Another episode of Survivor is in the books! It was the end of the road for one of the biggest threats in Survivor 47. Let’s dive in!
The Underdog Five vs. the Threatening Three
The Gabe vote left a few players looking for a new alliance, and by the morning after the numbers have solidified into what I expect the endgame of Survivor 47 to look like. On one side you have the people labeled as “underdogs”: Rachel, Andy, Caroline, Sue and Teeny. On the other side you have the people labeled as “threats”: Kyle, Genevieve, and Sam. With only a few days left in the game, I expect this divide will dictate the votes all the way up to the final five.
With endgame around the corner, it was time for endgame alliances to form… and form they did. The key shoppers in this episode were Caroline and Sue, who are two followers looking for a new Gabe to latch onto for different reasons. Sue cannot function in Survivor without being someone’s lap dog so after mending fences with Caroline, she is on the prowl for a new player to make all the decisions for her. Caroline, meanwhile, has shed her first shield of the game but instead of forging her own path like she says she wants to, she instead finds a new shield to be the face of all the big plays she wants to make. The duo lands on Rachel, who with Teeny and Andy form a newly dubbed “Underdog Alliance” at the water well that can sail their way past the perceived threats to the final five and duke it out in the final days. This truly is an underdog alliance formed mainly around the fact that a couple big plays from other castaways have left all five of the members with lacking resumes. The big question will be who amongst the underdogs will get the most credit for forming the group and being the lead dog… but this episode made it pretty clear who we should view as the one in charge.
The three threats can only pow-wow together at the fire and scheme about what the heck they have to do to avoid their looming fate. Kyle’s immunity streak and million dollar jury story have morphed him into a Survivor monster that is more scary than his strategic skill makes him out to be. If he loses any challenges he is target number one for many of the castaways. Genevieve’s strategic prowess put her in the clear second target spot for much of the cast, and at this point Genevieve has to lean into the gamer persona and hope that a few players bite at whatever new plan she cooks up. Sam gets lumped into the threat group as the third target by being a hot young attractive man who wants to play Survivor hard: he simply does not fit it with the underdog alliance.
Rachel’s Journey Raises Her Game to a New Level
If Rachel ends up being the winner of Survivor 47, this will be the episode we point to as the moment her winner’s story took shape. She was able to bring Caroline and Sue into a new suballiance and a risk at a Survivor journey pays off as she beats the clock and earns herself a second advantage. With a large alliance putting her in the majority, suballiances solidifying her power within, and two advantages to play in the next three votes, this Survivor world is her oyster as Rachel can cruise to final five, then make a flashy play in the last vote to leave a great impression on the jury.
Rachel’s journey and subsequent reveal to Sue and Caroline was huge for her. Getting the Sue stamp of loyalty and earning Caroline’s trust makes for a great three-person alliance that puts Rachel in the most impressive position… even if she is the Gata minority among the Tuku duo. This is expertly paired with Rachel using Genevieve’s yapping against her, by parlaying to Andy that Genevieve views him as a goat. Andy, who certainly does not view himself as a goat, is now aligned with Rachel in voting out Genevieve. Who knows how long this will last as Andy certainly wants to make his own stamp on the game rather than follow the majority, but there may be no chance for him to diverge if the foursome of Rachel, Teeny, Caroline, and Sue continue to vote as a block.
Making the Obvious Vote
The block stacking challenge brought needed immunity chaos and Kyle lost his crown to Rachel, leaving him vulnerable to the Underdog Five. While Andy and Rachel pushed hard for the rest of their group to consider the strategic threat of Genevieve as higher priority over challenge threat Kyle, Sue Caroline and Teeny were too set on evening the challenge playing field. Though I must speak up, Andy was just echoing what I’ve been saying about Kyle’s immunity challenge winning streak: that Kyle hasn’t actually won that many traditional straight up challenges and that it is an incredibly overrated streak. But no one listened to their pleas and Kyle is sent home, making a super Kyle-coded “peace, love, and do it for the family” exit speech on the way out.
It was always going to be Kyle. He was on the minds of too many of the castaways for too long for it to be anyone else. Sue would’ve killed everyone at camp if he survived this vote. And yes, he was the easy vote and I worry that the next two episodes could also be easy votes. There is a strong contingent of castaways right now who want to preserve their chances to make the end rather than make their case to win in the end. The big question moving forward will be if someone is able to upend this new majority, or if someone in the majority breaks from the group and goes for a season-defining blindside.
