That’s another episode of Survivor 46! This certainly was the worst episode of the season, but I found plenty of reasons to talk about one specific castaway. Let’s dive into the episode.
I Didn’t Come to Win a Million Dollars
No Bhanu, it seems you did not. How much of this is his own fault can be debated, but at the moment no one has been relegated to such a hopeless status this early in the game as Bhanu. After tribal council Bhanu learned that there was this whole fake idol plan to eliminate Jess he was left out of. Bhanu is a lot of things, but he isn’t (completely) stupid: he got confirmation that he is clearly the next one to be voted out in this tribe and no fancy spin zone from the dominant alliance is going to change his opinion. Because Bhanu loves Survivor he isn’t going to go out without trying to fight, but there may not be a more hopeless situation we’ve seen in the new era so far. Part of his plight is certainly situational, but it has to be acknowledged that Bhanu has found himself dead in the water because of his poor gameplay. The rest of his tribe openly critiqued his inability to hide motives and employ even the tiniest amount of Survivor-standard deception, and his tribe is hungry for strong gamers. That is antithetical to who Bhanu is.
At least Bhanu tried. He looked for an idol (even though we know it has already been found).He begged Kenzie for a chance to prove himself, but Kenzie required Bhanu to come to her with a plan, a response dripping with condescension as Kenzie is the one with the power and probably wouldn’t entertain any type of Bhanu plan anyway. I’m sure he also tried to convince Tiffany of his worth, but based on Tiffany’s own commentary of the tribe situation it felt unlikely that she would want to move forward with Bhanu when she feels that Kenzie values their alliance.
Q seriously entertained a future including Bhanu as he continued to push for a blindside of Kenzie. He couldn’t have sold a worse partnership to Bhanu. He straight up told Bhanu that he could be the PHILLIP SHEPPARD to Q’s BOSTON ROB. Yes, the pink panty wearing “special agent” who got to the end by being a willing goat and human punchline.
It is not a player comparison that any Survivor fan would want to be associated with, but this is the unfortunate reality of Bhanu’s situation. He has to agree to follow Q’s commands, and because Bhanu has no ability to lie or deceive it is believable that he sticks with Q on conviction. That’s probably why Q felt so open to calling Bhanu an “asset” because is convinced Bhanu will just do whatever he wants if Q can save him in this one vote.
Would Q have actually been able to blindside Kenzie or is he just all talk? I don’t know, probably not. While Q makes good arguments to take out Kenzie now when it is easy and she is most vulnerable, I believe Tiffany would not have budged in her stance to vote out Bhanu. Q missed his window to easily blindside Kenzie last episode while Jess was still around.
I Came to Win a Million Hearts
Despite clearly being the weakest player in the game right now, Bhanu dominated the episode with antics that, while certainly over-the-top, feel like genuine reactions. He was thrown a lifeline after the immunity challenge when the Nami tribe chose to bring our dead-to-rights castaway along for a journey, where he could earn an advantage that changes his game. There was some anxiety from the Yanu tribe not just because an advantage could complicate a very easy vote, but there was a legitimate worry that Bhanu would gossip about his tribe and throw all of them under the bus before the merge. That is exactly what happened as Bhanu used his time to vent and cry and get on his knees and pray about his situation, telling the spectating Liz and Ben every secret about what occurred in his tribe, not hesitating to expose Kenzie, Tiffany, and Q’s games. The funniest part of all of it is that Liz and Ben are likely the most tolerant people for openly emotional hyper-spiritual behavior that could have possibly gone on the journey and even they thought Bhanu’s behavior was a bit odd.
In the end, Bhanu does get a chance to complete a cube puzzle for a mystery advantage but as you would expect, he gets more frazzled the longer he works on it and loses his vote instead. In the end, Bhanu got the miracle he prayed for with a medical DQ at another camp, at least blessing him with a few more days in Survivor.
I’m still deciding if I like Bhanu, or if I just like watching Bhanu, or if I just like watching Bhanu fail. Your perception of him depends on what you make of the emotion he can’t help but exude in every moment on screen. His key quote in this episode sets the tone: “I didn’t come to Survivor to win a million dollars; I came to win a million hearts”. I can see people loving the passion and pure honesty Bhanu takes with him in every interaction, and it is clear that he loves the game. Then again, you look at his Survivor mantra and can’t overlook the Michael Scott-like stupidity to it.
Bhanu isn’t a fictional character, he’s a real person who really acts with emotional control of a child. That’s why he’s perfect for the show yet polarizing to watch. The fact that he is not only bad at Survivor but also in an impossibly bad situation that even a great Survivor player probably couldn’t dig out of, makes it all sweeter.
