Idol Speculation: “Survivor 46” Episode 9: Cast Away

Longtime readers will know one of my coined but lesser-used terms on this blog, “The Shamar Threshold”.  Named for Shamar Thomas of “Survivor Caramoan” (see, Tim, you’re not the only one who remembers him), this refers to the point where someone initially picked to be dragged to the end as a goat becomes so annoying that they are more of a detriment to one’s social game than any benefit one might receive having them at Final Tribal Council.  We’ve seen a few examples of this over the years, but I think Q may be the only example I’ve seen to get the “goat” designation and cross that threshold IN THE SAME EPISODE!  A speed record, if nothing else.  

Naturally, conversation once we get back from the last Tribal Council is all centered around Q.  Pretty much everyone sits stunned, and states the obvious fact that he’s now untrustworthy for pulling a stunt like this.  I brace myself for Q pulling another challenge lie, and saying this was all some strategy that makes no sense.  To his credit, however, Q owns up to this being a dumb move.  He explains that he felt the chaos before last Tribal Council was somehow his fault, and as we established with him wanting to go home after a Tribal Challenge loss, he feels he should take the consequence if he messes something up.  Frankly, I think his “chaos” pre-Tribal barely contributed to what was going to go down, but the man at least has internal logical consistency, and again, credit for not trying to play himself up as a mastermind for this.  

Most pissed out of the tribe is Tiffany, who notes that it’s kind of odd for someone claiming to be her “Number 1” to throw around the knowledge of her idol.  Yelling ensues, and despite Q’s attempts to mollify things, Tiffany is clearly not having it.  The Yanu alliance, whatever it was before, is now shot.  Great job, Q!  Please note the sarcasm.  

The yelling is heard back at camp, with most everyone on Tiffany’s side, and saying they want to get out Q.  Liz in particular is mad that Q “stole her move.”  Not sure how.  Yes, he made himself the center of attention at Tribal, but that doesn’t mean he gets credit for Tevin’s ouster.  If anything, this makes great cover for you, Liz!  Still, Liz is on the warpath now, saying she needs to get Q out for her game.  Given what we’ve heard from everyone else, I believe there will be a line on that one, Liz.  

The next morning, guess what, Q is STILL the subject of debate!  Ben refers to what Q pulled last night as a “Poser Move”.  Suddenly, somewhere, Courtney Marit (“Survivor Exile Island”) is extremely confused, and doesn’t know why.  Q, meanwhile, admits that he has a big hill to climb, and so tries to strategize, being pretty chill and casual about it.  Honestly, his demeanor is good, just putting out some feelers.  The flaw is that emotions are still too raw.  No one’s feeling it, Q.  Best bet for you is to just lie low, and hope they target bigger threats.  Hell, even Hunter, a guy desperate for allies, jumps from Q like the proverbial rat from the proverbial burning ship.  The only person willing to give Q even the time of day is Venus, and that strikes me as more her being desperate for ANY alliance than wanting to work with Q in particular.  

All that said, Q may just luck into that situation anyone.  Everyone at the water well talks about how they’ll never vote for Q at the end.  While nothing more comes of it, and there is still some talk about how Q is too much of an X-factor in the game to be trusted, he is starting to look like a possible goat to drag to the end.  Play cool and take it, Q.  

Well, having now spent the first 15 minutes of the episode focussed to the point of near exclusivity on Q, surely we get some talk about the OTHER tribe dynamics, right?  Nope, Tree Mail time!  And not a very happy one at that.  It tells us that the final 9 twist, splitting into three groups of three is happening again.  I am not happy about this.  Look, show, I’m glad you’ve got your 90 minute run time now, but this is NOT the way to fill it. Let the cast fill it themselves.  Don’t throw in these stupid twists to fill time; just let the game play.  That said, while I still overall do not like this format, there are two tweaks to it here that improve it over “Survivor 45”.  The first is that, unlike there, those out on the first leg don’t lose their vote, with a chance to earn it back.  All that happens is that they’re out of the running.  This takes up less time, and is therefore better.  

The second change is that, rather than being randomized, these players have to self-divide into groups of three.  Given how last episode went, this quickly becomes a “Who can get away from Q the quickest?” Contest.  Ben throws Tiffany a lifeline, noting that she “rocks” (shocker), which Kenzie quickly latches onto as well.  Hunter, meanwhile, notes that he hasn’t really worked with Charlie and Maria yet.  Thus, Liz and Venus draw the proverbial short straws, to Venus’ dismay.  

Despite the divide, Q has not given up on trying to influence things.  Hunter, I thought, did a good job in deflecting Q politely when the two tried to talk strategy, but evidently Q saw through it.  He goes up to Charlie, in order to convince him to throw the challenge so the group can target Hunter.  Honestly, not a bad thought.  Even not knowing about his idol, Hunter could very easily immunity his way to the end, and thus here, where team effort matters, might be the easiest point at which to target him.  The flaw in Q’s plan is that, though he pitches it politely enough, he’s still not in a position to do this.  Indeed, Charlie and Maria (once the pair confer) admit they’re more inclined to work with Hunter than Q right now, and thus, his request makes them want to win all the more.  

