Survivor: David vs. Goliath episode 5 recap: Pocketful of Sunshine

Plenty of Survivor: David vs. Goliath episode 5 players asked for someone to take them away, and in a grave circumstance, the show was forced to oblige.

With the Vuku tribe flipping the script in the previous episode, we entered Survivor: David vs. Goliath episode 5 with a Goliath majority on all tribes but one. That became a major factor heading into what would be a tumultuous episode of hardships, survival and foreboding weather.

We started out at Night 11 with Kara feeling almost naked after getting blindsided, with Alec explaining himself by saying he didn’t see the David players as strategic threats. Kara was understanding and even-keeled in the face of a blindside, showing just how well her social game is at that point.

Day 12 started out slightly sunny, but it would quickly become a troublesome, scary and life-threatening storm. The tribes couldn’t get a fire going, the camps were submerged in water, winds ripped up the camps, and the game came to a pause. Tree mail made its second appearance of the season (bring back tree mail more often!), evacuating the players.

This is just the second time in Survivor history that all the players have been removed from the game in order to keep them safe. The premiere episode of Millennials vs. Gen X (the first time the show returned to Fiji) saw the tribes evacuated, which was ultimately the right move; one of the shots showed a huge log knock down one of the camps, which could have hurt or killed someone.

We started back on Day 14, meaning that the weather was so big of a factor that the players couldn’t come back on Day 13. The players could only pick up the pieces of their broken camps quickly, but even then they didn’t get that much time to get back into the game, as they started up a Reward Challenge not too long afterward.

The tribes sent out players with pommels to knock down bean bags down from a net up high. Afterward, one player would use those bean bags to fling a slingshot at two nets. The winning tribe received four egg-laying hens and a rooster, while the second-place tribe got a dozen eggs.

Tiva got an early lead to the slingshot portion, but Dan couldn’t knock down a single target until Elizabeth knocked both targets for Vuku, coming from behind. Jabeni followed suit not too far behind, as Tiva found themselves losing a challenge when it seemed like it could not be done.

Even with a positive reward and a great mood at camp, Vuku’s celebration was undercut by Kara scrambling to find safety. She pitched to Elizabeth how well Alec is connected to the Goliath tribe, but she rightfully saw how much Alec needs her and the David majority to stay safe. Kara’s charm seemed to backfire in this case, as it reinforced how much Kara needs to be voted out.

Jabeni’s celebration was also undercut by something else, but this time it wasn’t purely gameplay. Natalie was bossing others around over the dozen eggs they have, which got on everyone’s nerves. Considering Lyrsa went to culinary school magna cum laude and Natalie wasn’t listening to what she was saying should be proof enough that there was something wrong with that picture.

With Dan bringing in John and Christian to form the ultimate Hoss, president and CEO group of the brochachos, he knew that Gabby was on the outs. However, he wanted to ensure that she remains unavailable to save herself, so he searched long and hard for an Immunity Idol. After heavy searching, he found a clue, leading to its whereabouts at the next Immunity Challenge.

The first part of the challenge saw the players send up a ladder up to a platform, with one player creating a stronger bridge to bring all the players to the final platform. A ball needs to be raised through a snake puzzle to a circle at the end of the puzzle, with the ball tied up at a spoke at the other side of the bridge.

With Tiva and Vuku making their way through the obstacles rather quickly and Jabeni stumbling their way to the end, Nick, Alec and John balanced on the beams and pulled on the pulleys to move the ball through the maze for Jabeni, Vuku and Tiva, respectively. Early on in the final portion, Dan found a moment to quickly grab the Immunity Idol, with nobody seeing him. The man has two idols already!

John and Alec both dropped the ball, with Christian subbing in for Tiva. This resulted in everyone reaching the head of the snake puzzle at the same time, with Christian sinking the basket first, followed quickly by Alec. This put Jabeni in a vulnerable position on Day 15, having to pick between Natalie, Lyrsa or Nick for who to vote out on their tribe.

When the players got back to camp, Natalie and Angelina quickly decided to vote out Lyrsa. Angelina had the nagging idea in the back of her head that it was a good move also to get Lyrsa’s jacket, with Natalie even mentioning it to Nick to get him to get Lyrsa to keep her jacket on the island. Nick, being asked if it’s worth $1M to say no to her requests, saw this as bullying, kicking him into gear to pull off a Natalie blindside.

It seemed like both Mike and Angelina have issues with Natalie, as she drives the camp up the wall. Mike, of course, is willing to work with Nick due to his Rockstars alliance, as Mike approached Angelina by himself, then Nick and Lyrsa approached her separately, to pitch voting Natalie out as an overdue move. Nick was a bit more tactful in his approach, commenting that Davids and Goliaths will need to work together as some point during the game.

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This put Angelina in a new light within Survivor. Even though it’s up to her where the tribe’s vote lies, it’s her deciding where to vote in two groups; the Davids or with Natalie. Plus, she really, really wants that jacket from Lyrsa, who isn’t giving it up to anybody. Though Angelina made her mind before Tribal Council, it was a toss-up where she would vote.

Jeff talked about the 3-2 division, kicking off the strategy talk right away. Lyrsa combatted Natalie’s assertion of Goliath strong, noting that Natalia was voted out and nobody knew what was going on with Goliath strong with the separation. The Goliaths in power seemed to be begrudgingly accepting of the fact that the numbers needed to stay strong.

However, the implementation of “Goliath strong” was very sloppy, with Angelina begrudgingly accepting of Natalie’s rough edges. It was clear that she was voting with her to vote out Lyrsa, as she bit her tongue while Lyrsa and Natalie jabbed at each other over jackets and eggs at Tribal Council. Natalie could not, would not look at things more than a “wanna have it” standpoint, but as the Rolling Stones once said, you can’t always get what you want.

When the votes were counted, it was another 3-2 flip vote, with Mike White keeping the Rockstars alliance strong by flipping on Natalie. What followed was the most embarrassing post-vote behavior I’ve seen from a player ever, with Angelina begging Natalie, the victim of a blindside, to give her the jacket she was wearing when being voted out. Nick then looked to Angelina and asked her, “Was it worth a million dollars?”

What a poetically hilarious end to another captivating hour of Survivor: David vs. Goliath. Unless the game nosedives at the merge, we are in the middle of what I consider a top 10 season of Survivor. Embrace its excellence.