Survivor Ghost Island: Donathan Hurley played his Ghost Island trip right

One thing I was surprised not to see in Survivor Ghost Island episode 3 of Donathan Hurley’s solitary trip has been uncovered in the press photos.

When I was running through Jacob’s disastrous trip to Ghost Island in this Survivor season’s premiere, I had forgotten one crucial element about the chaos of his handling of the Legacy Advantage; what would follow. You see, with Stephanie knowing about the Legacy Advantage and the rest of the tribe suspecting that Jacob received some power from his trip, Donathan coming up empty on the second visit had inadvertently put him in a pickle.

You can’t fit every single storyline into every episode of Survivor Ghost Island, especially when you have to wrangle 20 peoples’ individual events over 72 hours boiled down into 42 minutes of airtime. Sometimes you don’t even get to talk to the camera once in three episodes, as Chelsea Townsend has indicated so far.

Still, I would think that Donathan possibly having an advantage would have been mentioned at least once during Survivor Ghost Island episode 3, as that would have tied into the ongoing battle on who to vote out. Thankfully, one press picture released by CBS after the episode aired (to avoid swap spoilers) showed Donathan being smart and just showing his tribe that he didn’t win an advantage.

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This is smart for Donathan, as it tells Naviti that he’s not a target due to something outside of his control when selected to visit Ghost Island. However, it does set the tone for players going forward. What happens if a player like Chris doesn’t hold onto his “No Game For You” note and doesn’t present it to his tribe? That player de facto causes suspicion by looking like they’re hiding a power they may or may not have.

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By not showing this moment in the previous episode of Survivor Ghost Island, it must not be too important of an occasion that it will have long-term benefits. However, it proves Donathan Hurley’s ability to think ahead of time while also setting up an opportunity for others to gain a target on their backs by not following suit.