Once again, Survivor succeeds in spite of itself. The episode spent (wasted?) so much time on a long challenge, and a journey – a journey with a hilariously bad challenge. And it was all at the expense of lots of last minute scrambling and strategizing before the vote. Sometimes it’s as simple as the show getting out of its own way and letting the players cook. The obsession with lost votes and the journey and other nonsense keeps getting in the way. Still a decent episode overall, but could have been much better.
Beka
With Sierra being sent to the jury Sam’s game is fully reset. He had felt pretty good about his place in the game, but that’s now been flipped on its head. He and Rachel assess where this leaves them. Rachel realizes she’s bereft of options, and is leaving her door open to anything. At least she still has her idol, which nobody knows about.
On the other side of things, Andy is riding high. But he still tries to do some damage control, explaining to Sam his thought process in flipping. Andy tells Sam he was able to get the vote switched off of Sam and onto Sierra, hoping this little nugget will keep Sam – if not fully on Andy’s side – a possible ally.
The next morning, Andy goes to work on Rachel. They both feel they’ve been circling each other as allies for a long time, but the starts have never quite aligned (remember back in the premiere, they had started to work together, though it quickly fell apart). They’re taking small steps, seeing if there is anything workable between them. Rachel is a little apprehensive, and rightfully so. But she’s definitely open to working with Andy going forward.
Even after Andy’s flipping, Sam’s vendetta is set against the remaining Lavo. He’s playing nice with Genevieve, Teeny, and Sol, and at least for now, they’re inclined to believe him.
They retrieve Tree Mail, notifying them they must divide into five pairs before heading to the Immunity Challenge. The note also confirms only one will win. I kind of like this. You never know what the pairs might be. You could be working together, you could be competing against your partner. Or it could be working together to a point, and then going against each other. It adds just enough of a little wrinkle to the thought process to not be completely terrible.
Immunity Challenge
Andy and Sam
Kyle and Gabe
Sue and Genevieve
Caroline and Rachel
Sol and Teeny
The challenge is run in stages. In the first stage, they crawl through a narrow tunnel to retrieve a bag with puzzle steps. Once they’re through, they dig up a second bag. The first three pairs to finish advance to the next stage.
In the second stage, they use the steps to build a staircase. After completing the staircase, they cross a narrow balance beam and race down a slide. The first two pairs to finish advance to the last stage.
The final stage is individual, and a Survivor staple. The final four brace themselves against walls, with their feet balancing on narrow footholds. The final four also win a food reward back at camp.
Come on. Survivor production, you have got to get it together. Let the winner only win reward, and make them pick others to join on the reward. It’s literally such an easy way to naturally manufacture drama.
But wait! Probst has one last awful (AWFUL) addition for us. The first two pairs out will lose their vote, with the chance to earn it back on a journey after the challenge.
Remember when I said Survivor production had to get it together? Do you remember that, like two sentences ago? A ten person tribe with the possibility of only six people being able to vote? In what world is that a good idea? Apparently whatever delusional world Jeff Probst is living in, I guess. But oh my goodness this is a terrible twist.
Sam & Andy and Caroline & Rachel are eliminated after the first stage. Kyle & Gabe and Sol & Teeny advance to the final stage, with Kyle & Gabe staging a big comeback as the last group to get to the balance beam. It comes down to Kyle and Gabe, and Kyle drops, his first lost Immunity Challenge.
Reward/Journey
In between Sol and Gabe’s burp-off, the four on the reward discuss the vote. Sam’s name comes up. And while Sam isn’t Sol’s first choice, he’s game to go along with the crowd. And then Kyle… Kyle, Kyle, Kyle. He says in a confessional he doesn’t really see Genevieve as a thinker in this game. Okay, so Kyle has no idea about anything, good to know.
Genevieve and Sue have their own vote strategy session, and Genevieve is zeroed in on Sol.
The four join back with Genevieve and Sue after their reward and they immediately pitch Sam for the vote. Nobody pushes back (because, duh). But Genevieve and Sue are still on the Sol train, but need to pull in Gabe first. Gabe has the Tuku numbers behind him, and they believe they will follow Gabe’s lead.
Genevieve tells Gabe about Sol and Teeny throwing around his name earlier, leading into her pitch to vote Sol. I love what Genevieve does next. She says she is good with Teeny, but is willing to burn that bridge to help this other group.
At the Journey, three of the players will earn their vote back, and one will not. Okay, so *marginally* better. It speaks to how little faith I have in Survivor production these days that I was fully, easily ready to believe they would be okay with 40% of the remaining players not being able to vote.
One player at a time, they place metal card on fixed triangular base, repeating until the tower falls. Whoever causes the tower to fall loses, and therefore loses their vote. This is so stupid I think it’s actually funny. It goes so far beyond bad that I don’t even think I can be mad at it. In the pantheon of awful challenges, I think it’s only beat by the marble challenge from the loved ones visit in Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers. Caroline ends up losing her vote.
Pre-Tribal
Upon returning to camp, Caroline announces she lost her vote. Gabe is devastated, as Caroline would have been a solid vote for their group. This means they now need to pull one more vote. Rachel is clued in, and has to decide what to do with Sam. She “tells” him by having him guess and she confirms Sol is the target.
Sam takes it and runs with it, trying to cause some chaos. He goes straight to Sol and they decide to go after Sue. So much for that Lavo vendetta, I guess? And then Teeny tries to swing it from Sue to Kyle. Lots of good scrambling, but how much better would it have been if so much time hadn’t been spent on the challenge and journey? Note to Survivor production (again): get out of the way and let the players cook.
Tribal Council
Even at Tribal Council, the scrambling continues! It’s good, but I would have liked some additional context leading into Tribal. Maybe it still would be as confusing as it appears. But seeing more pre-Tribal discussion, and still not seeing a resolution, would have been great. The vote is completely open, let us see the build-up! This is part of what makes Survivor so great, and the show needs to find a way to focus more on that part of the game.
In the end, after all the back and forth, Sol is still voted out, 8-1. Maybe the other plans never had much juice. Maybe after all the last minute politicking, they decided going back to the original plan was easiest. That’s where I would put my money.
Things I Liked
- Gabe hitting the Ray Lewis dance after his win
- Gabe and Sol’s burp-off at the reward
- Genevieve admitting to being petty
- Genevieve references 007, by law I have to be all-in on her now
If you want more Survivor coverage, we are back for another season of the Talking Llama podcast. Listen and subscribe wherever you get your podcasts.
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+.
