The thing I was worried about with the hidden idol was how it was attached to that stand. It looked like it was tied to the bottom of the stand somehow which would require her to untie the ropes to get it. Luckily, it seems that it must have just been velcroed to the bottom or somehow attached that just required her to pull it off.

I figured that's why they kept showing her study it. Seems like she was figuring out if she could just grab it, or it would take some work. Once it was clear she could just grab it, she did. If they were going to go that route, it really should have taken some work to get it off there. Make them choose if they want to reveal their motives.

Also makes me wonder where the idol for the other tribe will be now. Probably was in the same place during that first challenge, but nobody found the clue on the other side. Wonder if it will always be hidden within the challenge until the first person finds it.

Along that line ... can the idol from one tribe be used by the other? We've had idol exchanged between camps before (like JT's infamous love letter idol to Russell). If Kelly notices the other tribe's idol during a challenge ... can she make a grab for it too?

I'd like to see them go to tribal EVERY week without going back to camp. It would certainly make things more interesting.

But then we'd lose like 10 minutes of misdirection and Macguffins that have no effect on the vote whatsoever.

I love that the idol was hidden at the challenge. The worst part of Survivor anymore is that it's just a "luck of the draw" whoever finds it first with usually no clues.

It did add a nice new wrinkle. Kelley was lucky that there was dead time when everyone was watching the other Kelly build the stick. Not sure why she was selected. Did everyone defer to her record in individual challenges and her experience in this particular one (though I bet a few of them have done the stick-build before)?

seems too soon in the game to be voting out such a strong player since he would be such a competitor while they tribes are split.

I would have thought both parts of that challenge, lighting the torches and getting the key, would have benefited from having the person with the longest arms doing those.

I have no idea why they used Keith.

But the clue was still available to the person that finds the obviously hidden package. They would have to start doing some kind of buried treasure option to really switch it up.

One side figured that out (Keith and Joe). No clue why the other one didn't.

Nobody was expecting an idol to be hidden during a challenge, and they're all paying attention to the challenge, so it shouldn't be too difficult to pull off.

If she had to, she could have announced that she had a rock in her shoe and slipped back to the raft to take off and beat against it while she slipped the idol out.

Yeah, I'm a sneaky bastard.

I enjoyed the first episode. Lots of Survivors I like and I'm glad to see the earlier seasons represented pretty well.

I love that the Hidden Idol was at the challenge. The clue was specific for that challenge so they assumed someone would find it by the 3rd day. I hope that is the same for the other tribe with a future challenge.

Joe is still a beast. Making fire, winning challenges. I may be seeing things, but it looks to me like he put on a few extra pounds compared to last season, a good strategy if it was intentional to prepare for the weight loss.

That was very noticeable. I wonder how much time actually passed between the challenge and TC.

I'd tell you that it's a challenge, and unless it's a boulder you should play through it. And certainly don't announce it.

I don't think original tribe alliances mean as much when everybody knows each other. For example, Spencer and Tasha will probably work together if they both make a merge; they remained pretty close. Besides, I wouldn't call Vytas a big competition wiz anyway. It's not like they voted out Ozzy.

It'll be interesting to see if Kelley keeps an eye out at competitions for others looking for idols.

Supposedly the challenge ended at dusk and they were sequestered until tribal.

It was in the post of the raft's stand on the beach... not the raft itself.

Ahh...I didn't pick up on that. Thanks.

Sequestered where? Did they just assign each of the 20 contestants a bodyguard to make sure they didn't talk to anyone else or take them off to some isolated tent? That violates the very premise of people being left to their own devices without interference from the crew (excepting medical emergencies).

Presumably, they filmed pre-tribal interviews with each (it was raining during Spencer's monologue). Either that or they just picked a couple of the more interesting people or ones they wanted to highlight.

The problem with "sequestration" and then having a later tribal (the challenge was in broad daylight, not dusk) is that Probst said emphatically that they were going to Tribal Council "right now." Right now doesn't mean sitting around isolated for a bit of time.