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Coolest Challenge Innovation — The Disappearing Puzzle
Despite disliking how twist-saturated the New Era gets, they sometimes win me over with cool ideas like the one on the journey. The visual of the puzzle flying into the ocean and the drama of whether Rachel could finish in time or not worked for me. I would prefer more stuff like this in the future, rather than random vote removals or split tribal councils.
Most Shocking Revelation — Genevieve Was Left Survivor Scarred from the Kishan Blindside
Genevieve, when explaining her approach to Survivor, said point blank that she is purposely not making any connections with any tribemates, in complete antithesis to who she is as a person. She points to the betrayal of Kishan all the way in episode three as the reason she has changed her attitude towards the social game. By willfully sitting out friendship, it allows to play Survivor with the strategic approach she has become known for this season. Unfortunately, it has also put her in such a deep social hole that she has little hope of surviving any more tribal councils.
It makes me question how hard it is emotionally to play Survivor, that someone feels they can no longer approach relationships like a normal person would. Is this a legitimate side effect to voting people out in Survivor, or is this Genevieve being overdramatic?
Most Hilarious Exit Words — Kyle’s “Line Em Up and Knock Em Down”
Yes, that means he wants to give everyone a hug before leaving. No, he is not bowling right now.
MVP of the Episode: Sue
She gets her petty revenge in one of the fiercest one-sided vendettas in Survivor history. This not-so-old (trust) lady was drooling all over her dirt stained face to pay back “Tweedle Dum” Kyle for writing her name down all the way on day five.
Also, Sue showed this episode that she does think critically about her game. Instead of making a scene, she quickly forgave Caroline for leaving her out of the elimination of Sue’s number one ally, in contrast to Kyle voting with his alliance against her back in the first week. Is this growth, or does Sue just hate men?
Goat of the Episode: Genevieve
The shortcomings of her social game continue to be all too obvious, and it feels like she is on borrowed time and the next to go home because of it. Maybe she should try making some friends before she leaves Fiji.
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PLAYER TIER LIST:
OUT OF THE GAME
18. Jon
17. T.K.
16. Aysha
15. Kishan
14. Anika
13. Rome
12. Tiyana
11. Sierra
10. Sol
9. Gabe
8. Kyle
BOTTOM OF THE TOTEM POLE
7. Genevieve
6. Sam
The logical next two out based on the hit list of the majority alliance. Genevieve, as I’ve said a hundred times, feels completely doomed to go home. Sam has a sliver of hope that something changes come final six, but at this point these castaways need a lot of luck or an immunity win streak to reach the end.
IN A GOOD SPOT FOR NOW
5. Sue
4. Teeny
These two castaways seem content with being on the right side of the vote and hopefully getting to Day 26. Neither of them have a chance at winning in their current state. Sue is the stereotypical Survivor goat, while Teeny feels like Ben from last season: not a goat, but a “happy to be here” castaway. I think in any combination of a final three containing these two, the third person wins.
3. Andy
While Andy has the avarice to play his own game, the window for a game-changing move is closing fast. It should also be noted that the “Smiling Assassin” edit he has gotten has not translated into the game yet, as castaways and jury members (like Sierra and Genevieve) still see him as a weak player. I don’t know if he is going to make enough waves to beat other good players in a final three scenario.
2. Caroline
I have felt wholly underwhelmed by Caroline’s risk-averse strategy (while she may wave around voting Gabe out as a “big move”, is it really that impressive when everyone else was planning to vote out Gabe too?) But alas, there still is a path to victory. Remove the rest of the threats, then remove Rachel, and Caroline becomes the frontrunner. The biggest problem is that Rachel’s idol can thwart this play, especially since the current trajectory puts that vote at final five — the last council to play idols. And also, Caroline isn’t that impressive of a player with some voices in the jury (Gabe) that may be against her. Could she even win a jury vote against Andy or Teeny or Sam or Rachel?
IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT
1. Rachel
The current trajectory of the game is perfect for a Rachel victory. While the Kim Spradlin comparisons came out for Genevieve early on for her cutthroat blindside (that apparently scarred her for the rest of the season), Rachel’s social control of an all-women plus one goofy guy alliance gives me more shades of Kim than Genevieve ever has.
Selfishly though, I do hope we see a shakeup, as the carefully crafted path to Rachel victory does not look to be the exciting finish we all hope for in Survivor. I’m just not much a fan of Rachel, who doesn’t meet the character charisma requirement for me. She’s kinda just a girl, and a neutral/uninteresting Survivor personality.
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Will the lone wolf threats make a game-shaking move, or will Rachel’s new alliance dominate? Find out next week!