Survivor Recap: Loose Lips Sink Ships
When Wednesday’s Survivor kicks off, Bhanu is still flapping his gums, only this time he’s being honest with his tribe about what he spilled during his Journey. Tiffany is rightfully peeved. In one fell swoop, Bhanu threatened all of his tribemates’ games. The truly rich part: He doesn’t even understand why what he said was wrong! The whole debacle leads Kenzie to wonder why the guy even came on the show when clearly he doesn’t know how to play. “He could’ve just gone camping!” she says. Can’t argue with that. No notes.
Over at SIGA, Jem re-hides the Beware Advantage (but not the idol box) in order to stir up some chaos. The whole shebang causes a frenzy after Maria finds it, leading the entire tribe to search for the idol as one big, happy family. Later, Jem tries to throw suspicion on Tim, hinting that he could be the one who found and then re-hid the clue. The ploy could work to her advantage if Siga ever has to go to Tribal Council. But as we see in the previews for next week, the Siga idol will soon become an even greater topic for discussion.
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REWARD | Move over, Coach and The Dragonz: There’s a new Survivor singing group in town! Soda and Tevin get all sorts of soulful when tree mail hints at a food-based reward challenge. Soda serves up some sweet rhymes, while Tevin provides beats and a wowing dramatic finish. Not too shabby for a spontaneous island jam sesh! (It’s also yet another treat we’re privy to, thanks to the series’ super-sized episodes.)
For the challenge, tribes must unlock a set of rings, free them from a pole and toss them onto a second pole. The reward everybody’s singing about: 10 huge fish and a bamboo cooker! (Second place gets five fish.) If last week’s medical evacuation was Yanu’s first miracle, this challenge proves to be its second: They finish in first and trade the protein for a large tool kit and a tarp (since they still don’t have fire to cook with). Nami wins the small bunch of fish, while Jeff sends Siga away with nothing.
After the challenge, Q takes some time to coach Bhanu on his social game, but when Bhanu asks Kenzie to help him out too, she snaps at him. I get that he can be a bit much (and that when you’re out in the elements starving, patience is bound to be low), but it felt way harsh, as does everything else Kenzie has to say to or about Bhanu. He takes offense to the interaction, saying he’s tired of being everyone’s puppet and that no one treats him with any respect. Kenzie eventually apologizes — albeit, begrudgingly — but it does make him feel better.
Meanwhile, NAMI‘s Tevin clocks Soda’s strong social game. Though he’d rather see Venus leave, he pitches a Soda vote to Hunter, who’s happy to see her go so he can pull Tevin closer. Liz also thinks it’s music to her ears. But will they be the ones visiting Jeff at Tribal?
IMMUNITY IS BACK UP FOR GRABS | After Moriah practices her jumping skills (a truly wild scene to take in here), the tribes head to the challenge, where they must leap off towers and crates, retrieve some buoys and sink them into floating baskets. Nami and Siga come out victorious, sending Yanu back to Tribal Council. Unfortunately for them, another medical evacuation won’t be coming to their rescue this time.
STRATEGY | Tiff, Q and Kenzie are quick to tell us ahead of the commercial break that Bhanu has got to go. The poor guy doesn’t have a vote which makes him a sitting duck, so he starts to “dig deep” looking for an idol. (Of course, we know Tiffany already has it.) And since he lost his vote, he can’t even play his Shot in the Dark.
Bhanu then starts… yelling at clouds? Smiting the Powers That Be? Crying out to the Survivor Gods? It’s yet another very odd scene in this elongated episode, until Kenzie comes over to perform her best impersonation of a caring human being. Bhanu later awkwardly gets down on his knees begging Tiffany to help him out, but instead she shows him mercy and tells him the truth: She’s writing his name down. He comes to accept his fate, saying that “five seconds of honesty” ruined his game. (I really feel for this guy — he’s too precious for reality TV — but I think it was a little more than that, bruh.)
TRIBAL COUNCIL | With only seven minutes left in the episode (credits included, so we know something’s afoot here!), Yanu sits with Jeff to break down Bhanu’s Journey. He admits to digging his grave so deep that he couldn’t get out of it. He says he came to Survivor to share his story. He grew up in poverty in India, living very much like the tribes do on Survivor. He was the first person in his family to graduate high school, get a degree and move to the United States. He wants the rest of the “Bhanus” of the world to never give up and always keep going. He achieved his dream and they can too. His loving parting words even seem to warm Kenzie’s cold heart (at least a few degrees, anyway).
Jeff doesn’t make them put pen to parchment (mostly because the result is obvious), but he does go ahead and snuff Bhanu’s torch, making him the fourth person to leave Survivor 46. (Read our Q&A with Bhanu here.)
So did Bhanu win your heart? Let us know by going full tilt boogie in the comments!
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