Survivor 41, Ep. 10: Baby With a Machine Gun
Previously on Survivor…
Deshawn felt silenced when Shan decided to try and flip the vote onto Heather. Deshawn had the chance to form a new alliance but stuck to his allegiance with the power 5 Ricard, Shan, Danny, and Liana. At the Immunity Challenge the remaining players were split into two teams and each with a chance at individual immunity. Erika and Xander prevailed and won immunity going into two separate Tribal Councils. In the first Tribal Council, Heather looked to be the easy choice until Ricard’s plan to oust Naseer came true thanks to Shan’s extra vote. In the second Tribal Council, Deshawn balked at the opportunity to make a splash in the game and sided with Danny and Liana sending Evvie to the jury. Who will be voted out tonight?
RICARD AND SHAN EXPLAIN THE NASEER VOTE OUT
Erika makes a plea to Deshawn to get one of the idols out. FINALLY! Erika wants to make the move to take out Shan, but Deshawn has to be on board to do it. He is smart enough to know Shan’s position in the game at this point, but it’s time for action and the number of opportunities are dwindling fast.
Shan even feels the sneakiness of Deshawn intensify when he goes off to talk with Erika.
The alliance vs the individual. Shan and Deshawn want to give the black community or as they term it “the culture” a win but they also want to be the one to win. The struggle is wanting to have one of the four (Shan, Deshawn, Danny, or Liana) win but it’s hard because each of them wants to be the winner. Shan has been homeless. Deshawn is buried in student loan debt. Each of them are able to reflect on the 2020/Covid struggle. They’re able to recognize the alliance that they share. They realize the immense internal conflict that exists and it comes out in Deshawn’s tears. He sees the bigger picture, he has the bigger than himself motivations but he, like every Survivor player, has his bottom line, he wants to win a million dollars to change his life.
REWARD CHALLENGE
REWARD - Pizza and a night in shelter with blankets and pillows.
Dive in water, swim to obstacles
Follow the rope to get a ring through the rope, over and under the bamboo
Over and under the log, pull rope through
Puzzle - 3D, 6 sided, star shape
As most challenges with a puzzle do, this reward challenge came down to the puzzle. Ricard proves once again that he has a puzzle savvy slightly above the rest and wins reward, the best reward of the season.
RICARD’S CHOICE
Ricard is given the choice of bringing one person along with him to share reward. Then, another +1. Then, a final +1 to take with him.
1st - Shan - because she hasn’t had a reward yet
2nd - Heather - because she too hasn’t had a reward yet
Last - Xander - because of his sacrifice at previous reward to win the tribe rice
Ricard took his number one ally in Shan. Smart move. Keep your number one ally close and reinforce what you have. Especially after the move they both made in gettin Naseer out and it causing a ripple through the rest of the tribe and their alliance like Danny. They need to reassure their place in the game, reassure the alliance between the two of them, and figure out the best move to go forward.
Ricard’s second choice was Heather. Good choice for Ricard because he helped save Heather’s ass at the previous Tribal Council by formulating the vote out the idol in pocket Naseer and not taking out the empty handed Heather. She will be loyal and presents zero threat in the game in all facets short term and long term.
The last choice was the most interesting picking Xander.
DANNY WANTS TO TAKE OUT RICARD
Danny believes he’s becoming a bigger and bigger threat and he expresses it to Deshawn. They come up with the plan to take out Ricard and thus lessen Shan’s power in the game. Shan has power but without Ricard, she’ll be significantly less power. Deshawn’s thoughts are that if Ricard is gone, Shan will have to come back to them anyway. The guys let Liana in on who they want to take out and she seems on board as it is time to make some moves for her game.
REWARD or CONFLICT
Ricard expresses the happiness he felt giving Shan the reward, but he finally acknowledges for the first time having to take Shan out at some point. Based on the edit, what’s said in the confessionals, and the conversations we hear, all indicators point to Ricard and Shan being true #1 partners in the game with a genuine connection and affection for one another. However, every quasi savvy Survivor viewer has also been shouting from their couch the almost certainty that they will have to take one another out. One of them has to strike first and take the other out. Whoever does will likely have a jury vote in pocket but some pain to get there.
LIANA SPILLS THE DIRT
LIANA BREAKS DOWN OVER THE MOMENT HER AND SHAN HAD ON THE EXCURSION AND SHE DOESN’T CARE ABOUT SITTING WITH SHAN IN THE END AND LOSING!!!
WHAAAAAAAAAAAT?
Is this her showing her age?
Liana spills the beans on Deshawn and Danny’s intentions to Shan. Shan goes to Ricard and tells him too. Ricard and Shan have a moment. A tear is shed. Ricard has a moment of trying to express his surprise of the news and surprise of Shan telling him. I think he feels this way because of how real this moment is. Ricard is vulnerable and could be voted out.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
The challenge is balancing a ball on a disk while standing on an angled platform. Each round has a different balance beam to stand on and a different hand placement on the pole they are balancing the ball with.
