have a great idea of whether or not had actually find the idol before Tribal Council started up, as all we could see was him digging with one hand underneath the shelter.

The idea of a Final Three deal came up at Tribal Council, with five different players noting that they had some sort of deal with others. Primarily, discussions revolved around how volatile a player Ben is, how little you can trust people late in the game and how you need to stick to the plan. Ben wasn’t having any of that at all.

Ben must have learned well from Joe, as he revealed that he did find a Hidden Immunity Idol and not only wore it on his neck, he gave it to Jeff Probst early and even played it before the voting process. I didn’t know you could do that in Survivor, as people had to resort to plan B almost immediately. He said he was frustrated with his fellow castaways not being willing enough to make big movez, and he single-handedly forced everyone to do so at the voting booth.

The crux of the votes fell to Ashley, as she was voted out 5-1 over Mike in a clear blindside to her. Even as her game ended, she hugged Ben and refused giving one to Devon, giving us a good look at how she might be leaning as a jury member. To be fair, she said she was bitter with Devon “for the moment,” suggesting that her betrayal may not have killed any chances of Devon earning her vote.

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

Next week is the Survivor season 35 finale, with Ben, Devon, Chrissy, Ryan and Mike all vying for a shot at a million dollars. The two-hour finale airs at 8 p.m. ET, going straight into the finale from ~10 – 11 p.m. ET.

Home/Heroes Vs Healers Vs Hustlers