Welcome to Season 43’s Next Time On Survivor feature on the Inside Survivor site! It’s a tiny space on the internet where I look at episode preview trailers, attempt to decipher them, and give my thoughts on what I think may happen in the upcoming episode.
We’re at the merge! And there seems to be a brand-new twist coming our way — in a preview, Dwight reads from tree mail, “You must divide into six pairs to compete.” I assume this means a winning pair will get immunity after the challenge. But would this also mean a double elimination? Would two players be tethered together and eliminated in their pairing?
So many questions… but so few answers. As Sami rightly points out, “We really see who’s going with who.” I’m excited to see the true alliances naturally surface — after all, you wouldn’t want your fate in the game to be tied to the very person you’re about to vote out.
In another preview trailer, Karla discusses strategy with Jesse, saying, “I have a feeling Noelle’s calling shots.” Jesse then adds in a confessional, “You can watch Noelle accumulate power, or you can make a move now.” No doubt, Noelle is a force. She’s been actively forming alliances with other players and pushing for a Vesi-Baka partnership against Coco. This definitely hasn’t gone unnoticed by Coco, who realised it during the challenge in Episode 4.
I feel like this portion of the preview highlights Noelle as an understandable target, but it won’t transpire into more than an early name thrown out. I think she has good connections with Vesi and at least Owen, whom she met on the journey they took in Episode 3. Moreover, I think she is savvy enough to leverage her steal-a-vote advantage to bring some people over to work with her. It may not last for the long haul, but I believe she’ll survive the next vote.
Next, the NTOS trailer shows a scene of Dwight telling Jeanine and Owen in the ocean that “There’s major power hidden under the shelter.” My guess is that it’s the idol nullifier, something to counteract the three active immunity idols currently in the game — owned by Cody, Karla, and Jeanine, from successfully completing the Beware Advantage bead challenge. With help from the others, I think Dwight retrieves it. However, this will put a target on him immediately — probably the topic of focus alluded to in the scene where Noelle tells Jesse and Ryan, “He’s found something.”
Finally, the last portion of the trailer is dedicated to our favourite Survivor 43 wild card, Gabler. He declares that he’s “ready to strike.” I’m not too concerned about him at the moment; I think he’ll float by with the majority, as he’s not a threat to anyone. His closest ally Sami seems to also be keeping him around as a goat-like player that he can control. For me, Gabler’s declarations in any previews are just snippets of entertainment; I don’t take them too seriously to determine the direction of the upcoming vote.
Last tribal council saw the votes spread over four different players. The majority of Gabler, Sami, Dwight, Cody, James, Cassidy, and Ryan voted for Elie. Karla had an unexplained vote for Owen, but I think it was likely a backup plan in case an idol was played on Elie. Noelle and Owen went with Elie and Jeanine’s vote split plan, and Jesse and Jeanine had no votes.
First, it seems like the Coco tribe is still working together. Second, I predict that Sami and Gabler will oscillate between aligning themselves with Coco and friends and what seems to be a Vesi-Baka alliance. I just have a feeling that Sami’s going to be playing the middle for a while.
As for the vote, I think Noelle and Dwight will be the names thrown out early, as mentioned above. However, my wild guess for the final target is Cody. I don’t see him forming the right relationships in the game, and he comes across to me as someone dispensable to his alliance. My second guess would be Owen. I really love his confessionals, and he’s definitely a very savvy player, but, unfortunately, I think he aligned himself poorly with Elie and Jeanine. It’s only a matter of time before this decision comes back and bites him.
Written by
This show has become trash. I’ve been a huge Survivor fan for a couple decades but now half of every episode is about tragic back stories, world social politics, etc.. It’s just painful to watch now. Can we get back to playing the game of Survivor? They don’t even organically weave their stories into the show anymore, just set aside several minute segments listening to them talk about their hardships.
There was none of that in the last episode.