So this is the least hyped season of all time, right? Between Survivor 50 coming next year, the two 49 representatives on that season being widely known since late May, and said representatives giving us a pretty clear picture about how this season might go… Yeah, this one feels like a filler season already, a way to kill time and advertise the next all-star season at a low cost. That doesn’t mean it can’t be good, though! Let’s keep that in mind. But there’s only so much hype a season in this tricky position can generate without any huge shakeups to the format or the location, even if it ends up being a great watch in the end that deserved two reps on 50.
But setting aside the awkward lack of hype, a new Survivor game is underway with 18 new players. On the blue Kele Tribe: Alex, Annie, Jake, Jeremiah, Nicole, and Sophi. On the red Uli Tribe: Jawan, Nate, Rizo (aka Rizgod, simultaneously the best and worst nickname of all time), Sage, Savannah, and Shannon. And on the yellow Hina Tribe: Jason, Kristina, Matt, MC, Sophie, and Steven. Eighteen people, all with their own stories to tell this season, but only one can win the million bucks. And as Jeff says, the game demands some backstabbing as much as it demands alliances, so nobody should let the moment to seize glory pass them by.
In the opening challenge for supplies, Hina dominates from start to finish while Uli and Kele struggle, ultimately sending Rizo and Alex to battle for a second batch of supplies in a one-on-one duel. Each player must find ten coconuts with their tribe logo, use the pieces inside to build a map puzzle (Rizo’s cooked, oops), and follow the completed map to a ship’s wheel that raises a flag. Rizo gasses out immediately and even forgets to open one of his coconuts. At the same time, Alex, the puzzle lover, steamrolls ahead, so far in fact that Rizo cheats off Alex’s completed map while Alex struggles to find his wheel.
With Rizo back in the race, he evolves into the Rizgod and wins the challenge. Did he technically cheat to win this one? Yes. Was Alex dumb to give Rizo a free pass to copy his work? Also yes. But a win’s a win, and he won in iconic fashion for his girlfriend, his family, and everyone in Albania!
Hina arrives at the beach in good spirits and gets to know each other, including Steven, who uses hearing aids, city girl Kristina, who hates the outdoors and fears birds in what’s basically a Panama Cirie homage, and last-second alternate Jason, who’s proven himself already in that marooning challenge. He needed to flip that switch and lock in, and that he did. The tribe’s pretty damn nerdy, though, and old guy Matt has no idea what these young gamers are talking about. But he does know fire-making as a lifelong scout, and his outdoor experience will be priceless on such a city-slicker tribe once he steps up and gets stuff done instead of biting his tongue.
On Kele, vibes are fun… except for Nicole, who’s definitely out of her comfort zone socially and physically. But she’s got a solid ally with Sophi, who’s putting in the social work with everyone she can, so Nicole’s not totally on the outs here despite literally bumbling around camp. And Jake is Sophi’s perfectly cooked meat shield, bringing in Alex as another ally for an early trio based on vibes alone.
And on Uli, Savannah casts her group as the vibe tribe but doesn’t really care for the vibes herself. They lost the challenge. That sucked. So she’s already gaming, building one-on-one relationships with her reporter skills. Also here is Nate Moore, notable producer for Marvel’s blockbusters, who wants to keep that fun fact low-key so his success can’t be used against him. In terms of alliances, no filter Sage goes from pissing off the side of the boat three times to building a solid bond with super spiritual Shannon, who aims to build deep bonds and then cut them when necessary.
Once Rizo and Alex return to camp, Rizo gets nothing but praise while Alex has to deal with the blowback from losing to someone calling himself the Rizgod. He owns up to the loss, and Kele doesn’t take it too hard, and Jake is still more than willing to work with him. There’s no better way to bond this alliance than with a heartfelt story: Jake’s wife is set to give birth to their son as the season films, so he’s gotta make it worth his while with a big paycheck. The bromance is real, just two dudes chilling (even though Jeremiah’s willing to crack jokes about the homoerotic vibes). Sophi’s not feeling the bromance, though. This was supposed to be her alliance with Jake, not Alex’s alliance. But while Sophi runs to Jeremiah to vent about it, he’s actually loving the bromance because they offer a great shield to align with. So now there’s a solid four leaving Annie and Nicole on the bottom.
