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 second episod.
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Top 3 Moments
Maryanne’s crush
Christine: We haven’t seen a cross-tribal Survivor love story as beautiful as Maryanne and Zach’s since Billy and Candice’s whirlwind romance in Cook Islands. At the challenge, Maryanne was devastated to learn that her “crush” Zach had been voted out, effectively ending her dreams of finding love on Survivor. The topic came up again at Tribal Council, as Maryanne shared her struggles with finding love. Maryanne continues to be one of the best Survivor casting finds in recent years, and I’m grateful she managed to make it out of this vote unscathed, even if it meant she didn’t get to meet Zach in Ponderosa.
Mike’s advantage debacle
Gia: You never really know what you have until it’s gone, huh? Mike learned this the hard way when he found the Beware advantage… only to immediately lose it when he tried to show it to Daniel. He found it eventually, but that wasn’t the end of his troubles, as Daniel told his closest ally Chanelle all about how the idol works and his plans not to have it activated. I’m not sure whether this means Mike will surely get voted out as soon as Vati goes to Tribal or if they’ll try to keep him around since he doesn’t have a vote to defend himself. Either way, he probably should have kept this information to himself.
The odd couple
Christine: On Taku, we saw the formation of what appears to be a significant strategic duo in Jonathan and Omar. The two couldn’t be more different in just about every single way, which is exactly the appeal of their strategic relationship. Their alliance with Lindsay is already in control of the shrinking Taku tribe, so this unlikely duo seems to be one to watch moving forward.
Tribe Breakdown
Vati
Gia: Vati may be the only tribe to have not attended a Tribal yet, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have their own highlights from the episode. Between Hai’s struggles with veganism on a season without rice, Mike’s idol debacle, and Daniel’s maneuvering of said debacle, this tribe has plenty of interesting dynamics that I’m excited to see come into play. Throw in Lydia’s hilarious challenge performance as the caller, and we have the makings of a fun-yet-effective tribe. Personally, I don’t want to see them go to Tribal anytime soon, but if they do, it will certainly be entertaining.
Taku
Gia: Taku was this week’s losing tribe, in part due to the poor decision to leave the final puzzle to Jonathan. With himself and Omar at the center of everything, it was clear that Mayra or Maryanne would be voted out here early on. They ended up deciding to oust Mayra unanimously, a decision they may come to regret later on. In the previews for the next episode, it appears that Maryanne finds an advantage with Omar. Time will tell if this benefits her game or if it’s the final nail in the coffin.
Ika
Christine: After losing Zach last episode, Ika managed to avoid a second Tribal, but the pieces are already falling into place for a potential blindside down the line. Drea decided to tell Swati and Tori about her extra vote to gain their trust, but Swati took this information as a sign that Drea was becoming too powerful of a player and pitched Tori on turning on Drea. With Tori on the outs for her idol-hunting, Rocksroy’s leadership getting on his tribemates’ nerves, and now Drea’s status as a big threat, it’s hard to tell which way the winds of Ika might end up blowing if they go to Tribal again.
Stand-out Castaways
Omar
Gia: Omar is in a fantastic position right now, both edit-wise and game-wise. We got personal content from him about his experience as a Muslim man, plus his unlikely friendship with Jonathan. His tribe may have lost the challenge, but he was never in danger of going home, a fact I don’t see changing anytime soon. Finally, the teaser for the next episode shows him finding an advantage with Maryanne. Even if it is the “Beware Advantage” that leads him to lose his vote, I think he’s solidified well enough that he will be okay no matter what.
Daniel
Gia: Daniel’s another shining star of this week, mostly due to how he is hoping to deal with the idol twist. Mike told him everything about the idol in hopes of building trust. In turn, Daniel relayed all of this info to Chanelle. They agreed that they’d prefer for the idols not to be activated at all, and the best way to do so is for Mike to not say his portion of the three sayings. I’m still not a fan of this twist in general, but I have to hand it to Daniel for how he plans to make them obsolete.
Marya
Christine: This week’s vote came down between Maryanne, whose big personality has been getting on her tribemates’ nerves, and Marya, who just failed to connect with her tribemates much at all. Marya, like Zach, went down swinging with her Shot in the Dark, but fate wasn’t on her side. As one of our quieter players in the premiere, we didn’t get to know Marya too well before her exit, but I’m glad the show made time to let her share her motivation to play the game after the loss of her brother, a nurse, at the start of the pandemic.
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