‘Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X’ Episode 5 Recap: “Idol Search Party”

Previously on Survivor, following ZZ Top groupie Paul’s blindside the majority alliance at Gen X collapsed. Chris, Brett and Lucy wanted to target Jessica for her role in Paul’s blindside and Lucy pressured David and Ken to vote with them.  Aggravated by Lucy’s tyrannical behavior, Ken revealed the plan to Jessica. Jessica remained unconvinced of the impending blindside but was saved when David played his idol for her. With the votes cast against Jessica being nullified, the castaway with the second most votes, Lucy, was voted out.

Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X Episode 5 Recap: “Idol Search Party”

Back at the Gen X tribe following Lucy’s blindside, Jessica apologizes to Daddy Ken for not trusting him and David earlier. In an act of good faith, Jessica reveals her Legacy advantage to Ken and explains that she would’ve passed it on to him had she been voted out. With this new reveal, Ken is giving Jessica his full trust again. The following morning, the entire Gen X tribe heads out to search for the hidden immunity idol that is now back in play after last Tribal. Knowing that the idol will have the tribe symbol on it, David quickly notices a log with a purple insignia and finds his second immunity idol (yesss praying for a David redemption arc this season).

Later on both tribes meet up with Jeff who instructs everyone to drop their buffs. The castaways are to be split into three tribes, Takali, Vanua, and Ikabula. As the new tribes are revealed, my favorite alliance to ship, Daddy Ken and David, end up on opposing tribes while “FigTails” remains together (why Survivor gods WHY).

At Takali , Figgy decides that “FigTails” should be kept secret from Daddy Ken and Jessica to which Taylor begrudgingly agrees. Adam tells DK that there is a crack in the Millennials alliance which gives him hope that he and Jessica could work with Adam.

At Vanua, Chris aka Ginger Hulk forms a bond with Zeke because they are both “Oklahoma boys” and Zeke is a big fan of the football team that Ginger Hulk played on. GH tells Zeke that he and Michelle aren’t necessarily on the bottom of their tribe, and that he is interested in voting Cece or David out.

-Immunity Challenge –

At the Immunity Challenge the castaways must dive down to retrieve a buoy and swim it to their platform. Once all five buoys are collected, the tribe can either immediately start trying to get their buoys into a basket or try to lasso their target and pull it closer before throwing. The first two tribes to get all five of their buoys in their baskets will be safe from Tribal.

Vanua falls behind quickly as Cece struggles bringing back her tribe’s first buoy. The gap between Vanua and the other two tribes widens further as David struggles to get out of the water with his buoy.  Once David finally gets onto the platform, he drops his buoy which rolls back into the water (*facepalm*). David’s performance is so painful that Zeke wonders aloud if David is intentionally throwing the challenge (…still praying for a David redemption arc…). Michaela makes quick work of getting her tribe’s buoys in the basket and wins immunity for Ikabula. Despite a valiant effort by Ginger Hulk to rectify his tribe’s mistakes, it was not enough to close the gap and Vanua is heading to Tribal Council.

Back at Vanua, Cece and David tell Ginger Hulk that they want to vote out Michelle. GH does not trust Cece or David because of the past two blindsides at Tribal, but approaches David about voting out Cece to strengthen their tribe. The two Gen X men tell Zeke and Michelle that Cece is the target, but Michelle remains unconvinced. Hoping for more insurance, Michelle tells Cece that they should vote out David because he is “weak and clumsy” (true). Cece relays this information to David and he considers using his new idol on Cece to vote out Michelle (David, girl. Let’s be smarter with these idols).

At Tribal Council David tells Jeff that the three Gen X members are tight and will not work with the Millennials. Ginger Hulk says that tonight’s vote is a chance for David to prove his loyalty to him and that if David is lying again then he’ll “chuck him” across Tribal (Ginger Hulk can chuck me whenever he wants to *wink*).  When the votes are read, Cece becomes the most recent casualty in a season of continuous blindsides. Despite Gen X being the majority on Vanua, Cece’s continued bad performance in challenges meant it was her time to go. The preview of next week’s Survivor shows “FigTails” (barf) revealing their power couple status to Jessica and Ken as well as many castaways taking painful spills during a classic blindfold challenge. Tune in next Wednesday at 8pm EST for an all-new episode of Survivor.