Survivor After Dark

Episode 1: This is Where Legends Are Made

Hello loyal fans and readers of Press Box After Dark. Welcome to Survivor After Dark. This is Hunter here from the Press Box Crew and I just have to say.. I freaking love Survivor. I love college football, college baseball, trivia, card games, etc. but I don't think I love a hobby of mine more than watching Survivor. I have watched ever since I was a little kid. Survivor was the first "adult" show I got to watch with my parents and I fell in love with the show from day one. Plus like every Survivor fan it is my dream to be on the show one day. I have applied once and heard nothing back so I will be applying again during season 46! (Please put me on this show CBS) Until I get cast, I thought it was time to blog about my favorite hobby and talk about Press Box After Dark's love of Survivor. The crew plays fantasy Survivor every year and thanks to a friend of the crew we can have those standings and rules posted here for you to keep up with and start your own fantasy Survivor League. Now that the intro is done, lets shift our focus to the premiere of Survivor 46! 

Fresh off the Boat: 

Now for future structure of this blog, we will recap the episode bit by bit and share our thoughts on what unfolds. Now I know we didn't do a season preview so for that I will share an article from the professionals (Dalton Ross is Entertainment Weekly's Survivor Guru and is who I read every preseason so if you want some more information on the cast before the recap starts click this link to his preseason thoughts and interviews with the cast :https://ew.com/survivor-46-contestants-explain-why-they-will-win-season-8557220) Ok so now that you have access to a preseason break down... lets start recapping Episode one. SPOILER WARNING (Duh) 

Season 46 starts the same epic way most Survivor seasons start, with a dramatic boat ride into the island where our man Jeff is waiting. The waters were apparently rough because Ben on the green Siga tribe admitted that he puked on the boat ride in. What a great way to start the adventure of a lifetime. The tribes were standing on their respective mats and just like that the game was on! Before we get into the first challenge lets do a quick tribe breakdown: 

Nami (Orange Tribe)

Hunter (No not me) 

Liz (Who is allergic to coconuts) 

Randen (Should be named Branden) 

Soda (Who I will refer to as a different Soda each time we mention her) 

Tevin (He's an Actor) 

Venus (Not a Planet, a skinny girl with attitude) 

Siga (Green Tribe) 

Ben (Who puked, he also plays guitar) 

Charlie (A Law School Swiftie) 

Jem (and the Holograms... 80's cartoon look it up) 

Maria (A Parent Coach? What even is that?)

Moriah ( Looks like Barb from Stranger Things) 

Tim (A College Coach) 

Yanu (Purple Tribe) 

Bhanu (Most postivie person on the cast) 

David (He sells Slot Machines...) 

Jess ( A Software Engineer) 

Kenize (Sneaky Hair Salon Owner)

Q (Former College Football player)

Tiffany (a Badass Artist) 

Now to the challenge, I love the opening challenge to a season. These tribes that barely now each other have to work together to win fire in the form of flint. This challenge set the tone for this episode as the orange Nami tribe dominated to come in first and win tribe supplies and flint. The green Siga tribe came in second and got to choose what challenge they wanted to do back at camp for a second chance to earn their supplies and flint. The options are Sweat or Savvy. Sweat is a physical challenge and Savvy is a brain teaser challenge. This is a new twist introduced in the New Era of Survivor (Season 41 to present). I like the twist with the shorten days. No supplies at all makes up for the season only being 26 days as opposed to 39 days before. Siga chose Savvy and Ben and Charlie stepped up to solve a word puzzle that would give them a number combo for a lock. The puzzle had the numbers one through twelve spelled out in a cross word puzzle and the words Dig Under Lock hidden in th puzzle as well. The duo couldn't solve the puzzle as they focused too much on the numbers and failed. No Flint for Siga. Over at Yanu David and Q stepped up to take on the Sweat challenge. This challenge saw them try and fill up two massive urns with water usung two small buckets with holes in them. After about an hour and a half, David (who goes by his last name Jelinsky) decided to quit and threw the hourglass which shattered on the beach. This pissed Q off because even though I think they would have failed regardless, it was the fact that he just quit less than 2 hours in. No flint for Yanu. 

Camp Life    

Going from tribe to tribe, I will break down my thoughts on what I think is going on in each tribe and who has found idols or advantages. Lets look at the orange Nami tribe first. This tribe was in good spirits thanks to winning flint. Dr. Pepper (aka Soda) stepped up and started a fire for the tribe. This is big because the show always points moments like this out and Coca-Cola (aka Soda) killed that fire. She also has a great personailty and is coming off very likable in this first epiosode. Hunter and Tevin are looking like they will form an early alliance. Hunter gave thier alliance the awful name of the Andy Griffith show... That was werid but I like how Tevin wants to feel everyone out before locking in numbers. He came off really good in this episode. Didn't get much from Venus and Randen but Venus' mouth could get her in trouble in the near future. 

Over at Siga, Ben is one of the most likable players of all time. His personality is infectious and I don't know how far he can go because he is so likable but he will be fun to watch. Tim was quiet and down to earth. Playing for his wife and kids which is what I would be playing for but I think this tribe draw will be bad for him and Ben. The 3 women of this tribe (Maria, Moriah, and Jem) look to be heading towards an all girls alliance. They pulled in Charlie the Swiftie as a fourth so its not looking good for Tim and Ben if those numbers hold.

At Yanu Kenzie is gonna be a real problem. She is a player and is talking to everyone and looks to form a four person alliance with Tiffany, Q, and Jelinsky. Tiffany also has a take no prisoners attitude and I love that. Her and Kenzie are going to either run this game or turn on each other at the merge. I'm here for it. Q is still mad at Jelinsky for quitting. Jess is all over the place because she can't sleep and Bhanu was there. 

3 Player Journey 

Another new twist in the New Era of Survivor are the player journeys. Once about every 3 episodes, a random player from each tribe will go on a journey. They will all meet, walk along the beach and then play a small challenge to have a chance to gain an advantage or lose their vote. For this journey, Maria, Tevin and Jelinksky were the ones that wanted to take part. The game was simple. Three cards on a table. One was a torch, one was an extra vote, and one was a skull and crossbones. The player that drew the torch had to guess which of the other two drew the extra vote. If they did then they would both receive an extra vote and the player who drew the skull and crossbones would lose their vote. However of the player with the skull and crossbones fooled the player with the torch, then they would get an extra vote and the other two would lose their votes for their next tribal. Maria drew the torch. Tevin drew the extra vote and Jelinsky drew the skull and crossbones. At first both Tevin and Jelinksky  were playing the game the way it was intended. Trying to convince Maria that they had the extra vote. Maria heard from them both and then told them both that whoever was lying about the skull and crossbones were going to get bad mouthed by her back at the Siga camp. As soon as he heard this, Jelinsky folded like a pizza box and said ”I actually have the skull and crossbones. Don’t pick me and we can work together”. This is just awful gameplay. Why back track? If you started with that approach then you look loyal and trustworthy for giving up your vote. Back tracking makes your horrible lie even worse! Maria immediately chooses Tevin and they both gain extra votes, while Jelinksky looks like an idiot and has no vote. I’m not saying I would have done better than Jelinksky here but damn that was bad gameplay. 

Camp Life Part 2 

After the 3 player journey, Maria and Tevin had power in an extra vote and Jelinsky had to go back to his tribe with no vote. Instead of trying to hide his blunder, Jelinsky just tells Yanu everything and they are rightfully upset that he caved and now two other players on other tribes have power that could be bad for Yanu players at a merge or tribe swap. Staying on Yanu, Tiffany was the first player to strike gold and find a beware advantage that was a clue for the idol. She needed to find a key but wouldn’t get the key until her tribe lost an immunity challenge. Speaking of that immunity challenge, let’s go to that. 

Immunity challenge 

This challenge was a doozy, tribes had to maneuver a 500 pound giant lizard through an obstacle course and then solve a Survivor 46 logo puzzle. The Nami tribe continued their dominance as they crushed this challenge and proved they are the top tribe through 3 days of the game. Siga and Yanu struggled here but Siga got it together and finished in second, sending Yanu to the season’s first tribal council. 

Pre Tribal 

At the Yanu camp Jelinsky didn’t seemed too worried because of the alliance he made on day 1 with Q, Kenzie and Tiffany. However Jelinsky and Tiffany couldn’t vote. Jelinsky due to the journey and Tiffany due to the Beware Advantage. Luckily for Tiffany, she found her key and got herself an idol and her vote back. The vote seemed to be going on Jess but Q was pitching hard to flip it to Jelinsky due to him quitting the Sweat challenge, dropping the ball at the journey and failing at the puzzle in the immunity challenge. If Q was living on a 3 strikes and your out motto, then Jelinsky was out. Jess had been weak all episode and had been sleep deprived due to a lack of her ADHA medication. She was struggling socially and it just seemed like the more she tried to talk the worse she came off due to her mental state just not being there. Alright enough came life, on to tribal. 

Tribal Council

I always love seeing tribal for the first time on a new season and this one is quality. This whole tribal boiled down to Jelinsky and his lies/inability to back up things he said vs. Jess and her deteriorating mental state. Jeff was on fire here as he ripped Jelinsky a new one for continuing to lie at Tribal say, Jelinsky said, “Me and Q are the same in that we aren’t quitters” even though you quit the sweat challenge… Jess on the other hand just struggled to put together a clear sentence as you can tell she is in need of some sleep bad… the breaking point in this Tribal actually came from Bhanu when instead of answering a question from Jeff, he took a deep breath and said “It’s time to vote” which immediately got an “Oh shit” from Jelinksky because he knew we was cooked and he was. Jelinksky was the first player voted out of Season 46 with a vote of 5 to 0. He never even got to vote because he didn’t have one. What a hilarious end to what will go down as an all time first boot episode. Before the vote  Jelinksky did say it would be “Legendary status” if he could vote out Jess without a vote and she not play her Shot in the Dark advantage….Umm Jelinsky buddy, you are using the term legendary way to loosely my friend. Sorry your dream is over Jelinsky but I won’t like I laughed when you got voted out which is what I will do at myself when I get voted out if I can ever get cast… 

Well that wraps us up for the first recap in the history of Survivor After Dark. We will work on more ideas for this page in the future but for now this is a great way to start this blog and a great way to start a new season of Survivor! See you guys next week! Same Survivor time, Same Survivor blog! 

Episode 2 Scorpio Energy Recap 

Hello Loyal fans and readers, welcome back to Survivor After Dark and oh my… We may finally have ourselves a season full of old school villains and I think every Survivor fan (myself included) are here for it. If this is your first time reading, thank you for checking us out. This is our Survivor Season 46 recap blog. We will break down everything in the episode and share our thoughts on the game moving forward into next week. We had another two hour episode this week so we have a lot to break down, so Survivor fans ready? Let’s go… 

(SPOILER WARNING)

Yanu After Tribal 

We start episode two where most episodes start, with the tribe that just voted someone out. Jelinsky was our first boot and what  first boot he was, more on him later, but we first saw Bhanu meditating which by the end of this episode is an amazing choice by the editors to start with that shot. Bhanu is trying to gather himself and focus on a new day in the game. Bhanu’s main focus was to make sure Yanu wins a challenge. We then shifted focus to Kenzie (who I’m high on as a potential winner) breaking down in tears because of the struggles of losing and no fire. Understandable cry here but in our Fantasy League (check out the link on this page for rules and standings) we give negative points for crying. Some may say we are heartless but we have to have negative points somewhere. Overall you can just tell that this tribe is defeated and just looking at this five minute opening, I thought there was no way they would win immunity so it was gonna be a long episode for Yanu… 

Theme Song is Back! (Honestly the theme song is my favorite part)    

Checking in on Nami and Siga 

Shifting over to the orange Nami Tribe. Venus is public enemy number one! Her personality is not gelling with the majority alliance on this tribe. Tevin is the top dog so far on Nami. On Tevin’s side is Diet Pepsi (aka Soda), Hunter and Liz… I’m throwing those three dots after Liz because I am stating now that she has a 0% chance of winning this game. Her attitude in this episode was the worst. All she did was brag about how she is the CEO of 5 companies and is a multi millionaire. Here are two quotes that pissed me off: When talking about her dating life Liz said, “I don’t think there is a man that can handle Liz because they will make so little compared to my salary.” When looking at the camera about winning the game she said, “The money wouldn’t change my life. It would help but I’m here for the title.” Now look, I know Survivor isn’t just about the money. There have been millionaires that have played in the past but I just can’t recall any of those players just flaunting their money this openly on the show. Maybe I’m misremembering some players but this is just annoying. Also smart move by Tevin, Coke Zero (aka Soda), and Hunter to add her to their numbers. If Liz is in the final three she will get -2 votes because zero is too many. Ok sorry just had to rant on Liz a little bit. Venus isn’t getting along and is starting to show her villain side but she has no one to help her until… a wild Randen appears (Pokemon reference there). Randen was just not in the premiere episode last week and I have to say, I like him a lot. He knows he is on the outs of Tevin’s alliance but he is still building bonds with them. Him, Venus and Hunter were all looking for the idol and thanks to the magic of television, Randen finds the beware advantage that will lead to the hidden immunity idol once Nami loses a challenge. Randen didn’t want to tell anyone on his tribe but he has no true alliance so he needs numbers and he did the smart thing and told Venus. Both of them being on the outs and working together with that idol could turn this tribe upside down if they play the idol right.