Meanwhile, Nicole continues bumbling around as one of her shoes has gone missing… because Jake has decided to steal people’s footwear like he’s Rupert and hide them around camp for personal entertainment. No strategy, just pure fun. Fun for him alone, though, not for everyone else. But among all the chaos, running off alone is the fastest way to burn budding relationships, and Annie commits that cardinal sin as she doesn’t have much experience with social games. The tribe bonds over their distrust of the renaissance woman, but Alex loves working with older women in Washington, so he’s open to having a secret alliance with her if nobody else will. Now he’s got his finger in all the Kele pies, and all that matters is who’s most loyal when the time comes.
Back on Uli, Shannon leads yoga exercises that drive Savannah up a wall. Firstly, because it’s kind of annoying how fake it all is, and secondly, because she sees through the act and knows Shannon’s a capable player with influence in the game. A worthy ally (and eventual rival) indeed! Shannon grabs Jawan and Savannah for an alliance of deadly players, so now they only need one more for a majority. There’s Rizgod, who won supplies in iconic fashion, social worker Sage, who fits the wacky free spirit vibe Shannon’s all about, and Nate, who worries he’s on the outs as the old dad of the group.
But Nate’s quick to reach out, wanting to build an Avengers-style alliance of himself, Savannah, Shannon, and Rizo, who all bring different skills to the table. So now Shannon and Savannah have a choice between sticking with Jawan, who’s imploding over his latest fire-making failures, and working with the outcasts who are clearly steadier in the face of pressure.
Over on Hina, the vibes continue to be good on Day 2, but it’s time to get to work and build alliances. Steven and Matt bond first, bringing in Jason and MC as key allies on Steven’s side. Insecurity is a bitch, though, and Steven can’t shake the feeling that people are playing nice and lying to his face as part of the game, eventually planning to blindside him first chance they get. It’s a bit of that imposter syndrome from a childhood of being ostracized and bullied in school, and now it’s manifesting in distrust of all his would-be allies in Fiji.
With alliances set, it’s time to see which ones get tested first with a muddy immunity challenge sending one tribe to Tribal to crush someone’s dreams. Hina crushes another challenge to keep their momentum going while Uli passes a struggling Kele to take second place, putting challenge flops Nicole and Annie in the firing line. Back at camp, the name of the game is cutting one of the weak links. The majority quickly picks Nicole to be the sacrifice due to her lack of athletic abilities, all while telling Nicole that Annie’s the boot. But Nicole says she can pick up on red flags and suspicious activities, so now’s the time to step up and save herself, even if it takes a Shot in the Dark success. Then she vomits in the middle of camp, making it even harder to get the votes off her back. Yeah, better get that Shot in the Dark ready, I fear.
But Annie’s actually willing to play ball from a place of moderate safety and play a round ahead. Once Nicole goes home, she and Sophi can get Jeremiah on board to target Alex and Jake. A good plan… for Annie. Not for Sophi, though, who runs back to her majority and leaks the entire plan. So now eyes have been opened to Annie as a potential player, and Alex is having buyer’s remorse about that alliance of theirs if she’s already selling him out. It could’ve been an easy stress-free Nicole boot, but Annie’s last-second foot-in-mouth situation has put the vote back up in the air. Kele’s a sinking ship, so which leak is getting plugged tonight?
But ultimately, the Annie messiness is a red herring (at least until this tribe loses another challenge). Nicole saves her Shot in the Dark and faces elimination in a 5-1 vote. Yeah, not the most fun time for her. She came in physically unprepared for the game, got stuck on a tribe that couldn’t win anything, cost the tribe immunity with a fatal mistake, vomited on national TV, and hyped up her ability to read the room only to miss the unanimous vote coming her way. I don’t doubt she could’ve gone far on another tribe in another season since she seemed pretty likable and funny in her short stay, but this just wasn’t the setup for her at all.
Next time promises more shoe stealing, a shakeup to the game on Day 5 (probably going to be underwhelming to be honest, since this is the format-change-allergic New Era after all), and Annie trying to emerge as the mastermind as the rest of Kele has to put up with it. Hopefully it’s a step up from this mediocre premiere though. The personalities were fun compared to last season’s batch, but it feels like AI generated a New Era season at this point, and everything was just going through the same New Era motions. Some fun moments for sure, shoutout to Rizo for one of the funniest challenge wins of all time, but not as memorable as other premieres. Not much sizzle, not much steak. Just… fine, decent Survivor. But after how flavorless last season proved to be, decent is tasting pretty good.
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