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 sixth and seventh episodes.
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Top 3 Moments
“We’ll always have Applebees”
Christine: Jeff talking to the camera and trying to sell us on Applebees as an exciting change to shake up the hourglass twist got the biggest laugh of the week for me. I’m not the biggest fan of Applebees, but ever since Karishma graced our screens, I’ve learned to accept the potential beauty of American casual dining. I miss Survivor’s goofy branded food reward era. I long for the days of the Mountain Dew and Doritos rewards. So it’s fun whenever it shows up, and the starving castaways seemed genuinely stoked about some Applebees. The burgers at least made the orange team’s ultimate loss of immunity at the hands of the hourglass twist sting a little less.
Rocksroy Turns Back Time
Gia: The orange team really blew it here. They had the opportunity to send Lindsay (someone they trusted more) or even one of themselves to Exile, where they knew a game-changing power awaited them. Instead, they sent Rocksroy, someone who had little to lose by going against them and everything to gain by protecting himself. Just like last season, Jeff met with Rocksroy at camp and explained that he now had the power to take immunity from the winning team for himself and the losing team. To Rocksroy’s credit, he tried really hard to make this seem like a difficult decision, but it was a no-brainer that he’d smash the hourglass to claim immunity for himself and his allies Drea and Romeo.
The Eight is Formed
Gia: Survivor 42 has the unique distinction of starting the individual portion of the game with each tribe having four members. Furthermore, each tribe consists of a tight trio and one person on the outs. The castaways are well aware of this and decided to take advantage of it by creating a large alliance of the most well-positioned players. This group consisted of Hai, Mike, Jonathan, Drea, Lydia, Lindsay, Rocksroy, and Omar. While Lydia was voted out this episode, all signs point to the remaining seven forging ahead as a unit, at least for a few rounds.
Stand-Out Castaways
Omar
Christine: Omar was the undisputed MVP this week. Despite not having a vote in this crucial fake merge due to his and Chanelle’s ship wheel mishap, Omar used his safety to lobby for his OG Taku allies and send Lydia home. Omar’s gameplay here really demonstrates what it takes to be a good Survivor player. You don’t need an idol, advantage, or even your vote to impact the game if you have social capital and can wield it effectively like Omar did to turn the tides of the vote in his favor.
Rocksroy
Gia: This was a fantastic episode for Rocksroy. While everyone else was getting to know each other and making deals, Rocksroy was living his best life on Exile Island, focusing on his favorite aspects of the game: building shelter and making fire. He displayed some solid strategic awareness and could possibly be learning from his past mistakes. We also got to learn more about him outside of the game. This is a player that is really taking the time to appreciate everything the game has to offer, and it was great to see him in this light. I don’t know if he will last much longer, but I refuse to count him out just yet.
Lydia
Christine: What a tragic way to lose our #BFJA queen Lydia, just one week after we finally started to get some more confessionals from her. The hourglass twist really screwed her over here. There were valid reasons to vote her out—her closeness with Hai, after he demonstrated he was willing to go to rocks for her, made her a viable social threat. But I feel like her name wouldn’t have gained as much traction in a normal merge scenario with only one immune person. And while it makes sense for certain players to protect Jonathan, it feels like keeping around one of the strongest challenge competitors in the history of the game might be a choice some players end up regretting. Regardless, Lydia just wasn’t able to make the inroads necessary to keep her safe in this fake merge vote, and it’s a tragedy that she won’t be our queen of Ponderosa this season.
Advantage Watch
Amulet
Christine: Not gonna lie; I keep forgetting that the amulets exist. While they’ve been pretty irrelevant so far, they’re certainly going to play a role in the coming votes now that Lindsay, Drea, and Hai all made the merge with them. The three amulet holders all voted together to oust Lydia, but I have to imagine that one of them will strike soon to get more power. With all of her advantages, Drea seems to be the most likely candidate to be the target of a blindside in the coming weeks.
Idols
Gia: Nothing has changed from last episode, as Maryanne, Drea, and Mike were all able to hold onto their idols here. Some were wondering if Maryanne would play her idol with her name being thrown around, but she made the right call in keeping it. Now that the idol holders are no longer a secret, Drea and Mike seemed open to working together to protect one another. Perhaps the idols will have a higher success rate than in 41?
Extra Votes
Gia: Currently, Drea and Maryanne have extra votes. It’s unclear whether or not there will be another opportunity for players to gain any more advantages, but if we are taking cues from last season, the answer is more than likely yes.
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