Survivor 46 | Ep. 1
WE ARE BAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!!!
Welcome back to Tribal Council Blog for the premiere episode blog for Survivor 46!!!
Feels like not all that long ago that we concluded Survivor 45 with Dee winning the title of Sole Survivor, quickly moving on from the “showmance” with Austin to bigger and better things including becoming the co-host of “On Fire with Jeff Probst - the Official Survivor Podcast” and probably having a nicer place in one of my favorite cities, Miami baby!
6 THINGS I THINK I THINK - Heading into 46
Survivor 46 is here and it has some tough shoes to fill, so I want to start the blog off with some things that I think heading into the 46 premiere…
I think 46 will be better than 45. Survivor films two seasons back to back. 41/42, 43/44, and now 45/46. This production technique allows them to tweak the format of the odd number season because the even number seasons come right after. If something happened in 45 that didn’t work they can scrap it for 46. The Good Samaritan advantage was a dud in 45, no problem, we can take it out in 46. In the new era 42 was better than 41, 44 was better than 43, and so it would only make sense that 46 be better than 45, right?
I think the risking your vote and losing your vote will continue to be a dominant presence in the game design. Probst talked about it on podcasts throughout the coverage of 45 and it isn’t going anywhere. It’s here to stay until the players figure out how to beat that piece of the game design. In 46 we will see more of the same and probably even more twists that involve risking your vote. I like it. I’m good with it.
I think holding off on the Survivor Auction is a good thing for the show. I know I’m in the minority here but so be it. In 45, the auction was great. Felt like opening up the high school yearbook to take a nostalgic walk down memory lane to the good ole times. We even had some tweaks to it that made the auction successful, most notably, removing advantages from it. Having said that, I am happy to not have it. Everything in moderation folks. It will come back. We are good.
I think Survivor needs a “star” to emerge. Now, I realize “star” is a loose term, and the star of Survivor is the game itself and Probst. I get that. I think sometimes the show benefits from having a player like Ricard in 41 or Jesse in 43 win is the best. It’s no secret that I’m a Boston Rob superfan and despite the Survivor community’s disagreement, I loved Redemption Island. It’s my favorite season. My point here to connect is that when one player is the dominant force in the game, especially strategically, and even better when it is an all around domination, the show is better for it. People like me love it, other people hate it, and everyone talks about it.
I think Probst coming out and saying this week that there will be no more villains is nothing to worry about. I understand what Jeff is saying and I trust his assessment. He’s right, the show is in a good place and we don’t need to see people arguing, complaining, and fighting on the show. We get that enough in the real world, on the news, in sports, etc. I’m with Jeff, I’d rather learn about some fascinating people, enjoy watching and blogging as their stories unfold, and letting the design of the game and the gameplay of the players speak for itself.
Having said all that…
I think a villain will emerge from this season!
THE OPENING SEQUENCE OF SURVIVOR 46
The best moments in all of sports are the ones where you literally have to sit up onto the front of your seat because you can’t help but want to be as close to the action as possible. You want to feel the anxiety, the butterfiles in the players’ stomachs, and see the nervous beads of sweat drip down their foreheads.
The Survivor season opening sequence is exactly that kind of moment!
Now, excuse me as I scooch up to the edge of my seat, crank the volume up to 100, and hit play on Survivor 46!
The slow motion narration, the mud, the ocean, the buffs, the beach and everything in between. I’m so in on this.
We immediately say namaste to Bhanu the eccentric new American citizen, hello to Jess the awkward and odd twin and software engineer, and then the small town and sheltered science teacher Hunter gets the Taylor Swift tentacles into the water despite his lack of fandom.
Here we go.
Charlie couldn’t wait to lead with being a Swiftie. He’s covered from head to toe despite being a Harvard Law School student. Thankfully he stops and we move onto Tiffany, a self proclaimed hustler. I like it.
As a special ed teacher I am rooting for Soda. As a former football coach, I’m rooting for Q. No surprises there.
Let’s get this thing going Jeff!!!
WELCOME TO SURVIVOR 46
YANU (Purple) - Jelinsky, Q, Liz, Bhanu
SIGA (Green) - Charlie, Ben, Maria, Jem
NAMI (Orange) - Tevin, Venus, Soda, Hunter,
Jeff kicks it off with his message about blind optimism being the biggest weapon. Everyone believes they can win but inevitably only 1 will and many of you will never win because your personality will not mesh.
