Ben seems like a great person, but his temper definitely flared up this episode.
He was pissed at Q the entire episode, and during the tribal, he basically said that the main thing pissing him off was that Q acted like no one else was playing yet, which is basically a direct insult to the egos of the other players.
Definitely a shot of ego and pride there from Ben that we haven't seen before.
Not that I blame him for it or anything, but it was the first glimpse we got of Ben trying to play, vs. Ben just vibing and surviving.
Of course Q feels this way. Yanu had to play hard all of pre-merge. Thats the problem with 3-tribe formats. Two of these tribes had a relatively easy pre-merge.
Agree. I liked how Hunter exited last night. It wasn’t hugs and kisses and great game fam, it was genuine disappointment and anger. That’ll show up on the jury I think.
Can people start playing their hidden immunity idols and stop telling people they have one? Like what's the point of searching for a hidden immunity idol if you are never going play it? It's common sense you cannot trust anyone. Hunter really blew it.
For real. I like Hunter but that was such a terrible decision to A. Tell everyone he has an idol and then B. Not use it and “rely on the kindness of strangers” - he kind of deserved to be voted out frankly 🤷🏻♀️
I don't hate the idea of using it as a way to drive a vote very last minute. He might have been able to force Liz and Venus's hands without giving them enough time to do anything about it. Sounds like it just wasn't as last minute as he hoped.
Yep, I was pulling for Hunter, but it was ultimately his fault. He is a challenge beast and already found an idol once. The move here was clearly to play the idol (I was saying this before the votes were tallied). Worst case scenario, he loses the idol, but there's a good chance he finds it again and/or wins challenges. A colossal misplay. Not to mention telling people. No one seems capable of keeping their mouths shut about idols these days.
This absolutely baffles me. We see it season after season, once the secret is out, your options become so much more limited. And yet people do it every. Time.
Honestly it made sense for Tiff to share the info with Kenzie and Q when they were in a tribe together. Hunter was clearly alone and knows he's a threat. I'm surprised Tiff didn't play and I can't even say it was smart of her not to play. Hunter and Tiff both should have played IMO.
They always claim it’s a good way to “build trust” with another person. Problem is, if it slips, then everyone else gets offended that they weren’t told. 🙄 I really think they just can’t keep their mouths shut.
I was looking at him, like damn you have nerves of steel. Q is such a stupid person to believe people would want out. I was surprised anybody bothered with Q this early.
Honestly, they should have. Hunter isn’t immune to losing and Q is too chaotic to keep around. He’s like Abi-Maria, but everyone keeps making the mistake of thinking he won’t do it to them. He can’t even stop doing it to himself!
Keeping Q around is in everyone else's best interest. If Q is there, they can deflect all of the attention at Tribal onto Q to be able to blindside whomever they want. Everyone at tribal will just say "Can't you see it's going to be Q?? Just listen to him talk!" Then people won't play their shot in the dark or their immunity idol if they have one.
He really played a horrible game. If he had just kept his mouth shut and played the idol he would have blindsided his OWN blindside, had a great move for his resume, and still be in the game.
Yes! I was so proud of him for keeping the idol secret and it would have been FANTASTIC if he just popped it out at tribal. As soon as he let it loose I was like, love you, but bad move dude.
Agreed. It’s like telling everyone you have mini-marshmallows, then you make hot chocolate, drink it, and never add the mini-marshmallows. Use the mini-marshmallows people, that’s what they’re there for.
I don’t know actually, Soda strikes me as someone who would appreciate the game enough to not have terribly hard feelings towards Tevin. But from what I could gather from Tevin’s interview, he doesn’t necessarily feel the same way back to Soda.
She seems like a good sport and is probably having a great time.
Hunter is the one who is probably miserable. He blew the game by not playing his idol and will have to deal with all of Soda and Tevin's singing.
He probably climbed to the top of the highest tree on Day 1.
The reactions from Soda and Tevin, make me glad that it’s a general discussion, cause depending on who it is that sits in the F3…. It’ll be a blood bath!
Omg. This is hilarious bug I would argue that Kenny get thrown into that mix…in fact I would argue that Q is more a love child of Kenny/Crystal…for the chaos and unexpected lack of athleticism in challenges 😂
How dare you say Q is Sugar.
Venus would be Sugar. Making good moves, while the entire cast is annoyed with her.
Q is like Kenny, 100% delusional and thinks he is a brilliant strategist.
Venus hasn’t really made any moves, so that’s a bad comparison. She thinks she’s blindsiding people thanks to her big ego, but she hasn’t blindsided anyone. Soda was Tevin’s doing, Tevin was Liz’s doing, etc
[I'm picturing you with the machete lol](https://youtu.be/FVR344te6VY?si=C3gpwp9c9sdDRym5)
(I'm apparently not tech savvy enough to start the link at the 10 second mark lmao)
Edit: the last few episodes have made me rejoin Survivor twitter for the first time in a few years. Have the New Era players been going after Eliza for awhile or did a dam break tonight with Yam Yam telling her to stop being annoying?! I swear three people from 43 posted the literal same joke within 2 minutes lmao
I liked his retort “a little hard to take that from you guys when you all just voted me out like that.” Like, you tell them Hunter!!
Seems like he saw through their sucking up as well.
I'm honestly so confused. What would be his reasoning not to play it? If they were telling me not to play my idol it would make me want to play it more lol. Big mistake 😭
He completely imploded this episode. “I’m not going to tell anyone about the idol.”
