Next Time On… Survivor is a blog here on Inside Survivor all about previews and predictions, but with a new twist! Throughout the season I will be chatting with former contestants from other reality shows about Survivor for a feature on the site called Alternative Reality. Any parts of those interviews about predictions or winner picks will end up here! This week, we are joined by Tom & Terry from The Amazing Race.
And as always: this blog is 100% spoiler free speculation. Let’s get into it!
Part One: Previously On… Survivor
Let’s see how I did with last week’s predictions.
1. Jay and/or Will will find the hidden immunity idol at their camp, but word will get out to the rest of the tribe, I’m guessing via Will.
Grade: B! Jay, alongside Will, did find the hidden immunity idol! Why else would he have been so happy in the preview? But could anyone have guessed the Kramer-like appearance Michaela made in that scene? She just showed up! “Whatcha got there?” may have been one of the funniest things I’ve seen happen on the show in a little while.
2. Takali will win reward, and good spirits will result in Figgy telling Jessica and Ken about her relationship with Taylor.
Grade: For the first half of the challenge this looked like it was coming true! But alas, Takali lost the reward challenge, and Figgy’s unnecessary confession to the former Gen Xers was in vain. F.
3. Ikabula will lose immunity and go to tribal council where Hannah gets voted out.
Grade: I’d perform better if I had Michaela screaming in my ear too. F. (Note: I even wrote all about how Figgy was bound to get knocked out, but I thought her tribe would win immunity. Sigh.) Also, shout out to Audrey for getting it right!
4. Since Figgy did it, either Jessica or Adam decides to wear Lucy’s bathing suit to the next challenge.
Grade: Shut up, Jacob.
Part Two: Taylor is bad at vengeance and David is good at trust building
Taylor is bad at vengeance. When someone comes along, betrays your trust and tears you away from your island lover and closest ally, your reaction should not be on par with the look you give a server on the buffet line when they stiff you on your portion of mashed potatoes.
That vacant stare, that line that became the title of the episode, “I Will Destroy You,” that feeling like you know your brain cells are packing their suitcases every time you hear him speak… Taylor is a dummy. Unless he constantly has someone breathing down his neck, instructing him on how to exist in this game, he is a lost cause who just happens to be good at balance beams. Unless Taylor’s declaration of destruction is in jest, he is doomed. There are only four people left on Takali and two of them clearly have no problem taking him out next. Taylor needs Adam, and he can’t waste time trying to vote him out with Ken and Jessica who will most likely side with Adam.
No matter how much intense music or big text graphics you lay over his face, you can’t make that dopey “I will destroy you” quote sound even partially intimidating. I’ve listened to it a dozen times re-watching the commercial and it just gets more and more cringe worthy. All of that said, I don’t think Takali is going to lose the next immunity challenge, so I expect we will have to sit through a substantial amount more of Taylor’s foolishness.
Here’s what Terry Cosentino from The Amazing Race 10 thinks about the preview scene with Adam and Taylor:
TC: I honestly don’t think Taylor has any gumption, so to speak, to do anything to Adam because the odds are against him right now. And I honestly think that Ken will keep his promise and back him up. I don’t think Adam has anything to worry about and I don’t know why Adam feels like he has to apologize. He’s doing the best he can, but there’s nothing that Taylor can do to him.
JD: I get Adam’s thinking, to tell Taylor he feels bad to maybe just smooth that out a tiny bit in the case of another swap or whatever, but it doesn’t look like Taylor’s going to listen much.
TC: Or the other side, the other thing Adam could do is force a loss, so they vote out Taylor so that Adam’s fine.”
David is good at trust building. Despite his early stumbles, an endless list of fears, potential overenthusiasm, and poor swimming ability, David is good at trust building. Perhaps his perpetual nervousness has endeared him to his tribemates. Regardless, with each move, he has built up trust with more people. Yes, he has had to cut out a Lucy and a CeCe, but in doing so, he has gained a Ken, a Jessica, a Chris and now, possibly a Zeke. He has a charm and humor, and if he can maintain all of these relationships for as long as he needs them, he has a good chance of making it far into the game. Taylor could learn a thing or two… or twelve from David. And maybe Taylor can teach David how to, like, swim, man.
Here’s what Terry thinks about David:
JD: We also get a clip of David and Zeke talking with the Probst narration about another “power couple,” and boy I’m getting tired of that phrase. David also apparently tells Zeke about the idol.
TC: That I love a lot. I think David’s gonna go far as well. David reminds me of Cochran where he’s afraid at the very beginning, but sure enough, he’s building up. And I’m so glad that he did not play his idol and that he still has it.