MAROONING CHALLENGE
First - In pairs, crawl through mud, under a hurdle, retrieve giant puzzle pieces back to the starting line.
Second - Put collected puzzle pieces into a 3 tiered podium.
Last - Knock ring off with pole from atop the completed podium and grab the flint.
I love what I just saw from Maria of SIGA carrying the giant piece on her back solo. Impressive.
Everyone is completely covered in mud, the energy and adrenaline are absolutely through the roof, and the 3 tier podium puzzle is a behemoth.
First place is NAMI, the orange tribe, who will have a pot, machete and flint waiting back at camp. SIGA finished 2nd and will decide between the SWEAT and SAVVY task. Their success in the puzzle helps them choose the SAVVY choice which leaves YANU the purple tribe to do the SWEAT task to try and earn their supplies.
(Deep Exhale)
I feel like the first challenge is enough for me to break a sweat and I’m only sitting on the edge of my couch. My armpits are still sweating like crazy with my nervous system getting shaken up like a FIJI snowglobe. The challenge was electric, as any marooning challenge is, and the boom - boom - boom quick pace of the opening test is the right intro to the season. The stakes are the right stakes. The rewards are familiar and feel appropriate. The choices are simple, yet extremely difficult.
Ok. I’ve stopped sweating…for now…
YANU - Day 1 (SWEAT)
YANU must have two tribe mates fill two XXXXL urns one bucket of water at a time. It will take hours to do and THE BUCKETS HAVE HOLES IN THEM! Hahaha Jeff is taking out his rice stabbing knife early on in 46. Q and Jelinsky are the physically strong men and the obvious choices to complete the physically taxing SWEAT challenge to try and earn the flint. My hope is that Q is more than just “the former athlete” and doesn’t want to see the tribe “stay strong”. For Jelinsky, my hope is that his “I want to be a Survivor player who is called by their last name” preference is worthy and not just an item on his Survivor bucket list.
Bhanu is from India. He grew up in a hut with mud floors. He is a proud, new citizen of the US. He has a shirt that says BE KIND. Bhanu is kind, eccentric, and unapologetically himself. People on YANU are either going to love him or love him but get sick of him. My hope for Bhanu is to not let his excitement overwhelm him. His energy, excitement, and fandom could get in the way of his gameplay. Time will tell.
SIGA - Day 1 (SAVVY)
Two tribe members must decipher the puzzle and unlock the lock box to win their supplies. Ben and Charlie step up to solve the puzzle. Ben is a musician and Charlie is a calm, cool, and collected Harvard Law student. The puzzle deceived them with the word search filled with numbers actually being the way to cross off the unnecessary letters that leaves the relevant ones behind.
“DIG UNDER LOCK”
They didn’t. Guess Ben and Harvard Law Charlie aren’t too savvy after all.
While they’re going Maria and Tim are bonding on being parents and talking about their kids. Maria is “going to be in her minivan driving the game”. Interesting they stuck in this mini bonding segment. Need to monitor it.
NAMI - Day 1
The flint, pot and machete awaits NAMI and so does their first revealing details. Liz reveals her owning and selling of companies of hers including one where she “teaches people how to send emails and make money” which makes Tevin’s first red flag go up instantly.
SWEAT CHALLENGE CONTINUED…
We return back to YANU after seeing SIGA fail and Soda spark up NAMI’s first fire to see Jelinsky and Q struggling with the SWEAT challenge. Jelinsky’s double baritone voice range and scorpion tattoos may give off some toughness but Q isn’t buying it after Jelinsky gives up with a few hours remaining.
WE HAVE OUR FIRST QUITTER!!!!
Well, sort of. Ultimately, I agree with Jelinsky that they were likely not going to be able to complete the SWEAT challenge, but the mistake he made was giving up on the challenge with a guy like Q. Maybe he isn’t thinking much into it but I know that the athlete in Q is not going to understand Jelinsky’s decision. This could blow up on him and make his voice jump up a couple octaves.
SIGA - Day 1
Ben is the comic relief , an Aries, a guitar player, and the lead man of the “Vibe Tribe”. Immediately, I think that people are going to learn a lot from Ben. My guess is that this tribe doesn’t know anyone like him. Similarly, Moriah too is unique, but in a very different way. She mentions crossword puzzles, sudoku, and Dungeons and Dragons. She is “not everyone’s cup of tea” and is looking to prove to herself that she can connect with other people. She and Jem are connecting quickly and as well as Maria and on Day 1 with the mud barely washed off, we have our first woman’s alliance mention.
