‘Survivor’ 45 Recap: Emily Stages Major Blindside After New Idol Backfires

Survivor

No Man Left Behind

Season 45 • Episode 3

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[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Survivor Season 45 Episode 3, “No Man Left Behind.”]

In this new era of Survivor, new idols and advantages haven’t always been a hit. The Change History advantage (the hourglass), for example, wasn’t well received by the cast or fans, as it could cancel out a player’s hard-earned individual immunity. The show retired the advantage after Season 42 and has clearly learned from the critiques over it and other new twists. In Survivor 45, however, idols and advantages are only as good as you play them — as they should be. And the Lulu tribe learned that all too well in Episode 3.

Lulu started out on a high with its first challenge win. The reward challenge victory got Lulu a large platter of fruit and the chance to raid another tribe for one item. Lulu sent the charismatic Kaleb, whose physical performance was key to their first challenge win. He took the fishing gear from Reba but also gave Drew — who spent the episode building a stronger connection with Austin, Dee, and Julie — a new advantage that gave its owner the power to regain a lost vote at Tribal Council.

This is a miraculous development for Drew and Austin, the latter of whom lost his vote when taking the Reba Beware advantage in the premiere. The duo spent their beach time hunting for the idol promised in the advantage, and Dee and Julie helped them. Their help proved vital, as the women were the ones who found it. Austin repaid them by telling the full truth about his new immunity idol, which came with conditions.

“This idol is only good for one Tribal Council,” the idol note read. “However, if you sacrifice your vote at your first Tribal Council, the power of the idol will extend until all players are on the same beach together. And if you are willing to sacrifice a second vote, you gain even more power. The last time you can use this idol is when there are five players left in this game.”

Sabiyah was still without a vote because of her Beware advantage. Unlike Kaleb’s, which involved a scavenger hunt to uncover, this one was encased in wax that had to be melted to release the idol inside. After their immunity challenge loss, Lulu was still without flint, so Sabiyah had to rely on alliances to keep herself in the game. She had been without a vote since the premiere, so this was just the same old for the former marine.

Robert Voets/CBS

She and Sean set their sights on eliminating Kaleb, who they didn’t think they could win against in the finale. They roped Emily in on the plan. Given her improved but still shaky relationship with the tribe, she agreed. It didn’t sit well with her, however, as Kaleb was the first person who tried to truly work with her.

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Sabiyah smartly planned to use the Tribal Council fire to release her idol and regain her vote (or so she thought). She was confident Emily and Sean would both vote for Kaleb. Emily also took this opportunity to make a strategic move that would both save herself and make a key ally if she pulled it off.

Moments before leaving for Tribal Council, Emily revealed Sabiyah and Sean’s plan to Kaleb. He wasn’t sure what to think after he and Sabiyah had already made a plan to vote out Emily. Emily warned Kaleb that if he voted for her, he would be sent home, as Sabiyah was presumably getting her vote back, and Sean was voting along with her. If Kaleb sided with Emily, who was writing down Sabiyah, he could be saved in a tiebreaker vote.

Sabiyah did unlock her idol with the Tribal Council fire. When she got to the voting booth, she learned the same thing Austin did earlier. If she opted out of voting, her idol power extended to the merge. If she opted out of voting twice, the idol’s power extended to the final five.

The vote tally revealed Sabiyah’s decision. She didn’t vote, and it backfired. Kaleb sided with Emily, leaving two votes for Sabiyah and one vote for Kaleb. With that, Emily pulled off the first successful blindside of Survivor 45 and made a close ally of the man who had spent the episode bonding with Reba.

The tribes will be dropping their buffs and switching teams next week; those bonds Kaleb and Emily made could not have formed at a better time. Survivor thrives when it lets the players run the game, not vice versa.

Survivor, Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS