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
Hunter Finds an Idol
Christine: The announcement of the merge(atory) always brings big excitement on Survivor, but no one was more excited than Hunter, who could now snag his idol. His hunt required him to search in a pretty public area, with the editors juxtaposing his search with a tense Venus and Soda confrontation happening at the same time. Glad to see Nami decided to continue their messiness even in their final moments as a tribe! In the end, Hunter secured his idol without anyone noticing, but he still couldn’t vote due to losing it a second time on the Journey last week.
Siga Strong?
Gia: True to their moniker of being the “Good Vibes Tribe,” Siga felt that their best bet going into merge was to appear as a united front. This included everyone lying about the last episode’s votes, claiming to outsiders that it was a unanimous decision. This was a detriment not only to Moriah’s game but to Siga as a whole since this only made the other two tribes more willing to break the Green tribe apart. Losing Morah may decrease the remaining Siga member’s threat level for the time being, but they weren’t doing themselves any favors here.
Venus targets Charlie
Gia: By the time the merge feast was done, most people were in agreement that it was either Moriah or Venus getting voted out. While Venus was obviously not happy hearing her name, she also did not want to vote out Moriah. In the grand scheme of things, why should they vote out Moriah, an outlier on Siga, when Charlie is also vulnerable and in a much stronger position? It makes sense, but it was the wrong place, the wrong time, and possibly the wrong person to make that suggestion. Moriah still ended up getting voted out, but for a while, it appeared like this may have been the final nail in Venus’ (game) coffin.
Top 3 Contestants
Venus
Christine: Venus did not necessarily play amazingly here, but she sure as hell stuck to her guns and made for some good TV. On the bottom since day one and a viable target for this vote thanks to being on the losing mergatory team, Venus was really not in any position to try to direct the vote away from Mo and onto Charlie. But it was refreshing to see someone on the bottom push back against a vote that didn’t make a whole lot of sense for her game in favor of one she actually wanted. Sure, Venus ultimately lacked the social capital to make a Charlie vote happen, but it was fun to see her try!
Tevin
Gia: We haven’t seen much of Tevin in the past few episodes, largely due to Nami continuously winning immunity. But now he’s back in the driver’s seat, with an excellent position both within Nami and the Advantage Journey alliance. He navigated mergatory perfectly and is set up well for the long term in the merge. Granted, the double tribal council next week could throw a wrench in his plans, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Tevin becomes the one to beat as the numbers dwindle.
Tim
Christine: Tim brought an old-school mindset to the game this week, even if he fumbled a bit gameplay-wise. It wasn’t great that he failed to even fill Maria in on the Journey alliance before mergatory, and it was even worse that someone else (Q) had to be the one to do it for him. But Tim’s perspective on not jumping into an alliance too quickly and preferring to take his time to settle in with post-merge allies is not a route that many New Era Survivor players take now that the game is so fast-paced. Time will tell if this will pay off in the long run or if his hesitancy to commit will be his downfall.
Advantage Watch
Extra Vote
Christine: With Maria playing her Extra Vote at the Jem blindside, Tevin’s is the only one in play at this stage of the game. I’m not holding my breath for it to make a big impact given how unpowerful of an advantage it typically is, but stranger things have happened.
Idols
Gia: With Jem leaving last week with an idol in her pocket, the idol count for the season was officially down to one… only for it to be back at two just as quickly. Hunter was able to find the immunity idol on Nami right before the other tribes made it to their camp, and of course, Tiffany and Idoleisha are still sitting pretty while chaos brews around them.
Fallen Comrades
Moriah
Christine: Moriah had a great opportunity here to play up being left out of the Siga vote to position herself as the least threatening member of the “vibe” tribe. Unfortunately, she squandered that opportunity by going along with the “unanimous vote” ruse. She gave the impression she wasn’t on the bottom, while her former tribemates were more than willing to throw her under the bus because she actually was on the bottom.
The Aubry thing was a bit blown out of proportion, but it just gave people another reason to target her. Mo came to her senses during tribal and backpedaled on the unanimous vote “Siga strong” story, but at that point, it was far too little, far too late.
Gia: Moriah was a fun character playing a quiet game, and while that was enough to get her through the team stage, she fell just short when it came to mergatory. I understand her wanting to play it safe to avoid being thrown under the bus by Siga, but that’s what ended up happening anyway. She just needed to be a little more selfish and a little less Siga Strong, especially on a season with players as chaotic as those on 46.
Her legacy in the game is cemented as another victim of mergatory. But I hope we can use this as an opportunity to address whether this twist is even needed after six seasons of it. In another season without this merge format, Moriah very well could’ve made it past this vote.
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