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Survivor, you tricky SOB. After the celebration episodelast weekthat did away with the abhorrent Mergatory twist, there was a renewed hope that the show had turned a corner and was maybe moving away from all the hackneyed, terrible twists and game innovations. In a typical season in the 40s, directly following the mergatory would be a split Tribal Council with the 12 players left in the game. Sadly, the show went back to that well, except they managed to make it worse? You can’t expect every episode in every season to be great. But this was an especially big bummer after the high of last week.
After surviving the vote as the backup plan, Andy comes back to camp and talks to Sol, the only person he knew with certainty voted for him. Sol says he only voted for Andy instead of Rome due to fear of Rome having an idol. But Andy — smartly — says he would have only voted Andy if he felt confident that Andy would be the plan if Rome did, in fact, have an idol.
Sol needs to save his game and doesn’t need to think twice before throwing Sam under the bus. Sol says Andy was optioned as the vote, and the other remaining Gatas had no issue using Andy as the proverbial sacrificial lamb. Sol seemingly explains his decision well enough to Andy, who wants to bring him in and help him take down the other Gatas, particularly Sam and Sierra.
Having lost her number ally, Genevieve is back on the market, and she sets her sights on Andy. She views Andy as someone who was being used by other players for their own benefit, who saw him more as pawn and less as a true ally. And now Andy has a new agenda, as does she. If they can get on the same page, they could do some real damage in the game.
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Just as everyone is starting to settle into the merge, Genevieve arrives with Tree Mail, alerting them to an upcoming challenge. It doesn’t reveal much but underscores to everyone how intense the game is about to get.
Teeny starts trying to put together a women’s alliance, telling us her dream scenario is to work with all the women and vote out all the men. Once again, forming alliances just on one factor that has nothing to do with the game is DUMB. If that’s what starts the partnership, and it grows from there, great. But whether it’s gender, being a parent, or where you’re from, one factor like this does not a strong alliance make.
The castaways stand on a narrow beam while balancing a ball on the end of a long pole while holding the pole above their heads. It’s a classicSurvivorchallenge that we love to see.
Except thatSurvivorproduction made it dumb. The players are divided into two groups of six (unfortunately expected these days when it’s down to 12 players). But wait, it gets worse!
The one player who lasts the longest wins immunity for their entire group, and that group also won’t vote at Tribal. Whoever lasts longest from the losing group wins individual immunity. Lastly, the player ultimately voted out will not make the jury.
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Come oooooooonnnn,Survivor. Twelve players left in the game, andProbstand team give us a Tribal where only five players are eligible and only six players can vote? As much as I hated the “regular” split Tribal from seasons 41-46 ofSurvivor, at least every player was eligible to be voted for and could vote.
YellowGenevieve, Sierra, Teeny, Sol, Andy, Sam
BlueRachel, Caroline, Sue, Tiyana, Gabe, Kyle
Kyle wins individual immunity for himself but is beaten out by both Teeny and Genevieve. The yellow group also wins a barbecue reward back at camp. Additionally, the losing blue group goes back to the old Lavo camp to strategize and campaign separately from the yellow group.
Also dumb! And bad, and annoying, and dumb. Now, the other six can’t even play a part in the pre-Tribal politicking? They’re literally useless in this episode. Be real,Survivor; what are we even doing here?
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The reward group talks about the vote, speculating Rachel might be an easy vote, being the only non-original Tuku in the losing group. Sam proposes that if everything holds to form and Rachel is indeed voted out, they need to focus their attention on the five Tukus.
When everyone is sleeping off their food coma, Andy does a little advantage searching. He also chooses to do this in completely plain view of…everyone. Genevieve is already feeling a little uneasy about her new alliance with Andy.
After Andy gets his first look done, it’s Sol’s turn. To his credit, he at least makes sure everyone else at least looks like they’re sleeping. And he finds a little something in the Take Your Pick Advantage.
He has to send it to someone on the losing team. The recipient can choose between Block a Vote or Safety Without Power. ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? It’s already a dumb setup with such a small group, and now we’re going to give them a chance to make it even smaller?
Losing Group Pre-Tribal
Caroline’s first instinct is to vote out Rachel. But she’s cautious about it, correctly pointing out that the easy vote isn’t always the right vote. Gabe, Kyle, and Sue, though, seem content to just throw all their votes on Rachel. But Tiyana isn’t so sure. She knows that if they come back with all five, the rest of the tribe will pick them off. They wouldn’t have a majority and would also be seen as a strong five. That’s made even worse when they try to downplay how tight their group is, making them all out to be liars, too.
Tiyana and Kyle see this as the perfect opportunity to vote out Gabe. Tiyana brings this plan to Rachel, and Rachel is obviously all ears, as she will vote for anyone at this point. Tiyana plays this very well by giving Rachel the complete, true plan on everything.
Tiyana still has to pitch the plan to Caroline, who is receptive to the idea. But she also thinks if they come back with five Tukus, the Tuku players will be targeted, but she and Tiyana won’t be; “They’ll come after us, but they won’t come afterus.” Caroline also views Rachel as a serious threat in the game, and thinks if they get her out, it would open up possible new avenues with other players.
Gabe then talks to Rachel. They still have Rachel’s Shot in the Dark to consider. If they go five votes on Rachel and she successfully plays it, they will need to cannibalize each other, which they don’t want to do. He suggests he, Rachel, and Kyle vote Caroline, and worst case scenario, they go to a tie. Gabe says he would go to rocks, as he would have no choice.
However, Gabe and Rachel hug each other before parting ways, and Gabe gives his best Jim Halpert look to the camera. He could just be playing Rachel in an effort to convince her not to play the Shot in the Dark, allowing them to vote her out with no worries.
Tribal Council
Just before the vote, Rachel reveals she had been sent the advantage. She announces she has Safety Without Power, allowing her to leave Tribal. She can’t vote, but more importantly, she cannot be voted out.
It comes down to Gabe vs. Tiyana, and it swings against Tiyana, sending her home in a unanimous 4-1 vote.
Well, that was ugly. The episode, I mean. With such a strong first six episodes, I’m willing to throw this one out, forget about it, and move forward. Let’s hope this is just one small bump in the road in what had been, up to this point, an excellent season ofSurvivor.
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You can catch new episodes of Survivor 47 every Wednesday at 8pm ET/7pm CT on CBS, and it is also available to stream on Paramount+.
Matt Hambidge
Film Critic
Articles Published :119
Matt Hambidge is a film critic based in Minneapolis, and is a member of the Minnesota Film Critics Alliance.You can also find him covering SURVIVOR on the Talking Llama podcast.
