Survivor Ghost Island episode 8 recap: Chris vs. Domenick
Orange, purple and green melded into black with the Survivor Ghost Island episode 8 merge, but Chris vs. Domenick became the main headline of the show.
The majority of Survivor Ghost Island up to this point has been the slow, unending demise of Malolo at the behest of Jacob Derwin’s cursed exclamation; that they were one of the greatest tribes in Survivor history. With his epic premiere elimination making way for the loss of fan favorites such as Stephanie Johnson, Branden Shapiro and James Lim, the merge saw Naviti’s Chris and Domenick finally get the opportunity to fire shots at each other.
The episode began on Day 20 with Malolo and Yanuya already on boats heading to Naviti’s beach, with the merge happening immediately! Domenick got the first confessional after the tribes reached the beach, keeping Chris in his mind as his immediate target. The merge feast wasn’t handing out Thunders From Down Under, but Domenick took the opportunity to bring people in such as Donathan, Wendell and Laurel.
Chris found the “random” buff at his seat at the table that gave him a clue to a Hidden Immunity Idol! This time, it involved taking a secret trip to Ghost Island at night via boat to find the idol, bringing a ton of risk if he’s caught off the island. However, with Naviti unable to come to an agreement on either Jenna, Libby or Michael to vote out as a “Naviti Strong” mantra, the gloves came off, and Chris inadvertently declared war on Domenick and Wendell.
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One thing that Kellyn has been harping Chris and Domenick for is how they can’t just take things easy and drop their egos to take out their common enemy, and it looks like the blame goes a little bit both ways this time. Sure, Chris wasn’t able to even give a fake target, but he had to have read the room and recognized a temporary ceasefire. Will Malolo pull another trick on Naviti by acting as the swing third option?
On Night 20, we got confirmation that the merged tribe is called Lavita, as the Survivor Ghost Island staples came second in importance to Chris making a big move. He snuck off to play a game of chance at Ghost Island, winning J.T.’s Game Changer buried idol. It lost its potency but could be extended by playing up to five games of chance to push safety for more than just one Tribal Council. Unfortunately for him, he only got an extra tribal and lost his vote, meaning he had to scramble.
Back on Day 21, we got a mini-montage of Chris and Domenick talking smack at each other to the point of confessionals partially muted and seemingly pointed at each other! We’ve seen players take swings at opponents, but we got shades of Big Brother sass in the editing department, giving players like Laurel, Libby and Jenna solace that finally they’re not the targets at the moment, thus giving them a bit of power.
On Day 22, we finally got out first Individual Immunity Challenge of Survivor Ghost Island! Not uncommon, we saw a simply-designed challenge; hold a totem on a stick with increasingly difficult lengths holding the stick. Jenna, Donathan, Desiree and Angela dropped out of the challenge fairly quickly, with Sebastian going right after the second phase. Domenick could not make the final transition, with Michael, Chris, Laurel and Wendell following behind him.
Just like in Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, the women were taking the field to task. Chelsea, Kellyn and Libby represented the final trio, with Chelsea dropping first of the final group. It was a hard-fought battle between Kellyn and Libby, but Kellyn battled through exhaustion to outlast Libby and win the season’s first Individual Immunity!
Amid the celebration of Kellyn’s victory and the shoddily-made tribe flag with a big “36” and everyone’s names, Chris made a weird move by taking literally everyone but Domenick and Wendell to the well and told them to split the votes between them. I’ve never seen such a bold move taken by one player, but such is the life in the Christatorship.
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Meanwhile, Dom and Wendell knew that something was up, converging with Donathan and Laurel who spilled Chris’ plan to them. They saw the threat that Chris posed to everyone’s game, pinning him as a dictator and pleaded to Jenna and Libby to vote him out in order to bring back a democracy to the game.
Suddenly, a third option emerged. Kellyn, Chelsea, Angela and Desiree took it upon themselves to form a Naviti Women’s voting bloc, trying to get Libby out and keep the original “Naviti Strong” mantra. They weren’t shown bringing a fifth person in to solidify the numbers, but it presented the notion that this Tribal Council was going to be straight fire.
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Moments before Tribal Council, we got the summary that Wendell is willing to use his idol, Domenick is willing to play his Legacy Advantage, Chris wants to get Dom out and Dom wants to get Chris out. We got way too many voting options to catch up with, highlighting the zaniness of Survivor Ghost Island with its many twists and turns.
It’s weird to think that Chris Noble made it to Night 22 without making it to Tribal Council, yet he played it like he was Denise going to tribal every single week. After Domenick regaled everyone with his side of the story, Chris retorted that Domenick’s idol story seemed false and that the timing of his idol find was a bit fishy. Dom brought out his fake idol, although everyone else tiptoed around the conflict as to not draw attention. Let the two loudmouths shoot each other in the foot!
The scene was intense down to the voting portion. Chris played up his no-vote, others kept quiet, Domenick gave a Crystal Cox-esque callout of Chris and Wendell gave the most direct, long-winded shutdown of a player with his voting confessional, just absolutely obliterated his rapping “abilities.” Domenick saw the writing on the wall and played his Legacy Advantage, but it looked like he didn’t even have to play it at all. With the exception of two votes for Libby, Chris got a near-unanimous elimination at his first (and only) Tribal Council as a player.
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Man, that was a thrilling hour of Survivor Ghost Island. Knowing that the Chris vs. Domenick storyline is out of the way, we’ll have to see what the season brings starting next week at 8 p.m. ET!