Each week, Christine Pallon and Gia Worthy will round up the previous week of Survivor 43 as they list their top moments in various important categories. This includes the most essential information, the stand-out castaways, and the key moments from the week.
Here, Christine and Gia break down all the action from the fifth episode.
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Top 3 Moments
Geo wins… then loses
Gia: At this point, can we really call the Knowledge is Power advantage an advantage? This week’s Advantage Journey saw Jesse, Jeanine, and Geo all choose Risk. As a result, Jesse and Jeanine lost their votes going into merge, and Geo gained the Knowledge is Power. His fatal mistake? Telling Karla, Coco’s secret idol holder. The votes settled on Geo, and he was blindsided in a 3-2 vote.
Jeanine gets an idol
Christine: Our third beware advantage was finally found by Jeanine and Elie, who were promptly discovered by Owen. Elie then told Sami, unaware that Sami has been actively conspiring against her. Bizarrely, Sami did nothing to stop Jeanine from getting the idol and didn’t even warn Gabler about it until after he had given up his precious bead. With the bead shenanigans being public knowledge on Baka, this adds an interesting dynamic heading into the merge since the Vesi and Coco idols were much more secretive.
Karla and James have options
Gia: Last week, the show started to hint at the idea that Karla and James were in the driver’s seats on Coco. This week no such hints were needed, as it was obvious that the final decision was up to them. They went from targeting Ryan, who threw the challenge, to Geo, who had the Knowledge is Power advantage. They even briefly debated voting out Cassidy, who was worried for her fate once the target was switched. Now with the merge in sight, we’ll have to see if they can remain in power.
Tribe Breakdown
Baka
Christine: Baka was once again predictably messy this week, with Jeanine’s bead hunt being public knowledge as soon as it happened. Other than that, our tribe dynamics on Baka stay close to the same: Elie and Jeanine on one side, Sami and Gabler on the other, with Owen in between. From what we’ve seen, Elie and Jeanine don’t seem to realize that Sami is against them yet, as evidenced by Elie running the idol information straight to him. Baka seems set for a huge implosion come the merge, no matter what, and I can’t wait to see it.
Coco
Gia: Oh Coco, what happened to you? Geo and Ryan thought they had the game figured out, but it was Karla and James that held all the power. They debated getting rid of all three of their tribe members at one point or another, finally settling on Geo. To make it worse, the only reason that they even went to tribal council is because Ryan threw the challenge without telling anyone. I’m rooting for them hard going into Mergatory, but they have an uphill battle ahead.
Vesi
Gia: Bad news, this is probably the least we have seen from Vesi all season. Good news, I think they are in the best shape going into the merge. Jesse was open and honest with his tribe about losing his vote, and Vesi appears to be a solid unit in their current form. With the other two tribes ready to turn on each other at a moment’s notice, staying together moving forward is probably their best option.
Top 3 Players
Ryan
Christine: Geo had a very messy episode last week, and Ryan one-upped him this week. He allegedly threw the challenge just to get Cassidy out, only to lose his ally, Geo, as a result. He’s had his physical strength to lean on in the pre-merge phase, but it’s not looking good for him as he heads into the individual phase of the game shortly after being blindsided and losing his ally. Like Geo last week, we’ll have to see if Ryan can recover from this or if his game is truly on its last legs.
Sami
Gia: Sami’s in one of the better positions going into the next phase of the game. Ironically, Jeanine and Elie trust him more than Owen, but it’s Owen that wants to side with them over Gabler. Meanwhile, Sami is playing it cool with the women while feeding Gabler the information he’s missing out on. If (and probably when) Baka decides to turn on each other, I don’t foresee Sami being the one whose game suffers as a result.
Cassidy
Christine: Cassidy had a quiet start to the game, which isn’t surprising since she told us in episode one that she wanted to play an under-the-radar game. After catching a vote from Geo last round, she was in genuine danger this episode, with Ryan claiming he threw the challenge just to get her voted out. While Karla and James briefly debated voting Cassidy out for being (rightly) paranoid, she survived and got her way, with Geo being voted out and Ryan losing a close ally. Her relationship with Karla and James might be tenuous for now, but if Cassidy can use this vote to establish trust moving forward, she could be in a very good position going into the merge.
Fallen Comrades
Christine: Last week, I wondered if Geo would be able to recover from a messy episode, and he ultimately wasn’t able to do so. At the start of the season, he started out as a likable underdog with a great backstory, but his game started to fall apart when he thought he was in a much better position in his tribe than he actually was.
He and Ryan got way too comfortable after last week’s vote, and it didn’t help that Geo took the information about his Knowledge is Power advantage straight to Karla, the one person in his tribe who would be most threatened by it. Geo caught a lucky break last week with Lindsay’s paranoia, but that luck ran out pretty quickly.
Gia: Geo had such a strong start to the game, even when he was unknowingly on the outs with the Coco majority. He had one of the most impactful personal stories we’ve ever seen on the show, and he was unapologetically bold in his gameplay. It’s sad that we lost him so close to the merge, but you can’t doubt that he made his mark during his time in the game.
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