Survivor 46 | Ep. 10
NUINUI - Night 17 Post-Tribal
We are off and running in episode 10 with Liz’s sweater matching her fireworks for being left out of knowing that the votes were going to be split between Q and Hunter. Liz is fired up and fels like there is potential for a 4th of July display from her this episode if this happens again.
Then there is Q. He is the most wanted guy with the biggest target on him. He feels alone, he feels everyone wants him out, and he’s right, but there is always value in a desperate player who is all but out of it. Now, Q doesn’t need anyone’s help and I’m sure he would be the first one to tell you that, plus he’s a former division 1 athlete so given his position in the game, my guess is he’s done “jumping off” during challenges and is ready to unleash the beast.
Lastly, in the wake of the Q train, with everyone seeing him as the easy vote, one player is seeing Q as an opportunity and that’s Maria. Given that and Kenzie’s seed of being willing to oust Tiffany before she gets to her has Maria licking her gameplay chops, ready to strike. Feels like the early seeds being planted are Q being the easy vote but there are bigger fish to be fried in this game, and Tiff may be the next big game catch.
REWARD CHALLENGE - Day 18
REWARD - “Applebees” BIGGEST REWARD OF THE SEASON aka the tribe is going to be eating good in the neighborhood!
All the apps - boneless wings, chicken quesadilla, spinach and artichoke dip
Entrees - Bourbon Street Burger (Liz’s Favorite)
Dessert - Oreo Cookie Shake
Drinks - The Shark Bowl (Booze Drink)
Quick thought before the challenge begins. During Jeff’s overly dramatic yet pleasurable Applebee’s reward tease, Liz lets out fireworks of another kind showing a giddy side of her that we have yet to see. She’s acting like Charlie on the day of Tortured Poets Department over the prospect of an Applebee’s reward because it apparently is a Wednesday ritual for her and her daughter. They go to Applebee’s, she gets the burger, and they watch Survivor together. And to think, with all that money, she still wants to just eat good in the neighborhood with her daughter.
Now, the interesting Johnny Fairplay like thought is - Could it be possible that Liz doesn’t actually have that ritual, but has conjured up this story in hopes of earning the sympathy come along for the reward from the challenge winner?
5%? 10% chance???
Maybe. Or maybe the greater lesson from this appetizer to the challenge is being ready with a simple and believable story to share in a moment like this to earn the reward regardless of winning the challenge. Sounds like next level gameplay to me.
Challenge
First, over, over, and through three obstacles and begin untying sandbags to toss into the net tunnel.
Next, work the sandbags through the remainder of the (40 foot) net tunnel and untie another sandbag.
Then, get across the net crawl and sand to begin tossing the sandbag onto the elevated platform.
Q with a face full of sand is two tosses out in front of everyone else. The platform to toss it up to has to be 30 feet up there.
Quickly everyone is tossing their sandbags with Kenzie and Liz lagging behind. Tiff is a little long, Venus isn’t even close, and Liz is oh so dramatically landing a bag and continuing her Wednesday ritual.
Quite a toss is required to win and Q is the one to do it. You surprised? I’m not. Remember I just reminded you that he is a division 1 athlete? Well, “right on Q”, Q lands his bag and wins reward.
Now, the almighty who you going to share it with at the sanctuary overnight. He smartly chooses to use the opportunity to make things right and chooses Tiff. His next choice is the one person who came to check in on him and advance her game, he chooses Maria. Lastly, with Liz in absolute devastation, Q thinks it over and chooses…
Liz Kenzie!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA
and Liz goes nuclear!
OH….MY…..GOODNESS……
Liz sets off the Macy’s 4th of July level nuclear explosion of emotion at Q, at not eating, and at the world. I love how Venus off all people, thought about consoling her and aborted after one step towards Liz. I love that everyone just stood there. I love that the editors cut the music and let Liz’s shrieking be the only sound.