Probst certainly thinks they will.  After some discussion about the divide, in which Tiffany makes it very clear that it was about avoidance of a certain someone rather than anything else (just say his name at that point, Tiffany), he gets a look at the tribes.  Needing to be “Spicy Probst”, he predicts that Q’s team will be first out.  This being “Survivor” Probst is naturally immediately proven wrong.  Hilarious.  Kenzie has a particularly bad showing on the balance beam, leading to her, Tiffany, and Ben being the first ones out.  

Sadly, we do not get the hilarity that would have been Q winning immunity after all that talk.  His group chokes on the second part, leading Hunter, Maria, and Charlie on to the final endurance part of the challenge.  Maria does surprisingly poorly at this, leaving it down to Charlie and Hunter.  Probst had a big schpiel before this challenge about how your shoulders and butt could not leave the back board, but I feel like that was for show.  Maybe it was just the camera angle, but there were several times I thought both guy’s shoulders left the back board.  It’s honestly well-fought by both guys, but in a surprise, Charlie ends up taking the win.  Did not expect that, good for him!  

That said, for all my complaints about how much time this twist takes up, it is weird that there’s still half the episode left.  There can’t be THAT much strategizing, right?

So Q tries to talk strategy with Kenzie.  She, being her blunt self, flat out tells him she doesn’t want to work with him.  Not that Q’s pitch is bad or anything; he’s once again playing it casual and calm.  It’s just, again, that his social capital is so far in the negative right now that he can’t pitch basically anything and hope for it to land.  

Lucky for him, Big-Move-Itis rears its ugly head amongst this cast once again, as first Venus and then Kenzie note that getting rid of Q or Hunter is the obvious move, meaning this is prime opportunity for a blindside.  The former we could just dismiss as business as usual for a confessional from Venus.  Even if not, her social capital is only marginally larger than Q’s at this point, so she wouldn’t be able to pull anything off.  Kenzie, on the other hand, very much could.  So all right, I’ll bite.  I’d still say Hunter is too much of a challenge threat to let hang around, but hey, I can see an argument for targeting someone else.  So, who does Kenzie want to blindside in a stroke of brilliance?

Tiffany.  

Um, I just have one question: WHY?

Seriously, how does this benefit Kenzie in ANY WAY?  Yes, Tiffany has an idol, and she doesn’t strike me as the type to play it on someone other than herself, but she’s your ALLY!  The person you’re literally closest to!  Yes, she was close with Q as well, but she’s making it pretty clear that bridge is burnt at this point!  You have her in the palm of your hand!  Why discard her?  

I suppose, if Kenzie has perfect knowledge, it could be argued that Tiffany has become closer with Charlie than with her, given that we only see her disclose her thoughts on playing the idol to Charlie.  But then, is Kenzie any closer to them?  Ben’s the other guy we’ve seen her get close to.  If you’re worried about Tiffany getting too close to Charlie, then BREAK HIM AND MARIA UP!  Tiffany might be slightly annoyed, but where’s she going to go?  Back to Q?  I think not!

Kenzie ends up being saved from her own stupidity by Tiffany’s paranoia.  Charlie and Maria are obviously down with this plan (they don’t need Tiffany, and her idol makes her threatening), but are concerned about an idol play.  As such, Charlie goes to try and lull Tiffany into a false sense of security.  Tiffany, however, is having none of it, saying the idol is useless to her if everyone knows she has it, so she’s just going to play it and be done.  Given the target that now seems to be on her back, I can understand this.  Tiffany’s one concern with playing the idol is that it would, at this point, likely go back into circulation with no guarantee she’d find it.  A fair enough concern, but as we’ll find out in a bit, and idol’s no good out of the game either.  

Since Tiffany expresses this concern solely in confessional, Charlie goes back to Maria and Kenzie and reports that plan is a no-go.  What a waste of a segment!  The plan the quickly reverts to Hunter, but unfortunately, between vibes and possibly overhearing them (we see Hunter nearby and looking at them when they’re talking, but never get 100% confirmation that he heard them), Hunter realizes he’s in danger.  He is, naturally, fully willing to play his idol, but would like to earn some allies along the way.  Having almost nowhere else to go, he turns to Q, who is happy to hear a name that isn’t his.  Hunter informs him of the idol.  Risky, but a necessary step so Q goes along with the plan.  Hunter suggests targeting Ben, due to having no connection with him, and the Siga three quickly becoming a tight threat left in the game.  Maria would probably be more of a lynchpin than Ben, but Ben’s the more overt social threat, so I can’t blame this thinking too much.  

Wanting to be absolutely sure, Hunter also tells Venus in order to get her on the “Vote Ben” plan.  Logical from his standpoint.  The flaw is that he doesn’t realize quite how much Venus doesn’t care for him.  She tells EVERYBODY about his idol, and the target flips back to Q as the safe vote, a la Edgardo on “Survivor Fiji”.  With this mess of strategizing, it’s hard to say who the best target is.  Probably still Hunter, given the threat of him immunitying his way to the end, but my usual analysis kind of falls flat here.  Instead, I’ll praise the mystery this episode.  Basically any named target I could see going, and that’s always a plus in my book!

