Welcome to Season 46’s Next Time On Survivor weekly feature on the Inside Survivor site! If you’re new around here, I’m Steph from sunny, tropical, humid Singapore. This is a tiny space where I give my best attempts at understanding preview trailers and make my predictions for the show’s next episodes.
Episode 4’s NTOS trailer opens with Moriah saying, “We found something mysterious… our brains melted,” as the tribe digs by an interesting-looking tree. In another preview, Jem is seen standing behind, looking on as they dig. She reveals, “Nobody knows that I found the advantage first and then replanted it,” explaining how she sent the other players on a wild goose chase and had to keep a straight face as it happened.
It seems likely that the spot where her tribemates are huddled over is where Jem re-hid the box she uncovered from finding the Beware Advantage. She probably led her tribe to those twiggy trees for them to discover the locked box. It won’t be unusual for such a mystery item to be part of new era twists on Survivor. I’m reminded of Survivor 44’s cage idol setup. The Siga tribe may think they’ve collectively found an idol, allowing Jem to somewhat hide in plain sight, maybe even sabotage someone else to deflect attention away from her as she retrieves the real idol.
I’m excited for her to pull this off! I hope she continues what she achieved in Episode 3 and keeps this secret to herself. After all, Siga seems to be a strong tribe in challenges on a winning streak, there’s no urgent need to topple the status quo just yet.
Over on Nami, the NTOS trailer spotlights Soda, saying, “We’re all vibing because I love everyone,” but immediately undercuts this by having Tevin call her manipulating. Hunter doesn’t react too well either, showing a disconnect as Soda rattles on. In another preview, Tevin has a confessional about getting Soda out. This gains some traction, as Liz comments that “she’s the one to beat,” and if Nami lets Soda reach the merge, she’ll get to Final Tribal Council.
It seems like Tevin is confident that the three of them, Tevin, Liz, and Hunter, are on board to make this vote happen. Normally, I would say preview trailers often clickbait us and lead us on a diametrically different path from what the episode really will be about. But I do think targeting Soda will at least be a strong consideration, especially if spearheaded by Tevin, who seems to be the charismatic glue bonding with everyone on Nami right now.
Tevin’s a strong player who knows the game and is very aligned with the new-era impulse of getting potential threats out when numbers provide opportunities before it’s too late down the line. He may even convince Venus to join in the plan as well. She believes she’s on the bottom of the tribe, unable to connect with anyone except Randen who was unfortunately evacuated.
If Nami loses immunity, I think the majority three will choose to split the votes between Soda and Venus. My sense is that Venus will be understated and kept around (to the other player’s detriments and perhaps regret later on), so Soda may get blindsided, as Tevin and co prioritises getting a more outwardly social threat out first.
On the trainwreck Yanu tribe, the NTOS trailer shows Bhanu close to tears lamenting, “I said something wrong,” inciting shocked reactions all around from the other three tribe members, Tiffany, Q, and Kenzie. Bhanu reveals he overshared during the journey he took in Episode 3. He told Liz and Ben all about Yanu’s tribe dynamics, throwing all three of his tribemates under the bus. He claimed Kenzie’s running the tribe and identified Q and Tiffany as an inseparably tight duo.
The aghast reactions we see are completely valid, even though they sort of expected Bhanu’s actions. I think Bhanu’s coming clean, overwhelmed with guilt, and may want to start afresh on an honest page after receiving a new lease of life after the last episode. I wouldn’t be surprised if he also reveals that he lost his vote, in his idea of being transparent with his tribemates.
I stand by my prediction from last week that Bhanu will be voted out the next instance Yanu goes to tribal council. Even though Q and Tiffany were considering blindsiding Kenzie for being a social threat, Bhanu is clearly too big of a wildcard that needs coddling and spoon-feeding just so he can function on the same wavelength as the rest.
For these reasons, I think the Yanu tribe is going to cut their sunk cost and send Bhanu home. After all, they can do damage control with the other tribes’ players and point fingers at Bhanu much more easily when he’s not present at the swap or merge.
What do you think will happen in Episode 4? Leave a comment with your predictions!
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I do agree that Bhanu will go first chance they get, but I don’t see him going this soon for that reason I think Green tribe will lose and Charlie and Marie will be the swing vote between the men and the women siding with the woman and sending Tim out. If orange loses then I still think Liz will get the boot. I think the Soda thing is just a knee jerk reaction to something that happened. Maybe Venus finds the beware advantage that I assume is re hidden now that Randen is out. And makes it seem like Soda is sketchy?