Tuku returns to camp after the previous week’s big blindside and hashes out the drama. Tiyana’s stressed after such an emotional night, Kyle’s confused and on the bottom, Gabe’s glad he didn’t join the Survivor 46 crew by leaving with an unplayed idol, and Sue and Caroline are hyped over pulling off their first move of the season. But the drama’s not over yet because Sue’s not going to forgive and forget Kyle for putting her name down.
The next day, Kyle is desperate for salvation, and Gabe might be willing to throw him a life vest. He’s got Sue and Caroline as a solid duo who will vote his way, but Tiyana? She can be the expendable next boot compared to the more fiercely loyal player in Kyle. Unfortunately for Gabe, Kyle’s not about to let Tiyana take the fall. He still believes in his alliance with her despite the betrayal, so he takes Gabe’s information and runs it right to Sue and Caroline, pitching an alliance with him and Tiyana.
As an added bonus, he tells the duo that Gabe views them as his goats. The pitch falls on deaf ears, though, as Sue’s still not ready to trust anything from Kyle’s mouth, and honestly, I can’t blame her. She’s got a good position; she’s making moves with Caroline as Gabe takes the heat, thinking he’s in control, and Kyle can only offer her a worse position in a bigger alliance.
Meanwhile, the Gata Tribe is drama central. Anika gets fed up with the rough sleeping conditions and starts giving orders to shift the bamboo and improve their camp in general, and Sam’s not here for it. It’s a beach, not a hotel, and they have other things to worry about. But not the tribe’s clothesline, which quickly becomes Anika’s next passion project and Sam’s next source of ire.
But Andy’s loving the tension, seeing a crack he can exploit as more data flows into his spinning mind. But while he’s tight with Sam, he can’t work with Sam alone. He’s a package deal with Sierra, and she’s not so keen on bringing Andy into the fold. Thankfully, Andy’s got some unhinged ideas in mind, and as a token of trust, he passes her his Shot in the Dark. Ballsy as hell? Sure. But it actually works, and Sierra’s finally open to a proper alliance.
Then there’s Lavo, aka the Roman Empire. If you thought this tribe was anything but the Rome show, I’m sorry for you, but Rome’s got fishing gear, and he’s ready to show off his skills to the entire tribe. And sure, Rome has the skills to catch food, but social grace isn’t his forte, so his efforts go largely underappreciated as everyone just wants him to stop talking. To make things worse, he catches on to that attitude and takes it personally, opting to eat most of his catch himself as he deems the rest of the tribe lazy and ungrateful.
The ultimate target of Rome’s ire is Aysha, his sworn nemesis from day one. She obviously can’t stand him; he can’t stand her, and he’s going to savor that fish as close to her face as possible just to rub it in. And to make things even worse, he’s got an idol, so he can get away with all of his shenanigans without receiving immediate karma.
Surely things couldn’t get more dire for the Rome haters on Lavo, right? Wrong. It’s journey time! In a perfect twist of fate, Rome is selected to go by pure luck, along with Kyle and Anika. All the bottom feeders head out to play for an advantage and share information, leading to Anika learning the rest of the cast thinks Sam and Sierra are a showmance when both of them actually have partners back home. How scandalous, and probably the reason that duo will be targeted should they make a swap or merge.
But when it comes to the advantage game, I hate to say it… but it really sucks. I thought we left the “Oops, you’re forced to lose your vote if luck of the draw says so, and you can’t opt out of the game, sorry for you!” twists behind us, but it’s back with a vengeance as both Anika and Kyle lose their votes. But all is not lost, because they can draw again for a better chance at an advantage… at the risk of another lost vote.
Kyle and Anika can’t afford another setback, so they cut their losses and call it a day. But Rome? Oh, his luck is off the charts this season as he gets a Vote Steal for free, giving him all the power in the tribe despite being Lavo’s number-one enemy.
Back at camp, Kyle tells his tribe the truth to earn some trust but probably makes himself an even easier target. Anika only tells Sierra and Rachel about her own lost vote while Sam and Sierra get frustrated at the bubbling showmance rumors, and Rome… continues to be Rome. He says he didn’t play the advantage game in public but pulls Teeny aside and reveals the truth. Thus, Teeny’s put in a rough position once more. Rome’s annoying, but he’s got all the power. For the sake of Teeny’s own game, they might have to work with the agent of messiness for the time being, which involves some tough decisions regarding the first out of their tribe.
Those decisions will be made today, because Lavo gets swept in the challenge and completes the first Tribal trifecta, finally ending the streak of loser tribe pre-merges as all tribes have their dynamics explored early on with actual payoff. Without Rome on the table, despite giving them every reason to humiliate him with a 5-1 vote, the dynamics break down into multiple options. Teeny and Kishan are a duo, Rome and Genevieve are a duo, and Aysha and Sol are a duo. The first two duos are tight, leaving Sol and Aysha on the outs as they neither hold advantage or the power of riding the middle.
First, there’s the idea of targeting Aysha while flushing Sol’s Shot in the Dark for the future. Solid plan, but there are reasons to take Sol out instead, namely how hard he’ll look for the replanted idol after Rome plays his own, making him a bigger threat in the long term. The majority agrees so Rome heads out to get Sol on board with voting Aysha as a failsafe, but his pitch is so overbearing and smarmy that Sol immediately cracks the case, clocks his game, and calls him out. Sol’s a poker player, and Rome’s got no poker face.
While Rome can be as messy as he wants, he’s still not the ultimate decision-maker here. Teeny is. With Kishan on their side, they make the pitch to save Aysha and get her as an ally for the next round with a heads up that her name is being brought up. All Aysha has to do is vote her ally Sol out, and she’s in a solid trio alliance… but Aysha pushes back. She wants Genevieve out to remove one of Rome’s allies, so she won’t commit to Teeny’s plan, putting them in another tough spot. They want to work with one of their favorite podcasters, but if Aysha’s unwilling to let Sol go and give Teeny some agency here, Aysha might have to be the victim tonight instead.
The victim Aysha becomes, voted out in a 3-1-1-1 vote to the chagrin of the fandom at large. Yeah, it stings. Aysha was one of the most hyped players in ages because of her RHAP connections, and it all came crashing down because Rome stumbled across a ton of power by chance and cobbled together a loose empire that Teeny couldn’t risk crossing. That being said, Aysha did help dig her own grave here by no-selling Teeny’s pitch, so it’s not just bad luck that got her taken out so early. She refused to be flexible, and that made her expendable, even with most of the tribe preferring her to stay over Sol.
But now that all three tribes have sent someone packing, we have some fleshed-out dynamics with top dogs and underdogs galore. And with those dynamics comes the pre-season promise from Jeff that power can and will shift like the tides in Fiji. Can Andy secure his spot in the majority as Gata splits apart? Will Kyle fight his way off the bottom and find his footing? And will we witness the fall of Rome now that he’s idol-less?
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