That’s another episode of Survivor 46! An era has truly ended in Survivor 46 and I think I speak for the fandom when I say we are excited to move on from it. Let’s dive into the episode.
Sowing Chaos for Giggles in the Meme Tribe of Survivor 46
This was another episode with little to talk about in general except the Bhanu saga, but we at least got some storylines to look forward to now that Yanu’s destruction is nearing the end.
The Siga tribe is a bit of a walking meme at the moment. Ben continues to make rock music references and promote good vibes in the most stereotypical way. Charlie continues to work the algorithm and try to capture the Taylor Swift fandom. Moriah gets a whole storyline about her 2-inch vertical. Maria is forced… I mean… encouraged to sit in a totally not staged post-reward therapy session and share her traumas about experiencing failure as a child of immigrants (serious Survivor 41 Heather failed the challenge vibes… I shudder). Tim simply exists to look awkward in challenges and be a goof I guess. And Jem gets her puppet strings ready and stirs up some paranoia. Jem, like all of us at home, was getting a bit tired of the lack of dramatic development on the Siga tribe and rehid the beware advantage note. But because she already dug up the box and moved it to another location, when the whole tribe finds the note that tells them to dig directly under them, they don’t find anything. The savviness on Jem’s part is that when people started to ask questions, she could piggyback on other people’s theories and paint a big old target on whoever she wanted to, in this case Tim and Ben. Some good gameplay is refreshing given how this season has started.
The Shifting Tides of the Nami Tribe We’ve Barely Seen
The Nami tribe also exists! Unfortunately, their storylines have been focused on conflicts between Venus and other tribemates and Survivor doesn’t want to have villains anymore. Venus ended up taking a back seat to Tevin this week, who got his backstory while descaling fish. Tevin also regained a lot of control in the tribe by trading out Soda for Liz in his alliance. Soda, aka Queen Morale, has put in a ton of work trying to keep a dialogue open with every person in her tribe. However, when you are constantly seen pulling people aside for one-on-one conversation it allows people to imagine the worst. Tevin sees Soda’s active social game as a threat, and it does not take much work to get Hunter on his side with a new plan. Shockingly, keeping morale does not mean maintaining an annoyingly bubbly energy at all times and Soda might learn that the hard way.
If You Want to Win a Million Hearts, Go Volunteer
Bhanu went home in the most obvious tribal council exit in many, many seasons. There was no discussion, no backup plan, and not even a vote. It’s really hard to create an engaging episode when the ending has zero suspense to it. It was only made even harder by the continued spiral of Bhanu’s Survivor game, ability to act like an adult, faith in his god, etc.
We’ve gotten past comedy and tragedy at this point. After learning that there would be no tribal council, Bhanu decided that now is the perfect time to tell Tiffany and Q that he spilt all the tribe secrets to the people on the other tribes at his journey. If there was a chance for a blindside of Kenzie to happen, it was abandoned there. The cost of just having to live and deal with Bhanu is too much to bear. The tribe further treats him like a toddler as Q’s football-pilled brain takes it upon himself to teach Bhanu, a self-professed superfan, basic Survivor strategies. Kenzie lets the facade of liking Bhanu down for a second and snaps at the grown man for whining for some attention from her like a four year old (I don’t like Kenzie but she was totally justified to diss Bhanu here… it was pitiful behavior from a grown man). An incredibly poor challenge performance sends his tribe to yet another tribal council, and Bhanu spirals even further in his groveling to his tribemates and even snaps at his god for allowing him to experience consequences for completely preventable mistakes. Tiffany finally is straight with the man-child and tells him he is being voted out and he must accept it after Bhanu’s doomed-from-the-start idol search.
Survivor didn’t kick Bhanu on his way out the door, because it wasn’t necessary for them to… Bhanu had done that to himself already. Bhanu gets a chance to quickly shoehorn his backstory in new era fashion, Jeff offers some vapid advice for Bhanu to be his own guru (bad advice, Bhanu should not follow his own example), and Bhanu gets a hug on his way out the game. I think the sad part of it all is that at the moment, I can’t help but wonder if Bhanu actually learned anything during his time on the show. I imagine that Bhanu only affirmed to himself that his inability to have any emotional composure is still a good thing, and that his tribe was just being mean to him and didn’t want to be his friend. If Bhanu’s goal on the show was to inspire others, I don’t know if he even succeeded in that. He was just that awful at Survivor, and that annoying as a character. I didn’t think the trainwreck contestants of the Lulu tribe would be matched so quickly, and yet here we are.
I don’t want to talk about Bhanu anymore… I decided that after careful consideration, I enjoyed watching Bhanu fail. His presence in the season clogged the toilet that is Survivor 46 so far, and now that the blockage is gone maybe the season can spread its wings a bit.
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The New Unwritten Survivor Rule Award: Soda
After Queen Morale Soda’s antics earlier in the episode, I think we have to write in a new rule to Survivor etiquette: you aren’t allowed to sing songs at camp after the first three days. It’s clear she bursts out into songs all the time and Hunter, Venus, and Liz’s reactions say it all.
The Unintentional Clown Award: Q
I have to say it again, Q feeling like he HAS to coach Bhanu to be a better Survivor player is hilarious. It’s the only good thing that came out of the Bhanu storyline.
MVP of the Episode: Jem
I love pot-stirrers. The fact that Jem did the advantage clue plant for giggles I what I want to see more of.
Goat of the Episode: Bhanu
I’m done talking about Bhanu.
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PLAYER TIER LIST:
OUT OF THE GAME
18. Jelinsky
17. Jess
16. Randen
15. Bhanu — Done Talking About Him
BOTTOM OF THE TOTEM POLE
14. Venus
Notably, she was not clued into the Soda blindside plan… she’s still the easy vote in Nami, but if she survives to the merge her game can open up when she inevitably flips to a new alliance.
IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION
13. Soda
12. Tim
The girls suspect he may have the beware idol… he was more or less the first on their hit list anyway.
11. Kenzie
IN A GOOD SPOT FOR NOW
10. Q
9. Tiffany
I mean, Yanu’s screwed… they first have to stop losing, then they have to hope for a bloodbath between Siga and Nami so that they can just stay under the radar during the merge.
8. Liz
Hey, she’s a number in the ideal trio amongst Nami. Good things come to those who are incredibly successful multi-faceted girl bosses.
7. Ben
6. Moriah
5. Maria
I moved Maria out of the driver’s seat, simply off vibes. I don’t think she screams “Survivor 46 winner” to me anymore. Those vibes have moved to Jem for now.
IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT
4. Jem
3. Charlie the Swiftie
2. Hunter
1. Tevin
Strong episode for the Nami duo. They quietly run their tribe right now.
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I’m ready for someone other than Yanu to go to tribal council, and I can only hope that because Bhanu is gone, we learn more about actual likable people. Guess we’ll find out next week!