Welcome to Season 44’s Next Time On Survivor weekly feature on the Inside Survivor site! If you’re new around here, this is a tiny space where I give my best attempts at understanding preview trailers and make my predictions for the next episodes of the show. Let’s jump right in!
The NTOS trailer begins with Kane running through the Fijian jungle and saying, “This is like I’m in Dungeons and Dragons; there’s magical items in play,” before creating some DIY sound effects cementing his D&D nerd status for the world. We see a key hanging in the foreground of the shot and a separate shot of Kane grabbing another item. It’s probably a new advantage since the players have reached the merge.
This idol scavenger hunt may put a target on Kane. There’s this nagging build-up about his vote for Brandon from way back in the premiere episode that may come back to bite him. Kane’s name has already been thrown out last episode, and even though it was ultimately used as a decoy and backup for the real plan, there’s a sense that he’s dispensable. His nerd alliance with Carson doesn’t seem to be that promising either. To me, Carson is portrayed as someone forming many different relationships; Kane is just one of the many. I’m not counting on this nerd alliance going far, and I think Kane may be voted out next in a revenge-like plan determined by Brandon.
Next up, we are once again fed the Matt and Frannie showmance, with Matt saying, “I can’t describe how important she is.” We’ve been seeing this relationship develop for many episodes now, and I’m inclined to think that they’re really just included as an entertaining part of reality-tv that we’ve not seen on Survivor for a long while. They seem rather equal, with both sides committed and both mindful that they shouldn’t be so open with how close they are to avoid being targeted.
Their plan doesn’t seem to be going too well, though, as other players, like Lauren and Claire from back in Episode 3, are noticing. However, and I’ve said this previously, I think Frannie and Matt will be seen as a duo that can be pulled in as numbers, rather than as a couple that needs to be taken out. When we do see players, like the upcoming scene with Lauren calling out the showmance, it’s not presented as the main conflict or voting plan of the tribe. My gut feeling is that their relationship is being played up and won’t amount to a big blindside to separate them.
Finally, the NTOS trailer shows Jeff announcing at the upcoming challenge that “There’s a twist… you’ll have no say at who goes home.” I think that players can choose to compete at the immunity challenge, and those who compete can’t vote at tribal council. This would force players to weigh the risk of them giving up their vote but potentially earn individual immunity by winning the challenge.
We see a scene of Carolyn being excited, though it may not be directly in response to the twist. I think she chooses not to compete as she doesn’t seem to be the best at challenges, and I believe a number of players will do, too, if they’re not confident of winning what I assume will be an individual endurance challenge.
To sum up, here are my predictions for Episode 7: Firstly, I think the Frannie and Matt showmance is a red herring and will not determine the vote. Next, I think idols — real or fake — will be played to cushion and protect players with this upcoming mystery twist. Carolyn and Danny both have real idols, while Jaime and Matt have fake idols though they think they are real.
I considered Lauren as the next target since she targeted the showmance and was highlighted for having the extra vote she gained from the premiere episode. I also briefly considered Jaime as the target for being a bit of a rogue player, over-confident in her standing in the game. However, I ultimately settled on Kane as his name has been brought up multiple times, and he may be targeted because of the advantage hunting that’s going to happen.
What do you think will happen? Leave your predictions in the comments below!
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I think it will be the other way around. That if you sit out you can’t vote. Why punish people for playing?
I think your initial thought about Lauren sounds better then Kane. We haven’t heard a word from Lauren in 3 episodes. I’m thinking she tries to take a shot at the showmance but gets clipped instead cause other players view them like you do as numbers rather than targets. But I do think they will be separated soon
Unless Jaime wins the challenge, I think Jaime is next on the chopping block. The producer’s edits make Jaime look so overconfident as to be delusional and it seems like every time they show someone thinking they are #1, when we the audience are clearly shown they are nowhere near #1, then that person ain’t around for very long.
But Frannie is a lesbian, so is she playing him?
Nowhere has it been said that Frannie is a lesbian. Bisexual people exist 🙂
I don’t believe Carolyn has a real immunity idol. When she received it, she held up the idol with the silver coin and said it was real and the other was fake. But on the other two teams when one of them read it out loud said the idol with the coin was the fake idol and the plain looking idol was the real one. I believe she used the real idol as a trap for the player that believed hers was real and was sad that she got voted out while holding onto a real idol. After being voted out and after the fact, she commented that she was told her idol was fake. But I believe the network couldn’t tell the truth because it would have alerted viewers to the error Carolyn made.
Each tribe was different, one tribe the beads were real and the coin fake, the other the coin real and beads fake, etc.
I’ve been saying this the whole time – I think Carolyn kept the fake idol and not the real one! She was so excited she wasn’t paying attention! Glad I wasn’t the only one that caught that!
This is actually incorrect and was addressed by Mike Bloom in this tweet a few weeks back. https://twitter.com/AMikeBloomType/status/1633957358782017536?cxt=HHwWgMCzxfHj_awtAAAA
There are 3 idol designs: Beads, Coin, and Medallion. 1 real of each and 1 fake of each, staggered between the 3 tribes. On Orange, the real was Beads and fake was the Medallion. On Purple, the real was the Coin and fake was Beads. On Green, the real was the Medallion and the fake was the Coin.
Producers are going for maximum chaos, and they’re relying on viewer’s perceptions of Carolyn as ditsy to pull one over on us, which is really sneaky and smart. But she’s a superfan – she absolutely knows what she’s doing!!
Josh is out. Who will follow.