Island Of The Idols Episode 11: Place Your Bets

Leave the strategizing to the others, dude

Lauren is waiting to find out what happened at the other tribal, and is very relieved when Tommy emerges unscathed. Strategizing the next morning, Dean is pushing for Karishma to go before she slides into the final 3. Dean wants to bring himself, Elizabeth and Tommy together to stop the "goat army" assembling. Bit rich of Dean to complain about goats, does he not realize nobody thinks he's a threat? Tommy isn't really on board anyway, since Elizabeth voted for him.

An offer she can't refuse

A boat comes up and tells them they have to choose someone to go to Island of the Idols. I didn't think they would be able to agree, but apparently they do, and decide on Lauren. Waiting on the Island, Sandra gets attacked by a chicken that steals her papaya. Lauren freaks out at seeing Sandra, and gets her test: she has to predict who will win the next immunity challenge to get an idol. They fill her in on what it is (holding up a bar), and that there's also the option to sit out for food, and she narrows it down to Noura and Elizabeth. Rob then allows her to pick two, and those are the ones she goes with.

Dean wonders if his legacy advantage is real or fake, and most conclude it's real. He decides to make a fake one to play at the next vote and keep the real one for himself. Only the "real" one is fake too. So we have a real fake legacy advantage and a fake fake legacy advantage Got it?

Getting back, Lauren lets them know about the eat-or-compete challenge, but tells Tommy what's really happening. The two of them start gently nudging the likes of Janet, Dean and Karishma towards eating and hyping up Noura.

Noura's veganism coming in handy

God loves a trier

At the immunity challenge, the plate of pancakes get no reaction because they all already know what's up. 6 players sit out and only three play: Karishma, Noura and Elizabeth. Looking pretty good for Lauren. Karishma drops out fairly early and that seals the deal. The showdown between Noura and Elizabeth doesn't last long either, and Noura claims the win. She wants to carry on to let them eat, but Jeff says it doesn't work that way.

Watching like a hawk

Back at camp, Lauren and Tommy retrieve the idol from where Sandra said it would be and talk about the vote...Tommy wants Elizabeth, but they're splitting on Karishma too. Elaine would rather Karishma went, but doesn't want to stick her neck out. Noura checks Karishma's bag and feels confident she doesn't have an idol. Dan tells Karishma to vote Janet, but Karishma then talks to Elizabeth about trying to get votes for Dan. Lauren reads Karishma's lips from afar and tells Dan she heard his name, so he walks over to shut that down. Dan then asks if they can switch the vote, and Dean is happy to do so.

At tribal council, Sandra and Rob see Noura with the necklace and know Lauren got it right. Elizabeth says she's concerned because she lost her alliance. Karishma says she played because she wanted to challenge herself. Lauren says there are no easy tribals. Analogies about trenches and races go around.

Dean plays the legacy advantage, much to Rob and Sandra's amusement. and is told it's not real. Karishma then plays an idol to stunned reactions. Lauren decides not to risk it and plays her too. All that for nothing, huh? 7 votes for Karishma are canceled. and then...Janet and Elizabeth votes come up. Wait, what happened to Dan? Elizabeth goes home on the revote. Well damn, that feels like a missed opportunity. But the goats are hanging on in there and still have a chance to take over the game.

STAR OF THE WEEK: LAUREN BECK

Lauren made a great call at Island of the Idols to win herself an advantage (even if it didn't last long), and showcased her observation skills too. She's strategic and knows what she's doing.

Island Of The Idols Episode 10: Back To Business

Dawn of a new day

Janet isn't sure what to do now and wishes she still had her idol. A rat crawls on Karishma's face and causes her to wake everybody up. That night, the contestants get the hardest rain of the season, and Elizabeth is very affected by it. Noura is done with Karishma, calling her lazy and someone she doesn't want to work with. Karishma is worried that she's a goat now...maybe so, but she's a goat with an idol! Karishma walks up on Tommy and Lauren planning her demise and when they ask where she's been, she fakes being sick. So now the others are threatening to call the Doctor.

