Who went home on ‘Survivor’ tonight? Season 51 Episode 3 sees one castaway quit while another is blindsided
‘Survivor’ Season 51 Episode 3, titled 'What I’m Smellin’ Is Stinky,' featured Day 6, where Rob Antonson struggled to sleep and wanted to quit the game. Although he said his foot was injured and winced in pain, the medic couldn’t find any visible issue. Rob said he had an infection, but the team couldn’t find any "medical evidence" of one. Host Jeff Probst then announced that Rob wasn't pulled from the competition, but decided to quit. Some teammates also wondered whether he left the Savu tribe because of his “emotional injury” from the previous vote.
Viewers witnessed Rob leaving the CBS show while the two injured players, one with a broken foot and the other with a severed thumb, were still in the game. Notably, before leaving, Rob gave his hidden idol to Carter Krull. While Rob’s teammates told the host he might have left because the game was not in his favor, Jeff shared his thoughts in his “Field Notes” on Instagram. He wrote, “Rob’s decision to voluntarily leave the game caught me off guard. He had said in interview that he stepped on something in the ocean, but never once asked for medical to check him out. That’s unusual as we check in on the players quite frequently.” He added, “When we finally had Dr. Barry give him an examination at camp, Dr. Barry couldn’t find anything wrong with Rob. To be clear, that doesn’t mean he wasn’t in pain. It only means we couldn’t find any medical evidence of anything wrong.”
According to the host’s observations, Rob “looked and sounded emotionally exhausted.” He wrote, “Survivor humbles you very quickly and can get you in a variety of ways. Days four, five and six are often VERY tough for players. This is a threshold point that you have to get past. If you can find a way through the desire to give up, you almost always find that second wind.” The host also noted the “speculation” from Rob’s tribemates and said that “they believe he engineered a quit.”
After Rob’s exit, the episode featured an elimination following the participants’ votes. Rob’s tribe won the immunity challenge in Episode 3, while Carter joined the Toka tribe via a mutiny. Lewis Kelly also returned after the exile. At this point, a five-person alliance comprising Devin Way, Brady, Jelly Loblack, Mike Pinsky, and Patt Cannaday dominated the group. However, they were blindsided when the rest of the participants voted out Patt. The host pointed out that Patt had “alpha energy” and was “very driven.” His Field Notes also mentioned that her elimination was a “reminder that being capable and being in control are two very different things.”
