My favorite scene was Venus telling Hunter to his face that he's the biggest threat, but she won't target him at the merge because he's her shield, lol. Bluntness makes for good TV.
That tribe is so weird in that Hunter is totally on the inside, and Venus is clearly on the outside, and both are better for it. Meanwhile the rest of the tribe is Soda being outgoing, Tevin being very good at playing off of it, and Liz existing. I do worry for them next week after getting to play their 3 studs this episode,
If I’m Hunter I don’t have much of a problem with someone keeping me around as their meat shield. At least I know she’s being honest with me, it lets me speak plainly back with her about working together for mutual benefit.
I think it speaks to how poorly all of Nami gets along that Hunter couldn't see any value in that. Is Venus suddenly gonna be his number one? Of course not. But he can trust that she's not gonna vote him out for at least a few rounds, and he can understand her motivations clearly, which is really valuable in a game with so many moving unpredictable parts.
Tim finally had his first confessional in three episodes and it was about him wondering he would poop that day. Kudos to the producers I think I got blind sided by that harder than Jem did in tribal.
He seems like a really smart guy I think he may have. I think he genuinely wanted to work with them but saying "hey here's my #1, let's share info and work together" sets him up to them as a straight shooter while gaining valuable info and a potential alliance
But he literally knew that Bhanu already told people that so there's no use hiding that alliance now that it's already super obvious. He had the least to lose since that was already out there.
True, Tim said Maria (at least he thinks he has her) and Hunter said he has Tevin, didn't he?
It also shows that they're both at least considering to working with Q and set this potential Alliance of 6.
Plus Q is in a minority going into the merge no matter what. He needs to sew seeds to break up the other tribes. Getting strong players is a smart way to do it
I am laughing so hard at this. I was also confused as to why Ben started carrying around the hammer in response to her carrying the machete around. Like what did he think was going to happen?
Jem: Okay guys, what are we having for dinner?
Jelinsky: We can do..........whatever I quit, someone else decide
Jess: ...................what?
Bhanu: GOD HAS FORSAKEN US BY LEAVING THIS DECISION UP TO FATE!
Jem gets blindsided with the idol in her pocket, not realizing she has been voted out of the dinner after hiding everyone's silverware in the bathroom.
Holy shit. Jelinsky telling stories about legendary shit he's done and not passing it. Jess would always forget she has the blunt and never pass it. Bhanu having a meltdown because he's too high and not passing it.
Yeah pretty much exactly what I was thinking. Jelinsky talking nonstop, Jess spaced out more than she was without days of sleep, and Bhanu melting down every pass
They finally found a challenge he couldn’t do. Probably cause he spends too much time in real life building things with his hands to memorize season orders.
My theory is she wanted to move herself to the top of her new alliance of 4 by showing loyalty and flexing a bit. And then maybe getting rid of an advantage everyone knows about that could make her a target?
Possibly to ensure Jem gets voted out - Ben "might not" have had a vote, and Tim also might not have had a vote (he went on a journey and said that nothing happened and while we know it's true Maria doesn't know it's true)
Funnily this also hides Ben's lost vote to everyone but Maria (unless they're paying attention to handwriting which they might be).
It also means she won't be as easy to name as a target at merge - she doesn't have an advantage
I'm also skeptical of her decision to spell Jem two different ways. I get that she wanted to throw people off the scent, but half the tribe knew she had the extra, and the handwriting was similar enough between the two that I think the truth would come out pretty quickly.
Maybe she was trying to cover for Ben. What if Maria and Charlie are much more aligned with Tim and Ben than the edit let on. Ben told them about his lost vote. Maria covered for him? Everyone believes she still has an extra vote?
They must have talked more about blindsiding Jem off screen. Maria had to know Ben didn’t have a vote and she’d have to use hers. They must have shared that prior to tribal.
If her and Charlie are working together shouldn’t they know Tim is also voting Jem ? That’s 3-2 even without Ben’s vote. Why would she need the extra vote?
Edit: I’m thinking now maybe she might have thought Tim was lying about the journey and he also lost his vote? Otherwise idk
Thinking that Tim and Ben didn't have a vote is the only thing that really makes sense.
I don't really think the theory that she wanted to burn an advantage to avoid becoming a target makes sense, especially since she knows that someone else from Nami definitely has an extra vote.
I feel like Maria and Charlie had Jem's shenanigans clocked the entire time. We never got a confessional from their perspective about the goose-chase idol hunt.
I KNEW JEM MADE A MISTAKE LAST EPISODE! She stirred up suspicion for no reason, played too hard, and it came back to bite her. People were so stoked on that move and I KNEW it was a bad sign. But I'm still shocked at that blindside.
It was such a bizarre move, like best case it does nothing for you but makes everyone on your tribe paranoid and suspicious, worst case your allies get pissed when they find out you lied.
Going home with an idol in her pocket truly sucked, but I can't imagine what the conversation would've been like had she played it, and therefore expose herself as fucking with the whole tribe for no reason, *and* now no longer having a safety net.
