Idol Speculation: “Survivor 46” Episode 8: Everybody Needs A Thneed

Up until now, I thought Thneeds only existed in the esteemed mind of Dr. Seuss.  Even Universal Studios would not be so money-hungry as to put out an item whose purpose is literally to be useless.  But it seems it DOES exist in our plane.  Only here it goes by another name: The Q Skirt.  

Before we get into our sales pitch, however, we have to do damage control.  Ben is understandably devastated by the loss of his friend, particularly as he saw Tim as a grounding agent for his game.  He’s upset, but not game-endingly so, and he’s comforted.  A decent recovery, so I’ll give him a pass.  Q?  Not so much.  He’s not happy at all that we aren’t talking strategy.  Dude, get the stick out of your butt.  There’ll be plenty of strategy talk later; let the man lick his wounds a little bit!

Q’s need for strategy talk gets satiated anyway when the second group comes back.  Most everyone, Tiffany and Kenzie in particular, are shocked that Venus remains, with her having been the plan prior to the Tribal.  Venus, as she did at Tribal Council, immediately steps up to take credit for the move, something Tevin finds privately hilarious.  She did this at Tribal Council as well, something I failed to mention last time, but didn’t do a “Matt’s Mess-Up” for since it’s still relevant here.  Soda, to her immense credit, was kind to Venus despite their personal animosity, and Venus taking credit for getting her out.  

Credit, however, is a valuable commodity on “Survivor”.  You don’t want to take it too early, as Emily learned well on “Survivor 45”, but you also need it at the end, lest you end up like Cassidy on “Survivor 43”, and not be able to claim moves you made.  Tevin, however, is not sweating Venus as a threat, and thus allows her the credit for now.  Less chill about the whole thing is Liz.  She’s mad that BOTH Tevin and Venus are claiming the move, saying it’s hers since she’s been against Soda the whole time!  Really what this highlights is that everyone’s the hero of their own story.  From what we’ve seen, Tevin was the main move and shaker on the vote, but that’s because of what we’re shown.  Venus probably DID think she pulled it together by talking to Charlie and Maria, and Liz probably HAS been putting Soda’s name out there at least somewhat.  Neither may be what actually swayed the votes, but you can see how everyone thinks it was their move.  Fascinating little psychological moment.  Point is, Liz is now getting a case of Big-Move-Itis, something likely to spell the end for her long-term if left unchecked.  

Morning does bring some new strategy talk to satiate Q.  Seems that there’s a vacancy in the 6 with Tim gone, and despite him being mad at Charlie last episode, Q is now willing to let him take Tim’s place.  This, it seems, was Maria’s plan all along.  Turns out she WASN’T lukewarm on the 6, as had previously been assumed, but just wanted her true number one, Charlie, in there.  Charlie, for his part, is open to the idea, but is wisely wary.  Apart from the obvious factors of being the last one brought in, and Q still harboring some wariness of his own (we see Q later express concern over how loyal Charlie will be), Charlie declares this the “weakest six in the show’s history”.  Time will bear him out as correct, admittedly, but at the time he said that?  Eh, he’s being a BIT hyperbolic.  This is not as tight a six as one would want, but compared to, say, the personal disfunction that was Casaya (“Survivor Exile Island”)?  I’d give these guys at least a decent chance of sticking together, at least at this point of the episode.  Of course, Casaya functioned in spite of personal animosity, and we’ll later see that this six does no, so maybe not the best comparison.  But on paper, at this point of the episode?  A bit over-the-top.  

But now Q decides to switch up the show he’s on.  No, you’re not watching “Survivor”.  This is now “Shark Tank”, where Q is one-man pitching the titular “Q-Skirt”. This is an innovative garment that looks like an ordinary hoodie, because it IS an ordinary hoodie!  But instead of wearing it normally, you tie it around your waist, hood by your crotch, to use as a “Kangaroo Pouch” to hold whatever you so desire!  Look, in the most GENEROUS interpretation I can give it, this idea is goofy as hell.  Credit where it’s due, however: Q is a brave southern man to suggest men wearing skirts as a regular thing.  That takes some confidence in oneself, and I applaud him for it.  His enthusiasm even wins over the skeptical, both Charlie and Tevin signing up for one when they start getting made.  Guess we know the first item to be made available in Q’s merch store.  

Q isn’t done with the whimsy, however!  Turns out he’s been trying to get a game of Hide and Seek going since the start of the game, and now has enough people to make it actually work.  Tiffany mocks the idea, which I have to say is a bit mean.  There is no age at which Hide and Seek is not fun, Tiffany.  Understandably she’s found fairly early, since she put little effort into it, though she does outlast Liz, at least.  Ben and Hunter are ultimately victorious, the former by camouflaging himself low to the ground with a tarp, the latter by hiding in a.tree above the shelter (which Tevin did predict; they just looked in the wrong trees).  Honestly, this is my favorite scene of the episode.  Just a fun, whimsical passing of the time.  The sort of camp life scene I can get behind.  

