Another episode of Survivor is in the books! The tribes have now merged, but before that they needed to get rid of a certain castaway. Let’s dive in!
Earn the Merge Gets an Adjustment — Looks More Like a Normal Survivor Merge to Me
It was a bit of a surprise to me that Survivor actually made an adjustment to the Earn the Merge twist. I wasn’t expecting them to do anything different with what has become a New Era staple. The ironic part is that this new Earn the Merge did little to actually affect the outcome of the vote — and may have made this episode worse.
The tribes merged at one beach to start the episode, which means it’s a whole new game! Yippee! But upon arrival they are hit with a note immediately directing them to search for an advantage that will benefit one of them in the upcoming challenge. What we find out the next day is that this advantage plays a part in the new format for the Earn the Merge. Gone is the “half-immune, half-vulnerable” merge challenge, instead retooled to be a two-parter where the winning group in the team portion wins their feast and competes in a second challenge for the individual immunity necklace. Only one person is safely in the merge while everyone else is eligible to be voted out.
Basically, it’s a normal merge again. The tribes come together and the game is truly individual, with castaway freedom to target whoever they want. The merge feast is still locked behind an immunity challenge, but at least the teams were decided by a schoolyard pick instead of a random rock draw. The clear and obvious downside of this new version of Earn the Merge is that we missed out on getting any clues about new post-merge relationships forming. It’s possible that this was a casualty of there being one clear cut person that needed to go home in the eyes of the tribe, but I can’t help but feel this big unification was rushed.
Also, there basically is no time to breathe the second the castaways meet by introducing a limited time advantage, and then the next day the show follows up with an extra long challenge and a tribal council. I don’t like these two part challenges because it replaces the Survivor substance of relationship forming and the social politics with what is basically brainless action-movie spectacle, minus anything worthy of an action movie. I can’t help but feel disappointed that half of the episode was just watching a challenge when I am much more interested in who is making new friends at the merge and who is not.
Caught Red-Handed?
It turns out Sue’s little escapade with the idol would come back in a big way right at the merge. It didn’t take long for people arriving to the Tuku beach on merge day to notice the red paint lying around the water well, and then some shards of pottery conveniently hidden under a dirt pile. What becomes a fun little conversation piece for much of the tribe is Sue’s worst nightmare, as it makes it painfully obvious for Tuku members, notably Tiyana, that there was an advantage found on their beach.
Sue desperately wanted to avoid becoming a target due to her idol (given that she went as far as to rehide it before the merge, smart given that people totally look through bags), but she now has to walk a tightrope for the next few days. Thankfully, much of her tribe is on board with Sue and will take the route of Caroline, who learned of the Sue idol but promised secrecy. The Tuku tribe was really the only tribe to get much spotlight in the merge episode, mainly by highlighting the bond between everyone but Tiyana. Is this a sign of a greater, dominant Tuku storyline in the future against Tiyana, or a non-sequitur sidepoint during an un-dramatic episode of Survivor?
Rome Wasn’t Built in a Day (But It Can Fall in One)
This was one of the easiest merge votes in a hot minute. It took one night together for everyone to realize that voting Rome out now was in everyone’s best interest, and zero opposition formed to change the enthusiastically bad Survivor player’s fate.
Rome’s propensity to overplay Survivor at every waking moment did not stop come merge time. Rome took a conversation he had with Kyle and used it as leverage against him. In a vacuum it’s not a bad move as with most Rome moves, since Kyle was being quite candid with someone he had just met and if this was anyone but Rome, it could have sowed a bit of chaos in the tribe. But because Rome’s reputation precedes him, as well as Kyle’s reputation as a honest and harmless straight shooter, it took a single conversation for everyone to get the story straight from the Lavo members mouths and unite against an easy target in Rome.
And thus begins an embarrassing string of confessionals and conversation that merge clips of Rome gassing himself up as a mastermind who has just controlled the heck out of this vote with clips of the rest of the tribe quietly confirming that Rome’s going home. It’s a pretty glorious comeuppance for Rome who somehow did not see this coming, and he certainly deserved it. There’s a level of cluelessness and cockiness that can be tolerated if a castaway is slick about. Rome’s fatal flaw (among many flaws) was he may be one of the least slick castaways to ever play Survivor. For as much as a player like Russell Hantz gets properly lambasted for a horrendous social game, he could at least get people to follow his plans, for his benefit and eventually his downfall. Rome tried to play this Russell style of game built on being manipulative, fast-paced, and a bit of a bully, but the negative aura Rome exudes made hitching your wagon to his game a complete non-starter for just about everyone.
