LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — With the amount of things that actually happened in this show, it's a miracle the editors managed to fit it all in within the 40-ish minute time limit.
And this show had everything: fun challenges, important interactions, a crazy tribal and Boston Rob building a YouTube worthy shelter.
Island of the Idols
So, of course new Lairo loses the reward challenge and some chickens, this week new Vokai send Elaine to Island of the Idols since she had to sit out.
And we come to Boston Rob doing his best Primitive Technology impersonation. Dude is straight up building a mansion on this island in Fiji. To be fair, him and Sandra probably have a lot of downtime on that island.
Elaine shows up and finds she has to find a vote block advantage during the immunity challenge.
She ends up doing that with the help of Elizabeth but new Vokai loses the challenge because Jamal and Dean stage a comeback
Our Faves
Although Kellee is still one of our faves, Jamal continues to shine as one of the strongest characters this season.
At one point during camp life Jack calls Jamal's buff a "durag" in an apparent joke (an extremely bad joke). But what happens after is that Jamal explains to Jack why comments like that are more hurtful than they appear for a person of color and other marginalized groups.
Often times in media, a person of color can be distilled down into stereotypes and that's where Jamal felt hurt. A "durag" can be considered a negative stereotype for black people and Jamal explained that to Jack and the audience.
Survivor has always been its best when it brings people together despite perceived differences. Jamal is easily our favorite character of the season so far and his ability to forgive and teach Jack an important lesson was awesome to watch.
Other faves: Elaine, Aaron, Missy
Tribal Council
Before we head to tribal council with the threat of drawing rocks because of the 4-4 split, Elaine informs her original Lairo alliance that she has the vote block.
And that perfectly sets up the stage for tribal. Aaron was previously ready to vote out Elaine to forge a new relationship with Tommy, but Elaine's advantage made him reconsider and helped voted out Jason.
And in this case, either move was smart for Aaron. He is playing for the final tribal council and is looking how to upset the least amount of people.
As for the Vokai alliance, the edit did not paint them in a positive light. Lauren belittled Elaine's ability to play the game and Tommy straight up acted like he was stabbed in the back.
It all made for an amazing tribal and next week's episode should be just as good.