First thing’s first, Happy Thanksgiving! With that in mind, I will try (big emphasis on “try”) to keep this week’s Survivor recap brief (relatively speaking). Get you in, get you out, get you back to family, food, and football. With that in mind, I’m going to set this up a little different than normal, and just try to hit on some of the bigger picture ideas. So let’s get it cracking!
Personal Relationships/Social Politics
These were the driving forces of this episode. Erika and Deshawn discuss the need to flush either Shan or Xander’s idol at the next vote. Erika prefers Shan, to which Deshawn of course agrees. But he’s not completely convinced, though he does seem to be considering it. Shan sees this, and given how much she wants to vote Erika out, she thinks her trust in Deshawn may be running out.
We later get a great scene between Shan and Deshawn, kind of laying everything out in the open (to whatever extent you can do that in Survivor). These two, along with Danny and Liana, are still part of the strong Campout Alliance. They’ve all taken that on as a serious responsibility; they want to give the Black community something to be proud of. But does that desire supersede the individuals? They all have their personal reasons for wanting to win the game.
And as Shan notes, she’s made other relationships, “outside the color lines.” Do they stick with the Campout Alliance for their community, even if it’s to the detriment of their games? This is a huge part of what makes Survivor so great. Everyone forms early relationships, and then those get mixed and mashed and put in a blender over and over throughout the season. How do you decide which relationships or partnerships to continue with? It’s fascinating.
Later on, Liana and Shan discuss their plans for the game. Shan doesn’t necessarily trust Deshawn, but she also feels a strong pull to try bring their alliance to the Final Four. Liana and Shan have been very close ever since they met at the summit earlier in the season. And it’s Liana’s holding onto that moment and that connection that leads her to tell Shan about Deshawn’s plan to vote Ricard.
It’s a decision completely driven by emotion. Liana even says to Shan she’s telling her about the plan even though it may not be best for her game. Now, any number of factors could have led to this decision. She and Shan clearly have a strong bond; Liana might have felt she owed it to her. The lack of food is probably getting to them, they’re not thinking as clearly. Once again, a very interesting dynamic we’re seeing playing out.
Challenges
As usual, not much to report on the challenges themselves. But Ricard wins both reward and immunity this week. On reward – at the Survivor Sanctuary for pizza and a night in a shelter with blankets and pillows – we get another great moment, this time between Shan and Ricard.
Though not without their troubles, these two have been working closely since day one. Often, we’ll see these types of alliances make a final-two deal. Even if they don’t fully believe it, they still make it. But not these two. They have an open, honest conversation of why they can’t take each other to the end. They openly acknowledge they will have to turn on each other at some point, whenever the time is “right.” They both agree then and there that now is not the right time. But once that’s out in the open, it’s open season.
Pure Strategy, That’s The Good Stuff
With this agreement in place, Shan does eventually tell Ricard of the plan to vote him out (this happens before he wins immunity). And this sets off some warning bells for Ricard. They literally just agreed that they had each other’s permission to go after each other whenever they deemed the time was right. If an opportunity presented itself for that to happen, why would Shan blow it up?
After he wins immunity, Ricard decides now is the time to act. He gets Erika, Heather, and Xander on board, and is able to swing Deshawn as his fifth. What’s interesting here, though, is there didn’t seem to be any discussion at all about using Xander’s extra vote. Maybe he shut it down, and there wasn’t anything deemed good enough to air. But they could have gone through with the plan without Deshawn.
That being said, they end up going splitting the vote between Shan and Liana, to protect against Shan’s idol. So Deshawn, and Danny, were important to the plan. Still could have been done without them, albeit with more risk.
And when Shan does not play her idol, that signals the end for the Mafia Pastor. Shan was dynamic from the moment they stepped on the beach. She dominated the edit for most of the season, and for good reason. She was fun, smart, sly, a good player and a great character.
This was arguably the season’s best episode yet. And do you know why that was? The players actually got to play Survivor! There were no new advantages introduced, no gimmicks. Just pure social and strategic play. It’s absolutely no coincidence that the strongest episodes so far have all had that in common (unfortunately the preview for next week makes it look like Survivor production is back on their bullsh**, but we’ll see). But it all played out in a very intriguing, captivating way this week.
Just two quick notes before leaving.
The Talking Llama podcast is going strong, and last week’s recap currently sits as our most downloaded episode yet. They’re not big numbers by any means, but it’s no less fun and exciting to see it grow as the season moves along. So a sincere thank you to anyone who listens, who comes back each week, who’s passed word along to friends and other fans. A very fitting time to have something so awesome to be thankful for.
Second, and lastly, some awesome news on the international Survivor front. Survivor New Zealand season 2 and Survivor South Africa season 8 are coming to Paramount+ on December 15. With seasons 4-6 of Australian Survivor already streaming, access is just getting easier and easier. Anyone who hasn’t started watching these awesome seasons are quickly running out of excuses for not doing so.