Moving over to Siga, I just have to say this is the most boring tribe so far. Ben is a fun loving musician that cried happy tears when he made fire for the first time (still negative points but no shame here). Maria is leading the women who if I didn’t write this blog and love the show wouldn’t know their names because they are barely in this two hour episode (their names are Moriah and Jem for those keeping score at home). Tim is trying to rally the guys together but our resident Swiftie Charlie is in the middle. Maria brought Charlie into the girls alliance and named it Charlie’s Angels (this is actually clever) but as we can see Charlie is not fully on board. He is worried about being picked off because he is outnumbered 3 to 1 there. So he pitched to Maria to play the middle and to think about taking in Ben and Tim instead of the girls.Good gameplay here but overall this tribe is just meh at the moment. On to the Immunity Challenge. 

Immunity Challenge    

This Immunity Challenge looked awful. It was a classic Survivor tribe challenge where they have to build a big wooden cart and then roll it through obstacles to get puzzle pieces and solve a puzzle. The puzzle was a word scramble with giant blocks that when put together would form an arch and sit freely on its own. Pretty hard challenge but the fireworks were popping off before they even started. When Yanu walked in for the challenge, Siga and Nami did the dumb thing where they act shocked and sad when Jeff tells them who was voted out. I think that is so stupid but out of nowhere Siga and Nami just start openly bashing Yanu and Jelinsky who can’t even defend himself and it was hilarious. That mockery led to Bhanu and Q throwing jabs back at the other tribes only for Sprite Remix (aka Soda) to end the trash talk with the line, “How’s the food?” That is just savage knowing that they don’t have fire and this is what Survivor is missing. We need a little hate amongst the cast to make the show better than it already is. I’m here for trash talk and I hope it continues. During the challenge everyone was deadlocked at the puzzle and the difficulty of making the puzzle arch was brutal to watch. This challenge took so long that they freaking went to commercial during the puzzle. When we got back from commercial, we saw the rage that is inside Bhanu. This man started the episode looking for peace and calm, then lost his cool and screamed “JESS!” at the top of his lungs. If you are a fan of the show you have seen that clip on social media all week and it did live up to the hype. In the end, Nami and Siga won immunity. Nami also won a reward in the form of fishing gear and Yanu was sent back to tribal council. 

Pre Tribal Camp Life    

Before we went over to Yanu before Tribal, we had to make a pit stop at Nami for some Venus and Fanta (aka Soda) beef. So in episode one when Nami won immunity, Venus got the idol from Jeff and Dr. Pepper (aka Soda) snatched it from her and that pissed Venus off. So when Nami won in this episode, Venus got the idol from Jeff and DID NOT let Coke Zero (aka Soda) snatch the idol this time and that made their win so awkward. Then back at camp Venus was upset that no one listened to her during the challenge and she got her foot run over by the big wooden cart. You can just feel the tension in this tribe and the lines are drawn. Venus and Randen with Randen’s Hidden Idol vs. Tevin, Diet Coke (aka Soda), Hunter and billionaire Liz. I hope this tribe goes to Tribal Council next week because blood will be shed. 

Over on Yanu, the LuLu Losers from Season 45 have fully transformed into this Yanu tribe. The Target was clearly Jess because of her weakness in challenges and her awkward social game. However Bhanu’s outburst at the challenge was insane and he was also rightfully on the block. Kenzie and Tiffany wanted Jess out so in order to make sure Jess didn’t play her Shot in the Dark, they made and hid a fake idol for her to “find” but somehow Jess was unable to do that. When Jess failed, Q gave her the fake idol and told her to vote for Kenzie. If Q roped in Bhanu he could take over the tribe but Q’s number one ally is Tiffany and Tiffany doesn’t want Kenzie gone at this moment… On to tribal. 

Tribal Council

When I tell you that there hasn’t been a more chaotic five person pre merge tribal like this in the new era I really mean it. The Lulu tribe last season is the worst tribe in the new era and maybe history for all the wrong reasons. Yanu is just 6 (now 4) of the most insane people of the new era and I freaking love this dumpster fire of a tribe. Last week we lost the legend that was Jelinsky. This week we got even more fireworks. It starts with Jess trying anything she can to get Q and Bhanu to work with her by directly throwing Kenzie under the bus. Kenzie acknowledges this and seals the fate of Jess but then… Bhanu happened. This man for no reason at all went on an anger/passion filled rant about wanting to stay in the game and help this tribe. Tiffany was confused, Q was dumbfounded, Kenzie was just smiling and Jess was still clueless. My man Bhanu made five points on what he brings to this game: 1. Reliable 2. Trustworthy 3. Honest 4. Disciplined 5. Hard Working. He took those five points and tried to use the force on Jeff then made a fist and said “It (his fist) was a strength and a power.” You just can’t make this stuff up. After this rant he gives up that everyone is working together to vote out Jess. Q has to then give Bhanu a lesson on how to be smart and not just blurt everything out. After this lesson from Q, Bhanu looks at Kenzie and just asks “Who am I supposed to vote for?” This is just insane. Bhanu then goes to Tiffany who drops the iconic line “Stop making the block hot” . I freaking love Tiffany. Bhanu whispers something to Q and then we get to the vote. Before the votes are read, Jess stands up and plays the fake idol given to her by Q so smart play by Tiffany and Kenzie to avoid her Shot in the Dark.  When Jeff is reading the votes, the first vote is for Bhanu and this man starts packing his bags after one vote! Then the following four were for Jess and she is the second person voted out of Survivor 46…  

Final Thoughts 

Yanu is my favorite dumpster fire tribe of all time. Kenize, Q, Tiffany and Bhanu are must watch TV because there is no clue what is going to happen to them next. I also think if Bhanu is on the island for more than one more episode he may fully lose his mind. The great war of the Nami tribe is coming because Venus is gonna burn that tribe to the ground. I don’t know why this was left out of the episode but listen to this convo between Tevin and Venus posted to Twitter by Mel Brown (Link:https://x.com/melbrown00/status/1765761033212191202?s=46&t=3rS9a2Y2RuXH0I4hwANHqw)  There is hatred on Nami and it’s going to be amazing TV when they go to tribal. Siga is still meh but as this game evolves, Maria and Charlie could be power players in the post merge. To close everything out, our man Bhanu was seen crying in the sneak peek for episode 3 and called Kenzie a, “Mermaid Dragon ''???   What does that even mean? I freaking love Bhanu. This season has me hooked and I can’t wait for next week. I know it was a long post but these two hour episodes pack in a lot of information. See you guys next week! Same Survivor time, Same Survivor blog!   

Episode 3: Wackadoodles Win 

Hello loyal fans and readers, welcome back to Survivor After Dark… I will now take this time to cry like our hero Bhanu… Ok now that our first cry is out of the way let’s talk about episode three of Season 46. Pause one more time to cry a little bit more… ok now let’s get into it. 

(SPOILER WARNING)

Aftermath From Episode 2

We open again on Yanu who is now officially in Lulu territory for the worst tribe in the new era. Lulu never won a challenge and had two quitters. I will give Yanu credit, there are no outright quitters on this tribe. They were just stuck with Jelinsky, Jess and Bhanu. I know I joked about crying in the short opening above but literally in the first two minutes of this episode Bhanu is seen crying three separate times. Kenzie in one of her confessional describes Bhanu perfectly, “Bhanu is a super fan that loves watching at home but has no clue how to actually play the game.” That is the most accurate statement made all season. There is a bigger picture to this that I will touch on in my final thoughts but Bhanu can’t do anything. He can’t keep it together. He can’t withhold information. He can’t lie, or even try to lie. Bhanu is just not good at Survivor. However, that doesn’t mean he isn’t entertaining to watch. This man looked at the camera with a straight face and called Kenzie a Mermaid Dragon… That is incredible and has Minor League Baseball team name written all over it. Q tries to hype Bhanu up by telling him that, “Wackadoodles Win '' but it's clear from this short opening that if Yanu goes to tribal Bhanu has to go. Q is still thinking of trying the blindside Kenzie but that would mean Bhanu would have to actually play Survivor since they are a tribe of four now and that just ain't happening.      

Other Tribes Before Immunity Challenge 

Before we got to the immunity challenge, we did have to take a look at the other two tribes in this game since Yanu is hogging all the screen time with their losing. Over at Siga it was a classic new era idol hunt. Look if by some miracle I get cast on this show, I will “take part” in this if my tribe wants to, but I just don’t like these. If I found an idol I would not want anyone around. So I will give massive props to Jem (and the Holograms) for finding the Beware Advantage clue, hiding it from everyone and digging up the box at night. She still needs the key but this was a great job by Jem. I talked a little trash towards her and Moriah last week so clearly I have an affect on the game. This is a big idol because if there isn’t a tribe swap, this could swing the numbers on the Siga tribe in favor of the three women plus Charlie. Definitely made this tribe more interesting to watch this week. Over at Nami there wasn’t much going on. Hunter (no not me) built the first ever Survivor bed. We also saw that he has created tons of Survivor challenges for his students to play back home in Mississippi so this man will be a problem come the merge. Only other news from Nami was Randen telling the tribe that he can’t feel his right arm and that he will probably sit out the challenge. Seems like he slept on it wrong but that was all of the information we got at this point. Onto the challenge. 

Immunity Challenge

I will say our time at Siga and Nami were nice because we didn’t have to see Bhanu cry the entire episode. The challenge was pretty standard. The tribes started in the water and had to swim to obstacles and get through them to the beach. At the beach they had to dig up sandbags and then land all five of those sandbags on little platforms. The stand out in this challenge was Hunter (No not me). He hacked one of the water obstacles. The obstacle was a rolling barrel that each member had to get over in order to move on. The thought is you lift each member over and the ones that are over pull the last member over at the end. Siga and Yanu did that, but Nami was behind and Hunter grabbed onto Tevin’s ankles and used Tevin’s momentum when he rolled over the barrel to get himself over. It was genius and broke Survivor twitter midepisode. Nami was able to come back and take first thanks to Hunter (again not me) landing all five sandbags before the other tribes had more than one. Very impressive showing for the man with my name. The challenge came down to the last bag between Siga and Yanu and in surprise to no one, Q failed and Charlie landed the last bag giving Siga the win and sending Yanu to tribal… again. After the challenge our main man Jeff tells everyone that there is a Journey this episode and Nami has the power to choose which three players will go. Liz is chosen by Nami and she chooses Ben from Siga and Bhanu from Yanu… oh boy this is gonna be interesting. 

The Journey

Now I will say that I am on the fence when it comes to the Journey in the new era. On one hand it is fun to give players a shot at an advantage. On the other hand the way they set it up isn’t the best but for the first time, in my opinion, this was the perfect way to set up the Journey. The three arrive at the beach and get to a table that tells them to draw rocks. The players that draw the blue rocks will be forced to play a challenge to win an advantage but if they lose, they lose their vote. The player that draws the white rock will just go back to their beach and not play. This is perfect for me. Don't make it a weird guessing game. Don't make it a mile hike that leads to a choice on an advantage or disadvantage based on what the other players did. Just let the players talk about the game, make them draw rocks, then compete in a challenge. It is so simple and that’s what made it perfect. I hope this is the format for the Journey from now on but this is new era Survivor so it will be changed next week to something terrible probably. So it is clear that I loved the new format.. But this was just hard to watch because of one person… Bhanu. Our man Bhanu got on this beach and started crying immediately and then proceeded to blow up the games of Kenzie, Q and my girl Tiffany. He just would not stop talking and crying. Ben and Liz to their credit said nothing about their tribes and did nothing to get this info from Bhanu. He just started talking and they were like, “Oh that’s so sad.” Bhanu is a mess here and will be remembered for this line forever, “I didn’t come on Survivor to win a million dollars, I came to win a million hearts…” I will talk about this in my closing thoughts but just wow… After Bhanu  cried buckets we got to the draw. Bhanu, shockingly said something smart and didn’t want to play so he could use his shot in the dark but as Survivor fate would have it, Ben and Bhanu had to play for an advantage. The challenge was a cube puzzle that I will admit is hard and I would fail. Both Bhanu and Ben failed and both are now without a vote and we faded away to Bhanu tears and sad music. 

Pre Tribal  Council or So We Thought  

We came back from the Journey expecting to be at Yanu but we were at Nami with the whole tribe talking about the journey with Liz and Randen talking about his arm. Then a wild Jeff Probst appeared. As fans of this show know, if Jeff is at your camp, it’s probably bad news. It was indeed bad news for Randen. Jeff and the crew doctor explain that they have looked at Randen’s arm and neck and believe this could be a serious issue. The worry is that he could have a slipped disc in his neck which would need surgery. The only way to tell was to take him to get an MRI. This means that Randen hears the words no player wants to hear, “You are pulled from the game.” I hate when this happens and I hate it worse for Randen because it was nothing he did wrong. He slept on bamboo and pinched a nerve. That’s how his journey ends. Makes it even worse that he had a clue to the hidden immunity idol in his pocket as well. Just sucks and I hope that Randen gets the Bruce treatment from last season and gets a chance to play again. After Randen was taken from the game, we went over to our lovable losers Yanu to see Bhanu crying… again. He tells them about the journey and how he didn’t get to play for an advantage. He knows he is gone, but in a shocking twist, Q wants to be voted out for being responsible for the loss in the challenge. After Tiffany and Kenize talk him down, Q then goes to Bhanu and tries to blindside Kenzie. This would be a massive move if he pulls this off… however in comes Jeff. Jeff shows up at Yanu to inform them that Randen has been pulled from the game and that there will be no tribal council this episode. Bhanu for the first time in this episode is crying happy tears and he lives to fight another day.    

