[BigBrother_Survivor] Survivor: Ghost Island recap: Gotta keep on moving

 

 Well this recap by Dalton Ross is a bit chatty. LOL 

Survivor: Ghost Island recap: Gotta keep on moving

Dalton Ross

May 16, 2018 at 09:01 PM EDT

Wendell didn't win.

I'm not talking about the million dollars. Wendell and Domenick remain the clear frontrunners for the title of Sole Survivor that will be bestowed next Wednesday. (It's not like I see an Angela clean sweep of the jury coming anytime soon.) But when it comes to this latest immunity challenge, Wendell didn't win it. He may have finished first, but he didn't win. He wasn't robbed. He wasn't ignored. He wasn't screwed over. He just lost.

Let's backtrack a bit in case you stumbled across this Survivor recap and have no idea what I'm talking about. (Warning: Even if you watched the episode you will often have no idea what I'm talking about.) The contestants were in the middle of an immunity challenge that ended in a slide puzzle, and the first person to finish it would win immunity — or so we thought.

Wendell went into this portion of the challenge with a huge lead. Yanny was the third person to start on the puzzle, but she had the advantage of having worked on it before at the opening marooning challenge. (By the way, not a fan of recycling the same puzzle twice in one season. Not sure the thinking behind that one.) After sliding back and forth like we wanted to cha-cha real smooth, Wendell appeared to have the puzzle solved. He paused, looked it over, and extended his arms to the side.

Then, out of nowhere, Yanny yelled "Jeff!" He came over, looked at her puzzle and called her the winner. But was she?

"I guess I had to scream your name," protested Wendell mildly.

"What? Did you call me?" asked Probst.

"I didn't call you," admitted Wendell.

"Well, you gotta call it," said Probst. "Wendell, you understand, right? Because a puzzle's not done until you tell me."

At this point, Yanny entered the fray, explaining that she also had it and could have called it earlier as well. But Wendell wasn't having that. "100 percent I had it before you," he insisted. "But you called it first, so the ruling is you got it."

Wendell — who, to his credit, did not push the matter further — is right, and so is Probst. Anyone who has watched a lot of Survivor (and Wendell definitely falls into that category) knows you have to call Jeff over once you are done to get a ruling on if your puzzle is correct. Unless he goes full Orphan Black and clones himself, there's no way Probst can be in 7 places at once and have eyes on all the puzzles, so the rule is, once you're done, call him over and get a ruling.

While it would have been interesting to watch Wendell contest the results — and now is a good time to point out that there is a CBS standards and practices rep on hand for all challenges to make sure everything is completely on the level — he knew deep down he had no case. Also, if you go back and watch it, you can see what Wendell is pretty clearly doing is double-checking his work. It's not like he was done, looked up, and simply forgot to call out "Jeff." His eyes are still down and he's checking to make sure he indeed has it before calling Jeff over. In that time, Yanny called the host and won the challenge — totally fair and square.

Think of it this way: If you're playing a game show like, say, Jeopardy, it's not the person that knows the answer…or the question in this case, since it is Jeopardy — God, should have picked a less annoying example. Anyway, it's not the person that knows the question first that wins; it's the person who buzzes in with that question. Calling Jeff is the Survivor equivalent of buzzing in. That's what Yanny did. She buzzed in. And she won.

But here's where things get even more interesting, and not just because I am moving off of that terrible Jeopardy example I trapped myself in. Because Wendell did not win immunity, he was now vulnerable. If he continued to feel safe in his alliance he would not play his idol and could be blindsided right out of the game! Now was Yanny's chance! Not even she could pass up such a golden opportunity! Here, she's going to tell us right now exactly how she is about to slice and dice the biggest threat in the game right out of it. Let's take a listen… "I had been thinking I got to get Wendell out of here tonight, but I want to do it the right way. He did finish first today and he could have won immunity. It almost doesn't feel right to send him home."

That thumping sound you hear is a million palms simultaneously hitting a million foreheads in shock and despair. But I am going to say something super radical and crazy and controversial that may cause you to click away from this recap and never return. Yanny may actually be correct. This may not have been the time to take Wendell out because of the circumstances. But not for the reason she says. Hear me out on this before you come for me with your torches and pitchforks.

If you're frustrated by Yanny saying she didn't want to vote Wendell out because it didn't "feel right" after what happened at the challenge, you should be. Because you're probably thinking: So what?!? Who cares if it feels right? Do you want to win or not?!? Suck it up and write his name down! That was probably your reaction and it was my first take as well. But maybe she is on to something. Let's dig a little deeper. It doesn't matter how Yanny feels about it. That means nothing. But how would the jury feel about it? Because that is a different story altogether.

