Another episode of Survivor is in the books! Apparently, Boston Rob has a godson now. Congrats Boston Rob! Let’s dive in!
The Rise of the Roman Empire
It’s been a long time since we’ve seen someone fail their way into so much early Survivor success like Rome has. He has made his whole tribe utterly sick of him, and yet Rome has New-Era’d himself into the majority alliance of his tribe.
Rome is certainly playing into a character, but the funny thing is that this “character” just might be who Rome is in normal life too. The constant need for attention and adoration has played for comedy in these first few episodes, as Rome is insisting he does all the provider jobs around camp. This episode we see Rome go off to fish with the Hawaiian sling after endlessly bragging about how well he’s going to do catching food for the tribe. Rome simply believes that Rome will be the best to ever do everything on Survivor, and his tribe just allows him to yap while they gossip behind his back. Rome’s fishing endeavor ends with a few tiny fish that Rome hilariously decides to eat a majority of himself since he did all the work in hilarious fashion, literally spitting out the bones next to a starving Aysha.
Rome is a lot to handle at camp, all the tribemates talk crap about him behind his back, but Rome doesn’t really care. He’s playing Survivor at the pace he wants to play, and while the social game he has will actively ruin him down the line, the new era strategy he implements has allowed him to pry open the door to the Lavo majority alliance. Rome sought out the hidden immunity idol and then, when given the chance to go on a journey, capitalized on the opportunity (and got lucky) by securing a steal a vote advantage. With two advantages, it swayed Teeny and Kishan enough to side with the Rome/Genevieve duo in the tribe’s upcoming tribal council. While Rome is an annoying presence on the beach and not the ally anyone really wants, Rome became the ally Teeny decided was needed. Teeny did make some good points. Rome had placed trust in their alliance, and his intentions are clear about how he wants to play the game: fast, with a few confidants, and with as many idols as he can find.
Rome’s state in the game reminds me a bit of a nerdier Venus: the strategic machinations might be there, but the social game is way, way off and the castaway thinks themself to be in a much more powerful position than they actually are. Both castaways also don’t mind playing the villain, though I’m sure they prefer to see themselves as the hero. Or in Rome’s case, the “godson” to the Survivor godfather Boston Rob. A categorically delusional thing for Rome to say.
There’s still the question of whether Rome will burn out before the merge, given that it is still very easy for him to be voted out in a subsequent tribal council with five castaways in Lavo. Rome isn’t as slick as he thinks he is, exemplified by a shaky conversation with Sol before the tribal council. I don’t think it would be hard for Teeny, Kishan, and Sol to pull the wool over his eyes and blindside him if he is idolless. I will say that it could be easy to write off Rome as a bad player because of the social game, but seeing how he played off his idol as a “journey idol” shows he is thinking hard about his strategic movements.
Anika Digs Herself a Hole while Andy Climbs Out of One
I’ve personally found the Gata tribe to be the most interesting of the three tribes in Survivor 47, and the hierarchy of power continues to shift in the group as the days go by. A new rivalry of egos has bubbled up to the surface, as the type A personalities of Anika and Sam begin to clash over the littlest things around camp. The difference in power right now has become stark between the two, however. Sam has a strong ally in Sierra, but has moved away from targeting the tribe pariah Andy to actually determining Anika to be his number one target. On the other hand, Anika still views Andy as the logical next vote, and then her journey backfired on her as she lost voting privileges at the next tribal council. Anika unwittingly finds herself at the mercy of her tribe after this episode.
It also didn’t help that Anika decided to be the harbinger of bad news: that all the other tribes think Sam and Sierra are romantically involved. Pretty privilege has some consequences in Survivor.
Meanwhile, Andy the goof is seeing his position in the game turn around. He’s stayed quiet and passive and notices the growing divide between Sam and Anika, so he has thrown his lot in with the duo of Sam and Sierra. While Sierra has been wary to trust Andy initially, Andy’s insistence on giving up his Shot in the Dark to Sierra in a show of trust made an impact on her. Good things come to those who wait.
Another Podcaster Unwilling to Follow Meets Their Demise
All tribes have now seen one tribal council now in a rare appearance of parity that we haven’t seen from too many New Era Survivor seasons. This time Lavo has to draw the line in the sand between three duos: Teeny and Kishan, Aysha and Sol, and Rome and Genevieve.
Rome was of course at the center of the discussion. He would be the clear and obvious vote, but because Teeny and Kishan knew Rome had an idol good for one tribal council, he was off the table. Rome had also earned himself another advantage on the journey, so the Teeny Kishan duo went a step further and determined that it would be better to keep him and his ally Genevieve over Sol and Aysha. The rest of the pre-tribal scramble focused around which castaway between Sol and Aysha was better to salvage for the future.
Initially, Teeny and Kishan wanted to keep Aysha around and they implicitly and explicitly instructed her that she was screwed with Sol and that she just needed to play along with the plan. In response, Aysha tried to fight for Sol and convince the duo in power that Genevieve is the one that needed to be voted out to weaken Rome. A good plan… if Teeny and Kishan did not already get in bed with Rome for the upcoming vote. Aysha’s defiance ended up sealing her fate as she became the third person voted out of Survivor 47.