So I’m cool with a Bhanu-centric episode. I’d prefer Bhanu go home soon though, preferably after Kenzie for the irony, because his whole schtick will get old soon (if it hasn’t already for some people)… especially if he ends up with the positive goat storyline.
Oh BTW Randen was Medivaced
Bhanu didn’t go home tonight because Randen may have had a bulging disk that would require an MRI so he had to get pulled from the game. There’s not much to say. It’s sad for Randen. It’s bad for Venus. I’m surprised Randen wasn’t freaking out more that his whole right side of his body went numb.
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Oddest Storyline: Jem Finding the Idol Box… Four Days Ago
Ninety minute episodes is a great thing for Survivor. The tradeoff is episodes like this where there is clearly not enough content available to fill all the time. Big picture, the episode was an obvious boot episode where we really had to stretch out the drama and pull in a few red herrings in an attempt to not make the result seem so obvious. There’s clearly nothing going on at the other camps which is why production chose, maybe for the first time ever, to GO BACK IN TIME (Erika, did you do this?) to show what ended up being a boring idol discovery by Jem.
I think we could’ve used a tribe swap this episode to shake things up and save the floundering Yanu tribe. My watch party crew discussed during the episode that because tribes aren’t given rice or flint or food after the first tribal council anymore, we’ve repeatedly seen this “snowball effect” where one tribe can’t win immunity and gets decimated. It happened with Tika and Lulu in the last two seasons and it has happened again. I don’t really know why the show hasn’t implemented this contingency plan to mix tribes up if teams are clearly unfair, because they certainly have done it in the past.
The Mermaid-Dragon Award: Kenzie
Was Bhanu thinking of a gorgon or a siren from Greek mythology or did he just decide to create his own hybrid creature to describe Kenzie? Side note: I think Kenzie would be the type of person who wants to be compared to a gorgon, but more in the Medusa “dangerous temptress” sort of way.
Biggest Stereotype: Ben is a Rock Musician
Ben go ten minutes without saying “shred” or “rock” challenge: (IMPOSSIBLE)
I only mention this because he was part of the journey rock draw and could not stop acknowledging the pun. Or maybe it just needs to be said before we get too far in the season..
MVP of the Episode: Hunter
Amongst the Bhanu heavy episode, Hunter got some shine as a superfan who makes challenges for kids (unlike Carson who made challenges to train for his inevitable Survivor appearance).. He looks to be a powerhouse player who is well liked amongst the tribe, only targeted by the one outcast in Nami. And he dominated the sandbag toss in the immunity challenge.
Goat of the Episode: Q
Me thinking Q was going to get a backstory arc only to just talk about fumbling in his high school football game… bruh. Q’s stock took a tumble in my book with all the football-speak and his inflated view of himself as a power player (I mean, he compared himself to Boston Rob). But let’s dispel the whole “Q wanted to get voted out” narrative that the show spun. Rule number one of watching reality TV: if a sensational quote is said but you don’t see it come out of the person’s mouth, take it with a grain of salt. It was a frankenbite and I think it was used out of context to add some uncertainty to what looked like an obvious Bhanu vote.
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PLAYER TIER LIST:
OUT OF THE GAME
18. Jelinsky
17. Jess
16. Randen
BOTTOM OF THE TOTEM POLE
15. Bhanu
14. Venus
No Randen means no allies for Venus. She has to hope her tribe gets antsy and desires a big blindside before the merge (if they even go to tribal council) over making the easy vote.
IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION
13. Liz
12. Kenzie
Even if Kenzie doesn’t get blindsided and makes it to the merge, Bhanu’s scathing review of Kenzie’s manipulative social game makes her prime for a consensus early post-merge boot.
IN A GOOD SPOT FOR NOW
11. Ben
10. Tim
9. Moriah
8. Jem
Methinks Siga doesn’t go to tribal council before the merge.
7. Q
6. Soda
5. Hunter
Yes, Venus called out Hunter as a huge threat… but she is an outcast on her tribe. The rest of Nami values his easy-going attitude and challenge strength. The question mark now becomes: will Hunter become a big target once the merge occurs?
IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT
4. Tiffany
While Tiffany is the safest on Yanu due to her relationship with Q and Kenzie, long term I don’t see any of her tribe making a long run in the game as they limp their way to the merge… so I can’t keep her in the number one spot
3. Tevin
2. Maria
1. Charlie the Swiftie
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How many more hearts will Bhanu win next week? Ten million? Twenty million? A billion? We’ll find out next week!