**Contains spoilers about Episode 3, but no spoilers or rumors about who wins future challenges, gets voted out or lasts long in the game**
Survivor Season 39 – Island of Blindsides! Those who love to hate Survivor as much as they love to watch it are already complaining about the Island of Idols (IOI) and the number of immunity idols already in play, but I love this season! The cast is full of interesting personalities and the blindsides have been fun to watch. Plus, I get to see Boston Rob every week and my favorite players are all still in the game! What’s not to love?!?! 😊
Vince was the lucky IOI visitor this week! Sandra welcomed Vince with a big hug. Vince was almost as starstruck as I would be and broke down and cried when he started talking to them. Rob was humbled by Vince’s emotional praise. Rob explained that Vince’s mission, should he choose to accept it (ok, he didn’t really say that part. 😉) was to sneak into the other tribe’s camp and steal fire. If their fire was out, he was told that he had to bring back proof that he was successful in getting there. If he is successful, he would get an immunity idol good for his next two tribal councils, if he was unsuccessful, he would lose his vote at the next tribal council. Vince immediately accepted. The next part was kind of silly, as they went over strategies to help him succeed and Sandra teaches him how to “low crawl” based on her military training. Rob jokes that “Sandra’s taking it a couple steps too far… as usual!” After training him, they see him to the boat to head out on his mission. Sandra says she wishes she could go with Vince. Rob says "And do what? You make too much noise in the bush." 🤣
Vince is dropped off on the Vokai beach in the dark. The weather was in his favor with the noise from the thunder and rain. Though someone had a bad dream (Tommy?) and woke the others, he was able to sneak up to camp. Their fire was out, but he took some ash and coal from the fire instead. In full production irony, as Vince is saying in a confessional that he had “ninja skills”, it was "Mission Impossible" and he's pretty sure “Tom Cruise couldn't do it”, they showed him slipping and falling in the mud on the way back to the boat. 🤣 
Sandra and Rob discuss it and decide to award Vince’s "adaptability" and gave him the immunity idol. I was really disappointed that we didn’t get the Mission Impossible theme music during any of this segment!
The IOI segment took about 10 minutes this week (1 minute longer than last week). I think it was understandable due to the “mission”, but I hope we see this segment shrink a bit more in future weeks.
The reward/immunity challenge was another great setup! First, one person from each tribe had to swim out and dive down to untie a key. Elizabeth swam for Lairo and Janet for Vokai (of course, in both cases!). Elizabeth showed her Olympian skills and quickly swam out, dove down and got the key. Janet wasn’t far behind, but struggled to get the key. Once they had the key, six of the other tribe members had to swim out and climb onto a teeter totter (the other two tribe members swam out to the last platform with the puzzle). The teeter totter looked very difficult! Once on the teeter totter, they had to balance while one person retrieved two bags of puzzle pieces. Missy got the first bag for Lairo before Janet was even done untying the key, unfortunately Missy accidentally dropped the bag in the water. Once Janet got the key, Vokai very quickly swam out and climbed up the teeter totter. I was extremely surprised that 
nobody on either tribe fell off the teeter totter! It wasn’t very wide and the people (Missy and Kellee) getting the bags had to climb over and around their tribe members to go from one end to the other. Missy got the second bag for Lairo shortly after Kellee got the first bag for Vokai. Aaron jumped in and found the dropped bag. Dean and Karishma started to build the puzzle for Lairo. Unfortunately, Dean and Karishma were just as bad at putting together a puzzle as Chelsea and Vince were in the first challenge (we have found Lairo’s kryptonite!). Lairo only had one piece on the puzzle when Vokai started, and three pieces on the puzzle when Vokai completed their puzzle! Jamal totally rocked this challenge (with some help from Lauren). 👏In addition to immunity, Vokai also won cushions, blankets, chairs, a hammock and a tarp.
