Another episode of Survivor is in the books! We get another blindside, though we definitely saw this one coming. Let’s dive in!
Survivor Social Hour at the Sanctuary — Quit Trying to Make the Sanctuary Happen
Time for the seasonal rant on how the Sanctuary (where good things happen) is a dead, hollow shell of what used to be Survivor rewards and giving it a cutesy name does not hide the fact that it’s a cheap soulless alternative for having meaningful or interesting prizes.
But let’s talk about the twist introduced using the Sanctuary (where good things happen). Basically, Survivor introduced a merge feast before the merge feast, calling it “Survivor Social Hour”. The castaways were mixed into new teams for a reward challenge, foregoing tribal lines, and the winning team would get to go on reward together and mingle a bit before the actual merge. In one sense, is giving castaways an hour head start to get to know other tribes really that much of an advantage? There’s not much pressure to make hard alliances on this reward given the merge hasn’t happened yet (plus Earn the Merge means you don’t even know who is on the table to be voted out), and you didn’t get to choose who came with you so maybe the people you actually want to talk to aren’t there. Alliances aren’t set in stone until you vote together, so anyone can say anything at the Social Hour and just decide to do something else at the actual merge. On the other hand, Survivor is a much faster game now in the 26-day era and making a good impression early could give you an implicit upper hand over those castaways who are still mysteries. It certainly benefited Teeny and Rachel to be on this reward, given that they enter the merge without any alliances in their own tribes. A head start could be exactly what they need.
So, I guess we will find out if this advantage has a big impact or not. I am interested to see if it does.
Why Do Survivor 47 Castaways Keep Finding Ways to Self-Sabotage?
Repeatedly we’ve seen castaways on Survivor 47 find ways to get themselves in trouble or even worse, voted out. That trend continues with Rome and Tiyana making plays that get them in hot water.
Last episode’s result was perfect for Rome. He listened to Genevieve and his position flipped from unexpected Kishan victim to safety in the majority. Except Rome does Rome things and continues to do too much. He decides after the reward that he needs to try to pit Sol and Genevieve against each other, for the goal of getting everyone to follow his plan and vote Teeny out. The execution does not match the vision, as Rome tells conflicting stories to two castaways who can just walk up to each other and confirm what is true and what isn’t. The irony of it all? Rome wasn’t telling that many lies! Rome went to Sol and told him where all the advantages are, and that Genevieve prefers Teeny as an ally to him, which Genevieve had told us through confessionals. But Rome is the worst possible messenger (who did antagonize Sol heavily just a few days ago) and Genevieve can easily soothe Sol to her side, painting Rome in the familiar light as the kid who doesn’t know when to stop Survivor-ing.
Tiyana also made a bed she probably going to have to lie in soon. During the reward at the Sanctuary (where good things happen) Tiyana decided to put it all on the line and slander Gabe’s reputation to the other tribes. Not an awful move in itself, but she chose to do this in front of her own tribemates, namely Sue the badass pilot who protects Gabe with her life. The lack of social awareness from Tiyana is painful. She doesn’t realize that she is on the outs of her own tribe and throwing Gabe, the most aggressive yet connected player in Tuku, under the bus is like writing a death sentence. With the merge coming up, people will happily look for scapegoats that a majority of the paranoid castaways wanting to make the jury can safely vote for. Tiyana has made it very easy for Gabe and Tuku to offer her up as an easy post-merge vote.
The moral of the story? Sometimes in Survivor you need to know when to chill out. Rome and Tiyana needed to chill out this episode and they didn’t, which means they could be going home sooner rather than later.
Yet Another Big Blindside — Andy Gets the Last Laugh
Survivor played the classics this week as one castaway who felt completely safe learned the hard way that she was on the wrong side of the numbers. The vote was straightforward: Anika and Rachel believed that the whole tribe was voting for Andy, but Sam and Sierra were actually aligned with Andy and voting out Anika.
Whether this was the right move for Sam and Sierra is yet to be seen, especially with the merge coming up. Voting Andy was always the easy path as it would have been a unanimous vote that keeps the Gata tribe unified. It lets Sierra continue to keep her conscience clean with the “Breadwinners” but puts Sam in trickier waters moving forward. It seemed like in a tribe devoid of Sam, Sierra would have actually been likely to put her eggs in the girls basket, but instead she valued her alliance with Sam more and killed the Breadwinners.
Sam ultimately drove this blindside. It was his attachment to an Andy alliance and his distrust/dislike of Anika that motivated voting against her. It’s possible that Sam was a little too pushy trying to get his way, as making this move complicates the game more for not only him, but for Gata as a whole. A blindside of Anika certainly makes it seem that Sam and Sierra are running the show, a perception that Sam has said he has wanted to avoid, but now chose to accept. Will the other tribes determine that eliminating Sam’s alliance as a threat right away is the best course of action? I imagine the now ostracized Rachel will be more than happy to push that narrative.
