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 eighth episode.
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Top 3 Moments
Jeanine’s idol isn’t dead after all
Gia: Last week, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that Dwight was voted out with Jeanine’s idol in his pocket. Even Jeanine herself believed that to be true. While word got around the entire camp that her idol was gone, the truth happened to be a lot more exciting. It turns out that Dwight gave Jesse Jeanine’s idol to throw James off even more… only for Jesse and Cody to vote Dwight out. It was brilliant and completely unexpected. I can’t wait for the eventual grand reveal that I know Jesse is planning for.
Another rice negotiation
Christine: Angelina’s influence continues to grow with each passing day, especially now that “rice negotiation” is apparently a serious milestone in the new era of Survivor, according to Jeff. Cassidy, James, Jesse, Karla, and Sami volunteered to sit out of the immunity challenge so the tribe could get more rice. I don’t hate this new feature of the game, but negotiations aren’t nearly as fun when they’re forced rather than occurring naturally.
Sami tries to change the game
Christine: While he’s technically sitting pretty in the (very confusing) majority alliance of seven, Sami grew concerned about his position as the only Baka member in the group. He tried to get the target on his fellow alliance member Ryan due to his physical strength, but he wasn’t able to swing enough votes that way and ultimately voted for Jeanine with the majority. Sami could’ve blown the game wide open had he pulled the Ryan blindside off, and it seems like it’s only a matter of time before he wants to make a “big move” again.
Top 3 Players
Owen
Christine: It was looking like it might be the end of the road for superfan Owen at the top of the episode when he was named as a threat and a potential target by his fellow tribemates. He made the wise decision to compete in the challenge rather than sit out for rice and secured a clutch immunity win. On top of that, we got to hear more of his backstory and experiences as an adoptee. It’s not great for him that people are clocking him as a threat this early in the merge, but he at least bought himself a few more days in the game with his immunity win.
Jesse
Gia: Jesse has been on my radar as a winner contender since Vesi’s first tribal, but he was lacking a big, defining moment to sell at final tribal council. Well, now he has it. He seems to be in one of the best spots in the game, and he’s making all the correct decisions to solidify his endgame plans. Of course, we’re only at final 10, and anything can still happen, but I’m liking his chances for now.
Cassidy
Gia: Cassidy is looking to change the course of the game, and no one is more excited about this prospect than me. In case anyone was wondering, yes, she has noticed the pattern of women being voted out, and she’s just as sick of it as we are. When the plan to blindside Ryan was underway, she jumped at the opportunity to finally get her revenge on him. She was willing to break away from the original tribal lines to keep Jeanine, and she ended up being the only person that voted to keep her. Her rogue vote will either burn bridges or spark some much-needed chaos; here’s hoping it’s the latter.
Advantage Watch
Idols
Christine: Jeanine’s idol is unexpectedly still in the game after all, with Jesse snagging it from Dwight before his blindside last episode. Our idol holders are now Jesse, Cody, and Karla. There’s still the looming threat of James’ Knowledge is Power advantage, but Karla and Jesse both have the element of surprise on their sides since their idols are (as far as we know) completely hidden.
Steal-A-Vote
Christine: No talk of Noelle’s Steal-A-Vote this week, which isn’t surprising, given how many people are still left. Noelle has more of a chance to make her advantage really count once the numbers have dwindled a bit more, so it’s not surprising that it’s not terribly relevant right now.
Knowledge is Power
Gia: Nothing has changed with Knowledge is Power. James still has it, and we haven’t heard if and when he plans on using it. With a possible double tribal council next episode (if the two immunity necklaces in the preview are anything to go by), I’d say he may need it sooner rather than later.
Fallen Comrades
Christine: I was really enjoying Jeanine’s underdog story this season, and I’m sad to see it cut short. She made some mistakes early on as she and Elie got way too confident in their position on Baka, and she took one L after another once Elie went and she lost possession of her idol. Although I can’t begrudge the majority for sticking together, it would have been very narratively satisfying to see the vote turn on one of them and have scrappy Jeanine survive another day. It wasn’t in the cards for Jeanine, but hopefully, we can get a power shift sooner rather than later to keep the game interesting.
Gia: As someone that was really hoping that Jeanine was going to turn her luck around, seeing her become the Mayor of Ponderosa here was heartbreaking. This feels like a lot of lost potential, but I know we have a solid cast to make up for her loss. Nevertheless, Jeanine’s perseverance in a game that continuously threw more obstacles her way is admirable, and that’s the main takeaway we should have from her game. We love a player that goes down swinging!
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