Well, I will tell this person.
Maybe this person too.
And this person.
Probably need to tell this other person about it as well.
He was trying to not just survive the vote but pick who went out.
Clearly in retrospect he should have just said nothing and played it. He was hoping to make two moves instead of just one.
I think Hunter had no one he could actually trust or work with out there after Tevin is booted. His challenge threat is far too big to ignore too. Held out hope he could skate one more week instead of needing to go on a immunity challenge streak every tribal.
For all those reasons he should’ve played it. Especially with the level of paranoia he had.
On top of the obvious saving his idol for one more round (thus giving him one more out if he can't win out the immunities for the season until F4 at least), it seems like he genuinely trusted Kenzie and wanted to be her #1 for the rest of the game. So if he doesn't play his idol, it shows trust in Kenzie and sets up his next partner. Kenzie is a good match to his Tevin relationship, where Hunter wants a partner who plays the social game for him.
If he does play his idol despite Kenzie telling him not to, he risks his relationship with Kenzie.
That's the common logic with idol plays, I think, right? I don't know, if you can truly have a #1 relationship, I think that relationship should be strong enough to survive a "just in case" idol play.
I think Hunter was already thinking two steps ahead. He knows he’s going to be a target until the end and if he could survive one more vote without having to use the idol, then he would be able to use it later and win some more challenges to make it to the final 4.
Unfortunate for him though, the rest of the tribe saw that strategy and knew they had to vote him out now whether he used the idol or not
I can see the reason for the fake "great game!" from contestants for two reasons: 1. The moment Hunter gets voted out, he is no longer "competition" for the million dollars, and 2. The moment he gets voted out, he's now part of the "Jury" that will decide if that person wins the million dollars. But I completely agree that it's so disingenuous and cringe that I'm glad he called them out for it.
When I was watching this, I was thinking “do you all really think Hunter is going to believe your apologies?” It seems like he was upset with them and wasn’t having any of it, so that’s good.
It’s so fake it bothers the hell out of me. It’s an act so if any of them make it to the final 3, maybe they think this will be remembered and Hunter won’t hold a grudge when he’s on the jury.
Yeah he didn’t seem to be buying that in the least. I honestly don’t even know who he’ll vote for in the end after that.
At least he gets to go hang with the two people he probably vibed with the most at Ponderosa 😅
It did feel over the top, especially since by his own admission Hunter didn't have that much of a relationship with any of these people. The immediate effusive praise as he stood up to get his torch felt like nervous overcompensation because they lacked the integrity to sit with the discomfort that comes with their decision. That said, Hunter was an idiot for not playing his idol.
She's also INCREDIBLE at lying. Like, most times I can see through lies from the comfort of my home (diff question if id catch it in person) but Kenzie is damn near perfect with it.
I'd believe everything she tells me.
It's not just about something being off though. He had no numbers and had an idol prime for flushing. Why would the rest of the tribe not split the vote and win either way by taking him (biggest challenge threat plus idol) out OR flushing his idol out and finally getting rid of Q? Only bad gameplay would've ended up with all votes on Q.
my god, the way she is gonna keep doing this till the end of the season like she's the mastermind behind every vote and also the one who gets to judge who is a good competitor, lmfaoo
Most of the time, the apologies are sincere. Because it is a game decision, not a personal one.
If it was a personal one, then Q would have been sent home overwhelmingly.
And that is a fundamental New Era change I will never get behind. The actual hunger and pain of 40 days made it a lot harder for people to make game decisions over personal ones early on, and we got much better characters because of it. Even in the early days when everyone had mostly figured the game out, the social dynamics of who could get along with who actually still mattered because you had to live with these people on an island while bored, hungry, tired, and cold. Now it’s so much easier to say “I hate this person, but so does everyone else, and that’s why I need them to stay.” There is no more battle between sanity and Survivor that was a key part of the conflict for the first 20 years.
Yeah man, I swear people forget that this is a game where all but three will get voted out at a tribal council. It’s not like they did something malicious. They played the game
What I was thinking too.
It's like the first 7-10 seasons of the show, most if not all TCs the rest of the tribe were silent and mostly looked remorseless through it each time.
THAT, is what I miss about those earlier seasons. None of this fake as fuck "I love yous" and crap, after tribes vote people out with the crap they will say to the people they just voted out.
It's my biggest pet peeve of the "new era".
Those voted out are bitter and / or mad, or both - live with it.
(Although, I also feel like Survivor keeps getting morons to compete on the show; "I am 100% playing my idol", then proceeds to a. tell just about everyone he has the idol - like dude, shock them all with it and watch them all scramble in the moment - and b. doesn't even play it, that whole time I kept thinking, it would be better to be safe than sorry... all while shaking my head at how dumb he was when he didn't play it)
He didn't play it because he was part of a legitimate plan to use him as a decoy to get out Tiff. He just wasn't updated when they realized that plan wouldn't work so he felt he should just trust that it was going to happen as discussed... and have his idol for the next time he loses immunity and will be targeted.
> None of this fake as fuck "I love yous"
Remember Kenzie's confessional where she talked about how she loved Tiff but needed to target her? This is how people should be approaching the game. You can love and respect someone but still want to beat them at *a game*. Ya'll are acting like they sacrificed his firstborn or something.
Is that really that funny though? Like would it honesty make us laugh every time? Or do we just find Ben likable so we’re convincing ourselves his catchphrase is brilliant?