Tribal Council itself also lives up to that hype, though with admittedly a controversial start.  With false humility, Probst says he mishandled the last Tribal, before revealing that he just meant he needed a cushion for his seat, and popcorn to eat.  Funny stuff, but the focus of Tribal Council should be on the people playing, not on Probst, and this really draws attention to the latter rather than the former.  Also, what’s with the sharing of popcorn with the players, Probst?  I thought you had to EARN everything in the new era?

Once we do focus on the players, though, it’s nothing but good stuff.  We get an honest-to-goodness personality fight at Tribal Council, and not just an argument over strategy!  Tiffany and Q just can’t stay away from each other, and get into an argument about who threw who’s name out first.  While she presents as the aggressor, Tiffany’s 100% in the right in this argument.  She notes correctly that Q is only happy when he’s the one in control, and is also correct that Q threw her name out, which Q lies and denies.  I can see Q’s perspective, but he is clearly lying about some things to cover his butt in this scenario.  

Still, Q does try to keep himself more civil, proselytizing about how he wants to be there, and is happy to just sit back and watch the chaos.  Perfect cover for Hunter to make sure the plan really is Q.  He gets his reassurance, and it’s fun to watch.  Even so, if I were Hunter, I’d play my idol, just to be safe.  

Hunter is not me, and evidently has balls of steel, since neither he nor Tiffany play their idol.  Tiffany I can understand, but Hunter really should have.  Especially when the vote comes up a tie between him and Q.  At this point, it’s wiser to go for Hunter on the revote for being a threat, and for all my knocking people’s strategy this season, they do make the right call here.  Ben tries to assure Hunter that he “rocks” on the way out, but Hunter admits that he’s not really feeling that right now.  Oddly, I’m not that sorry to see Hunter go here.  Guy was a nice dude, but didn’t have as much game sense as he looked, and once it was clear he wasn’t going to sweep immunities post-Double-Tribal, his run became much less interesting to me.  Plus, even if Q is playing a worse game, at least he brings the drama.  

For all my praise, I can’t say this episode was any better than “ok”.  Pacing to me seems like the biggest problem here.  Having the stupid “three groups of three” twist was bad enough, but doing it so early in the episode just left the first half feeling rushed, and the back half oddly slow, despite the fun tribe dynamics.  A fun Tribal does elevate it, but this episode would have needed a major reorganization to get higher praise than this from me.  

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.  

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.  

Idol Speculation: “Survivor 46” Episode Several: Wrapped Up With A Nice Little Bow

Inanimate objects, done properly, can become a character in and of themselves.  On “Survivor” immunity idols are the most common example of this, but sometimes people can create their own.  And we may just have one of those tonight.  That was a MAGNIFICENT Buff Bow on Kenzie’s head!  Even with all the emotion at her Tribal Council, I think it stole the show.  

But I’m getting ahead of myself.  While the tribe was unified against Moriah last episode, there was still the stray Venus vote to consider.  Consider it Venus does, and given how she is, she naturally jumps to the conclusion that it was cast by Soda.  Understandable, given how the pair have been interacting these past few days, but wrong.  Soda of course denies this, but this only convinces Venus further.  Everyone, Tevin in particular, is prepared to sit back and watch the fireworks.  

Charlie, then, is the rain that cancels the fireworks.  He comes clean to Venus that he was the stray vote against her.  I have to ask… WHY?  How does this benefit Charlie in any way?  Venus didn’t even suspect him, and this was tearing Nami, the biggest threat to Siga, apart.  Now she knows you moved against her, and Venus does not strike me as the type to forgive and forget.  Even in a best-case scenario, where she decides she has bigger fish to fry and doesn’t immediately try and get you out, say goodbye to that jury vote.  

So egregious is this error that Coach Q comes out again.  He sits Charlie down on the beach (with Tim also there), and just reads him the riot act about how he screwed up a good position.  Not saying Q is wrong, but unsolicited advice is not going to win hearts and minds.  Charlie defuses the situation by “apologizing”, which at least shuts Q up, but this has turned him against Q.  I don’t agree with his conclusion that “Q is running the show” based on this; at worst Q is being a bit too blunt.  It DOES show, however, that Q doesn’t respect your game, and that alone is a reason to work against him.  Point being, Q may be right about what is and isn’t a smart move, but he’s not winning friends with his style of interaction.  

After our intro, we get another scene at night, though this one a bit less confrontational.  Ben wakes up in the middle of a panic attack, and worried about how he’ll be perceived as a result.  Luckily Kenzie is used to this sort of thing, other members of her family having been through similar experiences, so she is able to assist him and comfort him.  She admits that this is something beyond the game, and she’s doing it out of general, human kindness.  Honestly, it’s a very effective scene.  A nice bit of calm before the strategizing storm, and one that didn’t need to be bolstered by turning it into a sob story.  Oddly, the understatement makes the moment more powerful, and frankly it’s just a highlight of the episode.  Well done, show.  