And last but not least, the coup de grâce, Q throwing it back at her by saying “you voted for me”.
Stone cold brother. And I loved it!
Liz had no rebuttal. There was nothing to say except that she was sorry and thankful that everyone let her have her explosion and that she felt better. Remind me next time I’m in the way of Liz getting Applebee’s to step aside and let her go ahead of me and order.
NUINUI - Day 18
Liz, Charlie, Venus, and Ben return to camp and we see Liz feeling emotionally drained, embarrassed, and empty both in her stomach and her morale.
APPLEBEE’S BAR & GRILL at the Sanctuary
Q is attempting to rekindle the old flames of YANU and get the band back together plus Maria. It’s the right move, the smart move, and a acting with a clear head move. Q is no dummy. He knows where he stands in the game and he knows what move is his best chance. He’s even poetic when he says he wants to get the family back together again.
I also admire Q’s honesty. He made a tough decision but it was ultimately the best decision for his game. He compared doing this to Liz to firing someone and it makes sense. Taking away a Bourbon Burger in Survivor is the equivalent of taking away someone’s livelihood in real life. Stone Cold, yet the move he needed to make. I admire him not letting her emotions get the best of him.
LIZ’S BACKSTORY
We learn about Liz growing up poor, having food insecurities, and picking her up after yoga and immediately going to Applebee’s with her daughter. They bond over it, enjoy it with one another, and there’s no screens. Just them. Most of all, the reward was a connection to her daughter and the emptiness she feels completely overwhelms her.
To this point through 9.5 episodes we’ve had an “appetizer” with Liz given the early success of NAMi and her airtime gaining traction with the Tevin vote. Liz’s meltdown is a piñata bursting and spewing out the most raw emotional segment of the new era of Survivor. She’s not playing to the camera, she’s not doing infomercials for make believe fashion products.
No.
Liz has been ripped open by Survivor and we are getting a front row seat into the inner workings of who she is, where her head is, and an incredibly real moment that the new era of Survivor is all about. We are seeing the effects of 18 days without eating, without rice, and without control and this denied reward sends her to the moon.
I appreciate Liz’s ability to let her guard down and lay it all out there the way she did. I mean she didn’t even get that way during her divorce. Wow, Q really knows how to bring out the emotions in people.
There, now I feel better too. Back to your regularly scheduled blog.
NUINUI - Day 19
Starts with a sunrise, a new day, and I think we the viewer needed it too. The sanctuary winners return and it’s incredible that Tiffany can sit there and just spew all the stuff she ate right in front of the people left out including Liz. It’s incredibly thoughtless and could have even been a bad game move. In the end, I don’t think it really matters. People are ultimately putting up the front that they still want to vote out Q, but underneath, the real move is targeting Tiff.
Going into the challenge and “reading the room” it feels like the old SIGA alliance of Charlie and Maria are the real ones pulling strings and ready to make a move on a bigger threat to the overall game then the obvious choice of the most hated guy at camp.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE - Day 19
The rice is back and Jeff’s price has gone up. 4 people (out of 8) have to step out and decline competing to win the challenge. Kenzie steps out and nobody else.
Jeff sweetens the pot and offers an individual portion of rice for anyone who steps out. Liz steps out and Kenzie steps back into the challenge. No rice to the end of the season in 46, first time in the new era.
Hold onto the handle holding 25% of your pregame bucket. Last one holding their bucket wins.
The challenge begins and Venus is out instantly from her sweaty palms.
We get down to 5 when Ben runs out of Van Halen quotes of inspiration and his bucket drops.
Q’s bucket is inching closer and closer to dropping. The sit out bench is ready for his bucket to drop and in slow-motion we are down to 4 and a chain reaction takes out Kenzie and Maria.
Down to Charlie vs. Tiff. Tiff is a statue with her chiseled arms unwavering while Charlie is squirming around and resurrecting his bucket to top position and out of nowhere, Tiff drops, and Charlie wins his back to back challenges.
