Each week, Christine Pallon and Gia Worthy will round up the previous week of Survivor 41 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 third episode.
Top 3 Moments
Brad Finds Ua’s Idol clue
Christine: Good news for Xander: someone else finally found Ua’s idol clue! Bad news for Xander: no one on Luvu has found their’s yet. Even worse news for Xander: the person who found Ua’s idol clue got voted out with it in the very same episode.
Brad had quite the rise and fall this episode with his high-risk gameplay leading up to his early demise. His line delivery during the immunity challenge needed a lot of work, but unfortunately, Brad won’t get another chance to nail it. Ua’s idol clue will presumably be rehidden and up for grabs again, so it will be interesting to see if anyone left on Ua is willing to take a risk and grab it or if Xander will just be stuck talking about butterflies by himself for the rest of the pre-merge.
Steal-a-Vote or Tarp
Gia: This was by far my favorite segment of the entire episode. An opportunity for an advantage was planted at each of the camps, which Sydney, Tiffany, and Brad found. The parchment had instructions to get on a boat that would arrive at night. The boat carried each player to a separate island where they each had to make a decision between a steal-a-vote of a tarp.
Brad ended up being the only one to pick the advantage, and of course, he got voted out with it in his pocket. The real gold was with the clash between Tiffany and Sydney, as Tiffany stood her ground when Sydney tried to push her own agenda onto her. Seeing Tiffany go from paranoid player to confident bargainer was masterful, so even if the dilemma didn’t amount to anything, it provided all the entertainment I could’ve asked for.
Shan the Swing Vote
Christine: Another Tribal for Ua, another vote where Shan has a whole lot of power. Right before Ua’s Tribal, the segment centered on Shan’s personal moral dilemma regarding whether to vote JD or Brad, once again placing her firmly in a swing position on Ua. Between that personal dilemma and all the dramatic talk about broken trust crystals at Tribal (sidebar – this cast really loves speaking almost exclusively in metaphors, don’t they?), this vote was framed as a pretty major game decision for Shan. It’ll be interesting to see what happens on Ua in the aftermath of Shan holding JD’s life (and Extra Vote) in her hands.
Tribe Breakdown
Luvu
Gia: Once again, everything is more of the same with Luvu. The tribe has remained stagnant so far due to their domination in the immunity challenges, so any drama that surfaces doesn’t amount to much. What’s more, they are the only tribe that hasn’t found their idol yet, making their options for screen time-limited. That’s unfortunate because based on what we have seen from them (Deshawn and Naseer’s backstories, Danny in the premiere, and Heather’s secret scene), they seem like a fairly entertaining group of people.
Luvu’s leading storyline this episode was how Sydney told Danny about Naseer wanting to vote him out, which, again, amounted to nothing since they won immunity. Based on the preview, it looks like we may finally be seeing some valuable developments for the blue tribe next episode, for better or for worse.
Ua
Christine: After their messy first Tribal in the premiere, we finally got to see Ua back at the center of all the action this week. For better or worse (I’d argue for worse), almost this entire episode revolved around twists and advantages. Brad found two of them, JD spilled the beans about his extra vote (and gave it to Shan!), and the vote came down between the two of them at Ua’s Tribal.
We also finally got some follow-up to Genie’s vote against Ricard in the premiere and altogether got a clearer idea of Ua’s tribe dynamics. Things aren’t looking great for Genie moving forward after voting in the minority again and losing her ally Brad, but it’s possible she could squeak by depending on what happens with JD’s extra vote.
Yase
Gia: We only heard from Tiffany and Liana in Episode 3, but thankfully that’s all we need for right now. Liana spoke about her buyer’s remorse in keeping Xander over Voce, as well as her struggle with wanting to be a Survivor great. I think it is likely that this will amount to some big moments further down the line, but for now, it’s enough to last us until next week.
Yase’s star this week was undeniably Tiffany, who finally got a chance to shine after being targeted in back-to-back Tribals. She held her own in the dilemma, and she helped Yase win their first immunity challenge. As a whole, Yase has become the underdogs of the season, but they’re also the most well-rounded tribe so far. This fantastic four all survived this round, and hopefully they can keep the momentum going.
Stand-out Castaways
Shan
Gia: Not even the chaos of Tribal Council could knock Shan off of her pedestal. The mafia pastor continues to be in a solid position, having close bonds with everyone on her tribe despite the deceitful nature of the game. The trouble came when Ua lost immunity a second time, and Shan had to choose between Brad and JD, two allies that wholly trusted her. This dilemma took quite a toll on Shan, even reminding her of her childhood struggle of choosing to live with her mom over her dad.
Shan may be running things over at Ua, but she is also having difficulty in cutting others’ dreams short in the process. Time will tell if she made the right choice in keeping JD over Brad, but it was still great to see Shan back in the spotlight once more.
Tiffany
Christine: Our queen of understanding Survivor twists is back, and this week she’s the one participating in one of the twists! This was another big week for Tiffany. After an abysmal challenge performance last episode, things really turned around for her when she helped Yase finally pull out a win by scoring the first point in the second part of the immunity challenge. And while Tiffany came back from the cross-tribal midnight summit twist empty-handed, her tense negotiation with Sydney was one of the funniest moments of the episode. Angelina would be proud of those negotiation skills!
Tiffany is still in a potentially precarious position on Yase if they lose again, especially if Xander is able to finally activate his butterflies idol soon. Still, she continues to be one of my personal favorite characters of the season thus far.
Brad
Gia: In the premiere episode, Sara had mentioned that Brad was playing a 2000 Survivor game, and honestly, there is a lot of truth in that statement. Brad was a really fun pre-merge character, and he was an absolute delight in this episode in particular. He was clearly enjoying the adventure of a lifetime, and along the way, he managed to find Ua’s idol and gained a steal-a-vote advantage.
Ultimately, he went too fast too early, making himself an easy target to his adversaries. Even worse, he trusted the wrong person, as Shan also had loyalties to JD, the other option to go this round. JD’s mistakes could have been his saving grace here, but it wasn’t enough to overshadow his threat level. Like I said with Abraham two weeks ago, perhaps Brad would’ve found success in old school Surivivor. It is sad to see Brad go, but he left a great impression during his stay.
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