Because we have to stick with the stupid “Split Tribal” twist, we can’t have any more camp scenes for now.  Instead we have to cut straight to our Immunity Challenge, which is the “Stand on the Triangles” one first seen on “Survivor Caramoan”.  A challenge so boring and predictable I’m more fascinated by them using the buff design along the side of the platform in the water.  Nice touch.  

This is also where we get our first look at the Immunity Idol for this season, at least the individual one.  Solid design, in my opinion.  Reminiscent of the one from “Survivor Cambodia”, with red as a main color and a similar outline.  Being made of beads and adding geckos does help make it unique.  Maybe not an idol for the history books, but a solid entry regardless.  

I will say what this challenge lacks in interest in and of itself, it makes up for in banter.  After Probst notes that the calmer conditions compared to the last time this was run (“Survivor 42”), Q suggests playing the “Alphabet Game” with city names, without actually explaining what the Alphabet Game actually is.  A fact that comes back to bite him in the butt when basically everyone starts violating what Q perceives as the rules.  Hunter starts off with “A for Atlanta”, but then Ben gets knocked out due to not saying that again, despite saying both “Boston” and “Baltimore”.  Liz does get the C in there, but again fails to name the previous names, despite Q saying this must be done.  It’s capped off with Charlie saying he gets it, only to make the same mistake as Liz.  Pretty sure that last one, at least, was intentional.  Seems like too good an opportunity for Charlie to tweak Q’s nose in a joking manner for him not to take it.  

Q, incidentally, is the first one out of this challenge, followed shortly by Ben from his team, leaving Kenzie, Tiffany, Hunter, and Tim up on their side.  Soda falls at about the same time, but she’s on the opposite team, leaving Charlie, Maria, Tevin, Venus, and Liz up for them.  Despite being sidelined, Q still keeps up a good bit of commentary.  He explains to Probst how “Black folks ask what time it is.”, which Probst takes in stride.  When Q goes silent, he explains that he was taught to shut up if he’s not in the game.  Evidently unable to stand the silence, Tim pulls a Gabler (“Survivor 43”), and starts shouting out various people the audience doesn’t know during the challenge.  Q mocks him for this, only for Tim to remind him what his dad taught him about shutting up.  It’s honestly the one thing making this challenge fun, and it helps that it’s clearly just the cast having fun with one another, and no one taking the talk too seriously.  Probst even gets in on the fun a bit, reminding us of Jelinsky’s “Several=7” point from earlier in the season.

Eventually the challenge must get serious, though, and everyone transitions to standing on one foot.  Brenda Lowe and Andrea Boehlke can rest easy knowing their impromptu rule on the first run of this challenge remains an official part of it now.  This leads to several dropouts, but Kenzie, despite winning immunity, drops before either Tevin or Maria.  This means her team will miss out on a reward, and go to Tribal Council first, meaning whoever leaves misses the jury.  As for Tevin and Maria, they have a good battle, with Tevin even having a spectacular comeback from nearly falling over.  IN the end, though, Maria’s lower center of gravity wins the day, and she snags immunity.  

Our teams are sent to separate camps, with the winning six going to the current merge camp.  Here we find out the new tribe is dubbed “Nuinui”.  No real complaints here on that one.  The name is a decent length, and obviously Polynesian in origin (granted Fiji is in MELANESIA, but given they’re part of the same language family, I’ll take it at this point).  That said, all it really makes me want to do is get out my old Bionicle toys again.  

Despite winning, not everyone is happy.  Charlie notes that he’s in an exceptionally precarious spot, being one of only two original Siga on the tribe, and the other having immunity.  He realizes he’s exceptionally vulnerable, a status that Tevin confirms.  Tevin, however, is not content to just let things sit on the obvious target, telling us that he wants to invoke the “First Blindside of the Season”.  Jem might take issue with that characterization, Tevin.  

Over with our losers, Hunter is feeling nervous for similar reasons to Charlie.  He tells us he intents to play his idol tonight, a move I can’t really fault.  True, there is the “Journey 6” alliance he could trust in, but he is the only person without an initial-tribe ally in this group.  Further, he’s a noted physical threat at a rare moment without having immunity, making him a tempting target.  

Certainly Tim thinks so, since he tells Q that Hunter should obviously go.  Q, however, thinks it equally obvious that Ben should go.  After all, Nami is at each other’s throats, and Ben is the only one in this group not part of the “Journey 6”.  Ok, Kenzie technically isn’t either, but she’s immune, and Q is unlikely to go against an original Yanu at this juncture.  A member of the “Journey 6”, however?  He’ll turn on them in a heartbeat, now insisting it has to be Tim for his wishy-washy-ness.  A bit early to be turning on him, but also a bit early to be giving my thoughts on the targeting on these tribes.  

