Survivor 46 | Ep. 4
YANU - POST MIRACLE
The YANU 4’s one shining moment is short lived. Bhanu, the canary, sang to Ben and Liz about everything at YANU and TIff and Q have had it.
“Did I say something wrong?” - Bhanu
YES BHANU, EVERYTHING YOU HAVE DONE HAS BEEN WRONG!!!
It’s amazing to see Tiff, Q, and Kenzie universally be infuriated at Bhanu and question why he ever came out to play Survivor. I love that Kenzie, in frustration, says to Tiff that Bhanu should have went camping. She’s right, they are all right to be 100% done with Bhanu. He has blown their cover and revealed to the other tribes everything at YANU. Horrendous move.
Bhanu is the worst player in the new era. It’s almost not his fault. I guess you could blame casting, but I’m laying this on Bhanu. His tribemates tried to teach him to shut his mouth and he still didn’t. He couldn’t control himself.
NAMI - Day 8
Soda and Tevin are singing about the possibility of food at a Reward Challenge. Soda thinks she is in charge of team morale and team building, but I don’t think Hunter, Venus, or Liz are into the singing and cheesy morale boosting songs. Careful Soda, your going flat.
SIGA - Day 8
Jem’s sneakiness has come out. She found the Beware Advantage last episode and has decided to replant it. Maria finds the advantage and opens it, but when she does the “dig under where you found it” there is nothing there. When Maria finds only Fiji killer ants under where it was hidden, Ben asks the million dollar question of “what if somebody found it and replanted it here?”
I don’t think Jem thought this through. If anything, she confirmed for everyone that somebody found the advantage and now more attention can be placed on the group discovering who actually has it. The Beware Advantage is a trick but does have a treat, her plan to trick everyone may not be so funny by the end of the episode.
REWARD CHALLENGE - Day 8
To start, paddle boat in from ocean collecting a key and tieing the boat up.
Next, use the key to unlock 4 rings and fling them up off a pole.
To win, they have to dig themselves under a pole and toss the 4 rings back onto the pole.
SIGA’s Tim capsizes the raft holding the key 3 times not realizing that staying in the boat was the better strategy. Rare mistake from SIGA in the challenge. They fall slightly behind into 3rd.
NAMI is first to unlock the rings and start flinging them up. YANU right behind them and SIGA in 3rd. Kenzie beats Liz to get YANU to dig under the pole and give them the lead over NAMI. SIGA’s distance in 3rd grows with Maria struggling to get the final ring off the pole.
At the final stage, Q fulfills the role of hero by tossing all 4 rings onto the pole and locking in the reward and first win for YANU! Standing ovation from Moriah and Ben. They earned it.
Maria and Tim’s mess ups in the water and at the rings were too much to overcome as NAMI wins the smaller batch of 5 fish.
YANU trades the large fish reward for the tool kit and tarp. It’s easy to say they shouldn’t be able to trade a reward for a different reward but I’m ok with it. They deserve to be able to have the reward of their choice. They should trade some fish they couldn’t cook (no flint) for some protection from the rain. Rewards aren’t as big a deal and it’s ok to keep it that way. Play on.
NAMI - Day 8 Fish Reward
First, the fish are beautiful. They almost look like you can’t eat them. Second, Liz is allergic to all the fruit on the island which I don’t understand how she was allowed to be on the show with such an allergy. Next, I’m checking those fish for any clue to an advantage.
Cleaning the fish also brings Tevin’s backstory into focus. His father taught him how to clean fish and his father “lives on” through that process. I enjoyed learning it and honestly, wouldn’t have expected that to be something Tevin would have experience doing. He’s an actor and maybe he auditioned for the stage version of “Cast Away” but either way, he did a great job. Cool sequence.
YANU - Day 8 Q’s Training
We have entered a new level of Bhanu and Q’s relationship. Player and Coach. Q has had enough of Bhanu, yet he is still taking the time and PATIENCE to work with Bhanu and literally coach him through how to keep his mouth shut and not reveal everything at Tribal. Unbelievable.
SIGA - Day 8 Post Losing
The tribe is so emotional and supportive to Maria who is seeing this loss as her failure. The most interesting takeaway is her family’s culture was one of perfection and succeeding. Letting go of shame is difficult but coming from her background it’s a tougher pill to swallow.
Ben seems to be the one in charge of morale and rah rah. He’s also emotional.
We move from there back to the idol hunt where Jem is about to learn a lesson. He hope is that the suspicion can remain off of her and Tim becomes the target. Wow, I’m shocked at how well this is going for Jem even though Charlie and others are all suspicious.