YANU - Day 1
Despite the failure of Q and Jelinsky, YANU’s vibe is strong with Kenzie the salon owner. Kenzie and Jelinsky’s tattoos match and she is the self proclaimed “Queen of the tribe”. I like her too. She’s outgoing, personable, and her energy is contagious. She’s bonding with Tiff and already is laying down the 4 of Q, Kenzie, Tiff, and Jelinsky.
Wow that was quick.
Kenzie’s energy and personality. Tiff’s energy and personality. Q being 1 of 17 kids (need to know more about this) and Jelinsky’s bizarro Drew vibe is looking good especially with Bhanu being soooo eccentric and Jess being awkward and starting the game out not wanting to talk strategy.
NAMI - Day 1
Soda’s energy is A LOT. She is singing camp songs and showing her “I’m a teacher” vibe.
Tevin is a large personality and is somehow bonding with Hunter over Andy Griffith of all things. Tevin is an actor and a giant extrovert. Hunter is a giant introvert. Feels like their television show to bond over from 50 years ago should have been “The Odd Couple”.
SIGA - Day 1
Charlie is the epitome of privilege but he knows it. I like that he is willing to come onto Survivor to “pop” his Manchester by the Sea bubble. Feels like he is going to luck out given Ben having the XL personality and the women on the tribe vibing together and being more introverted and reserved.
Tim is sniffing out the women's collaboration and it sticks Charlie right in the middle of both the women and their desire to create the “Charlie’s Angels” alliance in reference to another old old old pop culture reference (I love it). Taylor Swift, Andy Griffith, and Charlie’s Angels and we are off and ROLLING with pop culture across all demographics. I’m all about it.
NAMI - Day 1
The weaving of palm fronds may seem therapeutic but at NAMI they are giving way to Tevin taking the liberty of calling out Venus as “princess” but reassuring her that it’s not a bad thing. This comment catapulted Venus out into the jungle looking for idols and playing HARD.
She gets caught.
Randen is ready to exploit it, as he should, and he even through out the Parvati comp. The pretty face with the petite body. Charming and smart. Randen made the mistake of spilling the tea to the teacher. They LOVE gossip and in the new era of Survivor we know that information is perhaps the most important currency in the game, especially early.
Immediately, Soda takes the information that Randen shared with her over to Venus. Then, Venus did the thing that a Parvati/princess/real housewife would do and say the “I don’t even care” type of saying out loud when we know damn well that this news is uncomfortable.
Early judgement on Venus is that it would be easy to make a lot of assumptions about her. After checking out her instagram, my assumptions were correct. Click here and see if your assumptions were too.
JOURNEY - Day 2
YANU - Jelinsky
NIMA - Tevin
SIGA - Maria
Torch, Skull, and Vote on a card. Maria has the torch and has to reveal it. Now, Maria has to decipher whether Tevin or Jelinsky has the vote card. If Maria picks the right one, then they get an extra vote. If Maria is wrong, then she loses her vote.
Then, Jelinsky QUITS AGAIN, tells Maria that he had the skull, and loses his vote.
This journey sucked. It was a dud. Immediately know this will not be in 47.
YANU - Night 2
Jelinsky is an idiot. He tells his tribe that he gave up and felt obligated to tell the truth. Bhanu is LIVID and rightfully so. This guy is a total clown. He quit the SWEAT challenge and the journey. Maybe YANU will lose the Immunity Challenge, go to Tribal, and he will complete the quit trifecta and quit at Tribal and not even get his torch snuffed.
Jess is falling apart. She mentions a recent ADHD diagnosis. She lost her water bottle. She can’t sleep. She is ultimately scared and holding back from being herself.
Bhanu is determined to find the idol but Tiff beats him to it. The Beware Advantage is BACK and Tiff is here to play. However, we mustn’t forget the reason for why it is called the Beware Advantage. The advantage says to dig where you found the clue and Tiff and Kenzie dig up a box with a lock on it that can’t be opened until YANU loses a challenge.
The biggest piece of this puzzle for Tiff is losing her vote (see the 6 things I think I think). That means both Jelinsky and Tiff have lost their votes leaving Q, Kenzie, Jess, and Bhanu with the only 4 votes to be cast should YANU go to the first Tribal.
This could get interesting.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE
Race to top of a ramp, untie GIANT gecko and get it over a wall, through a tunnel and to the top of a deck
Survivor 46 puzzle wins it.
