Episode 3 of an already interesting season that has seen big moves and blindsides send three strong contenders out did not disappoint. It did however provide one of the craziest Tribal Councils in the history of the show.

Players at the start of the episode (17)

Mana: Brad Culpepper, Debbie Wanner, Hali Ford, Sierra Thomas, Tai Trang (5)

Nuku: Aubry Bracco, Jeff Varner, JT Thomas, Malcolm Freberg, Michaela Bradshaw, Sandra Diaz-Twine (6)

Tavua: Andrea Boehlke, Cirie Fields, Ozzy Lusth, Sarah Lacina, Troyzan Robertson, Zeke Smith (6)

Night 9/Day 10: Mana

There was some light damage control to be done by several parties after Tai voted with the tribe against Caleb, possibly to some people’s surprise within the tribe. This vote was a catch 22 for Tai, not because he had the power. If he voted Caleb, he shows his capacity to vote against his best friend. If he voted Hali, he shows disloyalty to the tribe. Hali banks on this to put a target on his back, and Debbie assures Hali that she wants Tai gone. But Debbie later reveals in confessional she is riding the original Nuku train as long as possible, and will vote out Hali next time.

Day 10: Reward Challenge

A reward challenge that combined balance with hand eye coordination came with a small twist: only two members of each tribe would compete in the challenge. JT and Malcolm volunteered for Nuku, Ozzy and Troyzan for Tavua, and Tai and Brad for Mana. JT and Malcolm worked well together and won 1st place, which was a big reward of coffee and cookies. Ozzy did well in the balance portion and Troyzan had a huge lead for knowing over the targets with sandbags, but Brad recovered from Tai’s slow start and won 2nd place, a cannister of ice coffee, for the Mana tribe. Troyzan was quick to appear distressed after he choked harder than the Atlanta Falcons at the Super Bowl, but the rest of Tavua had no sympathy for him. That comes as no surprise, considering he is on the outs due to original tribal lines.

Day 10: Tavua

Not much going on in Tavua aside from resident Ozzy catching a huge stingray. Life is good when you have Ozzy on your tribe in Survivor.

Day 10: Nuku

JT knows his only shot to survive while on this tribe is to target two-time winner Sandra, and he has at least Malcolm on board.

Not a lot to report on camp life, but that’s because the bulk of the action would follow.

Day 11: Immunity Challenge

“Oh, by the way, only one tribe is winning immunity. Two tribes will go to Tribal Council”-Jeff

Probst sure loves his twists, almost as much as he loves understating them.

Anyway, the challenge was a Survivor classic. Each tribe had a caller directing two pairs of blindfolded tribemates to collect three bags of balls. Once they do that, they use those balls to solve a table maze. Once a player completes the maze, they must swap out. First tribe to finish the maze three times wins immunity. Jeff, Cirie, and Brad were the callers for Nuku, Tavua, and Mana respectively. Mana just couldn’t get it going and once again fell out of an immunity challenge. It came down to the Jeff and Andrea for the final maze completion but Andrea pulled it out, keeping Tavua safe from Tribal Council. This also means Andrea, Cirie, Ozzy, Sarah, and Zeke have gone through 1/3 of the game without going to Tribal Council. Jeff was very devastated and felt he let his tribe down.

After Tavua left, Jeff clarified that the two tribes would vote together to send one person out of the game. Right away, this goes down as one of the biggest twists in Survivor history. There is little room to maneuver in this scenario. But what it does do is save Hali and JT, because now those tribes need their votes.

Nuku has a conflict of interest. Sandra pushes to target Sierra while JT would rather target Tai. This indecision makes JT consider flipping on Sandra again, and Malcolm isn’t entirely against it.

The pressure is on Mana since they are down 6-5 in numbers. They are banking on JT to flip but they’re not sure who JT would vote for. Tai goes looking for the idol. This time, the clue pointed him towards part of the campsite rather than a challenge. Jeff Probst did confirm prior to the end of the season that the idols would be hidden via different methods rather than a consistent method like in most seasons.

Day 11: Tribal Council

With such high stakes, Tribal Council was a much more tense affair than usual. There was no beating around the bush, especially not from Sandra. In response to Jeff Probst’s question, Brad said he was wondering where JT and Hali stood, while Sandra responded saying that Nuku was aiming 6 votes at them. Following more back and forth between the two tribes, side conversations start to break out en masse, and up goes the paranoia. The question becomes which players the two tribes are deciding to target. It gets more crazy when JT walks over to Brad and appears to tell him who Nuku is targeting, which prompts Hali to strike a conversation with Nuku. JT then reports back to Nuku and appears to be playing double agent. No one has any idea what is about to happen. Conversations continue and Jeff Probst tries to ask the tribes if they are read to vote. Hali wants to discuss further, but Sandra urges her to vote. Hali does so, but warning that she may regret that decision. Remembering Tai has an idol, could Sandra rue this decision? Brad mentioned Sandra as a big threat, but Hali tried to get her tribe to target a strong physical player such as Malcolm.

