Survivor 43 recap: Jeanine's idol is back from the dead

Those sneaky bastards. I'm not talking about the players on this season of Survivor, but rather the producers. They pulled a fast one on us, they did. Here they were last week making us think that Dwight walked out of the game with Jeanine's idol bracelet snuggled up in his crotch. But no! That turned out to be fake news and a misdirection of Glenn-stuck-under-the-dumpster proportions. Because unbeknownst to us, and to Jeanine, and to everyone else in the game, the idol was actually snuggled up in Jesse's crotch instead! (How many crotches that bracelet has been in at this point with all the swapping going on is anyone's guess. My sources tell me Ryan even took the bracelet out fishing with him for 17-and-a-half-hours at one point.)

It seems that Dwight had actually — for reasons that remain super unclear — given the idol to Jesse (???) before Tribal Council. Whether he believed this payment served as some sort of cover charge for entry into the Pineapple Zone is anyone's guess, but what is even more interesting than that somewhat puzzling transaction before last week's vote is the fact that producers never showed it to us, instead letting Survivor Nation believe that Dwight had left the game in possession of Jeanine's idol.

Robert Voets/CBS Jeanine Zheng on 'Survivor 43'

And then the deception continued right into Dwight's exit interviews. Clearly instructed to not give away the big reveal, Dwight had to do a delicate dance of not outright lying, but also not giving straight answers when it came to what actually happened. I looked back at my full transcript of the Dwight Interview (which you can watch at the top of this article). Our first exchange about that Tribal:

EW: First off, did you have Jeanine's idol with you at Tribal?
DWIGHT: Yeah. Lord, I wish I played it. Or had someone to play it for me. It's just a mess.

So, when he replied to my straight-up question with "Yeah," I naturally assumed he was affirming that he did indeed have the idol on him when he walked out, but if you rewatch the interview, it could be construed that his "Yeah" was merely a reaction to start his answer like "Well…" I also remember being really confused when he said, "Or had someone to play it for me," but I kind of shrugged it off and did not follow up on it because I thought since he had seemingly just confirmed that he had the bracelet, he was maybe referring to one of the other idols out there. The next exchange was equally confusing:

EW: Did it ever enter your head to play it?
DWIGHT: Of course it did. I was thinking about like, "Should I try and get the idol played?"

Again, what the hell was he talking about? Try to get the idol played? Just play it! YOU HAVE IT! Well, now we know why Dwight was being so cagey. Is it weird that Survivor intentionally withheld important information from us last week and then forced an eliminated player to continue the ruse and omit key information about his ouster in his exit interviews? Absolutely. But you know what? I kinda love it. And here's why…

I referenced Glenn and the dumpster above. For those oblivious to the reference, The Walking Dead did a thing a few years back where they had the beloved character of Glenn (played by Steven Yeun) falling off a dumpster into a swarm of zombies. The show led us to believe he was dead, even taking Yeun's name out of the opening credits for a few weeks as if he was no longer on the show. It was all a ruse. The explanation from producers as to the missing name credit was that they wanted the audience to feel the same thing the other characters on the show felt in assuming Glenn had most likely perished, but it came off to many like a cheap gimmick.

Gene Page/AMC Steven Yeun as Glenn Rhee on 'The Walking Dead'

Survivor kind of did the same thing here, only with a very different result. They led us to believe for the past week that Dwight had the idol when he got voted out. They then started this week's episode with Jeanine in tears over losing her idol as a game of telephone erupted with the news spreading from person to person that she had given Dwight her idol and he had walked out of the game with it. But that was not the case.

Because then the show let us in on a little secret. Dwight had actually handed the bracelet to Jesse just before Tribal Council, and nobody except Jesse had any clue about it. It was a jaw-dropping reveal in a pleasant-if-somewhat-punchless season that has not had a lot of jaw-dropping moments. And the reason why this deception worked for me where The Walking Dead one did not is this gambit actually succeeded in its mission where the other one failed: First, it fully gave us viewers the same feeling the other players in the game had upon watching Dwight's torch get snuffed — a feeling that was based on complete and total misinformation. But then the show clued us in while everyone else was still clueless. That allowed us to both revel in the secret knowledge of the unlikely last minute transfer while also getting a real taste of what it felt like to be completely bamboozled in the game.

I'm not saying I am in compete and total support of viewers being deliberately misled. This wasn't a case of something being left out of the edit because it was too convoluted or there was not enough time to include. This was a purposeful decision to make something look one way when it was actually another, and to then keep that misdirection up for an entire week. It's not something I would like to see on a consistent basis.

