Survivor can’t help itself. Production knows what the fans want, and they are so resistant to giving us those things. They came back our way this season by (kind of mostly) getting rid of the “earn the merge.” But then they still had the split Tribal twist, but only worse. Two seasons ago, they brought back the auction, but — shocker — made it worse. Enter Survivor 47.
The Survivor auction is back, but they didn’t get rid of the awful lost vote twist. They added something to it, which helped. But the main thing is losing your vote for having the most money left is just plain stupid. Maybe in the next two season cycle, they’ll finally realize what we’re asking for isn’t unreasonable. In fact, it might actually be good (it is good)!
Beka
As Rachel waits back at camp, she has lots of thoughts running through her head about the tribal council. She’s thrilled to have safety but is worried it’s drawing too much attention. She’s hoping it doesn’t piss anybody off too much. And, of course, she can’t help but think about who sent her the Safety Without Power advantage.
Sol decides to tell Rachel he was the one who gave it to her. Rachel is (obviously) extremely grateful, but Sol cautions her not to reveal this to anyone else. She agrees, at least for now.
The next day, the tribe finds a note alerting them to *drum roll please* the Survivor Auction! But wait, there’s dumb stuff again. Like two seasons ago, when the show brought the auction back, the tribe has to run through the jungle to find bamboo tubes of cash. Come ooonnn! There’s no need for that. Just let the auction be the auction.
And somehow, Andy doesn’t find a single tube while everyone else is racking up money. We see him literally walk past several tubes right out in the open, somehow completely missing several *obvious* tubes.
Granted, this was very funny (VERY funny), but it’s not worth it. Andy has $0, while Sierra came away with over $1,000. Just give them the same amount of money. It’s really not that serious of a thing.
Auction
In addition to the money hunting, the other dumb part of the new auction returns: whichever player ends the auction with the most amount of money loses their vote. This. Is. So. Dumb. Not everything has to have stakes. Sometimes, you only need steaks (I’m sorry, I’ll see myself out).
But seriously, it’s such a pointless, stupid addition. Let the players have some innocent fun. That’s okay! I know the show had to switch the auction up. But really, all they had to do was not have advantages or idols. That’s it. You can still include some non-food items (a night in a real bed, a video message from home) to mix things up a bit.
Kyle, a vegetarian, buys a covered item, which turns out to be a plate of chicken wings. He had been vegan but recently switched to vegetarian on the off-chance he got to play Survivor. I love that so much. And then he actually caves and eats the wings. I love that even more.
The other really dumb part is that the auction has a guaranteed minimum of 5 items. Then, Jeff draws a number between 6 and 15, which will determine how many items will be auctioned off. Once the auction gets to that point, whoever has the most money just bids everything they have left. It’s beyond boring and uninteresting.
While eating her burger and fries, Rachel finds a little slip of paper in her fries.
Jeff brings out a big breakfast platter. Anyone who wants to pay $200 can compete for it. They have to eat two big grubs. The first to get two down wins, and that goes to Sam. The losers have to take their money back.
The auction ends, and Sam has the most money left, costing him his vote at the next Tribal Council.
Beka
Rachel finds a moment alone to read her note. It tells her there’s a hidden immunity idol sewn into the corner of their tarp. She makes a bold move, going for it when everyone is at the shelter. They’re all inside or underneath, but still. She had to cut the tarp open to get it. Again, bold move. I like it.
I wish she would have had to work a little more for it. Not that it wasn’t risky, given the location. But she was given the idol by chance. At least make it a clue; make her put in some extra effort.
Genevieve wants to go after one of the former Gata members. She proposes Rachel to Caroline and Sue. They both view her as playing a strong game, and maybe a sneakier, more under-the-radar game. They view Sam as a big threat, but he’s more of an obvious threat, and they feel they’ll have more chances to get him out.
Immunity Challenge
The players hold onto a handle attached to a bucket that contains 20% of pre-game body weight. And in an unnecessary twist, both the last woman standing and the last man standing will win immunity. It’s not that it’s necessarily terrible; there’s simply no reason or benefit to doing this.
Sue and Kyle win immunity. Not much to say here. This is now Kyle’s third win in a row. He was already seen as a challenge threat, and this is going to underscore that. His target only continues to grow.
Pre-Tribal
The Gata/Lavo majority still wants to work together. And with Sue and Kyle safe, their target settles on either Gabe or Caroline, with Gabe presenting as the bigger target. However, Andy could pose some problems.
He knows how Sam and Sierra view him, and he thinks this might be the time to move. He wants to form a new alliance with the Tukus and Lavos. The focus turns to Sam and Sierra, with Sierra coming out front as the preferred vote. But Teeny likes Sierra, and tries to swing the vote Sam instead. Where Gabe views Sierra as the head, Teeny views Sam.
And then…Genevieve and Caroline want Rachel. While believing her to be a very strong player, they also don’t think Sam or Sierra would play an idol on her (obviously not knowing about her shiny new toy). Everyone wants Gata gone, but they can’t settle on who to vote out.
I love this. Everyone is reading the same book, but nobody is on the same page. Seeing whose agenda wins out could potentially point to the true power player in the game right now. An actual Survivor power struggle, let’s go!
Tribal Council
Rachel decides to play her Shot in the Dark instead of her idol. And it fails.
The first round of voting ends with a 4-4 tie between Sam and Sierra (with one vote going to Gabe). In a unique twist, Sierra is actually able to vote on the re-vote. Usually, the only reason players don’t vote in this scenario is because they can only vote for each other. But since Sam lost his vote, Sierra is able to cast a vote. And in a cruel twist, this, of course, means she has no choice but to vote for Sam.
That doesn’t matter, though, as Sierra is voted out, and with that, we have the first member of our Survivor 47 jury.
Mixed in with some very bad production meddling, there were some really good moments here. We got to see a true power struggle as a new alliance knew the group they wanted to target but had differing views on which player within that group to go after.
Things I Liked
- Andy finding no money. It should have been impossible, but not with him. Love it.
- Kyle switching going from vegan to vegetarian just on the slim possibility he would get cast on Survivor, and wanted to give himself more options for eating when on the island.
- Rachel going huge and going for the idol when everyone is at the shelter
- Advantage hidden in the food. Having players bid on advantages broke the auction, but this a good compromise
- Going into Tribal, truly not having a good feeling one way or another where the vote was going
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You can catch new episodes of Survivor 47 every Wednesday at 8pm ET/7pm CT on CBS, and it is also available to stream on Paramount+.