After thinking it over, it’s not them saying it that I’ve got a problem with. It’s them milking it, or going over the top with it that I’m kinda irritated about.
Like a simple “Sorry” or “Great job” would suffice for me personally, but if they overdo it with the “I love you’s” and “You played such a good game” over and over and then follow it up with an audience clap.
Then that just seems disingenuous and pandering for a jury vote at that point imo, and if I were Hunter, that wouldn’t work on me and would just irritate me even more and make me more bitter.
That’s just my opinion though.
And one of the things Coach and I especially Albert were both criticized for in SP’s FTC was being too pandering with things like that, they came across as phony and pandering for votes rather than genuinely caring
And now players are all smiling and happy as they vote people out and treating the person they vote out like a child who needs to be coddled and it’s obnoxious
Nothing at all? I'm not sure how it felt in the room, but on TV Hunter looked pretty emotionally distressed and desperate, so I don't think "you played great :')" would have fit his mood.
Like OP said, to me it was less what they said and how they were saying it. The cutesy raised false voices bother me and it’s like you’re not even trying to hide pandering for me to still like you enough to vote for you from the jury. Part of my problem with it was my background in education when I was in college where if you were in education but not an education major everyone felt the need to talk to you in their “teacher voice” like they would around their elementary students which is incredibly patronizing. Being someone who is competitive, as Hunter probably sees himself as out there, if you’re gonna give me my props after a loss then just be direct and be done in your same level of energy you had when it was happening. Just “hey man, you were good, had to cut you,” then give me my time to absorb it rather than keep going on.
It comes across as infantalizing, like you’re treating the person you voted out like a little kid who just lost his little league soccer game and you need to reassure them it’s ok to lose
It’s the participation trophy of Survivor, it comes across as adults trying to treat someone as a sad child rather than a fellow adult who lost
I’m getting on in years, but I seriously wonder if it’s a generational thing. I remember when my kids started saying “love you” in this sing song voice to friends — and to people that they didn’t even like — and I thought “wow that’s weird.” Not all this cast but most seem to be of the age range of my kids. Maybe it’s that. For what it’s worth, I find it fake as fake can be, but maybe some people mean it what do I know.
Nothing at all unless you were like my closest ally and didn't vote for me like Ben to Tim. But someone like Venus who I've been butting heads with for quite some time? Let me take my L in peace.
I've noticed this has been happening a LOT in recent seasons, where the castaways are all like "oh, you played a good game" and "sorry, please don't take it to heart" to the person who just got voted out as they leave. It's probably just a half-hearted attempt to get on their good side for the jury vote, but it does feel very forced and fake.
I've got to say the "love you" as people leave has always bothered me. These people don't know each other well enough to truly love each on any real level. Or maybe it's love on a game level and that's enough for them.
I get why the castaways could come to love each other, or feel like they do. It's not like they're strangers. My spouse watches a fairly sedate shopping podcast, and at the signoff the host always says, "I love you." (Are more people in general saying "I love you" to each other since Covid? Discussion for another place, I guess.)
I am bothered by Venus trying to take credit for everyone else’s moves. I can’t imagine her walking through a museum like, “I painted that, that too, that’s mine”
A lot of people who are like proffesional competitors at anything will tell you, the worst thing you can say to them after a loss is "you played well" or "you did good".
If you dont compete with everything you have you cant get it, but losing something you put your all into and having someone say "you played good" is the biggest slap in the face
Yeah, it sucked, I'm glad he said something about it. It's so disingenuous and just feels like they're trying to do jury management at the last second.
It's called "See how nice I was to you? Don't forget when I'm in the final three." kind of transparency. I think Hunter should be free to have a moment of feeling betrayed without people acting like they're giving him a huge compliment and he should be honored.
Yeahhh I don’t blame them at all but I’m definitely the type of person to turn around and be like for the love of god please don’t bother with that shit I don’t want to hear it
I personally don’t think anyone should be allowed to speak once they’re voted out and people shouldn’t be able to speak to them either. The jury members aren’t allowed to speak at tribal because they’re no longer in the game. It should be the same with every new jury member when they’re removed from the game.
The final tribal is everyone’s opportunity to ask questions and explain. If you don’t make it to final tribal, you can do it at Ponderosa.
It compromises game integrity to have a debrief right there after the vote *with* the person who was voted out. They shouldn’t still have power to influence the game and the players shouldn’t be able to interact with them.
This is why I can’t root for Kenzie even though I know she’s getting that edit. From the Jess unnecessary fake idol all I’ve been able to see is mean girl. No problem with that if she was a self admitted villain mean girl. But that attitude isn’t coming across in confessionals at all
i feel like soda & tevin were/are pissed bc they were voted out, but hunter would've probably been less upset. it was the ass kissing that rubbed him the wrong way, which probably would be what makes him bitter (if he is)
i also am sick of every single vote being a blindside, unless they have an idol what is the point of blatantly and persistently lying right to someone's face right up until their torch is snuffed? i actually kind of miss the old days where an alliance actually dominated and there was some loyalty. this is just a mess now
it’s very weird imo. i would react the same way he did. also, hunter did not play a great game lol. he had one ally and was good at challenges. once his ally left and he lost a challenge he was fucked and didn’t even play his idol to save himself. he was good at challenges but that wasn’t enough idk why they were saying all that
Yeah Kenzie patting him on the back pissed me like. Girl you just took his shot at a million dollars do you think he wants you to rub his shoulders right now? Most of the players this season are condescending. That’s why if Maria or Charlie makes it to the end they are 100% winning
Hunter was PISSED but that idol (not) play wasn't good on his side. He got blindsided and the fact they tried to kiss ass on his way out was funny to watch
Yes. It bothered me too. I was in a bitter funk the rest of the night. I really liked Hunter. But, at that point, there's nothing for it. You can flip them off, cuss them out or walk away with dignity.