Andy benefits the most from this vote by far. He overcame early odds and now looks like a decent dark horse contender for a deep run, as high threat level Sam can be a nice shield for him once merged. The edit for Andy was very positive as he played into the “guy on the outs” role to extract decoy names to use as ammunition.
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Basic White Girl Award: Caroline
Survivor 47’s basic white girl title goes to Caroline, who hasn’t done anything in game except smile, exist on the strongest tribe, and look like a competent player. She has snuck into the show a bit more in these past two episodes, earning the amulet idol and “playing Survivor” during Social Hour as she takes the role of glue girl for the Tuku tribe. Will her pleas for tribe unity fall deaf on Gabe’s ears?
Best/Worst Reaction: Anika
Anika got her GIF moment reacting to her surprise elimination. Her shocked face was a worthy addition to the blindside reaction collection. But the walk to get your torch snuffed by Jeff needs to be like the Sabrina Carpenter album: Short n’ Sweet. Anika was milking it for too long, and the longer you stand there asking questions and hogging the camera the cringier it gets. Respect the game and exit stage left in a timely manner, or we are going to have to start playing some wrap up music. I don’t care if you’re sobbing and your dreams were crushed.
Merge Vibe Check
With the tribes coming together in the next episode, I want to walk through where everyone stands right now.
The Gata tribe, down to four, consists of a three-person alliance between Sam, Sierra, and Andy against Rachel, who just lost her strongest ally. Andy has an amulet idol, no one else has any advantages (though Sam’s expired idol can be used as a fake).
The Lavo tribe consists of four castaways who aren’t locked in with each other. Genevieve and Rome have an alliance, but Genevieve has considered breaking up with Rome multiple times in favor of an alliance with Teeny over Sol. Teeny has no true alliance and has the only advantage in the tribe: the amulet idol. Sol has no true alliance. Rome gets on the nerves of everyone in the Lavo tribe and believes he has stronger alliances than he actually does.
The Tuku tribe has thrown around sticking together as a unified tribe, but there are sub alliances and advantages that split them. Gabe, Sue, and Caroline are in a strong alliance. Kyle and Tiyana are in a less powerful alliance. Kyle has no vote in the next tribal council. Sue has a full power immunity idol and Caroline has the amulet idol. Sue has beef with both Kyle and Tiyana for different reasons, Gabe has stated that he wants to vote out Tiyana/make her suffer, while Caroline has mentioned wanting to keep the whole tribe together.
MVP of the Episode: Vegans
Kyle was provided with a vegan hot dog! Yay! Also, a tribe chose to give chickens back rather than eat them… and then because they lost the challenge, they couldn’t even make a fire to eat the eggs they traded for. Animal-based food products were consumed at a record low this episode!
Goat of the Episode: Tiyana
Gabe is going to make her life miserable the first opportunity he gets, and she can only blame herself.
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PLAYER TIER LIST:
OUT OF THE GAME
18. Jon
17. T.K.
16. Aysha
15. Kishan
14. Anika
BOTTOM OF THE TOTEM POLE
13. Tiyana
12. Rome
Based on highlighting the poor play of these two castaways this episode, I would predict that it is either Tiyana or Rome getting the boot during Earn the Merge. I can imagine that their tribes may offer these two as a sacrifice for the sake of an easy early merge vote.
IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION
11. Kyle
He still does not have a vote, and given his perceived athleticism could be a target as the individual portion of the game begins.
10. Rachel
Similar to Tiyana and Rome, I think Rachel could be offered up as an easy vote given that she lost her key ally on Gata and has no alliance protection. But I have more trust in Rachel to navigate the merge and find a new alliance compared to Tiyana and Rome.
IN A GOOD SPOT FOR NOW
9. Sol
8. Teeny
Lavo comes in with nearly nothing tying them together, except for shared hate of Rome. Sol and Teeny can easily throw Rome under the bus and try to find a new alliance.
7. Andy
6. Sam
5. Sierra
Barbie, Ken, and Survivor George Constanza are a legit threesome entering the merge, but this alliance feels like it is held together by duct tape. I can imagine that things for the Gata Three may fall apart with the opportunity to make some new friends or distance themselves from some old ones.
IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT
4. Genevieve
Genevieve is a bit of a lone wolf given her lack of attachment to Rome, or anyone on her tribe for that matter. But given her strong early gameplay, I imagine she will do just fine during the merge.
3. Sue
2. Caroline
1. Gabe
This threesome, contrary to that of Gata, feels stuck together with superglue. I don’t think there is enough of a unified opposition from Lavo and Gata to band together and target Tuku, which means that the strongest and most connected trio in the Tuku tribe likely dictates the first merge vote with whoever they decide to work alongside.
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Everyone is on the same beach next week. Who will start the merge strong and who will sputter? Find out next week!