The Survivor Know-It-Alls Recap Episode 5 of Survivor: Ghost Island 

LIVE after the eastern broadcast of Survivor 36: Ghost Island, Rob Cesternino & Stephen Fishbach recap this 5th episode and answer your questions!

Stephen Thought This was a Great Episode?

On a night where Rob and Stephen’s first disagreement came seconds in as to whether or not this was a great episode or the weakest of the season, they both agreed that the Naviti 5 made the right strategic decision to take out Stephanie, whereas Michael is a big juicy target at the merge, and Jenna is not a threat at all. When posited with whether Bradley and Kellyn threw the challenge, Stephen and Rob both threw that claim out the window. For what could have been a completely mundane episode from a boring vote, Stephen really appreciated that the show focused more on the stories of why Jenna, Michael, and Stephanie came to play Survivor, instead of the Naviti 5 pretended to debate who should go home. Additionally, Rob did mention that he thinks it would have been beneficial to Stephanie to pretend she had an advantage.

Changing the Episode Structure

Rob also felt bad that Stephanie did not get to play a game at Ghost Island, and mentioned that if someone opts not to play a game, it should be left to the next person to try to play for that advantage. On the new Naviti tribe, Stephen appreciated how well Chris played in this episode, by relating to Donathan on a personal level. Like Donathan said in the episode, Rob thinks that Donathan will be the swing vote many times during the season. Additionally, Rob said he is still very bullish on the season as a whole despite the weak episode. For this week’s Fishy, Stephen gave it to the producers, to Rob’s disappointment, for telling the story differently this week to make the episode a little more interesting. Rob then pointed out that the episode structure has been different this season, where it is now the open, post-tribal discussion, and the reward challenge, a commercial break, camp life and the immunity challenge, then another commercial, vote discussion with the losing tribe, the last commercial, then Tribal Council. Stephen mentioned that the show is doing more fake outs with the results this season.

What Did the Listeners Have to Say?

When asked about whether Kellyn and Bradley should have thrown the challenge, Stephen said that 90% of players are opposed to throwing a challenge, where Rob said a number like 51% makes more sense.

Even though Domenick did not have a confessional, he would not give him the purple tag just yet, saying that Angela has probably been the least visible.

Stephen also said that he thinks if the Malolo 3 tried to push for Kellyn or Chelsea to go for their poor challenge performance, it would have been futile, where Rob was more open to the listener’s idea.

Since a swap is coming next week, a swap for the Naviti 5 is not bad since they all have a 9-6 advantage, but since they are not a united 9, there are some cracks open if tribe divisions fall in a certain way for the original Malolo.

Rob did not agree that Stephanie telling her story was the nail in her coffin, but thinks that if Stephanie had acted really dumb, she might have had a shot to stay, and Stephen added that she should have tried to target Michael right before Tribal Council.

Rob mentioned that even if Stephanie got to keep her parchment from Ghost Island, she should have said that she had an advantage instead.

When discussing the show’s fake-outs, Rob said that he thought it would be Stephanie tonight, but knew there was a chance it could be Michael.

Rob and Stephen both agreed that the next tribe swap is most likely going to lead to 3 tribes of 5, instead of 2 of 7 with one person going to Ghost Island.

Lastly, Rob and Stephen added that they are really impressed with Chris’ gameplay thus far,