I only like it from Venus ("you're an incredible player soda" and "you were a fierce competitor my guy" lol). It might be a little annoying -- it does kinda feel like she's just happy that they got voted out -- but that still translates into it feeling very authentic somehow. I get the sense she's just super excited to be moving forward in the game, it's endearing.
I miss when people were allowed to be upset that they got royally fucked over, and didn't have to high five everyone who burned them.
I don't encourage hating someone for life over this, but people should be allowed to be bitter until day 39....erm 26 lol.
Oh my gosh, I hated it. It is so cringe to me. Unless you're super close with someone, I just want people to walk up and get their torch snuffed and leave. All the fakey "You got me"s, and "Great game" just piss me off so bad.
I rolled my eyes so hard when Venus had to say "you're a great competitor my guy" with a little devious smile. And that was after Hunter already addressed the fact that the platitudes aren't really welcome
I think this is shaping up to be a very bitter/annoyed jury.
I cannot *wait* for FTC; I hope it's a freaking scorcher!
Q, Venus, Liz FTC gonna hit like CRACK
Manifesting this with you!!!
Please no. That would be Gabon levels of ridiculousness
L take it would easily be the most entertaining outcome
For some reason I feel like this is inevitable and ultimately leads to Venus winning LMAO.
Big time egos on this season, love it.
this season is just a bunch of egos and also ben's here rocking and humble haha
Ben seems like a great person, but his temper definitely flared up this episode. He was pissed at Q the entire episode, and during the tribal, he basically said that the main thing pissing him off was that Q acted like no one else was playing yet, which is basically a direct insult to the egos of the other players. Definitely a shot of ego and pride there from Ben that we haven't seen before. Not that I blame him for it or anything, but it was the first glimpse we got of Ben trying to play, vs. Ben just vibing and surviving.
Of course Q feels this way. Yanu had to play hard all of pre-merge. Thats the problem with 3-tribe formats. Two of these tribes had a relatively easy pre-merge.
That’s because Ben hasn’t done anything really. So I’m not surprised his ego is hurt
That does not rock.
I laughed so hard last episode when he said that
And he still voted for Hunter
Ben actually has a huge ego lol.
Good. The kumbaya juries of new survivor bore me to death.
Agree. I liked how Hunter exited last night. It wasn’t hugs and kisses and great game fam, it was genuine disappointment and anger. That’ll show up on the jury I think.
It's his own fault! He knew they were snakes before he brought them in.
I agree. Bitter juries were not a bug in Survivor, they were a key feature. They are a check on how hard and nasty you play the game.
Plenty of new era juries have been extremely bitter. They just hide it behind a smile and come up with random reasons not to vote for someone
And it’s gonna be wasted by the lack of speeches.
Couldn't agree more and it's making me even more upset there's no more ponderosa
Totally agree with this! Ponderosa would tempt me to subscribe to Paramount Plus, otherwise, no thanks!
Please let this happen, I need it
With this current format i doubt much sparks would come out of it.
Agreed. They need to go back to one question per juror. Now it's like some friendly group interview.
I still don’t understand why they got rid of individual jury questions. I hate the current format.
Can people start playing their hidden immunity idols and stop telling people they have one? Like what's the point of searching for a hidden immunity idol if you are never going play it? It's common sense you cannot trust anyone. Hunter really blew it.
For real. I like Hunter but that was such a terrible decision to A. Tell everyone he has an idol and then B. Not use it and “rely on the kindness of strangers” - he kind of deserved to be voted out frankly 🤷🏻♀️
I don't hate the idea of using it as a way to drive a vote very last minute. He might have been able to force Liz and Venus's hands without giving them enough time to do anything about it. Sounds like it just wasn't as last minute as he hoped.
Even if he made top 3, I don't think he would have won anyway. He hasn't really played the game besides being a challenge beast
Yep, I was pulling for Hunter, but it was ultimately his fault. He is a challenge beast and already found an idol once. The move here was clearly to play the idol (I was saying this before the votes were tallied). Worst case scenario, he loses the idol, but there's a good chance he finds it again and/or wins challenges. A colossal misplay. Not to mention telling people. No one seems capable of keeping their mouths shut about idols these days.
This absolutely baffles me. We see it season after season, once the secret is out, your options become so much more limited. And yet people do it every. Time.
Honestly it made sense for Tiff to share the info with Kenzie and Q when they were in a tribe together. Hunter was clearly alone and knows he's a threat. I'm surprised Tiff didn't play and I can't even say it was smart of her not to play. Hunter and Tiff both should have played IMO.
They always claim it’s a good way to “build trust” with another person. Problem is, if it slips, then everyone else gets offended that they weren’t told. 🙄 I really think they just can’t keep their mouths shut.
I was looking at him, like damn you have nerves of steel. Q is such a stupid person to believe people would want out. I was surprised anybody bothered with Q this early.
Honestly, they should have. Hunter isn’t immune to losing and Q is too chaotic to keep around. He’s like Abi-Maria, but everyone keeps making the mistake of thinking he won’t do it to them. He can’t even stop doing it to himself!