Lets go back to Survivor: Caramoan. I know! I know! You hate Survivor: Caramoan. It reminds you of Shemar, and Brandon Hantz, and other unspeakable things that I, as the world's foremost Caramoan apologist, promised to never discuss again in these here pages. But let's ignore all that and talk about Dawn and Brenda for a minute. Remember when Dawn lost her false front teeth and Brenda found them? And remember when Brenda then chose Dawn to join her on the Loved Ones reward? And remember when Dawn then repaid those favors by voting her out, like, the next day?

Dawn was destroyed by both the jury and Survivor fans for being so cruel as to play the game they all signed up to play. I also argued against Dawn's move then, but not because she crossed any sort of moral lines. That's ridiculous. This is Survivor, so get that nonsense out of my face. I just knew that the jury would vote on emotional grounds against her if she did it. But she did, and they did. Instead of viewing it as a shrewd game-move, they chose to question Dawn on moral grounds — calling her hypocritical because of her religion, which was flat-out absurd. (Should folks that are religious be held to a different standard than atheists or agnostics in this game? I say HELL TO THE NO!)

Anyway, I bring all that up because when Wendell let everyone know that he had finished the puzzle first, he put Yanny in a real bind. How would the jury have reacted if she had gone ahead and slit his throat right after gaining an immunity that the others there may have believed Wendell actually won? We assume Yanny can't beat Wendell at the end, but was she now in a position where she also couldn't win if she took him out here?

Don't get me wrong: She still should have voted his ass out. I would have. But it's not quite as cut and dried as one might think when you consider the fickle nature and group-think of a Survivor jury. Yanny may have been in the very definition of a no-win situation here. She can't win going up against Wendell at the end, and she may not have been able to win had she been perceived as being unsportsmanlike in taking out the guy that folks believe actually deserved immunity. Even though, as I started this recap off explaining, he didn't. Because Wendell didn't win. At least not this challenge.

Okay, let's get through the rest of this recap at a brisk pace because it's also time for our updated Survivor season rankings! (For those new to these parts.. I always do these after the penultimate episode because the finale recap is too unwieldy as it is. But Ghost Island's ultimate ranking can drop or fall depending on what happens in the finale. (SPOILER ALERT! Last season's certainly did.)

I am also going to embed a bunch of the #FakeKellyn videos into the recap that you should definitely check out. If you're completely unaware of what I'm talking about, I have invited all Survivor fans to create their own video imitating a Kellyn freak-out applied to everyday life. All you have to do is tweet me @DaltonRoss using the #FakeKellyn hashtag and the person who submits the best one will win all 20 of the original Survivor Love Letters written on location in Fiji by the Ghost Island cast before the game to their favorite players from yesteryear. And who will be selecting the winner? None other than Kellyn herself! Get your entries in by Monday, May 21, and check out the embeds throughout the recap for some submitted examples, including some from actual Ghost Island contestants! (You can also see the full collection right here.) Okay, let's get to the recap and updated season rankings!

The Odd Couple
Yanny and Donathan are not the odd couple because she's a black woman from the northeast and he's a gay white guy from Kentucky. They are the odd couple because they are a rock solid alliance that are playing this game at completely different speeds and can never seem to agree on what to do. We've been seeing this for weeks now. Donathan wants to make a move while Yanny preaches patience and caution. What had to be frustrating for viewers was to hear Yanny admit that "I know I can't beat those guys at the end, " but then proclaim that "the problem is they're two of my best friends out here."

One of the most interesting things to keep an eye on going into the finale is whether Yanny and Donathan will ever break apart, especially now that votes were put on Jonathan with a D. Was Yanny part of that vote-splitting plan? Will Donathan freak out even more now that he was so close to being voted out? "I'm in the middle but the middle won't get me to the end, he said in the episode. "And if Yanny continues bouncing back and forth I might have to play this game by myself. I'm ready for that challenge."

We may find out if that's true.

Timing is Everything
I really dug this reward challenge. It was a two-person variation on the classic individual challenge where people put balls in at the top of a chute and have to catch them at the bottom without one dropping, but now it was a much bigger contraption with a pair working together to grab spools at the bottom and then race them back up to the top.

