Screaming at the Screen - Damnbueno's Survivor 42 recaps
Ep.3: "Go for the Gusto"
By Damnbueno | Published: March 24, 2022
Survivor 42 Episode 3 Recap/ analysis

Go for the Gusto

Here’s what I learned from my rewatch of Episode 2. There was a lot of “bitches” during the blindfold challenge: Lydia – “Both of y’all bitches come here!” Drea (while Tori is holding a puzzle piece) -- “Push that bitch in!” Thankfully, my female dog wasn’t offended. When Taku lost the challenge, Omar told Jonathan “We have 2 options – Marya or Maryanne.” That tells me Lindsay is playing a good social game. We didn’t see any of the four targeting her. Omar isn’t very good at making his target comfortable. When he asked Marya “Are you going to play your Shot in the Dark?” it was like the new boss asking you “What do you do around here?” You know its time to update your résumé. I think that sealed her decision to take her Shot.

Mike and Drea were busy creating reasons to vote them out by telling people about the game Advantages they’re holding. Jonathan is still doing all he can to wear the Challenge Beast target, but he’s got some social game too. We haven’t seen any personal backstories from Chanelle, Jenny, Lydia, Drea or Lindsay, yet so I’m thinking they all make it to the merge.  This of course means I’ve jinxed them. One of them will get a visibility spike this episode, and get chopped like Boone in “Lost.”

And away we go…


Like we have 5

*If the Taku tribe is sleeping on the beach, they must not have much of a shelter built at all.

*Maryanne told her entire tribe she’s got an Extra Vote? What’s wrong with this season’s players? If she thought she was in danger at this last vote, she should be doomed at her next one. Sure enough, Lindsay is doubting Maryanne already. Lindsay – “If we stay as a tight 4, hopefully that’s for all of our advantage." I’m not betting on this tight 4 thing.

*Maryanne finds the Beware Advantage … and immediately tells everyone about it. Does this mean she loses her Extra Vote too? I can’t remember how J.D. handled this last season.

*I wonder if Daniel is “losing stuff” on purpose so he can look for Idols while he’s “looking for his stuff?” That’s not a bad way to cover your tracks.

*Mike lets Daniel read his Idol note again, then Daniel misplaces it? Mike, this is another reason why you never should have told Daniel about it in the first place.

Immunity

*Maryanne is just goofy enough to not fall under suspicion for saying that bunny rabbit phrase.

*Mike – “If I can go into the merge without having to say the line, I can have an Idol, but nobody knows I have it.” Except Daniel, Jenny, Chanelle, and anyone else they choose to tell.

*We’ve seen this challenge before. The sandbag toss was from last season, and the ladder part is from Island of the Idols.

*Drea took a long time to jump off that platform. Her tribe is instantly in last place.

*Of course its Jonathan who dives down to untie the ladder. He relishes the spotlight role in challenges.

*This challenge is turning into the Jonathan show.  Probst is smiling brighter than Otto the Auto Pilot in the move “Airplane!” during “that” scene. (Some of you get the reference. If not, watch the movie, and you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about).

*Of course its Jonathan tossing the sandbags. Most established Challenge Beasts leave the game around 10th place. That’s when Naseer left last season.  Jonathan is in for the same fate. This would have been a great time for Jonathan to sandbag his talent (pun intended) by intentionally missing some shots. His tribe had a huge lead. Better yet, he should have let someone else do the tossing first, then step in only if they struggled.

Ladder game

*I’m sure Production figured the tribes would have so much trouble in these ocean swells before the tribes came in. But what’s their plan B? This validates the theory that all challenges are scheduled well in advance. They probably couldn’t switch to a land-based challenge on the fly in case the water was too rough.

*Since Production had to hand the other two tribes their keys, I think it made the target on Jonathan’s back even bigger. I’m hearing Spencer saying “Jonathan – ZERO chance of winning this game.” And right on cue, Probst heaps more praise on the Alpha Male in front of everyone.

*Vati’s going to Tribal Council. This should be interesting. Did Mike seal his fate with his mouth last week?