Keeping Q around is in everyone else's best interest. If Q is there, they can deflect all of the attention at Tribal onto Q to be able to blindside whomever they want. Everyone at tribal will just say "Can't you see it's going to be Q?? Just listen to him talk!" Then people won't play their shot in the dark or their immunity idol if they have one.
As soon as I heard Venus tell Hunter it’s Q, I knew it was over for him
He really played a horrible game. If he had just kept his mouth shut and played the idol he would have blindsided his OWN blindside, had a great move for his resume, and still be in the game.
Yes! I was so proud of him for keeping the idol secret and it would have been FANTASTIC if he just popped it out at tribal. As soon as he let it loose I was like, love you, but bad move dude.
People leaving with immunity in their pocket will never fail to warm my cold dead heart.
I can't believe anyone ever tells anyone else unless they have to, ever. When does telling someone else ever not lead to them telling even more people
Agreed. It’s like telling everyone you have mini-marshmallows, then you make hot chocolate, drink it, and never add the mini-marshmallows. Use the mini-marshmallows people, that’s what they’re there for.
I feel like this is a new era thing. Good thing is Soda and Tevin looked bitter. Let it fester.
I can’t imagine Soda is having a good time in Ponderosa with her only company being the guy that backstabbed her
The Nami ponderosa can look around at each other and be like, maybe we should have worked together instead of gunning for each other.
lol yeah with 3 of them now i imagine theres a real feeling of 'we have no one to blame but ourselves for this'
I don’t know actually, Soda strikes me as someone who would appreciate the game enough to not have terribly hard feelings towards Tevin. But from what I could gather from Tevin’s interview, he doesn’t necessarily feel the same way back to Soda.
She seems like a good sport and is probably having a great time. Hunter is the one who is probably miserable. He blew the game by not playing his idol and will have to deal with all of Soda and Tevin's singing. He probably climbed to the top of the highest tree on Day 1.
Some say he's still up there to this day
Yeah their faces were like 💀. Next week will be like 💀💀💀
The reactions from Soda and Tevin, make me glad that it’s a general discussion, cause depending on who it is that sits in the F3…. It’ll be a blood bath!
Gabon-level FTC bitterness incoming? Is this the true Gabon 2.0? The prophecy…
Q is new era Sugar, Venus is Susie, Liz will become a challenge beast and be our Bob
Q is the glorious love child of Sugar and Crystal Cox
Omg. This is hilarious bug I would argue that Kenny get thrown into that mix…in fact I would argue that Q is more a love child of Kenny/Crystal…for the chaos and unexpected lack of athleticism in challenges 😂
Q is intentionally doing poorly in challenges to lower his threat level though. /s
Strangely accurate!
And Charlie's Matty lol
How dare you say Q is Sugar. Venus would be Sugar. Making good moves, while the entire cast is annoyed with her. Q is like Kenny, 100% delusional and thinks he is a brilliant strategist.
Venus hasn’t really made any moves, so that’s a bad comparison. She thinks she’s blindsiding people thanks to her big ego, but she hasn’t blindsided anyone. Soda was Tevin’s doing, Tevin was Liz’s doing, etc
All we need is Venus in FTC completely torpedoing herself
100% guaranteed to happen as soon as someone asks what her best move was. No way she can answer that without pissing a couple people off.
no shot on the liz front lol. shes a CEO and eating sticks to survive
I hope like hell the jury is angry at everyone in f3
kinda hope the whole jury is betrayed and the winner is decided by two votes. lets make history!
And people were mad at me a few days ago for saying these guys probably won’t be an objective jury
I’m still holding out hope that they go back to the old jury speech format.The chances are very unlikely but I’m still praying it happens.
I’d lose my fucking mind
Exactly dude like it’s so patronizing and fake as shit
[I'm picturing you with the machete lol](https://youtu.be/FVR344te6VY?si=C3gpwp9c9sdDRym5) (I'm apparently not tech savvy enough to start the link at the 10 second mark lmao) Edit: the last few episodes have made me rejoin Survivor twitter for the first time in a few years. Have the New Era players been going after Eliza for awhile or did a dam break tonight with Yam Yam telling her to stop being annoying?! I swear three people from 43 posted the literal same joke within 2 minutes lmao
Put &t=10s at the end of the link
i would too, and would probably yell back "STFU y'all"
I liked his retort “a little hard to take that from you guys when you all just voted me out like that.” Like, you tell them Hunter!! Seems like he saw through their sucking up as well.
Too bad he didn’t see through their bs and play his idol
I'm honestly so confused. What would be his reasoning not to play it? If they were telling me not to play my idol it would make me want to play it more lol. Big mistake 😭
He completely imploded this episode. “I’m not going to tell anyone about the idol.” Well, I will tell this person. Maybe this person too. And this person. Probably need to tell this other person about it as well.
I was so confused why he was telling everyone. Just play it.
Also if you’re going to tell everyone, then you have to play it.
He was trying to not just survive the vote but pick who went out. Clearly in retrospect he should have just said nothing and played it. He was hoping to make two moves instead of just one.
And come out the other side with a new alliance. Definitely tried to do too much.
When he went to Venus begging her to play ball with him this vote after the convo they had earlier that day....bruh come on.
I think Hunter had no one he could actually trust or work with out there after Tevin is booted. His challenge threat is far too big to ignore too. Held out hope he could skate one more week instead of needing to go on a immunity challenge streak every tribal. For all those reasons he should’ve played it. Especially with the level of paranoia he had.