We leave the Immunity Challenge with Charlie basically telling me once I have my application into Survivor, I need to start working on my grip strength. Whether it’s Charlie’s training tips or hearing Dee on the “On Fire” podcast talk about the books she read in preparation, it feels like if you think you can walk out onto Survivor without any pre-game preparation, you may as well not even try it.
PRE=TRIBAL SCRAMBLE - Day 19
Tiff clues us into everyone being in agreement that Q is the target and she hasn’t even heard another name. She’s comfortable. She’s fed. She’s got fire power. But is she blind?
Maria reads the room and knows that everyone sees Q as the easy vote. Maria knows that this may be the last chance to target Tiff and have a vote in Q to help make it happen. The reality is, as much as everyone has had enough of Q, he isn’t the biggest threat in the game.
Maria, Charlie, Ben, and Q makes 4 votes. That means that Liz, Tiff, Kenzie, and Venus is also 4 votes. To blindside Tiff, you need 5 votes. So, the question becomes, who can SIGA + Q pull in to send Tiff home with an idol in her pocket?
They decide to turn to Liz. Seems crazy right? I mean she did have a legendary meltdown scream fest directed at Q about 30 minutes ago. Seems impossible. But, perhaps with a little rice in her belly, the Tiff blindside committee might have made the right choice in selecting Liz to be the clinching vote.
Prediction: Liz goes with her head and not her emotions and helps blindside Tiff. Q lives to fight another day.
TRIBAL COUNCIL - Night 19
Did Kenzie just set her hair on fire? Good lord!
Q is once again the topic of conversation at Tribal Council. The vibe is now that Q is inevitably the choice. Tiff looks comfortable. Tiff feels comfortable. Uh-oh.
Liz can’t play with Q.
Ben is over Q.
Charlie is hanging his hat on the calm of “everyone being on the same page” aka Q.
Maria is acknowledging the past votes and the jury, but downplaying the blindside potential and using the Q shield.
Then there’s Q. He says he has no control, he says his fate is in their hands, and he says he’s at peace with it, should it be his time.
Prediction: Seems like Q is the easy vote but I’m sticking with the blindside of Q brought to you by the Q Shield.
VOTES
Tiff - 5
Q - 3
BANG!!! My prediction was correct. Another Tribal, another blindside, another idol going home as a souvenir. The Q Shield strikes again. Tiff pulled a Hunter and held onto her idol too long. She knows that there is no such thing as an easy vote in Survivor and she ignored that rule anyway.
My guess is that Tiff is at peace with receiving the commemorative “badge of honor” that goes along with being blindsided in Survivor, but I’m betting that knowing Q got the best of her, outwitted her, outplayed her, and outlasted her, eats her up inside. I know it would eat me up. How could it not?
In the end, that’s Survivor. Don’t hate the player, hate the game. Q was on the bottom and everyone knew it. Ultimately, the difference between the people who voted for Q and the people who voted to blindside Tiff is the difference between the killers and the wannabes. Tonight, a line was drawn and on one side are the killers (Maria, Charlie, Ben, Liz, and Q) and the wannabes (Tiff, Venus, and Kenzie). One of the killers is going to win the game. One of the killers is going to have to kill one of their own to win the game.
The wannabes had their chance and I think they blew it, especially Kenzie. The contrast between the two groups now in the game is best seen through comparing Kenzie and Liz. Kenzie left her killer card at the sanctuary when she got some food in her and when she abandoned the Tiff blindside, WHICH WAS HER IDEA ORIGINALLY. She let her guard down too much and she let the game slip away from her. Meanwhile Liz upgraded her killer card to platinum status. She had her meltdown, went nuclear on Q, and still was able to write down TIFF instead of Q.
Killer, stone cold killers. This season just took a turn and I can’t wait for next week to get my Bourbon Burger from Applebee’s and see what happens next!
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