Of course, some people still have to make it all about the game of “Survivor”, with Q and Venus in particular both saying that this tell them things about other people in the game.  Some of it I buy.  Q noting that Liz plays hard by going deep in the jungle to look for him, or Venus noting Maria’s resourcefulness in her camouflage headdress, for example?  These make a certain amount of sense, and are traits to look out for moving forward.  But Venus saying Tiffany isn’t playing because she didn’t try very hard, or Q watching out for Hunter and Ben because they won the game?  That seems a bit much to me.  Those things are mostly, if not completely unrelated.  And frankly, the strategizing is unnecessary.  Just let the fun camp game be the fun camp game.  

Speaking of games, Tevin is in the middle of making a chessboard when Venus comes over to talk about her strategy some more.  Tevin butters her up well, though oddly so well that it makes Venus suspicious.  In conferring with Tiffany about it, Tiffany notes that Venus is no threat, and should be kept around as a goat for the end.  She suggests going after Maria.  No justification is given, and it really doesn’t matter.  Tevin brings this back to Q, noting that she’s targeting one of the 6.  

Now, obviously Q reacted badly to someone targeting someone else in the 6 with Tim last episode, but that was with a guy he barely knew, who seemed only half-interested in the alliance anyway.  But this is Q’s #1.  The person he’s stated he’s closest with in this game.  Surely he won’t blow up all of his alliances over one aside comment…

And there goes Q saying Tiffany now has to go.  See, this is why Charlie doesn’t want to work with you too much, my dude!  You fly off the handle at the slightest perceived slight!  If people don’t do exactly what you say, BOOM!  They’re gone in your eyes!  I get the philosophy, but there needs to be some NUANCE.  You spent the last two weeks building this relationship, and you’re going to throw it all out, blow up your main alliance, because of one aside comment?  That’s just bad gameplay!  He even reveals Tiffany’s idol to Maria in the process!  Just thoroughly burning the bridge at that point.  

Also, while I understand what his personal justification would be, I feel duty-bound to point out, Q, that if ANYONE who suggests moving against the 6 needs to go, by definition, YOU would need to be voted out for getting out Tim!  Something that, maybe, Q realizes down the line…

As Probst correctly notes, the challenge today is a good old classic.  The “Hang onto a Pole” challenge first seen on “Survivor Vanuatu”.  Speaking of that season, Probst claims Ozzy set the record at 2 hours, and that seems to pass muster.  Yet, I somehow feel like the Vanuatu version went longer.  If so, mention it!  I will not stand for this Twila erasure!  Anyway, point being, good challenge to bring back.  

This being the final 10 means it’s also time for rice negotiations, and I will give people credit that they TRY to negotiate, but Probst stands firm.  That, plus the combination of Probst not knifing the bag?  Way lowers this one in my estimation.  

However, the cast does make up for the lackluster proceedings a bit by actually not going for it!  Q and Liz are ultimately the only ones who volunteer (reasonably so, since they’re the first two out, as we soon see), and Probst needs four.  Actually a good bit of drama, though again, Probst’s countdown could be improved by having it be rice draining from a knifed bag instead.  Come on, that was one of the coolest things last season; bring it back!  

After Q “throws the challenge” again, and Liz falls off, we get a few more drops, and then the banter starts.  Say what you will about this season, but it has good banter, and good running gags. When Probst announces they’re seven minutes it, he gets corrected to “Several”, doubtless making Jelinsky feel a good amount of joy.  Dude may have been voted out first, and may have looked kind of ridiculous, but he’s added to the “Survivor” lexicon, as Probst notes, and that’s a feat in and of itself.  Q continues to pitch The Q Skirt, saying everyone here will get a free one.  He revokes Probst’s however, when Probst mocks his challenge performance.  Fair enough.  Again, loving the banter, loving the rapport.  

Charlie and Venus both highlighted wanting to play in this challenge, so you’d expect one of them to win.  Instead, anticlimactically, Hunter wins, showing off at the end by hanging JUST FROM HIS LEGS!  Seriously, dude freaked me out.  Challenge may have bene a foregone conclusion, as Q notes, but at least the banter makes up for it.  

After Q gets his “temper tantrum” as he’ll later call it over the rice out of the way, we find out that indeed, the plan to blindside Tiffany was not just a whim, but what Q actually wants to do.  I have already outlined the reasons this is stupid, so we need an alternate target, one that can be much more reasonable.  Sure enough, Liz’s Big-Move-Itis rears its head again, and she hops on the “Get Out Tevin” train.  Not sure WHY she wants out Tevin, aka the one guy who’s seemed to give her the time of day, but I suppose there’s the whole “Claim Credit” thing discussed earlier, in her mind.  Venus is, of course, on board, but as soon as this gets to the 6, they’re going to turn it on Liz.  That would make sense, right?