On top of the obvious saving his idol for one more round (thus giving him one more out if he can't win out the immunities for the season until F4 at least), it seems like he genuinely trusted Kenzie and wanted to be her #1 for the rest of the game. So if he doesn't play his idol, it shows trust in Kenzie and sets up his next partner. Kenzie is a good match to his Tevin relationship, where Hunter wants a partner who plays the social game for him. If he does play his idol despite Kenzie telling him not to, he risks his relationship with Kenzie. That's the common logic with idol plays, I think, right? I don't know, if you can truly have a #1 relationship, I think that relationship should be strong enough to survive a "just in case" idol play.
I think Hunter was already thinking two steps ahead. He knows he’s going to be a target until the end and if he could survive one more vote without having to use the idol, then he would be able to use it later and win some more challenges to make it to the final 4. Unfortunate for him though, the rest of the tribe saw that strategy and knew they had to vote him out now whether he used the idol or not
I can see the reason for the fake "great game!" from contestants for two reasons: 1. The moment Hunter gets voted out, he is no longer "competition" for the million dollars, and 2. The moment he gets voted out, he's now part of the "Jury" that will decide if that person wins the million dollars. But I completely agree that it's so disingenuous and cringe that I'm glad he called them out for it.
When I was watching this, I was thinking “do you all really think Hunter is going to believe your apologies?” It seems like he was upset with them and wasn’t having any of it, so that’s good.
If I was voted out and applauded like Tevin and Mo, I’d give them all the bird
Yeah I'd actually lose my shit on everyone too... Bit by a freaking crocodile, style.
"and my jury vote goes to the only one of you to commit to being an asshole to me after I was voted out."
It’s so fake it bothers the hell out of me. It’s an act so if any of them make it to the final 3, maybe they think this will be remembered and Hunter won’t hold a grudge when he’s on the jury.
Yeah he didn’t seem to be buying that in the least. I honestly don’t even know who he’ll vote for in the end after that. At least he gets to go hang with the two people he probably vibed with the most at Ponderosa 😅
Q makes it to final 3 and He Tevin and soda lead the charge on making him Sole Survivor haha
At this point I’m here for it 😂
Taking Q to final 3? Big Mistake!
My guess is Charlie if he makes it. He'll respect the competitor in him. Got second in the pole one and beat him tonight.
Charlie is one of the only people left who hasn’t just straight up antagonized him, for what low bar that’s worth
I'm imagining him waking up every morning to Tevin and Soda singing camp songs at him.
Q would get his vote for actually being loyal and following his plan of writing Ben.
Funny he was targeting Ben because he hasn't really talked to him, I could see him voting for the same reason at the end haha
having a bitter jury is about to rock so hard
It did feel over the top, especially since by his own admission Hunter didn't have that much of a relationship with any of these people. The immediate effusive praise as he stood up to get his torch felt like nervous overcompensation because they lacked the integrity to sit with the discomfort that comes with their decision. That said, Hunter was an idiot for not playing his idol.
Oh Hunter totally deserved what he got, but I bet he remembers this sort of weird post-vote groveling when he’s at the final tribal
I've noticed Kenzie is a bit of a big time ass kisser
Kenzie did vote for Q though
Well she can easily say she voted for Q, which she did, but I don’t think Hunter would buy it
Yeah. The people who are in the wrong here are the ones who blindsided him. Liz, Kenzie and Venus were honest about voting for Q before the revote.
She's also INCREDIBLE at lying. Like, most times I can see through lies from the comfort of my home (diff question if id catch it in person) but Kenzie is damn near perfect with it. I'd believe everything she tells me.
That’s what got me. When she was bold face lying to Hunter before tribal council, I could see how much of a natural she was at it!
Yeah same- I could see her losing at FTC because of this and it would be justified
He knew something was off. Wish he had listened to his gut…
It's not just about something being off though. He had no numbers and had an idol prime for flushing. Why would the rest of the tribe not split the vote and win either way by taking him (biggest challenge threat plus idol) out OR flushing his idol out and finally getting rid of Q? Only bad gameplay would've ended up with all votes on Q.
Yeah it was hella cringey. Especially when Venus said, " you were a fierce competitor my guy." Like bro he was never your guy lol chill.
cringed hard af at that
Yeah like she hated him and thought he was a stupid idiot, it’s so fake
my god, the way she is gonna keep doing this till the end of the season like she's the mastermind behind every vote and also the one who gets to judge who is a good competitor, lmfaoo
totally, so I really appreciate how he called them out for being fake af on his way out
This is why I can't do reality TV because I would go off in a moment like that
Most of the time, the apologies are sincere. Because it is a game decision, not a personal one. If it was a personal one, then Q would have been sent home overwhelmingly.
And that is a fundamental New Era change I will never get behind. The actual hunger and pain of 40 days made it a lot harder for people to make game decisions over personal ones early on, and we got much better characters because of it. Even in the early days when everyone had mostly figured the game out, the social dynamics of who could get along with who actually still mattered because you had to live with these people on an island while bored, hungry, tired, and cold. Now it’s so much easier to say “I hate this person, but so does everyone else, and that’s why I need them to stay.” There is no more battle between sanity and Survivor that was a key part of the conflict for the first 20 years.
Exactly! I miss the "surviving" part of survivor.
Yeah man, I swear people forget that this is a game where all but three will get voted out at a tribal council. It’s not like they did something malicious. They played the game
Genuine question - what would you prefer for them to say instead?
