Here are a few notes from my episode 1 rewatch. We got the first nickname last week (Pantsless Patt) when Patt lost her pants. I’ve solved the mystery. Shortly after jumping off the ship, Patt took her pants off. She carried them in one hand while holding onto a floating crate with the other. In a later shot, we see Patt and Thien An swimming towards another raft. Thien An tossed Patt’s pants towards Mike, who put them down in front of Ori. My best guess is Patt’s pants slid off the front of the raft and drifted away. Mike and Ori didn’t have any obligation to keep track of Patt’s pants. It’s Patt’s fault for taking them off in the water in the first place. So, either those pants will wash up somewhere down the shore, or a sea turtle has got a new wardrobe.

When the Taku tribe arrived at camp and introduced themselves, Brady said he was 25. In his preseason video, he said he was 27. He wants to be known as a “big dumb jock.” I wonder if he was lying so others will take him less seriously? He also said he was planning on sandbagging his intelligence, adding that he has three college degrees (but he didn’t name them). Thien An told her tribe she was 24, but in her preseason video she said she was 25. Did she lose a year somewhere? When they all got out of the water, Devin had both hands covering his gender parts. It must have been cold in that water. This made me think the actor Devin is playing to the cameras more than playing to win. And when Lewis gave his confessionals while on Exile Island, we see what looks like an Immunity Necklace on a rock beside him.

Aaliyah took the blame for the Immunity loss because of her slow work on untying the bag of balls. Her effort did look a little casual, but some noted that they were particularly slow in building their crate staircase. I think that delay was because Toka was running the challenge with six women and four men, even if two of their men (Devin and Brady) are two of the three strongest in the game. This is where Lewis’s decision to go to Exile Island came into play. It’s safe to say Lewis was gonna be on the Toka tribe had he not volunteered to go to Exile. If a woman had been sent to Exile, the gender numbers would have been even for the Immunity Challenge. No doubt Lewis’s strength and height would have given Toka a better chance.

Last week I said it was Rob who let Linnea fall on her ass during the immunity Challenge. I was wrong, it was Ori. When Linnea tipped over Savu’s bucket, all the wood chips fell on his head. I suppose some dust got in his eyes too. Linnea was holding on to the tube. As Ori backed up to deal with the dust, Linnea let go of the tube, she landed on her feet then fell back on her ass. Sorry about that, Rob.

When Jelly tried to sell Patt and Jenna on booting Brady, she said, “Brady is our muscle but he only pushed one box.” I saw Brady pushing at least 4 of them on the track under the net. If her tribemates knew this, that might be why Jelly’s pitch failed. Jelly was also lucky Aaliyah chose to do most of the Brady bashing. That’s what gave Patt and Jenna the ammunition to go after Aaliyah.

Here’s your Damnbueno Open Era random reference:

Holly Hoffman

Holly played in S21: Nicaragua, a season that is widely overlooked because (1) it followed a massively successful S20: Heroes vs. Villains, and (2) it had one of the worst winners ever in Jud “Fabio” Birza. Holly got off to a start much worse than Jenna did last week. First, Holly partnered with Wendy, whose motormouth got her voted out first overall. Holly panicked after realizing she was the clear outsider. When she saw others eating some snails, Holly threw them out claiming they were inedible. When Holly overheard Dan calling her “crazy,” she stole his expensive leather shoes, filled them with sand and dumped them in a lagoon. Holly had a breakdown during a rainstorm and confessed her actions to Dan, putting herself in more trouble. It took a pep talk from celebrity player Coach Jimmy Johnson (much like Ori’s pre-challenge speech last week) to stop Holly from quitting. She stuck it out, then had a huge strategic rebirth.

