Each week, Christine Pallon and Gia Worthy will round up the previous week of Survivor 43 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 fourth episode.
Become a Patron
Get exclusive content and features by supporting Inside Survivor on Patreon.
Top 3 Moments
You can swap rewards?!
Christine: The biggest blindside of the season thus far was Jeff’s total nonchalance about letting Vesi swap rewards. In the past, Jeff has been a tough negotiator, although he was no match for David vs. Goliath’s Angelina Keeley. When Vesi won the fish but had no flint to make fire, they asked to swap for an earlier reward instead, which Jeff accepted and let them keep the camp raid part of the reward. The trade itself was fair enough given Vesi’s lack of flint, but Jeff acting like it was something that happened all the time certainly had me like, “huh?!”
Vesi raids Coco
Gia: We’re finally getting some relics of the old-school era, this time in the form of the camp raid reward. Vesi came out victorious and decided to strike a blow against Coco, the only tribe still fully intact. For our entertainment, Cody was selected to raid Coco. He failed to dismantle their shelter for a tarp, but he did succeed in talking the tribe down to the fishing gear off of the false idea that he was sent to take their machete. I guess Cody’s right; you can never trust a salesman.
Vesi and Baka team up
Christine: The girls are fighting!!! After Vesi came in first in the immunity challenge, they saw the opportunity to end Coco’s winning streak by helping Baka finish the puzzle second and sending Coco to their first tribal council. This was a fun TV moment for sure, but I’m not sure how good of a long-term strategic move this is since now Coco has had a chance to work out some of their issues at tribal before the merge, and they have very good reason to not trust Vesi moving forward.
Tribe Breakdown
Baka
Christine: Baka continues to be an absolute mess. This week, the highlight of the madness was Gabler’s hilariously bizarre decision to lay palm fronds on his sleeping tribemates, waking them up and annoying them in the process. This is one of the funniest tribe dynamics possible: the tribe that increasingly can’t stand each other but keeps avoiding tribal council, so they can’t even hash out their issues. At this point, I pray they all make the merge so we can see them implode in the most chaotic way possible.
Coco
Gia: The inevitable has happened, Coco, my favorite tribe, has been sent to tribal, and we lost Queen Lindsay in the process. Now they are officially in the spotlight, and we’re finally getting the intel on the blue tribe we’ve been waiting for. Geo thinks he’s calling the shots, but it was the quartet of Karla, James, Ryan, and Cassidy that voted Lindsay out. Karla and James were the ultimate kingmakers here, but one of the most interesting tidbits we learned is that Ryan appears to trust Geo and James the most. Is James playing the best game on Coco? Will Karla’s idol be played before the merge? Only time will tell.
Vesi
Christine: Between trading rewards, Cody going on the camp raid, and their collaboration with Baka at the immunity challenge, Vesi played a huge part in this episode even though they got a much-needed break from tribal. With only four people left, Noelle’s Steal A Vote, and Cody’s immunity idol, an eventual return to tribal could be very messy for Vesi. But for now, they’re finally back on a hot streak and avoided another vote-out.
Top 3 Players
Geo
Christine: This episode, Geo went from being very sweet and under the radar to suddenly believing he was running the tribe and causing conflict. This put a huge target on his back, but then Lindsay sunk her own game and inadvertently saved Geo’s in the process. He’s a top player this week, not because he played well, but because of how close he came to leaving the game and surviving. It’ll be interesting to see how, or if, he recovers moving forward after such a messy episode.
James
Gia: Up until episode 4, we have been led to believe that the women’s alliance was ruling Coco, and James was pulled in as their fourth member. We have since learned that Ryan also trusts James and Geo the most, and it was the duo of James and Karla that ultimately were the swing votes in this. Based on everything we’ve learned so far, I think James may be in the best position within Coco. We haven’t seen too much of him yet, so I’m hoping he has his moments to shine soon.
Karla
Gia: Another day, another reason to put Karla in our top players for the week. If James isn’t in the best position on Coco, then it’s definitely Karla. Her name did not come up once as an option to go home, and her social position gave her a lot of wiggle room for which direction to go. With her idol still in play, I’d be shocked to see Karla leave anytime soon.
Fallen Comrades
Christine: In the pre-season, I said Lindsay gave me big Kim Spradlin vibes. She seemed cool, calm, and collected in her pre-season press, and I was convinced she was at least making the merge. I think Lindsay probably felt the same about her odds going into this season, but in a game as stressful as Survivor, you never know how you’re going to react to the environment until you’re thrown into it.
Lindsay went out in a tragic fashion: she was completely safe until she convinced herself she wasn’t, and her tribemates turned on her for her unfounded paranoia. Although I was sad to see her go out because she’s a long-time fan, I’m glad she went out in such an interesting way. I’m sure she’s still mourning the end of her Survivor dream, but I hope she finds peace knowing that she had such a fun boot episode in the best episode of the season so far.
Gia: Oh Lindsay, your time in the game may have been short, but you left a positive impression on fans nonetheless. She was one of the main reasons I wanted Coco to never see a pre-merge tribal, and it’s unfortunate that this is the end of the road for her. Still, it was refreshing to see an unapologetic superfan face the highs and lows of such an unpredictable game. I’ll miss her, but she’ll be the first to get my vote for Second Chances 2, should the opportunity present itself.
Written by