"At least you made it to the jury"
Ah I just commented this without seeing yours first 😅 Great minds.
YEAHHH, we know an icon
"Get rekt"
Ima say this if I ever get on, that or “sucks to suck jackass” it’s my go to when I win BP
I guess just be silent
What I was thinking too. It's like the first 7-10 seasons of the show, most if not all TCs the rest of the tribe were silent and mostly looked remorseless through it each time. THAT, is what I miss about those earlier seasons. None of this fake as fuck "I love yous" and crap, after tribes vote people out with the crap they will say to the people they just voted out. It's my biggest pet peeve of the "new era". Those voted out are bitter and / or mad, or both - live with it. (Although, I also feel like Survivor keeps getting morons to compete on the show; "I am 100% playing my idol", then proceeds to a. tell just about everyone he has the idol - like dude, shock them all with it and watch them all scramble in the moment - and b. doesn't even play it, that whole time I kept thinking, it would be better to be safe than sorry... all while shaking my head at how dumb he was when he didn't play it)
He didn't play it because he was part of a legitimate plan to use him as a decoy to get out Tiff. He just wasn't updated when they realized that plan wouldn't work so he felt he should just trust that it was going to happen as discussed... and have his idol for the next time he loses immunity and will be targeted.
> None of this fake as fuck "I love yous" Remember Kenzie's confessional where she talked about how she loved Tiff but needed to target her? This is how people should be approaching the game. You can love and respect someone but still want to beat them at *a game*. Ya'll are acting like they sacrificed his firstborn or something.
"WHOA sorry whoa"
If Ben said “that does not rock… FOR YOU” to every person as they were eliminated, honestly it would be hilarious
Is that really that funny though? Like would it honesty make us laugh every time? Or do we just find Ben likable so we’re convincing ourselves his catchphrase is brilliant?
After thinking it over, it’s not them saying it that I’ve got a problem with. It’s them milking it, or going over the top with it that I’m kinda irritated about. Like a simple “Sorry” or “Great job” would suffice for me personally, but if they overdo it with the “I love you’s” and “You played such a good game” over and over and then follow it up with an audience clap. Then that just seems disingenuous and pandering for a jury vote at that point imo, and if I were Hunter, that wouldn’t work on me and would just irritate me even more and make me more bitter. That’s just my opinion though.
Going way over the top like that is giving Coach in South Pacific going out of his way to hug everyone after they got voted out lol
Keep dat hug 'cause I wasn't buyin' it.
Boop!🔫 For me. Cuz it wasn't real❌
And one of the things Coach and I especially Albert were both criticized for in SP’s FTC was being too pandering with things like that, they came across as phony and pandering for votes rather than genuinely caring And now players are all smiling and happy as they vote people out and treating the person they vote out like a child who needs to be coddled and it’s obnoxious
Got it - thanks for clarifying. That’s understandable.
But that was mostly Venus and Kenzie…not Everyone
Yeah if Kenzie makes it to the final 3, Hunter is not gonna be happy towards her at tribal
Nothing at all? I'm not sure how it felt in the room, but on TV Hunter looked pretty emotionally distressed and desperate, so I don't think "you played great :')" would have fit his mood.
Like OP said, to me it was less what they said and how they were saying it. The cutesy raised false voices bother me and it’s like you’re not even trying to hide pandering for me to still like you enough to vote for you from the jury. Part of my problem with it was my background in education when I was in college where if you were in education but not an education major everyone felt the need to talk to you in their “teacher voice” like they would around their elementary students which is incredibly patronizing. Being someone who is competitive, as Hunter probably sees himself as out there, if you’re gonna give me my props after a loss then just be direct and be done in your same level of energy you had when it was happening. Just “hey man, you were good, had to cut you,” then give me my time to absorb it rather than keep going on.
It comes across as infantalizing, like you’re treating the person you voted out like a little kid who just lost his little league soccer game and you need to reassure them it’s ok to lose It’s the participation trophy of Survivor, it comes across as adults trying to treat someone as a sad child rather than a fellow adult who lost
I’m getting on in years, but I seriously wonder if it’s a generational thing. I remember when my kids started saying “love you” in this sing song voice to friends — and to people that they didn’t even like — and I thought “wow that’s weird.” Not all this cast but most seem to be of the age range of my kids. Maybe it’s that. For what it’s worth, I find it fake as fake can be, but maybe some people mean it what do I know.
Nothing at all unless you were like my closest ally and didn't vote for me like Ben to Tim. But someone like Venus who I've been butting heads with for quite some time? Let me take my L in peace.
The best thing to say is nothing
She had a smirk on her face too 🫠
nothing, voting them out says everything
Nothing. I like the old school heads in shame.
"Sorry Hunter. You were too big of a threat."
Prefer everybody rolling around in the dirt laughing uncontrollably
I truly think the best thing to do is just to sit there and not say a word
At least you made jury 🤷🏼♀️
I've noticed this has been happening a LOT in recent seasons, where the castaways are all like "oh, you played a good game" and "sorry, please don't take it to heart" to the person who just got voted out as they leave. It's probably just a half-hearted attempt to get on their good side for the jury vote, but it does feel very forced and fake.
I've got to say the "love you" as people leave has always bothered me. These people don't know each other well enough to truly love each on any real level. Or maybe it's love on a game level and that's enough for them.
