Survivor Season 51, Episode 4
“That's the Magic of Survivor”
Host: Jeff Probst
Cast: Brady Booker, Linnea Capobianco, Cristian Chavez, Sharonda Cox, Jenna Doore, Kristin Flickinger, Ori Jean-Charles, Lewis Kelly, Danny Kilby, Carter Krull, Alexis Levine, Angelica "Jelly" Loblack, Eric Macksoud, Maggie Nestor, Thien An Nguyen, Mike Pinsky, Devin Way
Well, Survivor can't always be perfect.
Survivor 51 was off to a roaring start. For three episodes, the game combined its excellent casting with room for the players to play. But that all came to a bit of a halt with the latest episode of the show as we went from two tribes to three.
What was the fallout of Carter and Lewis voting for Patt?
Back at camp, Brady realizes he has been duped and talks to Carter. He seems less mad that Carter didn't vote with him (after all, he and Devin didn't vote the same way at their first tribal council), but that Kilby will be gunning for him. Carter tries to calm him down, but Brady thinks he looks like a dummy. He's not going to give up, though.
Lewis and Thien An celebrate their victory. However, as they sit and soak in their newfound power, little do they know that a tribe swap is around the corner.
Jelly has regret for not using her idol for her friend. But she still has her idol and not a single soul knows she has it.
Did the tribes swap?
Yes. The tribes are gathered together. Rather than Jeff tricking them into the veil of a reward challenge, they get tree mail that seems to indicate that they might merge. Jeff continues to lure them into that train of thought, only to announce it's a swap instead.
With 17 players remaining, there will be two tribes of six and one tribe of five. The game shakes up as follows:
New Savu (Purple): Alexis, Devin Jelly, Jenna, and Ori
New Toka (Yellow): Brady, Carter, Kristin, Maggie, Mike, and Thien An
Dina (Pink): Cristian, Kilby, Lewis, Linnea, and Sharonda
Kristin seems to get the worst luck of the draw, being the only Savu member to end up on her new tribe. New Savu sees three players from Toka together, but they weren't working together before. Finally, at the brand new third tribe, there is a 3-3 split amongst old tribal lines.
Who are The Loverboys?
At his new tribe, Kilby wants to show that he is not publicly with his old Toka tribe. He talks about the people he was against being the popular kids while he was on the outs. It seems to work, as the others seem to have some sympathy for him.
Most notably, Eric takes a liking to him. The two connect over pro wrestling, theatre, and improv. They christen themselves The Loverboys.
The problem? Everyone else notices how close they are. While Eric worries that they might not be the most physically strong (especially as Lewis seems to be sick and takes a nap in the boat), they don't go to Tribal. However, the rest of the tribe whispers that the bromance between Eric and Kilby is something they need to be mindful of.
How does Kristin fare being the only person from her old tribe?
Kristin has been a lifelong fan of the game and came in prepared. She also uses her crisis management background to work her way out of the situation she's found herself in.
She highlights the flora of the island in order to take care of the other players. She wants to focus on how they feel and make her associate their good feelings with her. She shares that the word Toka comes from "found family".
She's good at this game. Though, sometimes that doesn't get you far enough.
Luckily for her, there are cracks in the tribe. While Kristin and Carter didn't vote together, she tries to reconcile with him. While he's worried about her, he's close to Thien An and her biggest red flag is Mike. Even Maggie calls out that Mike's sus.
What are the dynamics at new Savu?
Alexis says that she is on the wrong side of the numbers at new Savu and only has Ori. She tries to bond with Jenna by using the fact that Devin had come and complained about her when he visited her tribe.
The biggest problem for Alexis is that Ori has a Day 1 alliance with Devin and Jelly, known as The Helicopter Alliance. To make matters worse, Jenna feels her best path forward is to work with Devin and Jelly rather than turning on each other. She tells Devin that Alexis is already talking behind his back.
Are Jelly and Ori in a showmance?
Meanwhile, Devin realizes he has options. Jenna seems to want to work with him, but he might want to cut bait with her anyway. Devin and Jelly have gone from being on the bottom of the tribe to being firmly in the power position.
Devin tries to play matchmaker between Jelly and Ori. She was pretty interested in him when they landed on the beach on Day 1. Devin tries to light the spark, but Jelly calls him the worst wingman. Whether Devin genuinely thinks Ori and Jelly could be an item or whether he wants to unite their alliance remains to be seen.
Who wins the immunity challenge?
The three tribes compete in a challenge where they have to pass water from the ocean into a container using several buckets. They must gather enough water to release a ball which they will use to complete a spinning maze. The first two tribes to win will be safe, sending the last place team to Tribal Council.
They would also win reward in the form of a Survivor coffee kit. The winning tribe wins a full kit while the losing tribe wins a jug of iced coffee.
Both Dina and Toka get through the first phase of the challenge rather quickly, leaving Savu a bit behind. They get a fair amount of time on the spinning puzzle while Savu has to keep trying to throw water at each other.
Dina, the tribe that you could have argued might have been the physically weakest of the three, finishes the challenge first. They are followed closely behind by Savu, meaning that Toka is heading back to Tribal Council.
Who got voted out?
With Ori clearly on the side of Jelly and Devin, there were two options remaining for the tribe. The Helicopter alliance could either make amends with Jenna and vote out Alexis, or cut bait on someone who has voted against them in the past.
While Alexis did herself no favors by trying to convince Jenna to vote out Devin or Jelly, she gets saved by her new tribe mates. The biggest factor in voting out Jenna also seems to be that voting her out wouldn't make any waves with Ori, therefore building trust with him.
In the end, Jenna and Alexis both vote for each other, but The Helicopter Alliance sends Jenna home.
The best thing I can say about this episode is that despite the being a little straightforward, there was intrigue because of all that came before in the first three episodes. Jenny, Devin and Ori had a relationship because the tribes all arrived on the beach together before being split up. However, a wrong move by Jelly and Devin could mean that Ori lost trust in his allies before they had worked together. It meant that Jelly and Devin, who really could control the vote, had to make a genuinely interesting decision.
But ultimately this episode a bit of a letdown of the amazing start we've had so far. After three episodes where the players were given room to maneuver, build relationships and make big moves, the tribe swap put much of that momentum on hold. We spent more time getting to know the new dynamics than watching those dynamics actually play out. That's not to say there isn't potential here. The new tribes have some fascinating combinations of players, and there are plenty of cracks that could lead to chaos down the road. But after such a strong start, this felt like an episode more interested in setting up what's next than delivering something memorable on its own.
Grace Notes
- Have I mentioned how endearing I find Brady calling everybody Brody? It should be annoying, but somehow I find it all rather charming
- Brady telling Eric to shut up mid-challenge when he tries to hype up Maggie was amazing
- The only thing better than the whale tribal immunity idol this season is the slightly smaller version