Final Thoughts 

Oh boy where to start? First off I will say that I still love the Yanu tribe as they are Survivor car crash TV. This tribe has won nothing and was saved by a medical evacuation. Funny enough I do think there are three good players on this tribe, and Bhanu. That brings me to my point I have touched on in this recap. Since the new era started, I feel like there is a Bhanu in every cast now. Someone that is a “super fan” that is there for the experience and growth but just has no clue what they are doing. Now I understand and believe that new players don’t know how to play the game until they are in the game. However it is the lack of some of these new era players to learn and adapt that is frustrating to watch. I watched this episode with my mother who came to visit my family this week and she hasn’t seen an episode this season. After the episode she said, “Where do they find these people and how are they this bad at the game?” I have no answer to either of those questions. I also want to state two things and make them very clear: 1. I am not saying that I would be better if I was on the show. 2. I do think there have been great players in the new era. The problem to me just seems to stem from the lack of cutthroat players. In older seasons you had players like Bhanu but they were surrounded by sharks in the water looking for blood. The new era seems more forgiving to players like Bhanu which is a problem. I do think people who watch the show love the cutthroat nature of the game and like the growth of the players on screen, but the new era hasn’t fully found its casting balance yet. Doesn't mean the season is unwatchable because my mother did add that Bhanu is fun to watch but for all the wrong reasons. Maybe we're not taking his struggles into account but we were laughing because he was literally crying every single time he was on screen. I understand one’s emotions are hard to hold in at times but what did you think you were signing up for? It is just like Hannah Rose from season 45 who quit the game three days in because she needed cigarettes and a cheeseburger. Survivor is the best show ever created (in my opinion) if you are lucky enough to get cast and play you have to have a backbone and fight. Bhanu is fun to watch but damn man, stick up for yourself and fight. You are playing for a million dollars! Has that fact just gotten lost in casting? The game isn’t all about the money but a million dollars would change any person’s life (well not Liz she is a billionaire but everyone else it will be life changing). It is just frustrating to watch players cry, give up, and quit when I know that Jeff would have to carry my dead body off that island before I gave up. I still love the show but I do hope to see some fight from our man Bhanu next week. Hopefully he turns into a Mermaid Dragon himself and goes on a rampage. Wishing the best for the lovable loser tribe that is Yanu but we will see what happens. See you guys next week! Same Survivor time, Same Survivor blog!   

Episode 4: Don’t Touch The Oven 

     Hello loyal fans and readers, welcome back to Survivor After Dark. I know we are delayed in our recap but it was the first weekend of March Madness so you can’t blame us for that. We have had a few days to digest episode four and ah… yeah Bhanu didn’t get any better… (pretends to be shocked) Mini spoiler there but if you’ve seen episodes one through three, then you knew this was coming. Let’s get into the mess that was episode four.        

(SPOILER WARNING)

   Aftermath From Episode 3 

So after the medical evacuation of Randen, we opened once again on Yanu. At the end of the recap last week, I mentioned that maybe there is some hope for Bhanu. That maybe he could use this medical evacuation to spark a comeback or something… boy was I wrong. Bhanu tells the rest of his tribe that he spilled his guts on the journey and now come the merge, Q, Tiffany, and Kenize are all public enemy number one. This also circles back to my point last week of casting “super fans'’ that can’t adapt and learn how to play the game. They are clueless and I understand that we can’t cast 18 game bots, but can we at least cast people that understand how to lie? Can we cast players that will fight for their life in the game? I feel extra bad for Randen getting pulled from the game and then having to watch Bhanu get on his knees crying to other players asking them, “How do I play the game?” It was very clear from the opening that if Yanu went to Tribal that Bhanu was gone. 

Checking in on Siga and Nami 

First we will look at Siga who was on a group idol hunt again, even though Jem (and the Holograms) found the idol clue in episode three. Jem explains to the viewer that she re-hid the Beware Advantage clue, and I didn’t think this was smart. Now to defend the move, it was a way to get the target off of Jem’s back if people got suspicious. Plus she could turn blame on someone else which is good… but it’s what the clue said that made it a bad move to me. The clue read, “Dig under the spot you found it to reveal a box.” When the idol search group found this, they dug under the tree and found nothing. It took them a while but the group said, “Jeff will make things hard, but he wouldn’t lie to us.” That is right. Jeff and the producers can’t lie to the contestants. So I don’t know if Jem was just doing this to be funny or what, but in my eyes this was just unnecessary. It looks like she got away with this for now but just no need to risk people finding out you have an idol. 

Over at Nami, we focused on Tevin and Soda’s relationship. Soda is a social butterfly and is playing the game extremely hard. She is also playing well and this is putting her on Tevin’s radar. Tevin has Hunter and Liz on his side and with Raden gone, Venus is a free agent. If Tevin is smart for his game in the long run, then Soda will go home from this tribe, if they ever go to tribal. Interesting to see if Soda catches wind of this because from what we the viewer sees, Soda is in a tight three person alliance with Hunter and Tevin. Nami has been shaky all season long but thanks to Hunter’s strength in the challenges, they haven’t come close to Tribal yet. 

Reward and Immunity Challenge 

This episode had two separate challenges, one for reward and one for immunity so I will talk about them together. In the reward challenge the Survivor unthinkable happened. Yanu won a challenge! The dream team of lovable losers and Bhanu came in first in the reward challenge with Nami coming in second. I  know it was just a reward challenge and they still didn’t get their flint but it was good to see Yanu not lose for once… fast forward to the Immunity challenge and Yanu lost Immunity for the fourth time in a row. This challenge was simple. It was a water obstacle course with two big jumps and then one player had to shoot buoys into a basket. Yanu was in the mix in the early going but then Bhanu happened. The course was a short swim to a cargo net climb, then jump off a tall platform. After that swim to a stack of crates and jump off of them to drive down and get the buoys. Somehow Bhanu missed all of this and just straight up ignored the crates. Jeff immediately was pissed and Bhanu had to swim back to jump off the crates. That one setback was enough to cost Yanu Immunity once again. Now as a big time fan of this show (clearly because I am typing a blog about this), I know that the producers over explain how the challenge works so the contestants all have a good and fair understanding of what to do. It is TV and they are going to make sure the product is good and flows correctly. So how in the world Bhanu forgot to jump off the crates is mind boggling to me. He wasn’t even the first person to go for his tribe. Q went before him and did it correctly. How did you not see your tribe mate do the challenge the right way? I just couldn’t believe it. I yelled at the TV out loud that he skipped the crates. I will give props to Kenzie, Q, and Tiffany for not losing their cool on Bhanu because I don’t think I would have been able to do that. An all time mistake in my books and that led us to Tribal. 

Tribal Council and Bhanu’s Goodbye 

If you didn’t like Bhanu crying and begging on his knees as a grown man then you probably hated the last 15 minutes of this episode. Like I said in the first paragraph, it was clear that if Yanu lost, then Bhanu was gone. To give credit to the rest of Yanu, they made it clear to Bhanu that he was gone. Bhanu searched for an idol that was in Tiffany’s pocket and cried. Begged Q to help him and cried. Bhanu made Kenize mad but she forgave him and then he cried. When we got to Tribal two questions in from Jeff, Bhanu makes it clear that he is gone. Bhanu told his life story and how he got to Survivor and it was a good story. I would encourage you to go watch it, but after the story it was time. They didn’t even have a formal vote which was wild but Bhanu didn’t have a vote so he couldn’t play shot in the dark. So Jeff just said, “Whenever you’re ready Bhanu.” That was it, and just like that the Bhanu experience was over. Bhanu will go down in my books as one of the worst players in history. He didn’t understand the game. He didn’t understand social cues and situations. He cried for about 75% of his screen time. He outright blamed God for his failure in the game. He yelled at Jess, who wasn’t mentally strong enough to be on this cast either, while wearing a Be Kind shirt. Bhanu was fun to watch but I was laughing at him not with him. I cheered for him but in the same way I cheered for Phillip from seasons 22 and 26. I was cheering to see them on the show longer because they were driving the other players insane. Bhanu’s story is great but I don't think he was a great person. The edit we were shown was just someone that DID NOT need to be in the stressful situation that is Survivor. I understand and have stated that you can’t cast 18 game bots every season. However, you need to at least cast players that can handle the game and the elements. I think Ben from the Siga tribe is a great example. So far Ben has shown that he isn’t there for the money. He is there for the good times and the experience, but he understands the game and the struggles that are coming with  it. Bhanu had none of that and the casting director failed him in my opinion. Why Bhanu was put out there to fail is behind me and the edit did not paint him in the best light. One minute he is screaming at poor Jess for dropping a block, then the next he is praying. Then after a loss he blames God for failing to then only a few scenes later telling his story of poverty and struggle. Maybe I’m being too harsh but Bhanu just doesn’t seem like a stable person and the fact that he did all of these things in a Be Kind shirt is just ironic. Hopefully Bhanu is in a better place and if he somehow gets a second chance to play this game I will offer some advance: 1. Do not blame God for your failures on national television. It is a blessing to be cast on Survivor so even if you are the first boot, be thankful for the opportunity because there are thousands of people (myself included) that would do anything to be on this show. 2. Actually watch the show before you play. I know you claimed to be a super fan but it looked like you have never seen an episode. 3. Lastly and most importantly never get on your knees and beg another player for help. If they somehow cast you again which I have a feeling they will, stand up for yourself and act like a grown man. Now I know this is a small blog and Bhanu will never see this but if he does I want him to read those last thoughts. Well now that Bhanu is gone it seems like we can focus on the game moving forward in Season 46 more. Charlie and Maria have all the power on Siga with Jem lurking in the shadows. Tevin and Hunter may turn on Soda at the Nami camp and Yanu is finally free of the three worst players on this cast. I’m excited to see where the game goes from here! See you guys next week! Same Survivor time, Same Survivor blog!    

Episode 5: Tiki Man

     Hello loyal fans and readers, welcome back to Survivor After Dark.  I am happy to report that we had actual Survivor on our televisions this past week. Now I know what you’re thinking. “It’s episode 5 they have been playing for a month” it is true but when you have one tribe with Jelinsky, Jess and Bhanu… there isn’t much “playing of Survivor". It was clear that those three were going to go no matter how much we as viewers tried to hype them up. Add in a medical evacuation and we saw four episodes that were light on game play. Fast forward to episode five and I think we finally saw season 46 start to take shape a little bit. Let’s dive into the episode and try not to belly flop starting with our lovable losers at Yanu. 

(SPOILER WARNING)

Aftermath from Episode 4

We opened again on the Yanu tribe and it just felt like this tribe was going to turn this sinking ship around. Kenzie did cry but the tribe had set a record in the New Era for the longest time without flint, but they did have three of the worst players of ALL TIME  on their tribe so it’s understandable. It just felt like these three players (Kenzie, Q and Tiffany) were going to find a way because I do believe that we have three great players here. Q did try and pull a quitting angle on Kenzie but I didn’t take much from that. Q isn’t quitting and I don’t think Kenzie bought that. I do know that Q wants Kenzie out and Tiffany is gonna be caught in the middle of those two so Yanu has a fork in the road coming, it’s just a matter of time. 

Over at Nami the focus was on Hunter (no not me) and his search for Randen’s idol clue. Randen was pulled from the game with an idol in his pocket and everyone on Nami knew that idol was going back in play. Hunter has shown the viewers that this man is Survivor MacGyver and I was honestly shocked that Randen found the clue before him. Hunter (again not me) was looking for the clue and being annoyed by Venus. This was hilarious because Venus just looked like an annoying little sister and Hunter (not me) just couldn’t get her to go away. I do like the move by Venus. She doesn’t like Hunter so annoying/following him around to see if he finds something isn’t a bad strategy. However Hunter (still not me) is a high school science teacher and treats Venus like an annoying student to get her to go away. Then through the magic of editing Hunter finds the Beware Advantage which is the Idol Clue. He loses his vote but he has numbers so he doesn’t need it at this time. This is a big move for Hunter (not me but way to represent all Hunters out there) because he is going to be a target come the merge because of his challenge skills so having an idol will come in handy.  

Over at Siga the “vibe tribe” wasn’t doing much of note. Tim informed the viewers that he hasn’t pooped in ten days.. truly Survivor is a show of the people because we all wanted to know that. The only thing of note that happened at Siga pre challenge was Jem’s weird attitude towards Tim. Jem last week re-hid her idol clue to make the others dig for nothing as a joke for herself and to get a target off her back. Problem was, there was no target on her back and all that did was expose that someone at camp found the idol. Her conversation with Tim here just felt odd. Like she was trying to get Tim to admit that he had a plan with Ben to go after the girls or that he had an advantage. It wasn’t a bad plan to talk to Tim but she just gave off the weirdest vibe. Tim picked up on this and knew something was up and unfortunately for Siga things were about to get worse. 

