Another episode of Survivor is in the books! A twist screws a castaway over and makes them miss the merge. Let’s dive in!
Whispers of New Alliances — An Unlikely Power Duo Forms
Last episode was a straightforward and simple vote as the newly merged tribe needed to cut out the Survivor cancer and send Rome out of the game. This episode was the beginning of the individual game as castaways assess their positions in old alliances and determine what the best course of action is for a spot in the final three.
Our Survivor catalyst for change comes from someone you would not have expected on day one — Andy. He was positioned as the man that is pulling out all the stops to change his fate and make a big impact in the game, as he writes out scenarios in the sand in the middle of the night to illustrate this fact to us in extra dramatic fashion. After receiving a few pawn votes in the last tribal council, a fire was lit under his butt to make some new friends and ultimately turn on the tribe he started the game with. Gone is the allegiance with Sam and Sierra, replaced now with castaways such as Sol and Genevieve. Andy and Sol have a post tribal council damage control conversation (because Sol had burned a vote on Andy), and they agreed to watch each other’s backs moving forward. The next day Andy and Genevieve have a fruitful conversation where the two of them agree to become a power duo that can make some #BIGMOVEZ. Andy wants a strong Survivor strategist who is a free agent and will commit to an alliance. Genevieve wants an upgraded Rome who wants to play Survivor with her, but who is malleable and needs a rock-solid ally to trust. Andy and Genevieve seem like a match made in heaven, and I’m feeling really good about the long-term success of this duo.
In other news, some time is spent teasing a women’s alliance; whether there’s actually juice to this or if this is just a way to use old footage of the Black Widow Brigade is yet to be seen. The other domino piece to fall soon is the fate of the Tuku tribe, which is the only unified tribe to enter the merge. There’s a tension as to whether the group will ride together for the rest of the game, or if they should blindside one of their own as a way to hide themselves from being seen as a tightly aligned tribe to be purged.
Rachel Saved by a Mystery Castaway
At the immunity challenge, Jeff Probst reveals that tonight’s tribal council is going to be a non-traditional one. The 12-person tribe is split in half for an immunity challenge, kind of like the split tribal council that has become the norm for New Era Survivor. However, only one of the groups will be voting someone out while the other group will get a lovely reward and a night to just observe and spectate tribal council, rather than participate.
The random split ends up completely screwing one castaway over: Rachel. She is placed in a group with every single one of the original Tuku tribemates, presenting her on a silver platter to be voted out painlessly if their group happens to lose. They do indeed lose the challenge, and the Tuku+Rachel group is shipped off to discuss strategies for the upcoming tribal council. While Rachel tries her best to find an opening and plenty of Tuku castaways offer plans for blindsides, ultimately it seems the decision has been made to take the easy route.
But shock! A twist enters the conversation! At the reward for the winning group, a secret note was hidden in one of the flowerpots and Sol was lucky enough to be sitting next to it. He finds the clue and it allows him to send one castaway in the other group a choice between two advantages. The lame route would be for Sol to send a Tuku member a Block a Vote, with the assumption that they would use it on Rachel and guarantee her exit. But thank goodness Sol likes fun, because instead he sends the advantage to Rachel who can use the Safety Without Power, which lets her walk out of tribal council safe and force the Tuku castaways to turn on one of their own.
The twist just so happened to be perfect for this tribal council, which made this manufactured Survivor moment a pretty fun ride. Survivor addicts will note that this twist is a revamp of what the show did in Survivor 44. Ironically, episode seven of Survivor 44 used the same challenge (the balance a ball on a stick on your head challenge) to split the tribes, sending one to reward and the other to tribal council. The biggest difference is that the advantage on the winning tribe was made public by the use of a birdcage (reminder that Survivor 44 was the birdcage season), and required public use of a “Control a Vote” advantage. Heidi got the advantage and chose to be lame and burn the vote rather than use it to influence the tribal council, which made for a pretty flat twist and episode. I can’t help but think that the success of this version of the twist has to be credited to actually keeping advantages more secret, and I hope this trend will continue in the future. The fact that Sol didn’t have to reveal himself to use the advantage and risk becoming targeted for #BIGMOVEZ gave him more agency to actually make #BIGMOVEZ.
