Survivor Season 36: Ghost Island Week 1 Recap

This is season 36 of Survivor. This time, twenty players are competing in Fiji, and, for the first time ever, the show will revolve around a new game-changing element: the mistakes of castaways past, the talismans of which are scattered on a land dubbed Ghost Island.

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Now, first of all, let me say that I am in no way an expert in any kind of way about this show. Actually I am only a few seasons in, but I'm starting to get the hang of it. This blog post is my way of helping me keep all things sorted out. So take it easy on me if I make mistakes.

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Malolo

There's always someone that jumps out as a target, or someone that the rest of the group isn't comfortable being around from day one. That person is definitely Jacob in this tribe. Or as I called him, "Screech". Donathan is the slightly social awkward one that tugs at your heart a bit, and even though he might be perceived as a weak link, people in the tribe have a soft spot for him which allows him to last awhile. Michael and Brendan are the big muscle guys, Stephanie J seems to be the smartest one in the group, and Libby is the "hottie" that I hope lasts a long time. The rest have not made much of an impression on me yet.

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Naviti

This tribe's target from day one was obviously Domenick. He was one of those that just cannot seem to shut their mouth when they have obviously said way too much. When it is best to lay low and be quiet, these people always want to voice their opinions. Everyone gets tired of them real quick. Chris and Sebastian (Sea Bass) bonded over being Florida boys so they are a duo to keep an eye on. Wendell looks like a solid player who will go far in the game. Everyone else is just eye candy so far. I don't remember Bradley doing anything of note.

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Reward Challenge

Since they were already split into tribes, Jeff put them right at it out of the boat on the shore. He made each tribe pick a leader: Malolo chose Brendan and Naviti picked Chris. The leader then had to pick one person for the physical part of the challenge and one to solve a puzzle. Brendan chose Michael/Laurel and Chris picked Sebastian/Desiree.

The guys ran an obstacle course and dug up three keys. Michael got his back first but Laurel and Desiree struggled with the slide puzzle. This part was timed and if you didn't think you were going to make it, you could forfeit and lose, but still retain your fishing gear. Neither one were close to solving it as time was almost out so Chris pulls the plug and forfeits. Malolo wins, but Naviti kept some supplies and their fishing gear.

When asked afterwards if anyone thought their tribe has chosen poorly, Domenick was the only one to speak up and say yes. Hello target.

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Immunity Challenge/Ghost Island

This challenge was to load three large puzzle pieces onto a sled and pull it over obstacles. Then they had to pull the sled back to load the last three pieces. When they got all six to the other side the could begin putting together the cube puzzle.

Naviti got all the pieces over first, while Malolo struggled. They then put the cube together while Malolo argued and Gonzalez basically told Donathan to shut up.

Naviti wins immunity and gets to choose one person from the other tribe to go to Ghost Island. Not knowing if it was good or bad, they chose Jacob, which gave him immunity at tribal.

Ghost Island - Jacob is instructed to break an urn and pulls out a clue to an advantage. He follows the instructions and arrives at three boxes, one of them locked. He could choose only one and if he was wrong would lose his vote at next tribal. He took a chance and opened the box with the key. He unlocked the next box to find the Legacy Advantage. Only thing is he had to will it to someone on the other tribe. He chose Morgan.

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Tribal Council

With Jacob gone, the only real choices were Donathan who was weak but a good social player, and Gonzalez who was perceived as a strategic threat. Donathan's comments seemed to hit that soft spot on everyone because he only got one vote. Gonzalez got five which was enough for her to be the first person voted off this season.

So that leaves us with (total tribal votes received in parentheses):

Malolo: James, Jacob, Laurel, Michael, Jenna, Brendan, Stephanie, Libby and Donathan (1).

Naviti: Wendell, Chris, Sebastian, Bradley, Domenick, Morgan**, Angela, Desiree, Chelsea, and Kellyn.

Voted out (in order): Gonzalez

**Has a Secret Advantage

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Wait, there's more?

Malolo - So Jacob makes his way back to camp and tells everyone the lie he had constructed. He made a fake idol to show everyone and said he was playing it right away to deflect votes from him. He offers Michael as a target to blindside one of the strong guys. Thing is, not many people believed him but they couldn't take the chance.

As a group they decided to make things comfy for Jacob to make him not play the idol. Stephanie offered to work with him in a flirty way to get the truth out of him. He just gushed it right out too. He told her the truth: that it was a fake and he sent the Legacy Advantage to Morgan. That's not info, that ammo.

Naviti - Domenick is up paranoid while every one else is sleeping. He proceeds to look for an idol in the dark...and finds one! The next day he is trying to repair his social game with Chris and tells him he has an idol, but shows him a fake one he made. So now there are two fake idols floating around.

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Immunity Challenge/Ghost Island

This challenge was to swim over some obstacles and dive down to release a set of balls. This was done in two teams of two, with a fifth swimmer to collect all the balls with a logo on it. After collected they would be shot at a hoop.

This whole thing was a no contest because Malolo decided to pair up two guys that can't even swim/are afraid of water in Donathan and James. Donathan headed right out of the water and everyone watched James tread water and then dive a whole six inches under and pop back up within two seconds. He was just frozen there. They pleaded for Donathan to try but he kept refusing. It was pretty pathetic until he dove back in and went down the six feet to release the balls. Naviti had long finished by then, but it gave Malolo a kind of moral victory.

Naviti wins immunity and gets to choose one person from the other tribe to go to Ghost Island. Jacob figured it was him again, but they went with Donathan.

Ghost Island - Donathan is instructed to break an urn like Jacob was and pulls out a piece of paper that said "Nope. Not Today". So all that and he gets nothing and has to eat rice alone.

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Tribal Council

The question this time was would it be Jacob, for being himself, James for screwing up the Immunity Challenge, or blindside one of the strong guys.

Don't you love it when someone talks big from a position of perceived power, just to have his house of cards come falling down? Michael got one vote, James got two, and Screech had to go receiving the other five votes.

So that leaves us with (total tribal votes received in parentheses):

Malolo: James (2), Laurel, Michael (1), Jenna, Brendan, Stephanie, Libby and Donathan (1).

Naviti: Wendell, Chris, Sebastian, Bradley, Domenick*, Morgan**, Angela, Desiree, Chelsea, and Kellyn.

Voted out (in order): Gonzalez, Jacob

*Has a Hidden Immunity Idol

**Has a Secret Advantage

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