But admit it… it worked. Big time. Jesse claims he's not going to tell anyone else about his idol, (which would obviously be the smart, if rare, move), but when he told us, that may have been the most effective moment in 43 seasons of the show in terms of translating that sensation of playing the game to viewers at home. What does playing Survivor actually feel like? This is what it feels like! You think you know something only to learn you actually know nothing. And here comes someone pulling you aside to blow your mind with a revelation you never imagined possible. Experiencing that sensation was awesome. I mean… not for Jeanine. Sucks for her. (And then, on top of all that, they voted her out. Damn.) But it was incredible for us, and that's what's most important.

Okay, I don't want to be "proposterous" and linger on this anymore, but it was a cool moment, and a cool experiment by editors, and deserves to be applauded as such. Let's get into a few other things from episode 8 of Survivor 43.

Robert Voets/CBS The cast of 'Survivor 43'

Balls and Poles

Pretty much every season Jeff Probst tempts players with food to sit out a challenge. Sometimes, it's just a straight up eat-or-compete scenario. Other times, like this week, it's a situation where a certain number of people need to sit out to give the entire tribe rice. Personally, I'm a much bigger fan of the first option, where everyone makes an individual decision whether to choose a chance at immunity or a cheeseburger and fries. It's just more interesting to see who is straight up picking food over potential safety without any other cover stories of "doing it for the tribe!" to hide under. But that's not what they did here.

Probst said five folks had to sit it out, and unlike past seasons, he would not be negotiating. James, Sami, Jesse, Cassidy, and Karla (all from the super alliance of seven) sat out without much muss or fuss. You all know how I feel about sitting out challenges. Not a fan. I'll give Kalra a pass with her busted finger, but too many times we have seen too many people go home that were 100% sure they were safe. And with so many idols and advantages out there, it's just not worth the risk. But enough of things that are super easy to say from your couch while inhaling a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos; let's get to the actual challenge.

And let me start by saying that Survivor has really big balls. And I mean that literally. Because that was the big change from this classic hold-something-high-in-the-air-and-add-poles-as-you-go-for-as-long-as-you-can contest. This time it was a giant colored ball that players had to hold in the air, and If I'm being 100% honest, I'm a bit pissed at the colors they assigned to specific players. I mean, would it have killed them to give the blue one to someone other than Noelle so I could have written that "Gabler had a serious case of blue ball"? Is that too much to ask? I 've been covering this stupid show for 43 seasons. Throw a dude a bone every once in a while, for crissakes.

I will admit to being surprised they let Ryan use his forehead to steady the pole, and was pretty sure he would win as a result — especially when he made it to the final three. But clearly Ryan began day-dreaming about fishing and Owen eventually won. What a cool moment for this super-fan of the game, a super-fan who immediately started to give shout-outs to challenge beasts of yesteryear like Colby Donaldson, Terry Dietz, and — skillfully pivoting on the fly after realizing that he was going to sound like a big jerk if he only kept mentioning big alpha males — Kelly Wiglesworth.

CBS The cast of 'Survivor 43'

We had the trifecta of obvious arrows pointing to something big involving Owen this episode. First, he got the gooey adolescent photo flashback montage where he talked about growing up adopted in the D.C. area, and while there have been a lot of sad backstories shared on Survivor the past three seasons, growing up a Washington football fan just might be the most tragic of them all.

The second indication was Owen making like Mary Lou Retton and doing some of the most impressive verbal gymnastics I have ever seen to tie-in his current position as a college admissions director to the game of Survivor. The dude was talking about GPAs and a lack of decent recommendations…. I kept waiting for him to get a Christian Hubicki-esque time lapse as he droned on and on about the differences between the SAT and ACT and how it mirrored idols versus advantages, and who was acting as the resident advisor of the tribe (Karla, by the way).

The third, and most obvious, sign that Owen would probably win the challenge was watching him all of a sudden get called out by James earlier in the episode. "Owen is kind of a snake," said James, who for some reason sounds totally normal on the beach but like he is talking on a Samsung Galaxy with a crappy Cricket Wireless mobile connection whenever he gets to Tribal Council. "He don't really have a backbone. He's not going to ever put his foot down. He's always going to follow the numbers."

