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 eighth episodes.
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Top 3 Moments
Drea finds yet another advantage
Christine: Where Xander failed last season, Drea prevailed. After switching with Maryanne on the sit-out bench (just as Xander did with Erika last season) and finding another beware advantage, Drea found the Knowledge is Power advantage back at camp. Production clearly wanted to get the most of the red paint they bought for the fake blood gag in the premiere by making Drea fish through a bunch of it to snag the advantage, which added a fun new dimension to the “beware” part of the advantage. Drea played off the red paint on her hand as well as she could to Tori, who didn’t fully buy it.
Maryanne uses her emotions as a weapon
Gia: Maryanne may be at the bottom of the pecking order, but she’s pulling out all the stops to get by. Last tribal council revealed just how out of the loop she was, and she knew she’d have to tug at some heartstrings to get anywhere from there. At the immunity challenge, she offered to sit out to get the tribe some rice, but not without guilting Omar into also sitting out. She let the entire tribe know that she’s well aware of her position and chose to sit out for them anyway. The best part is that it worked, and she was never even an option to go home here. I don’t know if she would’ve been the target anyway, but I admire her drive to get to the next day by any means necessary.
Romeo gets (rightfully) paranoid
Gia: On the one hand, this definitely wasn’t the best week for Romeo. On the other hand, he had a lot of bad luck come his way. Once obvious boot Tori won immunity, Chanelle was the next clear pick to get voted out. As the other outsider, Romeo’s name was thrown out as the back-up vote in case Chanelle had an idol or played her Shot in the Dark. Upon hearing this information, Romeo went to the players he trusted to try and sway the vote around him. Sadly, instead of strengthening the relationships he had, this made him come off as paranoid to the secure players and almost sent him home as a result.
Stand-Out Castaways
Hai
Gia: After losing Lydia last week, Hai has made it his mission to ensure that his sacrifice will not be in vain. He’s created quite a comfortable position for himself in the majority alliance. Not to mention, he provided some of the best entertainment this week with his refusal to waver on his non-negotiation with Jeff. My major concern with Hai right now is his apparent dismissal of players that consider him to be an ally. I understand that both Romeo and Chanelle are on the bottom, but they were both votes that seemed to have some level of trust in him. Will this pay off for him in the long run? I’m not convinced, but time will tell.
Mike
Christine: This was a good week for Mike, who ultimately got his way over Hai’s when Chanelle got the boot instead of Romeo. As we saw in his scene with Omar at the top of the episode, Mike also continues to make the genuine social bonds necessary to carry him further in the game. That said, Mike’s stubbornness (as seen with his insistence that Chanelle needed to go) could come back to bite him as the game goes on. He got his way here, but he could risk isolating some of his allies moving forward if he isn’t careful.
Chanelle
Christine: Chanelle was one of the best-positioned players in the early pre-merge, but her fateful ship wheel decision sent her game into a tailspin. It was, of course, hypocritical of Mike to hold Chanelle’s vote for him against her for this long, given that he voted for her at that same tribal. But Survivor is a social game at heart, and what was a logical defensive move for Chanelle ended up being her downfall because she miscalculated how emotionally Mike would respond to it. Chanelle is a good Survivor player who made a couple critical mistakes that landed her a job as this season’s the mayor of Ponderosa, and I imagine she would’ve made it much, much further had she not risked her vote in the pre-merge.
Advantage Watch
Advantage Amulet
Christine: There was no talk of the amulets this week beyond Drea showing off all her advantages in her confessional, and our three amulet holders (Drea, Hai, and Lindsay) all once again voted together in the majority. I’m starting to wonder if the amulets will end up having much impact on the game moving forward since they continue to be pretty irrelevant for the time being.
Idols
Gia: Drea, Mike, and Maryanne are still the idol holders in the game, and we didn’t hear any discussion this week about them being used. However, I’d say all of us Maryanne stans out there better brace ourselves for Drea’s Knowledge is Power advantage, as she may not have her idol for much longer.
Extra Votes
Gia: It’s still just Maryanne and Drea with extra votes. The extra vote is the least impressive of Drea’s arsenal of advantages, but since it built some trust with Omar, I can’t say it hasn’t proven to be useful so far.
Knowledge is Power
Christine: Knowledge is Power is back and is the latest weapon in Drea’s ever-expanding advantage arsenal. I’m not too happy to see it back. While it ended up being fun last season, the advantage still feels like an ill-advised addition to a season where idols are somewhat public knowledge, thanks to the challenge phrases. It’s hilarious that Drea ended up with it, though, given that she’s already hoarding most of this season’s advantages.
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