Ah, you’re correct. Though Jeff didn’t say in his description that the chair riders had to solve the puzzle as well. And the rest of the tribe was observing and making suggestions.
As an aside - I wonder what kind of braking mechanism they had on those chair lifts in case a tribe lost hold of the ropes.
Something I had completely forgotten about until reading about it elsewhere… Jessica is the one with the “pass onto another player when voted out” Day 36 reward. David really got a lot of brownie points with her and doesn’t even know about it!
I just skimmed through the thread here, but just realized all three Asian women have been eliminated in the first few weeks.
Asian women seem to get voted out early.
Tiger moms can’t get voted out of their families.
I was glad to see Lucy go. Maybe it was negative editing, but she became #1 bitch once Paul was out.
What is that patch that Chris is wearing on his arm? It looks like some serious medical implant thing.
I have no idea how it will play out for David, but I loved this move. I am so tired of Survivor players finding immunity idols and refusing to use them strategically or proactively. Usually it becomes a security blanket: “I’ll hide this, not tell anyone about it, and use it when I think I’m in danger.” Then it gets burned off pointlessly, or leaves the game in a blindsided player’s pocket.
That used to be how it went, but more recently they’ve been used successfully:
The last HIIs:
S32, Neal: was medically evacuated before he could use it
S32, Kyle/Jason: Unused only because Tai betrayed them (from using as a Super Idol after votes were read)
S32, Tai: Never used, though IIRC it was because everyone knew about it and didn’t try to vote him out
S31, Kelley: Negated 3 votes against her in a 3-3 vote
S31, Jeremy: Negated 3 votes against him in a 3-3 vote
S31, Jeremy: Negated 5 votes against Fishbach in a 5-3-2 vote
S31, Kelley: Negated 9 votes against her in a 9-3 vote
S30, Mike: Negated 4 votes against him in a 4-3 vote
S30, Jenn: Negated 7 votes against her in a 7-4-1 vote
S30, Carolyn: Negated 5 votes against her in a 5-2 vote
You have to go back to S29 to see someone get voted off with it still in their pocket, and even that season had three successful Idol plays (to go along with 2 people blindsided while having one).
Yes, you’re absolutely right; idols haven’t been wasted much in recent seasons.
I think what appealed to me about David’s idol play is that it was purely strategic, as opposed to people using the idol to save themselves. My all-time favorite Survivor power play was S20 (Heroes vs. Villains), when Parvati gave away two idols at Tribal Council and permanently crippled the Heroes in one stroke. Brilliant move, although Sandra ended up beating her anyway.
My initial thought was, “It’s too early to be playing an idol.” But the more I think about it, the more I like this move. As someone mentioned upthread, this is the kind of move that will look good to a jury. I think David has earned Jess’s loyalty (at least for a while), and they and Ken and CeCe seem reasonable enough to be able to talk out any differences they may have had before this vote, and move forward as a powerful bloc of four.
BUT, the upcoming shuffle could throw a wrench into everything. Should be fun!
Looks like Dopers on the edge of their seats for this season. I knew CeCe was toast just as soon as she gave her “we know we (X-ers) are safe and a Millennial we be going home” speech. David, against all odds, survives - and even found another HII, which he didn’t tell anybody about this time. Three little tribes, one already down to 4 members, re-merge better come pretty quick. And the lucky Green tribe - got nothing for you, go build a camp from scratch.
Didn’t 3 tribe idol challenges used to give a reward to the winner, especially in single-challenge episodes?
Dang, Michaela looked like Steph Curry, draining 3’s from downtown. She may have gotten a friendly edit, but I think her only miss went in & out.
Chris apparently went from playing big time college football, to law school. That’s impressive.
I figured CeCe was gone as soon as she turned in another pathetic challenge performance. She didn’t seem to really have any allies, either (unlike David, who is making up for his poor challenge play with good play elsewhere).
Was really hoping the two lovers would be separated, but alas…
And starting the fire when everybody else had given up. She was the most impressive player in any tribe IMHO.
I’m definitely a Michaela fan at the moment. I love the fighting spirit. Plus she seems nice. The only time I’ve really seen her negative is when she got on the green tribe. And honestly, I think I would be pretty upset too. Other than that she seems like a pretty positive person as well.
I won’t be sad to see David or Chris make it far. Chris is a powerhouse, but unlike some other former athletes we’ve seen recently he seems like a nice guy. He seems on the ball too. If he makes it far he could be very dangerous. Not sure if a pro-football player can win due to the already having money issue.
Nobody else really impresses me that much at this point, but it is still pretty early.
There’s nothing in his bio about pro football. Says he was a Sooner once, trial lawyer now.
Pfft. All that proves is I don’t know anything about football. 
I heard him say football and sooner and assumed it was a pro-team.
Disregard my previous comment.
In your defense, the distinction is sometimes fuzzy. 
Just caught up on the last two episodes.
I hated David in the beginning, but have become a fan of the Ken & David duo. Bummer they got split up in the reshuffle, but not a huge issue so far.
I’ve always been a fan of Chris and continue to be. Loved the way he dominated the reward challenge. Of course, “former college football player” and “tackle the other guy” challenges go together pretty well.
I kind of miss when they used to hide the HIIs in the actual challenges.
I’m hoping they make it to the merge and form an alliance with that one millennial that found the idol.
Speaking of which, I wonder if there’s another idol at the new camp.