Survivor 43 recap: Death of the hourglass

Dalton Ross
·14 min read
1
Survivor 43 recap: Death of the hourglass

Survivor has had some memorable quotes over the years. It started with Sue Hawk's epic rat and snake speech on season 1's final Tribal Council. Of course, there have been others along the way. I'm obviously somewhat partial to Phillip Sheppard's "I saw you guys get a scoop of the crispy" accusation. And then there is the best thing ever said on Survivor, courtesy of the one and only Coach: "Jack and Jill. Loved it. Adam Sandler — personally, I'm a fan. It was funny, but at the same time, there was a message, and that message was hey, family comes first."

That will never not be funny to me. Kind of in the same way Jack and Jill will never be funny. But while this merge episode of Survivor may not have given us anything as memorable as Sue's verbal beatdown, or as random as Phillip's rice drama, or as hilarious as Coach trying to score some more camera time by praising the comedic stylings of an Adam Sandler cross-dressing comedy, it did give us perhaps the most important and most welcome words we have heard in a full calendar year, and those words were: "It's yours. No twist. No player is going to take it away."

Those words were delivered by Jeffrey Probst to the Survivor 43 cast as he explained that the winners of the upcoming challenge would receive immunity at the next vote as well as a merge feast. Like us, the cast had all seen Survivor 41. They knew about Erika making history by changing history, and Sydney then going home even though she was on the winning challenge team. No doubt they were worried about another switcheroo. Hell, I bet Danny McCray was hiding there in the bushes ready to jump out and start yelling about how terrible the twist was if they had the audacity to actually repeat it yet again. (He then would have somehow seamlessly transitioned into talking about his wife, Kiki, because that's how Danny rolls in 2022.) But you know what they say about history: Those who don't learn from it are doomed to repeat it. And Probst and Co. learned.

Survivor
Survivor

Robert Voets/CBS Jeff Probst and the cast of 'Survivor 43'

You all know where I stood on the hourglass twist. It came in somewhere between root canals, the carjacking episode of Six Feet Under, and listening to the 1-800-Kars4Kids jingle on my list of least favorite things ever. It was terrible for so many reasons that I and everybody else on the planet have already capably illustrated numerous times, so we won't go there again. But for many people, that storm of sadness obscured something else — the general concept of having players not get an automatic fast pass to the merge.

I wrote about this when the hourglass twist was first announced, that the basic idea of having contestants battle to get into the merge was an intriguing one. And unlike the hourglass portion of the proceedings, it was completely fair. If they had just stopped there and not added that stupid hourglass, it would have been awesome. It kind of sucks the way we finally got here now in Survivor 43 — having two seasons marred to eventually get to a solid game mechanic twist unencumbered by a shady gimmick — but at least we are here. And that is worth celebrating.

And while I am a super annoying scream-from-the-rooftops guy whenever there is a twist I don't like, the one thing I always say about Survivor and those that make the show is that they do need to try new things to keep the show fresh and keep players on their toes. I am a big believer in trying things out, and then, if they don't work, either get rid of them or tweak them to work better. The Survivor producers tweaked the hourglass in season 42 to make it marginally better (but still awful), and then dumped it completely for 43, and, to me, that's worth all the scoops of the crispy you can possibly muster.

"It's yours. No twist. No player is going to take it away." Didn't it feel incredible to hear those words? Like a true Calgon take me away moment come to life. All is once again right in the world. So, with that in mind, let me now go ahead and ruin it by hitting on a few other things from this weeks "Mergatory" episode of Survivor 43.

When 3 Become 1

OMG, the parchment Coco just got makes it seem like a big merge announcement! Check out how excited everyone is! And who can blame them? After all, nobody wants to end up like poor Kat Edorrson, who reminded us through tears that "Nobody wants to date somebody that didn't make the merge." But look at Debbie Downer Karla over there — not even cracking a smile. "I'm gonna wait," she said as James proceeded to blow out both of his lungs screaming like my daughter at her first One Direction concert. Karla was actually smart to once again realize a merge is not a merge these days on Survivor, and that there would be at least one more hoop to jump through before getting her buff.

I actually thought that Jesse gave the best analogy of the evening looking at the difference between pre- and post-merge, saying the first stage of the game was like gladiator school. I suppose the question then became: Who was ready to enter the arena?

