Now that’s what I’m talking about! This week’s Survivor was, in a word, fantastic. And it’s obvious why this fourth episode was so much stronger. For the first time this season, no new twists or advantages were introduced, and advantages played a minimal role overall in the episode’s events. Which meant the cast – this incredible, fun, dynamic, cast – finally got a chance to really shine. And shine they did.
We’ve seen flashes from several players so far, but every time we get rolling, they get cut off at the knees with some dumb new Beware Advantage, or an extended trip to Decision Island. Hopefully we’ll get many of episodes like this week’s going forward. I’m not holding my breath, though. I’m sure we’ll get some, just maybe not many. But now, to the action!
Reward Challenge
Yes, a reward challenge! The season’s first, as Probst points out. This first reward is very simple (well, for most, but we’ll get to that), but fun challenge.
One a time, the tribe members throw a ball onto an overhead track, race through a few rope obstacles, and catch the ball before it hits the ground. Once everyone completes that portion, they dig under a beam, before finishing by landing each ball on a perch.
The first team to finish wins a visit from a local Fijian, an “expert at living off the land.” The second tribe wins a single fish.
Where it gets interesting is this is the first time there are going to be two challenges in a single cycle. This means that whoever sits out here has to participate in the upcoming immunity challenge. And what that means is that we finally get to see Heather in action.
If you don’t know who Heather is, I can’t blame you. She’s by far received the least amount of screen time. I haven’t looked at any counts, but I’m not even sure if she’s received a confessional yet. But she has sat out of each immunity challenge so far, and now we see why.
After Deshawn flies through the first stage, Heather is up. And she just can’t do it. Whether the ball bounces out of the track, or she can’t get through the ropes fast enough, she can’t do it. But to her credit, she stays with it, and just keeps going. Obviously you can’t give up in a spot like this, in a team challenge. But she kept pushing, never slowing down. I wouldn’t go as far as Probst did in saying it’s inspirational, but it was nice to see she’s got the fight in her.
It was also nice to see how well everyone treated her afterwards. Of course nobody is going to use this moment as the time to openly berate somebody, so you can expect her tribe to be supportive, even if it’s only performative. But they were all so earnest and sincere, you couldn’t help but believe they were showing their true feelings. Based on how little we had seen of her so far, I thought she might be on the outs at Luvu. But seeing how her tribe rallied behind her, I think she’s very well liked and is likely more secure than I originally thought. However, if they lose a few immunity challenges, and she can no longer sit out, she might need to go, if she truly is this much of a liability in challenges.
Ua finishes first, winning the camp visit, with Yase coming in second.
Ua/Yase
Not much to report at either of these camps, as the majority of the action goes to Luvu (finally!). But spirits are high at both Ua and Yase, as you would expect. Nathan, the local Fijian gets some fruit and catches fish for Ua, while Yase enjoys their fish as well. It must be the first real food they’ve had since the game started, and that’s going to be boost everyone’s mood.
Luvu
Having gone 3/3 in immunity challenges so far, some at Luvu are getting a little antsy to “play the game,” maybe none more so than Erika. She is getting a little put off by Sydney’s attitude. She sees her as emotional, and reactive, someone who maybe is somewhat unpredictable. Erika thinks Sydney might be the smartest target were they to lose the next immunity challenge.
So she takes this plan to Deshawn. I’m very curious about some of the more in depth tribe dynamics at Luvu, because from what we’ve seen, Deshawn and Sydney have appeared to be quite close. Sydney told him and Danny about Naseer targeting them in the premiere. She also told them after Naseer voiced his desire to vote out Danny later on as well.
So Deshawn says all the right things, because you have to in that spot. But he obviously goes straight to Sydney, and they both relay it all to Danny. To her credit, Sydney gets why Erika would want to target her, “I’m the threat of threats. I’m savvy as hell, good-looking, I’m a physical threat.”
I think I might be in love. Sydney is just the absolute best. Every time she speaks has the potential to be the new best quote of the season. She even gets the honor of saying this week’s episode title. Though to be fair, “They hate me because they ain’t me” was so obviously a Sydney quote. If you were betting on who was responsible for this title, the odds would have closed at something like -100000000. Based on how we’ve seen others react to her so far, I’m still not sure Sydney has much chance to win. But it’s just pure fun watching her play.
Then Deshawn floats the idea of throwing the challenge to vote out Erika. The athlete in Danny can’t accept that idea, but from a Survivor standpoint, he understands the thinking. Throwing challenges is always tricky. In general, I’m against throwing challenges. Why would you want to voluntarily go to Tribal Council? You never know what can happen, especially with idols and advantages, and even the Shot in the Dark die this season. But I don’t really have a problem with it here, as long as the three of them are confident they can get either Naseer or Heather on board. It’s a little sketchier when you don’t have a clear majority, but these three seem like smart players. I would guess they felt quit confident they could get either one to go along with the plan.
