Each week, Christine Pallon and Gia Worthy will round up the previous week of Survivor 46 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 latest episode.
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Top 3 Moments
Liz is PISSED!
Christine: Q has given us so many gifts this season, and the gifts just keep on coming as his Applebee’s reward win led to Liz delivering the most iconic Survivor monologue since South Pacific. Upon learning that Q would not be choosing her to join him at the Sanctuary Applebee’s (Liz’s favorite fast-casual restaurant), where they’d be serving the Bourbon Burger (her go-to menu item), the starving Liz erupted in anger and frustration on the challenge mat. The Applebee’s drama didn’t stop there, though, as Liz later learned that none of the people who went on the reward actually touched her beloved burger. Food drama has always been a feature of Survivor, but Q and Liz brought it to a whole new level.
Return of the rice negotiation
Gia: They say if at first you don’t succeed, try again. Jeff took this advice to heart with the rice negotiation, offering the same deal as last time. Four players could choose to sit out for enough rice to last them the rest of the game, but only Liz and Kenzie were even considering it. When that didn’t work, he gave an alternative; any player that sat out would get their individual portion of rice.
Unsurprisingly, Liz took this offer for her own rice while everyone else decided to play. While I’m fine with this decision, I’d be remiss not to note that there have been better, more entertaining ways for players to win food in place of immunity (i.e. temptations, the eat-or-play-dilemma) that would’ve worked perfectly here. My hope is this will kill the mandatory rice negotiation in future seasons and allow for more organic opportunities for players to barter with Jeff.
Maria runs the red light
Christine: Last week, Kenzie kicked a plan into motion to betray her ally Tiffany. This week, she pumped the brakes upon realizing that the timing on the move wasn’t quite right for her game. But Maria came to a different conclusion and took hold of the wheel, leading the blindside against Tiffany with Kenzie left in the dark. Critically, Maria, Charlie, and Ben decided to pull Liz in on the plan and got her to vote Tiffany out over Q, despite Liz’s very obvious and vocal frustrations with him.
Top 3 Contestants
Maria
Gia: Maria’s been a powerful force throughout the season, but this episode was where her game really shone. Last week, we saw that she was hesitant to blindside Tiff, partly because she knew Kenzie would get credit for the move. This time, she was able to get her way in more ways than one. Tiff was blindsided, the idol was flushed, Kenzie was left out of the vote, and Maria was undeniably credited for this move. Now, the question is if she can make it through this next round.
Q
Gia: Was there ever a doubt that Q would be at the center of everything again? Yes, he is still on the outs, and yes, he was once again the decoy vote, but he’s been doing everything and anything to try and stay in the game a little longer. He won the reward and tried to pull Tiffany and Kenzie back to his side, but it was his connection to Maria that really saved him. While he seemed like the obvious choice to go home this round, it’s exactly that reason that Maria was able to blindside Tiff with an idol in her pocket.
Kenzie
Christine: This was an interesting week for Kenzie. She came to the correct conclusion that losing Tiffany this early was bad for her game and backed off of the ill-timed move. Maria made it happen without her, though, putting her in the minority with Venus. In an era where a Survivor “resume” is something that matters, Kenzie is in the tough spot of not only losing an ally but also losing the chance at bragging rights for taking out an idol holder in a big blindside.
We’ve seen that Kenzie’s been very well-liked and well-positioned socially, so I don’t think this is necessarily the end of her game just yet, but she’s now going to need to play a very strong endgame if she wants a shot at making it to the end and securing the win.
Advantage Watch
Idols
Christine: And just like that, a third idol goes unplayed this season. Like Hunter before her, Tiffany tragically fell victim to the Q smokescreen and went out of the game with her beloved Idoleesha still in her pocket. With three idols left unplayed, I have a sneaking suspicion they might hide a new idol this late in the game, and our players will almost certainly be looking for one.
Fallen Comrades
Tiffany
Christine: Tiffany’s last two weeks really demonstrate how hard of a game Survivor can be. Last week, she held onto her idol, and the risk paid off. This week, she made the same decision, and it cost her the game. Same risk, just days apart, with wildly different outcomes. I totally get why Tiffany felt so tempted to keep the idol: as Q continued to burn more goodwill with the tribe, why would they keep him again?
But still, seeing what happened to Hunter last week probably should have instilled a bit more fear into her heart and pushed her to play the idol out of an abundance of caution. Tiffany was one of my favorite players this season from the first episode, and it’s hard to see her go out like this, but at least her elimination continues this merge’s trend of exciting blindsides.
Gia: Even in the chaos that was Yanu, there was no player better situated in the pre-merge than Tiffany. She had an idol and a solid alliance that wanted to work with her no matter what. Then, the merge hit, and everything began to crumble due to the actions of others. I hate to see her go out like this, and I really hate to see her leave with an idol, but that’s the way things go in the game of Survivor. Her personality and adaptability shined on a season with many big characters, so I wouldn’t be mad at a return in a future season. Hint-hint for anyone floating names around for Survivor 50!
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