Each week Inside Survivor contributor Rob Brodeur will be collecting various Survivor-related statistics and information based off the latest episode of Survivor 44.
Immunity Challenge: “Audio Slave”
- Variations of this challenge have previously been used in Samoa, South Pacific, Cambodia, Millennials vs. Gen X, Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, Ghost Island, Edge of Extinction, Winners at War, and Survivor 43.
- Both times this challenge had two winners, one was a man and one was a woman.
- In Cambodia, Kelley and Keith won.
- In Survivor 44, Frannie and Brandon won.
- This is the first time that the challenge was won by a man and a woman without it being split by gender as the Cambodia version had a guaranteed male and female winner due to the weight of the poles.
- Both times this challenge had two winners, one was a man and one was a woman.
Merge
- The merged tribe name is Va Va.
- “Va” in Fijian is four, which makes the tribe name 44.
- Va va is the 11th “V” tribe on Survivor.
- It’s the second black “V” tribe after Vinaka from Millennials vs. Gen X.
- Nine of the 11 “V” tribes are from seasons filmed in Fiji.
- Viveros (Panama) and Villains (Heroes vs. Villains) are the only “V” tribes from seasons not set in Fiji.
- This is the 24th tribe to have more than one word in its name.
- It’s the 12 merged tribe to have more than one word in its name.
Advantage
- Heidi found the “control a vote advantage.”
- This is the first time this advantage has been seen in Survivor.
- This is the eighth time a player was able to take away someone’s ability to vote for who they wanted. The others are as follows:
- Vote Steal Advantage
- In Cambodia, Stephen stole Joe’s vote and voted for Joe.
- In Game Changers, Sarah stole Tai’s vote and voted for Michaela.
- In David vs. Goliath, Nick stole Alison’s vote and voted for Dan.
- In Winners at War, Sarah stole Denise’s vote and voted for Tyson.
- In Survivor 43, Noelle stole Owen’s vote and voted for James.
- Vote Block Advantage
- In Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, Jessica took away Devon’s ability to vote in episode 4.
- In Island of the Idols, Elaine took away Jason’s ability to vote in episode 6.
- Control a Vote Advantage
- In Survivor 44, Heidi used her advantage to force Lauren to vote for Yam Yam.
- Vote Steal Advantage
- Heidi and Stephen are the only players to use their advantage to vote for someone who didn’t go home.
Confessionals
- Matt had the most confessionals in this episode with 8.
- Brandon and Carson had the lowest number of confessionals this episode with 1.
- This is the first time since episode 3 where Lauren had a confessional.
- Yam Yam has the highest confessional count with 39.
- Lauren and Heidi have the lowest confessional count with 12.
- The three original Tika players (Carolyn, Carson, & Yam Yam) have the three highest confessional counts of the players left in the game.
Tribal Council
- Matt was voted out 3-2.
- Geo Bustamante in Survivor 43 was the most recent player to be voted out 3-2.
- No women have received votes during the merge portion of the game.
- Danny is the only original Soka male left in the game.
- The only players to be voted out post-merge have been from the original Soka tribe.
- Kane is the only original Ratu member to receive votes post-merge.
- Every episode where Soka and/or Tika players were at tribal council, they received votes.
- Episode 2 & 4 were Tika tribal councils.
- Episode 3 was a Soka tribal council.
- Episode 6 had Josh (Soka) and Yam Yam (Tika) receiving votes.
- Episode 7 had Matt (Soka) and Yam Yam (Tika) receiving votes.
- Ratu is the only tribe to not lose three players.
- Soka has lost Claire, Josh, & Matt.
- Tika has lost Bruce, Helen, & Sarah.
- All three starting tribe’s eliminated players have been eliminated in alphabetical order.
- Ratu: Maddy & Matthew.
- Soka: Claire, Josh, & Matt.
- Tika: Bruce, Helen, & Sarah.
- This was the first time Matt was able to vote this season.
- He didn’t cast a correct vote during this season.
- None of the original Soka members that are remaining have any votes against them.
- The tribal council in episode 4 is the only tribal this season where everyone on the tribe voted.
- Episode 1: Matthew & Jaime played their Shot in the Dark and didn’t vote.
- Episode 2: Sarah lost her vote at the Summit and couldn’t vote.
- Episode 3: Matt lost his vote at the Summit and Claire played her Shot in the Dark.
- Episode 5: No tribal council.
- Episode 6: Matt lost his second vote at the Summit and couldn’t vote.
- Episode 7: Carolyn, Carson, Danny, Frannie, Heidi, and Kane won the challenge and didn’t vote at tribal council. Also, Lauren’s vote was controlled due to Heidi’s advantage.
- Josh and Matt both voted for Yam Yam when they were eliminated.
- Lauren, Matt, and Yam Yam were vulnerable in both merge episodes.
- Matt was the only original Soka member to be vulnerable in this episode.
- Brandon, Carolyn, Carson, and Frannie were safe in both merge episodes.
- Brandon has been immune at every tribal he’s attended so far, as he played his hidden immunity idol in episode 1.
- This is the first season since Ghost Island where the first player voted out after the pre-merge portion of the game and the first jury member was male.
- Chris Noble was the merge boot and first jury member in Ghost Island.
- Josh was the “merge” boot and Matt was the first jury member this season.
- The most recent male player to be the first jury member was Jack in Island of the Idols.
Ratings
- The seventh episode received 5.343 million viewers and 0.71 in the Adults 18-49 demo.
Episode Title
- The episode title “Let’s Not Be Cute About It” was said by Matt.
- He had two episode titles in a row.
Survivor Birthdays
- This week’s episode aired on Dean Kowalski’s (Island of the Idols) birthday.
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