Each week, Christine Pallon and Gia Worthy will round up the previous week of Survivor 42 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
Sustenance or Decadence
Christine: The “sweet treat” vs. “nourishing food” choice has been presented to Survivor players time and time again. Omar was the latest player presented with that dilemma when he won the reward, and he ultimately chose chocolate cake and cookies in order to share the love with more players. He selected Maryanne, Mike, and Romeo, leaving rivals Lindsay and Jonathan to hang out alone at camp. Omar’s attempt to curry favor with the players on the bottom—Romeo and Maryanne—didn’t quite work out, as those two ended up single-handedly sending him to the jury.
Omar and Lindsay get Survivor Confident
Gia: After Drea’s demise, things were going almost too well for Omar and Lindsay. Their next plan was to take out Jonathan while using Mike as a decoy. They were so assured that everyone else would be all too willing to go along with their idea that they didn’t even use the idol that could have secured both of their places in the final 5. Omar explained it best; they just got too Survivor Confident.
Maryanne pulls off a 3-2-2 vote
Christine: In recent years, there’s been a lot of debate surrounding how useful an extra vote really is. Shan’s use of it last season to ensure a tie between Naseer and Heather in case of an idol play from Naseer demonstrated its potential to be used defensively, but Maryanne really took it to the next level here by pulling off a 3-2-2 plurality vote to send Omar to the jury.
Stand-Out Castaways
Maryanne
Gia: Maryanne has always been a consistent presence in this season, but this episode, she came into her own as the strategic force we knew her to be capable of. After coming into the merge at the bottom of the pecking order, her social game has kept her safe, even if only barely so. But now that her place is more secure, she’s finally able to think about her endgame plans and has the power to do something about it. With her extra vote, she was able to pull off a 3-2-2 vote and send home the biggest threat to win the game. She even made a little history in the process as this is the first time an extra vote has been used to this level of effectiveness. Oh yeah, and she has an idol to keep her safe in the next vote.
Mike
Gia: If it wasn’t for Maryanne’s plurality vote, Mike would definitely be this week’s MVP. Drea’s parting words made it clear to Mike that he had to take out Omar before he did the same to him. So while Omar and Lindsay were working on splitting up Mike and Jonathan, Mike used Lindsay’s idol against her by telling Jonathan and Maryanne about it. Knowing that neither knew about the idol beforehand, he secured a stronger level of trust that helped pave the way for the episode’s blindside. It was a fantastic move on his end, and now he has an idol to secure his place in the final four.
Omar
Christine: Omar’s devious gameplay finally caught up to him. After weeks of manipulating his fellow castaways and being a driving force behind much of the action on the tribe, Drea’s parting words set Omar’s downfall in motion. Mike lost trust in him, and Maryanne began to see him as an obstacle in her path to win. In retrospect, turning on Drea the way he did was a fatal mistake for Omar in that it not only exposed his gameplay but also removed someone who clearly trusted him enough to share her advantage with him. He played hard and clearly had a lot of fun doing it, but Maryanne bested him in the end.
Advantage Watch
Idols
Christine: Mike and Maryanne both held onto their idols for one more week. The next tribal is the last time they can be played, so we can expect them to come out in one way or another. Maryanne has the element of surprise in her favor when it comes to her idol, so we could potentially see a blindside if she’s targeted and plays her idol for herself.
Advantage Amulet
Gia: Possibly the most shocking part of this entire episode is that Lindsay decided not to play her Advantage Amulet, which was just turned into a full idol after Drea was voted out. This was the last time she was able to use it, and her decision to let it go to waste cost her her closest ally left in the game.
Extra Votes
Christine: Maryanne played her extra vote on Omar and changed the game, sending home arguably the most powerful player for most of the merge. Advantages ended up flopping for the most part in both 41 and 42, so it was a nice surprise that the extra vote actually came in clutch to help make a thrilling blindside possible at the final six.
Idol Nullifier
Gia: While this wasn’t in the episode, I feel it’s important to address that according to Omar’s exit press, he had an idol nullifier this entire time that just never made the edit. This puts a lot of Omar’s choices into a completely different perspective, and I’m not completely sure when he planned to use it or if he ever planned to use it at all. One thing’s for sure, it’s a good thing that Maryanne took Omar out when she did, all while keeping her idol a secret.
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