Immunity Challenge
For the challenge, the tribes race through the water, collecting three bags of logs. After getting the bags to the beach, they untie them and then push the logs through a tunnel which releases a key. They key unlocks rings which they toss to land on targets.
What happens next is an absolutely inspired piece of editing. Mid-challenge we get confessionals from both Danny and Deshawn narrating how they attempted to throw the challenge. This was fantastic. It’s not something I want all the time, but it was a perfect fit here, and made the challenge decidedly more entertaining. The only thing that could have made it better would have been a joint confessional with Danny and Deshawn. But alas.
Danny and Deshawn are walking through the water, really dragging and taking their time. But even still they beat Yase to the beach. Deshawn even starts to retie knots in the bags to slow down. Danny takes his time pushing the blocks through the tunnel, but he’s no match for Naseer’s monster effort. But they still have the ring toss to fail at.
Deshawn starts and it’s going great, meaning he’s missing everything. It seems to be working, as Yase finally catches up and takes the lead, with 2/3 rings, with Ua getting one of their own. But eventually Naseer forces his way in, and quickly catches up to Yase’s 2 rings. Xander lands the third ring for Yase, while JD matches with a second of his own. It’s down to JD and Naseer. JD gives a toss while yelling “Money!” so you know that one is missing, shades of Nick Young.
After this miss, Naseer lands Luvu’s third and final ring right after, sending Ua back to Tribal Council.
Pre-Tribal
Back at camp, Genie tells JD she wants to roll her die, and have JD vote Ricard, and hope for the best. JD is hesitant, but he and Genie don’t discuss the more obvious plan. JD has the extra vote. The two of them could have three votes to Shan and Ricard’s two, giving them the chance to flip the game in their favor.
But for whatever reason, they don’t discuss it, at least not from what we’re shown. My guess is JD didn’t want to have to use his extra vote this early in the game. Hindsight is 20/20 of course, but I’m shocked this wasn’t given more consideration. JD and Genie know Shan and Ricard will target one of them. Why not remove some, or all of the risk if they play it properly, and go for it? Sure, you may not want to use your extra vote yet, but it doesn’t do you any good if you get voted out before using it.
JD decides to go a different route. He tells Ricard about Genie’s plan, hoping to secure the Genie vote, thus keeping himself safe and removing the need for him to play his extra vote.
Shan then becomes worried, rightfully so, that Genie and JD could team up to try to shake things up. They could either tie the vote or use JD’s extra vote against her and Ricard. So she goes to work on JD, trying to get him to give her his extra vote once again.
She plays the paranoid card, that she’s worried JD is going to flip on her with Genie. She says she’ll be more comfortable if JD leaves the extra vote back at camp. He doesn’t want to do that, as you always want to have any idols or advantages with you at Tribal Council, which is correct. So then Shan suggests he give her the extra vote to hold onto through Tribal Council, just as a little extra reassurance for her. And JD gives it to her!
Shan is an absolute master. It’s incredible watching her work. But it’s still somewhat surprising JD was so willing to give in here. He clearly knows the game very well, but he’s had a hard time translating that knowledge into effective gameplay. Instead, he’s been erratic and unpredictable. I also think his age came into play here. He’s only 20 years old; Shan is 34. From 20 to 34, that’s a huge difference. If it was 34 to 48, that same 14 years isn’t as big. But I do think JD’s youth left him a little more susceptible to being manipulated here.
Now that Shan has the extra vote, she has to consider whether or not she should use the opportunity to vote out JD instead and take his extra vote for herself.
Tribal Council
In the end Shan and Ricard do side with Genie and vote out JD. This had to have been a tough choice, as there is merit to both ideas. JD likely would have remained loyal to Shan. But if a swap comes in the next episode or two, I’m not so sure Genie is as quick to remain Ua strong. And yes, Shan now has the extra vote. But from what she’s shown so far, she basically had it anyway. She likely could have determined when and how JD played it down the line.
On the other hand, though, if this move secures Genie’s loyalty, she is bound to be a much more predictable player than JD. There’s something to be said for the safety of predictability. JD was more erratic, more likely to shift things on a whim to go for a big move. I think I would have kept JD, but it’s hard to argue too strongly against Shan and Ricard’s decision.
That will do it for this week. Once again, it showed what this show, and this season, can be when it’s not bogged down by endless advantages. Survivor has always been a show about human interaction, and it’s at its best when that function of the show gets center stage. It’s no coincidence that this week was the strongest episode yet.
But this blog isn’t all. I also have the Talking Llama podcast recap, which is already out if you’re reading this. If you can’t get enough of my Survivor takes, or might prefer a podcast versus blog going forward, subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or anywhere else you get your podcasts. Even if you don’t think you’ll listen, I’d appreciate it if you threw a subscription my way anyway. And while you’re there, how about leaving a rating and review? It would mean a lot as I’m trying to gain traction with the new podcast.
