Survivor: Ghost Island episode 5 highlights: This is a cruel game

Going into Survivor: Ghost Island episode 5 on CBS, the one thing that we hoped for was not another Tribal Council for the new Malolo Tribe. Alas, this is what happened. Bradley and his alliance are so tight that it doesn’t feel as though there is any movement within there. This posed a giant challenge for the editors, given that there wasn’t a little bit of drama when it comes to a blindside vote.

The choice tonight was between Stephanie, Michael, and Jenna — this was a choice that was reverberated time and time again throughout the final half of this episode. We’ll get to that more in a moment — for now, let’s get to some other highlights from the week.

Best Move of the Week – We would say that it was Chris taking advantage of a moment at the new Naviti tribe in order to get closer to Donathan. It was personal, but it was also social and strategic. He’s such an obvious threat from a physical standpoint (the dude was basically Clayton Kershaw during the sandbag toss in the reward challenge) and he needs to figure out some other way to ensure his survival. This may not have changed anything, but we learned about Chris’ history with his mother and also that he’s far from done playing this game.

Worst Move of the Week – Who really did anything altogether wrong this week? We’d blame the Malolo players for not finding an immunity idol but we’re sure they went and looked. Stephanie wanted an advantage at Ghost Island and just couldn’t get it, and it appeared as though all three players in danger tonight did their best to fight.

Funniest Moment of the Week – We’re a big fan of awkward Jeff Probst comedy and we feel like there was some great stuff with him running during the immunity challenge while also trying to narrate. Did Jeff actually get a little winded at Tribal? It felt like it.

Standout Player – The editors are really a big fan of Stephanie, and not just because of those really colorful pants and her overall sense of enthusiasm. Other maybe Donathan she’s probably the most-developed of any of the people in the game. We’ve learned about her as a single mother, her leaving the Mormon church, and the confidence that she’s found within herself. She’s a person you want to root for basically every second she’s on-screen.

Elimination – Stephanie Johnson. That’s why tonight’s episode feels like such a dagger to lose her. She was our standout player this week! she had such enthusiasm and you could absolutely tell that she wanted to be there.

Unfortunately for Stephanie, Survivor is a cruel, cruel game and we wonder if her elimination had to just have to do with how badly she wanted to be there and how powerful a story she had. Out of the three new Malolo tribe members on her team, she is the one who easily wins if she makes it to the final three. She was too much of a threat in terms of her likability and that seemed to do her in.

One other thing worth noting: Bradley may be aggressively confident, but we do think that in some ways is good. It helps to stir things up and you want to have someone bringing some conflict.

What did you think about Survivor: Ghost Island episode 5 overall? Be sure to share some of your thoughts on that subject below!