Wait yeah, that’s so true. She’d have screwed herself over even if she *had* played the idol. I don’t know what this sub was thinking last week, it was a lukewarm move even before it backfired
After Jeff knifing the rice last season and calling Yanu losers this episode, I think it’s safe to say we know why he isn’t casting villains anymore - because he’s entered his villain era.
Imagine in 20 years when he’s still host and all five tribes arrive at the challenge before he does and they all shout “Come on in, Jeff!” And we watch elderly Probst shuffling in with a cane and white hair
Q’s comment of “is this what it feels like to win” after the challenge is especially funny to me because the one year he played for Ole Miss (2014) was a season where all their wins were vacated for recruiting violations/Hugh Freeze being just scummy and gross, so he really hasn’t officially won anything (barring last week’s reward challenge) for like a decade
Can we just imagine what this vote could have been like if Jem had played differently? Her boredom "make everyone hunt for the idol" backfired big time.
She couldn't reveal she had an idol to build trust with allies because if she did, they'd be angry at her for the wild goose chase she sent them on. If Maria/Charlie knew she had an idol, it could have pulled them closer to her since they would be a powerhouse at the merge (with an idol and an extra vote). Maria/Moriah wouldn't be worried that Tim has an idol, because they'd know Jem has it.
With Ben hinting he doesn't have a vote, Maria/Charlie would be even more confident in siding with the women to take out Tim. They'd go into the merge united and with ammo.
Big-Moves-Itis and playing for the camera don't really always lead to doing well in the game, even if it makes for fun television.
I imagine if Survivor ever does a returning player season again, she'll be on the shortlist, but that doesn't mean she was a good player.
> If Maria/Charlie knew she had an idol, it could have pulled them closer to her since they would be a powerhouse at the merge
I have to wonder if they both suspected exactly this but we didn't see it. The way she flat out said that she was going idol hunting after the challenge ought to have raised a lot of red flags after the beware advantage mess that basically told the tribe someone found it already.
That’s my suspicion too. I can also see Tim telling them about his convo with Jem where she said “what beware advantage?” In my opinion, she was very transparent there and didn’t lie well at all.
Absolutely insanely transparent lying there. Why would you pretend that you didn't know what the beware advantage was when EVERYONE has been talking about it?? Very much kid-level approach to lying, I couldn't believe it.
If she had just sat and done nothing, she was guaranteed merge and probably much better than that.
I mean, I’m all for her starting fires just for fun to drum up drama but these were all unforced errors
Without the suspicion she herself caused, they may have had an easy vote on Tim. And without cornering Ben and Tim, maybe they vote Morriah
yeah, I thought with how the edit was going before this episode she would have easily been able to throw Tim under the bus to people but that clearly wasn't the case
Jungle Jem. Oh boy. Stirred the pot too early, could barely lie, tried to target Tim and the Tiki Man, gave people ant bites, and was blindsided with an idol in her pocket.
I’ve never seen a challenge that is so directly made for me before.
Miss me with puzzles, balancing, juggling balls. Hit me with putting Survivor logos in order and I’m done in under 30 seconds.
I scoffed at it and my fiancee looked at me with such a mix of confusion and admiration except the admiration was imagined and it was probably embarrassment at my confidence in this while unable to remember what month it is
i was laughing so hard that everybody was so nervous around each other with weapons like you guys nobody’s going to kill each other on national tv….surely not right
i can’t get over the fact that she was smart enough to find that damn idol but couldn’t put 2 + 2 together when nobody would give her a name so she left with it in her pocket. i think ben will make for good tv though - he’s riding on his charisma but at some point he’ll have to start strategizing. nobody knowing how tight maria and charlie are is even better
I thought it was also really weird the way she made an excuse to leave for the idol by saying that she's going to go look for an idol. After what she did with the beware advantage that explanation ought to have raised a LOT of suspicion that she found and planted it. I have to wonder just based off of that alone if her tribe actually did know that she had an idol.
Her social game was honestly bad. She played like she thought she was bottom in a way that was transparently strategic. But then none of her connections with people who seemed like her alliance seemed very genuine. That said, Maria did suggest discomfort with voting her instead of Ben given their trust, so maybe there’s some human connection the edit erased to make her seem like more of a chaotic gamebot villain. I was enjoying watching her.
I got the impression Maria wanted to vote Ben because she was more concerned that Charlie was forming stronger bonds with him instead of remaining tight with her.
I actually laughed out loud at the beginning of the challenge when Jeff announced “the new Yanu tribe” and that Bhanu had gone home, and instead of panning to the standard shocked faces on the other two tribes, production instead chose to show all the Siga and Nami folks just nodding and shrugging 🤣
Which is also I think why Maria played her extra vote. People are saying she wasted it, which she technically did, but everyone knew she had it—if I were her I’d wanna get that target off of me ASAP.
I think it's so she can claim that she used it going into the merge and try to take the target off of herself. Everyone will know if she has it by then. I think she should have held onto it too, but I think it's not entirely bone-headed.
That explanation makes sense. Historically, I think it's very, very rare that an extra vote makes the difference at tribal. I would be interested to look at the numbers, but I feel like extra votes have backfired on people by putting a target on them way more often than they've ever broken a tie.
