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 eighth episode.
Top 3 Moments
Papaya Etiquette
Christine: Forget Banana Etiquette, drop the 4 keep the 1, etc. This new era of Survivor is all about Papaya Etiquette. After half the tribe got to enjoy a grilled cheese food reward, Shan and Ricard got into yet another argument. As someone who got the reward, should Ricard take part in the papaya Naseer foraged for the losers? While I’m definitely with Shan on the papaya issue, this public argument with Ricard (someone she already has a rocky relationship with) could really come back to bite her in the coming weeks as the majority inevitably looks to cannibalize itself.
The Campout fractures and Yase falls apart
Gia: Anyone that hoped the last Tribal Council would begin the rise of the Yase trio found themselves severely disappointed here. Sydney’s torch wasn’t even cold before Evvie, Tiffany, and Xander were all throwing each other under the bus. As Evvie said, the Yase tribe we have come to know and love is done. But they weren’t the only group going through tough times.
When deciding how to proceed with Tribal, Shan and Deshawn butted heads over who to vote out. It wasn’t a game-ending disagreement, but it doesn’t bode well for the Campout when half of their alliance can’t get along.
“I thought we could talk?”
Christine: Who had “Heather initiates a live tribal” on their bingo card? I sure as hell didn’t! Right before what was already slated to be a complicated vote with a split, potential idol plays, and a switched decoy target, Heather decided to make things even messier by getting the whisper train going. Knowing her name had been thrown out as a decoy, Heather tried to get the minority votes on Naseer so she would be safe in case of an idol play. This, in turn, caused even more confusion among her alliance members about what exactly Heather was up to.
The absolute whiplash of Heather going from being one of the most under-edited contestants of all time to suddenly being the sole cause of a chaotic live Tribal has to be one of the most hilarious moments of the season so far for me.
Stand-out Castaways
Evvie
Christine: Evvie seemed like a goner going into this episode after their close call last round, but a clutch immunity win bought them at least a little more time on the island. It’ll be interesting to see if Evvie is able to turn this temporary safety into some real longevity in the game moving forward. While she was on the wrong side of the vote yet again and lost an ally in Tiffany, it seems like the majority is going to implode any minute now, and Evvie might just be savvy enough to slip through those inevitable cracks.
Heather
Gia: Heather has arrived, and what a debut she has made! The niche group of Heather believers like myself have been dying for content from the purplest contestant of the season. Now that we’ve seen some more of her, I have to ask, why did it take so long? She came in second in the immunity challenge after refusing to sit out for rice, only to later spearhead the mess at Tribal to ensure the minority voted for Naseer. Did it always make sense? No, but I absolutely loved it. We just got a small taste of her personality, but it was enough for me to hope that she makes it far.
Tiffany
Christine: I wasn’t ready to lose Tiffany, and I still haven’t fully processed what happened here. Of course, after the last episode, it seemed unlikely that the Yase Three would be able to evade the vote yet again in the face of the majority alliance. With Evvie immune and Xander in possession of an idol, that left Tiffany as the most viable target. It’s no secret that Tiffany has been one of my favorite characters on the season, and I’m grateful we’ll at least get her legendary facial expressions on the jury. But she made for a fun underdog in this merge and will be dearly missed.
Advantage Watch
Idols
Gia: Despite everyone’s best efforts (looking at you, Ricard), Xander chose not to play his idol again, a move that worked in his favor when Tiffany was voted out instead. Naseer and Shan also kept their idols this round, even with Naseer being the backup plan for the former Yase.
Extra Votes
Gia: Nothing has changed with the extra votes. Shan and Xander each have one, and not much attention was paid to the fact that Deshawn wasted his on Evvie.
The Bench Advantage
Gia: Ah, the advantage that never was. We were back to Jeff breaking the fourth wall as he explained that one castaway would sit out of the reward challenge but gain the opportunity to earn an advantage hidden under the sit-out bench. Erika was initially the sit-out, but Xander offered to swap places with her. In the end, it didn’t matter because Xander failed to find the hidden scroll anyway. Not to worry, I’m sure we’ll see whatever the advantage was in some other format another time.
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