Holly caught a break and got to choose her swapped tribemates. She quickly bonded with Alina, Chase and Benry by talking about how they reminded her of her children. She gained their trust by spilling info about her original tribemates (even though that was unintentional). But her best move was pulling off the biggest power shift of the season. Holly correctly observed how much power Brenda was getting. Holly had also chosen NaOnka to be on her new tribe and started working on her immediately. NaOnka (one of the worst Survivor players ever) was in a tight alliance with Brenda, Sash, Chase and Purple Kelly. Holly convinced NaOnka that Brenda was plotting against her. NaOnka was considering quitting too. Holly found herself in Coach Johnson’s shoes as she convinced NaOnka and Purple Kelly to stay in the game long enough to remove Brenda. NaOnka flipped and Brenda’s depature simultaneously weakened Sash’s control on the game. NaOnka and Purple Kelly quit before the next Tribal Council, and Holly found herself comfortably in Brenda’s power position. Sash and Chase needed her now.

Holly made it to the final 4 and even convinced her alliance to remove the clear goat in Dan instead of her at final 5. Her strong run came an end when Fabio won a 3rd straight Immunity Challenge. Sash and Chase realized Holly was too likable to sit next to in the finals, so they put her on the Jury. Holly had probably the best in-game turnaround in Survivor history (even better than Emily’s in S45). Jenna’s start this season wasn’t nearly as bad as Holly’s was, but flipping the vote from herself to Aaliyah (with an assist from Patt) is still pretty impressive. It will be interesting to see if Jenna can manipulate herself into a power position like Holly did.

Brady won round 1 of the cockfight with Devin, but we know from the previews that Brady chops his hand open. If he’s medevaced, does that give Devin an edge in running the henhouse now? It seems like votes went against Aaliyah because the were more worried about angering Brady than Devin.

And away we go…

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As this episode begins, I’m thinking Patt is in a decent position. She’s really the one who steered the vote from Jenna to Aaliyah, but nobody knows it yet. I’m sure Brady thinks he pulled all the strings and has no idea how much he was manipulated. Jenna played a part too, but she was more of a messenger after Patt wound her up and turned her loose.

Devin: “I don’t think I’m too honest. I am who I am.” In preseason, Devin said he wanted to get through the game without lying like one of his Survivor role models Joe Hunter. But he also said he wanted to play like Rick Devens, who has made a career out of lying and deceiving others. Yeah, Devin will be fun to watch, but he’s not winning this game if he’s gonna use this approach. He was sure hamming it up in his confessional.

Wow, Lewis has to join the Toka tribe at night, when he can’t see anything and doesn’t even know who is on the tribe? That’s a real crappy way to start the game. Just one more reason why you don’t volunteer for stuff on Survivor.

Lewis tells the 100% truth about his attempt to get an Idol, and Kilby still doesn’t believe him. Please re-read the last sentence of the previous paragraph.

Kilby: “I have a supernatural ability to tell when people are lying.” So much for that ability.

Interesting. They changed up the theme song. Now there’s more vocal chanting. I wonder if Shauhin from S48 wrote the lyrics. He had the old chanting down pretty well.

Alexis says she’s Iranian. Ok, make that nine minorities out of 21 players. We’re closer to that 50% level.

Alexis tries a subtle way of pointing a target on Sharonda and/or Linnea. Then she catches Ana outing her plan to Carter and Cristian. I like the instincts Alexis is showing but I want to see how she deals with Ana after this. Does she A) pretend Ana has fooled her, or does she B) form a new alliance and try to remove Ana?

Alexis picks option B. She warns Linnea and Sharonda that Ana is after her. If her pitch is sincere, this could lock up some partners for Alexis. It sounds like Sharonda and Linnea are on team Alexis.

Brady is opening coconuts with the axe Lewis had on Exile. Lewis got to keep it.

Lewis immediately tells people about his personal life. He thinks he’s still an outsider, but I say he’s off to a better start than Jenna had.

Brady chops off part of his thumb, but all he cares about is staying in the game. I don’t blame him for feeling that way, but he’s also telling everyone he’s gonna play hard no matter what. Then he wants to do pushups to prove he’s ok? Patt’s expression captures my thoughts exactly.