Immunity and Reward Challenge 

Before the Immunity Challenge, Jeff was being a little bit of a dick to Yanu as he informed everyone of the longest streak with no flint stat that I listed above and tried to replace the “Losers go to Tribal Council” line with “Yanu go to Tribal Council”. It was funny but Jeff didn’t have to kick poor Yanu when they were down. I mean it is kind of Jeff’s fault that Yanu was so bad since he helped cast Jelinsky, Jess and Bhanu so… shame on Jeff. However, the mockery by Jeff in the opening may have finally been the spark Yanu needed as the Survivor miracle part two happened and Yanu finally won Immunity. Nami finished first of course but Yanu came in second with Q edging out Siga in the final part of the challenge, using a slingshot to knock over a target. Q got the badass slow motion shot and I’m not gonna lie, that was epic. Siga had fallen and for the first time this season someone other than Yanu was going to Tribal, but first we had a journey…  

3 Player Journey and Pre Tribal Council 

On the three player Journey, we saw Hunter from Nami, Q from Yanu and Tim from Siga go. Before the challenge, we saw Q take charge and push for a six person alliance at the merge. Q suggested each of them grab one member from their tribes and form a six person majority alliance. Hunter and Tevin, Q and Tiffany, Tim and Ben. Mini spoiler but the merge is next week and six won’t be the majority so they will need one more person for now but we’ll see if this happens. Most of the time alliances like this in the New Era don’t happen. Just a lot of smoke and mirrors because it's a Journey. In theory this could work but that’s a lot of moving pieces so we shall see on this six person team up. As  for the challenge the three got to choose which one would play. Tim chose not to so he could keep his vote, very smart. Q didn’t want to because the puzzle was about your Survivor knowledge, so Hunter (not me) got to try. The challenge was to put 20 random seasons of Survivor in chronological order. Now Hunter (not me) admitted that he was a super fan but was introduced to the show by a friend who didn’t watch the seasons in order… Hunter (the one on the show) failed and lost his vote even though he already lost his vote so I’m not sure how that’s gonna work. This Hunter (the one typing) did the challenge at home and I went 19 for 20 so that was impressive and I feel like if I were to be cast I would study for this moment and do better. After the Journey, we went to Siga and the line in the sand was drawn. Moriah and Jem wanted Ben out because they thought he didn’t have an idol so that was the safe bet. Tim and Ben wanted Jem out for her sketchy behavior earlier and her continued sketchy behavior towards Ben. Maria and Charlie were right in the middle… Jem was just so odd before tribal. First she had to find her idol so she could have it and get her vote back which she did. Then the idol power must have gone to her head because she was carrying around the machete while talking to Ben about the vote. Ben then got a hammer as a joke to “project himself”. That was great by Ben. Honestly I have no clue why Jem was like this all episode. We the viewer haven’t seen this weird side of Jem fully and it was just a bad vibe. Maria and Charlie had all the power though and their options were to go with the girls and put up with Jem’s new weird attitude or go with the guys and trust that Charlie won’t side with Ben and Tim over Maria in the future… On to tribal. 

Tribal Council and Final Thoughts  

It was so refreshing to watch a tribal that wasn’t Yanu. New faces, new people, and new voting dynamics. It was just a new coat of paint and I was here for it.  Siga has been the “vibe tribe” all season. I did like how in the beginning of this episode, they were learning how to Salsa dance as a tribe and by then end, they are fighting each other for life in the game. I think the stand out here was Ben. Ben is the perfect “here for the journey” new era player. Unlike Bhanu who was WAY too emotional, Ben handles himself very well. He was joking about the tribe taking aqua dumps together but then got serious when he needed too. This is the  player you like to root for. The goofball that can hold his own but will make mistakes. Not the Bhanu type who have no clue how to lie or act at tribal council. Charlie was good as well. This whole episode we got to see that relationship between Charlie and Maria grow and this is going to be a power couple to watch come the merge (which is next week). Then there was Jem. Again Jem just talked herself into this situation of being on the chopping block. All she needed to do was play it cool but the power must have got to her head. In the end that behavior and Ben’s overall vibe was enough to have Maria and Charlie side with the boys as Jem was voted out and was the fifth player eliminated from the game. The vote was strange though as Maria gained an extra vote in the premiere and for NO REASON wasted it on Jem in this vote. Ben didn’t have a vote but Tim, Charlie and Maria had the numbers so WHY DID SHE WASTE THAT EXTRA VOTE??? Just a wild move because no one knew Jem had the idol so it wasn’t used to protect anyone. I did see some fans think she used it so she didn’t have a target on her back at the merge but that just doesn’t make sense to me. I don’t know the true nature of the move so hopefully she explains it next week. As for Jem, she joins the long list of Survivor Icarus players. She flew too close to the Sun and got burned. She went home with an idol in her pocket and it was all her fault. She was in a good place and blew up her game by just acting so strange. I did laugh at the Survivor karma of making her tribe dig for an idol clue that wasn’t there to only be voted out one episode later with that idol in your pocket. The game of Survivor is kind to no one and now Jem is gone and we have a merge next week!!! The Merge is always chaotic and outside of season 41 (the worst merge ever) we can expect another banger of a Survivor episode! See you guys next week! Same Survivor time, Same Survivor blog!                         

Episode 6: Cancel Christmas 

 Hello loyal fans and readers, drop your buffs and welcome back to Survivor After Dark. It’s the Merge people and as far as “New Era” merge episodes go, I’d say this one was solid. It had good game play. It had the merge challenge twist which isn’t the worst thing but not great. It was just a quality episode to shift Season 46 into the individual game. A lot to break down in this recap so let’s get started not at Yanu this week, but at Siga! 

(SPOILER WARNING)

Pre Merge Tree Mail

We start right after the blindside of Jem (and the Holograms) and it is clear that Moriah is on the outs. She was the only tribe member to vote for Ben and Jem was her closest ally in the game. Charlie’s Angels didn’t pan out for her so now she has nowhere to go. However, Siga is the “vibe tribe” and the other five players that just lied to Moriah tell her that Siga is still one big happy family… Umm no you're not. If I was Moriah I would have slept in the next morning and missed the tribe salsa lesson. Moriah knows she’s on the bottom here but just seems to be ok with staying Siga strong… Why? I don’t know but this was the storyline to watch this episode. The theme song played and we were over to Yanu.

At Yanu we see three players who have been through Survivor hell for 12 days and are on the other side of it now. Vibes are high and we learn that my girl Tiffany has named her hidden immunity idol… Idolisha! I can’t put into Survivor words how hilarious that is and I really do think that the three of Tiffany, Q, and Kenize could make it to the finale. I think Tiffany and Kenize could win and maybe Q, but I really like the women on this tribe. Yanu then gets tree mail and breaks the news that the tribes are merging at the Nami beach. 

At Nami before the other two tribes arrived, Hunter (no not me) was put on the clock to find his hidden immunity idol. He found the beware advantage in episode five and told the camera that the “timer” had begun once they read tree mail. It wasn’t clearly explained what the “timer” meant but oddly enough I went to the same college as Hunter (not me) and my wife and I followed him on Instagram before the season. On his Instagram he explained the “timer” to fans for more context. The timer started because the tribes were merging. Hunter (not me) had to then find the idol before the other tribes got to the Nami beach or the idol would be lost, rehidden and Hunter would lose his vote at the next two tribal councils since he lost his vote at the next tribal no matter what due to losing the past seasons challenge at the Journey in episode 5. That was a lot and I had to read it a few times on Hunter’s (not me) Instagram. If you are a fan you should give him a follow and check out his post. All of that long and complicated backstory to say, my guy Hunter (not me) found his idol! So to recap advantages and idols: Hunter (not I) has a full idol, Tiffany has her girl Idolisha, Tevin has an extra vote and the Siga idol is probably hidden at the merge camp. Now that the background is set, it’s time to merge!     

Merge Beach Pre Challenge 

Once all three tribes hit the beach you knew the game was on! There is a lot to cover so we will go off of what I thought was most important to the shift in the game. The biggest blunder of the merge so far was Tim from Siga not telling Maria about Q’s six person alliance plan that they discussed at the Journey last week. First off, why did Tim pick Maria? I believed it would have been Ben as his plus one. Second, WHY DIDN’T YOU TELL MARIA!!! Big split alliances don’t normally pan out but they definitely don’t if you don’t tell the people in the alliance! Tim just looked clueless and like the one member of the group project that keeps putting off their part of the assignment. Not a strong start for Tim here. Lastly on Tim’s mistake, Maria has some power in the game with her bond to Charlie. Tim picking Maria means all of the Siga’s will know of the six person alliance and Maria can blow that up if she wishes so Maria is a player to watch for the rest of the season. The next big thing I noticed/laughed at was Venus… I can’t stand this girl. Venus is so full of herself and thinks she has “power” in the game when she literally has nothing. No one trusts her, she has no advantage and the only thing she has going for her is that she could be a player carried to the end because no one will vote for her. I haven’t liked her all season, but it is good to see Survivor still cast players that are just the worst and Venus is definitely the worst. Next, for some dumb reason, Moriah is sticking with the Sigas… Why? Moriah had a chance here to build bonds and make new allies but chose to ride along with the Sigas and tell everyone that Jem was a clean vote. Moriah had so many chances to to work with others but her inability to to jump ship and stay loyal with the Sigas was a mistake. Lastly for now, it looks like the Yanu three are teaming up with Hunter (not me) and Tevin. This will be a powerful group and as long as they don’t turn on each other, they could all make it far. That was all of the major things I took away from the tribes merging. On to the Immunity challenge. 

Merge Immunity and Reward Challenge

Every “New Era” of Survivor has what is now known as the Merge Challenge. The group of players will be split into two teams and run a tribe immunity challenge. The winning tribe “earns” their merge buff, immunity and reward. The losing team doesn’t make the merge yet. They are eligible to be voted out and they get no reward. I’ve grown used to this challenge but with 13 players in the game, why not just have a tribe swamp and do two tribes for a few episodes? I don’t know. I’ve never been a fan of 13 player merges. I like to know that when the tribes merge, everyone on the tribe will be a part of the endgame. They will be at the final tribal as a player or on the jury and be involved in the outcome. Merging at 13 we don’t get that and I don’t like that but it’s not Survivor 41 bad so it’s fine. The teams were split via random  rock draw into teams of six with the one left out player having to pick which tribe they want to pick to represent them in the challenge. The teams were: Orange Team- Charlie, Moriah, Venus, Soda, Liz and Maria. Purple Team: Hunter, Tevin, Q, Kenize, Tim and Ben. What a lopsided random draw. Tiffany was the odd one out and she wisely chose Purple. Now I won’t break down the challenge because it was a lot but I would recommend you check it out. It came down to the puzzle and as we all know my man Hunter (not me) invited Survivor puzzles and although the underdogs fought hard, as soon as Hunter (still not me) got on the puzzle, it was over. Purple was safe and earned their merge buff. Meaning that one of the Orange team members was going home and not making the merge or the jury…  

Tribal Council and Final Thoughts 

I know in these recaps I touch on the camp life before Tribal but most of it was the same as I covered above. The targets were Moriah and Venus for the same reason. No one seemed to trust either one of them. Plus Moriah was still not telling everyone the truth about the Siga vote out of Jem. Venus on the other hand just needed to shut up and she would have been safe, but nope she wanted to go scorched earth and vote out Charlie for some reason. Look if Venus was trustworthy then maybe this could have happened but she’s not and it’s not smart to try and blindside a major player at the first merge vote. At tribal itself, everyone was beating around the bush until Hunter just threw Moriah and Venus under the bus because he couldn't vote. That was hilarious and maybe bad from the standpoint of Hunter showing off a little bit but we’ll see. After Hunter does this, Moriah in front of everyone at tribal finally tells the truth about the Jem vote… this is the literal definition of too little, too late. What made it better was Q talking to Moriah like she was Bhanu and explaining how to play Survivor to Moriah. This was the nail in the coffin for Moriah. She did play her Shot in the Dark but she failed and was sent home ten votes to one, with that one vote being cast by Charlie on Venus. The rest of the cast made the merge and the episode faded to black. It was a quality “new era” merge episode. The twist of earring the merge still isn’t my favorite but it’s not bad TV. The line in the sand has been drawn moving forward. It’s Hunter, Tevin, Q, Kenize and Tiffany vs. Maria, Charlie, Tim, and Ben. Soda, Liz, and Venus are in limbo and could be important numbers for someone but not one really likes them. Liz is working with Hunter and Tevin but I can’t stand her either. This week could get messy but wouldn't be shocked if it was an easy Venus vote. These next two episodes are big for the future of this season so you don’t want to miss it! Hopefully next week I can get the recap out faster, been traveling a lot this last month and it has put me behind but we’re working on it. Anyways, see you guys next week! Same Survivor time, Same Survivor blog!

Episode 7: Episode Several 

Hello loyal fans and readers. Welcome back to Survivor After Dark. If you don’t understand the reference in the episode name then you haven’t been watching Season 46. That’s ok because we welcome any readers to our page and it is our job to inform/entertain you with our recaps. So I will explain that reference and breakdown one heck of an episode of Survivor. This merge is getting good and this Season is picking up steam like Season 45. I thought 45 was the best season of the new era so far and 46 is shaping up much like 45 did. Season 45 got off to a controversial start with a quit in the season premiere, had one of the worst physical players of all time in Brandon (dude couldn’t climb a ladder), and a second pre-merge quitter in Sean. Then the merge happened and we saw Caleb successfully play his Shot in the Dark, Emily become a New Era Legend in front of our eyes, Kelly’s blindside, Jake’s “Woah” meme, and Dee playing a flawless New Era game for the win. Season 45 was great and so far in this merge, 46 is on track to be a great season like the one before it. We still have a lot of game play left but this week’s episode showed how good this cast can be. 