At tribal council, Tom and Aaron both talked about people not being able to do the puzzles when they had given them a lead (I noticed that neither of them volunteered to do the puzzles either time… 🤔). Karishma realized they were talking about her (vs. Dean and the others who previously failed at putting more than 3 puzzle pieces together). She then proceeds to semi target her alliance members by saying she could “pick Chelsea up and throw her across the room” and calling Chelsea, Missy and Elizabeth a “sorority” (no clue what Karishma was thinking there, but I can’t imagine they will completely trust her after this!). Jeff asks Elaine about Tom wanting to get rid of people who are making them lose challenges and Elaine says “That’s just Dad” and defends Tom. The next part was really strange! Karishma got up and whispered to Elizabeth, Missy and Chelsea (aka, the "sorority" girls) – she didn’t whisper to her other alliance member, Elaine. Why was this strange? Because they went ahead and voted exactly how they had previously agreed to 
vote! I wish we had been given some clue in a confessional about what she was whispering. It didn’t make any sense! Ultimately, they all voted exactly how they said they would – Vince voted for Tom, the rest of the guys voted for Karishma, and all the girls voted for Vince. We got to see Rob’s and Sandra’s surprised reaction and Rob’s comment that Vince was leaving with an idol in his pocket. I can’t really blame Vince for not using it. The girls completely convinced him that they had his back. Jeff had the funniest quote of the night - "You may suck at puzzles, but you're really good at blindsides." 🤣
Overall, I loved the episode, but I am really annoyed and disappointed that they didn't show what Vince said to his tribe when he came back and they didn't show him and Elizabeth talk!!! Now that he's gone, we will never get to see what happened. Argh. 😒
Next week on Survivor – We get to see the romance blossoming between Dean and Chelsea, Aaron wanting to break up their romance and Vokai has to send someone to IOI. It sounded like they have to pick who goes. In a clip on CBS, Lauren says “I’m staying right here.” It will be interesting to see if they let someone volunteer (I bet Jamal and Jason would volunteer!) or if they vote to pick someone (Janet?).
Vokai Tribe
The episode starts out on Vokai when they return to their camp after the tribal council blindside. Janet asks if anyone wants to talk about it, but an uncomfortable silence was her only response. Jack goes off with Tommy and Kellee for reassurance and information (and water). Tommy explained to him that nobody was targeting Jack or Jamal – they just felt threatened by Molly. Next, Tommy talked to Jamal, who didn’t take it as well as Jack did. Jamal was upset and said he’s the “wildcard” now. In a confessional, he then says that he won’t “forget” that they left him out. 🙄
Dan had the second funniest line of the episode when he said “It would be statistically improbable to get on everyone's nerves, and she's accomplished it.” regarding Noura. 🤣 After they showed us a few examples of Noura annoying people, they showed Dan talking to Tommy and Janet about targeting Noura and Tommy and Jack talking to Jamal, Kellee and Jason about targeting Noura. However, Jamal still feels on the outs and says in a confessional that he may “go rogue”. Jamal talks to Dan about not trusting everyone (idiot). Jamal then goes to Janet and talks to her about targeting Dan (I guess he didn’t like Dan’s response to him?). Janet wants to run that by Tommy, who now doesn’t trust Jamal! 🤣 For a tribe who goes on to kick butt in the immunity challenge, we saw a LOT of talk about who they are targeting and no real indication as to where the arrow will land!
1. Tommy Sheehan - 26 years old ❤️❤️❤️
Tommy is in a great place! Nobody is mentioning his name and he seems close with almost everyone, especially Janet, Kellee and Jack (even after the blindside). I think he will be safe next week, even if they lose the immunity challenge.
2. Janet Carbin - 59 years old ❤️❤️
Like Tommy, nobody is mentioning Janet’s name and everyone seems close to her. She isn’t standing out as a “leader”, which could have been a danger. Instead she is quietly talking to everyone and seems to listen more than she talks. Unless something drastically changes, I don’t see her going if they lose the immunity challenge.
3. Jack Nichting - 23 years old ❤️
I liked Jack even more this week! His reaction to being blindsided was perfect! He didn’t get emotional, he asked for honesty, and he showed his respect to the game of Survivor by being impressed by the blindside. Again, he was quietly a great help in the immunity challenge when he helped Kellee get the second bag. Nobody is talking about targeting him, he has an easy-going personality and is a great asset in the challenges. They would be stupid to target him so early in the game.
4. Lauren Beck - 29 years old ❤️
We didn’t get to see much of Lauren this week. There was a brief clip of her getting annoyed by Noura and she helped Jamal with the puzzle. I do think she is still safe due to her relationships with Janet and Kellee, as well as there being bigger targets.