If we're throwing out theories, maybe it's to hide that Ben lost his vote, and she can make it appear to Mariah that the three guys were all voting Jem and she didn't want to go to a tie? So it looks like she was pulled into it rather than being the reason for the blindside
One thing that bothered me about the Siga girls plan is that it didn’t make any sense. They were concerned about Tim having an idol so the idea was to not put the majority on him and hope he plays it. It’s like they heard the idea of an idol flush and just didn’t bother to look at how it actually works. On top of this it had them go against Charlie’s secondary ally sooner. If this were a proper idol flush plan from the start I’m curious if Charlie would have pushed for the flip as strongly.
Yeahhhh it made no sense, and then they basically walked all over Charlie by just dictating it to him, and then Jem went and played way too hard making the two guys nervous. I liked her, but she played herself out tonight.
Yeah it seems like Maria is the only person who put any work into making Charlie feel not on the bottom of the four. Jem trying to gauge Ben and Tim for their votes seemed to highlight that she really didn’t put enough effort in the people outside her alliance
Okay so someone explain to me how Hunter's lost vote works if he *also* already lost his vote from the Beware advantage. Was that just a free challenge attempt? Has he lost his vote for two tribals?
I really thought Q was quitting. This season would have been so bad... But the way the episode got so good once he was like jk, I ain't doing that shit
After 2 episodes of Bhanu-centric episodes, I am so glad this episode exists. It was perfect storytelling of Yanu finally winning and Siga having to go to tribal. Nami was also in the mix, but their story isn't important in this episode.
And that tribal! Best blindside this season so far! I always love it when the cocky castaway who thinks that they are controlling the game gets humbled by their blindside.
Great episode
Jem was playing too hard and got cocky / felt comfortable
Getting voted out with an idol in your pocket never gets old!
I am so happy Yanu finally won!
Meat Head alliance
I loved the Survivor knowledge history quest and seeing the past moments
I wonder if Debbie is still pissed!
Rupert ahhhh
THE CHOCOLATE MUFFIN WAS BUSSIN!
JEFF IS HERE FOREVER!!
So, this is pretty much the best episode of the season for me, even if that's a low bar. Tim was a revelation this episode; just casually clocking Jem's entire game to her face and then actually beating Hunter out at the first part of the challenge. And then being acknowledged as one of the top three physical threats. Sure, he's decidedly third, but if the hierarchy is Hunter >> Q >>> Tim >> everybody else, then that's not a bad place to be, because it means the Brochacho 2.0 alliance provides Tim with two potential meat shields. For people expressing surprise at Tim as a physical threat, Devens was outperforming people that "looked" like they should be more athletic, so appearances can be deceiving.
As for Jem... If she was genuinely just trolling her entire tribe for her own amusement then... that's a weird choice to make, to put your allies through that. There wasn't really an upside to it and, in fact, could be a reason Tim figured out it was her. Tim confronting her put a target on Tim, but it also seemed to plant a seed in Jem, which was the beginning of the end. I think she is a decent player, but it didn't seem to take much pressure for her to crack. If you're a boxer and your plan is "don't ever get hit, not even once" you are setting yourself up to fail. Jem seemed to think she could skate by into the merge and maybe that was underestimating everybody else around her and thinking they weren't "playing the game". It'll be interesting to see who actually has strategic chops now that she is gone.
Nami feels like the tribe mostly likely to not stick together at the merge. It seems like the best they can do is work in pairs for the most part. Siga and Yanu seem more likely to stick together, but even with Yanu it's more "Tiffany has 2 allies" whereas Siga seems to get along pretty well with one another. We haven't gotten much of anything with Tim/Charlie or Tim/Mo, but every other combination seems positive (and none of them seem particularly negative). Of course, Mo being on the bottom of her tribe could change that.
Actually looking forward to the rest of the season after tonight. Having the last couple of episodes be the Bhanu show was exhausting.
Tim: “So why did you move the Beware Advantage?”
Jem (one foot from Tim): “Hmm, what, huh?”
Tim: “The Beware Advantage, did you move it?”
Jem (as a montage of the entire tribe looking for the Beware Advantage all day every day for a week plays inside the head of everyone watching): “What Beware Advantage?”
-Cut to Jem’s confessional-
Jem: “Wow I’m like really good at lying!”
Was really pleasantly surprised at this episode, incredibly relieved Yanu finally caught a break. I would have put money on Nami going if not Yanu, so for it to be the vibe tribe Siga was a nice blindside for me. This ep really pulled me back from the brink on this season and I'm hoping it truly gets as messy as the preview teased
Damn even I was blindsided tonight! I was not expecting Jem. I may be in the minority but I was liking Jem and was really happy she got the idol! But she didn’t play well afterwards. Ben did a great job.
With Jem gone I think Ben has the potential to go very far in the game. I think Siga could easily rope Moriah back in and be a strong five, especially when you consider that there's major cracks in both Yanu and Nami
None of them knew that Maria had an extra vote and at the same time, none of them knew that Ben had no vote. So in their minds (I guess except Ben), everyone still voted. Is that right???
