We survived the Earn the Merge twist, but there’s still one more hurdle to get through before the post-merge can really begin: the split double Tribal round that’s basically just a late tribe swap. It’s not the worst twist, certainly better than 90% of the nonsense we’ve had to deal with in recent years, but it does rob the early merge of its weight when random draws decide the game rather than the collective of players. But maybe this episode will deliver despite the less optimal format.
On the newly named Nuinui Tribe, Venus is livid about the one vote she got. And she’s ready to point fingers. All ten of them, including thumbs. They’re aimed right at her old rival Soda because who else could it be? Soda swears it’s not her, and the two women head off into the jungle to hash things out as Tevin enjoys the show. As long as the ladies are fighting, Nami remains splintered, and he’s free to make his moves without a target on his back.
But the drama will be snuffed soon because Charlie feels bad for causing all the tension and owns up to his move, explaining that it was just a fail-safe backup plan in the event all hell broke loose. Q pulls Charlie aside and lectures him about the importance of keeping secrets and letting drama play out. Nami’s cracks are still there, but they could’ve been even bigger… but maybe not as big as the target Q is painting on his back with all the blunt coach talk as of late.
Later that night, Ben awakes from a nightmare in the middle of a panic attack. Kenzie rushes to his aid and sits with him by the fire. Despite how cutthroat she’s been so far, she’s still in touch with the human element of the game and genuinely cares for her competition. Her dragon side is lurking in wait, but for now, she’s all mermaid when others need her support.
Around comes the immunity challenge, and it’s the same format as last season’s double Tribal. Two winners, but with the overall winner earning a lunch and guaranteed jury spots for their group. You know the drill. Between legendary first boot Jelinsky being name-dropped several episodes into the season, Q starting an alphabet game and everyone immediately derailing it, Tim shouting out everyone’s family like it’s a Big Brother eviction episode, and Jeff learning about Black culture, it’s a really fun challenge. But the fun can’t last forever, and it’s ultimately Kenzie and Maria winning immunity for the night.
Kenzie, Q, Tiffany, Hunter, Ben, and Tim head back to the old Siga camp to decide who gets the last pre-jury spot. Once again, Yanu holds all the cards. Kenzie’s proud of herself for overcoming so much despite a terrible start, and Q threw the challenge to assess where his allies’ loyalties really lie. They’re ready to play, and it seems Ben is the obvious vote here, with Hunter and Tim in the Journey Six alliance.
But Tim will push back and campaign for a betrayal of Hunter, wanting to vote a Nami member out to keep Siga’s numbers under the guise of targeting the biggest challenge threat. Q pushes back harder, assuring us that he could easily beat Hunter in challenges if need be. And as for Tim? Well, he’s clearly trying to position himself with all the alliances in the game, so… maybe Tim could be sacrificed instead if he’s so eager to go against the Six?
Q links back up with his Yanus and tells them what’s going on: it’s between Ben and Tim, so let the debate begin. Tiffany wants Ben gone, figuring he’ll be harder to take out later on if he gets the chance to build more relationships. And Tim’s playing so transparently. You know where he stands because he shows his cards. Ben? Way harder to read and way more threatening at the end. But Tim’s playing all angles and flipping on a dime, so Ben’s a lot easier to deal with if you’re interested in a less chaotic game.
Cut to one conversation with Ben later, and now Q’s ready to flip on a dime, too. Ben’s too comfortable, so now’s the time to strike when he thinks the vote is on Hunter (who’s basically just sitting back and wondering if he should play his idol or not). Tiffany is down, but she’s not here for the sudden change of plans. Yanu is supposed to be a trio, and it’s not really a trio if Q comes up with a new scheme after every conversation and tries to dictate the votes. At some point, Tiff and Kenzie must play their own games. So tonight, it’s really their call about who goes.
But that’s only one half of the story because back at Nuinui Beach, Maria, Charlie, Tevin, Soda, Venus, and Liz have their own schemes to work through. On paper, it’s Charlie going home. Four Namis against two Sigas and one Siga has immunity, so bye-bye Swiftie. But Tevin’s ready to make a move, knowing the true layout of the tribe. Maria’s in the Journey Six, and she’s close to Charlie. Those are numbers he can work with. Liz is a free agent coasting along, so she can be scooped up, too. That leaves Venus and Soda, two people Tevin wanted out weeks ago. And both are primed to be blindsided as the first trophy on his wall.
Soda herself is putting in the work on Charlie and Maria, hoping they can all vote Venus out and make the camp a little calmer. Venus can’t be trusted, Tevin agrees, and boom, that’s four votes on the tribe pariah without even breaking a sweat. But Soda should definitely be sweating here because Tevin has options she doesn’t even know about. Venus might annoy Tevin with how often she speaks her mind and targets his allies, but she has no social capital to make moves happen. Soda though? She’s a real threat, someone who can gain numbers and counter the game he’s playing with a similar playstyle. With Liz on board to remove Soda, the plan is in motion.
And yet, it will be even less simple because Venus decides she wants to make big moves, too, even if she’s playing with fire by doing so. Her big move is pulling in the two Sigas to blindside Tevin in a 3-2-1 vote, Cirie Fields style. Unfortunately for Venus, Maria is turned off by her blunt approach to campaigning, and Charlie can only cover his face and cringe as Venus makes another enemy. If Maria is the New Era Denise, she’s just found her New Era Abi. So, with her plan flopping and Maria cutting off any chance of working together, Venus is forced to go for Soda instead, which puts Charlie and Maria in the power position. Venus or Soda? The conniving pariah or the social threat? Tevin’s way or Soda’s way?
At the first Tribal, it’s all love and tears as Kenzie is applauded for her human compassion and impressive challenge win. She’s got a tough vote to make after forging bonds with all the targets, but that just means her dragon side must come out again. Ultimately, Yanu decides to stick with the original plan and votes Tim out, leaving Ben out of the loop as he and Tim target Hunter to no avail.
The second Tribal is less of a hug fest. Liz says she feels so safe she left her bag at camp, which earns some weird looks from Charlie playing up his poor, sad, obvious boot routine. Meanwhile, all the Namis are playing up the Nami strong mentality for each other, making the impending blindside that much sweeter. And speaking of sweet, the victim is Soda, who leaves thinking Venus plotted her demise. Tevin, who came in wanting to make the first big blindside of the merge, is seeing red about the lack of credit he’s getting here… even though he seemingly voted with Soda to score jury points and/or avoid a Shot in the Dark disaster.
Honestly? A really great episode! The double-elimination rounds can feel lame when they end up taking out obvious bottom feeders and just giving the powers that be even more control, but this one was a lot of fun. Neither boot was a total shock, given that Tim and Soda had “blindside victim” written all over them for weeks. Still, the dysfunction of Nami and Yanu in their respective groups made for great TV as everyone plotted themselves into and out of pitfalls and drove each other mad. Cap it off with a challenge full of hilarious moments, and you’ve got a great 90 minutes of Survivor on your hands.
Next week seems like another fun one. We’ve got Hunter going full Tony with his spy nest, Liz finally breaking out of her quiet enigma role and causing drama, and another round of Q playing with fire as his mob boss routine drives his allies up a wall. If you’ve been down on this season through the pre-merge, now’s the time to wake up and tune in because this cast is wacky, they’re playing hard, and they are delivering good TV after a slow burn first half.
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