Survivor: David vs. Goliath episode 8: Odds of an idol play

Three idols have been found, one Idol Nullifier has been discovered, but none of them have been played so far. When will we see these Survivor advantages be put to use?

In each of the past four seasons of Survivor, an idol has been played before the merge. We’re already one episode past the merge in Survivor: David vs. Goliath and no idols or advantages have been used yet!

Why have no idols been played? 

The simple answer is that the castaways who have idols haven’t been in serious danger of being voted out. Although Davie’s name has come up, he has been able to read the castaways well and wisely keep his idol in his pocket.

Dan, the owner of two idols, has been in the majority alliance for the entire game, which means there’s no need to use an idol. In fact, he has been on the right side of every vote so far. However, we know how fast that can change on Survivor, especially when you add overconfidence into the mix. If we were to pick a player who would go home because of their arrogance, it’s hard to pick against Dan.

We also saw a glimpse of Dan being overly affected by his emotions during last week’s episode. When he heard that Elizabeth was throwing his name out, he was so filled with vengeance and determination to get her out that he lost awareness of how rash he was reacting.

Will we see an idol played in tomorrow’s episode? 

Based on what we know so far, there are three ways Tribal Council could go down tomorrow.

1) Goliath stays strong. If the trend we saw from the last episode continues, we could see the Goliaths deciding to vote out a David, but the secret “Strike Force” alliance choosing which David will go. That leaves only Carl and Davie who aren’t part of the six-person alliance.

As for Davie, I really think he will play his idol if the situation pans out like this. The Goliaths don’t have the numbers to split the votes, so if Davie gets up to play his idol, I wouldn’t be surprised if Dan decides to play one of his as well. This is when things can get really interesting!

It may be crucial for Davie and Carl to talk with each other in order to find a way that would keep both of them still alive. They might decide to vote for Dan, have Davie play his idol, and Carl play the Nullifier against Dan in case he decides to play his idol! This would make for a truly insane Tribal Council, but the chances of this scenario happening are rare.

2) The Goliaths and the Strike Force disagree with their vote. If the Goliath members are pushing for a threat like Christian to go home, the Strike Force alliance could be in serious jeopardy. It puts the power in the hands of Alec, Mike, and Alison. They can decide to either stay Goliath strong or flip on their original members in order to keep someone like Christian in the game.

If this were to happen, the vote would be much more convoluted than the previous scenario. That could lead to Dan or even Davie playing an idol that they don’t even need to be played. They are both out of the loop with the six-person secret alliance at this point, so it’s possible that they won’t expect what will happen at Tribal Council.

3) The vote goes a way that we don’t expect. This might be the most probable situation for tomorrow night’s Tribal Council! As much as we enjoy guessing what will happen, with an unpredictable season like Survivor: David vs. Goliath, we can’t expect our assumptions to be even close to the truth.

**SPOILER ALERT!**

One of the promos for tomorrow’s episode revealed a potential new advantage that Nick found, or at least he found a clue to the advantage. Could this be another idol? Another Idol Nullifier? Or is it a completely different advantage? Whatever the case is, this twist adds another layer of unpredictability to this season.

Whatever does end up happening on Survivor: David vs. Goliath in terms of idols and advantages is sure to keep this great season entertaining. The longer it takes for us to see an idol being played will just make the second half of the season more exciting!