I will say, however, that I don’t buy for one minute that Q intentionally lost that challenge.  It was one that didn’t cover his skill set, and he lied to save face.  Understandable, but either Q’s a far better actor than I credit him, or he’s lying to the camera to save face.  

For now, let’s return to our winners, who have the more intriguing strategy.  Tevin is not the only one who wants to “Make a move”.  Soda is ready to get Venus out, and tries to enlist Charlie and Maria to that end, once everyone is done “napping” on the beach.  Understandable, given their tiff, but also a bad move for Soda.  She’s already kind of screwed since she’s not going to the end with Vcnus, and therefore if she IS in the end, Venus is guaranteed to be on the jury.  Guess who Venus will never vote for in a million years?  Even so, better to have her on the jury later than earlier, lest she poison the whole bunch against you.  

This, however, is not enough of a blindside for Tevin, who marshals Liz, along with a presumed Charlie and Maria, to get out Soda.  He considers her, fairly, to be a social threat.  Can’t deny the logic there.  Not content with this, however, Soda approaches Maria and Charlie individually to blindside Tevin.  Charlie seems on board, at least in part because he prefers ANY plan that doesn’t involve him getting voted out, but Maria is a bit more hesitant.  She wants to keep her options open with the “Journey 6”, and Tevin is a part of that.  Hence, conflict, even if getting out Tevin would be the thing to break Nami apart completely.  

Things get worse for Venus when, having already come on strong with Maria, she pushes her again.  Maria, pretty reasonably, gives Venus advice on how to come at people.  She sympathizes with Venus due to her age, but notes that people don’t like being told what to do.  This advice goes in one ear and out the other, Venus chalking it up to their age disparity.  Way to not work on yourself, Venus.  That said, she does at least tone it back to a vote against Soda, something Charlie and Maria are much more likely to go with.  They confer on the beach, Charlie noting that he’s weirdly safe.  Not sure how much of that is due to his effort as much as Nami being a hot mess, but still, good for him.  

As our targets for this group are now firmly set on either Soda or Venus, time to discuss what the best move is.  Clearly, between these two, it’s Soda.  She’s the more subtle player, and Venus’ presence will continue to make Nami at least seem more fractured (if not actually be more fractured), thus making them seem less threatening.  Further, Venus has so buried herself socially she’s unlikely to win many jury votes, and isn’t much of a challenge threat.  If she gets to the end, well, easier victory for you.  Might as well chop Soda off now.  Not to mention that Venus, if the first juror unanimously, will likely poison the jury against all of you.  Yeah, clearly go for Soda.  

In regards to our other group, there is dissension amongst the ranks.  Kenzie, admittedly, is happy with going for Tim, since her and Ben kind of vibe.  Tiffany less so.  That said, props to Ben for catching that Kenzie was not being 100% up front with him.  I thought Kenzie lied pretty effectively there, but he sussed it right out.  

Tim pitches Hunter to the group, who agree to split votes, but Q turns it on Tim as soon as he leaves.  Tiffany agrees with this, correctly noting that Nami is easy to break up, while Siga is less so.  However, Ben comes across as slightly sketchy when Q talks to him, leading to Q turning it back on Ben.  This makes Tiffany happy, but not Kenzie, especially since Q seems to waffle back and forth, and doesn’t let them get much of a word in edgewise.  

This leads to the promised pair discussing Q “running the show”, and predictably, the preview played this up.  Don’t misunderstand, there is a legit issue between them and Q, but it was built up to go somewhere tonight.  Had Charlie been in this group I might have bought it, but no.  Instead, they just note that Q is a bit inflexible, and also a bit prone to changing his mind.  All fair criticisms.  I might sum it up in that Q is a very binary player.  You’re either fully in agreement with him, or fully disagree with him.  Not much room for nuance in the world of Q.  On the one hand, if you’re truly his ally, this can be a great thing!  After all, as long as you don’t piss him off, you can guarantee he’ll stick with you.  That said, as we saw with Ben, staying on his good side is not so easy.  It’s not clear what exactly Ben did to turn Q against him from their conversation, but it flipped Q’s mind completely.  That can be a problem, so it’s understandable that they would consider moving against him.  But, as they note, it’s probably too early.  

With Hunter not much in contention, the debate is between Tim and Ben, and once again the answer of who should go is clear.  Ben is a social threat no one there apart from Tim has really connected with.  Tim is a much more predictable player, and keeping him around prevents the “Journey 6”, which Q at least is pushing hard, from fracturing.  Ben is the clear better choice here.  

We’re also left with little doubt that Ben will go, since he gets all the emotional content at Tribal.  He goes over his panic attack again, and everyone gives him sympathy, while also noting there are human moments outside the game.  Q, for his part, is also courteous, giving Kenzie major props for winning immunity.  The real star of the show, however, is Kenzie’s giant bow buff.  An hour after the episode aired, and I still love that thing.  

For as much as I hate the “Split Tribal” twist at this juncture, the show got a good draw here.  You can have the emotional climax first with this group, then the strategic one with the next.  Not intentional on their part, obviously, but a good way to balance it out, and not feel like we’re waiting for one group or the other to go.  Going to commercial in the middle before an obvious boot like this is a bit much, but hey, the other group has enough mystery to keep us happy regardless.  

