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 season premiere.
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Top 3 Moments
Survivor Social Hour
Gia: The new reward twist has finally been revealed! Though I was personally hoping for a tribe swap, we ended up with a brief consolidation of teams during the reward instead. Close enough, I guess. The three tribes were randomly assorted into two teams, and the half that won the challenge had the opportunity to strategize and share information at the Survivor Sanctuary. The reward was called the Survivor Social Hour, and while there was definitely ample opportunity to get to know the other players, it was mostly used as a time to cause more drama between tribemates. All in all, I loved this new twist, and hope we get to see it again in the future.
Gata Offers a Trade
Gia: Gata found themselves facing quite the dilemma regarding their chicken reward. The chickens were not laying any eggs, and since Sierra was morally opposed to eating them, they were becoming more of a liability than an asset to the team. At the immunity challenge, the tribe asked Jeff if they could trade the chickens for 24 eggs, and eventually, they negotiated their way to 18 eggs. Personally, I still think the number is a little high, which leads me to ask… is Jeff going soft in the new era? Either way, it was a fun little segment to shake up the monotony of the immunity challenges.
Andy Flips the Script
Christine: Comeback Kid Andy was once again presented with safety despite his rough start to the game, this time thanks to Sam negotiating with Sierra (with his idol to back him up) to vote out Anika instead. Andy still played his part of the damsel in distress to Anika and Rachel, correctly anticipating that they would throw out Sam’s name to him to keep him from scrambling. Little did they know, Andy was already safe and in on the real plan. To top it off, he sent Anika out of the game with a fun voting confessional as part of a massive blindside that literally left her speechless.
Tribe Breakdown
Tuku
Christine: Despite not going to tribal since the TK vote, Tuku had a lot of drama this week thanks to Tiyana throwing Gabe under the bus at the Survivor Social Hour for his idol hunting and general untrustworthiness. Tiyana miscalculated how close Sue and Gabe were, as Sue ran this info to Gabe when they returned from the reward. Caroline attempted to mediate by having Tiyana apologize to Gabe, but Gabe didn’t seem to want to forgive her anytime soon. Heading into the merge, this is bad news for any hope of Tuku solidarity in the coming weeks.
Lavo
Christine: On paper, Teeny was left on the outs after the Kishan blindside, and Rome tried to capitalize on this by further isolating them. Rome ended up doing a bit too much in this regard when he tried to convince both Sol and Genevieve to vote out Teeny next, causing the two of them to compare notes and realize that Rome was trying to run the tribe. This allowed Sol and Genevieve to strengthen their bonds with Teeny by running this info to Teeny when they got back from the reward.
Rome is a true chaos agent coming into this merge, and whether Lavo sticks with him or finally cuts him loose is one of the major questions heading into this next episode.
Gata
Gia: I had a sneaking suspicion that Gata was going to go to tribal council at least one more time before the merge hit, and this hunch turned out to be correct. The tension between the two sides had been building since episode 2, so it was only a matter of time before the tribe’s fractures cracked wide open. Now it feels like Part 1 of the Gata Saga has come to a rather surprising conclusion, but I’m incredibly excited to see how each of these players navigates the fallout of their second tribal council and plays the next stage of the game.
Top 3 Players
Tiyana
Gia: Bad news for Tiyana fans (me): Tiyana is very clearly on the bottom of Tuku. The good news: she’s made mergatory and has the opportunity to turn the tides for herself. She used the Survivor Social Hour to throw Gabe under the bus, only for Sue to do the same to her once they were back at camp. She tried to apologize at Caroline’s insistence, but Gabe didn’t believe a word of it. Now that tribes are about to be dissolved, her best bet is to jump ship and find a new home with other outsiders. It may be a long shot during a round filled with so much uncertainty, but it’s likely the best shot she has.
Caroline
Christine: Maintaining her strong alliance with Sue, Caroline used the Social Hour reward and the subsequent Gabe and Tiyana drama to position herself well socially going into the merge. We saw her form crucial cross-tribal bonds with Teeny and Rachel and worked with Tiyana to try to repair her relationship with Gabe while keeping herself out of the crossfire. Despite her quiet start to the season, Caroline is emerging as a real player to watch as we enter the next phase of the game.
Sierra
Gia: Sierra had spent most of her time during the pre-merge in the middle of two alliances, one being The Breadwinners and the other consisting of herself, Sam, and Andy. She was almost able to get to mergatory unscathed, but an ill-timed immunity loss forced her hand. Her bond with Sam, plus Anika not having a vote, contributed to her final choice to save Andy. But time will tell if the decision she made was the correct one for her long-term game.
Fallen Comrades
Anika
Christine: Anika was a fun pre-merge character, and while she never quite became the full-blown villain she alluded to potentially becoming in the pre-season, she still brought us a good amount of drama and an iconic, dramatic exit. Losing her vote on the journey was a huge blow to her game, giving Sierra very little reason to vote with her even if Sam’s idol wasn’t a factor here. Anika clashed with Sam a bit too much and positioned herself as an obvious threat, and the argument for taking Andy out due to challenge strength was a pretty ineffective one given how close the merge is.
The one thing that could have saved her here was to prioritize building her relationship with Sam more, but even then, she would still be vote-less and might have just lost her ally, Rachel, instead. There’s not much room to maneuver on these small tribes, and even less when you lose your vote, and Anika, unfortunately, got herself in the perfect spot to be targeted here.
Gia: Anika was by and far one of my favorite players of the season, so to see her go right before mergeatory is heartbreaking. The confessional queen was a star from the beginning to her very shocking end, just as her iconic exit would suggest. She was a strong-willed player and formidable competitor, and it would’ve been incredible to see what she would’ve achieved at the individual stage of the game.
I especially loved the friendship she developed with Rachel, who remained loyal to her throughout their time in the game. The solidarity between the two women, especially as two women of color, was something I looked forward to every time Gata appeared on my screen. I will miss her so much, and can only hope that this is not the last time we see her on television.
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