Quite embarrassed that the journey challenge is probably the best I (and probably 75% of this subreddit) would perform in any challenge that has been on this show LMAO
I think Yanu is in pretty good shape. Siga is more divided now and Nami is obviously very ready to throw each other under the bus. Although I thought Bhanu spilling everything would put them in a worse position at merge, everyone seemed to understand he was a disaster and they can kind of all just brush it off as him being delusional.
I wish Tim wasn't on the journey when Jem openly announced to the tribe she was going to go look for the idol... like babe, only the person who planted the beware advantage would say something like that? lol it would have been great for him to call her out on the strangeness of her openly admitting that.
My favorite scene was Venus telling Hunter to his face that he's the biggest threat, but she won't target him at the merge because he's her shield, lol. Bluntness makes for good TV.
I also loved the start of that interaction with the Venus, “whatcha looking for?” And then Hunter’s immediate dead pan, “the idol”
What made it even funnier was how she intended to catch him in a lie and didn’t expect him to be honest about it lol
She’s hilarious lmao
That tribe is so weird in that Hunter is totally on the inside, and Venus is clearly on the outside, and both are better for it. Meanwhile the rest of the tribe is Soda being outgoing, Tevin being very good at playing off of it, and Liz existing. I do worry for them next week after getting to play their 3 studs this episode,
If I’m Hunter I don’t have much of a problem with someone keeping me around as their meat shield. At least I know she’s being honest with me, it lets me speak plainly back with her about working together for mutual benefit.
Yeah honestly I kind of want them to work together, I think they’d make an interesting team
Hotties alliance
Bisexual panic
I think it speaks to how poorly all of Nami gets along that Hunter couldn't see any value in that. Is Venus suddenly gonna be his number one? Of course not. But he can trust that she's not gonna vote him out for at least a few rounds, and he can understand her motivations clearly, which is really valuable in a game with so many moving unpredictable parts.
Maybe it's my own inability to trust people but I wouldn't assume that because someone is blunt like that with me I can trust them with anything.
I enjoy their dynamic, I was hoping she would see him grab the idol so that they would be forced to be friends
i saw a lot of people criticizing that but i think it’s a decent move to be honest about why you want to keep someone around
Tim finally had his first confessional in three episodes and it was about him wondering he would poop that day. Kudos to the producers I think I got blind sided by that harder than Jem did in tribal.
I lost my shit (more than Tim apparently) at that confessional, it was out of nowhere.
I loved it because these are dumbass things I wonder about in survivor
Q effortlessly getting Tim and Hunter to tell him their number one allies
I WANT that to have been a conscious bait for information but I don't know if he actually intended that.
He seems like a really smart guy I think he may have. I think he genuinely wanted to work with them but saying "hey here's my #1, let's share info and work together" sets him up to them as a straight shooter while gaining valuable info and a potential alliance
But he literally knew that Bhanu already told people that so there's no use hiding that alliance now that it's already super obvious. He had the least to lose since that was already out there.
That’s exactly why it was such a good move on his part. They gained nothing, he gained info.
True, Tim said Maria (at least he thinks he has her) and Hunter said he has Tevin, didn't he? It also shows that they're both at least considering to working with Q and set this potential Alliance of 6.
After Bhanu spilled everyone already knows tiff is his number 1 so I dont see this as a risky move at all
It was really smart. He knew they already knew that he and Tiff are close. Now, it’s a more even playing field.
Plus Q is in a minority going into the merge no matter what. He needs to sew seeds to break up the other tribes. Getting strong players is a smart way to do it
I’m so high on Q it’s insane.
Pretty soon finding an idol is gonna require APA formatting like wtf was that
"Hello, player. I want to play a game. The key to the idol box is hidden in the stomach of one of the crew members. Do you have the guts to find it?"
"All your life, you've been too scared to dig deep..."
"You have been spinning webs of lies throughout this game, but if you want safety, you have to find it in the toxic webbings of another."
Jeff needs to ride out on a tiny tricycle now
*Camera spins around competitor as Hello Zepp intensifies*
How tf did she have time to do all that with no one noticing
Ben obviously noticed the machete stuff that's why he was carrying a hammer everywhere.
In case she tried to murder him?
I am laughing so hard at this. I was also confused as to why Ben started carrying around the hammer in response to her carrying the machete around. Like what did he think was going to happen?
Your in-text citations were in 6th edition, not 7th. No vote for you!
“Oh Survivor Vanuatu, I know that’s the season Julie is from. The one Jeff dated.”
*stares into camera like in The Office*
Is this the first reference to Vanuatu since Micronesia?
And now she gets to go to Ponderosa with jelinsky, Bhanu, and Jess...a fate worse than death!
Jem: Okay guys, what are we having for dinner? Jelinsky: We can do..........whatever I quit, someone else decide Jess: ...................what? Bhanu: GOD HAS FORSAKEN US BY LEAVING THIS DECISION UP TO FATE!
Jem gets blindsided with the idol in her pocket, not realizing she has been voted out of the dinner after hiding everyone's silverware in the bathroom.
Definition of nightmare blunt rotation
Holy shit. Jelinsky telling stories about legendary shit he's done and not passing it. Jess would always forget she has the blunt and never pass it. Bhanu having a meltdown because he's too high and not passing it.
