**Contains spoilers about Episode 2, but no spoilers or rumors about who wins challenges, gets voted out or lasts long in the game**
Another great episode, another great blindside and more Boston Rob! My heart couldn’t be happier! 😊
We found out in the preview for this week that Kellee would be the visitor to the Island of the Idols (IOI) (If you follow Jeff Probst on Twitter, you know he wasn’t happy about that spoiler). A boat pulled up to the Vokai beach and surprised Kellee and her tribe. She was very nervous about the trip and speculated that Cochran might be there. (I hope she wasn’t disappointed it was Rob and Sandra instead!) They met her at the beach and walked her to their camp. Rob read the oath again (I hope they don’t do this every time!) It was interesting to note that Kellee picked up on and asked about the line that says “offer you a chance to test what you've learned” (foreshadowing!) Rob and Sandra asked Kellee about her personal and “game” life and shared information about their personal lives with her. Then, Rob surprised her and explained that it is very important to listen to everything that other people are saying and to remember the details. 
He then made her an offer – answer 4 out of 5 questions correctly about he and Sandra and earn an immunity idol good at her next 2 tribal councils. If she lost, she would lose her vote at her next tribal council. Kellee wanted to think about it and explained in a confessional that she wasn’t listen too closely and has a bad memory. Rob then “sweetens” the deal and says she only has to get 3 out of 5 questions correctly AND the immunity idol will be good for her next 3 tribal councils! Kellee said “YOLO” and the test began! 😊 Kellee won easily (good for her!) and was then asked to blindly pick the name of the Lairo tribe member who would visit IOI next.
When Kellee returned to camp, she put on a good show for her tribe! She said she had a mental breakdown and then (eerily similar to Elizabeth) said she had to smash one of 3 urns (they must have both watched Survivor Ghost Island!) Kellee cried and dumped her belongings out to prove that she didn’t have an idol (meanwhile, it was hidden in her hair). Overall, a better performance than Elizabeth!
The IOI segment took about 9 minutes this week. That’s about 20% of the episode. While I love seeing Rob, I really did miss seeing more of the Lairo tribe. I hope they find a way to shorten this segment and give us more “tribe life” in future episodes.
The immunity (and reward) challenge had many steps! Lairo was in the lead the entire challenge – Elizabeth quickly untied their ladder from the bottom, while Jack and Janet took a little longer. Then Lairo swiftly carried their ladder to where the bag was hanging, Chelsea scampered up the ladder and made quick work of untying their bag. 
Vokai struggled to get their ladder to the bag, then they let Molly fall multiple times before she got the bag. Lairo had a short mishap when Chelsea tossed their bag and they lost track of it. However, they got back on pace and brought their ladder to shore. Missy and Elaine each landed 1 of the 3 balls in their targets before Vokai even started. Jamal managed to land one ball, before Missy came back in and got the win for Lairo! In addition to immunity, the received a bunch of spices, etc. for cooking.
Tribal council was fun! I love seeing and hearing Rob and Sandra as they watch from their hut. Jason talked about being on the outside since day 1 and called Jamal out on not having his bags packed (Jamal won’t make that mistake again!) 
Jason received two votes (Jamal and Jack), Noura received one vote (Molly), and Molly was voted out with 7 votes. Sandra said it best when she said “Dang, they played her ass!” (My only disappointment is that they didn’t show us who told Dan to vote with them. They didn’t give us any hint who he might be close to other than Molly, Jack and Jamal.).
Next week on Survivor – Dean, Tom and Aaron approach Vince about forming an alliance and Vince confesses to us that they “are stupid!”. Karishma cuts her hand and can see the bone. And, Rob and Sandra challenge someone to sneak into the other tribe’s camp at night. (I can’t wait!)
Lairo Tribe
The episode started at Lairo with the aftermath of the tribal council blindside. Aaron was very unhappy about being left out of the decision to vote out Ronnie. Vince was very unhappy that Aaron and Ronnie targeted him. Elaine did her best to be the peacekeeper and calm everyone down. Missy talked to Aaron privately to try and smooth things over so they could work together. She explained how strong Aaron is and how they need him to win challenges. (I never understand when people show how upset they are over being left out! Let it go, Aaron and Vince! Those are things you keep in the back of your mind, but don’t show!)
