Jeff Probst reacts to the unprecedented ‘Survivor 45’ Tribal Council
Warning: This article contains spoilers for Episode 3 of “Survivor 45,” which aired October 11.
The truth is Survivors The unthinkable happened during the third Tribal Council of Season 45, and at one point host and showrunner Jeff Probst even questioned the rules.
On day seven, Lulu lost her third Immunity Challenge in a row. After packing their bags, the four tribesmen made their way to Jeff, ready to reduce their number to three. Before heading to Tribal Council, Sabiyah Broderick devised a plan to surprise her ally Kaleb Gebrewold. Sean Edwards and Emily Flippen were both on board to eliminate Kaleb as well.
However, Emily switched to the clueless Kaleb’s side after Sabiyah made it clear that she had a “caution” advantage that temporarily prevented her from voting.
Sabiyah revealed that she was one step away from securing a Hidden Immunity Idol, but she had to melt its wax casing to officially claim it. Since the tribe didn’t have a flint – a symptom of losing multiple immunity challenges in a row – Sabiyah told Emily that she planned to throw the idol into a fire at tribal council.
And that’s exactly what she did.
Everyone on Lulu knew that Sabiyah had the idol. So she openly melted the wax in the set’s central fire pit while Jeff grilled her about the dynamics of the game and her propensity for losing immunity challenges.
After the wax disappeared, Sabiyah became the proud owner of a Hidden Immunity Idol. And because she gained the “Beware” advantage, she also regained her voting rights.
But when she went to the polls, she was presented with a note about the idol. It declared that it would lose its power after this tribal council. But if she gave up her vote that night, it could extend its validity until the tribes merged. And if she chose to lose her vote at the following Tribal, the idol would last until the final five.
Convinced that Sean and Emily were determined to eliminate Kaleb, Sabiyah chose not to vote, which was a game-winning decision.
Sean stuck to his word, but as mentioned, Emily jumped on Kaleb’s side of the fence. Before Tribal, she told Kaleb about Sabiyah’s devious plan. As the story goes, Emily and Kaleb voted for Sabiyah while Sean wrote down her name.
Two votes were enough to end the 28-year-old truck driver’s $1 million campaign.
Jeff praised Sabiyah for the clever wax melting trick
Jeff covered the unprecedented Tribal Council in the latest episode of On Fire: The Official Survivor Podcast with his co-hosts, Survivor: Edge of Extinction’s Rick Devens and producer Jay Wolff. Survivors Frontman revealed that when his team started the process to get this idol back – something they had never done before – they never thought that someone would melt it at the voting ceremony.
“We never thought someone would find this idol and still not have a fire,” Jeff said. “And then be smart enough to adapt to take advantage of Tribal Council fire. So when she throws it into the fire, part of me says, “That’s fair, right”? Because on the note it only says that you have to burn the wax. So I gave Sabiyah a lot of credit for saying, ‘Yeah, the only fire I have in my life right now, Jeff, is at Tribal when I vote someone out.’ I thought it was really cool.”
So would he have thought it was a good move for Sabiyah to restrict her right to vote in order to prolong the life of her idol? Yes he has.
“She decides to take a big step and risk it,” Jeff said. “And really, you have to. Right, Devens? I mean, it’s an idol. You have to try.”
“Otherwise you’ve done all this and it’s done,” Devens replied.
Jeff also pointed out that Sabiyah believed Kaleb’s game was a failure and her vote wasn’t necessary. “But you don’t know what’s true until you vote,” he continued.
And no, no one could steal Sabiyah’s idol at tribal council
One question that fans may have had on their minds during this episode was whether one of Sabiyah’s tribemates could snatch her idol while it cooled down on the ground. At one point during “Tribal” we see Kaleb’s eyes wander to the idol lying next to Sabiyah’s feet. Had he thought about trying it? Well, if he looked at it Survivors He knew he couldn’t bear it, having learned the rulebook beforehand.
And the moderator confirmed this in the podcast.
“No, no one can ever take away an advantage or an idol from a player,” Jeff said. “Even if someone looks in a player’s pocket and finds these advantages there, he knows he has them – that’s fine. You can’t stand them. So no one could have taken it.”
After Sabiyah’s death, only three Lulu members remain in the game. But according to the teaser for episode 4, a tribe swap is supposed to cause a stir.