Yet, once again, the show gets me.  Tim goes, which I absolutely DID NOT expect.  Good trick, editors.  The bad decision for basically everyone but Kenzie, but definitely an audience blindside.  That said, from a character standpoint, much the better decision.  Ben may not do it for me as a character, but he’s more interesting than Tim, who basically brought nothing.  Seems like a nice enough guy, but just not good tv, sadly.  I will, however, give Hunter some praise for not playing his idol.  Granted, he probably had a lot of trust in what Q was saying, so it’s not the weirdest decision ever, but still, he had valid reasons to believe he would be targeted.  Good on him for saving his idol.  

As mentioned, our second Tribal Council is the strategic climax of the episode.  Logically, this makes for less exciting banter at Tribal, with it being mostly the stuff you’d expect.  Charlie bringing up his Shot in the Dark.  Venus and Soda bringing up the tribe divisions.  We do get a couple of unusual moments, like Liz catching flak for not bringing her bag.  I do have to deduct points on Maria, however, for using a metaphor where one wasn’t asked for.  Don’t encourage Probst, Maria.  

Oddly, despite this being the more unpredictable vote, it’s also the more underwhelming one.  The group does the smart thing and votes Soda out.  She’s a bit teary about the whole thing, but thankfully she at least gets to sit on the jury.  I’m not the biggest fan of Venus, but I am glad she stayed, if only for the drama she brings.  If Ponderosa videos were still a thing, I’d want her on the jury as early as possible, but as is?  I’m fine with this.  

For the episode as a whole, it weirdly fails kind of in spite of itself.  The humor was on point, the editing top-notch.  We had good mystery, and a lot of good character bits.  Yet I confess myself, underwhelmed.  I don’t hate this episode, but it just kind of came and went with little fanfare for me.  I think it’s just a victim of how much had to be stuffed in.  With this many people, and two Tribal Councils, it just feels bloated.  The superiority of the previous factors helps make up for it, but there’s only so much you can do with this format.  Yet another reason to vary things up, show.  

-Matt

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.  

Idol Speculation: “Survivor 46” Episode 6: Desperate Times, Desperate Measures

Tribal Council is the place to make a “Hail Mary” play on “Survivor”, for a variety of reasons.  Yet it’s rarely the SMART place to make that type of play.  It can work on occasion, and nearly always produces spectacular fireworks, but by the time we get to Tribal, most people want to follow the advice of the late, great Keith Sale (“Survivor San Juan del Sur”, RIP), and “Stick to the Plan.”  Much as the show wants to paint Tribals as “Live”, they very rarely are, and half the time it’s editing.  Still, with these softball Tribals, we have to take what little drama we can get.  

Before I get into our “mergatory” (still hate that name), however, it’s time for another edition of…

MATT’S MESS-UP!

Brief one here, but so caught up was I in making fun of Hunter for failing the logo-ordering journey last episode, that I forgot to talk about something I liked about it, namely the callbacks to “Survivor” history.  So much of the “New Era” has come at the expense of the old, to the point where the show minimized these types of references before.  Granted, that policy has been relaxed as we’ve gone on, but still, it’s nice to see the show be willing to admit it had seasons pre-COVID.  

Even so, our focus should be on the season in front of us, so let’s get back to that.  Having been on the wrong side of the vote, Moriah admits to being a bit uncomfortable.  Still, she tries to keep an optimistic view, saying she’d rather be “A living idiot than a dead Know-It-All”.  Decent attitude to have, while also throwing shade at Rob Cesternino (“Survivor The Amazon”) and Stephen Fishbach (“Survivor Tocantins”), despite neither of them being dead.  She admits discomfort to the tribe, but seems to re-integrate decently well, largely thanks to Ben smoothing things over.  Nevertheless, Tim admits in confessional that while they want to be “Siga Strong”, if push comes to shove, Moriah is on the bottom.  

Moving up from the bottom is Yanu, who get mail the next morning telling them to drop their buffs, and that they have 10 minutes to gather their things.  We get one last look at the Matthew Grinstead-Mayle Injury Rock (TM) as they celebrate being on the upswing.  Nothing much going on here, though I will say I find it weird that they refer to this as “Tree Mail”, when it clearly came from a boat.  Should have gone the “Survivor Pearl Islands” route and called it “Sea Mail”, at least. 

There are a couple of funny bits here, though.  Q tries to give his camp a nice send-off, only for Tiffany to say that the came sucked and gave them basically nothing, but in a humorous way.  Because Tiffany keeps it real.  Tiffany also reveals that she has named her idol “Idolecia”.  This has no bearing on anything, but is pretty cute.  Good pun.  

Yanu may not have had much to say, but they get more of a reaction than Siga, which just boils down to Moriah being happy to have options.  No, despite being the camp everyone will move to, it’s Nami that has the big reaction.  Everyone passes the note around, with Hunter giving it to Venus, and I’m surprised Soda didn’t snatch that note away instantaneously.  

