Or is the problem that everyone already realizes how good he is at it?
Judging by all his pre-game press,hecertainly knows it.
But the stark reality is this: Kaleb Gebrewold is really good atSurvivor.
The cast of ‘Survivor 45’.Robert Voets/CBS
Wetalked about it last week.
When everyone else on Lulu saw Emily as a toxic member of the tribe, Kaleb saw something else.
Instead of pushing Emily away, he drew her in closer.
The Belo tribe on ‘Survivor 45’.Robert Voets/CBS
He empathized with her.
He gained her loyalty and her trust.
(At least as much as Emily would ever be loyal to or trust anyone.)
Sifu Alsup, Drew Basile, and Austin Li Coon on ‘Survivor 45’.Robert Voets/CBS
And that move paid off in a huge way this week.
Emily went straight to Kaleb, explaining the double-cross was on.
“This is not Emily trying to save her ass.
The Lulu tribe on ‘Survivor 45’.Robert Voets/CBS
This is Emily trying to saveyourass.”
And save it she did.
Because when she was at her lowest, Kaleb was there.
Kaleb Gebrewold, Sean Edwards, Emily Flippen, and Sabiyah Broderick on ‘Survivor 45’.Robert Voets/CBS
Did Kaleb truly care that much about Emily’s feelings?
But Kaleb is a salesman, and in Emily, he saw a potential customer.
And in this case, what Kaleb was selling was himself, and Emily bought all the way in.
Austin Li Coon and Sabiyah Broderick on ‘Survivor 45’.Robert Voets/CBS
Kaleb deserves all the credit in the world for that.
However, there is another side to all this.
The problem with Kaleb just exudingSurvivorwinner is that… well, Kaleb exudesSurvivorwinner.
It pours out of every pore.
There’s nothing subtle about his full-on charm offensive.
Did you see him wishing the other teams luck before the immunity challenge?
Sabiyah and Sean picked up on it.
And we saw Reba all notice it when he came to do the camp raid.
In normal life, everyone would be like, “Holy cow, Kaleb is amazing!
Love that guy!”
OnSurvivor, however, it becomes “Holy cow, Kaleb is amazing!
Wehaveto get rid of that guy!”
And that is what ultimately could cost him.
For one episode, however, his social skills saved him.
He’s just too good.
And maybe too good to win.
Okay, let’s hit on what else went down in episode 3 ofSurvivor 45.
Mellow as a Belo
Winning as a tribe onSurvivoris amazing!
You get stuff like fishing gear and fruit.
But here’s the thing:Survivorplayers are inherently impatient people.
And it’s true, we haven’t seen a lot of the Maria Belo tribe so far.
We’ve seen some astrology talk.
We’ve seen Bruce play peekaboo on a boat.
We’ve seen Jake essentially profess his undying adulation for anyone who can do the Robot.
And that’s kinda it.
Jake and Kendra made a connection (“He is easy going, I am me”).
That was nice, but everything else was just sort of more of the same.
More of Kellie and Brando playing the middle and deciding which side to go with.
It’s all good stuff.
But you know what it’s not?
And frankly, enough said.
Find an immunity idol!
Just findsomething, damnit!
That has been Reba’s claim to airtime fame this season.
Another way to get yourself on screen?
Get caught awkwardly doing something you are not supposed to be doing.
It could be Sifu doing the world’s worst Tony Vlachos impersonation.
And not just walking away, but walking away THE WRONG WAY!
It was so gloriously uncomfortable.
If Colin Robinson is the energy vampire, than I am most definitely the awkward energy vampire.
I feed on this stuff, and my belly was more than full after this amazing lack of composure.
The interesting thing about Drew… or Basile… About the clue Austin found to the Goodwill Advantage Kaleb gave Drew.
And with a tribe swap coming up next week, does it even matter?
(Notice it did not say the merge.)
And if he was willing to sacrifice a second vote, the idol would gain even more power.
What does that mean?
I have no idea!
Which we saw play out later in the episode in very dramatic fashion.
Lulu losers no more!
I askedJeff Probsta few weeks ago all abouttransitioning to 90-minute episodesthis season and if that meant more reward challenges.
His answer was basically… no.
And I would like to hereby draw attention to the fact thatProbst’s pants are on fire.
And a fun one.
But I’m just being honest.
I don’t even know why I singled out the face.
People can fall on whatever body part they want.
(See: Kendra McQuarrie, episode 2,Survivor 45) It’s all wildly entertaining to me.
Which is why Brandon rules.
Because he embraced every element of theSurvivorexperience, even the ones he was terrible at.
Well, that’s not entirely true.
He didn’t exactly embrace Beware Advantages, but the point still stands.
OH, HOLY S—-!
While I was typing that last paragraph, Lulu actually went and won that challenge?
Hold on, I just went back and rewatched and they definitely did win.
The tide has turned!
The self-proclaimed Lulu losers have now tasted victory, and the taste is sweet.
All hail the new challenge beasts of Lulu and long may they reign!!!!
And then…
Yeah, they lost the very next challenge.
Like, it wasn’t even close.
And this one was actually important.
What was interesting about this is not that Lulu lost.
I mean… been there, done that.
But go back and watch the way the end of the challenge was edited.
They just can’t catch a break.
You have to feel bad for them.
But what if another option emerged?
Say goodbye, Sabiyah
We’ve already touched on Sabiyah’s downfall.
She and Sean decided they should take the early shot at Kaleb, even though that seemed massively premature.
Because why would he trust Emily over Sabiyah otherwise?
Either way, that was Sabiyah’s undoing.
But there was a wrinkle: her immunity idol encased in wax.
She needed to melt the wax off in the tribe fire.
Just one problem: The tribe had no fire!
So Sabiyah had to improvise, bringing her candle to Tribal Council and putting it straight into the flame.
(WHAT IS WITH ALL THE MICHAEL SKUPIN CALL-OUTS THIS WEEK?!
I’m sure Jake and Sabiyah arepositively thrilledto be compared to that guy.
If Sabiyah went for immunity, she was safe.
If she didn’t, she might be going home.