Losing tribe goes to Tribal and loses flint
First, the GIANT GECKO sliding down the ramp is hiiarious. Jeff says the gecko is 15ft and 500 pounds. NAMI is out to the early lead when the gecko makes a 500 pound plop over the wall. They are working together best and have a balance of strength and savvy. They easily get to the puzzle first.
SIGA is 2nd to get the gecko over and YANU is last with Kenzie nearly getting eaten by the purple gecko. haha
Soda and Venus are cruising NAMI to a 1st place and avoiding Tribal. The puzzle is awesome and I’m sure that Carson is designing his next puzzle for his 3-D printer.
SIGA and YANU are going to be close. Jelinsky and Jess for YANU are too little too late as Maria and Moriah finish off the puzzle, winning immunity, and sending YANU to Tribal Council to vote out the first person. They get a pot and machete, but no flint. The other nugget is Tiff now can access the next step in her idol because YANU lost the challenge. My guess is she will paint us a picture that looks like Usain Bolt as she all out sprints back to that spot to dig up the box and get the next piece of info to move her toward completing the Beware Advantage and earning a Hidden Immunity Idol and her ability to vote back.
YANU PRE-TRIBAL SCRAMBLE - Day 3
Jelinsky keeps mentioning being a Survivor legend or legend status. I hate it. Like, dude what are you talking about? Are you in la la land?
Now, onto more important business. Tiff digs up the clue and has to crack a code to reveal a message. She does it, reveals the message, finds the rock with the key tied to it and sprints back to unlock her Immunity Idol. Wow, that was FAST! Tiff just showed me something. I don’t even care if it was 1/2 her and 1/2 editing. Whatever “it” is, she has “it”!
Next, the scramble picks up and we learn more about the YANU tribe. I’d like to applaud Q for wanting to get rid of Jelinsky and his quitter mentality. He has no tolerance for it and doesn’t understand it. Tiff and Kenzie are trumpeting Jess because of a bad vibe/bad fit. Q thinks it is a mistake (I agree). Then, there is Bhanu. Bhanu strikes me as a person who would literally never hurt a fly, plus he was crying after the Immunity Challenge loss about someone going home. I don’t think he is designed to play Survivor.
Prediction: Jelinsky’s quitting and stupidity gets him voted out.
TRIBAL COUNCIL - Night 3
I like how Jeff is digging up the dirt on what exactly happened at the SWEAT challenge. Q tells the story about them quitting the challenge but Jelinsky’s story earlier was different. Then, Jelinsky says he and Q aren’t the type of guys to give up.
Jeff digs in about the reluctance to own quitting the challenge and I love it. Thank you Jeff for calling out this 3rd person talking buffoon. Thank you Q for calling out the idiot who literally gave up his vote so that the other two (Maria and Tevin) could get extra votes. Jelinsky thinks it could work out later on and he COULDN’T SOUND ANY DUMBER. This guy is playing the worst open to a game possibly ever. He needs to get voted out.
Where is the tribe right now? There’s something endearing about Jess, her honesty, and her transparency about her brain and struggles thus far in the game. Kenzie’s answer doesn’t reveal a lot, very generic, and surface level. Bhanu is looking for social currency and people who “will give him something back” aka he is voting Jess. Tiff is about the strength of the tribe. Q understands that language. Jelinsky again sounds like an idiot - for Survivor. He admits he doesn’t have a vote. He admits he quit two challenges in the first episode costing the tribe flint, pot, and machete, and giving members of the other two tribes an extra vote. He sells himself as “going to be 100% effort guy” (he’s not) and I think the fat lady is fully warmed up.
VOTES
JELINSKY - 5
With the amount of quitting that he did on episode 1 he’s lucky that he at least got his torch snuffed. Jelinsky may not go down as the most unlikeable or the worst player in Survivor history - that’s reserved for 45’s first quitter - but he is near the top of the list. He may be the worst player to get voted out first in Survivor history. It's tough to make as many blunders as Jelinsky did in the cup of coffee amount of time he spent on Survivor. Frankly, I don’t know how he did it.
WAIT… as I type I am hearing his exit interview and did he just say this vote was “a huge blindside”???
This guy is a TOTAL CLOWN! 🤡
The creme de la creme, the cherry on top, the climax note of the fat lady’s first appearance this season is the fact that Jelinsky didn’t even get to cast a vote. Chef’s kiss. This vote out is a beautiful thing. Good riddance Jelinsky!