*Like I said last week, I found something I liked about Chanelle, and that meant she was in trouble. Now since she’s going on this journey with Omar, her tribe is gonna think she’s got an Advantage. That fear might save her at this vote, but kill her at the next one.

*Mike – “(Chanelle) is probably on the same journey Jenny went on, so we’ll hear about it.” It’d be nice if us viewers could find out what they heard about Jenny’s journey.

*Daniel has all the info, which makes him the swing vote. But its interesting that he didn’t pick either of the targets. Jenny was first to mention Lydia’s name, and Lydia threw out Jenny’s name. I wonder why Daniel thinks Chanelle is the deciding vote when he’s the one who can swing it, depending on how long Chanelle is gone?

Chanelle

*I’m liking Chanelle’s ability to earn trust quickly. And everybody on her tribe thinks she’s with them. That tells me she’s playing a strong game…but she didn’t need to risk her vote.  Just the same, she recognizes the power she’s got, and isn’t afraid to use it.

*We haven’t had any “personal” segments on Lydia or Jenny, so I have no idea who’s leaving.  To me, that makes for a good episode.

*Daniel at Tribal Council – “I’m gonna lose because I’m paranoid.” Being paranoid is probably a good thing in Survivor because the confident players usually get blindsided. But telling people you’re paranoid is a bad thing. He could end up creating the reason he eventually gets voted out. Nobody wants a nervous partner. How long until his partners suspect he’ll defect when given the chance?

*Daniel doesn’t include Hai on his list of players who calm him down. Bad move, Daniel. If Hai is smart, he’ll recognize this as the moment you’re not with him. Then Daniel doubles down and nods when Chanelle signals him? Another bad move, dude. Why not just blurt out “Stick with the plan!” But I don’t know if Hai can do anything about it without knowing Chanelle’s vote status.

*Hmm…its only 8:45. I see a tie vote coming.

*Hmm … 4 people will go up to vote, but only two are actually able to vote. Does this mean Daniel has to choose between keeping Jenny or drawing a rock? I don’t think Hai is changing is vote.

*This is a very interesting development. Daniel vs Hai. Hai has to figure he’s outnumbered no matter what happens, so should he cut Lydia loose and start over? I don’t think Daniel can switch because he’ll lose trust from Mike and Chanelle for the rest of the game. He’s probably already lost Hai and Lydia.

Daniel – “I don’t want to draw rocks.” Daniel blinked first just like Jessica in Millennials vs Gen X. Daniel just told Hai to stick to his guns. He couldn’t have played that worse.

*Daniel – “Chanelle wanted me to vote Lydia.” Throwing someone under the bus ain’t gonna help you dude. Daniel is talking himself into an irreversibly bad position. And now he’s claiming Chanelle backstabbed him??? This one move gets Daniel a nomination for my “Worst Survivor Players” list. Chanelle is done with him for sure.

*Jenny’s not fighting hard enough to stay.

*Now everybody knows Daniel isn’t trustworthy. He just talked himself out of the game.


Recap: I’m hard pressed to think of anyone who had a worse Tribal Council performance than Daniel had this week. The first one who comes to mind is Garrett from Cagayan. Maybe Wendy or Shannon from Nicaragua were worse. Angelina from David vs Goliath probably has the cumulative career worst record. But man, Daniel was bad. He entered TC being trusted by everybody, and left trusted by nobody. “Next time on Survivor” hints bossy Rocksroy is in trouble again. Last time that happened, he was as safe as he can be. I’m thinking he’s safe again next week. In fact, he’s looking more like a finals Goat to me now.

This Hai vs Daniel thing was very intriguing. I’d love to hear everyone’s thoughts about it in the comments.

damnbuenoDamnbueno got his nickname in 8th grade Spanish class when his friend shouted out "You're pretty damn good at Spanish." The teacher insisted he say it in Spanish, so the friend said "Esto es damn bueno en Espanol." The nickname stuck. These days, when he's not forgetting his 8th grade Spanish, Damnbueno is indulging his obsession with all things Survivor. Reach him in the comments section here at True Dork Times.

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