Liana out first
Danny quickly after
Round 2 early exit for Erika and Heather
This challenge is difficult, but I’d argue that the most challenging part would have to be Probst’s narration. The stakes can’t be higher and beside the silent crew and a few birds chirping, Probst is the only other one there and the only one speaking.
Round 3 early exit for Shan after battling through the final part of round 2.
3 left - Deshawn, Xander, and Ricard
Deshawn drops, Ricard and Xander remain.
The music, the subtle movement of the ball, the sweat dripping down their faces, and…..
Xander drops
WINNER - Ricard, guaranteed spot in final 7.
Oh by the way, Danny and Deshawn’s masterplan of getting Ricard out is lost and like every other time information was thrown out in this game, their plan is out and will certainly come back to be used against them.
PRE-TRIBAL COUNCIL
Shan is at it again. She wants to vote Erika because keeping Deshawn is a smarter move considering Ricard cannot be voted out after winning immunity. If she votes out Deshawn then she risks upsetting Danny and Liana and cutting off a member of her “culture alliance”.
But…
Ricard has decided to take Shan out tonight. He’s planting his flag in the ground. Shan has allies outside of Ricard, but Ricard doesn’t have that same security. If he didn’t win immunity then he would be the one being voted out. He knows it, recognizes it, and is acting accordingly. It’s time to betray his friend in the game.
He has himself, Xander, Heather, and Erika to do it, but he needs a 5th. So who to go to? Danny - too loyal. Liana - too loyal. The best choice is Deshawn. When Ricard goes to Deshawn and sells him, Deshawn lies to Ricard when confronted about Deshawn’s plans to get Ricard out. Despite lying, Ricard still needs Deshawn to do this and Deshawn has enough sense to know that Shan spilled the info of his plans and lied to him, so the plan to vote out Shan set to go. Last episode Deshawn didn’t take the opportunity and he better SMARTEN UP and take the deal in front of him and eliminate the biggest threat in the game.
Now Ricard’s plan has gone to Deshawn and you know what that means. It needs to go to everybody via Deshawn’s mouth. He approaches Heather and Erika about it and Heather and Erika talk to Danny about it. Danny wanted Ricard out, but since that can’t happen and he is pissed at Shan, he considers it.
Now this game of telephone to vote Shan out through the filter of Erika’s idea to split the vote onto Shan and Liana so if Shan plays her idol, Liana goes home and if Shan doesn’t play her broccoli idol, then the vote ties, the 6 remaining re-vote, and Shan gets voted out.
(deep breath)
TRIBAL COUNCIL
8 people remain and the days are running out on the game. Xander and Heather are at the bottom and they know it. Erika agrees too. Not looking good for Shan.
Jeff goes to Ricard about the difficulty in this game holding alliances. He acknowledges the relationship with Shan being shaky and not a “Final 2” all the way alliance. Shan knows that everyone is a liar and trust is nearly impossible to sustain in the game. This point is worth making not only because of the plan in place to vote Shan out but the pivotal place that Survivor is in. If this season is any indication of what’s to come or a truly new era in Survivor, then the viewer can expect constant twists, no sense of certainty, and a lower level of trust in the game than ever before. I don’t know that this is the best place for Survivor to be going, but the evolution of the show has brought us here. It began with alliances holding strong, alliances with flipping, and now alliances having little presence in the game. Maybe 41 will be a stand alone of how the game went because of the twists, 26 day format, and need for a new look after the year plus off, or maybe it’s the future of what to expect.
Another thought as a result of this pre-vote discussion. The questions and answers are making the players’ heads spin and mine as well. Mine is spinning over the seemingly non-factor that is hidden immunity idols. Everyone knows who has them. Naseer went home with his in pocket. Xander has used it as a fake out, but my head spins at how it still feels like nobody has been truly targeted because of their idol. But, this vote may be the first step in how the targeting of people with idols has been downplayed in the edit but still very much in the forefront of players’ motivation for who to vote out.
Time to vote.
NO IDOLS/ADVANTAGES PLAYED
VOTES
Erika 2
Shan 3
Liana 3
Erika’s plan to split the vote happened. Ricard’s face reflected confusion that the plan didn’t quite go as he thought, but nonetheless, in the revote he has his final words for Shan before landing his knockout blow.
RE-VOTE
Shan 6
Liana 0
🎶hmm, hmm, ——————————————— ☠️
Shan is out. The front runner and up to no good hummer is gone. She was betrayed by her biggest ally in the game, and she knew it. In the end Ricard’s immunity win combined with Deshawn and Danny’s plan getting out that they would have targeted Ricard forced Ricard to make the choice to get Shan before she got him. They both knew it would happen at some point and tonight was the night.
Et tu, Ricard?
As predicted earlier, despite Ricard voting Shan out, Shan will still vote for Ricard to win and she confirmed it when she got up to grab her torch. What she also did is make an already enormous target on Ricard, astronomical. If Ricard can somehow make it to the Final Three, he will win. No doubt. The trouble is, everyone else knows it too. As my preseason pick to win it all I am hopeful, but the flight he’s on may be headed for an emergency landing at a non winning destination.
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