Now, we have more game-important reactions to discuss.  More specifically Hunter, since now his Beware Advantage clue comes in.  Gotta say, this result feels lame.  I don’t want Hunter to lose his vote in perpetuity, obviously, but I figured not going to Tribal would mean some extra-difficult task to get the key to get his idol.  Instead he’s asked to solve a “riddle” that basically says “Dig by your tribe’s steps”, which he does, getting the key with seemingly little effort, despite what the show tries desperately to imply.  

From there, things proceed much as you’d expect.  Everyone celebrates coming together, but we quickly get to strategy talk.  When questioned about the Jem boot, Siga all toe the line on it being unanimous.  Good for Moriah, since it makes it clear the others do still want to work with her, but I’d say bad for the tribe as a whole.  Yanu is no threat, and in comparison, Nami is much freer with their targets.  As such, if Yanu ends up being the swing between the two tribes (which seems at least semi-likely), they’re much more inclined to want to break up the one with no visible cracks.  

We get out usual honeymoon phase for the new tribe, but it’s a particularly short one.  Unsurprisingly, Venus is the one to kick things off, showing just how salty she is with her tribe by talking about wanting to flip to Yanu.  You know, the tribe with limited power based on numbers alone?  Granted, this would put them on par with Nami, and they could at least temporarily band together against Siga, but still, on paper, you’d think she’d go to Siga with this info.  

Q just files all this away, eager to rekindle the alliance of six that was made on the journey last episode.  His check-in with Hunter and Tevin goes well, but less so his one with Maria.  She does mention Tim talking to her, but in more vague terms about the whole thing than specifics.  Confessionals indicate that Maria DOES know about this alliance, but isn’t sure she wants to go with it.  In a hilarious bit, just because it shows a bad misread, she admit’s she’s flattered by Tim considering her his number one, but has him in her top three at best.  Something about that disconnect is funny.  Anyway, Q goes to Tim, who says he’ll talk to Maria more firmly.  Privately, he says he does want the alliance to work out, but isn’t as eager to firm things up as Q.  Shoes the difference in priorities when one’s tribe has attended most Tribal Councils, and one hasn’t.  Good dynamic exploration here.  

The next day sees Venus continuing to put out feelers to multiple people, trying to swing people against Tevin in particular.  She moved on from Hunter, I guess.  Unfortunately, she’s so blunt about it, Charlie calling her “Wicked Smart”.  Charlie, quit trying to be Jake (“Survivor 45”).  You’re not pulling it off.  More intriguingly, we see Tim actually talk to Maria about the six alliance.  Unsurprisingly, Maria is unenthused, though she seems to do a good job hiding this from Tim.  She does say in confessional that she likes it as an option, but is so far wanting to stay Siga strong.  Understandable from her perspective, but bad for basically everyone else in that alliance, lending yet more credence to the vibes that it’s not sustainable.  

This is not the only strategy conversation we have.  Wanting to get more information on Saga’s dynamics, Q speaks one-on-one with Moriah.  She toes the line, but notes that Q is a bit more forceful with her than others have been, making her a bit suspicious that he’s sussed things out.  In reality this just seems to be Q’s style, very blunt and up front, but it’s easy to see why she feels that way, so I don’t blame her in the slightest.  Hell, she even toes the Siga line, so she’s not intentionally blowing up her game.  Despite this, Q doesn’t trust her.  Why?  Well, she names Aubry Bracco (“Survivor Kaoh Rong”) as her favorite player.  

On a completely unrelated note, Moriah just became my favorite player this season.  

Anyway, why does this turn off Q?  Well, as he notes, Aubry is a great strategist, executing excellent move after excellent move.  The snarky part of me wants to point out that “Survivor Game Changers” and ESPECIALLY “Survivor Edge of Extinction” beg to disagree on this description of Aubry, but as the self-appointed head of the “Aubry Lobby”, I’m going to let it slide.  Any and all pro-Aubry propaganda is welcome on my “Survivor”.  

This brings us to our challenge, which works basically the same as all the others.  Go through mud obstacles, stack sandbags to make stairs, climb a giant ball, puzzle is the first one from “Survivor Cagayan”.  It’s so standard at this point, and I’m so over the same thing happening at this point in the season.  Please, show, variety is all I ask!  Granted, this group seems oddly confused by how this part of the game works, but that’s more a mark against them than a mark in the format’s favor.  

There’s not even any drama of who will win!  It’s going to be the purple team, consisting of Kenzie, Q, Ben, Tim, Hunter, and Tevin.  Not only did they get ALL the challenge beasts of the season (particularly Hunter), but even if they didn’t we KNOW they win thanks to the “Next Time On…” segment from last episode.  That mentioned Liz and Soda being against one another, a scene we haven’t seen yet, meaning they along with Venus, Charlie, Maria, and Moriah must lose.  Otherwise there would be no point in those players targeting one another, since they’d be immune.  Even Tiffany sees the writing on the wall, and after a humorous half-second seeming to consider her options, hitches herself the purple team.  Even factoring out challenge ability, smart choice.  All her allies are there.  

