Oh boy. What are you doing, Survivor? You have this dynamite cast, full of big, fun characters. And what do you do? You hamstring them by filling the game with twists and advantages that you seemingly need a doctorate to fully keep up with. Now, I love a good twist as much as anyone. But there’s a limit. And there’s definitely a clear difference between “good” and “dumb, so so dumb.” Unfortunately, Survivor 41 is still continuing the trend of too many bad twists. And three weeks in, I see no indication of that changing.
And that’s a real shame. As I started with, this cast rules. Shan is perfect, Brad (poor, sweet Brad, a king gone too soon) was a ball of untethered energy, Sydney is the absolute best (haters be damned), and on and on. And the few, true character moments we get are great! But they’re sandwiched between new advantages, which then require full explanations plus a group field trip. It’s an uncomfortable balance of awesome players and characters and so many twists and advantages that you have no idea who can’t vote, who has an extra vote, who has an idol, etcetera etcetera. I’m really hoping the season turns out to be advantage-heavy only early on, but I’m sure that’s just wishful thinking.
But okay, enough preamble, let’s get into the action.
Yase
We begin at Yase, where Liana seemingly has some regrets about not going for the Xander vote the night before. She thinks it could be her “million dollar mistake.” We know Xander was on the chopping block at Tribal Council. But in the end (obviously) they stuck with Voce. Was that just to appease Tiffany? Did Evvie help swing it to Voce instead? Probably a mix of both. But what’s interesting here, is that there’s no further mention of this the rest of the episode. It’s definitely something that felt worth mentioning. But to spend as much time as they did on it, with no real payoff? Maybe this comes back later on in the season. Just something to keep in mind.
That same morning Tiffany finds the Beware Advantage at camp. But it’s not the same Beware Advantage that Xander found. No, this is a different Beware Advantage. WHY DO YOU HAVE TWO ADVANTAGES THAT HAVE THE SAME NAME??? I cannot figure it out. In a season where it’s already hard enough to keep track of extra votes, no votes, idols, it’s beyond unnecessary to then do this. I’ll be referring to these as Beware 1 (idol) and Beware 2.
Too bad for Tiffany, Evvie and Liana are right there when she finds it, so she has to share it with them. A boat will arrive at camp that night. She has to sneak out of camp, where the boat takes her to an island. She will make a decision and then come back to camp. Failure to get on the boat will result in the loss of her vote at the next Tribal Council.
Ua
Brad finds Ua’s Beware 2. He also finds the Beware 1. He then tells Shan finding both of them because…well, I’m not really sure why. Brad is awesome, he’s great TV, and he seems like a genuinely good dude. But he is not proving himself to be very adept at actually playing Survivor. Which all together makes him a fantastic character.
When nighttime rolls around, Brad does his best Ferris Bueller impression (literally his words, another great Brad moment), and sneaks off to the boat. Couple things with this. The fake body ruse was probably unnecessary. We know Genie knew about it, we know Shan knew about it, and that means Ricard all but certainly knew about it. But the best part was how Brad left. And I’m so mad at production for how they edited this scene. Brad rolls – literally rolls – away from his bed but the shot cuts away mid first roll. I’m making it head canon that Brad continued to roll down the beach at least a couple more times. I need that footage.
Luvu
Sydney finds the Beware 2. And that’s about it for Luvu here, except that Naseer is maybe on the outs again. I think I actually want them to lose immunity next week, if for no other reason than to gain some deeper insight into the tribe’s dynamics.
Night Time Boat Trip
As the note said, failure to get on the boat would result in losing their vote. So the three arrive at the island…to risk their vote. Jeff wasn’t messing around when he said votes would be at risk this season (and like lots of things so far, it’s getting to be a bit much).
They have the choice between two advantages: a tarp for camp or a steal-a-vote advantage. But of course there’s a twist. If all three choose tarp, they all receive a tarp. If all choose steal, they all lose their next vote. But if there’s a split, the one or two who chose tarp get nothing, and the other(s) get their steal-a-vote.
Sydney and Tiffany both choose tarp while Brad chooses – and thus, receives, the vote steal.
Immunity Challenge
Before the challenge begins, we get the pleasure (displeasure, if you’re me) of hearing Xander, and now Brad force their stupid awkward phrases into conversation. And in Brad’s case, forcing the completely wrong one. His phrase is supposed to be: “I didn’t realize this till now, broccoli is just a bunch of small trees.” Should be simple enough, right? But what Brad says, is, “I feel like a broccoli. Broccoli grows little bunches on small trees.” Simply incredible.
But here’s the question. If this happens again when all three phrases are said, does Probst count it? Does he give leeway, or does he strictly adhere to the rules? For me wanting this nonsense to be over with, I would hope he would go with the intent. But for the sheer hilarity of it, I would hope he pulls his best Dikembe Mutombo impersonation.
But for the challenge itself, one at a time, the players swim out into the water and cross a rope bridge. Once all players finish, they dig up sand bags, and finish by landing the bags on a series of targets. And in this moment, all of Survivor Twitter was united, as the #survivor timeline was filled with this gif, courtesy of the great Angelina Keeley of David vs Goliath.
Once again, two tribes will win immunity, while also playing for a fruit reward.
Luvu wins – again – with Yase finally securing their first W of the season, sending Ua to Tribal Council.
JD completely dropped the ball and was horrible at the bag tossing. My guy was out here literally trying finger rolls. And from what we saw, he wasn’t even close.
Pre-Tribal
JD’s struggles continue back at camp. He heads off into the jungle to go to the bathroom, so Survivor decides we need to see a close up of a bird taking a shit
Upon returning to camp, JD’s extra vote note is sticking out of the front of his shorts. Because she’s not blind, Shan notices immediately. JD takes her and Ricard and tells them about the extra vote. Shan correctly calls him out in a confessional as “sloppy,” and that’s tough for an alliance partner. You need to be able to trust them. Not only to have your back, but to take care of themselves as well. Ricard is a little more outwardly pissed, while Shan’s response is more measured.
While Shan is torn between voting out either Brad or JD, JD tries to regain some favor by giving her his extra vote to hold onto. It’s a nice token gesture, I suppose, but it might end up being nothing more than that. Now, had Shan demanded it as a form of payment – “you give me your extra vote and you stay in the game” – that could be different. But I’d have to imagine Shan gives it right back to him once they’re back at camp. Maybe she’ll surprise us and refuse to give it back. But from what she’s shown so far, I can’t see her willingly rocking the boat like that at this point.
Tribal Council
Brad is voted out 3-1, and with him his steal-a-vote and future idol. With that also raises the question of what happens to Brad’s Beware 1 advantage? I would assume it just gets re-hidden at Ua beach? But I guess we’ll have to just wait and see until next week.
One of the key plot points moving forward will be the ramifications of this vote on Shan’s game. She had a tough choice between Brad and JD. Brad was likely to be more loyal than JD. But he was also so unpredictable. Brad’s advantage and potential future idol could have weighed on her as well. If he decided he want to flip, those could be exactly what he needs to pull something off.
JD’s behavior should be more predictable, but he’s not proving to be very trustworthy. But, if he now feels indebted to Shan, he could become a very valuable ace up her sleeve. She’s playing so well right now, and is receiving what can only be described as a winner’s edit. But I’m getting a little worried it’s a little too positive of an edit. I still think she’s in a great spot for now, so here’s hoping that continues deep into the game – say, through Final Tribal?
And with that, we look forward to next week. Will we see Beware 3.0? Hopefully not, but probably! Will more votes be lost? Hopefully not, but probably! Just give us more focus on characters, pleeeaaase. This is a great cast. They need a chance to shine.