Actually, NO!  Instead, pretty much everyone is on board with this!  Ok, Kenzie and Tiffany I get since they’re not as committed to the 6 (and in Kenzie’s case, not even in the 6), and want Yanu to remain invisible.  But Charlie and Maria?  What good does this do you?  Showing that Q hasn’t fully burned the Tiffany bridge (yet), and highlighting precisely WHY he should want to keep her around, Tiffany lets Q in on the plan, over the objections of Liz.  Q, naturally, runs to Hunter with this news.  To give Q his due, he DOES seem willing to let this one go, even though it’s not the plan he came up with.  Hunter, however, is not, and so goes over to Charlie, Maria, and Liz to discuss things, aka the thing Q asked him explicitly not to do!  This also clues in Liz on the original Tiffany plan, which she doesn’t seem surprised by.  Perhaps that was more public knowledge than we thought.  

The ladies, sans Liz and Maria, notice this, and so Venus goes over to interrupt, lest the target turn back on her.  Honestly, good on her!  One of the reasons I find “Survivor Redemption Island” so frustrating is that the players there let social norms get in the way of shaking up the game.  You’re on the outs anyway!  Disrupt their dynamic somehow!  They can only vote you out slightly sooner than they otherwise would have!  So, kudos to Venus for trying to shake that up.  She’s not that effective at it, but the effort is there, and appreciated.  

So yeah, our choices have boiled down to Tiffany and Tevin, two people nobody should be looking to get out just yet, since the 6 technically have a majority.  Whoever you vote out, you break up the 6.  No wonder Charlie has no faith in you all.  This is also, incidentally, where Charlie learns about Tiffany’s idol.  Put a gun to my head, I’d say Tevin is the SLIGHTLY better option to go with, since Nami has more members left at this point, but that’s VERY slight.  Again, the ultimate takeaway here is that both options are terrible.  

Luckily for those two, a new, better target presents themselves at Tribal Council.  That target is Q, who again goes on his “I let people down” self-pity rant like he did during Yanu’s losing streak earlier in the season.  Only this time, there’s no indication of it being an act, like he told us his previous “Vote me out” wish was.  

Really, I can find no logic in this.  Was Q upset that his alliance was falling apart, largely by his own hand?  Was it because of the failed rice negotiations?  Did he legitimately think he failed because of Hunter’s talk?  I DON’T KNOW!  I can’t fathom the logic here!  If I were to TRY and look at it in the best light possible, I COULD say he’s doing a Zane Knight (“Survivor Philippines”) and trying to get people to WANT to keep him around.  Seems like they already did, so like with Zane, this is a stupid plan!  And again, I have no idea if that’s what Q was thinking!  Frankly, I’m not sure Q was thinking at this point.  But hey, at least he’s staying true to wanting people who move against the 6 voted out.  

Naturally, all hell breaks loose, and we have a legit “Live Tribal” with everyone strategizing on the fly.  Tiffany finds out that she was targeted, and that Q blabbed about her idol.  Tevin wants to go along with Q’s request to be voted out.  Charlie and Maria have no idea what to do.  It’s chaos, and decently fun chaos, but again, I thought we were done with whispering at Tribal.  Why bring it back?  

In case it wasn’t clear, Q is the obvious correct boot.  With all this dissension, the 6 is dead at this point, so that’s no longer a consideration.  Q’s erratic gameplay, at this point, is such that he cannot be trusted as an ally, and thus has little use to anyone left in the game.  Granted, after this stunt I don’t see him getting votes in the end, but that’s a long way to drag a goat, and Venus is right there.  Better to eliminate the X factor and be done with it.  Hey, at least this made for a lot of fun “WTF?” Voting confessionals, and Ben even gets to bring back “That Does Not Rock”!  Good on him, getting his catchphrase in again!

Does this group do the sensible thing?  Of course not!  Pretty much everyone turns on Tevin, sending him home WITHOUT Q GETTING EVEN A SINGLE VOTE?  Them not wanting to change on the fly I could MAYBE understand, but after that performance, after that perfect demonstration of what makes an unreliable ally, not a single person votes Q?  I don’t understand these people.  

Yeah, I’m sorry to see Tevin go.  He definitely didn’t deserve it after that stunt Q pulled, and contrary to what I thought of him pre-season, dude was charming, and even a decent strategist.  Fun as Q is, he could wear out his welcome over time, and I wouldn’t say that would be the case for Tevin.  As such, this is a bummer.  

While figuring out the logic of these people eludes me, I have figured out this season: This is the “Survivor Gabon” of the new era.  Big characters?  Slow pre-merge?  Gameplay based more on personal grudges and fleeting vibes than on actual strategy?  This has Gabon written all over it.  Granted, it’s not as over-the-top as Gabon, but it also lacks the more hate-filled moments of that season, so it kind of balances out.  As such, I foresee this being a “Love it or Hate it” season, near the top or bottom of everyone’s favorites, depending on how they feel about drama.  

As a lover of Gabon, after tonight, I’m kind of high on this season!  Yeah, the start has been slow, but there was some good, entertaining chaos tonight!  If that momentum can keep up, we may yet have a legendary season on our hands!

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.