That’s another episode of Survivor 46! Yanu finally sees the light at the end of the tunnel, and a castaway plays herself out of the game. Let’s dive into the episode.
Yanu Finally Gets a Dub
It’s a huge sigh of relief to see the Yanu tribe, culled down to its competent Survivor players, finally avoid tribal council and receive the flint they’ve needed for 11 days. The tribe was truly at its lowest point after the Bhanu vote. Camp life has been reduced to sitting around and trying not to expend energy. Gathering food was no longer an option, as the group expressed they were basically down to eating a coconut a day. This isn’t what anyone imagines their Survivor experience going, so to see the trio earn some respite was satisfying.
It didn’t even look like they were going to win the challenge at first. The group got off to a predictably slow start in the jungle gym, and while they got lucky with keys they lost the lead on the dexterity hook section. But at the catapults the crew pulled through, and Survivor actually used slow-mo properly to add to the suspense of the final catapult shot.
With the merge coming in the next episode, I can only wonder what happens to this underdog trio. Have they weathered the storm? Now that the game becomes individual, can they gain some agency and capitalize on some more success? I think it’s looking good now. This season, the vibe heading into the merge has been the least “tribe-strong” in a minute, with battle lines drawn in Siga and a lot of unresolved tension in Nami. This bodes well and offers a possible Tika Three scenario where they can play the middle… if they are smart with it.
You’re Not Boston Rob
Siga goes to their first tribal council of the season, where we get our first true blindside of the season. The initial vibe of the tribe was that the numbers were split between the women and the men, with Charlie as the swing vote. A “Charlie’s Angels” alliance was adopted on one side, while the duo of Tim and Ben believed Maria and Charlie would vote on their side. From what we had seen so far, it looked like the girls+Charlie alliance was the stronger group, and initial strategic discussions at the start of the episode focused on whether to get Ben, a social threat, out or Tim, a possible idol holder (because Jem and stirred trouble by moving the box), out. With Maria’s extra vote and Ben not having a vote, it seemed the girls had all the power.
But this tribe had not needed to experience the tribal council paranoia yet. With the threat of a vote looming, one seemingly composed castaway was exposed as an insecure player. Jem had looked like a threat from her idol hijinks, but when she actually had to use her social game to get reads on people, things fell apart incredibly fast. It seems Jem’s strategy was to simply try to bully and intimidate, as she aggressively and unnecessarily hawked Ben and Tim for “information”. Bullying can work in Survivor… just ask Boston Rob, who used intimidation tactics well in some of his seasons. Jem is clearly not Boston Rob, and the intimidation strategies fell incredibly flat. Nothing was done with tact, and it made it very easy for the two guys to appeal to the swing voters Charlie and Maria that Jem’s actions would become a problem very, very soon.
For someone who seemed to have their head on straight, Jem’s social strategy was embarrassingly bad. Why didn’t she trust in her alliance? Did having to search for the idol mess with her reasoning? If Jem actually felt like she was in trouble then I understand the aggressive scrambling a bit more, but at the end of the day she felt comfortable enough to hold on to her idol once the votes were made. Optics matter in Survivor, how you carry yourself when the pressure is on is vital to building trust. Jem ran around like she would hack someone with a machete if she was given the wrong answer. That’s not what you want in an ally when things are only going to get more tense.
Merge Vibe Check
As I like to do before merge episodes, let’s review advantages and dynamics each tribe has at this point in the game.
Yanu is simple. The remaining three castaways are working together. Both Q and Kenzie believe Tiffany is their number one and have hinted at blindsiding each other, with Q more aggressively pursuing possible Kenzie blindside plans. Tiffany has the idol and we aren’t really sure who her number one is.
Siga’s dynamics are mostly figured out now that they’ve voted a castaway out. Tim and Ben have an alliance and are currently working with the duo of Maria and Charlie. Moriah is now a free agent as she was riding with the girl’s alliance that just got broken apart. Because the idol was taken home with Jem and the extra vote was used by Maria, there are no advantages within the group anymore.