Why couldn't they have sat the losing tribe down on some seats to talk about their loss & then informed them that Tribal would begin immediately right there on the beach? That would have been an interesting new wrinkle. They could have had a crew member carry out a container with the torches & light them if they felt they had to continue the "snuff" tradition.

Stuff like this just reminds viewers & emphasizes how much manipulation goes on from the producers. It's like they think the audience is too dumb to notice...or just don't care.

I think I remember hearing from a former contestant that the times between leaving camp and arriving at tribal, and leaving from tribal and arriving back at camp they are not allowed to talk to each other (hence all the post-tribal blow ups happen after they get back). So it was probably like that. How that is enforced I have no idea, probably some sort of "no talking, or else" and the "or else" is some sort of violation of their contract with forfeit of money.

Thanks for the helpful info. I have always wondered whether any last-minute deals were made during the trudge to TC (but figured it would be hard to do inconspicuously since they appear to go in a single-file line...btw, how far do they have to walk to & from their respective camps to the TC location?).

If they had immediately started walking to TC, it would have made more sense (and would make any "sequestration" unnecessary), but it looked as though the challenge ended, they did some pre-TC interviews, and then wound up at TC much later). Still don't see why they didn't just send the challenge-winning tribe back to camp and then immediately have an impromptu TC right then & there (or, to quote Probst, "right now"...making any sequestration unnecessary & being an actual shocker by not even giving contestants time to reflect on their own). Of course, doing so would have meant that they wouldn't have gotten the twenty seconds or so of interview footage from Spencer & Abi.

Sorry to rant about a relatively minor point, but the whole thing just seemed silly & pointless.

I guess I'm just old school like Terry & liked the earlier seasons in which more time was spent getting to know contestants & watching the social dynamics emerge more naturally instead of the "new school" method of playing the social game & strategizing even before they hit the sand. It does seem that the majority of the episodes wind up being attempts at misdirection, lots of whining, endless walks into the jungle to try to switch allegiances, etc. Some of that is good, but much of it gets tiring quickly, IMO.

I also get that the producers like the audience insurance factor of having built-in fan bases for returning vets. However, aside from seeing if their strategies have changed (and, for the returnees who are much older & not as physically-fit as in their previous appearances on the show, they cannot rely upon the same strategy), it takes a lot of the interest factor of getting to know new contestants out of the viewing experience. I can see pros & cons from an audience standpoint.

They always do that phoney fire ritual with the torches and Jeff's bonfire and snuffing the torch and "The tribe has spoken" in the tribal council area; I can't think of a time when they ever did the TC differently.

It would be interesting to do a TC on the spot like that, but the whole TC thing seems to be encoded into the show's DNA.

It won't necessarily answer the questions above, but the EW Survivor recap this week was especially interesting. It's usually an entertaining read, but this time included lots of behind-the-scenes details about how things work on the show.

^ ^ ^

The recap link from Cardsfan is a great read. He's right...it doesn't answer most of the logistical questions about how they handled the time between the challenge & TC, but it does describe a lot that went on during TC that was left on the cutting room floor; in fact, most of it is a lot more interesting that what did air. Here's the buildup to that (without giving away any of the scrambling, goofy comments, etc. that went on):

Wiglesworth was definitely dejected after the result, believing she had let the team down by not getting the key. Well, I’m sure they can sort that out back at camp since they always have a few hours before Tribal Council. But wait! Twistapolooza continues as Probst tells everyone they are going straight to Tribal instead. Very interesting move here by the producers because by going straight to Tribal they are doing away with the period of time when cameras often capture the best strategic discussions and last-minute scrambling. However, where there is risk, there is often reward, and the potential reward here is getting that scrambling during Tribal Council, which often leads to chaos. That actually did happen here; you just didn’t see it. More on that later.

The details are pretty funny & revealing re: the paranoia of some coupled with the downright odd behavior of others (and Probst's frustration coming out toward one contestant in particular). Wish they had used most of the extra 30 minutes to highlight the unseen events at TC and cut the "Where's my bracelet" wasted time.

Thanks, Cardsfan.