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
Survivor Macgyver
Gia: There seems to be at least one Survivor Macgyver every season, and Survivor 46’s is Hunter. He constructed his own bed out of the bamboo around him and has proven himself to be quite the handyman. Combine this with his challenge performance, and you can see why most of his tribe is so keen on keeping him around. The keyword is “most,” as Venus is working overtime to blindside him.
Bhanu’s very messy journey
Gia: Just when I think Bhanu is done entertaining us, he’s selected for the Advantage Journey. Joined by Ben and Liz, it took only a few seconds of being off the boat before he spilled the tea on all of Yanu’s tribe secrets. I don’t know what was funnier, how quickly Bhanu told his travel companions everything or Ben and Liz’s calm reactions to being told all of this info unprovoked.
This was by far my favorite part of the episode, and it wasn’t even close. It was the perfect opportunity to see Bhanu on his own and highlight Ben and Liz, who have been treated more as humorous side characters up until this point.
Randen’s medevac
Christine: This episode seemed to be telegraphing another disastrous tribal council visit for Yanu from the get-go, but they were saved by an unexpected medevac from Randen in the final act. Early on in the episode, Randen woke up with some weakness and numbness in his arm – the tell-tale signs of a nerve problem. With this sort of issue, if the cause is simply a pinched nerve, the symptoms can clear up on their own in a matter of days or weeks without lasting issues.
But medical ultimately pulled Randen out of the fear that it was the symptom of a cervical disc issue, leaving Nami down one member and Venus without her one ally. Jeff crept his way over to Yanu’s camp just before tribal to deliver the news in a scene that was very much reminiscent of Tika learning about Matthew’s injury in season 44. One tribe’s bad news is another tribe’s miracle, sparing Bhanu from an almost certain elimination.
Tribe Breakdown
Nami
Gia: Nami has had many ups and downs in these past three episodes, but nothing could have prepared me for how this chapter ended for them. It seemed like we were starting to see Randen and Venus ready to go to war with the rest of the tribe should they lose an immunity challenge. That didn’t happen, and what we did get killed the momentum of what was brewing. With Randen being medically evacuated, the Beware Advantage is back in play, and Venus is on her own again. However, based on the previews of the next episode, we may be seeing some blindsides happening sooner rather than later.
Siga
Christine: This was a pretty quiet episode for Siga, other than the group idol hunt flashback that revealed Jem as the owner of the beware advantage. They’re still very much kumbaya; they have fun together, they look for idols together, and they even gossip about Bhanu together! With Nami losing Randen in this episode, they’re now the only tribe still fully intact. I’m hopeful we’ll see them go to tribal before the merge so we can get an idea of where everyone’s allegiances actually lie, but they’re looking pretty dominant at this point.
Yanu
Christine: Yanu may have been spared from tribal in this episode, but they still brought their usual antics. At the top of the episode, a bewildered Bhanu recovered from the Jess fake idol play and the revelation that the players could lie to Jeff. This was followed up by Q telling Bhanu to his face that he’s the Philip to his Boston Rob, and Bhanu descendde into a spiral of paranoia even before they lost the challenge.
And then, after losing yet another challenge, Q considerde falling on his sword since he felt responsible for the challenge loss. Yanu just can’t get it together, and Randen’s medevac ensured we get at least one more week of these wackadoodles. I really hope they stop going to tribal, though, because it’s getting a little dry to see them losing over and over again.
Top 3 Contestants
Jem
Christine: In one of this week’s weirder moments editing-wise, we jumped back four days ago to see Jem find Siga’s beware advantage. While they didn’t bother to include this until now and cut down on some earlier scenes, I do not know. But while she’s lost her vote, Jem could hold a lot of power on the Vibes Tribe if they lose and she’s able to secure the idol before attending tribal, especially if she stays close to Maria and the advantage she secured for herself on her journey in the premiere.
Bhanu
Gia: Bhanu was, without a doubt, the star of this week’s episode, for better or worse. Just last week, we saw him scoff at the idea of being too emotional, and now those emotions have come out in full force. It seemed like everything was going wrong for Bhanu here, from losing his vote to Yanu losing yet another immunity challenge. The craziest part about it? He might not even have gone home had Yanu actually voted someone off. Just another day at the office with Yanu, I suppose.
Venus
Gia: Things are going from bad to worse for Venus on the Nami beach. While she’s still on the outs within her tribe, she and Randen had an ace up their sleeve with the Beware advantage. Her sights are set on Hunter as a potential target, which would inevitably result in a major shakeup in Nami’s power structure. However, now that Randen has been medically evacuated, it leaves her back at square one. Now, let’s see if she can find the advantage herself (with some helpful hints from Randen).
Fallen Comrades
Randen
Christine: As soon as Randen started talking about his nerve, I was fairly certain he would be pulled. While I’m relieved it ended up not being a cervical disk issue as medical feared (as someone who has that exact issue), they made the right call to pull him. Nerve issues are no joke, even if his problem was resolved relatively quickly and without surgery. While it’s hard to tell just how much his exit impacts the overall dynamics of Nami moving forward since they never went to tribal, it definitely will have a negative effect on Venus’ game, who was very much relying on Randen as her only true ally and a potential advantage holder.
Gia: Medical evacuations are a necessary evil in Survivor, but they never make for a fun watch. Randen seemed like a player who was building momentum over on the Nami tribe, and I was so excited to see how his game would play out. To see the unceremonious end to his time on the show was devastating, even if his exit interview proved that medical made the right decision. He was a player who was gaming hard and never gave up, even when he was on the outs. I hope we see him return in the future, but he should know his time in the game was so appreciated.
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