Brady stays in the game, and now all he wants is to make sure Probst sees the nub he chopped off? Talk about your misplaced priorities! A million dollars (or maybe 2 million) isn’t gonna buy you another thumb.

Interesting. This Reward Challenge has mostly new elements to it. The only part I think I’ve seen before is the net see-saw. Why not use the new stuff for the Immunity Challenge?

When I saw the pillows, I thought “Don’t waste the effort for pillows that will be useless when it rains. But then I saw the tarp and hammocks. This is worth playing for. Sharonda leads Kristin into the side of the see-saw. Then Kristin slams her foot/ankle on the way down. If I ever have to travel with Sharonda, I’m driving.

Wow, Rob just dragged Alexis through that net. Then Brady pulls Kilby through with half a thumb.

Toka makes a tactical mistake and puts the diminutive Maggie in a spot where a taller player is needed. She has to swap out for Devin. Then they put Jelly in instead of their two tallest players Devin and Brady.

Then again, Ori can’t get it done for Savu and the much shorter Cristian steps in. But props to Jelly, her hand was steadier and she gets the win for Toka.

Kristin tweaked her ankle pretty badly, but she hasn’t called for Medical yet. That’s probably a good sign. I’m sensing a theme for this season: Survivor: Medevac Island. We’ve had three visitors so far: Lewis’s hands, Brady’s thumb and Kristin’s foot. Props to Kristin for bringing what looks like soccer cleats.

Rob rips into Linnea and Eric for (apparently) picking the wrong person to be blindfolded, and he cites Eric’s weight as a determining factor? In what world is that relevant? Being able to drag someone around wasn’t gonna make a difference in those nets. Was he expecting Eric to drag Linnea through?

And now he’s taking shots at the people who won the puzzle last week? What is this guy thinking? How is any of this helping him advance or win the game?

If I’m Brady, I’m staying as far away from that axe as possible. But there he is chopping bamboo. What a brody!

Jelly finds an Idol. Her Idol looks similar to Rob’s but without the purple dots on it.

Devin to Patt: “Can we please vote together at the next Tribal?” My translation: “Can we please do as I say?”

Jelly in confessional: “Devin’s approach is blatant honesty, and I can’t risk him blowing up my spot.” Jelly must have read my column from last week. Devin is a horrible alliance partner because he’s totally inflexible. His “My way or the highway” approach and tendency to blurt out whatever he’s thinking can only do harm to his partners.

Devin still doesn’t get it, so Jelly tries to secure a better partner by telling Patt she’s got the Idol. Bad move for Jelly because Patt can easily target one of the two people on the outside now. But mad props to Patt for earning trust from Jelly.

But Patt wants Brady and Devin in her alliance? As Queen Sandra would say, “I don’t know about thaaaaat.” Sure, she can probably beat Brady and Devin in the end, but those guys seem destined to get themselves booted soon. Patt is still gonna need partners. I wonder how Mike worked his way into so much trust? Props to him too. I might have recruited Lewis because I know he’s not connected to anyone yet. Who is he gonna try to protect? Why not make Lewis want to protect ME?

Eric continues to annoy with his improv talent show. While his explanation of the “Yes, and ...” rule was accurate, he doesn’t seem to realize in Survivor, the phrase could just as easily be “Yes, and it doesn’t really have a home in Survivor.” Eric has “finals goat” written all over his face. Why get rid of him when he’s so good at hurting his own game? I think Ori is right. If they had lost that first Immunity Challenge, Eric was probably gone.

We’ve seen parts of this Immunity Challenge before, but they involved carrying a heavy snake out of a cage and through the water instead of a whale. With the addition of Lewis, Toka has much more muscle by far. I wonder how Brady’s thumb is gonna be affected in the water?

Ori, Sharonda and Cristian are very slow in the water and put Savu way behind.

Props to Patt for holding onto that Whale as they get it over that barrel obstacle. Patt is having a pretty good episode. In pregame, Patt said, “I hope Survivor is as fun as Boot Camp was.” She was ready for stuff like this.