The parallels of Aysha and Jon’s exits are uncanny. Both are podcasters. Both are weak in challenges and relying on social games. Both found themselves in difficult positions at their first tribal. Both decide to take the hard route by fighting for their plan in the midst of a difficult position rather than submitting to authority. Both were voted out as a result. Both will go back to respective podcasts and get clowned for going home so early.
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Most Pointless Storyline: Kishan’s Swimming Skills
I came to a realization about the Lavo tribe over the course of this episode. Rome is carrying this tribe on its back… from an entertainment standpoint. Excluding Rome, this Lavo tribe is realllllly boring. Two castaways, Sol and Genevieve, have gotten basically zero airtime. Aysha got airtime only during the replacement sweat and savvy challenge… so basically when they were forced to. Teeny and Kishan get a decent number of confessionals out of necessity because someone has to tell the Lavo narrative, but I can’t think of a single interesting thing that the power duo has said in the three episodes so far.
That makes this inserted storyline by Jeff Probst about Kishan’s swimming ability a really interesting addition to the episode. Remember Heather from Survivor 41? She got a challenge storyline early in the season, basically about how she sucked at a reward challenge and the show milked it for all the emotion they could get (Survivor 41 was a weird season). Heather made it to the end of that season, despite offering little in the confessional department.
Kishan was giving Heather here. If Kishan is going to make it deep into the season, then the show is motivated to give him some character focus early on.
Most Interesting Game Trend: Duos
If you haven’t picked up on it yet, I’ve been noting how the strategic meta of Survivor 47 has revolved around power duos. You have some obvious ones: Sam and Sierra, Teeny and Kishan, Sue and Caroline. You have some less obvious ones: Tiyana and Kyle, Anika and Rachel, Rome and Genevieve. And then you have the middlemen: Gabe, Sol, and Andy. These next few tribal councils will come down to if duos are content with core fours, or if the middleman is a desirable ally for a trio.
Worst Game of Luck: The Journey Draw
What an interesting decision from Survivor production to force journeyers to partake in a random draw where there is a 2 in 3 chance that you lose your vote for the next tribal council. It’s a sharp left turn from the skill based mini-challenges or prisoner’s dilemmas to go with luck of the draw for Survivor 47. I think most castaways would opt out of trying for an advantage if given those odds. Anika and Kyle going on this journey unwittingly may have sealed their demise.
MVP of the Episode: Rome
He failed upwards into a majority alliance, which is really hard to do in Survivor. Respect the game, even the game generally sucks.
Goat of the Episode: Aysha
She’s the Survivor podcaster who got beat by Survivor mess Rome, and to add insult to injury he spit fish guts on her just a day before sending her home.
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PLAYER TIER LIST:
OUT OF THE GAME
18. Jon
17. T.K.
16. Aysha
BOTTOM OF THE TOTEM POLE
15. Sol
He’s a lone wolf now and the easy vote if Lavo goes to another tribal council. Playing swing vote against Rome is an option, but Sol’s lack of presence in the season so far has me doubtful of a big reversal of fate.
14. Anika
13. Kyle
The impact of two castaways in precarious positions losing a vote at their next tribal council cannot be diminished. Anika has been positioned very much as a rival in Sam’s Survivor journey, and the game in Gata has passed her by. Kyle offers physical strength on his tribe but he is still on the outside looking in after the T.K. vote, and physical strength becomes a bigger reason to vote someone out the closer we get to the merge. What can save Kyle is his disposition as a follower rather than a strategic threat. Anika, meanwhile, doesn’t have a following bone in her body.
IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION
12. Genevieve
11. Rome
Rome is Rome, he could be voted out at any time. Genevieve being tied to Rome also means she could be voted out at any time.
10. Andy
Not ready to say Andy is in a good spot yet, but he is on his way. A far cry from where he was after episode one.
9. Tiyana
She finds herself in strategic no-man’s land, as she doesn’t have a good ally to lean on right now. If Tuku goes to tribal council soon, she can be voted out without ruffling (rustling) any feathers.
IN A GOOD SPOT FOR NOW
8. Rachel
7. Sue (Hates Men)
6. Caroline
5. Sierra
None of these women are running the show, but none of these women are in serious danger of going home right now.
IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT
4. Gabe
He collects on his investments. Gabe has played an active game by making good alliances and it puts him in a position where he can do what he wants in Tuku up to the merge, without much fear of people turning on him.
3. Teeny
2. Kishan
The duo can punch their ticket to the merge, given that there is little threat of Sol and Rome teaming up to flip the numbers against them. I will note however, that the duo has made mistakes all through the pre-merge. Teeny as the front-facing member of the duo mishandled Rome early on with his idol. Kishan as the behind the scenes member at tribal council was pounced on by Jeff for a “core four” slip up he made. It didn’t punish him this week but it showed he could make mistakes like this in the future.
Both Teeny and Kishan are a little too gamebotty for me as well, and I don’t know how well they will respond to a big shake-up in the game, either from a twist or if social alliances change drastically.
1. Sam
Nothing about this episode changed how I feel about Sam’s long term prospects… even if everyone thinks he’s getting with his tribemate.
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Every tribe has gone to tribal council so far this season. Which tribe will go from five to four first? Find out next week!