Tai reveals his hidden immunity idol, and Brad suggests that Tai plays it on Sierra. After Probst confirmed that it was a valid idol, he begins reading the votes. Nuku’s 6 votes for Sierra were negated, so it would be Mana’s target that would be sent home.The Nuku six look nervously on, and unfortunately for him, the next vote had Malcolm’s name on it. The next few Malcolm votes confirmed that he was the 4th person voted out of Game Changers. On the way out, Michaela mentions to Jeff Varner that she thinks JT set them up.

Stats

2: The number of hidden immunity idols that have been found this season. Only 11 days in, not even in the New School Era of Survivor do you see that many idols found early on, or even one played at Tribal Council.

3: The number of hidden immunity idols Tai has possessed at one point throughout his Survivor career. He found two of them on his own, while his ally Kyle Jason in Survivor Kaoh Rong briefly gave him an idol at the Final 9 Tribal Council. Tai gave it back to him the next day.

10: The place JT finished in on Survivor Heroes vs Villains, on a similar night like this one. 10 players were left in the game, 5 from the Heroes tribe and 5 from the Villains, and the deciding factor in that vote was Parvati Shallow playing her two idols on Sandra and Jerri Manthey. Jerri’s votes were negated and JT was voted out and sent to the jury.

11: The amount of players present at fittingly Day 11’s Tribal Council where there was a single vote. This excludes instances such as in Survivor Samoa where Jeff Probst invited both Galu (8 members) and Foa Foa (5 members) to Tribal Council. They thought they were both voting out a player, but instead Probst merely confirmed that Russell Swan was medevaced.

79: The amount of days Malcolm has played on Survivor during his three seasons. Considering he lasted 38 days in Philippines and 30 days in Caramoan, being voted out on Day 11 under normal circumstances would be upsetting. But considering how this twist went down and how many events transpired to get him the boot, Malcolm’s allowed to be extra salty.

100 day milestone tracker: Malcolm’s exit takes him out of the running. While Andrea and Cirie add to their tally via winning another immunity challenge, JT and Sandra keep their bids alive by surviving a difficult Tribal Council. JT is at 77 days, Andrea 81 days, Sandra 89 days, and Cirie 96 days. Cirie is very close to this milestone, and could reach it if she survives a few more episodes. JT still has 23 days ahead of him and after that Tribal Council blew up in his face, I would not bet on it.

Dock of Shame: Malcolm Freberg

In most eliminations, you can cite at least one or two key mistakes even when someone is voted out due to the effect of a hidden immunity idol. In Malcolm’s case, this is a rare instance where you can't really do much to change your fate. This twist is a hard one to figure out even for experienced players, and we've seen third time Survivor contestants get a bit flustered and worried during this Tribal Council. Similarly to the swap in Survivor China, I felt this twist really put the stronger physical players like Malcolm in trouble, because if Mana does want to win the next immunity, why wouldn't they eliminate the strongest player? Malcolm’s chances certainly weren't great especially when Tai, one of the hardest working players when it comes to idol finding, is on the other side too. I though Malcolm was on course for another deep run at least another mid jury finish but Survivor is a cruel game. ''Twas a “noble death” in a warriors game.

Now to reveal the contestants standing on today’s Survivor Olympic Podium

Medal count:

Gold: Brad, Sandra (1)

Silver: Jeff, Sierra (1)

Bronze: Malcolm, Troyzan (1)

Bronze: Hali Ford (photo credits for each: CBS/Survivor Wikia)

If you told me Hali would be sent to Tribal Council the first four times and survive each one before the season started, I would've thought it would happen by Hali ducking for cover as the bigger threats engaged in all out war against each other. Although that was initially the case, Hali is doing what she can to slowly but surely position herself strongly with the tribe. This twist benefitted Hali because now Mana couldn't afford to lose her and Nuku needed her to flip. After a successful Tribal Council, Hali may still be on the bottom but she's doing well with what little she's been given. Do not underestimate her.

Silver: Brad Culpepper

The first Survivor Game Changer player to receive multiple medals. He earns it by directing Tai towards the right player, Sierra, to use the idol on. JT will take some credit, but Brad’s instincts to trust the right people are paying off big time so far. He's not overplaying, although he is seen as the leader of his tribe which could still put a target on him. I think Brad’s strategic game is coming to fruition. If he enters the merge with at least three other post swap Mana members, even if one of them is Hali, I'm liking his chances to do well.

Gold: Tai Trang

Tai has been the brunt of many jokes and criticisms for his gameplay. This fan favorite turned goat does not have the most sound strategies at times, but there is a method to his weirdness. It does help that fan's and players alike don't take him seriously because it allows Tai to go off looking for idols without people worrying about him. Tai is the 2nd player this season to find an idol, and like Troyzan he found an idol in his original season as well. There may have been fortuitous circumstances and Tai needed some help from Brad, but he came in clutch with that idol. If Tai didn't come up with a hidden immunity idol, Mana goes down to 4 members no doubt about it.

Next Time on Survivor: JT faces the wrath of his tribe and of Queen Sandra, but that’s nothing compared to Debbie going bananas. Angry Debbie is very scary, I can’t wait to see here in action!