JD: I’m excited to see David and Zeke work together. They’re both comedic people, Zeke’s a comedian and David’s a television writer, I think it’s an interesting combination.
TC: And I think a sense of humor goes a long way. You need that. I think it levels the playing field and kills all the drama and the seriousness.
JD: Good to have a little fun with it.
TC: Oh, absolutely.
Part Three: Interrogation
There is a quick clip in the commercial spot of Michaela writing in the sand surrounded by Hannah, Will, and Jay. She appears to be laying out a plan for how those four will make it to the final four. What follows is a confessional from Bret: “It’s Survivor, and you never know what’s gonna happen.”
This is a brief moment, but an important one. I think this scene is presented in the previews because Ikabula is going to lose the immunity challenge, and Michaela is intent on keeping the former Millennials tribe in the numbers as Takali will have just gotten rid of Figgy. On a tribe of five, one person swinging to the other side isn’t so hard to understand. On a tribe of six when the numbers are four and two, it would mean a much bigger ordeal to turn things around. I think it is pretty fair to assume that either Bret or Sunday will be voted out this week.
But which one? I’m basing my prediction off of two other clues in the preview materials. For one, Bret has that quote I mentioned before. “It’s Survivor, and you never know what’s gonna happen.” That is not the kind of thing you say when you are confident in how you expect something to play out. This is the kind of thing you say after losing an immunity challenge when you know the numbers aren’t in your favor and you are hoping for the best. The other clue is the episode synopsis provided by CBS.
“Two millennials attempt to put the past behind them and work together, and another castaway feels the heat when they’re interrogated about their true profession, on Survivor, Wednesday, Nov. 2 at 8/7c.”
Clearly, the first part refers to Adam attempting to smooth things over with Taylor following tribal council, but I don’t want to talk about Taylor anymore. The second part is the important part here. Bret is a police sergeant. I think this vocabulary is a nod to the situation he will find himself in this week. I had no clue Bret was hiding his true profession from anyone, nor do I know what will set off this interrogation, but there are a lot of little details pointing towards Bret as a focus of the coming episode, which isn’t a good thing for him.
Here’s who Tom & Terry think might be in trouble, and who they think is going all the way:
JD: Who do you think is going home next time? Who’s in trouble?
TC: Michelle, possibly. I’m starting to get the impression that she’s starting to get tired of the whole game.
JD: You think so?
TC: I’m not sure with her. After the second episode, I haven’t seen any moves from her at all.
JD: Who’s your winner pick?
TC: We’re rooting for Ken. Yeah, we both think Ken is gonna go far. He’s quiet; he knows when not to talk, when to speak…
TR: He’s a very smart player. I think he’s playing the best game.
TC: He’s not full of himself at all.
Part Four: A twist!
“No strategy can prepare you for what happens next.”
I’m going be totally honest here; I have absolutely no clue what happens next. I mean, I know the “wow” we get out of Hannah at the end of the commercial is likely in response to the food reward at the reward challenge, but I don’t think that’s worth the hype of the entire commercial. I looked through all the press photos; I watched all the previews… no clear hints at what this twist is.
Did you watch Australian Survivor? I watched Australian Survivor. It had its moments. It also had a few twists and turns here and there unseen to the American version of the show. Therefore, since I have no real indication of what this build up is for, I am going to guess that a twist from the Australian version is going to be implemented this week. But which? My guess is some form of the double tribal council. I don’t think it will be an exact replica of the tribe switch madness we saw in the Australian version, but I could absolutely see the winning tribe stealing a member of the losing tribe at tribal, or something like that.
Eh, hell if I know.
Part Five: Wrap up!
Let’s see…
1. Taylor will shut up and be good at challenges for a few episodes while Adam tries to keep him as a potential option if things with Ken and Jessica go sour.
2. There is some twist regarding tribal council and what will happen to the eliminated castaway.
3. Ikabula loses immunity and Bret is voted out. This may mean he is sent to a different tribe instead of Ponderosa.
4. Zeke and David write a new comedy pilot for CBS about two nerds stranded on an island with the Hulk.
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I think that there will be a double tribal and two people will be voted out and we will have a merge the next week. Hopeing Sunday and Jessica somehow get the boots
How could they have taken a twist used in Australian Survivor? Didn’t season 33 film first? Season 33 filmed in April and May and I think Australian Survivor filmed in the summer.
I think it is much more likely that Australian Survivor took the twist from American Survivor. American Survivor has a 15 year history of success. Australian Survivor had a history of two past failures. It seems to me that they would come to us to get ideas. I don’t see us going to them for twist ideas. And in the this instance since we filmed before they did, it is even more likely that they would use it from us since we would have the knowledge of how it played out in the game and we would know if it worked as hoped.
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