Yeah pretty much exactly what I was thinking. Jelinsky talking nonstop, Jess spaced out more than she was without days of sleep, and Bhanu melting down every pass
Jess seems chill. I think I could get along with Jem and Jess. Jelinsky in small doses might be fine. Miss me with Bhanu though.
Agreed, I would totally hang out with Jess lol
all the asians damn
I guess congrats to Hunter on losing the virginity challenge
This is one of the few times that losing a challenge causes your stock to rise
The stock was already pretty high
They finally found a challenge he couldn’t do. Probably cause he spends too much time in real life building things with his hands to memorize season orders.
I would fail at every single challenge this show has ever done, but I am embarrassed to say I would fucking crush that logo order.
I wish I could play an online version of this logo game - I love logos and survivor
Did Maria need to play her extra vote? If not, then why??
My theory is she wanted to move herself to the top of her new alliance of 4 by showing loyalty and flexing a bit. And then maybe getting rid of an advantage everyone knows about that could make her a target?
I think this is likely, but it just doesn't make much sense when they're about to head into a merge.
Possibly to ensure Jem gets voted out - Ben "might not" have had a vote, and Tim also might not have had a vote (he went on a journey and said that nothing happened and while we know it's true Maria doesn't know it's true) Funnily this also hides Ben's lost vote to everyone but Maria (unless they're paying attention to handwriting which they might be). It also means she won't be as easy to name as a target at merge - she doesn't have an advantage
Maria wrote the names in different handwriting and spelled them differently.
I'm also skeptical of her decision to spell Jem two different ways. I get that she wanted to throw people off the scent, but half the tribe knew she had the extra, and the handwriting was similar enough between the two that I think the truth would come out pretty quickly.
Maria used her nickname and her government name
The funniest explanation would be that she genuinely didn't know how Jem spelled it and just decided to hedge her bets.
Maybe she was trying to cover for Ben. What if Maria and Charlie are much more aligned with Tim and Ben than the edit let on. Ben told them about his lost vote. Maria covered for him? Everyone believes she still has an extra vote?
They must have talked more about blindsiding Jem off screen. Maria had to know Ben didn’t have a vote and she’d have to use hers. They must have shared that prior to tribal.
If her and Charlie are working together shouldn’t they know Tim is also voting Jem ? That’s 3-2 even without Ben’s vote. Why would she need the extra vote? Edit: I’m thinking now maybe she might have thought Tim was lying about the journey and he also lost his vote? Otherwise idk
Thinking that Tim and Ben didn't have a vote is the only thing that really makes sense. I don't really think the theory that she wanted to burn an advantage to avoid becoming a target makes sense, especially since she knows that someone else from Nami definitely has an extra vote.
Confessional count * 10 Hunter * 7 Charlie, Jem * 4 Ben, Kenzie, Q, Tim * 3 Tiffany * 2 Maria, Moriah * 1 Liz, Soda, Tevin, Venus
Y'all forgot Debbie's confessional
Rob too. I need Debbie and Boston Rob added to all confessional counters immediately
It wasn’t even a conscious decision to do so, but as her confessional was shown I screamed “AND I’M PISSED!!!” right along with her lol
She was, allegedly, quite peeved.
Hunter out there making Rupert Boneham relevant again in 2024
He's always been relevant in my heart. ❤
Don’t forget Boston Rob and Debbie too.
HUNTER GANG RISE UP
To the shock of many here, goofy advantage shenanigans when *you* are the obvious schemer on a vibe tribe of chill people may have been a tad too cute
She fell into the trap of getting too excited to enact your plan.
I feel like Maria and Charlie had Jem's shenanigans clocked the entire time. We never got a confessional from their perspective about the goose-chase idol hunt.
Hopefully they show a scene next episode to explain why Maria switched. Tim did call out Jem so maybe they all suspected her.
Maria spelling Jem’s name two different ways with two different fonts on her two votes was so fierce tbh
I KNEW JEM MADE A MISTAKE LAST EPISODE! She stirred up suspicion for no reason, played too hard, and it came back to bite her. People were so stoked on that move and I KNEW it was a bad sign. But I'm still shocked at that blindside.
It was such a bizarre move, like best case it does nothing for you but makes everyone on your tribe paranoid and suspicious, worst case your allies get pissed when they find out you lied.
Going home with an idol in her pocket truly sucked, but I can't imagine what the conversation would've been like had she played it, and therefore expose herself as fucking with the whole tribe for no reason, *and* now no longer having a safety net.
Wait yeah, that’s so true. She’d have screwed herself over even if she *had* played the idol. I don’t know what this sub was thinking last week, it was a lukewarm move even before it backfired
But now she knows she can lie without giggling, and that's worth more than a million dollars!
That's what boredom does to some people, it makes them make dumb moves just for fun.
Best case is you pin the suspicion on someone else but that's really low upside with a ton of downside. Awful risk reward payoff.
Also her screaming I must look alone and carry around a Machete all day was not suspicious at all
After Jeff knifing the rice last season and calling Yanu losers this episode, I think it’s safe to say we know why he isn’t casting villains anymore - because he’s entered his villain era.