I generally love challenges that seem so basic and easy but then get progressively harder, and by the time they got to a fifth spool being added, it turned into downright impossible. Wendell and Domenick won — SHOCKER! — and then had to pick one person to join them and one to go to Ghost Island. There was zero hesitation with either move as they immediately selected Yanny to join them and picked Sea Bass to go to Ghost Island.

Clearly they wanted Sea Bass to go to Ghost to keep Kellyn from getting an advantage, and Wendell sensed Yanny was on shaky ground in terms of staying loyal so brought her to keep her in line…which apparently worked. Should they have brought Donathan instead? Perhaps, but he's already been wanting to flip and Yanny is the only thing that has kept him from doing so, so keeping that buffer in place was probably the right call.

I won't gripe with that, but I do think it is odd when there is an odd amount of players (in this case, 7) for an even player challenge (in this case, 6) and someone gets left out. Sometimes in the past that person would get to bet on the winners and join them if correct, but not this season. Why not give stakes for the person sitting on the bench? At the very least it might lead to some funny reaction shots.

Ghost with the Most
I'm sorry, did Sea Bass say "Smash the Yern"? Because I'm pretty sure instead of smash the urn, he said smash the yern. Which would be weird because it says right in front of him "Smash the Urn." I don't know, between the yern and all this talk about suckerfish, I am very confused.

In any event, the smashed yern told Sea Bass that he could play an engrossing game of Pick the Bamboo, and his odds had increased to the point that 3 out of the 4 bamboos had advantages. (And the one that didn't featured a hacky sack, a Fast Times at Ridgemont High VHS and a lifetime supply of Scooby Snacks, so no worries either way!) Naturally, Sea Bass won an advantage, and once again it was an advantage we had seen before. But in this case I don't mean just seen before from another season. I mean he won an advantage already seen and played this season.

The steal-a-vote that Sarah used to vote out Michaela on Game Changers, and that Kellyn used as an extra vote this season on Yanny was back in action. While on one hand it struck me as a bit weird to have the same relic be used twice in the same season, in fairness, there's a pretty decent chance Sea Bass did not even realize it was used the first time. True, he was right there when it happened, but is Sea Bass ever truly "right there"? I feel Sea Bass exists on a different mental plane. It is a plane that can be best described by looking at the cover of Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon through 3-D glasses with no lenses in them. Why don't you need the lenses, you ask? BECAUSE YOUR MIND IS THE LENS!!!!!

Donathan Goes Rogue
Donathan is frustrated.. I know he's frustrated because he told us he was frustrated. So I'm not exactly Sherlock Holmes in that regard. But you can see it. The guy has wanted to make moves and make his mark on this game, but his partner keeps convincing him to go with the conservative play. It's eating him up. So it should come as not much of a surprise to see him go off script a few different times this week.

The first head-scratcher came when Wendell assured Donathan that "You know we're solid. 100 percent." Donathan's response? "I'm not voting for you if it's you and him sitting there. I'm voting for Dom." First off, I know what Jonathan with a D was trying to do. It's not crazy. Many others have done it, and some have even been successful at it. Donathan was trying to accomplish three things with this bold statement. 1.) Get more camera time. 2) Drive a wedge between the two best players in the game. 3) Let Wendell know that he is not someone he wants to vote out, because if he does, Donathan will vote against him at the final Tribal Council.

This ploy has worked before. Let's say Wendell is deciding between bringing Yanny and Donathan to the end. If he thinks Yanny will vote for him to win and Donathan won't, then he very well may put the person on the jury that gives him an extra vote. (Of course, all of this becomes a bit more confusing with the new final four fire-making twist.) So that makes some sense. And attempting to drive a wedge between allies by telling one that the other will beat them at the end is the second oldest Survivor trick in the book (the oldest being Gervase running in a challenge when within eyesight of his tribemates, and then strolling leisurely through the portions in which they could not see him).

But here's why Donathan's move backfired. Nobody wants an erratic alliance partner. You want someone that is predictable and at least gives off the illusion of being easily controlled. When you start shaking things up at Tribal, and telling people they don't have your vote, and then openly questioning them about their activities (as Donathan did when Dom moved something over to Wendell's bag), then you are making people nervous about trusting you and wanting to work with the in the game. "Donathan is imploding on himself," Dom said. That's never a good look.

This continued into Tribal Council, with Donathan complaining about not knowing everything that his alliance partners were doing. After he and Wendell went at it, this happened:

Dom: "Donathan, can I say something?"

Donathan "No."