Redneck games champion

The immunity challenge is to keep a ball rolling along a circular track. And the twist is, they're being split into two groups and will face two tribal councils. Oh yeah, they tried this in Ghost Island and it flopped. Missy, Tommy, Elaine, Elizabeth and Karishma are the orange group. Dean, Dan, Lauren, Aaron, Noura and Janet are purple. They get started, and Jeff only then explains there's a reward for the overall winner's group. With Karishma, Elizabeth and Tommy out first, one side is already down to Missy vs Elaine. Once Aaron, Dan, Lauren and Janet are out, the other side is Dean vs Noura. Noura wins for her side and then immediately quits, as the others urge her to stay on for reward. Looked to me like she just got excited and forgot, haha. Elaine outlasts Missy to claim the necklace for her group. The two groups are then separated, orange going back to the main camp, purple going to old Lairo.

Aaron thinks his side has an easy target in Janet, but Noura sees Aaron as a big threat, and rallies the group against him. Janet also mends fences with Dan and promises to have his back (ugh). Dean sees this and is worried by how quickly Janet has got back into the fold. He wants Aaron around as a shield, so convinces Dan they need to keep the strong competitors (LOL at Dan being a strong competitor).

Noura takes aim

Big Red gives the signal

On the other side, Karishma is the easy target. But Missy wants Tommy out, so that they can break up his alliance with Lauren and bring Lauren to their side. Missy tries to explain her plan to Karishma but Karishma keeps walking off, leaving Missy stunned. Karishma then snubs all of Missy's attempts to talk again, saying she'll wait until she's ready. Elaine and Karishma agree that they need to break up the Missy/Elizabeth/Aaron trio, so Elaine warns Tommy that he's in trouble. Tommy's fate now hinges on Karishma, and he's hoping the kindness he's showed her is enough. Missy apologizes to Karishma, but lets her know she will pretend to be gunning for her at tribal. The group speculate that Janet will be going home from the other group, and that's what they're all telling Aaron...but Janet has been reassured she's safe too.

At tribal council, Rob shades Dean by pointing out how he's rolling up his sleeves to show his muscles. Dan says that despite the twist, they found a way for the target to still be the target...which Janet thinks is directed at her. Aaron mentions this is his first tribal without the immunity necklace so he'll see what his alliance is worth. Rob and Sandra disagree on who's going home - Rob says Aaron, Sandra says Janet. The votes come back and it's unanimous for Aaron...he goes to leave, but Probst pulls him back and says he can sit with the jury instead.

The second group come out now, and Missy and Elizabeth don't do a good job of hiding their disappointment at seeing that Aaron is out. Missy talks about how she's being butting heads with Karishma, which Karishma confirms. Missy insists she is not a bully, however. Before we get to the vote, Missy stops Jeff to point out how two African-Americans held the necklace at the same time last tribal and she wanted to make a mention of it for representation.

Alright, wrap it up now!

The votes are read and it's 2 votes for Tommy, 3 votes for Missy. Missy is shocked and wants to know who did it. Elaine eventually fesses up, so Missy whispers to Elizabeth to "kill Elaine, slowly and methodically". Jeff has to ask her to hurry up since she's taking forever and making a real scene. Alright then, that's broken one half of the power alliance controlling things. Can Elizabeth recover from seeing her alliance wiped out in a matter of hours? Will Karishma and Janet find a way to move forward? And will anyone notice what a threat Tommy is? Damn, it feels good to be writing about normal Survivor again.

STAR OF THE WEEK: TOMMY SHEEHAN

Tommy might just have won the game with that vote...there was a clear shot at him and they passed it up. Clearly his social game is working wonders, because he sure looks like an obvious winner to me.

Island Of The Idols Episode 8 & 9: Touchy Subjects

Jamal wants answers after tribal, and Noura admits she was the 2nd vote for Jack, but that somebody else told her to do it. Jamal pushes for an answer, and Noura rats Kellee out. Uh oh, this move is already backfiring. Kellee denies involvement, which Janet believes, but Jamal is less certain on. The next morning, everybody searches for the new idol...and Kellee finds it.

Party time!

Treemail indicates a merge and all of Lairo immediately cheer. As the two tribes are reunited, Dan proposes a toast and says "let's get lit". Dan's plan is for all of Vokai 2.0 plus Kellee and Janet to form a new alliance. When Janet says Jamal wants to work with him, he doesn't seem interested. Tommy makes the proposal to Kellee, but she rejects it and thinks Missy should go first, which leaves Tommy a little taken aback.

Missy talks to Kellee about Dan's hands, as she's experienced them too. Kellee is annoyed that she can't say anything, but relieved that it's not just her. We even hear the voice of a producer reassuring her. That's how serious this situation is. But Tommy is scared of Kellee for how she can be so buddy-buddy with Missy despite wanting to vote her out.