Chyron Fun

I'm a simple man with simple pleasures. When I want to have some fun, I go clean my records (seriously) or maybe take a bike ride wearing a helmet that sits way too high on top of my head and kind of makes me look like a Super Mario Bros. mushroom. (When I want to be sad, I watch the Washington Commanders play football, but that's another story.)

So that's my personal jam. But when Survivor editors want to have fun, they start messing around with chyrons on the screen. You know, those words that appear at the bottom of the screen while people are talking. We saw some of this back in the season premiere with all of Sami's various professions, and the tradition actually extends all the way back to season 22 when questions regarding the truth surrounding some of Phillip Sheppard's professional claims led producers to add a question mark to his listed occupation: "Former Federal Agent?"

Well, those crazy cats were back at it this this week, playing off Owen's reference of wanting a chyron telling him who had what advantage. Not only did they mock Owen by flashing a "No Advantage" sign on the screen (well played), but they then started listing all the advantages and idols on screen as Owen rattled them off, putting a big ????? for the Coco idol he didn't know about, which then shifted to Karla's name. Good stuff all around. While a wise sage named Keith Nale once opined that "Survivor ain't fun. Goin' on a cruise is fun! Goin' fishing is fun. Playing golf is fun," I would counter that Survivor is supposed to be fun for those who make it and those who watch it, so little touches that lean into that fun are more than welcome.

But what I also found interesting about this entire pre-challenge sequence that may not have registered with many viewers is that the tribes "merged" on day 12, but the challenge itself was not until day 13. So unlike the last two seasons where the teams all came together at the challenge and then learned how it was all going to play out with only half of the tribe being safe into the merge (and not the half they thought), this time the players all had around 24 hours together before having the twist thrown at them, giving them time to talk and make (or break) bonds. I have no idea how that impacted things, but I have no doubt that it did.

Survivor
Survivor

Robert Voets/CBS The cast of 'Survivor 43'

Ramping Up

Not only were we treated to an hourglass-free pre-merge battle, but the challenge at play was a really cool one. Co-executive producer John Kirhoffer and his team have done a good job of making this season's contests feel fresh without actually radically redoing anything. There are just enough wrinkles or tweaks to things we have seen before to make these battles of brain and brawn extra compelling.

Like in this one where the teams had to remove a bunch of debris at the start to get the sled they needed, then pull that sled around the course. Even the steep curved ramp that needed to be scaled was a tweak from the standard flat wall we are so used to seeing. And the "earning your spot at every stage" puzzle looked different from any puzzle we have seen before. So while the general structure of the challenge was pretty similar to things we have witnessed a million times, it still managed to feel new. And since we know everything leading into the puzzle is just window dressing anyway (since it's ALL ABOUT THE PUZZLE!), it's nice when that window dressing shines.

I would be remiss if I didn't point out the best pep talk in the history of Survivor, when Jeanine went over to the red mat and started firing up the team: "We got this! We got this! We got this!" she implored. Just one problem: She was actually on the blue team. The casual viewer will simply assume Jeanine made an honest mistake, but we all know better, don't we?

This was the most clear-cut case of reverse psychology I have seen since my wife asked me to stop watching so much reality TV. Naturally, I assumed that meant she wanted me to immediately start binging both The Mole and Love Is Blind simultaneously, and while she has expressed much displeasure since that began, I can only assume she is merely playing the long game and that the severity of her reaction is actually a sign that she wants me to ingest even more mindless television. (Sounds like it's time for a Celebrity Mole Yucatán rewatch!)

And, like my poor wife, Jeanine's reverse psychology totally worked! Blue came back and defeated red, even though they practically disfigured Karla in the process and Ryan had to pull some weird upside-down rope maneuver so that the blood rushing to his brain could match the blood rushing out of Karla's hand. I thought Noelle totally blew it by picking blue to win, once again proving I know nothing about anything outside of Casper Van Dien movies and over-sugared breakfast cereals (what up, Boo Berry?).

