Was it worth a shot?
Adam tried to make Survivor history on Wednesday's episode of the CBS reality competition -- but things didn't exactly work out in his favor. Actually, things failed miserably.
The Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X winner spent most of Wednesday's episode of Winners at War discussing how convinced he was that there was an idol inside host Jeff Probst's podium at tribal council.
"That might actually be a live idol. In the chance that I'm right, I think I have a way to save myself," he told the camera at the beginning of the episode.
While it didn't seem that way at first, Adam actually did need to "save" himself. With Kim winning immunity, the newly-merged tribe was divided with their votes ahead of this week's tribal council. Some of the tribe had their sights set on voting out Nick, while others wanted to vote out Sarah -- for giving up her reward to Nick. (It was a "genuine" gesture for his birthday, she explained, but others saw a huge target on her back.)
When word started circulating that it was Adam who started the plot against Sarah, he became the new target. "Literally a bomb went off when my name came out of someone's mouth. Adam, you threw my name out, mistake brother. You don't throw my name out, and you're going to learn the hard way," Sarah told the camera. "Your a** is going to go home."
Things erupted even further at tribal council, with perhaps the most whispering we've ever seen. That's also where Adam and Ben started fighting about whether Adam's name was being written down -- and when nobody would answer his question of whether he was going home, Adam knew what he had to do. Rather, he knew what he had to attempt to do.
The castaways voted, and before reading the votes, Jeff asked whether anyone had an idol to play. Adam went straight for the podium, yanking at the symbol he thought would become an idol. "Damn. Nothing," he huffed as the symbol wouldn't budge. "Looked like maybe it was something. Worth a shot."
Jeff, with a poker face like none other, asked Adam if he wanted "to play... this thing you can't get off of the voting podium." "[This would be] the first idol ever hidden at tribal council," he noted as Adam's excitement grew at the possibility of both saving himself and pulling off a Survivor first.
Then, Jeff delivered the hard truth. "That is... not a hidden immunity idol. Just part of the voting podium. Any votes cast for Adam will still count," he confirmed. The votes were read: Sarah, Adam, Nick, Adam, Nick, Adam, Adam, Adam, Adam -- sending Adam to the Edge of Extinction.
"I made one too many mistakes. Three strikes and you're out in this game," Adam said, noting that his belief in the fake podium idol "allowed me to play more aggressively than I should have, and it cost me."
Next week, it's "war." "The question is who's going to be dead in the trenches," Sophie said in the teaser. Ben promised "there will be blood," while Sarah is sure "it'll end badly."
Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.
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