No longer off the radar

Pulling out the receipts

Kellee opens up to Janet about the Dan stuff, which puts her in a difficult spot as she's close to both of them. Missy tells Elizabeth to play up her discomfort with Dan when she talks to Kellee and the two of them bond over it. Lauren warns Missy that Kellee is gunning for her and she needs immunity, which leaves her very taken aback. Then we get a title card saying that production had to have a talk with everybody about Dan.

This challenge shifts you into some awkward positions

The immunity challenge is to hold up a table containing balls. Every time you drop, it locks in so you can't get it back up. Noura is first to lose a ball, with Elizabeth and Dean dropping one early too. Soon Noura, Kellee, Dean and Janet are out whilst Tommy, Karishma (wut) and Aaron still have three balls. Tommy loses all three in one go when he seemed fine, looks like he lost his grip or something. It's soon down to Elizabeth, Aaron and a very sweat-drenched Jamal. Aaron wins immunity, and Jamal collapses in a heap on the floor.

Lauren and Tommy want to vote Kellee out, but Dean isn't sure he can do that after Kellee saved him. Jamal wants to get Dan out since Dan has been throwing his name around, and Noura agrees. Janet tells the girls to vote Dan but Elizabeth doesn't believe it. Elaine decide to spill to Dan he's a target now in the hopes of pulling him to their side. Jamal asks Tommy for his vote, and now him and Lauren are the swings. Kellee is looking for her 2nd idol and she finds it - but she know she might need it?

At tribal council, the theme quickly becomes about deception vs trust, with Missy saying how trust is necessary. Lauren says she's been trying to get to know the new people without alarming the others. Janet says tribal lines are softening over time. Dean says he's in an interesting spot as he was bottom of his original tribe and his swap tribe. Missy calls this a gut check to see if you're as good a player as you think.

Two more idols down the drain

Kellee and Dan vote for eachother, with Dan acknowledging it'll be one of the two of them blindsided. Kellee gets reassurance from Lauren that she's good, and doesn't play an idol. The votes come out and Kellee gets blindsided. Well that's really unfortunate, especially given that Dan is making snide comments on her way out.

The gaslighting begins

After the vote, Janet feels betrayed on a personal level since she put her own game on the line to help the women. Janet explains the situation to Dan and he seems totally shocked. Didn't they already have a meeting about this? Janet gets Elizabeth (eventually) to admit that she did come to her about Dan's behavior, but later Elizabeth retracts her statement and blames it all on Janet for blowing things out of proportion. Yikes, this feels really over the line. Janet spends the night away from camp and watches Missy and Aaron walk past her in the early hours, presumably idol hunting. Janet goes looking herself and manages to find it. Oh man, is that a relief.

Is this a prank show?

Jamal and Karishma see a note hanging from a tree and Jamal manages to grab it first. He is told to take it to Island of the Idols and then open it. Once there, he learns that he has lost his vote and he should've known it was too good to be true. Uhhh what? That is bullshit, they have easy to find advantages all the time. However, Sandra offers him a chance to pay it forward by giving him a blank piece of paper and a pen that he can use to write anything he wants. So Jamal comes back and tells a lie about how he won an advantage to give to another player, and chooses Dean because it's his birthday. Dean is quite taken aback and sees it as a target on his back....which it is.

Great dismount, 7 points

The immunity challenge has the contestants suspended over water as Probst slowly lowers the rope connected to their handle. Lauren wants to quit almost immediately and is the first out. Dan, Jamal and Elaine follow. Another crank sees Karishma, Janet and Dean. Noura drops, then Tommy is down to give Aaron the win. Missy beats Elizabeth to win immunity for the girls. The power duo making themselves even bigger targets.

Jamal says he feels in danger for this tribal (finally, he's been on the wrong side of every vote so far). The majority want to split the vote on Karishma and Jamal, since Jamal might have got something from Island of the Idols. Tommy tells Janet she is safe, but she's still not sure.

Jeff keeping Dan on the hook

At tribal council, Janet says there was a miscommunication on the last vote. Missy points out she only just met Janet and didn't have trust in her, and gets her to admit she was originally targeting her. Aaron accuses Janet of playing the victim and belittles the issue...yeah OK, we could've done without that (dreadfully wrong) take, thanks. Jamal defends Janet and says that they should believe women. Dan seems desperate for Probst to let the topic go, but he won't. He gives a half-hearted apology and claims it was never his intention. Janet says she's debating whether to quit, but everybody reassures her they don't hate her so the game goes on. Man, I would love to know what Kellee is thinking, watching this in silence from the jury.