Survivor
Survivor

Robert Voets/CBS The cast of 'Survivor 43'

Elie Pulls a Geo

"I feel like I was made for Survivor. I've kind of figured out how to hack things. I feel like this is my environment. The social element of the game I knew I was going to be good at, but I'm way better than I even thought." —Elie

Now why would you say that? Do I have to repeat my spiel about the Survivor Gods FOR THE THIRD WEEK IN A ROW?!? Seriously, are you going to make me do that? Or is this some sort of Jeanine-level reverse psychology to make me not talk about it again? Either way, the second that came out of Elie's mouth, we longtime Survivor viewers knew she was in deep doo-doo.

But Elie had other problems. Problems like… Gabler. Their heavy metal bond over Mastodon clearly broken, Gabler was busy sucking down brewskis and telling the fellow merge feast winners that he wanted Elie out because she went through his bag on day 3. Never mind the fact that Elie never actually went through his bag, and it was actually Jeanine. This is a case not unlike one involving John "Bluto" Blutarsky, who once opined that the Germans had bombed Pearl Harbor. Sometimes you just gotta say, "Forget it, he's rolling." And Gabler was rolling, not only throwing Elie under the bus, but then allowing a cavalcade of elephants and a marching band to also trample all over her as if she was Sideshow Bob on the receiving end of the Terror Lake Parade.

It was unclear how much actual damage that did. After all, would that guy be the person you would want to align with if you just merged over? Even his biggest ally, Sami, summed it up this way: "Gabler's a f---ing idiot." (His words, not mine.) But Elie had another problem on her hands, and that problem's name was… Elie.

Elie's cardinal sin is she threw out too many names to too many people, and she never came off as trustworthy enough to make it work. James never trusted Elie's words that she wanted them to join up to take Cody (and his fabulous ass tattoo) out, and she apparently did not make Cody comfortable enough with her throwing his name out as a decoy. Once Vesi turned on Elie and shared with Coco's Ryan that she was throwing out James and Cassidy's names, it was all over… unless Jeanine would give her the idol. News flash: She didn't.

Elie Takes One Last Shot

In the end, Elie pulled seven of the 11 total votes (Jeanine and Jesse had no votes). But a look at the final tally leads to some interesting questions. Sami and Gabler both voted for Elie, but Owen joined Elie in voting for James. Interesting that Sami did not trust Owen enough to bring him in on the vote. Even more interesting is Noelle's vote for Cassidy. Was that just a random backup in case Ellie had an idol (as we can assume Karla's vote for Owen was), or was Noelle simply out of the loop on that one? Also, if Gabler had really wanted to throw some fuel on the fire, he could have played his idol for James as one last big F. U. to Elie on her way out the door. I confirmed with producers that Gabler's idol is, indeed, now powerless. His idol was good for the first two Tribal Councils he attended, and even though he could not be voted for this time due to being on the winning challenge team, this was his second Tribal Council and he could have handed it over to someone else or played it for someone in danger. But he didn't. And now it's gone.

I thought Elie's parting shot of "You all see what trusting Gabler will get you?" was curious in that I don't think Elie ever trusted Gabler herself, so it doesn't make a whole lot of sense. That said, I have no problem whatsoever with someone throwing an elbow on their way out. If that's the last game play you have left, and as long as it does not veer into an overly personal low blow, let 'er rip!

Survivor
Survivor

Robert Voets/CBS Elie Scott on 'Survivor' 43

Overall, Elie was an entertaining contestant who played hard — just maybe a little too hard at the wrong time. And, like many before and after her, she maybe got a little too comfortable and a little too impressed with herself. Like I said, she pulled a Geo. At least in her confessional interviews, she did. And, for that, the Survivor Gods struck her down.

But now that we're at the merge, I know we all have one big question: What is the merge name? They haven't shown it yet, but you can see what each player in the cast wanted to name the merge tribe. That's because we asked them before the game, and you can check out all of their answers. We also talked to Cody earlier today to get his thoughts on the game so far, and he revealed that he was not a fan of Vesi helping Baka over Coco in the one challenge. Not only that, but he shared the origin story of his epic "LIVIN!!" tattoo. You're going to want to read this one.

And we have plenty more as well. Want an exclusive deleted scene from this week's episode? We've got you covered with one showing how a player made a huge merge mistake. And you can now watch and/or read our exit interview with Elie who shares tons of scoop on things we didn't see. To make sure you ever miss any of Survivor stuff, follow me on Twitter @DaltonRoss. Okay, that's it for now. You'll have to excuse me as I head back into the kitchen to start working on next week's scoop of the crispy!

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