Nami hasn’t been to tribal council yet but there are plenty of social lines drawn within the group. The strongest alliance is between Tevin and Hunter. The duo has recruited Liz to vote with them and while they have outwardly agreed to work with Soda, internally they have planned to vote her out. Soda has been active socially with everyone in her tribe but she is also seen as a threat and target for blindside, and it is worth noting that people like Hunter and Venus are generally annoyed by her excessive energy. Venus is a social outcast with zero allies, and she has said she will flip against her tribe the first moment she gets. Liz has allies but she is also a bit of a social outcast. Hunter won’t be able to vote in the next tribal council due to the failed journey challenge, but he will get his idol now that the tribes are merging. Maybe Tevin has an extra vote because of the journey from the first episode? To be honest it’s not clear to me if he got one like Maria did.
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The Shameless Nostalgia Bait Award: Survivor Logo Journey Challenge
I don’t know if the show has ever done a legend montage more pointless and shameless than what they did at the journey. Was there a quota they had to fill? Did the show think fans need an old-school dopamine hit to get through this week’s episode? I just want to know why.
Also, I had been saying that Hunter knows ball, but the fact that he failed this journey challenge makes me question things. I get that 11 days of hunger slows your brain down, but putting Survivor seasons in order should be cake for superfans. I’m shocked the show doesn’t have its castaways pass a superfan test before going on the show since it’s a requirement nowadays.
The Shameless History Erasure Award: “New Era” Records
Ironically in the same episode that the show splice film of past Survivor players so gratuitously, Jeff decided to acknowledge Yanu breaking “New Era” records with their losing streak, erasing forty seasons of history in the process. Yanu may have broken a no-flint record (don’t care to confirm), but they aren’t breaking a tribe losing streak record because Palau exists. It’s ironic too, because Lulu from last season would have earned this “New Era” record if they didn’t swap the tribes… but Yanu went through the same losing streak, but no tribe swap this time!
Whatever. I do think it’s interesting when the show itself acknowledges that this is indeed an era of Survivor that should be looked at separately than the other eras, which were more fan-given names than anything show-driven.
MVP of the Episode: Tim
He actually got airtime this week and looked like a competent Survivor player in the process. Maybe this is the beginning of Tim’s winners edit? Or maybe he goes home next week. Who knows?
Goat of the Episode: Jem
I really thought Jem could have been a possible winner of the season last week, but when faced with her first tribal council she just completely lost her head.
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PLAYER TIER LIST:
OUT OF THE GAME
18. Jelinsky
17. Jess
16. Randen
15. Bhanu
14. Jem
BOTTOM OF THE TOTEM POLE
13. Venus
I don’t think she got the memo that Survivor isn’t doing villains anymore.
IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION
12. Soda
11. Moriah
In my opinion, the two most sensible castaways to send home in this first merge vote without making too many waves. Both are perceived as solid players (unlike Venus, who could be valued as a goat if she continues to cast herself out socially). Voting out Moriah carries no baggage as she doesn’t have a strong ally in Siga right now… she needs to latch on to tribe unity and hope for the best. Voting out Soda falls in line with the Nami tribe’s own desire to blindside her.
10. Kenzie
9. Q
8. Tiffany
Let’s see how things go down first before projecting their futures. Bhanu put out the hit on these three castaways during his journey detox so there’s a chance Nami and Siga band together to vote out these “threats” first. If tribal lines truly dissolve at the merge then we reevaluate the Yanu three…. Q was already pushing for cross-tribe alliances during his journey: maybe his hopeful planning works out.
IN A GOOD SPOT FOR NOW
7. Liz
6. Ben
5. Tim
Locking in the Charlie and Maria alliance does wonders for Ben and Tim’s long-term game.
IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT
4. Maria
Can someone explain to me why Maria used her extra vote? I can’t think of a reason why it was necessary, given that her, Charlie, and Tim guaranteed a majority with Ben’s vote stripped. The only reason I can give is that she wanted to get it out of her hands so that having an advantage isn’t used against her at the merge… but that’s a bad reason to use it wastefully. Or she thought Charlie wouldn’t vote with her, which seems overly paranoid. I’m slowly moving towards the opinion that Maria is a good social player, but a bad strategist.
3. Charlie the Swiftie
2. Hunter
1. Tevin
I would be surprised if any of these four castaways were voted out in the next episode. I guess Hunter would be the most likely to be blindsided as he has shown himself to be the most threatening in challenges.
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Will we get an exciting merge? I’m hopeful! Guess we’ll find out next week!