An explosive tribal council was promised to us at the end of the last episode, and it was delivered. While a few non-elimination twists have certainly hindered this season’s momentum at times, this hasn’t stopped the big moments from happening, either. The rat king thrives, yet he’s demoted to lowly jungle rat once more. As the Graduates crumble, a new alliance is on the verge of taking the endgame for itself. An under-the-radar player makes a surprising request to JLP and all that happened before a nail-biting tribal council. Here’s the recap of all this fun mess.
When players return from tribal, Myles is ecstatic to still be in the game, even though the cost is to once again be at the bottom of the barrel. Karin is fed up and exhausted by the antics of Myles and AJ, or as she calls them, “Tweedlee and Tweedleedips**t,” and wants to get rid of them once and for all.
The next day, Kaelan feels glad he does not have one, nor two, but three buddies within the buddy system that has prevailed during the season: AJ, Myles, and Kristin. Kaelan talks with AJ about getting rid of Karin, as the latter continuously wants to target AJ and his allies, Kate and Morgan. As Kaelan sees it, Karin’s biggest mistake so far is that she’s too obvious with her targets, whereas Kaelan is stealthier and operates more secretly.
Perception is 20/20, as Karin also sees her game as more on the covert side. Karin lets Zara know their next target should be Kate to get rid of a physical and social threat and, through this, the Kate/Morgan/AJ voting bloc. In a confessional, Karin reveals her preferred order of a boot list: Kate, followed by AJ, and then Myles, while mistakenly believing she has Kaelan as a number.
For her part, Zara reveals to AJ that she wants Kate out, as she thinks the Graduates alliance holds more weight for AJ rather than his bond with Kate/Morgan. However, AJ quickly lets Kate know she’s on the chopping block and that their side has sufficient numbers to protect her while plotting to get rid of Karin.
At the reward challenge, JLP reveals they must compete in pairs. He mentions they will draw rocks to decide the pairs and that due to having odd numbers, someone will have to sit out. The pairs end up being Morgan/Kaelan, Karin/Myles, Kristin/AJ, and Kate/Zara, with Logan on the bench as she drew the unlucky odd rock. Surprisingly, during the challenge, Logan helps out AJ from the sideline as he drops a block on the ground and has to bend to retrieve it. AJ is successful and thanks Logan for her help.
AJ and Kristin win the reward (a spit roast with all the fixings) and decide for Kaelan and Logan to join them. As the reward group is leaving, Karin says in a confessional that she isn’t too worried about the reward group, as Kaelan and Kristin are on her side, and Logan and AJ can’t stand each other. Whenever someone says they’re not worried while in Survivor, we all know they should be.
Karin’s words turn almost prophetic as the reward group bonds over their spit roast. Logan proposes voting out Karin as she’s a strategic threat. Logan discloses Karin was the one who told her to play her idol when Logan was in danger, confirming AJ’s suspicions of Karin’s betrayal of the Graduates alliance. The foursome decides to have Kate and Morgan join them in splitting the vote between Karin and Zara, with Karin being the primary target, and to not say anything to Myles due to his unpredictability and bond with Karin.
To seal their newfound unity, the reward group names their alliance “the Berries.” In a confessional, AJ states the Berries, plus his side alliance with Kate/Morgan, is the perfect endgame route for him. Once back at camp, AJ tells Morgan and Kate about the plan, and the OG Brawn women agree to follow through.
At the immunity challenge, Kaelan, prompted by AJ, gives his all to win the coveted necklace. Throughout the challenge, Kaelan maintains the lead, being the first to reach the puzzle. As JLP is narrating how everyone is doing, Kaelan asks JLP not to reveal to the others how much of a lead he really has, as the others are too far behind and can’t see for themselves. Kaelan sneakily asks JLP not to mention that Kaelan is waiting for the others to reach him before finishing the puzzle to keep up the “Kaelan is dumb” rouse.
Kaelan has so much free time waiting for his competitors that once Morgan finally reaches the puzzle stage, as she’s climbing down a ramp, Kaelan offers a helping hand. At long last, Kaelan solves the puzzle and keeps up the dumb façade for one more day. It’s pretty ironic how Kaelan needs to hide his brain from his former Brains tribe members.
Back at camp, Karin still believes she has the Graduates on her side to vote out Kate, while the Berries alliance fortifies their plan to eliminate her instead. Kristin throws the idea of getting rid of Zara first but is shot down by Kate. The jungle rat continues to stir the pot and asks AJ if he has “a thing” as he’s also planning “a thing,” but will consider backing down if AJ tells him about his thing. (By the way, I know how this sounds, but this is how it literally happened). Thankfully, Myles goes back to using the word “plan” instead, and as he senses he’s being left out of conversations, he begins plotting. Myles tells Logan he wants to go after Zara, and Logan tells him she’s on board to placate him.
Logan converses with AJ and Kaelan about Myles’ plan and how this upends Karin’s blindside. To counterattack, the Berries, sans Kristin, decide their plan for the night is to split four votes on Karin, three on Zara, and two on Kate. The Berries tell Kristin to switch her vote for Karin to have the majority of the votes still, but as previously mentioned, the rest of the Berries don’t consider that Kristin was willing to go against Zara first. Kristin then sees her opportunity to get Zara out as she originally wanted.
Myles does a last-minute check-in with AJ because he thinks they are on the same page, just without telling each other. However, AJ doesn’t budge with his true intentions and tells Myles to keep his vote on Zara. Just before time is up, Kristin warns Karin to vote for Zara because everyone wants her out of the game, mainly AJ. Karin is left fuming and plans to set tribal council up in flames in retaliation.
The Malosi tribe arrives at tribal, and C H A O S begins. Karin first tells Morgan and Kate that AJ is using them as shields and tells people to draw a line in the sand. Karin then announces she needs a sidebar chat with Zara, Kristin, Kaelan, and Logan. Karin asks this group what they’re doing while she reveals to Zara that they’re the split vote. If people could be killed on sight, AJ would’ve been fulminated by the way Karin and Zara turned to look at him. Karin then proposes to the five to play Russian roulette and fire their votes towards Myles, and she concedes to take the risk if an idol is played. AJ stands up to reassure Kate and Morgan to stick with the plan while Myles is left to chat with JLP.
Karin publicly proclaims her Russian roulette idea, leaving the jury in awe and the Berries wondering who betrayed them. Karin continues to throw one bomb after another, as she mentions she preferred to do this publicly rather than betray Zara as she was asked. As AJ asks Karin who told her about this alleged plan, Kristin caves and confesses it was her who told Karin about the plan as Kristin is loyal but also admonishes Karin for her actions. Karin says she doesn’t regret anything if she would’ve gone to the jury regardless. Lastly, Karin says she prefers to fall on her sword before the vote.
The night of surprises isn’t over yet, as Karin votes for Zara by saying she wants to see what happens next. Unfortunately for Karin, the last bomb drops on her game, and she does end up falling on her sword, as Karin is voted out in a 5-3-1 vote. As JLP is snuffing Karin’s torch, Logan takes advantage to signal to the jury that this was her plan all along.
Well, Karin’s game was ultimately cooked, but the pot is still brewing amidst the final eight players. For next week, the preview hinted that Australian Survivor history will be made as rocks will apparently be drawn at tribal. If the following tribals are as good as this last one, I am ready to watch history in the making while also enjoying how one of the craziest groups of people we’ve ever seen on the show plays Survivor until the end. Bring on the feast, JLP!
Written by