I love Survivor (no shock there). But I have to say it. As much as I enjoy everything else about News From The Couch, covering Survivor is my favorite thing I do. The show, and the entire connected community, just has this certain energy about it. It’s hard to explain, but if you’re a fan, you know what I’m talking about. I get excited for each new premiere like nothing else. It’s maybe not more excited than anything; but it’s a different kind of excitement. None of this should surprise anyone, so why am I leading off my premiere recap with it?
Look no further than this season’s Edge of Extinction twist. After each Tribal Council, the voted out player is faced with a choice: go one way and leave the game for good. Go the other and be given a chance at a second chance. Before the season started I was against the idea. After the first episode I’m still against the idea. The vote is the seminal moment of each episode. It should stick. You get voted out, your game is done. But here’s the thing. This is the 38th season of Survivor. Just think about that for a second. Thirty eight seasons in and they still have new ideas to try out. They know that every idea can’t be a winner, but they’re still going for it. It’s how the players (should) play the game, and it’s how production designs the game.
Plus, a bad twist does not automatically result in a bad season. The first iteration of Redemption Island had its problems, sure, but I actually enjoyed it more than most. Some may find it boring, but it was incredibly impressive watching Boston Rob’s absolute dominance from beginning to end. The first Blood vs. Water was an excellent season in its own right. So while the the twist may put the season at a disadvantage, it’s not a death blow. Even if the twist itself fails in a vacuum, the season can still be fun as a whole. A good cast and fun challenges can take a season a long way.
But back to the twist. Good or bad, you have to credit the show for always looking for ways to inject new life into the show. I don’t have the highest of hopes, but you never know. As Probst said during the premiere, this game is unpredictable. But I think I’ve waxed poetic long enough; onto the actual episode!
The Marooning
This is more or less a traditional Survivor marooning. The difference here is that the main boat only has 14 contestants, all likely excitedly waiting for some twist to be revealed. And that’s just what happens, as a smaller boat soon arrives, carrying returning players Joe Anglim, Aubry Bracco, Kelley Wentworth, and David Wright. The 14 newbies are understandably a little star-struck. I mean, how could they not be? Especially with Probst showering them with high praise such as being “scared of pretty much everything on day 1” (David) or being someone who “literally cried in the shelter the first time she played” (Aubry). It doesn’t get much better than that.
I always have conflicted feelings when we see new players introduced on these kinds of seasons. On the one hand, yes I’m sure it’s an unbelievable experience on top of another unbelievable experience. You’re in the game you love, Day 1, the Marooning. That’s exciting enough on its own. But then you see legends (just go with it) of the game approach and you learn you now have the opportunity to play the game with these icons. That’s undoubtedly a very cool and surreal moment.
But on the other hand, these people are still your direct competition. Anyone who knows the game knows returning players have a huge advantage, especially in the early stages. In that respect, happy is the last thing you should be. Yeah, yeah, I get it, a smile and applause is better for your game and your edit. But how awesome would be it be if one of the players was outwardly pissed off? Just lets out a big f-bomb? It would be legendary. It will never happen, but one can hope.
From there it’s what you would expect. There is a mad dash to gather as much supplies as they can in their short two minute window. And of course with maroonings these days, you know there has to be an advantage or two lying around somewhere. And this season’s lucky winner is Ron Clark, who scoops up a clue that seems to just be lying out wide open. We’ll get to the advantage later, and that pretty much does it for the marooning.
But before we head over to the Kama and Manu tribes, there was also this #besthostever
What kind of start is Kama off to? Let’s check in with Ron on that front. “I think Kama is off to the best start of any tribe I’ve ever seen.”
Yikes. While there was no payoff on this quote in this episode, we’ve all seen this story play out countless time before. Remember this moment if Ron (or Kama) goes down in a blaze of glory. But Ron’s not done yet as he has an advantage to find. And find it he does. Or, rather, he finds three potential advantages in the form of the Advantage Menu. He gets to choose from: stealing a reward from the other tribe if Kama loses a challenge, an extra vote at Tribal Council, or getting individual immunity at Tribal Council. But of course there’s a twist, as the menu options expire after the third Tribal Council.
