After the disastrous performances displayed in the first two episodes of Survivor 45, we finally got to see the players find their rhythm. For the first time this season, it felt like we were watching people actually play the game rather than just lose.
In episode three, we watched the players on all three teams work together toward a common goal. Reba found an idol and won immunity, Belo went fishing and stayed safe, and Lulu finally won a challenge.
Although Lulu went to the tribal council for the third time in a row — Hannah Rose quit and Brandon Donlon was a liability — it wasn’t because of someone’s inability to perform.
With all that said, there were two takeaways from Survivor 45 episode 3.
Survivor 45 Episode 3 Recap
Kaleb the Star
Lulu’s Kaleb Gebrewold, a 29-year-old software salesman from Vancouver, was the star of episode three. He was the one all of the team members sought for advice and he even transformed the most contentious player this season, Emily Flippen, into a likable person.
For those reasons, his team picked him to “raid” team Reba’s camp for some of their fishing gear. What his team didn’t know was that being the person to raid the camp, he was also awarded a “goodwill advantage” to win back a vote, which he was permitted to share with a stranger.
However, while he was schmoozing with the enemy, his three teammates discussed what to do if they had to vote again. Sabiyah Broderick and Sean Edwards agreed that Kaleb’s social skills were too dangerous to keep around and would prove dangerous later in the game.
In the end, though, the 28-year-old truck driver and former Marine, Broderick, was voted out two-to-one. The reason for that was partly due to Gebrewold’s alliance with Flippen and the fact that she lost her vote and opted to not use her idol.
“I didn’t vote because I just didn’t think I needed to,” Broderick said. “I mean, after all of the conversations that I had I was sure it was Kaleb going home tonight. Even though I got blindsided, you blindside the best players. You blindside the players that you’re afraid of, so it’s good to know that they were scared.”
Why Did Jake Faint?
Besides who won and who lost, there was one other thing that seemed important to note.
With all of the health scares being broadcasted on TV, especially among our aging politicians, it was a little shocking to see 26-year-old Jake O’Kane faint at the beginning of the episode.
Kendra McQuarrie, the 31-year-old bartender from Colorado, who witnessed the fall, called the incident “really, really scary.”
“Jake kind of took a tumble and it looked almost like a small seizure,” she said, adding he was “shaky” and then just snapped out of it.
In his own words, O’Kane explained that he was trying to blow on the fire to get the embers started and then saw stars.
“I felt my whole hand start shaking and everything. Like my body was just convulsing,” he said. “I may have fell over. I really don’t know. That was a really scary moment.”
When you go to the tape, you see Jake standing after blowing on the embers. He has a slight smile yet his eyes look glassy. Then, all of a sudden, he falls to his hands and knees, and almost face-plants completely as his arms buckle.
He reasoned that he involuntarily collapsed because he had consumed very little food and water during his six days on the island. He added that he wasn’t worried, though, because Survivor was a “once-in-a-lifetime thing.”
And that’s all we got for a diagnosis. But it’s okay. It helped him strengthen his alliance with McQuarrie.
Watch Survivor on Wednesday nights at 8 p.m. on CBS.
