‘Survivor: Winners at War’ Premiere Recap: “Greatest of the Greats”

Survivor: Winners at War. That pretty much speaks for itself. Not much else needs to be said, right? But (and if you’re a returning reader, you know) these recaps are usually nothing if not long-winded, so more will be said. Season 40, twenty years, all winners. This is the big one. It’s set up to be the most epic season of all time. Better than All-Stars, better than Micronesia and Heroes vs Villains. But of course, the one thing holding it back is the big, dumb, terrible, Edge of Extinction.

I’ve gone on about how bad it is. So many others have as well. Former players, players on this season, many members of the press who cover Survivor as part of their job, and of course countless users on Twitter, Reddit, and all over social media. It spawned the hashtag movement #EndEdgeOfExtinction. And it seems to have worked, at least to a point. And okay, it’s unclear how much that movement actually had to do with it, but the timing is at the very least quite convenient. In an interview before the premiere, host and executive producer Jeff Probst said that EoE will be going away for “a while.” Now, who knows what a while means, but we’ll take the victory for now.

Unfortunately, the fact remains that EoE still exists for Winners at War, the absolute last season that needed a twist like this. But it’s here, so we just have to live with it. And if tonight’s premiere is an indication of how this season will go, we could still be in for greatness. So in the spirit of positivity, I am going to do everything I can this season not to rag on EoE too much, not at all if I can help it. If it really rears its ugly head and starts to wreck the game, I’ll have to address it. But if it just kind plods along, it can probably be left alone. And as long as we don’t end up with another Chris Underwood situation, I think we can all get along.

Well, we still have the episode itself to get to. And as alluded to above, this was a very good episode. More than anything, it was fun. Seeing twenty legends out on the island together was truly a sight to behold. Seeing them all interact, sometimes not quite sure what to do around each other. It was awesome. And to think we’re going to get a whole season of this really gets the juices flowing. So let’s dive in to the episode, and I’ll try to make it as quick as possible [insert laughter here].

Tribes

First, a quick tribe breakdown, just to set the stage.

Dakal (Red)

• Amber
• Kim
• Nick
• Sandra
• Sarah
• Sophie
• Tony
• Tyson
• Wendell
• Yul

Sele (Blue)

• Adam
• Ben
• Danni
• Denise
• Ethan
• Jeremy
• Michele
• Natalie
• Parvati
• Rob

Immunity/Reward Challenge

Survivor wastes no time and starts off with an immediate challenge, both immunity and reward. It’s Winners at War, folks, would you expect anything different?

I’m always supportive of a good, fun water challenge, so seeing that as the first challenge of the season was another great sign. This was a 2v2 challenge, with each pair racing out in the water to retrieve a ring. Each tribe had a pole in the water. To score a point you had to have one hand on the ring with one hand touching the pole. The first tribe to three points wins the challenge.

Dakal ended up winning, in a tough, physical, fun (for the audience) first challenge, sending Sele to the first Tribal Council. And in the first mini-twist of the season, Tribal would be the following night instead of just several hours later.

Sele Beach

I’m going to try this a bit differently, probably just for this week. I’ll just hit on some bigger bullet points for each tribe. There was a ton of entertaining gameplay happening, but part of that was only fun because you could see it as it was occurring. And this is already going on far too long, so I probably need to try to wrap it up. These will cover both hours of the show.

Before hitting the bullet points, Boston Rob put his skills on full display, in what will likely remain as a highlight of the season. Rob and Parvati form an alliance, largely out of necessity, especially for Rob. These two should have the biggest targets on the tribe. There’s really no reason for both of them to survive this first vote. But there’s a reason they’re two of the best players to play the game.

It starts off with Ben and others talking about the vote. Danni mentions Rob as someone they should at least consider targeting. Later, Ben is talking with Rob and tells Rob he heard some names being thrown out. Rob asked whose names, Ben said his. Rob asked who specifically said his name. Ben wavered, saying he couldn’t remember. Rob pressed him, saying this kind of reaction from Ben made Ben untrustworthy. So what does Ben do but spill the beans that it was Danni.

It was masterful. You could see what was coming the whole time, all while screaming at Ben not to do what you knew he was about about to do. And even Ben knew it was wrong! He admitted in a confessional he didn’t know what happened, that Rob had played him perfectly. So that’s one point against for caving, and one point in his favor for realizing his mistake. But will Ben learn from it? Being able to do that can be a huge key in winning any season of Survivor. And in a season like this, you cannot afford to make the same mistake twice.

