Each week, Christine Pallon and Gia Worthy will round up the previous week of Survivor 50 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.
Top 3 Moments
Tribe Swap
Christine: Shocking absolutely no one, the fans voted for a swap! Shocking absolutely everyone, Jeff rapped about it completely unprompted. The fans didn’t ask for THIS! Enough has been said about this already, but it had to be addressed here. Anyway, our new tribe divisions are as follows: New Cila has four OG Kalo, two OG Cila, and one OG Vatu; New Kalo has 3 OG Kalo, 3 OG Vatu, and one OG Cila; and New Vatu has 3 OG Cila, 3 OG Vatu, and one OG Kalo. The timing on this swap was perfect. While it’s not ideal that Cila was the only tribe to go to tribal pre-swap, we still had plenty of time to get a feel for the original dynamics on the other two tribes. Based on what we’ve seen so far on the new tribes that didn’t go to tribal this episode, this swap promises to bring up the temperature on this season’s gameplay as our players jockey for power positions in these new dynamics.
Emily betrays… everyone?
Gia: Oh Emily… THIS is why you’re an all-star! In anticipation of the tribe swap, Rick and Christian thought it’d be a good idea to let Cirie know about the boomerang idol Christian found and gave to Aubry. Of course, this sounds great in theory for us Cirie fans. The problem? They had yet to fill in the third member of their trio, Emily, so Cirie knowing before her understandably set off some red flags. What was not so understandable? Emily immediately telling everyone on her new tribe (that Christian is also on) about the idol, only to go back to him and tell him what she did. Remarkably, her antics still did not make her a contender to be voted off this episode, with that privilege going to Q and Angelina. That’s the power of Financial Analyst Emily Flippen.
The Girls are Fighting
Gia: An Aubry vs. Genevieve feud was not on my bingo card for Survivor 50, but it’s become one of the main plot points of this season’s pre-merge. They got off on the wrong foot on their original tribe, so, of course, the Survivor Gods made it so they were swapped onto the same tribe again. The grudge match has trickled onto their new Kalo tribe after Aubry caught word of Genevieve throwing her name out to their new teammates, which leads me to believe that this will all come to a head soon. My prediction? Kalo will lose immunity soon, and either Genevieve or Aubry will be voted out as a result.
Tribe Breakdown
Cila
Gia: Cila may not have gone to tribal council this episode, but that doesn’t mean that this group isn’t strategizing in the event they have to make some hard decisions. Dee has brought in Jonathan to target Cirie (because her friend told her to). Charlie is planning to target Rizo (because he didn’t vote for his number one to win the game). They have the potential to produce some very messy tribal councils, even if I don’t think they will go to tribal council any time soon.
Kalo
Gia: I don’t know how it’s possible, but Kalo has somehow managed to become the honor and integrity tribe, as well as the potential disaster tribe in the making. Joe, Coach, and Colby have cooked up a plan to make the most insufferable alliance imaginable. Coach of all people told Chrissy not to talk as much. And the Aubry vs. Genevieve civil war is already tearing the fandom apart. I want- nay, need- them to go to tribal council soon. The potential mess that will come of it knows no bounds.
Vatu
Christine: Our new Vatu tribe (Christian, Mike, Angelina, Ozzy, Q, Stephenie, and Emily) went to tribal this week, so we got the most insight into their dynamics. We have the Christian/Angelina/Mike David vs. Goliath trio, the Christian and Emily duo, Ozzy (who Emily was hard targeting on their original tribe, but now wants to work with), and original Vatu allies Q and Stephenie. With Q’s lack of a vote and the pre-existing David vs. Goliath connections to contend with, he was always going to be in trouble getting himself into a good spot on this tribe even before he straight-up asked people to vote for him.
Despite being the sole Kalo on his new tribe, Mike’s connections with Angelina and Christian kept him more than safe this week and allowed him to get into the driver’s seat and push the vote onto Q, with the new unlikely duo of Emily and Ozzy joining in and blindsiding Stephenie. Steph seems to be in big trouble if this group goes to tribal again, so long as the David vs. Goliath trio holds strong.
Top 3 Contestants
Mike
Christine: With some built-in numbers on his side in Angelina and Christian, Mike played pretty boldly by straight-up telling Stephenie to her face that he was going to vote for her. Mike then turned the vote onto Q, with Steph as a smokescreen. Mike had the advantage of swapping with Christian and Angelina, but you can’t deny he navigated the situation with Q well and successfully leveraged it into bringing Ozzy and Emily in as allies (at least for this vote). Stephenie is bound to be none too pleased with Mike next week for targeting her, using her as the decoy, and then blindsiding her by voting out her ally Q and leaving her in the minority. But at least for now, Mike has the numbers on his side to play as boldly as he did this week.
Genevieve
Christine: Genevieve had a less-than-ideal swap, ending up with her sworn enemy, Aubry, and her one ally, Colby, who can’t even vote at the next tribal. She hits the beach hard in this episode, working overtime to win over her new tribemates and turn them against Aubry. This is some aggressive gameplay, which is sort of Genevieve’s thing. In this case, it’s justified aggressive gameplay: when you swap with someone you know has been targeting you, you have to control the narrative with your swap tribemates before the other person can. Unfortunately for Genevieve, Tiffany (understandably) uses this as an opportunity to curry favor with Aubry and pull her in as an ally. Genevieve is a very strong, effective player who had a rough start to this season after losing her day-one ally, Kyle. She put in the work this week to secure her survival on this swap tribe, and it seems to have mostly paid off, but Tiffany, Aubry, and her Billie Eilish boomerang idol could be her undoing.
Charlie
Gia: Q may be gone, but Charlie is doing his part to ensure that the shenanigans of 46 live on in the current season. He has had a quieter edit thus far in 50, but he made a big impression in the tribe swap. His runner-up finish in 46 has been one of the more contentious debates of the new era, and now it has affected his approach in his new game. Specifically, he plans to target Rizo, who made the mistake of not voting for his supposed number one (Sophi) to win the game over Savannah. It’s borderline nonsensical, and I’m not completely sure if we’ll see this score settled in the current tribe format. I am completely and wholly entertained by this turn of events. Basically, 46 is back in full form, and I hope Charlie continues to have his moment in the spotlight.
Fallen Comrades
Q
Christine: CANCEL CHRISTMAS!!! Q had a very solid start before the swap, lost vote aside. He got dealt a pretty bad hand with how the swap shook out, since the person near the bottom of his original tribe (Angelina) was able to connect with her original season compatriots and find critical allies on this new tribe. Q didn’t do himself any favors this episode, of course, when he chose chaos and asked Mike to vote for him over Stephenie, and made up a lie about having an extra vote.
It’s hard to say whether Q could have done much to prevent being the boot here, given the swap he was dealt. You can’t fully blame him for taking a big swing, but it seems like the best thing he could’ve done was just to let Stephenie go over him without making too much noise about it. In true Q fashion, though, he did just a little too much and got himself targeted. It’s a damn shame to lose one of the best characters of the new era, and one of the biggest players on Survivor 50, so early in the season. He certainly delivered in the short time he was with us, though!
Gia: Voting out Q in the pre-merge? BIG MISTAKE! Q is undeniably one of the biggest characters of the new era, so to lose him so early in the season is nothing short of devastating. Even so, his presence shone through once again in just three episodes, and fans are already speculating on when we could possibly see him return to TV. In a cast of 24 Survivor veterans, Q stood out for his bold gameplay and boisterous antics, traits often missing in the new era of the game. I wish he had him for longer, but I have no doubt that he will grace our screens once again in no time. Traitors Season 5 perhaps?
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