Immunity Challenge 

This episode wasted no time getting things started as we went straight to the immunity challenge. The twist of this week was the same twist we have seen in most of the new era seasons. Two players would be voted out after the tribe was split into two groups of six. There will be two tribal councils and neither tribe will talk to or see each other until after separate tribal councils. The challenge was a classic Survivor endurance challenge, which saw the players try and balance on a floating triangle platform with small beams on the side for their toes. Eventually, the players were balancing on the top beam of the triangle having to fight the waves and each other for a shot at immunity. Since the tribe was going to be split into two teams, there were two immunity necklaces up for grabs. One player from each team would win individual immunity and the last player overall would win their team reward and the chance to go to tribal last, which was significant, because the first player voted off in this episode would not make the Jury… The teams were split up by rock draw and were as follows:

Purple Team

Maria 

Charlie 

Tevin 

Venus 

Soda (Sprite)

Liz  

Orange Team

Tim

Ben

Hunter (Not Me) 

Q 

Tiffany 

Kenzie 

Now if you missed the challenge I will say this.. It was one of the funniest challenges I’ve seen in awhile. When these endurance challenges start off slow, it gives the cast and Jeff time to bond and just be themselves and this cast was clearly having a good time. It started with Jeff telling the players that they had been in the challenge for Several minutes… This is a reference to the first boot legend that is Jelinksy!!! Yes the man that said Several means seven (which it doesn’t) got a shout out joke from Jeff. I’m calling it now, Jelinsky will get a second chance to play Survivor if they do returning player seasons in the future. We also got a flashback of Survivor Thor aka my guy Jonathan from Season 42! Also hope Jonathan comes back for another season. We had Q try to teach the alphabet game to everyone and it failed miserably. Truly the first part of this challenge felt like a sitcom and it was a joy to watch. However, the fun had to end at some point and it came down to the wire for both teams. For orange, Kenzie was a statue and picked up her first individual immunity of the season, but she fell before the final two members of the purple team so purple had won reward and was going to tribal second. For purple, it came down to Tevin and Maria with Maria edging out the win to pick up her first individual immunity of the season. Kenzie and Maria were safe, the tribe split up and the game was on. 

Orange Team Camp

The episode did a great job going back and forth from each camp, but to make this recap flow better, I will focus on one team at a time and one tribal council at a time. First for orange, it was clear to the viewer that Ben was the odd man out on this team. Q, Tiffany, Hunter, and Tim were in the six person alliance that Q formed on the journey with Hunter and Tim. Kenzie has immunity so on paper Ben is the target… However, two big things happened that changed what looked like an easy vote. 1. Ben had a Panic Attack in his sleep before the challenge. Kenzie woke up to be there for Ben and see him through his attack. Kenzie explained how she had experience with family members having attacks and it was a genuine moment between those two in the game. A bond was formed between Ben and Kenzie so when Ben’s name was on the block, she was hesitant to go with that plan but knew she needed to if she had too. 2. Tim happened. At the start of this season Tim was a player I had my eye on. I thought he could be a big factor in the outcome of this season and be a good player… I was wrong. Since the merge, the flaws in his gameplay continued to show. First he failed to tell Maria she was his plus one in the six person alliance. Then fought way too hard to get a Nami out last week and showed his cards that the SIga tribe was still trying to work together. Here he pitched for Hunter to go home because “He’s Nami”. So to break that down, Tim wanted to vote out a member of his power alliance because he wants to keep numbers strong in his Siga alliance which has lost two of its six players in back to back tribals. I can understand Tim trying to protect  Ben here but if you just go with your power alliance, you’re safe. Yes you lose an ally in Ben but you live to fight another day. Obviously Q got confused by Tim’s logic and told everyone in the six person alliance on this team that Tim had to go. Q was all over the place in this episode and a little demanding with my girls Tiffany and Kenzie. That may be a problem in the future because in my opinion, Tiffany and Kenzie are running this game and I’m here for it. Going into tribal it was clear. Either Ben was going home and Kenzie was going to lose a new friend, or Tim was going home because of his poor alliance management… but first we have to check on purple. 

Purple Team Camp

Over at purple, it seemed simple on paper as well. Charlie was outnumbered four Nami to one Siga. Maria had immunity and if the Nami stayed strong, then Charlie was a sitting duck. However, as we’ve seen over the past few episodes, Nami hates each other. Tevin wants Soda out. Soda wants Venus out. Venus wants every Nami member out, and Liz is just down for whatever. We knew that this Nami war was coming at some point and it did not disappoint. It started with Charlie being the scapegoat and Tevin plotting to take out Soda. His logic was simple. Soda is a great social player and she makes everyone feel safe. She would crush a final tribal council if she made it there and this was a chance to take her out. Soda on the other hand wanted to take out Venus. NOBODY  trusts her. At first it was just the Nami’s, but after the merge meeting of everyone, it was clear that no one on that beach liked Venus. This was an easy chance to get rid of her so Soda thought why not. Charlie and Maria were floored by this information and were willing to help Nami burn but then… there was Venus. First off let me say that Venus is just so unlikeable. I don’t  know if it’s the edit or what, but she just comes off rude in every episode. Venus was pissed when no one was talking to her so she went into full rage mode and pitched her evil plans to Charlie. First Venus wanted Soda out because they are enemies and have been since day one. Then Venus proposed a 3, 2, 1, vote to get Tevin out. Venus, Maria, and Charlie all vote for Tevin. Soda and Tevin vote for Charlie. Liz votes for Soda. I’ll admit, it’s a good  plan but a 3,2,1 is so hard to pull off. I will give Venus credit for making moves but she just comes off so poorly that I can’t stand her. Maria had also clearly had enough of Venus and sat her down to tell her how much she didn’t want to work with her. It was like a mother telling her child to stop being a brat and go to your room. Great look for Maria here. Her and Charlie had all the power going into Purple tribal council. It was either Soda, Venus, or Tevin and the Siga power duo was in charge of the Nami downfall. 

Tribal Council and Final Thoughts

First team up was Orange and man I have to say, this was a great tribal for Kenzie’s winner’s edit. She cried, she laughed, she got applause from her tribe mates, it was just clear that she is really good at playing Survivor. This may come back to bite her as the target on her back isn’t getting any smaller but it’s clear she is a potential winner. Other than Kenzie stealing the show, it was clear  that Tim or Ben was about to go home and miss the Jury by one vote. I was honestly in the dark because both made sense to me but in the end, the Yanu three plus Hunter (not me) made the choice I would have and sent Tim packing. Tim was playing to many alliances and that was his downfall. The six person alliance was working and if Tim was smart he could have used Maria and Charlie later to try and overthrow Q, Tiffany and Kenzie… but he failed and now he has to miss the Jury. 

Moving on to Purple tribal, it was a game of bluffs for this whole tribal council. It just felt like every single person was keeping their guard up. Everyone was playing along with the easy vote narrative of Charlie going home because everyone at that tribal council  was trying to blindside someone else. It was good game play to watch because I was just waiting for someone to slip up but no one did. If you didn’t see any of the episode and only watched this, then you probably thought Charlie was cooked… but then the votes were cast. By a vote of 4 to 2 Soda was blindsided and became the first member of our Jury. Soda was truly blindsided and when she was leaving, she asked who did it? Venus stepped up and took credit for the move but the cameras panned over to Tevin and we saw him mouth the word No… Now I do believe this was Tevin’s move, dislike for Venus aside. Tevin and Soda voted for Venus, with Venus, Maria, Charlie and Liz voting for Soda. Why did Tevin do this? The answer isn’t clear but I think it is one of two things: 1. He did it just in case Soda got wind and played her Shot in the Dark or an idol that he didn’t know about. Or 2. He did it for Jury management which is a little early in the game for that but could be a possibility. Venus thought Soda was going home and the votes were cast the way she pitched it but Tevin knew everything. So did Charlie and Maria. No one wanted to work with Venus, it just so happened that Venus’ “plan” was the same as Tevin’s. However, I could be wrong and Venus is the New Era villain we’ve all been waiting for… (she’s not). It was a great episode of Survivor and the promo for this week has Jeff saying he’s never seen that before at tribal council so hopefully we are in for another great episode! I feel like this season is heating up and as a viewer, I hope it sticks the landing. See you guys next week! Same Survivor time, Same Survivor blog!     

Episode 8: Hide N Seek 

Hello loyal fans and readers. Welcome back to Survivor After Dark and… oh boy. Episode 8 of Survivor 46 happened, and it was something… Look this season since the merge has picked up steam and is getting better but man the Tribal Council in this episode was just DUMB! It was no one’s fault but Q’s. Sorry to all of our readers that are Q fans but you’re not gonna like this week’s recap. We have a lot to get to so let's get started with the aftermath of Episode Several’s double Tribal. 

Double Tribal Aftermath 

First was the aftermath of the Tim vote. Really wasn’t much from this but I do see this as a good thing for Ben. Tim and Ben were seen as a duo even though they weren’t really close gameplan wise. Ben is a free spirit and does a good job connecting with everyone so not having Tim around to paint him in the Power Duo light could be big. The big aftermath was when the Purple tribal group walked back in. Venus was the first to walk into camp and that floored everyone. Soda was gone and Venus was ready to tell everyone how she was the mastermind… Look, Venus is good for the show. I despise her and get extra excitement from each week because I think this is the week she is finally gone. She is a Survivor Villain that you just hate. However, she is like a Saturday Morning Cartoon villain in the sense that you know she will never “take over the world” but you have to treat as a threat just in case. Venus took full credit for the Soda blind side as everyone in camp just agreed with her. Meanwhile Tevin explained the Soda blind side and how it actually happened after Venus got her Survivor glory. Tevin told the viewer that he threw that vote on Venus to make sure Soda didn’t have anything and to do a little Jury management. I could tell from the eye rolls and Venus laughing, that we were gonna focus on this move for the rest of the episode… and I was right. After the Theme Song played and the night turned into day, we got Venus trying to work with Tevin and Liz moving forward. We have to hear the whole Venus blind sided Soda story again and Tevin plays it off well, but when Venus leaves he loses it. Tevin’s laugh here was great but it brought out something in Liz. Liz hasn’t done much this season and she wants credit for the Soda move because she had it out for Soda since day one. Liz told us she was keeping her ego in check by not saying anything but this moment between her, Tevin, and Venus was a wake up call for her to start playing the game. Clearly the original Nami tribe had some of the biggest egos in New Era history all on the same beach. 

Hide n Seek

The dust had finally settled on the double Tribals and Q finally got his wish to play Hide n Seek on the island. Q has apparently been wanting to play since the Yanu camp so I’m glad he got his wish but he took it way too seriously and started showing us that he is probably going insane. Q claimed that he could tell who’s playing Survivor hard and who’s not by their efforts in Hide n Seek. I don’t know if that’s genius or just plain dumb. For what it’s worth, Hunter (not me) won the game of Hide n Seek so I guess that means he’s gonna win Season 46? I don’t know but I left this scene thinking this was the start of Q’s downfall. 

Immunity Challenge

We went from a childhood classic in Hide n Seek to a Survivor classic in “Hold on to this Pole for as long as you can” (just rolls right off the tongue don’t it?) However, before this challenge, Jeff tried to see if he could get players to sit out this challenge for a bag of rice for camp. Shockingly, for the first time in the New Era, no one chose to sit out and the tribe didn’t get rice. Now I will say, this fired me up as a fan. Sitting out of challenges is STUPID to me and finally a cast in this New Era did it. In hindsight, some of them should have sat out because they were only in the challenge for like two minutes but I still appreciate the willingness to fight. This challenge may have proved Q is a genius after all because he did predict Hunter (the one on the show) would win the challenge because he hid in a tree for Hide n Seek and he was right. Hunter (still not me) won Immunity with ease. First Immunity of the season for Hunter (the one on Survivor) and I think that probably won’t be his last. 

Pre Tribal Chaos 

After the Immunity Challenge the game was on. It started with the “Mob Boss” Q asking his number one ally Tiffany who she wanted gone. Tiffany threw out some names but told Q that Venus didn’t need to be the target because no one wants to work with her. Q didn’t like the idea of Venus staying and Tiffany not doing what he wanted so then the vote got pushed to Tiffany. Q was on a mission after this. Earlier in the episode, Q brought Charlie into the six person alliance to replace Tim and so he started with Charlie and Maria to rally the troops to blindside Tiffany. While this was going on, Tevin and Hunter thought it was clear that Venus had to go because no one trust her. However while they were trying to rally troops against Venus, Liz woke up. She was tired of Tevin and Venus taking credit for the Soda move and she finally decided to play the game. Liz came up with a plan to blind side Tevin using the votes of those outside the six person alliance. So to recap, it was Tiffany, Venus, and Tevin all on the chopping block. All of them were voting for each other and all of them felt safe which set the stage for what could have been an epic tribal council until Q happened… 

Tribal Council and Final Thoughts 

Within minutes of the tribe sitting down at Tribal Council, ONE OF THE DUMBEST THINGS ANY OF US HAVE EVER SEEN ON THIS SHOW HAPPENED. On the second question, Q stopped Jeff and asked if he could say something. Jeff being the great host that he is, let Q have the floor… and then it happened. Q was worried that one of his ally’s (Tiffany) was going to get votes and possibly go home. He felt like it was his fault (which it was). So to make good on his mistake, he asked the tribe to VOTE HIM OUT. To be clear he wasn’t quitting, just asking them to vote him out because he got Tiffany in trouble. So Q in this episode went from being the child that wanted to play Hide n Seek, to the Mob Boss that wanted to take out his number one ally because she didn’t agree with him, to then asking the tribe to VOTE HIM OUT because he threw Tiffany under the bus and felt bad. He also told Charlie (his alliance member of one day) that Tiffany has an Idol. So now the whole tribe knows that Tiffany has an Idol. This was so bad I would normally not recommend you watch this but if you missed this, please go watch this Tribal just for the stupidity that was Q… As you can imagine, this sent the Tribal Council into chaos. I have to say this took away from the move that was made by Liz. Because through all the chaos, Liz’s move to blindside Tevin was successful. By a vote of 8 to 2 by guy Tevin was blindsided by the group. He couldn’t be saved by Hunter and Q didn’t get his dumb wish of being voted out. Look, I think my guy Ben said it best during the chaos of Tribal, “I don’t care for the shenanigans.” This was a great episode of Survivor just ruined by one of the DUMBEST “moves'' we've ever seen. I have no clue why Q did this, but he just turned this game upside down. Great move by Liz and Co. to spearhead a blindside of one of the most likable players in the New Era’s history. Tevin was a great player and fun to watch. I think his focus on Venus may have been his downfall but he still played a great game, even though he came up short. Moving forward I have no idea what’s gonna happen but if my girls Tiffany and Kenize don’t rally the troops to send Q packing then I don’t know what they're doing. Q has got to go. Even more than Venus in my eyes. Can’t wait for next week’s episode, just for the fact that I will know where the game is going afterwards. Also last week our twitter Account (@PressboxAD) had a tweet liked by Ben from the show! That was the coolest thing ever and we appreciate the love Ben! Here’s to Ben rocking his way to Final Tribal! Anyways, see you guys next week! Same Survivor time, Same Survivor blog!