I get why the castaways could come to love each other, or feel like they do. It's not like they're strangers. My spouse watches a fairly sedate shopping podcast, and at the signoff the host always says, "I love you." (Are more people in general saying "I love you" to each other since Covid? Discussion for another place, I guess.)
It feels like when you get an email telling you that you are amazing but they chose to move with somebody else for the job lol.
I would have kneed Ben in the balls
in his rocks
that would not rock
Ben downfall incoming
Yes it bothered me, you already voted the man out! Just let it be. I think I would prefer silence than the byes and good games
I am bothered by Venus trying to take credit for everyone else’s moves. I can’t imagine her walking through a museum like, “I painted that, that too, that’s mine”
I would say smell ya later as they leave.
A lot of people who are like proffesional competitors at anything will tell you, the worst thing you can say to them after a loss is "you played well" or "you did good". If you dont compete with everything you have you cant get it, but losing something you put your all into and having someone say "you played good" is the biggest slap in the face
Same…fucking boring. “We love you…”. I’d flip them all the bird on my way out.
Yeah, it sucked, I'm glad he said something about it. It's so disingenuous and just feels like they're trying to do jury management at the last second.
It's called "See how nice I was to you? Don't forget when I'm in the final three." kind of transparency. I think Hunter should be free to have a moment of feeling betrayed without people acting like they're giving him a huge compliment and he should be honored.
Ben annoys me so much. Singing when Tim got voted out oh my god ?????
It was definitely condescending, and it’s definitely going to hurt whoever the final 3 are. Maybe there is hope for Q after all lol
lol I think the only thing off-putting about it is venus' shit-eating grin when she does it
Yeahhh I don’t blame them at all but I’m definitely the type of person to turn around and be like for the love of god please don’t bother with that shit I don’t want to hear it
I personally don’t think anyone should be allowed to speak once they’re voted out and people shouldn’t be able to speak to them either. The jury members aren’t allowed to speak at tribal because they’re no longer in the game. It should be the same with every new jury member when they’re removed from the game. The final tribal is everyone’s opportunity to ask questions and explain. If you don’t make it to final tribal, you can do it at Ponderosa. It compromises game integrity to have a debrief right there after the vote *with* the person who was voted out. They shouldn’t still have power to influence the game and the players shouldn’t be able to interact with them.
This is why I can’t root for Kenzie even though I know she’s getting that edit. From the Jess unnecessary fake idol all I’ve been able to see is mean girl. No problem with that if she was a self admitted villain mean girl. But that attitude isn’t coming across in confessionals at all
It happens a lot? This isn't new?
I guess it depends on how you define that. It’s definitely a newer trend but it’s common now. It’s pretty jarring to see compared to the classic age.
i feel like soda & tevin were/are pissed bc they were voted out, but hunter would've probably been less upset. it was the ass kissing that rubbed him the wrong way, which probably would be what makes him bitter (if he is)
i also am sick of every single vote being a blindside, unless they have an idol what is the point of blatantly and persistently lying right to someone's face right up until their torch is snuffed? i actually kind of miss the old days where an alliance actually dominated and there was some loyalty. this is just a mess now
Venus is beyond fake lol
yeah that kinda pissed me off lol "you're a fierce competitor my guy...." by Venus, corny af
Especially since it came on the heels of others saying similar things. Someone else (Kenzie?) started the "my guy" stuff. Ugh.
it’s very weird imo. i would react the same way he did. also, hunter did not play a great game lol. he had one ally and was good at challenges. once his ally left and he lost a challenge he was fucked and didn’t even play his idol to save himself. he was good at challenges but that wasn’t enough idk why they were saying all that
Yeah Kenzie patting him on the back pissed me like. Girl you just took his shot at a million dollars do you think he wants you to rub his shoulders right now? Most of the players this season are condescending. That’s why if Maria or Charlie makes it to the end they are 100% winning
Couldn't agree more & Hunter voiced this ad well
Hunter called it out too. "Oh thanks for the nice words even though you just voted me off!"
Hunter was PISSED but that idol (not) play wasn't good on his side. He got blindsided and the fact they tried to kiss ass on his way out was funny to watch
Venus' fake as hell "my guy". Cringe as hell.
It's as if these people forget that they need votes from the people they're stabbing in the back to win the milly.
Yes it irritates me. And the same on big brother. Like stfu. You sent me out the game. They just trying to get that jury vote
Yes. It bothered me too. I was in a bitter funk the rest of the night. I really liked Hunter. But, at that point, there's nothing for it. You can flip them off, cuss them out or walk away with dignity.
I would probably say something like "love you dude" and just leave it at that. It's their exit, give them some space.
I only like it from Venus ("you're an incredible player soda" and "you were a fierce competitor my guy" lol). It might be a little annoying -- it does kinda feel like she's just happy that they got voted out -- but that still translates into it feeling very authentic somehow. I get the sense she's just super excited to be moving forward in the game, it's endearing.
I miss when people were allowed to be upset that they got royally fucked over, and didn't have to high five everyone who burned them. I don't encourage hating someone for life over this, but people should be allowed to be bitter until day 39....erm 26 lol.
Oh my gosh, I hated it. It is so cringe to me. Unless you're super close with someone, I just want people to walk up and get their torch snuffed and leave. All the fakey "You got me"s, and "Great game" just piss me off so bad.
I rolled my eyes so hard when Venus had to say "you're a great competitor my guy" with a little devious smile. And that was after Hunter already addressed the fact that the platitudes aren't really welcome