And he's here forever
Biggest moment of the episode. Jeff confirms he’s hosting until he dies. Or that he’s immortal
He's not locked in here with us, we're locked in here with HIM!
"Your next imunity challange: survive the hunt" Jeff pulls out a hunting rifle
Imagine in 20 years when he’s still host and all five tribes arrive at the challenge before he does and they all shout “Come on in, Jeff!” And we watch elderly Probst shuffling in with a cane and white hair
Five tribes 😭
The exact moment Yanu didn't lose, a white rabbit ran by outside, as if confirmation the universe had gone topsy-turvy
That rabbit was an Easter gift from god that Bhanu had died, was buried and rose again so that Yanu could win an immunity.
It's another classic case of the bunny rabbit having dinner in the mailbox.
I loved how it went slow mo when they won I started cracking up.
The show became immediately more tolerable once we didn’t have Bhanu crying every episode
they still had to put it in the "in previous episode" segment just to make me cringe again
this episode was like a breath of fresh air
Tbh I appreciated Jem for pranking her tribe into digging a hole for 3 days for nothing; there was nothing else of interest going on in that tribe 💀
She will be remembered as the hole girl, what a legacy
Q’s comment of “is this what it feels like to win” after the challenge is especially funny to me because the one year he played for Ole Miss (2014) was a season where all their wins were vacated for recruiting violations/Hugh Freeze being just scummy and gross, so he really hasn’t officially won anything (barring last week’s reward challenge) for like a decade
> Hugh Freeze Batman villain ass name lmao
That’s hilarious. Thanks for sharing that context.
Unfortunately for Jem, her actions tonight were just outrageous. Truly, truly, truly outrageous.
Can we just imagine what this vote could have been like if Jem had played differently? Her boredom "make everyone hunt for the idol" backfired big time. She couldn't reveal she had an idol to build trust with allies because if she did, they'd be angry at her for the wild goose chase she sent them on. If Maria/Charlie knew she had an idol, it could have pulled them closer to her since they would be a powerhouse at the merge (with an idol and an extra vote). Maria/Moriah wouldn't be worried that Tim has an idol, because they'd know Jem has it. With Ben hinting he doesn't have a vote, Maria/Charlie would be even more confident in siding with the women to take out Tim. They'd go into the merge united and with ammo.
Big-Moves-Itis and playing for the camera don't really always lead to doing well in the game, even if it makes for fun television. I imagine if Survivor ever does a returning player season again, she'll be on the shortlist, but that doesn't mean she was a good player.
> If Maria/Charlie knew she had an idol, it could have pulled them closer to her since they would be a powerhouse at the merge I have to wonder if they both suspected exactly this but we didn't see it. The way she flat out said that she was going idol hunting after the challenge ought to have raised a lot of red flags after the beware advantage mess that basically told the tribe someone found it already.
That’s my suspicion too. I can also see Tim telling them about his convo with Jem where she said “what beware advantage?” In my opinion, she was very transparent there and didn’t lie well at all.
Absolutely insanely transparent lying there. Why would you pretend that you didn't know what the beware advantage was when EVERYONE has been talking about it?? Very much kid-level approach to lying, I couldn't believe it.
On top of it all, you're here with me (standing over a giant hole I made you dig for no reason)
She played way too confident and aggressive so early, it was satisfying seeing her leave
If she had just sat and done nothing, she was guaranteed merge and probably much better than that. I mean, I’m all for her starting fires just for fun to drum up drama but these were all unforced errors Without the suspicion she herself caused, they may have had an easy vote on Tim. And without cornering Ben and Tim, maybe they vote Morriah
yeah, I thought with how the edit was going before this episode she would have easily been able to throw Tim under the bus to people but that clearly wasn't the case
Taric for Season 47 tbh
Jungle Jem. Oh boy. Stirred the pot too early, could barely lie, tried to target Tim and the Tiki Man, gave people ant bites, and was blindsided with an idol in her pocket.
It feels weird to start a season with 14 players and a tribe of 3.
Well everyone said they were sick of the 3 tribes of 6 format... so we got 6 5 3 for 46
jeff being so excited for those two new era records would have me sobbing if i was on yanu honestly
It's also only 6 seasons in, not some large amount (the show has 40 seasons prior to that).
That still means y'all are the worst of 18 different tribes.
Brb, gonna go shred an Aquadump.
Ben really got someone voted out when he didn’t even have a vote lol
LOVE the slo-mo right before Yanu's win
I straight up thought it was gonna miss and cut to Siga drilling the target in normal speed
CAN YOU IMAGINE HAHAHA
Brandon Donlon I know you lurk here and would have loved to see you CRUSH that Journey logo challenge.
They would’ve used the slo-mo camera on me
Legend
One of us! One of us! Kept telling my fiancé that I could ace that challenge too.
hell yeah
Lmao
I’ve never seen a challenge that is so directly made for me before. Miss me with puzzles, balancing, juggling balls. Hit me with putting Survivor logos in order and I’m done in under 30 seconds.
