We’re halfway through this season of Survivor, and by now, it’s pretty easy to guess what is going to happen every week: Phillip is going to be crazy and delusional, Zapatera is going to push down on the self-destruct button just a little bit harder, and Rob is going to be funny and charming while pulling off a gameplay move with ridiculous ease. Each iteration of the series seems to find itself in a bit of a rut at one point or another when one tribe picks up some momentum, and Redemption Island is currently right in the midst of one big Ometepe beatdown. Luckily, the producers have assembled an interesting enough batch of characters to make even the episodes with more predictable trajectories a lot of fun to watch.
Kicking off the predictability this week is Matt over on Redemption Island, who remains undefeated in these duels after defeating Stephanie in a Memory-inspired challenge. If Matt manages to make it back into the game, everyone needs to be very keenly aware of his presence. He’s good at challenges, seems extremely likable, gets along with everyone, and apparently has God on his side as well. He might just be unstoppable. In what is becoming a tradition for the Redemption Island bootees, Stephanie decides to air a bit of Zapatera dirty laundry on her way out the door, calling out Sarita as being a weaker tribe member than Dave and telling Rob to watch out for her former tribe, as he will be their first target after the merge.
Over at Ometepe, it’s still Rob and his gaggle of reverent admirers vs. Phillip the psycho gorilla-lion, which is perhaps one of the more entertaining (if lopsided) battles of mental wits in the past few seasons. Phillip and Rob attend the Redemption Island duel together, and Phillip suggests they not tell their fellow tribemates what transpired. Rob then tells his alliance-mates everything and uses Phillip’s reluctance as ammunition to prove Phillip’s ultimate untrustworthiness. Ah, Phillip. Never give Rob an inch, because he will turn it into a mile. Luckily for Phil, Ometepe continues its streak of immunity challenge wins (at a purely physical challenge, no less!) and takes home the idol and a reward.
The reward was a breathtaking visit to an active volcano, and by breathtaking, I mean terrifying. My knees were weak just watching it on television, let alone actually being three inches from the edge. While eating the traditional feast, Rob yet again manages to find the immunity idol clue (this time cleverly disguised as one of those cigar-shaped Italian cookies) and take it without anyone noticing. Here’s my main question: WHY is no one in the tribe questioning the dearth of immunity idol clues? They’ve won three out of the last four challenges. They should be expecting a clue. Sitting back and coasting on Rob’s coattails is definitely going to come back to haunt a few people.