As expected, a returnee is immediately outed as a target. But what’s maybe not expected is that it’s not Joe, but Aubry. Eric and Gavin are taking a nice stroll through the forest and are discussing the two. They agree Joe should be kept around for at least the next little while. He’s such a beast in the challenges, you almost have to keep him around to help the tribe. Along those same lines, they are both on board to use Joe as a shield while they can.
This leaves Aubry as their target of choice, unfortunately. It seems poor Aubry is playing from the bottom yet again. She’s had a rough go of it on her first two seasons, albeit for very different reasons. And not to say Survivor should be an easy experience, but for someone I like as much as Aubry, it would be nice to see her have a good experience, for however long that may be. But, it’s still early, plenty of game left to play. But the episode 1 takeaway for Aubry is that she needs to be on high alert.
Manu Tribe
Over on Manu, a few things happen. Kelley and Lauren form an immediate bond. Kelley talks about focusing on forming strong social bonds from the start. David tells us his nerves won’t be a problem this time around, and he’s hoping to be an actual asset to the new players. But most of the action revolves around two players: Wendy and Reem. We’ll start with Wendy.
Wendy reveals she has Tourette’s and mild OCD. From what we saw, it didn’t seem like anything that should impact her game. However, she did say she has bad weeks, especially when she gets excited, which seems very likely to happen. Now, why does this matter? Well, in the grand scheme of things, it shouldn’t. But in the incredibly narrow scope of Survivor, it might matter greatly. Through Wendy’s own words, she is awkward and can have trouble socializing and vibing with other people. Survivor is such a social game, this could prove problematic for Wendy, unfortunately through no fault of her own.
This next bit centers around the biggest of issues: clothes. No, this is not a flashback to David vs. Goliath’s #JacketGate. Reem, the tribe’s perceived “mother figure” (but don’t tell her that) has taken it upon herself to move the still-wet clothes from their hang-drying positions to the beach. On the surface it may not seem like a problem. However, as I’m sure anyone alive can attest to, people don’t like stuff being touched. It’s just a simple fact of life. And it can become an even bigger issue on Survivor. You have minimal possessions out on the island; you don’t want your stuff being moved and ultimately lost. The beach is out in the open, a big gust of wind could have blown some of those away. Unlikely? Yes. Possible? Also yes.
I don’t think it’s the fact that she moved them, because everyone realizes it was done with kindness. It’s the fact that Reem didn’t think to ask. It should be common sense to check with people first before doing anything, even something as simple as this, with their possessions. Unfortunately, Reem wasn’t done.
Her troubles continue in a conversation with Keith, the youngest player on the season. Keith tells her he already sees her as a mother figure. Reem does not take too kindly to that; that’s not how she wants to be seen. But Keith won’t let it go that easy, and tries to push the matter further. Reem tells him off, calls him soft. That is…not a great response. Keith is making an honest attempt to bond with her, and she just isn’t having it. Even if she doesn’t want to work with Keith, she has to give him something. At least make him feel wanted and respected. I don’t know that a better response would have saved her, but as we see later, it certainly didn’t help her.
Challenge
Survivor wastes no time and opens the season with a doozy of a challenge. Each castaway maneuvers through a rope obstacle, followed by one player climbing a rope to ring a bell. The castaways then cross a three-tier balance beam. Once the first player crosses, they start untying knots which releases a bar to cover the beam, making it easier to cross. After everyone crosses, one player climbs to the top of a crow’s nest to pull a lever that drops a slide. All players slide down to the final mat, where six contestants work to solve a giant slide puzzle.
Kama reaches the puzzle with a sizable lead, seemingly setting us up for great comeback right off the bat. But alas, it’s not in the cards this time as Kama never relinquishes their lead, winning the first challenge, along with the standard flint reward.
The big takeaway here, though, is that we hear Probst refer to Rick by his last name, Devens. I’m already a huge Rick fan, and he already has last name status? I’d like to think that bodes well for my guy. Again, this is Survivor and you obviously never know what happens. But I’m hoping it’s a sign of good things to come for my new favorite Georgia morning news anchor.
Pre-Tribal
Back on the Manu beach, Reem’s troubles continue. She, Keith, and Wendy find themselves in a three-person alliance, which is not the numbers break down you want (I double checked the math, it holds up). This leaves the other six with a decision of which of the three to take out first. Reem has done more to get on the others’ nerves, so she is the choice. But it’s never that simple, is it?