Obviously, that's not something I like to hear considering I made Owen my episode 1 pick to win it all. Anyway, he at least won the challenge and that's a start. And winning an individual immunity is kind of like starting your college application essay. It can be overwhelming, but if you focus and put your mind to it, you'll find that… you know what? I can't. I tried, but I can't. That's Owen's bag, not mine. Let's move on.

CBS Mike Gabler and James Jones on 'Survivor 43'

The Spelling Bee Bad

Look, I know we all want to focus on the word "proposterous." Because it's marvelous and amazing and incredible and every other superlative you want to use. Hell, I had to type the word proposterous six different times right now because my spell check kept trying to fix it. Unfortunately,  they do not have spell check on Survivor. Not that spell check solves everything. Hell, I'm sure there are a mountain of typos in this here recap right now.

The point is, I know you all want me to get into how proposterous is it that Cody misspelled preposterous while painting their boat, and trust me there is plenty to get into there (especially when you check out the exclusive deleted scene I have for you that shows the actual misspelling going down), but I fear that all the attention on this Jeff Schroeder Technotronics level effort obscures something else that warrants discussion. And that thing is: Live 2 get radical.

Live 2 get radical, people. With an actual numeral 2, like the corpse of Prince had washed ashore and started painting any slogans where he could seamlessly work in the number 2, the letter U, a drawing of an eye, or an unpronounceable symbol that could also double as his name in case his zombified remains got into another legal kerfuffle with a record label. Live 2 get radical! I am so into it. I do live to get radical! I mean, probably more when I was young and stupid. Now, I'm old and boring and live to get to bed at a sensible hour, but YES! In concept, I am still all in! (I'm also not sure "live to get to bed at a sensible hour" would have fit on the boat. Just sayin'.)

Anyway, the boat was epic, especially since it was adorned with Cody's trademark double exclamation point and smiley face. And, like I said, you can see how this travesty of spelling competence (or is it competance?) came to pass in this hilarious must-see exclusive deleted scene.

It's the Testosterone Talking

Thank the Survivor Gods for insecure dudes who can't handle not calling the shots. Last week, it was Cody deciding they needed to take his former tribemate Dwight out for reasons I still don't understand (other than Cody wanting agency in the game). This week it was Sami determined to take Ryan from his own alliance out. But why???? Ryan appears to be more likely to fall in love and marry a mermaid than win this game. Even if Ryan does go on some epic challenge-winning streak, nobody seems to respect his social or strategic chops. So why was Sami so desperate to take him out?

Even if Sami was just desperate to break up the alliance of seven and figured Ryan would be the easiest person to convince them to get rid of to accomplish that feat, it still seems really dangerous to put yourself out there this early for this vote. Getting Ryan out is not necessarily a "power move" or résumé builder (just ask Owen in admissions!) so it's not worth coming on too strong or putting yourself out there to get it done. All that said, I do think Sami is a very strong player at a very young age. I've been very impressed by his social game so far. Just not sure this juice was worth the squeeze.

CBS The cast of 'Survivor 43'

But as soon as the vote turned to Ryan, Cody turned it back. Which turned the heat back on Jeanine. Oh, Jeanine. She had a rough go of it this season, from the very beginning when she busted open her chin in a challenge. Sami kept undoing everything she did on Baka (telling Gabler about both the bag search and her idol bracelet), then her biggest ally got blindsided, and then she got outmaneuvered on a multi-crotch swap defense against the Knowledge is Power. She showed moxie. She showed spunk. She showed vigor, verve, pep, and lots of other words people no longer use.

I could totally see Jeanine being invited to play this game again because she created story out there on the island, but her time on Survivor 43 was over in an almost unanimous vote, with only Cassidy — who refused to vote out another woman — casting what I'm guessing may have been merely an agreed upon symbolic gesture against Ryan. Even Gabler and Owen abandoned Jeanine, which is kinda brutes. I guess they got their seats on the bus after all.

And you better strap in because this ride is just getting started. I'm not talking about the actual show. I'm talking about some more bonus Survivor content for you. We've got that amazing deleted scene where you can see that Cody was not the only tribe member perplexed by the spelling of preposterous. We've also got my exit interview with Jeanine ready and waiting for you. And that's not all! I've also got a Friday goody for you as well.

In anticipation of a food-versus-challenge dilemma at some point, I asked the entire cast before the season began which ones of them would sit out of a competition for grub, and you will get to see all of their answers soon enough. Follow me on Twitter @DaltonRoss for updates on all of that, or if you have vacated that building building, you can also check me out over on Mastodon, so feel free to hit me up there while I get to work preparing next week's scoop of the crispy.

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