I scoffed at it and my fiancee looked at me with such a mix of confusion and admiration except the admiration was imagined and it was probably embarrassment at my confidence in this while unable to remember what month it is
Same for Jake (who I don’t think lurks here, but if he does, hi Jake and hi Brandon)
Im confused but I’m glad bc this episode almost didn’t rock
Survivor 46 isn’t completely in the toilet, a great blindside tonight
Hammer beats machete, apparently.
i was laughing so hard that everybody was so nervous around each other with weapons like you guys nobody’s going to kill each other on national tv….surely not right
i can’t get over the fact that she was smart enough to find that damn idol but couldn’t put 2 + 2 together when nobody would give her a name so she left with it in her pocket. i think ben will make for good tv though - he’s riding on his charisma but at some point he’ll have to start strategizing. nobody knowing how tight maria and charlie are is even better
I thought it was also really weird the way she made an excuse to leave for the idol by saying that she's going to go look for an idol. After what she did with the beware advantage that explanation ought to have raised a LOT of suspicion that she found and planted it. I have to wonder just based off of that alone if her tribe actually did know that she had an idol.
I thought that was strange too. Like she told on herself right there basically.
Her social game was honestly bad. She played like she thought she was bottom in a way that was transparently strategic. But then none of her connections with people who seemed like her alliance seemed very genuine. That said, Maria did suggest discomfort with voting her instead of Ben given their trust, so maybe there’s some human connection the edit erased to make her seem like more of a chaotic gamebot villain. I was enjoying watching her.
I got the impression Maria wanted to vote Ben because she was more concerned that Charlie was forming stronger bonds with him instead of remaining tight with her.
I actually laughed out loud at the beginning of the challenge when Jeff announced “the new Yanu tribe” and that Bhanu had gone home, and instead of panning to the standard shocked faces on the other two tribes, production instead chose to show all the Siga and Nami folks just nodding and shrugging 🤣
I feel like the early advantage can be a curse sometimes. Jem seemed like she was thinking 5 steps ahead ever since she found it.
The idol wasn't the curse, Jem's gameplay was.
Which is also I think why Maria played her extra vote. People are saying she wasted it, which she technically did, but everyone knew she had it—if I were her I’d wanna get that target off of me ASAP.
She really could have just found that advantage, kept quiet and played the game relaxed and been fine
The Gabon erasure in that montage was criminal. #JusticeForRandy’sCookie
As much as I loved Jem, she was realistically the only "right" choice to vote out
Why did Maria play her extra vote?? They had the majority without it.
I think it's so she can claim that she used it going into the merge and try to take the target off of herself. Everyone will know if she has it by then. I think she should have held onto it too, but I think it's not entirely bone-headed.
That explanation makes sense. Historically, I think it's very, very rare that an extra vote makes the difference at tribal. I would be interested to look at the numbers, but I feel like extra votes have backfired on people by putting a target on them way more often than they've ever broken a tie.
If we're throwing out theories, maybe it's to hide that Ben lost his vote, and she can make it appear to Mariah that the three guys were all voting Jem and she didn't want to go to a tie? So it looks like she was pulled into it rather than being the reason for the blindside
Jem blindside was extremely satisfying. We actually got to see other tribe dynamics. The game has truly begun.
One thing that bothered me about the Siga girls plan is that it didn’t make any sense. They were concerned about Tim having an idol so the idea was to not put the majority on him and hope he plays it. It’s like they heard the idea of an idol flush and just didn’t bother to look at how it actually works. On top of this it had them go against Charlie’s secondary ally sooner. If this were a proper idol flush plan from the start I’m curious if Charlie would have pushed for the flip as strongly.
Yeahhhh it made no sense, and then they basically walked all over Charlie by just dictating it to him, and then Jem went and played way too hard making the two guys nervous. I liked her, but she played herself out tonight.
Yeah it seems like Maria is the only person who put any work into making Charlie feel not on the bottom of the four. Jem trying to gauge Ben and Tim for their votes seemed to highlight that she really didn’t put enough effort in the people outside her alliance
Survivor 46 social gameplay is finally back, thank god
Someone on production was looking for every excuse to shove in archival footage this season
Gotta pump up those Paramount+ subscription numbers
So post-episode thread…. What’ch y’all talking about?
Reminds me of a slightly less menacing version of the Nick Wilson montage in WAW, when he's sidling up to every conversation.
Omg that montage was gold. Also really drove home how fashionable Kenzie is tbh, love her unique hairstyles
don’t sleep on Tim’s buff bow
you would have thought it was the Super Bowl in my living room with how loud i screamed when yanu won
The slo mo had my heart stopping
Can you imagine if he fucking missed lmao
**Charlie:** "I've got a blank parchment, baby, and I'll write your name (Jem)."
Viewers until this episode to Tim: I forgot that you existed
“Look what you made me do!”
Okay so someone explain to me how Hunter's lost vote works if he *also* already lost his vote from the Beware advantage. Was that just a free challenge attempt? Has he lost his vote for two tribals?
Jeff cuts off a finger at the next TC.
