SURVIVOR 41 (Episode 4)

Hey Vukelulu! Big apologies for the late post this week. (Live footage of me pushing through all my hectic work projects so I could finally get to writing this recap:)

This episode had a lot of Old School Survivor energy in the best way and we are HERE FOR ITTTT. It was wholesome. Seemingly simple on the surface, yet a lot went on emotionally, socially, and strategically. At first, I maybe even thought it was a “slow” episode. But after rewatching it, I realized we were just ACTUALLY getting to watch them all interact without the added mayhem of butterflies being dead relatives saying hi!

• This episode opened with a Survivor classic: the heated return back to camp post-blindside. Genie is nottttt happy that Ua left her out of the Brad vote, especially after she’s been the provider for the tribe for the past week. Shan quickly squashes Genie’s complaints by announcing to the group that Brad was hiding a secret advantage from everyone but Shan. I couldn’t help but feel like sharing this openly with the rest of the tribe was not one of Shan’s best moves. I worried it was revealing how powerful and all-knowing she is, and would end up putting a target on her back. But seeing how the rest of this episode shook out… it didn’t seem to cause any problems for her. Shan is definitely beginning to claim that main character/lead narrator type role this season. Or as she likes to call it… “an assassin.”

• We then head to the Reward Challenge where Heather delivers on one of Jeff’s favorite parts of the game - struggling in a challenge, not giving up, showing vulnerability, and receiving love and support from competitors in return. (Can we also just give Danny a shout out for consistently being a standup guy? So kind.)

• Ua wins the reward challenge and earns a visit from native Fijian, Nathan, who is one with the land like we’ve never seen before. Nathan, I know you’re not reading this, but if you are… wow. I am in awe! I’d trust Nathan with my life.

• The Yase tribe has a symbolic moment when Tiffany discovers a group of baby sea turtles hatching on the beach. They draw a nice parallel between the journey of a sea turtle and the journey of the Yase tribe - getting knocked down, but always getting back up and trying again. Sure this was maybe a little cheesy, but I like moments like this that remind the players and the viewers that they realllyyy are out there experiencing the wild; In all its unpredictability and all its beauty.

• We then get some time with the Luvu tribe which is a nice change of scenery after seeing very little of their camp life due to their winning streak. We see Erika trying to make some “big moves” by targeting Sydney, but her read on her level of trust with Deshawn is way off, and she ends up digging herself into a hole that never needed to be dug. To me, Erika’s gameplay in this episode is a great reminder that you can’t just “decide” that you’re in the mood to make a big move because you’re bored. The move needs to be in sync within the context of the current game. This was NOTTTTT the moment Erika!

• This takes us into the Immunity Challenge which provides some highly entertaining Survivor moments:

  • Deshawn moving at a snail’s pace, untying and re-tying knots, just in the hopes of losing so they can get rid of Erika (P.S. What are ya’lls thoughts on throwing challenges!? Strategic gameplay? Poor gamesmanship?)

  • Naseer, blissfully unaware of the situation within his tribe, steps up and goes complete beast mode on this challenge. Get it, Naseer!

  • JD looking like a middle schooler at recess trying to impress his friends with a trick shot while yelling “money” and then missing the shot (Thank you, Shan, for always keeping us collectively humble)

• Honorable Mention: Evvie trying to swim so intensely in the wrong direction during the challenge had me like……. -___- for a second and then I remembered how damn hungry they are! Feed Evvie, Jeff!

• Yase comes in first place at the Immunity Challenge, committing to that true underdog comeback. Luvu manages to beat Ua even with their tribe members trying to throw the challenge. Considering Ua’s the only tribe who was really fed prior to this challenge, I think the loss speaks to the chaos and tension that’s been going on over at their camp the past couple of days.

• We’re brought to Ua’s camp to watch the 4 person pre-tribal scramble. Shan devises a plan to get JD to give her his advantage A G A I N!!! JD!!!!!!!!????? Fool me once… Fool me twice... To JD’s credit though, Shan really is quite wise and cunning. She and Ricard seem to have built a great relationship, but he also seems like a guy who holds a grudge. If Shan slips up with him even once, I could see things getting explosive.

• During tribal, we’re left to wonder if Genie is going to be the first castaway to try out her “Shot in the Dark.” She ultimately chooses to keep her vote, and I’m really curious to hear about her decision in the next episode. Was she truly trusting of Shan and Ricard? Was she putting on a show to make JD think she was more worried than she really was? Or was she just lucky - went with her gut and it worked out? Either way, this season’s self-proclaimed super fan, JD, became the 5th person voted out, (accidentally) leaving his secret advantage to Shan.

• With only 3 people left in the Ua tribe, we’re bound to see some tribe shakeups very soon. What do you think it’ll be? A tribe swap or will they head straight into the merge with 13 castaways left in the game? It really could go either way!

• P.S. Checkout a fun secret scene of morning convos at the Yase camp.

HOW DID THE LEAGUE DO?

Sydney comes in as our highest ranking castaway this week, putting her as the highest ranked castaway so far this season with 43 total points earned for her tribes since the beginning. This is thanks to her frequent nudity, episode naming, and of course being on a tribe with a winning streak.

Leading our pack for a third week in a row is Brendan (143 total points). VERY closely behind him with a 10 point margin or less are Matt R. (137 total points), Angela (136 total points) Rachael (134 points) and Hanna (133 total points). It’s still anyone’s game! Well… almost anyone’s… :)

(We’d also like to call out that we chose to give Shan points this week towards “getting an advantage” now that she is officially the owner of JD’s advantage. AND we had an error with points last week that has now been corrected. Brad was not originally given points for being voted out with an advantage in his pocket, but this has now been corrected. Another 15 points have been added to anyone who had Brad on their tribe.)