Now that the “Earn the Merge” Tribal Council is done, we are officially merged. But not is all happy back at camp. Venus is trying to figure out who threw out the one vote for her. She immediately assumes it was Soda. In fact, it’s not even an assumption. She takes it as a known fact. But it was Charlie that made that vote.
Venus accuses Soda, who obviously denies it. You know, because she didn’t do it. So they walk off to talk alone, making this a big thing around camp that everybody notices. But then upon returning back to camp, Charlie admits to Venus that it was his vote.
Q is beside himself at this decision. They were all perfectly content to let Soda take all the heat. So Q takes Charlie aside, reprimanding Charlie for this. Charlie doesn’t push back, but in reality he’s seeing how Q is really playing the game: wanting to be in control of the game. Charlie now thinks Q should be a target to vote out.
Immunity Challenge
Oh cool, a split challenge with two groups going to Tribal Council to vote out two players. This is so innovative and unexpected and fun.
I say the same thing every season. This is so dumb. Same thing at the same point. Doing it sometimes? Sure, why not. But they absolutely do not need to do it every single season. The least they could is mix up the timing. But nope. Can’t even get that. But at the risk of repeating myself from previous season (even more), let’s just get to it.
It’s a Survivor classic, with the castaways balancing on a triangular platform in the ocean, with their feet perched on narrow footholds. At regular intervals, they move up the platform to narrower footholds.
They are also playing for reward, with the player lasting the longest earning a coffee and food reward for their group. That group also goes to Tribal Council second. That becomes important, as the player eliminated at the first Tribal will not make the jury.
Purple: Soda, Liz, Maria, Charlie, Venus, and Tevin
Orange: Tiff, Kenzie, Hunter, Ben, Q, and Tim
Kenzie wins immunity for the Orange group, but goes out before Purple, which comes down to Tevin vs Maria. Tevin drops, with Maria winning immunity and earning the food reward for her group.
Purple Group/Reward
Venus views Charlie as the odd one out in their group. There are four Nami with two Siga, but one of them – Maria – is, obviously, immune. But Tevin has other ideas.
Charlie of course notices where he’s at in this group, and he’s desparate to get to work. Soda wants to work with Charlie. Even with him being the literal only person they can vote for if they want to remain Nami strong. She wants to vote Venus instead. Soda talks to Tevin about this, who likes what she’s saying. Tevin, though, has been souring on his relationship with Soda, and instead approaches Liz about blindsiding Soda.
Tevin pitches the Soda vote to Maria as well. Everyone knows what kind of game Venus is playing. Even if they’re not working closely with her, or working with her at all, at least knowing what to expect from someone can be a comfort. But they’re not as sure about Soda’s game.
And then. Venus goes to Maria to throw out Tevin as a possible vote. Maria is cagey, saying she doesn’t want to commit. And Venus reads it perfectly, saying, “Oh you don’t want to commit, because you may want to work with Tevin.” But then she says in a confessional that she doesn’t know how to read Maria! She nailed it 100% but didn’t realize it!
Orange Group
Q tells us in a confessional that he threw the immunity challenge. He didn’t want a target on his back right away, so he jumped off. It’s always a risky play to throw a challenge, but I like this decision.
Tim and Q are talking and Tim suggests voting off Hunter, thinking they might not have another chance as good as this. But Q pushes back. Q, Tim, and Hunter are part of the Plus One Alliance, and Q doesn’t want to turn on that right away. But with Tim not budging, Q starts to think that maybe they should turn on the alliance, except instead of Hunter, he wants to go after Tim. He sees Tim as someone who wants to have everything. He has the Plus One, a Siga alliance, sub-alliances within that. He’s trying to keep it all, and he’s not being particularly subtle about it.
Tiffany prefers to keep Tim and vote Ben. She feels she can read and see through Tim. She can’t see Ben’s game as clearly. But with Q pushing for Tim, and Kenzie’s willingness, she’s open to Tim. And then Ben talks to Q about being willing to vote Hunter. He agrees to use his name as the bluff to give Hunter. Tiffany and Kenzie aren’t sure they buy it, and they’re having trouble coming to a decision on the vote. But while they seem to be good for this vote, Tiff and Kenzie are quickly tiring of how Q is trying to run the show. They absolutely need to stick with him here, but they should start to consider what an exit plan will look like.
Tribal Council 1 – Orange Group
After a lot of crying (honestly, not worth getting into), we get to the vote. Nobody plays their Shot in the Dark, and Hunter holds onto his idol. Ben and Hunter played it correctly, as Tim is voted out 4-2, with Ben casting the second Hunter vote.
Tribal Council 2 – Purple Group
Soda is voted out 4-2, becoming the first member of the Survivor 46 jury.
Things I Liked This Episode
I’m going to try something new going forward. Even though I’m not a huge fan of where the new era is going, I don’t like to be as negative as I’ve been. So for each episode, I’m going to pick out a handful of things, probably 3-5, that I liked. Because if I can’t find even 3 things enjoyable about an episode, what am I even doing this for?
Q and Charlie are talking at the beach after Charlie cops to voting for Venus. And Tim is just…there, apparently asleep, oblivious to what’s happening. Nobody draws any attention to it, it’s great.
The Purple group’s scrambling. Sometimes in a small group like this, players default to the easy vote. But here we saw several plans get thrown out there for consideration.
Venus. Venus has often been the best, or at least most entertaining, part of each episode. She has the energy that Survivor needs a lot more of these days.
Tiffany and Kenzie. They continue to play very well, both as individuals and as a duo, and are looking like the strongest pair in the game right now.
