Once again, Survivor is back! Which means once again, it’s one of my favorite days of the year. And while I’m still very excited for Survivor 43, I’m maybe more curious than excited this time around. With Survivor 41 and 42 completed, we now have our first season of the “new era” where the players have seen a full season+ of the new changes and advantages and everything else new to the show. What’s production going to change? What do they tweak? And what do they get rid of (besides the Hourglass and Do or Die, thank god)? And of course, how do this season’s players try to anticipate the new additions to the game?
I was so-so on Survivor 41 and quite enjoyed 42. I’m viewing this season as the real litmus test of where Survivor currently stands as a franchise. Do they revert back to the clumsy and advantage-focused editing of 41? Or do they realize how much better they did with 42 and go back to a character-centric narrative? So with the preamble out of the way, let’s get to the action!
Marooning
After the usual “Hi, howareya, let’s get a few good soundbites” in, the game begins. First, here are our tribes:
Baka (Yellow)
Elie, 31, Clinical Psychologist
Jeanine, 24, UX Designer
Mike, 54, Heart Valve Specialist
Morriah, 28, Teacher
Owen, 29, College Admissions Director
Sami, 19, Pet Cremator
Coco (Blue)
Cassidy, 26, Designer
Geo, 35, Project Manager
James, 36, Event Planner
Karla, 28, Educational Project Manager
Lindsay, 42, Pediatric Nurse
Ryan, 24, Warehouse Associate
Vesi (Red)
Cody, 35, Elevator Salesman
Dwight, 21, Graduate Student
Jesse, 30, Political Science PhD
Justine, 29, Cyber Security Saleswoman
Nneka, 43, Pharmacist
Noelle, 25, U.S. Paralympian
In the opening reward challenge, two players run down the beach to retrieve and bring back two heavy wooden crates. The two more players race out into the water, to pull a boat back to shore with more crates. Once all the crates are back, the two remaining players build a cube out of the crates. To finish, one player climbs the crates, and uses a bamboo pole to retrieve flint. They’re playing camp supplies of a pot, machete, and flint.
James and Lindsay dominate the crate puzzle, but Lindsay struggles getting the key down, allowing Vesi a chance to steal the win. But Dwight (Vesi) can’t get it either, and now Jeanine for Baka is in it too. But Dwight pulls it out, securing the first win of the season.
Vesi (Red)
Fresh off their big win, Vesi comes down off their high a little bit, after realizing nobody has any idea how to get the shelter going. But they seem to eventually get it under control.
Justine and Noelle form a quick connection, and it’s quickly noticed by Cody, Nneka, and Jesse. Cody, who is a salesperson, tries to uses Justine’s job as a salesperson against her. Love it. Love this guy. Jesse is playing the middle a little more, being courted by both Cody & Nneka and Justine & Noelle.
Baka (Yellow)
Baka finds the (now) classic Savvy or Sweat decision. The Savvy task is for the entire tribe to work together to solve a brain teaser. They only get one guess. The Sweat task has two players digging up their supplies. As usual they are isolated from the rest of the tribe for however long it takes them to complete it (or not complete it). They have four hours to finish.
Baka chooses the brain teaser. They lift a lid on a table to find bones put together in the form of a number. They have have move two bones to make the largest number they can. Each bone can only be moved once.
Sami, who wanted to do the Sweat task to avoid showing off how good he was at puzzles, steps up and puts forth his idea for the bone puzzle. After telling the tribe to “watch your minds be blown,” they get it right. Sami was playing with fire by being arrogant like that, but at least he was right.
Owen starts working the social aspect, trying to gauge who he can work with and trust. But no one is really opening up, frustrating him, and worrying him that the lack of urgency could come back and bite them sooner rather than later.
Elie opens up to Jeanine and Morriah about her sister dying two years earlier. It’s a strong bonding moment for the three women.
After Gabler struggles to get fire started, Sami steps in and starts it right up. He’s off to a, pardon the pun, hot start. He probably does need to keep it in check though. I can be hard not to stand out when what you’re doing is so helpful to the tribe (first the puzzle, now fire), but you have to keep it in check.
Elie and Gabler bond over their love and knowledge of rock music. But Gabler is probably more into the relationship than Elie, who is playing it a little more guarded, keeping him more as an option than taking him on as a full-on alliance partner.
Coco (Blue)
Ryan and Geo agree to take on the Sweat task, and find their supplies within about 30 minutes.