YANU - Day 8 Bhanu Damage Control
I find it interesting how he watched all the seasons of Survivor and he is aware of his social shortcomings, yet still cannot keep it together or figure it out. On the other hand, I understand how some people who simply don’t have those skills and Bhanu is one of those people. The crazy takeaway is that Kenzie “snapping” at Bhanu cannot go without her thinking - “hey, we may need him if we keep winning, so I have to keep the peace and hold his hand through this no matter how frustrating he is.”
NAMI - Day 8 Soda’s Head Space
Tevin clues in the audience that Soda is the “social butterfly” of NAMI. This is where the rah rah and morale boost squad is too much. Tevin begins his campaign of sniffing around and planting seeds of Soda being the vote if they go to Tribal. Hunter wanted her out already, but kept his mouth shut about it. This news is music to the ears of Liz too.
It’s really interesting to learn that Soda is playing too hard at this point when the only adversity was the elimination of one tribemate without having to go to Tribal. Feels like the show is preparing the viewers for a NAMI trip to Tribal. I like how all of a sudden, NAMI, the success tribe, has a plan in case their success dies down and they find themselves at Tribal.
SIGA - Day 9
Tree mail introduces the Immunity Challenge to us and it involves jumping and landing in water. There’s an openness and collaboration at SIGA to showcase how unathletic Moriah is. It almost seems impossible that you could only have a 3 inch vertical jump. hahahaha.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE - Day 9
Can I just say this before the challenge starts, it is BREATHTAKINGLY INCREDIBLE whenever these challenges are built and held 100% on the water. The background is gorgeous and the idea of standing on the barge in the middle of the water is euphoric.
Hunter nearly jumps onto the next platform and is showcasing why he is BY FAR the most well rounded challenge guy. He can climb, he can long jump out, he can dive down, he can use the buoy’s buoyancy to bring him back up to the surface.
Everyone else is either an inch away from a face plant or a belly flop. My chest hurts just watching. I think Moriah’s jump was no worse than any other, until Charlie screams “TAYLOR SWIFT” on his jump from the platform. Come on dude.
Then Bhanu skips climbing up and over the crate on the second platform. THIS FRIGGEN GUY!!!
SIGA gets to the final basketball stage and Tim is again nearly tipping over another platform. He takes an early lead for SIGA hitting the first of three baskets as Hunter and Q step up to start shooting. Hunter turns into Rick Barry and underhand free throws NAMI to ANOTHER IMMUNITY CHALLENGE WIN. This guy is impressive. Maybe Jonathan level dominance.
The fight for immunity vs. Tribal comes down to one basket between Tim and Q. Guess what. Tim hits it and YANU loses again. A fourth straight Tribal Council for YANU. I think I may speak for many when I say, I’m sick of YANU going to Tribal. I want to see other tribes strategize, go to Tribal, and vote someone out. The only benefit is Bhanu finally going home. We need to be done with him and we need to move on.
PRE-TRIBAL SCRAMBLE - Day 9
This is the closest thing to an “easy vote” as much as Survivor can have. I actually forgot that Bhanu lost his vote at the journey and so he doesn’t even have the ability to play his Shot in the Dark. Now, he goes on an idol hunt in total desperation. I’m actually shocked they aren’t watching him.
Bhanu is mad at the man upstairs for ever putting him on Survivor in the first place. At this point he is just so pathetic. He is getting on his knees and begging. Tiff and the rest of us on our couches are uncomfortable.
His shirt says “BE KIND” and at this point, I cannot be. Please end this.
TRIBAL COUNCIL - Day 9
YANU has had as bad a start as possible to Survivor. 4 episodes, 4 losses, 3 actual trips to Tribal and 1 miracle to prolong the inevitable another week.
Bhanu has completely blown his game. and all that is left is him to have a few minutes to share his story. Poverty, abandonment, and survival. He is breaking boundaries that he should have never been able to. He was put on Survivor to speak to the rest of the “Bhanus” out there. This was never about playing Survivor, but rather his adventure.
His adventure ends without even the satisfaction or ritual of writing his name down. It feels fitting for Bhanu’s adventure to finally end this way with literally nothing to do but have his torch snuffed out. No vote, no Shot in the Dark, no nothing. Just the end of his journey.
My final thought following the Bhanu exit is gratitude for learning his story but also gratitude for viewers to be able to move on from him and get on with the season. Bhanu needed it, YANU needed it, we the viewer needed it. Survivor is an adventure for all of YANU and the viewers too, not just Bhanu. I’m excited to continue our journey and move forward.
Namaste.
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