I’ll give the orange team this: They put up a good fight.  Hell, they’re actually ahead for the first leg of the challenge, only falling behind when it comes to loading and pushing sandbags, due to that being all brute strength.  They even make up a good bit of time on the puzzle.  The one good thing I’ll say about this challenge is that EVERYONE, in sections, has to do the puzzle.  You can’t rely on one puzzle whiz to do the whole thing.  You’re only as fast as your slowest solver.  Unfortunately for orange, purple saved Hunter for the end, and since this challenge has nothing to do with past season logos, he naturally wins it for them.  Tevin notes this, and I’m SURE it won’t matter for later for Hunter.  Our winning several get their very nice deep red buffs, while the losers go to wash off the dirt.  

There’s tension in the air, though in a nice moment, Venus looks on the bright side.  They might not have won, but they did come close.  No small feat, given how uneven these teams were.  Granted she undercuts the niceness by wishing the winners to choke on the food, but hey, it’s something.  

Speaking of said winners, they quickly get to discussing who to vote out.  Initially, Venus is very much the target, thrown out emphatically by Tevin.  Most everyone seems ok with this, but in the interest of parity, Yanu wants Siga to throw out a name as well.  Ben continues to toe the party line of them being unified, which Tiffany FINALLY calls out in confessional.  As I mentioned before, she rightly notes that this is not a good reason to want to work with Siga.  As a result, when Tim finally cracks and reluctantly throws out Moriah as an option, she quickly becomes the consensus boot.  

So, with it being down to Moriah or Venus, I would say the choice is clear: Moriah must go.  I get the reasons for wanting to get rid of Venus, but she’s SUCH an outsider that she can be gotten rid of anytime, while Moriah could slip under the radar if you let her by.  True, Venus could slip under the radar as well, but at this point she’s SO disliked I have difficulty seeing her winning over a jury.  So if she gets to the end, hey, easy victory against her.  For Yanu and Nami, it makes a crack in the seemingly unified Siga, and for Siga, it lowers their threat level without actually sacrificing that much.  As such, in an ideal world, voting out one of the other Siga might truly be Yanu/Nami’s smartest move, but I don’t see it happening, and a Moriah exit is still a victory for them, on at least some level.  

Despite this, we need to add SOME evidence for a Venus boot, which Venus gladly provides.  Rather than just being happy to hear she’s been spared, she’s concerned that a woman is going, when they have the numbers.  She tries to swing the vote to Charlie, which as I say COULD be a good move for Nami/Yanu, but they’re not biting.  Understandable, given that she explicitly framed it as a move against the men, so Hunter, Tevin, and Q at least would have a reason to be opposed.  Q in particular is mad about this, calling Venus “ungrateful” after “he saved her.”  Not sure how much agency Q had in that, and this is really not a good look on Q.  I could kind of understand it with Jelinsky, but dude gets really absolutist and morally righteous when he thinks things should go a certain way.  That’s his right, of course, but not good in the game of “Survivor”, and in cases like this, can come off as having sexist overtones.  I don’t think Q IS sexist, to be clear.  At worst, he’s a southern gentleman taking things to their logical conclusion from that (for example, Tiffany apparently wanted to do the Sweat task with Q, but he refused to “let a lady do that”), which is not going to fly with everyone.  Even with all this, I still lean towards a Moriah exit, particularly given her increased screen time this episode.  

Thank goodness for Moriah finding out about her boot, since otherwise they Tribal Council would have nothing beyond standard double-talk.  Even as it is, what we get isn’t great.  Things break when Moriah admits there IS a crack in Siga, and it’s her.  A decent enough move as a desperation play, but probably too late.  Further, as Q points out, it makes her look bad, since she lied to cover it up.  I ragged on Q for some of how he came off this episode, but credit where it’s due, the man shines here.  He calmly and plainly explains why, while he’s happy to know that, it doesn’t change must from a trust scenario.  Moriah for her part handles things with a similar grace, emphasizing her pitch without seeming desperate.  

Even with these “fireworks”, the needle doesn’t seem to move, and Moriah understandably plays her Shot in the Dark.  Not everyone is Kaleb (“Survivor 45”) sadly, and Moriah is not safe.  She therefore goes, Venus receiving exactly one vote from Charlie, presumably to protect in case Moriah’s Shot in the Dark was successful.  Tevin also wisely saved his extra vote, though I will note I did love his little dance when he received it.  

Jokes about Aubry love aside, I’m overall not sad to see Moriah go.  Venus brought much more drama, and it’s always nice to see people make the smart move.  And hey, Moriah handles her exit with a ton of class, which is always nice to see.  

Actually, that sums up this episode pretty well: It was nice to see.  It’s not going down in the annals of “Survivor” greatness, but it executed everything competently, had some good humorous moments, and was overall just an solid, but unremarkable episode of the show.  If Q really does go down the dark path and show his worst qualities next episode, however, this may be the high point of the season…

-Matt 

Title Credit to Jean Storrs.