Karla is trying to work behind the scenes, letting the bigger personalities take center stage. Lindsay might be one of those bigger voices, and she wants to focus on forming a girls alliance. If she’s only forming that group because they’re girls, that might not be enough. You need to figure out if they’re a person you can work with, regardless if they’re a man or woman. Compare this to the three women on Baka, who bonded over an emotional connection. That’s something strong you can build an alliance on.
She tries to bring in James, who acts like he’s all in. But he’s smart enough to be wary about being one guy with three women in a group of four.
Karla finds herself bonding with everyone on the tribe, occupying the middle ground. It’s a tough spot to be in so early. It can be a position of power, but could also make for an easy target at an early vote.
Risk or No Risk
Karla from Coco, Gabler from Baka, and Dwight from Vesi go off on a little adventure together. They are tasked with taking a hike together, where at the end they’ll have to make a group decision.
It’s a Risk or No Risk decision, potentially putting their vote at Tribal Council on the table, hoping for an advantage. Dwight and Gabler both risk their votes. They have to draw from a bag. One gets an advantage, the other loses their vote. But they can’t read the piece of paper they drew until later in the day.
Vesi
Dwight tells his tribe the truth about what happened. He kind of had to, given that they’ve all seen 41 and most, if not all, of 42. They know how these journeys work. But Cody isn’t sure he fully buys the story, based solely off the fact that he doesn’t think Dwight would be completely dry already.
Dwight tells the tribe he lost his vote, which could make him a target at their first Tribal Council. If he can’t help his alliance, maybe he needs to get cut loose. Only time will tell, of course, but it has to be something that he keeps in mind. He has to consider how to mitigate that.
Baka
Gabler tells his tribe the same thing. And when he goes off to check his slip, he finds he pulled the advantage, except it’s an idol. The idol is only good through his first two Tribal Councils, then loses all its power. The wording was odd here, too. The way it read made it sound like he’s automatically safe at those two Tribals, but that can’t be right, can it? I guess we’ll have to wait and see, but I would assume it’s like any other timed idol. It *can* be used at either of the first two Tribals he attends; it’s not an automatic safety type deal. That would be terrible if that’s actually how it works.
Immunity Challenge
The entire tribe races through obstacles, collecting three balls along the way. Then one player digs under a log to release a ramp. The tribe climbs up ramp and across balance beam, getting you to the ending table maze. Once one person is across, you can untie a pole that releases a second half of the balance beam, making it a simple walk across to the end. The first tribe to finish gets their pick between table mazes, second gets to pick between the remaining two, third gets what’s left. First two tribes to finish earn immunity.
Coco finishes first, earning the first immunity. Vesi drops their third before Gabler and Sami can land even one ball for Baka.
Pre-Tribal
When they get back to camp, Gabler, who is a clear target, says he is not going to play his idol. Instead, he’s going to play his Shot in the Dark. In the words of John McEnroe, “You cannot be serious!” Luckily, it seems like Elie was maybe easily able to talk him out of this completely asinine idea, as she assures him he’s not the vote.
Sami, Elie, Morriah, and Jeanine discuss the vote, and all agree not to vote Gabler. And that leaves Owen as the odd man out. But Elie isn’t fully on board, and thinks Morriah is the weakest and needs to go. But Jeanine is worried about being in a 2-3 minority against the guys.
I know the first vote is a tightrope walk, and anything you can do to get your way or make sure you’re note the first boot is a viable strategy. But voting on gender lines – and *only* gender lines – is so short-sighted. Survivor is a relationship game. If your best relationships are truly with the rest of the women or men on your tribe, then sure, go for it. But how often do we hear players voice fears about a womens alliance or (albeit less often) mens alliance, only for them to quickly fizzle out, if even begin at all? Again, if you’re just focused on making it past the first vote, I get it. I understand the mindset. But you need to at least have the long-term vision in mind.
Tribal Council
Gabler plays neither his idol nor Shot in the Dark. Morriah is unanimously voted out.
Winner Pick
Oh man, this is tough. I mean, it always is, but nobody really stuck out as an obvious winner pick, and nobody sticks out after two hours as an obvious non-winner. Several players showed real promise. But I’m going to go with Jesse. Planting my flag, let’s do this!
And with that, we’re officially off and running on Survivor 43! A solid premiere with lots of focus on the players and their stories, and minimal importance put on advantages and idols. In this new era of Survivor we’ll see how long that lasts, but it’s at least off to a good start.
Lastly, if podcasts are more your speed, we’re back on Talking Llama, with recaps of every episode out Thursday mornings.
