According to Lauren’s exit interviews, she was lying about not bringing the extra vote thing to Tribal Council. It was in her pocket the whole time.
She also said that she wishes she had attempted to retrieve the immunity idol piece from the fire.
It’s happened twice before, all cast votes being invalidated by Hidden Idols. In both cases, they did a revote - with everyone immune staying immune - the winner of the regular Idol and all players of Hidden Idols. Everyone is eligible to vote again too. The second time it happened, there were 5 immune players, and only one left to vote for (Cirie) so she was automatically eliminated.
It would have been a revote with those two now immune. Jeff explained that last season when everyone but Cirie had an idol.
I can’t believe those idiots let Ben just run loose looking for the HII!! I assume they will not repeat that mistake going forward.
Is this the first time someone has played an HII without us the audience seeing them find it first? I was completely convinced that it was fake due to that alone.
In past seasons, the HIIs can’t be used once there are 5 or fewer survivors left, so they should be done. But yeah, they absolutely should have been following him everywhere with at least 2 people.
In that case, Ben better win immunity or he’s toast. In fact, he needs to win it twice. He has played the best game so far, so I would like to see him win, but I don’t give him very good odds.
Truly, unbelievable. Oh look, Ben left the shelter awhile ago, he’s looking for an idol. Ok, and it never ever crossed anyone’s mind that maybe he found it?
Yeah, not smart to let Ben find the idol again. They should all have been out looking for it and/or keeping an eye on Ben.
Without an idol in play, I think it would have been extremely foolish to target Ashley. Despite the editing, though, I don’t think they planned to go that way. But once Ben played the idol, the choice was clear. She got a little too pissy over not getting picked for the reward.
If I’m not mistaken, idols can be used up to and including the final five (I’m sure someone will correct me if I’m wrong). If so, I predict the same damn thing happening again.
Nevertheless, these have been some highly entertaining TC’s. At this point, I’m actually hoping Ben makes it to the final 3, just to see how the vote goes,
If you’re sitting on the jury, you have to see Ben as the dominant player, no question about it. I suppose if you want to vote against him because you don’t like him, you can, but no one else is even close at this point. But the game is not over!!
“Dominant” doesn’t ensure jury votes - think Russell Hantz.
While Ben is nowhere near as despised as Russell (no one may ever be), the social game is important.
I can’t quite put my finger on just where Ben lands on the dislike-the-player/respect-the-game curve. Some jurors vote for dominance, others for honesty, others for their alliances in the game, and behaviors that are rewarded in the end change from season to season. That’s what makes the whole endeavor so fascinating.
Let’s put it this way: No one is playing a better game than Ben, which is why they all want to get rid of him. No one wants him in the final 3, because they’re afraid they will lose to him.
No thanks! 
Six of the Seven Immunity Challenge have been won by females which I believe is unprecedented.
Ashley & Chrissy won two each, Lauren won the Squat challenge, and Desi won the first one. The only male who won Immunity Challenge was Cole.
Yeah, I was aghast at them letting Ben look for a HII alone myself. In one of his interviews Probst says that there’s a lot of ground out there and people frequently search and come up with nothing, and that they’re tired and don’t want to just follow him around… obviously I haven’t been in that position myself, but I’m betting Ashley was wishing she had done something about it now.
I think Ben wins if he makes it, but he’ll likely need to win both immunities. They’ve shown people annoyed with him at points, but I think enough people like him socially (especially if he’s sitting next to Chrissy at the end, so she can’t vote against him).
Chrissy I think has burnt too many bridges socially and can’t win even if she makes it to the end, even though I think she’s played a pretty impressive game. Maybe over Ryan and Mike?
If I had to pick a winner I’d go with Devon at this point.
Devon, agreed.
I think the remaining players are all fairly lazy except Ben. (Not an insult: I’m as lazy as any of them.)
What do you guys think about Ben playing the idol before the vote? It seemed bold in the moment, but reflecting on it, I’m not sure there’s any good reason to do it.
I think he did it in advance to stir up trouble with the rest of them as they scrambled to decide for whom to vote. He wants to break the alliance.
Exactly. If he waits until after the vote, everyone blames him for whoever goes home and he’s still public enemy #1. By forcing them to eat one of their own, he was hoping to expose cracks in the alliance.
I’m not sure it worked, but there was really no downside for him.
Yeah, I don’t think it worked either, but it was a smart move to try. What I don’t understand is why he wanted to send Mike home so badly. Of those remaining, Mike is the guy you want to take to the final 3 as he has no chance of winning.
I thought you had to wait for the votes to be cast to play the idol.
I expected Jeff to say, “This might be an immunity idol. You will have to re-play it(or not) after the votes are cast.”
I agree with the lady who said Ben is “too much” with his reactions. Doing the explosion noise was childish and will not win him votes.
I see your point. It has to be considered a bust then, because everyone voted for the same person. I think it would have only been successful if there was a splintering among those still in the game. Then he could have tried to slide in with one of those factions.
You can, and they noted that although Ben displayed the idol early, he would’ have to play it. But then he decided to forgo that and play it early but giving it to Jeff. But I think there is a time limit past which you cannot play the idol, but no early limit for doing so.