Rob then confronts Danni about what Ben told him. And Danni is truthful, saying she was worried about all of Rob’s connections compared to the fact that she didn’t come into the game with any like he did. Rob thanks her for being honest, and in the span of about two seconds seemingly turned an immediate threat into a new ally. The guy is good.

So now Rob and Parvati are sitting pretty. They even acknowledge the ridiculousness themselves. Parvati said to Rob, “Do you think everyone is really dumb or just really scared?” To which Rob responded, “You and I are the two biggest targets and I don’t even feel really worried.”

That’s just insane. Those two should have felt the heat from minute one. There’s no reason not vote one of them off at the first chance you get. If you let them get a foothold in the game, it’s all over. And it’s one thing if they’re in competing alliances; at least then one of them is gone at some point. But now they’re working together! We’ll see if Ben’s newly opened eyes stay open, or if Rob and Parvati have already secured control of the game.

• Jeremy and Parvati bond over their children
  • Seeing this on both tribes makes me think it could be a running theme
  • Or, having it happen so soon on both could have just made for compelling story in episode
• Adam and Denise find themselves alone in the woods
  • They become the immediate targets
  • Rookie mistake; they both should know better, even if it was completely innocent
• The target eventually switches to the strong pair of Natalie and Jeremy
  • It’s not Rob and Parvati, but the line of thinking at least makes sense
• After the First Tribal Council, Ben, Michele, Jeremy, and Adam start the discussion of forming a “new school” alliance
  • If this comes together (and stays together) this could be key in this group advancing far in the game

Sele votes out Natalie, who leaves her Fire Token to Jeremy.

Dakal Beach

• Tyson, Amber, and Sarah start to immediately bond over their children; with lots of parents on the season, could this become a common thread?
• Tony shows serious constraint in not running off to look for the idol; we’ll see how long this can last, but it’s a marked change from his brief stint in Game Changers
• Yul and Sophie talk through the existing relationships some of the other players have
  • This was a big topic in the pre-season coverage and clearly it was not lost on the players
  • They target the so-called “Poker Alliance” of Kim, Tyson, Jeremy, Rob (which also includes Amber by default)
  • Yul and Sophie also seemed to pull in Nick and Wendell, as part of their “unconnected alliance”
• Tyson wanted to work with Kim and Amber, but goes into “pure survival mode” once he finds out his group is being targeted
  • If this is any indication, an alliance one day may not hold until the next
    • An alliance one hour may not hold until the next
• Sandra buys the idol from Natalie
  • With her newfound security, she begins spreading “truth, lies, and rumors”
    • Classic Sandra, could/should make for plenty of fun moments

Dakal loses the second Immunity Challenge and votes out Amber, who leaves her Fire Token for Rob.

Edge of Extinction

Not much to report from the Edge so far. Natalie – and all others who are sent there – have the opportunity to earn Fire Tokens. They do this by way of finding various advantages on the Edge, which they can then sell to players still in the game. Natalie finds a immunity idol (good for three Tribal Councils), which can be sold for one Fire Token.

Final Thoughts

• Edge of Extinction aside, this is what Survivor is all about
• LOVED seeing Ethan back on the Survivor beach
  • Such an incredibly inspirational story; hopefully he’ll stick around for awhile
• It’s still crazy that Sele didn’t vote out Rob or Parvati
  • The other 8 Survivor winners were too blind to vote out the two biggest threats
• Seeing Kim finally have to play from the bottom is fascinating; can’t wait to see where it goes from here
• How long can Rob, Parvati, and Sandra stay in the game?
• Yul had a great first episode, basically picking up where he left off in Cook Islands
  • Can he keep it up or is he going too big too soon?

Winner Pick

You might as well draw a name out of hat for this one. But I’m making Danni Boatwright my official Survivor: Winners at War winner pick. She came into the game under the radar, and it’s stayed that way through the first two votes. In a Survivor season like this, it’s entirely possible that the big bigger (everyone’s a winner, they’re all big threats) threats focus on each other, leaving the quieter players alone. All of a sudden, they’re nearing the end game and Danni is in a power position.

But while Danni is my winner pick, I will be happy with pretty much any result. Again, as I said before, as long as we don’t have a Chris Underwood repeat, this season of Survivor should be a smashing success.

Matt Hambidge