Rick draws the short straw and ends up in a conversation at the well with Keith, Reem, and Wendy. Reem wastes no time making her wishes known. She sees Kelley and Lauren as a tight twosome and wants to break them up right now. She asks Rick his thoughts, but doesn’t give him time to answer, as she continually pushes him on who he wants to get out and why it isn’t one of those two.
Keith sees the writing on the wall and ditches that conversation to tell Reem’s thoughts to the rest of the tribe. He can see where this is headed and wants to make sure he’s on the right side of the vote. He has no desire in being lumped together with Reem and Wendy. That’s one reaction to have. Wendy, on the other hand, had quite a different one.
David and Wardog talk to Wendy, trying to bring her on board. They don’t mince words, and tell Wendy Reem is going home. Wendy, while understanding their decision, stands firm with Reem. She tells David and Wardog she is staying loyal to Reem and will not vote against her. This makes Wardog nervous, and wants to consider switching the vote to Wendy. There are two valid sides to this. On the one hand, Wendy knows Reem is the one going home, yet she still won’t join the majority in the vote. If you can’t count on someone when a decision is this set in stone (at least as much as a decision can be in Survivor), how could you count on her when things are a bit dicier?
But the flip side to that is Wendy is demonstrating extreme loyalty, perhaps even to a fault. She knows Reem is doomed, yet she doesn’t waver in her support. That’s the kind of ally you want. If you have someone you know you can count on 100%? That’s huge. In the heat of the moment, I’m sure I would think the same as Wardog. But file this moment away, just in case Wardog remembers it and tries to work with Wendy some time down the line.
After Reem finds out she’s the target, she confronts everyone and rants and raves about it. It’s a lot of “dudes” and “screw them.” While I understand the frustration, Reem does not handle this well at all. I get that she wants to defend herself, and she should. But she makes no attempt to try to swing the target onto someone else. She mentioned Kelley and Lauren at the well but then seemingly abandons that plan. If you go off on your tribe like she does, she’s only making them feel more secure in their decision. Throw some other names out. Make up lies about other players if you have to. Do something, anything, to sow some seeds of doubt. But she doesn’t, and we head to our first Tribal Council of the season with Reem as the presumptive first boot.
Tribal Council
Tribal is Tribal, nothing special, and Reem is voted out 4-3-1-1, with Wendy receiving three votes to protect against an idol, and Kelley and Lauren each receiving one. So Reem is the first one out voted out, and she heads down the path to Ponderosa, or so she thinks. But we know better.
I love this picture. I will take any excuse to use it.
As we know, Reem finds something unexpected: not a lonely path straight to Ponderosa, but instead a choice. To no one’s surprise she wastes no time choosing the Edge of Extinction option. And so it begins.
Winner Pick
Ah, the reason you’re all here. Right? This was a tough choice. I had a few players I was watching for in this first hour. Julia and Chris were two I was interested in, as I saw them as solid middle-of-the-road players. I thought they might be able to hide behind bigger threats and be the “best of who’s left.” But they were mostly invisible. I liked the little bit of Eric that we saw. Granted, it’s not smart to put too much stock into how much or how little we saw of this player or that player. It’s maybe not a great sign, but they’ve only been on the island three days at this point. A lot of them are still getting their bearings.
And while the numbers might back it up, I can’t make myself make one of the returning players my pick. As noted in my season preview, every new/returning player mixed season has seen at least one returning player at least make Final Tribal. But I just can’t see it happening. Players are smarter these days. The starstruck phase will fade, and the rest of the players will see them for the huge threats they are. Now, will it surprise me if Aubry, David, Joe, or Kelley ends up as Sole Survivor a couple months from now? No, not at all. But I just think the odds are too stacked against them to make one my pick.
So here we are. I don’t feel good about, I think his personality is too big, but I’m making Rick Devens my official winner pick. He seems smart enough, everyone is going to like him, and he won’t stick out as an obvious physical threat. And because it’s always fun to end with a little bit of fun, here, presented in gif form, is how I feel about Rick as my winner pick.