Probst watches all 10 Savu members push their Whale over the barrel, but he says, “Carter is singlehandedly pulling the Whale over the barrel.” Sorry Jeff, there’s no way your commentary can make this challenge look close. Toka gets an easy win.

Last week, I didn’t see the Aaliyah boot coming because Jenna was such a clear favorite. Something tells me Savu’s vote might ricochet onto Ana.

Ana suggests using Kristin as a decoy vote. What are the odds this gets back to Kristin? I say 100%.

Then Ana serves up her own name? Didn’t she learn anything from Ciera Eastin?

Hmm ... Linnea hears Carter and Ori chatting about getting the crabs, but she thinks they’re pulling a fast one on her and Sharonda. Linnea needs eavesdropping lessons from Queen Sandra.

It looks like Ori is the swing vote. I wonder if he was smart enough to tell both sides “yes,” then swing the vote however he wants at Tribal? If he keeps pushing for Eric, he’ll lose the element of surprise.

What the hell? Rob is thinking about quitting? I know I’ve never played Survivor (and probably never will), but I just don’t understand how a Superfan like Rob can try so hard to get on the show knowing he’ll be away from family for a month, and then suddenly want to pack it in.

Rob’s pitch to Eric is amazingly similar to Devin’s pitch to Patt: “Will you please do as I say?” Yeah, the sloppy play is really reminding me of S17: Gabon.

If someone asks you to comply with their plan and won’t tell you what the plan is, you say, “Yeah, sure,” then tell everyone else about his scheming. Rob is too unpredictable and haphazard to be a reliable alliance partner. With Brady, Devin and maybe Ana in that category, this season is chock full of them. Ori seems to be very stubborn too.

Eric is the safest person at this Tribal Council.

Sharonda: “Do we boot Uncle Bob, who’s annoying, or Cindy Lou who tells you stories?” I think Sharonda just told Ana she’s in trouble.

Sharonda: “If you’re not sitting at the table, then you’re on the menu.” I LOVE that line!

Rob pulls Eric aside right before the vote. Whatever his plan is, I think all he’s telling everyone is “Don’t ever trust me.” Most Survivor players don’t like this Tony Vlachos-esque chaos.

Rob tries to vote for himself????? And the Producer tells him he can’t? If I’m Christian Hubicki, I’m filling out the lawsuit papers right now. Now Rob has to throw away his vote. I’m speechless. I wonder if his screwup just saved Ana?

Rob just made himself a candidate for my Worst Survivor Players list.

Ana gets taken out by the ricochet. She never should have fired the gun.

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Recap

I think we saw four players accomplishing the exact same thing. Ana, Rob, Devin, and Brady all created reasons why they shouldn’t go any further in this game. None of them are dependable alliance partners. They’re just too unpredictable.

Ori didn’t do himself any favors, either. Calling someone your #1 then immediately defying them is a horrible move. He just told Sharonda, Linnea and Alexis his word is worthless. Why would any of them (or Kristin and Cristian) want to loop him in early on any plans now?

But I give props to Alexis. She clocked Ana’s move against her and adjusted brilliantly to turn the tables on her without outing herself as the primary planner.

The strategy nerd in me is quickly realizing there won’t be a lot of outwitting this season. But then again, I also say that manipulating a lot of haphazard players (like Kim Spradlin did in S24: One World) can be a tougher challenge than outmaneuvering savvy gamers because the haphazard players can be less predictable and harder to manipulate. How does anybody influence Rob, Devin, Brady or Ori into voting differently from their first instinct?

Since I saw this vote coming, I’m less curious about how and why Ana got booted. I’d really like to know what you think Rob was gonna accomplish by voting for himself. Was he actually trying to save Eric? Also, how could someone who’s been applying for 20 years not know you’re not allowed to vote for yourself (unless Jimmy Fallon is involved of course)? Why would Carter ask anyone how to spell their name? Let me know what you think in the comments.