5. Kellee Kim - 29 years old 👍👍
We only got to see Kellee when she was briefly talking to Tommy, Jack, Jamal and Jason about targeting Noura next and when she was competing in the challenge. She did a great job getting the puzzle pieces in the challenge. Kellee is close with Janet, Lauren and Tommy and I think she will continue to be safe, despite having an immunity idol! (Props to her, again, for her great acting when she returned from IOI!)
6. Jason Linden - 32 years old👍
Good job, Jason! Somehow he has not only worked his way off everyone’s radar, he was also included in Tommy’s and Jack’s discussion about targeting Noura next! It will be interesting to see if Jason tries to protect her or if he lets her go. Unless he does something to put the target back on himself, I think he is safe for now.
7. Dan Spilo - 48 years old
I’m not surprised that Jamal brought up Dan’s name as a target to Janet. We saw in the first episode that Dan had annoyed Kellee and Molly early on. However, it doesn’t sound like Janet (or Tommy) were willing to take that bait.
8. Jamal Shipman - 33 years old 👎
Still not a fan. Jamal reacted exactly as you should NOT after a blindside. It’s one thing to act hurt and to try and make someone feel a little guilt about excluding you – it was clear that Tommy was trying to get back on Jamal’s good side! But, instead Jamal acted untrustworthy and said he was a “wildcard” now. Who wants to be a “wildcard”? Idiots, that’s who! Even after Tommy included Jamal in the discussion about targeting Noura next, Jamal wanted to go “rogue” and target Dan. Jamal is now on Tommy’s and Janet’s radar as someone they can’t trust. He could easily be the next to go. I do give him props for solving the puzzle so quickly. Maybe they will keep him for that reason?
9. Noura Salman - 36 years old 👎👎
Well, Noura continues to be both entertaining and irritating! I swear she’s a female version of Phillip Sheppard! Who is going to be her Boston Rob? 😉 Noura is apparently still annoying everyone and the easy target for the next time they lose. However, she isn’t a threat, isn’t holding them back in challenges and will ALWAYS be an easy vote. I have a strong feeling that she will be a potential target every tribal council, but will probably outlast a lot of her tribemates because nobody considers her a threat. But, I could just be pessimistic because I find her annoying!
Lairo Tribe
I was very happy to see a lot of Lairo this episode after seeing very little of them last week! When we first visited them, the girls were all swimming and having fun, while the guys were left at camp. Aaron asks Vince if he would work with the guys and Vince agrees, but (as we saw in the preview), follows up in a confessional by saying “ya’ll are stupid” because he doesn’t trust Aaron after Aaron voted for Vince.
Later, Karishma cuts her hand and feels lightheaded. She is very upset that nobody comes over to check on her. In a confessional she says they are "dead to her". I understand that she was upset that nobody went after her. However, I do think she was overreacting. They showed when she got hurt, and it didn’t look that bad. I think if any of her tribemates thought it was serious, they would have gone after her or with her. Also, when it is bad, we always get to see the doctor check them out, etc. I think she came across as a drama queen.
There’s an interesting bonus clip on the CBS website that shows Lairo getting their tree mail about the upcoming challenge. It shows Chelsea, Missy and Elizabeth stretching to prepare for the challenge, with watchful looks from the rest (including Karishma and Elaine).
After their immunity challenge loss, discussions begin about who should go. Aaron thinks Vince is the top priority to go home because he might have an idol.Tom thinks Karishma is a weaker player and should go because she isn't a strong swimmer and didn't do well with the puzzle. Tom, Aaron and Dean discuss splitting the votes between Karishma and Vince. Dean then goes to talk to Missy about this plan. This was our first chance to see Dean talk game! I thought it was interesting that he went to Missy. I hope we get to see more of these relationships soon!
Missy wanted to try and keep Vince, since he was working with the girls, and target Tom. Vince, of course, was complete on board with this. Elizabeth and Chelsea disagree, however, and Elizabeth says that Elaine will disagree, too. Sorry, Vince!
There’s another bonus clip on the CBS website that shows Missy getting skeptical about Vince. She’s cutting wood and he wanders by. He acted sketchy when she asked what he was doing. He said he was looking for food, but she didn't believe him. Missy then talks to Chelsea about not trusting Vince and Chelsea agrees. This probably contributed to him going over Tom.