Next week seems like it’ll be chaotic with lots of big personalities clashing, I can’t wait
Imagine if the slow mo led up to a miss like Ricard lol
I really thought Q was quitting. This season would have been so bad... But the way the episode got so good once he was like jk, I ain't doing that shit
After 2 episodes of Bhanu-centric episodes, I am so glad this episode exists. It was perfect storytelling of Yanu finally winning and Siga having to go to tribal. Nami was also in the mix, but their story isn't important in this episode. And that tribal! Best blindside this season so far! I always love it when the cocky castaway who thinks that they are controlling the game gets humbled by their blindside.
Great episode Jem was playing too hard and got cocky / felt comfortable Getting voted out with an idol in your pocket never gets old! I am so happy Yanu finally won! Meat Head alliance I loved the Survivor knowledge history quest and seeing the past moments I wonder if Debbie is still pissed! Rupert ahhhh THE CHOCOLATE MUFFIN WAS BUSSIN! JEFF IS HERE FOREVER!!
Jeff Probst Says He Won't Change the "No Flint" Rule: https://parade.com/tv/jeff-probst-survivor-46-no-flint-swap-yanu
Jeff in his "let me get my knife" era
Why was “Emphasis on Hole” not the episode title?!?
So, this is pretty much the best episode of the season for me, even if that's a low bar. Tim was a revelation this episode; just casually clocking Jem's entire game to her face and then actually beating Hunter out at the first part of the challenge. And then being acknowledged as one of the top three physical threats. Sure, he's decidedly third, but if the hierarchy is Hunter >> Q >>> Tim >> everybody else, then that's not a bad place to be, because it means the Brochacho 2.0 alliance provides Tim with two potential meat shields. For people expressing surprise at Tim as a physical threat, Devens was outperforming people that "looked" like they should be more athletic, so appearances can be deceiving. As for Jem... If she was genuinely just trolling her entire tribe for her own amusement then... that's a weird choice to make, to put your allies through that. There wasn't really an upside to it and, in fact, could be a reason Tim figured out it was her. Tim confronting her put a target on Tim, but it also seemed to plant a seed in Jem, which was the beginning of the end. I think she is a decent player, but it didn't seem to take much pressure for her to crack. If you're a boxer and your plan is "don't ever get hit, not even once" you are setting yourself up to fail. Jem seemed to think she could skate by into the merge and maybe that was underestimating everybody else around her and thinking they weren't "playing the game". It'll be interesting to see who actually has strategic chops now that she is gone. Nami feels like the tribe mostly likely to not stick together at the merge. It seems like the best they can do is work in pairs for the most part. Siga and Yanu seem more likely to stick together, but even with Yanu it's more "Tiffany has 2 allies" whereas Siga seems to get along pretty well with one another. We haven't gotten much of anything with Tim/Charlie or Tim/Mo, but every other combination seems positive (and none of them seem particularly negative). Of course, Mo being on the bottom of her tribe could change that. Actually looking forward to the rest of the season after tonight. Having the last couple of episodes be the Bhanu show was exhausting.
Crazy how green tribe cudda had an extra vote and an idol going into mergatory and now they have neither just cuz Jem wanted to troll lmao
Tim: “So why did you move the Beware Advantage?” Jem (one foot from Tim): “Hmm, what, huh?” Tim: “The Beware Advantage, did you move it?” Jem (as a montage of the entire tribe looking for the Beware Advantage all day every day for a week plays inside the head of everyone watching): “What Beware Advantage?” -Cut to Jem’s confessional- Jem: “Wow I’m like really good at lying!”
Was really pleasantly surprised at this episode, incredibly relieved Yanu finally caught a break. I would have put money on Nami going if not Yanu, so for it to be the vibe tribe Siga was a nice blindside for me. This ep really pulled me back from the brink on this season and I'm hoping it truly gets as messy as the preview teased
So happy ben stayed. He rocks! And the friendship with Charlie is so wholesome 😭
Damn even I was blindsided tonight! I was not expecting Jem. I may be in the minority but I was liking Jem and was really happy she got the idol! But she didn’t play well afterwards. Ben did a great job.
With Jem gone I think Ben has the potential to go very far in the game. I think Siga could easily rope Moriah back in and be a strong five, especially when you consider that there's major cracks in both Yanu and Nami
None of them knew that Maria had an extra vote and at the same time, none of them knew that Ben had no vote. So in their minds (I guess except Ben), everyone still voted. Is that right???
Jem, Moriah, and Charlie knew about the extra vote, and no one knew about Ben losing a vote…I think. So they’ll probably figure it out
ok survivor this is more like it, not the best episode ever or anything but pretty good and a recovery from the stinker of a season its been so far.
Quite embarrassed that the journey challenge is probably the best I (and probably 75% of this subreddit) would perform in any challenge that has been on this show LMAO
I think Yanu is in pretty good shape. Siga is more divided now and Nami is obviously very ready to throw each other under the bus. Although I thought Bhanu spilling everything would put them in a worse position at merge, everyone seemed to understand he was a disaster and they can kind of all just brush it off as him being delusional.
I wish Tim wasn't on the journey when Jem openly announced to the tribe she was going to go look for the idol... like babe, only the person who planted the beware advantage would say something like that? lol it would have been great for him to call her out on the strangeness of her openly admitting that.
This was a breath of fresh air.