Survivor Island of the Idols: Applebee’s is episode 5’s MVP

CHICAGO, IL - AUGUST 10: An Applebee's restaurant serves customers on August 10, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. DineEquity, the parent company of Applebee's and IHOP, plans to close up to 160 restaurants in the first quarter of 2018. The announcement helped the stock climb more than 4 percent today. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images)
CHICAGO, IL - AUGUST 10: An Applebee's restaurant serves customers on August 10, 2017 in Chicago, Illinois. DineEquity, the parent company of Applebee's and IHOP, plans to close up to 160 restaurants in the first quarter of 2018. The announcement helped the stock climb more than 4 percent today. (Photo by Scott Olson/Getty Images) /
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More than any other individual performance during episode 5 of Survivor: Island of the Idols, Applebee’s stole the show, both in the game and on Twitter!

If you thought the days of sponsors for Survivor were over, think again. The deliberate product endorsements that were fairly common in old school seasons are back! Applebee’s burst onto the scene of Island of the Idols in this week’s episode, taking over the minds of both the players and the viewers.

Despite some of the hate Applebee’s received from viewers, they proved that they could play this game! No one has been as effective at the mental game of Survivor this season as Applebee’s. Just the mention of “everyone’s favorite sit down restaurant” was enough to make most of the cast go absolutely bonkers.

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Having the ability to drop castaways to their knees and make them look like they’re having an emotional breakdown is a testament to the power Applebee’s held over the cast. Not even Boston Rob or Sandra could pull that off!

Let’s not forget that it was with the energy the Vokai tribe gained from the Applebee’s reward that enabled them to win the Immunity Challenge. Their emotional state of mind was lifted, giving the reshuffled Vokai tribe a great start.

It didn’t take long for this blatant product endorsement to light up Twitter. Here are some hilarious examples:

Even two-time player Stephen Fishbach took his jab at this tribal reward.

Despite some negative responses, former castaways were quick to come to Applebee’s defense:

The bottom line is that for better or worse, Applebee’s took over this episode. To be honest, no one really had a notable individual performance. It looked like Janet steered the vote in Tom’s direction, but one confessional isn’t enough to give her full credit on a move that they clearly had the numbers for.

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Tommy played well in the challenges and expanded his social game by bonding with Aaron, but that’s still not enough to separate him from the pack. This was just one of those episodes that are simply fun to watch but the only thing we’ll probably remember from it is Applebee’s.