Episode 9: Spicy Jeff 

Hello loyal fans and readers. Welcome back to Survivor After Dark and I have to report a crime on a fellow Hunter! Spoiler Warning early this week but Hunter (the one on the show) was blind sided this week and as a Hunter myself, this is not cool man! Well 95% of that blind side falls on Hunter’s shoulders (I’ll explain why in the recap) but it was still sad to see a great player leave the game. Overall great episode again this week, so let's not waste time… 

Aftermath of Q Being an Idiot 

There was no other way to start this episode than to have Tiffany chew Q’s ass for the dumb stunt he pulled last episode at Tribal Council. I don’t need to waste more time on Q’s stupid vote me out speech from last week, but this ass chewing from Tiffany was 100% justified. Q blew up everyone’s game and of the remaining players, Tiffany was the first to get to him after Tribal. Tiffany and Kenzie are done with Q at this point and I would be too. Q is now at rock bottom in the game and has zero chance of winning unless it's a final two with him and Venus. Overshadowed by this ass chewing and by Q’s move last week was Liz. Liz was the mastermind of the Tevin vote. She finally started to play the game here and played it very well. However… No one has given her credit and that almost brought her to tears. I do feel bad for Liz because it was a great move but I think Liz is about to begin her downfall. She said she’s kept her ego in check all season and now it’s unleashed. The more players see this side of Liz, the bigger her target will get. Shifting over to Hunter, he knows that he is on the bottom with Q. He is so much on the bottom that he tries to work with Venus here and spoiler alert… Venus is the worst. Just the way she responds to Hunter when he talks to her is just so freaking rude. Good on Hunter for not losing his mind on her because I would have. I have wanted Venus gone for a while but after the Tevin vote, it is clear Venus is this Season’s 3rd place 0 vote finalist. No one wants to work with her and she is so unlikable. Can’t get too mad at her though. She’s on the show and probably getting 3rd at worst and I just type about it so well played Venus (still don’t like you though). After all of that drama from the aftermath of the Q bomb, it was time for the Immunity challenge

Immunity Challenge

With nine players left in the game, the players had to be split up into teams of three for this challenge. It would be run in three phases, with a team being eliminated after each phase. The last phase would see those three players face off against each other for individual Immunity. The teams were: Hunter, Charlie and Maria. Kenzie, Tiffany, and Ben. Q, Venus and Liz. Prior to the challenge, Q tried to get Charlie and Maria to throw the challenge so they could all blind side Hunter (not me). Credit here to Charlie because he didn’t buy this for one second and chose to compete. Which paid off for him as Charlie beat Hunter (still not me) in the final showdown to win his first Immunity of the Season. We headed back to camp for more chaos before Tribal Council. 

Pre Tribal

When the tribe got back from the challenge, it was straight to game play. It started with Q trying to talk to Kenzie who didn’t buy his BS and just walked off. Good for Kenzie. Kenzie had another plan in mind that didn’t involve Q. She wanted to take out my girl Tiffany! Her plan was to use Hunter (not me), Charlie, Maria and Ben to blind side Tiffany because she had a Hidden Immunity Idol. This was a shocking plan but Kenzie said it best, “I love my Tiff but I have to get her before she gets me.” Kenzie is right and I said back in my second recap that these two would turn on each other at some point and that point was here in Episode 9. Everyone involved was on board and just to make sure Tiffany was feeling safe, Charlie went over to talk to Tiffany. It was in that conversation, that Tiffany revealed that she was playing her idol no matter what because Q spilled the beans to everyone about it last week. This made Kenzie’s group afraid of voting Tiffany so they and Tiffany pushed the vote to Hunter (not me). Hunter has been a threat all season (all Hunter’s are threats in Survivor). This was their one shot since he lost Immunity but no one knew Hunter (not me) had a Hidden Immunity Idol. It was set up to be a perfect Tribal for Hunter (still not me). Play his Idol, vote out whoever you want and have a resume boosting move in your back pocket. However, it wasn’t that simple. Hunter knew he would get votes but not be the only one getting votes. So he did the math and figured he had to tell someone to vote with him. He went to the one person no one was talking to… Q. To Q’s credit he didn’t freak out and tell everyone when Hunter (not me) told him about his idol. Hunter’s plan was to vote for Ben and hopefully his and Q’s two votes would be enough after he played his Idol. Sadly, this is where Hunter made the mistake that would cost him the game. Still overthinking and worried he and Q wouldn’t be enough, Hunter went and told Venus and Liz that he was playing his Idol… This threw the camp into a madhouse. Tiffany and Hunter were playing Idols and everyone else was panicking. The only safe option at that point was to vote Q but there were still people that wanted to vote Hunter. Mainly Tiffany who thought he was bluffing about his Idol. It led to Tribal with Hunter, Q, and Tiffany all on the chopping block and sadly we already know what happens. 

Tribal Council

I did spoil the ending in the opening paragraph but you may be wondering, why didn’t Hunter play his Idol? That is a question every fan of Survivor will ask every time they rewatch this episode. At Tribal Q and Tiffany went off at each other again and while this was happening, Hunter was thinking. He was literally whispering to everyone and asking, “Who are you voting for?” Of course everyone would tell him Q and not him because they all know he has an Idol… After the bickering between Q and everyone was done, it was time to vote. Confused in the chaos Hunter went up to the voting booth and voted for Q, believing what everyone had told him… When it came time to read the votes, Jeff asked his famous question, “If anyone has an Advantage or a Hidden Immunity Idol and you want to play it, now would be the time to do so.” This was Hunter’s moment… and he did nothing! He KEPT HIS IDOL IN HIS POCKET! Why Hunter Why? As soon as he didn’t play it I knew it was over. Shocking though the votes were split 4 and 4 on Hunter and Q with Q staying true to his word with Hunter and voting Ben. The 4 to 4 tie led to a revote and in the revote the tribe took out the biggest challenge threat in the game and Hunter (the one that didn’t play his Idol) was voted out and became the third member of the Jury. 

My Final Thoughts

This episode was fantastically frustrating. Myself and and fellow Press Box After Dark member Cameron texted out our thoughts to each other as soon as the episode was over and they were so good that I chose to share them here starting with mine first: 

Hunter is one of the best/most capable players in the New Era and maybe ever. He could win any challenge because he has built them by hand back home. (Unlike Carson who apparently stole his 3D puzzles from some guy we follow on twitter). He was playing under the radar but losing Tevin should have clued him in that he was next to go if he didn’t win immunity. I’ve always said that players in the New Era telling everyone they have an idol is the worst thing you can do. Maryanne got brownie points at the end of Season 42 for not playing her idol and keeping it a secret until the final tribal. Hunter did everything right until he talked to Venus and Liz, the two worst people to talk to, the two that led the Tevin vote… Even with that mistake he’s still fine if he plays it because he was capable of winning two or three immunity challenges in a row (like Mike in season 30). So many players in this era are worried about their resume and big moves. The biggest move you can make in my opinion is surviving to the next day! You can’t blind side anyone from the Jury. Hunter is now the third person to be voted out with an idol in their pocket in the last 2 seasons (Bruce and Jem were the other two). That also doesn’t account for Randen this season who was Medically evacuated with an idol in his pocket. Players are wasting idols on the “big move” . I understand that logic and if you can pull it off then that may win you the game… However if you have it and just play it, you’re safe and can try and regroup your numbers the next day. Anything can happen in this game. Going into the merge, who would have thought Venus would still be there now? No one! I do think Venus is getting carried to the end but she’s still alive and has a chance to win. All time blunder from Hunter who is better than that. It reminded me of the Ozzie blindside in Season 16 Micronesia Fans vs. Favorites, a great player that made one blunder that cost them the game. That's what makes Survivor so special and so difficult to win. I’ve always said that it’s the hardest competition reality show to win and I will never change that thought.

Now I would like to present to our loyal readers, a new segment called.. Cameron’s Corner:

Cameron’s Thoughts: Hunter was honestly one of the smartest players I’ve ever seen play the game and was also one of the most consistent challenge threats. Unfortunately he made an unreal blunder last night. He’s spent the vast majority of this season flying under the radar because he told absolutely no one about his idol and generally kept to himself. As the day went on and people stopped talking to him, he correctly assumed that all was not well and something was going on. He convinced himself that he didn’t feel comfortable about the vote and that he was going to play his idol. Theoretically he could’ve taken out whoever he wanted, because it seemed like everyone was voting for Hunter. And Hunter wanted to vote for Ben. But then he realized that Q wasn’t going to be in on the plan so he had to tell him what was going on… Fine. Q was at bedrock, and would’ve gone with anyone to save himself. The plan was fool proof. Everyone votes for you, you and Q vote for Ben, you play your idol (Tiff probably would’ve played hers too to be safe), and then Ben goes home. But then the terrible blunder happens. Immediately before heading to tribal you decide to tell half the tribe that you’re 100% playing your idol because you feel uneasy. Chaos ensues. Clearly the vote IS ON YOU. But now no one knows what to do. Fast forward to tribal, and it’s the airing of grievances as Frank Costanza would say. Everyone hates Q and Q hates everyone. Despite this, Hunter knows that people were conspiring to get him out. They say in Survivor, you can’t trust everyone, but you have to trust someone. The only person he could’ve trusted at that tribal was Q. Instead, he decided to seemingly ask every single other member of the tribe who they’re voting for to which everyone replied “Q.” Of course they would say that. But the reality for them was simple: we have the numbers easily; let’s just split it down the middle on Q and Hunter. If Hunter plays his idol, Q goes home, and if not, then there’s a chance either could go home. So after some more bickering (and popcorn for dinner), it was eventually time to vote (Big shoutout to the producers for not showing us any of the votes here. This vote was so crazy and I didn’t want to see any votes until the end). Jeff tallies the votes, asks if anyone would like to play an idol or advantage, and after all of that chaos, Hunter reaches for the idol in his pocket….. and leaves it there. ONIONS!!! Not quite. They split the vote perfectly over Hunter and Q 4-4 while Q, the most untrustworthy person on the beach apparently, was the only person to stick to the original plan and voted for Ben. But it meant nothing at this point. That majority had their pick of Q or Hunter in a revote and the choice was easy to get out the much bigger threat. Hunter, in one afternoon, went from in the know and trying to get out Tiffany, to on the chopping block, to working with Q to play an idol and blindside Ben, to making a terrible blunder by telling everyone about his idol and then trusting the wrong people. It’s unfortunate. I started this off by saying Hunter is one of the smartest and physically capable contestants we’ve seen in a while and was surely a favorite to win it all if he made the final 3. He was on the right track, but he blew up his game at the 11th hour and sometimes that’s all it takes for you to go home. That’s NOT how you do it on Survivor!

Good stuff from Cameron there and hopefully I can get him to share some more of his thoughts moving forward. We did message Hunter on Instagram this past weekend and sent our love/condolences for his game and he responded with a Heart emoji. Here’s to Hunter (the one on Season 46) hopefully you get a chance to redeem yourself in the future. Anyways, see you guys next week! Same Survivor time, Same Survivor blog!   

Episode 10 Run the Red Light 

Hello loyal fans and readers. Welcome back to Survivor After Dark and all I have to say after Episode 10 is ,”What the heck you Ho-Bags -Liz”. I should have known that we weren't going to get an easy vote but I believed it. Boy was I wrong. We got another great episode of Survivor 46. We got another blindside. We also got the winning move from who I believe will be the winner of Survivor 46… more on that later but it’s time for your SPOILER WARNING because we have an episode to recap so let’s go! 