1. Elaine Stott - 41 years old ❤️❤️❤️
Despite seeing a lot of Lairo this week, we barely saw any of Elaine! Based on other conversations, Elaine seems to be good with the other women, as well as with Tom. Her name wasn’t mentioned at all as a potential target and I think she will be safe for a while.
2. Missy Byrd - 24 years old ❤️❤️
Missy was great in the immunity challenge and seems safe in the women’s alliance. Missy did seem willing to get rid of Tom, unlike Elaine, Elizabeth and Chelsea. However, it seemed as if she was still close with the other girls and I think she will be safe for now. I am a little worried about Missy as one of the “sorority” girls and because she is playing hard. If she isn’t subtle about it, she could put a target on her back.
3. Chelsea Walker - 27 years old ❤️❤️
What are you thinking, girl? A showmance? On Survivor? Chelsea has wanted to be on Survivor for years and started applying as soon as she turned 21. I know the heart wants what the heart wants, but she should know better! I know that wasn’t on this episode, but I am really surprised by this turn of events. One of my favorite parts of the episode was the look on Chelsea’s face when Karishma and Dean were completely stumped by the puzzle. It was funny by itself, but even more so due to the irony that Chelsea sucked just as bad in the first episode with that puzzle! 🤣 Chelsea is putting a target on her back as one of the “sorority” girls and being in a showmance. I really hope she stays safe!
4. Tom Laidlaw - 60 years old ❤️
It was very interesting to see the discussions between the girls about Tom as a potential target. It was pretty clear that Elizabeth, Chelsea and Elaine don’t want to see him go. His name did come up and he’s not safe, but I think he should be ok if they lose the next immunity challenge.
5. Dean Kowalski - 28 years old ❤️
🤣 Poor, Dean! He gave production the material and boy did they use it this week! After two episodes of barely seeing Dean, he provided one of the best scenes of the night. First, we get to see Dean tripping over sand as he walks down to the beach (foreshadowing!). Then, after Vince left for IOI when the rest of the tribe was still all together on the beach, Dean says they will just need to split the vote to flush an idol in case Vince gets one. After an awkward pause, Chelsea (more awkwardly!) tries to indicate to him that the whole tribe was present and it wasn’t a good time for such a discussion. Finally, we get to see Dean scratching his head in confusion while they randomly picked up and put down puzzle pieces. It’s a good thing he’s cute! 😉 The showmance with Chelsea could put a target on Dean’s back, but I don’t really see that happening. Who knows?
6. Elizabeth Beisel - 26 years old ❤️
It was pretty awesome to see her kick butt in the challenge! She did a great job. Elizabeth is really close to all of the women and has a more level head than I originally gave her credit for. I didn’t move her up yet, just because Dean cracked me up. 😁 I think Elizabeth is the most safe of the “sorority” girls because she has a good relationship with everyone, doesn’t seem to be playing to hard and isn’t in a showmance.
7. Aaron Meredith - 36 years old 👎
The only thing that I like about Aaron so far is that he is pushing for Karishma to go! With all his complaining about her puzzle solving ability, I hope we see him volunteer to solve the puzzle next time! I think he is still around because of his athleticism, but he could put a target on his back if he pushes too hard for Chelsea to go due to the showmance.
8. Karishma Patel - 37 years old 👎👎
The story arc of this episode gave me false hope and I really thought Karishma was going to go. From the beginning with her confessional about representing millions of people and feeling left out, to her over the top pity party and saying "If I chopped my head off they wouldn't have flinched.", it seemed as if she was the center of attention. I don’t think she did herself any favors by calling her allies “sorority” girls. With her performance in the challenge, her lack of athleticism, her injury and her attitude at tribal council, I could see her getting a bigger target on herself if they lose the next challenge. (And, they probably will lose if there’s a puzzle component! 🤣)
Thank you for reading my thoughts and rankings. If you got this far, please leave a comment and let me know what you think!
P.S. – I am rereading Ready Player One (GREAT book for anyone who grew up in the 1980s, way better than the movie!) and the “bad guys” work for Innovative Online Industries. Throughout the book they just refer to it as IOI. Every time I read it I think “Island of Idols”. 🤣 Yes, my geek side is showing! 😊
