Survivor 2011: Redemption Island Episode 1 Results

Survivor returned tonight with the first Redemption Island episode and it looks like this could be as good as we had hoped!

The 16 castaways landed on the shore and split in to the two tribes only to be quickly followed by Rob and Russell. After drawing tags from a bag, Rob went to Ometepe while Russell headed over to Zapatera. Not so surprisingly, Rob received cheers from his new tribe while Russell got just a few claps. The big bombshell fell next when Probst revealed the big twist of the season: Redemption Island. One thing worth noting there, Probst didn’t specify when the Redemption Survivor would return to the game other than “at some point.”

Zapatera arrives at their camp first and quickly gets to work setting up camp after a short speech from Russell. He promises them he’s only there to be good and won’t be sabotaging anyone this time around. I’m not thinking anyone was buying that for a minute! Overall, the team comes together well and gets their shelter set up for what looks to be a lot of rain this season.

Ometepe was a love fest as the group congratulated themselves on getting Rob on their team, assuming Zapatera was falling apart with Russell in their mix. The big stand out from Ometepe would have to be Phillip who showed himself to be a bit of a conceited jerk. I think I’ll be ready for him to leave before any day now.

Kristina struck out on her own and sure enough, discovered the coveted Immunity Idol and then quickly hid it in another location. Smart gal! Let’s see how long it goes before we see that come in to play.

The first Survivor Redemption Island immunity challenge was pretty cool. Tribes had to push a series of large blocks down a runway to create a series of steps, then cut loose a ladder, and finally assemble a patterned pyramid. Zapatera took a huge lead when they got all the way to the last stage before Ometepe could even complete the first stage. But could they keep that advantage?!

The gap closed at the very end but Zapatera managed to pull out the win. Sorry, Boston Rob! Someone from Ometepe is going home tonight.

The first Tribal Council is explosive. Woohoo! Phillip exposes Kristina and Fran’s plan to eliminate Boston Rob on the first night and even worse is when he shouts out that Kristina has the Immunity Idol! Hilarious. Rob offers Kristina her safety if she gives him the Immunity Idol, but she declines.

Ometepe places their votes in the jar. Jeff reads out the votes one by one and as the final count nears there is a tie between Kristina, Phillip, and Francesca. In the end, Francesca was eliminated with 4 votes against her while Kristina earned 3 votes and Phillip had 2. After a warning to not trust Phillip, Francesca heads off to Redemption Island to await her first challenger.

Fun fact: The Survivor Blur-Cam was back in full swing tonight protecting us from butts and crotches all night. Gee, thanks CBS for shielding us from the dangers of Ashley’s and Natalie’s private bits!