Post Hunter Blindside 

Years from now, when people rewatch this season, Episode 10 will always be remembered for two players… Liz and Maria. This whole episode revolves around them in many different ways. However in the end, both of them leave their mark on Season 46 and Survivor as a whole in great ways. The episode started with Liz and how pissed she was about being left out of the Hunter vote. This has been a growing theme of this season. Liz is either not given credit for a move, or left out a move that she was used to make. The latter being the case here. During all of the chaos that ensued after Hunter told the tribe about his idol, the group that planned on calling his bluff had the votes they needed to split it. Liz wasn’t needed but they knew she was voting Q. Liz was also the only person to vote for Q in the revote. I’m guessing she did that as a middle finger to the group for leaving her out and I have to say I can’t blame her but also that could be a bad move going forward. Liz has had a problem with credit in the game. If she would have voted for Hunter in the revote, she could have played that off to the jury (if she reaches the final three) but she didn’t. I think Liz will be her own worst enemy in the endgame of this season and there is more evidence of that later in this episode. Shifting focus to the other star of this episode Maria. After Liz’s rant, Maria was shown going to talk to Q who was all by himself. Q has alienated himself thanks to his insane behavior these past two episodes but each week we have seen Maria consulting him. She has been keeping a close but distant relationship with Q because he’s a free vote. Maria knows she can use him and when the time is right she will call upon Q and he will answer. Why will he answer? Because he has nothing left. After talking to Q, Maria touches base with Kenzie to see if the blindside of Tiffany is still an option. Kenzie here was hesitant because with numbers dwindling, she thought it would be safe to keep Tiffany around for one more vote. Maria didn't like this response from Kenzie and she said the great line of “Sometimes you have to run the red light.” What an iconic line from Maria. Survivor is about taking risks and knowing when to do so. Kenzie was early last week on the Tiffany blindside and on the fence this week, but it was clear early in this episode that if the chance was there, Maria was going to gas it. Before she could do that though, there was a reward and immunity challenge we had to get through so let’s talk about everyone’s favorite sit down chain restaurant… Applebee’s 

Reward and Immunity Challenge

The challenges this week were split into two, starting with reward. The reward was Applebee’s! That’s right, Applebee’s. I’m  not gonna lie, I freaking love Applebee’s so there will be no Applebee’s hate on this blog. The challenge was a physical one and from the moment Jeff said Applebee’s, Liz was in a mood. She told everyone that Applebee’s was her Wednesday night tradition with her daughter. She is also allergic to EVERYTHING and hasn’t eaten since the merge. This is her favorite restaurant so she was begging for a win or someone to take her. She would have to hope someone would be kind enough to take her to her favorite restaurant… Unfortunately this is a game for a million dollars and an all time villain move happened when Q won the challenge and took Maria, Tiffany and Kenzie instead of Liz. I have to say, this was Survivor at its best! What a dastardly move by Q and the ensuing MELTDOWN from Liz was gold! She was pissed and rightfully so. It was a meal that she has with her daughter and as a parent myself I feel for her… however I also see Q’s side. He has no alliance and maybe taking his old Yanu friends and Maria could buy him another day in the game. If you missed this meltdown and reaction to it, please go check it out. I have watched it multiple times and will watch it again before episode 11. It will go down in Survivor lore forever and is a must see moment from a season that has given us a few. 

After the meltdown over Applebee’s was over, we shifted to Immunity the next day. The goal for everyone leading into this was simple. Don’t let Q win. Everyone was fine with him going home and the Immunity necklace was the only thing that could save him. Only thing stopping Q from winning was… Charlie. The challenge was a Survivor classic. The contestants had to hold a bucket of sand with 25% of their pregame body weight using their forearms. Charlie is a super fan like myself and realized that grip strength was one of the most important things to prepare for when going on the show. That improvement of his grip strength was key as Charlie beat out Q and Tiffany in the end to win his second individual Immunity of the season. Q didn’t win so it seemed like a simple vote but since the merge, nothing has been simple this season. 

Pre Tribal 

After the Immunity Challenge, it was clear that Kenzie and Tiffany just wanted to finally send Q home. Everyone seemed to be on board with this. He pissed off everyone and Liz was close to murdering him over Applebee’s so it made sense… but there was one person that still had other plans. Maria tried to get Kenzie on board again for a Tiffany blindside but she didn’t want to play ball, so Maria thought she could do it without her. Maria gathered Charlie and Ben to start working on numbers. She was able to ring in Q because he knew it was him or Tiffany. They only needed one more vote but… that vote had to come from Liz or Venus who was in this episode but barely (I had to watch it twice to make sure). Charlie thought the group should trust Liz but Maria thought there was no way Liz would vote Tiffany here. Not after Q cost her Applebee’s! Charlie went to work and we headed to tribal with Q and Tiffany on the chopping block, and all of the power was in the hands of Liz. 

Tribal Council and Final Thoughts 

At Tribal Council it was a tale of two stories. Tiffany who had an Idol in her pocket and Q trying to find a way to stay in the game. Liz was the focus because on one hand she sides with Tiffany and everyone else and the man that ruined her day is gone for good… On the other hand she can put aside her differences with Q and be a part of another blindside that will send a power player home with an Idol in her pocket. This was a great Tribal and I was on the edge of my seat when Jeff brought the votes back and asked,“If anyone has an Advantage or a Hidden Immunity Idol and you want to play it, now would be the time to do so.” Tiffany didn’t even flinch! SHE JUST SAT THERE AND DID NOTHING!!! Girl what are you doing? Jeff read the votes and I’ll be damned, Liz did the thing and sent Tiffany home! That was back to back blindsides on players who had Idols! First off, what a move by Maria and Charlie. Maria gets more credit from me but Charlie did a lot of work as well. I called those two being a power duo early and they have pulled it off flawlessly. I do think at this point the two most likely winners are Charlie or  Maria. They have been on the right side of the vote all post merge and they have picked apart Q’s Six Person Alliance. I knew the moment Tim pulled in Maria for that alliance that they were cooked because she was going to use Charlie and the outsiders to bust up Q’s numbers. Q didn’t help himself but Maria has played a great game so far and at this point, she is my winner pick. As for Liz, this is a move that can hold weight for her down the stretch, if she can get both Charlie and Maria out before the final four. She can do it but it will take Ben backstabbing his original Siga members or working more with Q which would be hilarious! Overall Liz is a dark horse because of this vote. As for Tiffany… my girl, why didn’t you play that Idol? That is the fourth idol to not be played this season and Tiffany is the fourth person voted out with an idol in the past two seasons… I already touched on my thoughts about this last week but even Tiffany said it in her post game speech, “I broke my own rule and didn’t play this Idol”. Yes you did Tiffany… I just don’t get it. If people know you have an Idol, just play it because you are getting votes. The Idol is an X and if you have one, you’re on the spot. You have to do something with it. Now in Hunter’s case, he did a good job of not telling anyone, but did and didn’t play it. Maybe it is “old school” of me (fan since I was five) but you can’t make flashy idol moves from the jury. The goal is to do that of course but at the end of the day, you have to get to the next tribal council. The Idol goes back in play. That means you can find it again or have someone else get a target on their back. Mind blowing stuff but what a season this has been! We have three episodes left and I would not be shocked if we see another blindside this week! Hope everyone who has read all of our recaps so far have enjoyed them!  We’ll see you guys next week! Same Survivor time, Same Survivor blog!   

Episode 11: My Messy Sweet Little Friend 

Hello loyal fans and readers. Welcome back to Survivor After Dark… ok SPOILER WARNING!!! WTF is wrong with players this season? For the first time in Survivor history, four players have been voted out with an idol in their pocket!!! How does this keep happening??? Have they learned nothing? I mean this is just insanity and we still have 2 episodes to go in Season 46… You may be wondering who got voted out with an idol this week? Well let’s get into this messy episode and see how we witnessed Survivor History last Wednesday. 

Post Tiffany Blindside 

We started this episode with something we haven’t seen since the Yanu days, Kenzie crying. She was blindsided along with Tiffany last week but at least she didn’t have an idol and is still in the game. I still loved Kenzie here. You can see she’s not in a good spot but not going to give up. On the flip side, Maria has gone full Heel (Where my wrestling fans at?) She’s got an evil laugh, she took joy in the blindside and wants to do it again. To be far I would take joy as well but idk how much. Maria is just basking in the glory of this move and is making herself Public Enemy #1. What a wild turn for her too. She went from being the Mom of Siga, to the under the radar leader of Siga with Charlie, to breaking up Q’s six person alliance, to finally being the villain by working with Q to take control. I respect the gameplay but her attitude here and throughout this episode just didn’t sit well with anyone. The Theme Song played and the hunt for Tiffany’s idol was on. 

The Idol Hunt 

Honestly at this point why would anyone want an Idol this season but alas the whole tribe went out to find an idol. In theory an Idol this late in the game would be huge if played properly (or played at all). After cuts to everyone looking, and Liz sleeping, we cut to… Venus! She remembers where Randen (Y’all remember him?) found his Idol and used that clue to find herself an Idol. For a second I thought she was going to make me eat crow for all the bad mouthing I’ve done to her all season but then it happened… Venus looked at the camera and said the cursed words for Season 46, “The worst thing you can do is go home with an Idol in your pocket…” I should have known she was done for then but there was still an immunity challenge to run so I was in a wait and see mode. 

Immunity Challenge 

This Immunity challenge had a lot at stake. Q is still hated by everyone. Maria was rubbing everyone the wrong way. Venus was being Venus. Kenzie is all alone with no true alliance. Every Immunity is big but this one felt bigger than the rest so far. The challenge was an obstacle course with a ball maze at the end. Can I just say, I love a good Survivor ball maze… anyway, all Several of the remaining players made it to the maze and had a legit chance to win but it came down to two… Maria and Venus. After Maria dropped her ball, Venus had an easy path to victory but then she dropped and Maria was able to comeback and win Individual Immunity for the second time this season. That wasn’t all she won however, she also got a reward and proceeded to make one of the worst moves in New Era Survivor history. 

Maria’s Reward Blunder 

Maria won a pizza reward and got to choose 2 players to come with her. Before she made a choice, she said she was basing everything off who needed to eat the most. Using that logic the two should have been Ben (who hasn’t won a reward) and Liz (who is allergic to everything and had a meltdown over Applebee’s) Maria chose Ben but then hesitated on her second choice… and then she took FOREVER!!! She took so long making the second choice, that Jeff made a comment on it. Charlie and Kenzie took themselves out of the discussion and still Maria didn’t just choose Liz! Venus was out so it was Q or Liz… and then it happened… Maria made them play Rock Paper Scissors for the spot and of course Q won… Liz gets shafted and Maria looks like the biggest loser at the end of all of this! Then to rub salt on the wound, Q claimed to eat 23 slices of Pizza… Liz hasn’t been my favorite player this Season but this was some BS…. Bad look for all of our Maria fans. 

Pre Tribal and Tribal Council 

Before Tribal, it was made clear by the “Pizza Losers” that if they couldn’t get Maria, then they were gonna finally get Q. Kenzie, Liz, Venus and Charlie knew Maria had to go but couldn’t because of Immunity, so Q was the next best option. However, Charlie was still close with Maria and Ben and they pitched a plan for Venus. Charlie had all the power and it looked like he was leaning towards the “Pizza Losers” but then Venus happened. After going all episode keeping her mouth shut about her Idol, Venus opened her mouth to Charlie and hinted that she had one… STUPID… That was enough to put Venus right in the crossfire heading into Tribal. 

At Tribal, Jeff brought licorice to snack on because he knew cinema was about to happen. This Tribal was ruthless. Venus, Q, Liz and Maria didn’t hold back on their opinions on Maria’s pizza decision. After the war of words that made Maria look bad, it was time to vote. After the vote Jeff asked his famous question “If anyone has an Advantage or a Hidden Immunity Idol and you want to play it, now would be the time to do so.” Somehow for the third week in a row and the fourth time this season, the Idol was left in someone’s pocket and that someone (Venus) was blindsided… Truly an unbelievable string of Tribals this season… here are our final thoughts after Episode 11

My Final Thoughts: 

I have seen every season of this fantastic show and I can honestly say I have never seen anything like the last 3 episodes of Season 46. 

We have had not 1, not 2, not 3, but 4 people voted out with idols in their pockets…. That’s just absurd! 5 idols have left the game plus and Extra Vote… that’s 6 advantages that weren’t used… I don’t even know the odds of that happening but here we are. 

I’ve touched on the bad moves by Hunter and Tiffany already and thought to myself, “There’s no way someone makes that mistake again right?” Welp Venus said hold my beer. I have been very critical of Venus all season. From her attitude, her tone of voice, her cluelessness, and her false belief of moves she’s made. I did give her credit for getting cast because I never have (2 time applicant) but this move is the worst of the 3 that didn’t play their idols… When you’ve seen back to back players not play their idols, WHY THE FUCK WOULD YOU NOT PLAY YOURS? She even said “I’m not going home with this idol” two times before the vote…. I’m almost convinced that the producers are telling these players not to play the idols because this is just mind blowing… I’m out of words. 

Maria went from conquering hero mother last week to absolute evil stepmother this week. That Rock Paper Scissors move to pick reward was one of the wildest things I’ve ever seen. Maria if you’re gonna be a villain… own that shit! It’s still her game to lose but Charlie and Kenzie have an outside chance. If I know this game like I think I do, Liz and Q are gonna make it to the end and that argument at Final Tribal is gonna be hilarious! This Season has made no sense but yet it has a case as the best of the New Era if it sticks the landing. 

And now to close us out, back by popular demand… Cameron’s Corner 

Cameron’s Thoughts: 

I have invested a lot of time watching this season, and it’s becoming more and more evident that the best investment this season is “Invesco Q”. There may be dips on that chart, but it always rebounds. Give me all the $Q stock I can buy. 