Later in the episode we went back to Lairo to find out that they have been unsuccessful in starting a fire with the flint. After the men gave it a try, Chelsea stepped in and showed them how it’s done! Chelsea was on a roll – after lighting the fire, she went out to gather wood and found a hidden immunity idol! (Gotta love a super fan who clearly practiced starting fires and knows to keep her eyes open!)
Since they kicked butt in the immunity challenge, we didn’t get to see much of them, so my ranking order didn’t change.
1. Elaine Stott - 41 years old
Elaine didn’t give me any reason to stop loving her! She was a great peacekeeper after the tribal council and helped her tribe win the immunity/reward challenge. There’s a great bonus clip on the CBS website of her and Missy wrestling. She has a good relationship with Tom and a strong alliance with the women, I think (hope!) she’ll be safe if they go to tribal council next week.
2. Missy Byrd - 24 years old
Missy was still awesome! She did her best to try and smooth things over with Aaron after he was blindsided by the vote. She also did a great job at the immunity challenge! There’s are two bonus clips on the CBS site with her that were really good – the one wresting Elaine and another where she goes crabbing with Tom, Aaron and Elizabeth. Missy has a strong alliance with the women, as well as good relationships with some of the guys.
3. Chelsea Walker - 27 years old
You go, girl! Even though Lairo was barely shown in the episode, Chelsea still rocked it! She lit the fire, found an idol and tore up the ladder to untie the bad during the immunity challenge. She seems to get along with everyone and is also strong with the women’s alliance.
4. Tom Laidlaw - 60 years old
I like Tom, but I’m worried he’s turning on Elaine based on the scenes from next week. She wasn’t included in the talk with Vince about forming an alliance. I have a feeling that Tom will pick up on the girls alliance and may be the driving force in trying to counter it. I hope that I’m wrong. I’m not a fan of gender-based alliances, but I really want Elaine, Missy and Chelsea to stick around! 😊 I don’t see him being a target unless he puts one on himself by playing too hard, too visibly.
5. Dean Kowalski - 28 years old
Dean was barely in the episode. It took me several attempts to get a screen capture of him because he was shown so little and never said a word! I really hope we get to see and hear more from him next week. This either means he lasts a long time and they don’t need to spend time on him for a while, or he goes soon without making any moves. I hope it’s the former and not the latter!
6. Elizabeth Beisel - 26 years old
Elizabeth was only shown a little more than Dean this week. She did shine at the beginning of the immunity challenge when she dove down and untied the ladder. She did it faster than two people working together (one of whom is the chief lifeguard). (BTW, in this screen capture of her, she’s giving a cute smile to someone on Vokai. I wonder who caught her eye?) Elizabeth should be safe next week due to the women’s alliance and her strength in challenges.
7. Vince Moua - 27 years old
I didn’t move Vince down because I still like him more than Aaron and Karishma. However, I thought he was pretty annoying at the beginning of the episode. There was absolutely no reason for him to confront Aaron about why Aaron and Ronnie voted against Vince. First, Ronnie is gone and Aaron is alone. Second, what benefit could it have to Vince for Aaron to enumerate the reasons he thought they should get rid of Vince? That would just get people thinking. It will be interesting to see where Vince falls down the road between the women’s alliance and they guys. I could see Vince getting voted out if he gets caught in the middle.
8. Aaron Meredith - 36 years old
Aaron doesn’t hide his emotions or bite his tongue. This could get him in trouble down the road. Like Vince, it didn’t benefit him to get angry and confrontational about why they didn’t include him in the plan to get rid of Ronnie. He got got. Instead of complaining, Aaron should be doing clean up and trying to get in good with other people. In the crabbing clip on CBS, it does seem that he has a good relationship with Tom, Missy and Elizabeth (Hopefully we will see more of Lairo next week). Aaron is a strong competitor and they should keep him, but who knows?
9. Karishma Patel - 37 years old
Karishma was in the episode only a little more than Dean and Elizabeth. She didn’t say much, but she did cheer on her tribe in the challenge. That’s about all she did, since she didn’t help at all in the challenge! She gets injured next week and I think that might make her a target.
