Survivor Ghost Island episode 3 recap: Swap party!
Just when the players were getting comfortable, Survivor Ghost Island episode 3 showed us that one little swap could really change up the game.
Some may consider this the real start to Survivor Ghost Island. Malolo may be at a severe numbers disadvantage heading into a swap, but with Gonzalez and Jacob Derwin gone, the major distractions have left and we’ve got an energetic, fun and even-keeled group ready to play the game.
James came back to Malolo ready to take ownership of his mistakes. He didn’t feel bad that he was part of the split vote strategy and entered the swap ready to redeem himself. Of course, he didn’t have the immediate opportunity to make it up to his Malolo players, as everyone dropped their buffs on Day 7.
The new Malolo is the following: Jenna, Stephanie, Brendan, Michael, Desiree, Sebastian, Bradley, Chelsea and Kellyn. The new Naviti: Angela, Domenick, Chris, Libby, Laurel, James, Donathan, Wendell and Morgan.
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Malolo’s tribe saw more OG Naviti members, who seemed to complain about just how awful Malolo was running their camp. Naviti had a lot more moving parts, as big moves were in store! Chris revealed to Angela that Domenick has an idol, showing that the plan now seems to have Naviti take out their overall numbers advantage (for some reason). He seemed to be quarterbacking everyone into his plan, including telling James, Libby and the old Malolos about his plan.
Bradley finally had the first chance to establish his character, and that became “incessant whiner.” As such, the four old Malolo players worked together to find an idol, running all over the camp trying to find something that will give them an advantage. Thankfully for Michael, he found one of James Clement’s two idols from Survivor China, providing them with a chip and a chair.
With Morgan and Domenick on the outs of new Naviti, the two went to work. Morgan used her bond with Libby over Catholicism to bring her in as a partner, showing viewers that a social game is important instead of dictating to people what to do in a numbers game. It’s all about making friends and influencing people, not bro-ing down with people you just met.
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Day 9 saw the game’s third Immunity Challenge, which combined several aspects of challenges we’ve seen in the past few seasons. Players on both tribes would race through a series of ramps, leading to a sand pit. They’d need to dig up a ladder from that pit, using it to get a player to retrieve a roped ball from a structure 15 feet high. Then, one player would throw the ball and hook a target, allowing players to pull each other up a wall structure on the way to a 3D puzzle of a totem at the top. A tarp served as a partial reward for the winning tribe, in addition to picking who from the other tribe would go to Ghost Island.
The tribes went back and forth in this challenge, with Malolo leading early to get through the ramps and floundering at the ladder. Both tribes were even until the puzzle segment, as Kellyn showcased her masterful puzzle-solving skills once again en route to Malolo’s victory. Their tribe couldn’t decide who to send to Ghost Island, however, as Probst revealed that it would go to rocks (don’t let Jessica Lewis hear about this!) Chris pulled the white rock and he was sent immediately to Ghost Island, as Naviti’s plans were thrown out the window.
We’ve already seen that going to Ghost Island is not guaranteed to produce a game of chance, and Chris proved it once more with a “No game for you” urn. We also saw Chris talk about his mother who’s diagnosed with MS, showing a truly vulnerable
A big theme of Survivor Ghost Island so far has been trust, and Angela wanting to take out Libby showed a “Naviti strong” mentality off the jump. However, Morgan trusted Libby over her and wanted to flip things on Angela as his right-hand woman. Domenick threw another wrench in the plan, as he showed the old Malolo players his fake idol in order to garner trust.
The opposite very much happened, as Malolo’s players were playing 4D chess with each other about who would be the target, with Libby trying to push the vote away from her new friend. Morgan, Wendell, Domenick, Angela; whoever the OG Malolo four voted for essentially guaranteed a rock draw at the very least and an accidental big move at best. Just like that, old Malolo finds themselves in a position to scrape away the numbers advantage in this game.
At Tribal Council, the tribal lines were drawn, with everyone talking about getting out of the kitchen (their alliance) and hanging out in the living room (the opposing alliance). Domenick showcased concern over Angela’s allegiance to Chris, while James talked about Naviti might not have been as strong as they fronted.
It seemed like it was between Libby and Angela for this vote, but then Morgan started to get votes out of the blue. In the end, Malolo worked together to send Morgan out in 18th place, ending with a 4-3-1 vote that showed even a “blonde sweetheart” like Libby could have the power to lie right to your face. Looks like James pulled off a strong move early.
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Survivor Ghost Island returns next Wednesday at 8 p.m. ET with episode 4, “Trust Your Gut.”