**********************************************
Least Advantageous Advantage: Amulet Idol
In an interesting strategic turn of events, the three amulet idols holders Andy, Teeny, and Caroline decided that they wanted to burn their idol in this tribal council, determining that having this advantage is more of a disadvantage. This seems to be a response to the new meta of public advantages, as the Survivor journey has become one of the most impossible secrets to keep in the game. Our Survivor 47 castaways have seen the past few seasons where holding advantages has become the ammo people need to target another player.
I wonder for journeys like the one our amulet holders took, where everyone earns an advantage together, if they could just all agree to lie about it? The issue with journey advantages is that castaways are just expected to go to their tribe and spill all the juicy gossip and make whatever advantage they got public. If the journeyers feel any level of trust with each other, couldn’t they just choose to all say the same lie? And if someone snitches they just try to burn them alive at the merge?
Just a thought. Maybe Jeff Probst sees how this flat this amulet advantage played out and decides to change or ax the journeys all together.
Cringiest Moment: Rome Sits in Jeff’s Seat
This deserves its own spotlight. It was unbearable to watch and I had to turn away from my screen during this moment. Every detail made my skin crawl. The fact that Jeff let someone sit in his seat is heresy in itself. The fact that it was Rome who gets to sit in Jeff’s seat, who just straight up sucks at Survivor, makes it even worse. The fact that we know Rome is going home too makes it even more worse. No offense, it was giving make-a-wish kid. Like, let’s just tickle Rome’s fancy and make him feel good before he gets swept out of the game. It also lasted way too long and Rome was in the seat to mansplain advantages which is boring to hear.
Look, the New Era has had its fair share of cringe-inducing moments. Many moments in Survivor 41 make you cringe. The quits in Survivor 45 were tough to watch. Some of the social commentary and sob-story peddling in the past few seasons have aged poorly. I think based on shock value, the “Why would you do this” factor, and lack of any redeemable humor in the situation gives Rome the crown for most viscerally cringe moment in New Era Survivor.
Most Confusing Decision: Sam and Genevieve Just Ignoring the Buoy (At First)
Should I give them the benefit of the doubt that these two castaways saw an oddly placed buoy in the water and just ignored it as a possible spot for an advantage? Thinking about it, they are playing Survivor constantly surrounded by cameras and producers and television equipment. They probably assumed it was something production left behind. At least Genevieve had the sense to think twice and determine that “Hey, a lone buoy in the ocean might be something to check out”.
MVP of the Episode: Kyle
People really rallied behind Kyle against Rome, which bodes well for Kyle’s social standing. And then devoid of a vote, Kyle won the first individual immunity and earned himself a carefree afternoon on the beach.
Goat of the Episode: Rome
Rome was certainly trying to play an entertaining enough game to get himself onto Survivor 50. Maybe a Rome more focused on winning would be a little less of a character than he played on the show. Is Rome worth a spot on the upcoming returner season? There’s certainly the intrigue of just throwing Rome onto a tribe of crackheads. A Q, Venus, Rome, Carolyn, etc tribe would be delicious on a returner season. The big problem still stands: Rome was not just bad at Survivor: he was really really bad at Survivor! Do we want to use spots on a Survivor 50 for really bad players? I’m not sure we do.
*******************************************
PLAYER TIER LIST:
OUT OF THE GAME
18. Jon
17. T.K.
16. Aysha
15. Kishan
14. Anika
13. Rome
BOTTOM OF THE TOTEM POLE
12. Tiyana
Being on the bad side of the powers that be in Tuku feels like a horrible spot to be in right now. Like how Rome was thrown under the bus in this episode, I can see Tiyana getting the same treatment next week.
IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION
11. Andy
Sam and Sierra silently dumping Andy out of their alliance is concerning in the immediate future. Andy has to handle this quiet betrayal well, or his scrambling for new allies could paint a target on his back. However, I think Andy making new friends could be good for him and if he responds right, and he can end up in a much better position in the game.
IN A GOOD SPOT FOR NOW
10. Sam
9. Sol
8. Rachel
7. Sierra
6. Teeny
The best part of the episode was Teeny getting faded off the wine at the merge feast, earning a seat at the Survivor Sloshed table with Mike White, Carl, Bobby, and others.
5. Genevieve
Given the unanimous agreement over the Rome vote, we have zero feel for how a lot of the alliance-less castaways are positioned in the game. Anything could happen with this group of castaways. I am most worried about Sam, who has distanced himself from Andy a little bit. This could be turned around on him and make him a target.
IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT
4. Kyle
3. Sue
2. Gabe
1. Caroline
There’s only one solid group alliance in the game right now, and it is the Tuku tribe. Because of their stability, I am optimistic about their future in the game over everyone else remaining. However, I’m not ruling out the chance that their unity gets turned against them.
***************************************************
Rome’s chaos is out of the way now. Who will rise to the top and who will fall to the bottom? Find out next week!