There were so many open mouths at Tribal Council after that exchange that Sea Bass probably wishes he had a fishing rod handy since he could have hooked the entire tribe and Jeff Probst. Speaking of which, is Sea Bass really a fisherman? Because judging from the looks of him and that often glazed expression, he may have actually told casting he was a "Phisherman" and they got super confused, not realizing he meant he loved zoning out to extended musical jams and instrumental grooves while watching Cheech & Chong movies play in reverse.

And after Donathan's comments, the tone shifted.. All of sudden, the other men were all whispering, with Dom instructing others to "Stay with the hammock plan," which I really, really hoped involved folding a hammock over a person, spinning the encased individual around as many times as possible, and then releasing it so said hammock-cocooned-individual spun back at a nauseating pace before falling out of the hammock onto one's caboose. But, evidently, that's not the hammock plan. Donathan didn't know the hammock plan either, and wasn't about to "Because we're done talking, remember?"

Oh. My. God. Domenick just threw that back in his face with the force of a Nolan Ryan fastball. And I'm not talking Nolan Ryan with the Mets, Angels, or Rangers. I'm talking Nolan Ryan in that hilariously ugly 1980s Houston Astros uniform that looks like a rainbow barfed all over a polyester factory. When you took a fastball to the face from a guy who looked like he was wearing freakin' Underoos, it was adding true insult to injury.

Eventually, the votes were split, leading to a tie between Donathan and Kellyn, with a teary Kellyn sent to the jury on the revote. Just think, if Kellyn had saved her extra vote for this Tribal, Donathan would have been a goner. He was that close. While he may still be playing, Donathan may have also lost any chance to win, because his gambit to split up Dom and Wendell failed, and you don't get the sense he would win any votes on his social game at this point either. It's too bad because he saw the need to flip on the power duo early on, but Yanny wouldn't let him pull the trigger. That frustration, coupled with the mental, physical, and emotional exhaustion of spending 35 days on the island, got to him. He's not the first to suffer that fate.

The Final 6
So here we are. We have our final 6 heading into the finale. Let me ask you a question: Is there any path to victory for anyone not named Domenick or Wendell? I don't see it. They both have idols. They both seemingly have Sea Bass and Yanny on lockdown. I'm not even sure if Angela knows what game she is playing, and after all of these latest antics, I'm not sure Donathan has the respect of the jury he would need to carry out a win. It feels like it has to be Domenick or Wendell.

So which of them has the inside track? It appears to be Wendell. Most people in the game or on the jury appear a bit closer to him than Domenick. Yes, Dom has the two challenge wins already, but as we've seen the past — especially the past two seasons — juries really do not put much weight into challenge performances at all. I wrote about this after Ben beat Christy in season 35 and here's what I said then in terms of why juries seem to respect hidden idols so much more than challenges:

"I would argue that a challenge win is probably more impressive than finding an idol. Sure, it depends on the challenge and how hard you had to work to find the idol, but the point is the two should be seen pretty similarly in terms of achievement. But they're not. Juries seem to be more impressed with idols over necklaces and I think that's because of the theater involved.

"Think about it. The jury doesn't see the challenge. They don't see the domination. They don't see the big comeback. They don't see the way someone almost passed out to will him or herself to victory. All they see is someone walk in with a necklace. There's no tension. There's no drama. Just jewelry. Now compare that to playing an idol. It's the height of drama! That's why the jury seems to lose its collective mind every time one is played. Therefore the achievement seems heightened because it is happening right in front of their face. They see someone saving themselves before their very eyes. They see the other players still in the game with their open mouths and shocked looks. They see it all. And it therefore has far more impact, even if the achievement may not even be as great."

Anyway, that's what I wrote then. All I know is F.U. Brad Culpepper and Chrissy dominated in challenges and both lost the last two seasons, so even if Dom also ends up sweeping the final three immunities to give him five for the season, I still think Wendell probably beats him.

While their inevitable march to the finals has no doubt been predictable and frustrating for many viewers, at this point anything that does not involve them sitting next to each other at the end would be a letdown.. That is the epic showdown this entire season has been leading up to. Let's hope it doesn't take a final four fire-making tiebreaker to make it happen.

Okay, we need to get to the new updated season rankings now and see where Ghost Island falls, but since the rankings tend go for a bit, just a reminder to read my weekly Q&A with Probst and Kellyn exit interview, and to also check out an exclusive deleted scene from the episode on the last page. Okay let's get it to it, and please feel free to put your own rankings in the comments section as no two lists are ever the same.

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