Convoluted non-elimination twist aside, this was about as perfect an end to the pre-merge one could have asked for. It had high drama, two tribes trying to throw a challenge at the same time, relationship struggles, and the downfall of one of the best modern era Survivor villains.
Before we get there, it’s time to check in with the guests at Redemption Beach. Caleb, Keeley, and Sally arrive at their new dwellings in the middle of the night and have nothing but a desolate beach full of crab holes. Oh, and it starts raining just as they turn in to sleep. It’s safe to say, life at Redemption Beach isn’t going to be a picnic.
The three pick themselves up the next day and manage to build a decent shelter and get a fire going. They also come across a locked chest and a scroll that directs them to find the correct key somewhere in the jungle. Keeley snags the right key and earns herself an advantage in the Redemption Challenge.
Unfortunately for Keeley, the advantage of only having to stack four blocks instead of five in a see-saw balancing challenge proves useless as she struggles to keep even one in place. It’s really a two-horse race between Caleb and Sally, with the former pulling out ahead and securing his place back in the game.
But it’s not completely over for Sally and Keeley. While they have to return to Redemption Beach for now, they’ll get to rejoin the tribe that loses the next immunity challenge. The downside? Neither will be able to vote and will be at the mercy of their tribemates.
Both women tap into their reserves, showing they won’t quit. Sally finds the will to fight when thinking about her late brother, while Keeley successfully makes a fire for the first time and embarks on a forgery career when she prises the emblem off the chest to use as a fake idol.
Back at the tribe camps, plans are forming. After Mark whispers to Simon to protect Keeley during the challenge, Simon considers whether that is a smart play. Basically, Mark gave away his ally, and Simon has no real incentive to prop up Mark by keeping his allies around. So, he proposes the idea of throwing the next challenge and voting out Keeley, weakening Mark’s alliance just before the merge.
However, the Bounty tribe is also considering throwing the next immunity challenge. Mark and Faith discuss the options, realising it’d be a risk to trust Simon’s word or believe he has enough sway to control the vote. With both wanting to keep Keeley around, they decide it’d be easier to throw the challenge and keep things within their control. The question is, who to target?
Faith has wanted Caleb gone for weeks, while Mark has been itching to take out Sally. Faith stands her ground, telling Mark to put aside his Sally obsession and agree to take out Caleb. Mark agrees, but he isn’t completely comfortable, not with the vote nor with Faith. His paranoia is only increased when Faith tells Mark she wouldn’t want to sit next to him at the end because she’d likely lose the jury vote.
The Mark and Faith relationship has been a true highlight of the pre-merge (there’s a fun moment this episode as Mark finds an idol right under Faith’s nose). As Mark says in this episode, they have a “weird” alliance, where they can be on the same page one minute, then opposing the next, yet somehow can’t avoid each other. Yet, Faith is ready to snipe Mark at the merge and is practically salivating at the prospect of eliminating her Ruby Soho alliance-mate.
During the challenge, Simon and Mark are put in the “hero” position, having to hold up baskets of coconuts. It’s pretty obvious that both tribes are working slower than usual, but Ben is such a beast that he can’t help but pull ahead, making it easier for Mark to drop out. And with that, Bounty is returning to tribal council, with a voteless Keeley and Sally in tow.
Faith and Keeley catch each other up to speed, with Faith letting her ally know that Caleb is the target. Keeley tells Faith that Sally was plotting to take Mark out, something neither of them wants to do just yet. Faith outright tells Sally it’s a “dumb” idea right now. Both Keeley and Faith worry that Sally could be a liability at the merge, especially with how much the Barren tribe was rooting for her at the Redemption challenge.
While Faith and Keeley are switching the vote to Sally, Mark is making moves of his own. Unable to shake his paranoia, he decides to follow his gut feeling and not make the same mistake as his first season. That means it’s time to take a swing at Faith, probably made easier after she told him to his face that she wouldn’t take him to the end.
Mark approaches Caleb and Richard separately and proposes a plan to blindside Faith. The boys are on board, with Richard coining the move “Operation Wave,” ready to sweep Faith off the beach. It’s the perfect time to strike, with Faith drunk on power, as Mark puts it, she won’t see the move coming. Richard and Caleb can’t believe their luck that something is finally going their way, and Richard agrees to plant a vote on Sally, just in case Faith has an idol.
The last-minute revelation that Sally wanted him out tonight doesn’t faze Mark. In fact, knowing Faith now wants to vote for Sally probably makes the decision even easier for him. This way, the vote is split two and two, countering any potential idol play and removing Faith from the decision completely.
And that’s exactly what happens. In the most epic tribal of the season so far, the votes come up as two for Sally and two for Faith. As the rain starts to pour, Caleb, Mark, and Rich are the three left in control of who goes home between the two ladies. A desperate Faith turns to Caleb to tell him not to vote for her, but in a savage retort, he gives her the throat-cutting gesture. She then turns to Rich to plead her case, and he simply gives her his best dumbfounded expression.
Faith’s pleas come too late, and she is sent packing just before the merge in the biggest blindside of the season. As she hugs Mark goodbye, she tells him, “You should have voted for me.” He replies, “I did.” And so comes an end to the Ruby Soho alliance and one of the best pre-merges in franchise history.
I had a lot of reservations going into this season, but aside from minor quibbles, each episode of the pre-merge has kept me hooked. Everything built steadily to this dramatic conclusion, which worked both as a self-contained pre-merge arc and will also have reverberations for the post-merge game. And credit to Faith for being a good sport about her elimination. She was an unabashed villain who delighted in her power trip, and that made her downfall all the sweeter.
Here’s hoping the post-merge can keep the momentum.
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