Survivor: Ghost Island 36×02 Review: “Only Time Will Tell”

Tribe swap time! Yes, we are only into the second episode of Survivor: Ghost Island, but the game is shaking up quickly this time around. And, if we’re looking at the situation here, Malolo needed this twist. The orange tribe already lost two people within the first episode and there’s no telling if they would’ve been able to turn it around. Plus, the Malolo tribe already had a majority alliance within, so breaking them apart made it easier for the weaker players to have a chance in Survivor. Players like Donathan and James should be thankful this time as they could’ve been the next person to go.

Come on, the tribe swap twist should’ve been obvious to the players. How did these castaways not expect it when they met Jeff on the beach and nothing was there? The beach was essentially empty. Simply looking around and seeing nothing but flags is the first sign that no challenge was going to happen. You can’t have a challenge without any props. After 35 seasons of television, the telltale signs were pretty obvious to spot.

We barely saw any footage of the new Malolo tribe, but we weren’t missing much. There was already plenty of drama with Naviti that we were fine to skip. Though the complaining by the new Malolo tribe members was not a good sign. The four new members moved to the beach at a disadvantage in the numbers, the targets were already huge on their backs. The last thing any of castaways needed to do was give the majority tribe a reason to vote them off. Let’s see if the edit for next episode continues the story because this could mean the difference between someone staying and someone being voted out.

An even split between both tribes was the best-case scenario for the castaways. As I mentioned in past Survivor reviews, whenever the tribes are imbalanced with one group severely outnumbering the other, it can sometimes lead to a steamroll against the minority tribe. Unless the players are lucky enough to find hidden immunity idols or cause others to flip, the odds of making it to the merge are seriously low. There is a fighting chance this way, which is a better reality to see. Though, this scenario might not happen based on what we saw with Morgan’s vote-off (and the campaign against Angela and Chris).

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This early blindside has been a trend that’s become more prominent in recent seasons. Castaways are willing to turn against their own and opt for the uncertainty of the new alliances they make round by round. This tactic is a risky move as you place yourself at the odds of being that unlucky person who might be the one on the outs. On the other hand, you could be the Sandra Diaz-Twine and win with an “anyone but me” strategy. In this case, Chris made a strange move by wanting to turn against his former Naviti member. The tribes had just swapped, he had the majority numbers, and things were looking pretty safe. By pushing this blindside, the scheming was creating conversations that nearly turned against him. He’s lucky that Malolo sent him to Ghost Island because he would’ve been the one to go if he had stay!

Angela and Dominick were not in a better situation either. They were quick to turn against each other and campaign to the other tribe to get their votes. Why wouldn’t they go to rocks? The situation was clear that the former Malolo members were going to stick together and vote as a block. By breaking apart, the original Naviti players put themselves at a disadvantage and gave the power to their enemies. Angela nearly got voted out, and she doesn’t trust Dominick anymore, so anything could happen now.

Morgan being voted off had more to do with convenience than anything against her. She was developing a good relationship with Libby and she was doing all the right things to blend into the background. Unfortunately for her, her tribe members didn’t want to go to rocks, and instead of risking an idol play against Dominick, she was a safe bet. No one was going to use the idol on her and they knew she didn’t have an idol. Sometimes you can do all the right things, but you just have bad luck – this round was her unlucky time.

The second week of Survivor: Ghost World shook up the players to the point that they quickly turned on each other. Usually that moment happens later on in the season, but we were gifted with a fun treat. Drama came early to the island and delivered another surprising blindside. Keep it up, Survivor: Ghost Island, you’re keeping us on our toes.

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