Survivor 46 continues with its second episode, and this one’s an extra long two-hour special! Not because it had the content for it but because the schedule demanded it. So, after an already overloaded premiere, does a two-hour episode clean up the mess? Or does it make the mess even bigger? Or perhaps it is a case of both? Either way, the opening credits are back, and that always sparks joy.
Starting with the least relevant tribe this week, we have Siga. They’re satisfied with second place so far, Ben’s making fire and living his best island rockstar life, and dynamics haven’t really changed since the first three days. The women are united, the men are united, and Charlie’s right in the center of it all.
But Charlie’s not dumb enough to bet on the women keeping him safe if Siga goes on a losing streak, so he’s ready to play the middle with a partner: super mom Maria. Pitching themselves as the New Era Malcolm and Denise, these two are the power couple of Siga. Well, aside from Metallica and Taylor Swift, who have dozens of their songs name-dropped in one of the most obvious “this episode is two hours long, so here’s some filler, I guess” segments of all time. 90 minutes is fantastic, but two hours for a non-premiere? I think that’s pushing it.
Meanwhile, Nami is trying to enjoy their winning streak and even dresses up their idol to show tribe spirit, but not everyone’s in high spirits. Venus is still sitting on the bottom and nobody is willing to talk game with her, even tribe leader Tevin, who seems to pride himself on being the social butterfly of the group. And if that guy isn’t willing to entertain you, you’re in a bad spot. And although Soda speaks highly of Venus as a person, she’s not willing to ruin the stronger relationships she has in the name of defending the obvious bottom feeder.
So, with her social standing in the trash, Venus is off to find an idol as a last resort, but she won’t be searching alone as the rest of the tribe gets in on the action. Unfortunately for Venus, her rival Randen is the one to find Nami’s Beware Advantage, presenting him with the same locked box idol we saw on Yanu last week.
Surveying his overall standing, Randen makes a surprising choice. Tevin, Hunter, and Soda are a trio. Liz is an annoying wildcard who “talks like a billboard,” in his words. So that leaves Venus as his first, last, and only choice for an ally. And Venus, of course, is overjoyed to be thrown a lifeline, and potentially an idol too, if the stars align.
Then we have Yanu, sitting at an emotional low after a miserable first three days. Bhanu is paranoid despite the unanimous vote to send the legendary Jelinsky home. Kenzie will placate him for now but doesn’t trust him enough to make any promises about a long-term stay on the tribe. Across the beach, Tiffany and Q realize how socially savvy Kenzie is and wonder if she should go sooner rather than later to avoid her dominating at the merge. And then there’s Jess, eating ants off leaves and struggling to connect with people as usual.
Kenzie hikes out to the rocks and has an emotional release. No food, no sleep, stressful strategy… Not much fun. But the game moves on with or without you, so she’s playing hard. Gathering Bhanu and Jess, she proposes a three-person alliance against Q and Tiffany, just to keep her options open in the event she must jump ship. But despite being handed an alliance on a silver platter, Jess plays risky and runs straight to Q and Tiffany to blow up Kenzie’s game. If Yanu loses again, Kenzie will be her primary target. Strike the head of the snake, get the big threat out, and move forward on a more even playing field. A bold play, but if Jess has the social capital to pull it off is the question.
After what feels like a week, we finally get our immunity challenge. It’s an aggravating arch puzzle that’s caused major meltdowns on international seasons, and it doesn’t disappoint this season either. After an eternity of screaming, dropping pieces, screaming some more, and messing up basic spelling, Nami wins with Siga in second yet again.
Yanu struggles from the jump, ironically losing a challenge where having a super-tall guy with long arms would’ve been a godsend. Jess gets the feeling she’s in danger after Bhanu and Tiffany’s emotionally charged meltdowns directed her way, but in a tribe this unhinged, there might be hope for her yet.
But first, we have to deal with some residual Nami drama. Venus tried giving orders in the challenge, but nobody listened to her and crushed her toe instead. To make it more insulting, Soda seems to hate the idea of letting Venus hold the immunity idol on the mat, having ripped it out of her hands twice in a row. Even life of the party Tevin is over Venus, discounting her complaints as senseless whining that only serve to ruin the mood. But Venus isn’t socially aloof. She knows what’s up. The writing on the wall has been seen. If she makes the merge, she’s flipping on Nami and burning them all. And for the sake of satisfying storytelling, I hope she lives to seize that day.
