Each week, Christine Pallon and Gia Worthy will round up the previous week of Survivor 44 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 latest episode.
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Top 3 Moments
Va Va enjoys some downtime
Christine: After three eliminations in three consecutive days, our merge tribe got a well-deserved day off from challenges and tribal council. Heidi found an idol, Yam Yam organized a guessing game, and Carolyn shared her journey from active addiction to recovery with her tribemates. With the game being so fast-paced and focused on challenges and advantages in the new era, this was a refreshing start to the episode.
Return of the rice negotiation
Gia: Angelina Keeley’s impact continues to be recognized in the new era of Survivor, as the rice negotiation is back again. Unfortunately, nothing will ever be as good as the original, but we got some interesting perspectives from players this time. Rather than just showing us the negotiation occurring at the challenge, the edit also showed us players negotiating with each other about who could sit out. It was a fresh take on this tradition, but I still believe that the best negotiations happen naturally, not as a mandatory element of the game.
Jaime’s fake idol exits the game
Christine: Ever since she found it, I’ve been waiting with bated breath to discover the fake of Jaime’s fake idol. With the editors clowning on her pretty hard at the top of the episode with her confessional about how happy she was to still have her idol, I thought we were for sure going to see her play it. Alas, this episode threw us a curveball. Despite the Knowledge is Power advantage not being in the game, the Ratus shuffled their trinkets around, with Lauren’s Extra Vote going to Jaime and Jaime’s fake idol going to Kane. With Kane ultimately getting the boot, Jaime’s fake idol exited the game, with both Kane and Jaime thinking it’s still real.
Top 3 Contestants
Yam Yam
Christine: Yam Yam said he would take out Kane this episode for writing his name down previously and that he did. Yam Yam has made an impressive comeback after being in the hot seat for a couple of rounds, getting his way with a vote that didn’t make a ton of sense for everyone else in the game (that “Kane is a huge threat” narrative really came out of left field this week, didn’t it?). Frannie is the only one wising up to what Yam Yam and the rest of the Three Stooges are up to, but no one else seems to be taking the bait.
Frannie
Christine: Speaking of Frannie, she pulled out another impressive immunity win this week! I don’t necessarily see her surviving in this game much longer because those wins and having an idol played on her successfully will only make her more and more of a threat to win as we inch toward the endgame. For now, she’s still standing strong after losing her ride-or-die Matt, and she’s seemingly the only person with enough awareness to be concerned about what the Three Stooges are up to.
Heidi
Gia: The entire tribe may have joined in on the idol hunt, but Heidi was the one that came out victorious in the end. While she started the game with a quieter edit than most, she is finally coming into her own and separating herself from her competitors. She made the wise decision to not tell anyone about her idol, and she got her way in Kane being voted out. A good week all around for Heidi; let’s see if she can continue her momentum.
Advantage Watch
Idols
Christine: With Danny’s idol being played the last episode, he went searching for the re-hidden idol the next day, gathering firewood as his cover. Unfortunately for him, Heidi snatched up the re-hidden idol and intends to keep it a secret from everyone. Heidi and Carolyn are now the only idol holders in the game, and no one knows they have them (as far as we know).
Extra Vote
Gia: In fear of the Knowledge is Power advantage (which doesn’t exist in this season) thwarting their plan to split the vote, Lauren gave Jaime her extra vote with explicit instructions to use both votes on Heidi. Jaime did as she was told, but Tika didn’t. The extra vote was wasted, and Kane went home with Jaime’s fake idol in his pocket.
Fallen Comrades
Kane
Christine: While he didn’t make much of an impression on me in the pre-season, Kane ended up being more of a fun character than I ever expected. The narrative surrounding his elimination doesn’t reflect the reality of what we’ve been shown thus far; all the talk of him being a threat or a power player was a bit bizarre, given that he never successfully voted someone out and lost a close ally at the last tribal council. Such is the way of Survivor, where perception equals reality. Unfortunately for Kane, he couldn’t shake the perception of him as a major threat but still went out of the game in good spirits with his playful goodbye message to his tribemates.
Gia: Kane was an unexpected favorite of mine this season. All seemed lost for him after the premiere, and while we never got much in the way of strategic content from him, what we did get was super entertaining. A nerd navigating the game like he’s on a Dungeons & Dragons quest, Kane was truly living in the moment every chance he got. I’ll miss his presence for the rest of the season, and like Kane, I hope those bitches enjoy their rice.
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I love survivor. Been watching it since it came on. I wish you had one for disabled people. Go for the win people.