Tuku Must Eat Its Own — A Cruel Twist of Fate for Tiyana
Rachel leaves tribal council thanks to Sol, which means that the five Tuku tribemates must vote for each other. A live tribal council ensues, and ultimately it is Tiyana who is the odd one out.
Tiyana had played the sloppiest social game on the tribe, as she was openly targeting Gabe for days, and it came back to bite her. She had even tried to make a move on Gabe before the twist came into play by recruiting Kyle, Rachel, and Caroline for a blindside. While Kyle and Rachel were open to the move, Caroline shot it down by painting Rachel as a huge social threat and pointing out that even if voting Rachel triggers the rest of the castaways to try to purge original Tuku, they are more likely to vote out Gabe and Kyle first instead of the girls. That was supposed to be the end of it, as Tiyana settled down and Tuku agreed to vote together. When Rachel left, the scramble for the next best option came down to who had the strongest and weakest alliances. The reality is that there was a threesome of Gabe, Sue, and Caroline that were tightly aligned and silently running the Tuku tribe, and Tiyana was unaware that she was facing a losing battle by trying to get Gabe out in the first place.
Tiyana unknowingly sealed her fate all the way back in the first week, when she found herself in a swing vote position for Tuku’s first tribal council. She debated between voting out Sue or T.K. and chose the latter because T.K. was an egomaniac who snapped at her about smiling after the challenge and saving him likely required going to rocks. But by voting out T.K., she sacrificed what may have been a safe and easy ride to a coveted jury spot. Kyle was the glue that brought T.K. and Tiyana together in a theoretical alliance that would have had the majority over Gabe and Caroline if Sue went home. Instead, Sue survived and became the glue that held Gabe and Caroline together in a real alliance that had the majority over Kyle and Tiyana.
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Most Mouth-Watering Reward Food: Ribs
I don’t think there is a food, after starving for two weeks, that I would want to completely devour more than a rack of ribs. The carnal action of eating meat off the bone would be so satisfying. That reward must have hit different… and I bet the food coma went crazy.
Best Tribal Council Reaction: Sol
The feigned shock on Sol’s face was sending me as he played dumb to the fact that this shocking turn of events was caused completely by him.
MVP of the Episode: Sol
It was a star-making performance in this episode, as I arrive late to Sol’s Sol-diers fan club. I think the jaded Dad energy and sarcasm-dripping deadpan quips have won me over.
Goat of the Episode: Tiyana
The poetry of Tiyana talking about how thrilled she will be if she makes the jury, only for an unexpected twist to take away her jury spot. The spiraling, raw despair was felt through the television and made for the best exit of the season, even more than th eover-the-top shocked face from Anika.
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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
BOTTOM OF THE TOTEM POLE
11. Sam
10. Sierra
With Rome and Tiyana gone, who is the new bottom of the totem pole? I think ut has to be Gata’s Barbie and Ken, who have let the game pass them by as Andy makes friends with castaways who are more than happy to appease him by voting off his former allies. The edit has been setting up Andy one-upping Sam and Sierra for multiple episodes.
IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION
9. Rachel
For Tuku, Rachel’s the one that got away. If people like Caroline really see her as the biggest social threat in the merged tribe, then I would not be surprised if they have a second go at sending her home.
8. Kyle
His number one ally was Tiyana, who is now gone. This makes him the clear number four in the more vulnerable Tuku alliance. And I have to point out that Kyle has won individual immunity in these first two merge challenges, which ups his threat level as a challenge beast.
IN A GOOD SPOT FOR NOW
7. Sol
6. Teeny
5. Andy
4. Genevieve
Keep an eye on these four… is it possible that, somehow, a Rome-less Lavo reunifies with Andy alongside them, giving the formerly disjointed tribe a shot of energy to take control of the game?
IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT
3. Sue
2. Gabe
1. Caroline
This upcoming episode is a major turning point for the tightest alliance in the game. Barring another twist that morphs tribal council, the power trio in Tuku needs to establish their footing as a key decider of votes. Will the forced elimination of one of their own be enough to stop a narrative that a united Tuku is a group that needs to be purged from the game?
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Will another twist shake up the game and send someone home? Find out next week!