Meanwhile, on this season’s messy loser tribe, the Yanus have some choices to make. Jess is the obvious choice to go after two lackluster challenge performances and a lack of social connections. Kenzie and Tiffany team up to make a fake idol for Jess to find, just so she won’t play her Shot in the Dark. But Jess can’t find it despite their best attempts, forcing Q to run through the jungle and give it to her himself, acting as though he’s saving her life in the game if she votes for Kenzie with him.
Jess debates if the idol is even real, given it looks suspiciously like the beads on their tribe props, so she won’t stop strategizing. Tiffany’s feeling down after the challenge, fearing her meltdown over the puzzle will result in the other tribes assuming she’s just the stereotype of “the angry Black woman” and not a complex person like anyone else. Jess approaches her and offers an olive branch with Kenzie’s name on it, but Tiffany pushes back and throws Bhanu’s name out on account of his emotional reactions so far… which gets back to Bhanu via Jess. Oops.
With the mess in full swing, the vote comes down to Q. Jess and Bhanu are willing to vote for Kenzie, but Q will only vote her out if he can get Tiffany on board to avoid burning his number one ally. But the pros and cons are obvious to him. Voting Kenzie out would secure Tiffany as his ally and not Kenzie’s, and Kenzie could be unbeatable later on. On the other hand, Jess is weaker in challenges, and Kenzie could offer Yanu some social help in the swap and early merge.
But at Tribal, the messiness continues spiraling out of control as Bhanu’s paranoia spikes, leading him to a mid-Tribal meltdown. First comes a passionate speech about his emotions not being a weakness in the game. Fair enough, but not the best timing. Then comes Bhanu running around and checking in with everyone except Jess, which exposes the overall plan of the night: Jess going home unanimously. Bhanu’s last-second spiraling can’t save her, though, and after a fake idol play, she’s out the door, having never stood much of a chance.
Jess was such a likable presence, and I like seeing socially awkward people on the show for the sake of representing different types of humans and not discounting someone from playing because of their neurodivergency. However, as a player, Jess was out of her depth on this tribe, and more capable strategists like Kenzie, Q, and Tiffany ran circles around her despite her attempts to spearhead a blindside. It was a case of too little too late as she struggled to open up and forge connections, leading to a vote in which she had little chance of surviving, even with some valid options on the table.
So yeah, two hours of Survivor… A bit too long with only one challenge and one Tribal. But the out-of-nowhere petty drama in the second half of the episode saved this one from being a drag. Moving forward, we have some likable underdogs to root for, some hot messes to look forward to, fleshed-out dynamics on every tribe, and some villains to potentially root against should the show finally remember how fun a good villain can be.
Survivor 46 has done a lot so far, enough to be overwhelming at points, but I’d rather be overwhelmed by camp life scenes than advantages, so I’m satisfied with this season’s opening act so far!
Written by
I’m sorry but I am really struggling with this season already. I am so over this 3 tribe format, it’s old and boring. To add to this I think this is the most annoying cast ever, they just seem super fake. I quite liked Jess as she seemed natural despite her social awkardness.
Also, Jeff said they aren’t casting villains anymore, but if anything is to go from this episode is that they are casting nasty people instead.
I have watched this show since day dot and this is the first season that I’m not sure I am going to get through it. Maybe it’s the 2 hour episodes but when you compare it to Aus Survivor it’s just such a drag already. Aus Survivor (whilst not perfect with it’s abundance of useless twists and non-elimination eps) is running rings around American Survivor. It just feels so bland ever since they made all these changes. I don’t see how Jeff and co can think this is the best way forward.
I reckon it will be dead in the water after season 50 if they keep up with this, I know I likely won’t be watching.
Love your articles Cory, I feel very similar. 46’s messiness is mostly camplife and dynamics within the group which is much better than an advantage overload.
If Survivor continues with two 2-hour episodes for the first two weeks, they should add more contestants so we get double tribal episodes in these long episodes. 41 had two tribals in the first episode and it was very exciting.