After the vote, Janet plays her idol. It cancels 2 votes, but the bulk are for Karishma and Jamal, with Jamal leaving. And one of the few people that hasn't completely tanked their reputation departs. Well...this was an exhausting double episode that was just viscerally unpleasant in a lot of ways, and has really sucked the air out of what was a pretty fun season. We'll pick up the pieces next week and hope for something less dark-sided.

STAR OF THE WEEK: JANET CARBIN

Is there any other ethical choice? Janet stood up for what she felt was the morally right thing to do, even knowing it could jeopardize her own game...that's the kind of character we're dealing with. It was impossible not to feel for her in her position, and if there's any justice, she will make it through this.

Island Of The Idols Episode 7: Girls Run The World

Lauren is crying after tribal, saying she feels lied to by Missy. Elaine knows her side are in charge now after she used her advantage, and the other side are scrambling. Lairo lose their fire in the night and Jamal tries to restart it. Jack suggests letting Kellee try, but Jamal doesn't let her, which really pisses her off. Noura is also annoyed at Jamal for rice policing, and suggests that the women band together to take him out.

You cannot lose if you don't play

A boat pulls up at Lairo to take the next person to Island of the Idols, and it's Janet who receives he summon. Janet cries as she's worried it'll put a target on her back. She ends up starstruck when she meets Rob and Sandra (who has a bandaged hand for some reason), and they're here to teach her about "calculated risk". Rob tells Janet she has a chance to win a safety advantage, which would allow her to leave tribal and be safe. Janet weighs up whether to take it or not and decides to decline, since it would just put a target on her. Rob smiles and say it was a good decision. As Janet goes back, Sandra seems very high on Janet's chances of winning, and tells Rob she wants to bet a woman is taking it this season.

Back to the chicken analogies

Dan is groping people in the night, and Tommy and Lauren decide they need to stick together and make sure Dan is the next to go, fully throwing him under the bus. Missy sees through it and decides Tommy is the best target.

Gonna be a photo finish

The immunity challenge (oh, so we're back to only one challenge again?) is to throw coconuts into a net until you have enough to tip over your puzzle pieces, the solve a large puzzle. Missy, Tommy and Elizabeth are the shooters for Vokai. Dean, Jack and Janet are the shooters for Lairo. Jack scores a lot early on, but the collective effort of Vokai gives them a bit of a lead. Lauren starts directing the puzzle, and they have a bit of a premature celebration when they put it together without realizing their sides need switching. Both tribes make a mad scramble to get their last pieces in place and Vokai end up winning by seconds.

Moment of inspiration: Kellee's wheels are turning

Jamal says the vote is Dean, and feels like nobody has any reason to do anything else. Jack makes Dean feel comfortable by telling him the guys need to stick together and that it's Noura. Kellee still has her idol that she has to play this vote and we see her wheels turning as she realizes she should give the idol to Dean. Kellee tells Dean he's getting played and everybody is voting for him, but she has an idol that can save him. She also tries to get Noura's vote. There's a lot of moving pieces here, can she pull it all together?

At tribal council, Kellee says the people who have been together longer are staying together. Jamal is worried Noura is coming after him. Noura explain that she hates Jamal, but is indifferent to Dean, which is even worse...ok then. Jamal talks about his fear of a women's alliance, which Kellee objects to and says is sexist and unfounded. Jeff opens up a passionate discussion about gender, but we still have a vote to get to afterwards.

Shocks galore as the first idols are played

As Karishma gloats about Dean missing three shots at her, it seems Dean has a trick up his sleeve after all when he produces the idol and plays it, to some shocked faces. Jamal gets up to play his too...for Noura. WHAT? Oh my God, did he just idol himself out? Nope, but it ends up being Jack going home which isn't much better. And he's on the jury for some reason...I guess they just start it whenever they want now.

Wow, now that was a crazy tribal to end a pretty strong pre-merge...and ice cold from Noura since it turns out she was the second vote for Jack. And what's remarkable is we currently have no idols or advantages in play...on a season called Island of the Idols, no less. We end with an "In Memoriam" card for Rudy Boesch, who we lost this week. And now it's onward to the merge, which always shakes things up.

STAR OF THE WEEK: KELLEE KIM

Kellee walked a delicate tightrope this week but she got out who she wanted and also has no direct blood on her hands. She's calculating and smart, and could be a top contender for the crown.