WARNING: This story contains spoilers from this week’s episode of “Survivor.”
This idol’s on fire!
“Survivor 45” host Jeff Probst revealed that he was taken aback Wednesday when one contestant set the wax-encased immunity idol on fire in order to save herself from elimination during Tribal Council.
Appearing on the show’s podcast “On Fire,” Probst, 61, said that Sabiyah Broderick of the Lulu tribe found the idol while participating in last week’s episode, but because the tribe had lost every immunity challenge to date, they did not have enough flint to start a fire and secure the totem.
That small problem would not stop Broderick, 28, who surprised everyone and used the show’s already burning fire to do the work for her.
“We never considered that somebody would find this idol and still not have fire, and then be smart enough adapting to use the Tribal Council fire,” Probst said on the podcast. “When she puts it in the fire, yes, there is a part of me going, ‘This is fair, right?'”
According to the host, there were no formal rules against using the fire “because all the note says is, ‘You’ve got to burn the wax.'”
Broderick later told Entertainment Weekly the entire process took about half an hour.
“It took the whole time we waited,” Broderick told the outlet. “At one point, Jeff was like, ‘Alright, we’re just going to sit and watch.’ Because we kept looking out the corner of our eye and it was really a big spectacle.”
Probst later congratulated the contestant for her ingenuity.
“I gave Sabiyah a lot of credit for saying, ‘Yeah, the only fire I have in my life right now, Jeff, is at Tribal when I’m going to vote somebody out.’ I thought it was really cool,” admitted the host.
“I thought it was really interesting that you then get to see Sabiyah, she’s just accomplished this amazing goal, and she’s got it, and she’s got her vote back,” Probst said on the podcast. “Now she goes up in the booth and you watch her in real time read the note and realize, ‘Oh my God, this is only good for one Tribal unless I give my vote up again.'”
According to the host, there was “great rising tension in the drama.”
Sadly, things went poorly for Broderick as she was betrayed by her fellow competitors who got wind that she was going to betray them and was voted off the show.
“Honestly, watching it, it looks like it was kind of a rash decision. But again, I was up there for way too long,” Broderick said to EW. “I should have anticipated it being a multi-step idol. I didn’t, because there had been so many steps before [where] I’m thinking I’m opening the paper, ‘Hey girl, you got an idol!'”
Despite losing, Broderick praised the show’s editors for building the drama.
“The editing, they do such a great job of making the anticipation moment with the egg on my face, which is perfect. I loved it. I laughed. That’s why we love this show,” gushed the ex-contestant.
“Survivor” airs Wednesdays on CBS at 8 p.m. ET.