Vokai Tribe
When we first got to Vokai, Noura was driving everyone crazy by complaining about the lack of work effort and complaining even more about Molly. Noura and Jason bonded over being the outcasts and agreed to work together. Jason felt indebted to her for being the only person to give him a chance. Noura promised Jason that she would try to calm down. (We’ll see how long that lasts! lol Personally I think both Noura and Molly are annoying! More on that below.)
Later, Noura led a tribe yoga class (the best part was when the wave came up and got them! lol). They were all troopers and went along with it (with the exceptions of Kellee and Molly who didn’t participate).
The initial targets after the immunity challenge were Jason and Noura. Jack and Jamal wanted Jason out due to their fear that he had an immunity idol and Molly wanted Noura out because she’s annoying! They showed one discussion where Noura seemed to be throwing her buddy Jason under the bus as she asked Jamal and Jack to keep her safe. Jamal, Jack and Molly decide to split the vote (in case Jason has an idol) and proceed to share that plan with others (this isn’t shown, but is referenced).
Lauren then went to Kellee and Janet and asked what they thought of the plan. She proposes working with Noura and Jason to target Molly (the “queen” in their scenario). This scene and the next two (when Janet goes to talk to Tommy and then Tommy checks in with Kellee) was enlightening to the tribe dynamic. (I love the pre-tribal scramble and this didn’t disappoint!)
1. Tommy Sheehan - 26 years old
Tommy is still my favorite and I’m really happy he was on the side of the majority, though I kind of wish he had given Jack a heads up at the last minute. He was awkwardly cute doing the yoga and seems to get along with everyone. I know he thinks he has burned his brides with Jamal and Jack, but they will still need friends and I could see them giving Tommy a chance.
2. Janet Carbin - 59 years old
Janet has a great attitude and it was clear that she’s close to Lauren, Kellee and Tommy. Noura also confided in her at one point. Janet gets along with everyone, is a hard worker and good listener, and she is great at challenges so far. I can see her sticking around for a long time (hope so!)
3. Jack Nichting - 23 years old
Poor Jack! His face at tribal council showed that he was starting to pick up that the tides had changed. He seems like a great young man. He even liked Noura’s yoga and clearly felt a lot of sympathy for her at tribal council when she was talking about always sticking out and not fitting in. Though he lost an ally, I don’t think Jack is in any danger of going.
4. Lauren Beck - 29 years old
I was so impressed that Lauren went to Kellee and Janet and really led the charge to flip the vote against Molly, but in a really low key, under the radar way. Lauren has a good read on the camp and is very easy going. There are much bigger targets than her and I don’t see her going any time soon.
5. Kellee Kim - 29 years old
Let’s hope that Kellee doesn’t go home with that immunity idol in her pocket (or her hair! lol). She did a great job at IOI with Rob and Sandra and I was even more impressed by her performance when she got back to Vokai! She seems smart, social and safe.
6. Jason Linden - 32 years old
I moved Jason up because he voiced my favorite line of the night! It cracked me up when he said to Noura “There's no dancing allowed. This is like Footloose, no dancing!" I’m not sure how much Jason did that we didn’t see to save himself and Noura, but I was impressed when he called out Jamal at tribal council. Rob said to Sandra that Jason was “trying hard” when he was trying to convince everyone at tribal that he didn’t have an idol.
7. Dan Spilo - 48 years old
Well, Dan moved up because Jamal moved down! Dan was way more likable this episode. He seemed to be getting along with everyone (even Noura, who he complained about). As I said previously, I really wish we knew who told him to vote for Molly!
8. Jamal Shipman - 33 years old
I thought Jamal was a Survivor fan? His dislike for Jason and Noura were apparent. His misconception that he, Jack and Molly were “under the radar” was humorous. His taking a nap after they lost the immunity challenge and not packing a bag for tribal council and overall air are downright arrogant. He could be an easy next target.
9. Noura Salman - 36 years old
I can’t blame the Vokai tribe for being annoyed by her because she annoys me, too! I do think she is slightly more likable around Jason, but I still want her gone next (if not Karishma!) I don’t see her being able to control herself for long. (If someone is smart (Janet? Jason?), they would keep Noura around like Boston Rob did with Phillip - it's great to have someone who is (1) loyal to you, and (2) more annoying than you! lol)
Thank you for reading my thoughts and rankings. If you got this far, please leave a comment and let me know what you think!