Now, I’d like to call myself a big Survivor fan. I wouldn’t put myself in the super fan category but I’ve watched every season and it’s a staple in my family and close circles. That being said, have we ever seen not one, not two, but THREE (3) people voted out in a row all with idols in their pockets? I tell you, you gotta feel bad for those producers forced to go out every night and re-hide an idol just for someone to find it and then immediately get voted out. But back to the real reason of this… is Venus one of the dumbest players (minus Jelinsky and our sweet prince Bhanu) this season? Maybe it’s easy to say this from the comfort of my overpriced couch, but was Venus present for the past two tribals? First, Hunter gets sent home with an idol in his pocket, and then Tiffany falls victim to the same fate the very next week. On top of this, Venus, you were completely left out of the Tiffany vote and had no one to trust. What made you think that after trying over and over again to get Q out of the game, that it was just going to be easier this time? 

They say in Survivor that “you can’t trust anyone, but you have to trust someone.” And for this reason, I typically cut people some slack when they get voted out with an idol, advantage, etc., but my goodness Venus read the room. For the past 3 days, it feels like everyone has been “trying to get out Q” and it just isn’t that easy. Jeff put it best in last week’s episode: At what point does Q flip from being a jerk you have to vote out, to someone you want to take to the end of the game because you know he won’t win? We have clearly arrived at this point of the game with 6 people now left in the game. If you’re one of the other 5, you have to be thinking of taking Q to the end with you, right? People hate him so much that he has no shot of getting votes and you have to see that. Kenzie and Venus talked so much about “we need to make the big move and vote out Q.” I’m sorry, but how would that be a big move? On paper, it’s the easiest move in the entire game and does nothing for me if I’m on the jury. 

The crazy part of this entire debacle is how honest Q has been. He truly doesn’t care what you think, and it’s clear that he isn’t even playing that hard in terms of his social game. Unless the producers aren’t showing us anything, he’s absolutely telling us the truth in that he offers a name and people either go with it or not. That’s now two weeks in a row that you could technically say that Q has controlled the vote, even though he literally just offers up a name and then it gets spread around.

We’re shaping up for a very lively end to this season. I think you have 3 of 6 with a legitimate shot to win (Kenzie, Maria, and Charlie, plus maybe Ben if something crazy happens), plus two of the most polarizing contestants (Q and Liz) that we’ve seen in a very long time. 

HOLD. ON. TO. YOUR. BUTTS. 

Hold onto your butts indeed! We’ll see you back next week for the penultimate recap for Season 46 and we will try and get the Finale recap post the day after next week! Until then, we’ll see you guys next week! Same Survivor time, Same Survivor blog!

Written by Hunter The Commish and Headband Cam

Episode 12: Mamma Bear 

Hello loyal fans and readers. Welcome back to Survivor After Dark… First off SPOILER WARNING!!! Ok now stop me if you’re heard this before. In Season 46 someone got voted out with an idol in their pocket… IT HAPPENED AGAIN!!! Honestly I just have now words at this point… this Season set the record for most boots with an idol in their pockets last week but did it one more time for good measure. Let’s break down the penultimate episode of Season 46, one of the weirdest seasons of Survivor ever. 

Post Venus Blindside 

When the final six got back to camp, there were two major things that happened. 1. Ben told everyone that his stray vote for Kenzie at Tribal was a total mistake. Ben legitimately forgot that he was supposed to vote for Venus and just picked Kenzie… Ben has totally checked out of this game and I’ve made 2 wrong predictions on the 3rd place zero vote finalist so I’ll save that here but Ben has less than a 5% chance to win. Still love Ben though and appreciate his love for us on Twitter. The second major thing that happened was Maria breaking down in tears after Venus pointed out her awful gameplay/behavior at last week’s reward. Maybe I’m being harsh here but Venus was right. You can’t force starving people to play Rock Paper Scissors for pizza and not own that. Maria laughed after the Tiffany blindside and enjoyed it. You can’t dish it out and not be able to take it when others challenge you. It’s a game, people aren’t going to just roll over and bow down to you. Maria’s character turn has not been a good one from a likability standpoint. She’s been good with gameplay but has gone from lovable mother character to evil stepmother. I said that last week and it just got worse here when she tried to play the victim card. Again I may be harsh but Maria needs to own her game and be strong down the stretch if she wants to win this game. 

Reward Challenge 

 The reward challenge ended in another ball maze and like I said last week, I love a good ball maze. Charlie won reward here and won Chinese Takeout plus letters from home… This is always the hardest choice for anyone because everyone wants a letter from home. Charlie handled this like a champ and picked Kenzie and Liz. That was the smart choice as Liz hasn’t eaten since the merge feast and Kenzie apparently was supposed to get married on that day but moved it to be on the show… well done Charlie. Plus it helped that he and Maria told each other early in the game to not take the other on a reward to keep their relationship on the down low. Good look here for all and it’s always good to see letters from home. 

Post Reward Camp Life 

 Normally I would just go straight into the Immunity Challenge but we have to talk about the kiss of death, aka, the hidden immunity idol… This week’s victim was none other than the agent of Chaos this season… Q. Yes the CEO of Q-Skirt industries found an idol and as soon as he did I just knew that was the end of his game. There was still an immunity challenge to run and Q said he would use it on himself or Maria  if needed but I knew that was all talk…. 

Immunity Challenge 

At the Immunity Challenge, the contestants had to swim through a water obstacle course and then complete a 3D puzzle. Can I say, I would fail miserably at this because I suck at puzzles. Luckily for Maria she doesn’t suck at puzzles and crushed that challenge to win her third immunity of the season. Big win for Maria here and the time had come for Maria and Charlie to go after each other. 

Pre Tribal and Tribal Council

As fans of this show, we love to pick out the editing of the show to see if we can see who the winner is early. Or point out mistakes if someone is under edited but I have to say this scene between Maria and Charlie was Survivor Gold. It was a back and forth confessional with each of them breaking down the chance they have to vote out the other. Back and forth editing, pros and cons, two good Survivor players just doing what fans love… playing the game. If you didn’t see this, it is a must watch before the finale. If you did watch, then it is a must rewatch before the finale. Kenzie Liz and Ben were all in the middle as Maria and Q squared off against Charlie. At Tribal two things were going to happen… 1. Charlie was going to win the battle and take out Q or 2. Q was finally gonna play an idol this season and give Maria the edge in this war… and since this is Season 46 you know what happened. The editors again knocked this out of the park by showing every vote before Jeff asked his famous question “If anyone has an Advantage or a Hidden Immunity Idol and you want to play it, now would be the time to do so.” After what felt like the longest pause of the whole season, Q sat there and DID NOTHING! Fourth player in a row to be voted out with an idol and fifth person overall this season! Great stuff here but poor gameplay by Q. 

Final Thoughts and Winner Prediction 

I hate that Q was the next victim in the hidden immunity idol curse. Q was an agent of chaos and did a lot of dumb stuff gameplay wise but he was so fun to watch. Q is what we have been missing in this New Era… an old school Villain! He jumped off the screen and each week did something that made you hate him but also made you laugh. The man that claimed to eat 23 slices of Pizza on reward is gone but will never be forgotten! Really hope Q comes back for Survivor 50! Would love to see him in an Old Era vs New Era game! Now onto the finale and the 5 players left. Maria, Charlie, Kenzie, Liz and Ben. Liz and Ben are filler at this point and I don’t think they have much of a chance. I really think this is a three horse race. Charlie is the frontrunner to me because of Maria’s sour presentation since the Tiffany boot. He needs to get Maria out at 5 if he wants to win but this New Era is odd… you never really know who’s got the Jury’s vote. If Maria gets to the final tribal she will be tough to beat even though she has rubbed people the wrong way… but there is someone that has been on everyone’s good side all season. That is why officially we here at Press Box After Dark are picking Kenzie as the winner of Season 46!!! Honestly Charlie, Maria, or Kenzie would be great but Kenzie is the dark horse of the three that can win and that’s why we are backing her. Because the New Era has thrown us curve balls before and we are banking on that happening again! We hope everyone enjoys the Finale spoiler free! Check back with us Thursday or Friday for our final entry in the Season 46 blog! Until next time, Same Survivor time, Same Survivor blog!

Episode 13 Finale Recap

Hello loyal fans and readers. Welcome back to Survivor After Dark for one last time in Season 46… We have made it to the best/worst time of the year for Survivor fans, The Finale. We have added a new winner to the Survivor mythos and overall Season 46 will be a very memorable one in our books. So who won? Well I won’t spoil it quite so early this week but this is your last SPOILER WARNING for the Season 46 Finale!!! 

Are you ready??? The winner of Survivor Season 46 was none other than… Jelinsky!!! Out of nowhere he came back from the secret Edge of Extinction to shock the world and win Season Forty-Several minus one….. 

Ok bad winner joke is out of the way, let’s break down what really happened in the Season 46 Finale. 

Post Q Blindside 

The Final 5 were set after the blindside of one of the most chaotic players in the history of the show Q. It was Charlie, Kenzie, Ben, Liz and Maria. Maria was blindsided at the last Tribal as she thought Q and her had won the war against Charlie and voted him out…. But they were incorrect as Kenzie, Liz, and Ben sided with Charlie to finally oust Q. Maria went to Charlie immediately on the beach and it was clear she had to win out in Immunity Challenges if she wanted to win the game. However Maria tried to spin one this and put a target on Ben of all people. She used the stray Kenzie vote from the final Several as a strategic play from Ben and that he was a real threat to win the game. No offense to Ben but that was not strategic and was clearly a last ditch effort from Maria to save her game and relationship with Charlie. He didn’t buy it and it was clear it was Maria against the field at the Final Five Immunity challenge. 

Final Five Immunity Challenge

As a fan I love the big final challenges that are big obstacles that lead to a puzzle. They are always epic and we had two great challenges in this episode. First at the Final Five, a long obstacle course led up to a ladder with a puzzle up top. It was coming down to the wire as Kenzie and Maria were neck and neck. Kenzie finished her puzzle first but in a new twist, the challenge wasn’t over. The puzzle revealed three clues to numbers that the players had to count to solve a combination lock. The first two numbers were on the puzzle itself. The last number was the holes in a plank that they untied from knots earlier in the challenge. Meaning they had to go back through the obstacles to get the plank. While Kenzie was finishing her puzzle Liz stopped working on her own puzzle and started counting puzzle pieces. Kenzie was confused then realized that Liz was helping her beat Maria. Out of nowhere, Liz ran back through the challenge to get the plank Kenzie needed for the final number without her asking. Liz came back and counted the holes in the plank for Kenzie and the team up was successful as Kenzie had won Immunity and ended Maria’s chance at safety. 

Now I saw a lot of people arguing on Twitter both for and against this team up. There have been instances of both team ups in the past and rules against team ups in the past. An example of the rules against surfaced from Season 23 South Pacific where Jeff clearly stated that you could not help. However there have also been multiple instances of players helping each other in individual challenges but never to this extent. To me I’m fine with Liz’s move here. It is the game within the game. The other four knew Maria was going to win if she made it to the Final Three. They had to take her out and this was Liz’s way of making a big move and it worked. It wasn’t fair to Maria but that is the nature of Survivor. It is the hardest reality competition show to win and you have to get very lucky throughout and Maria was just unlucky here.  I also saw some people rage quit watching the show… that’s a little much. It was one challenge and you can point out a lot of things in every season of Survivor that if it changes we have a different outcome. Maria could have had Q play his Idol last week and then Charlie goes home and Q could have helped her. You can break down everything in the show and if one little detail changes, the whole outcome could change. It wasn’t that bad and honestly was Liz’s best move of the season so if you hated this, get off your high horse. 

Final Five Tribal Council 

Prior to Tribal there wasn’t much to touch on. It was clear to everyone that Maria was going home here. She tried a little bit to pitch Ben again but if Liz’s team up move wasn’t clear enough then I don’t know what show you were watching. At Tribal it was a New Era staple where the whole Tribal was almost a Hall of Fame ceremony for the person being voted out. This happened to Ricard in Season 41. It happens to the player that was everyone’s front runner that loses at the Final Five. Maria played an excellent game. The ark from hero mother to evil stepmother was a fall from grace but the gameplay was always good. It did take Kenzie and Liz teaming up to beat her so that was impressive. I do believe if she made it to the Final Three that she had a very good chance to win but sadly for all the Maria fans, we will never know as she was voted out 4 to 1 here and was the seventh member of the Jury. The Final Four was set and we went on to the final Immunity Challenge of the season. 

Final Four Immunity Challenge 

After the Maria vote out we got a Final Four morning moment for Kenzie, Charlie, Liz and Ben. After this moment it was time for the biggest challenge of the season, the Final Four Immunity Challenge. This challenge was EPIC! The players had to solve a simple Survivor 3D Logo puzzle… the catch? There was a giant plinko board behind each puzzle station. The players had to throw a ball up to the top of the plinko board, once they threw the ball, they could work on their puzzle. However they had to pay attention to the ball because if it fell to the bottom, they had to wait a LONG time for the ball to roll through a series of slow ramps. So they needed to work fast on the puzzle and not let the ball fall. Going into this challenge Kenzie and Charlie looked to be the favorites but in a shocking twist, Ben crushed this challenge, never letting his ball fall to the bottom and won his first Individual Immunity of the season booking his trip to the Final Tribal Council. This was an unreal moment and Ben summed it up so well after the challenge. Jeff asked Ben where that performance came from since Ben was struggling with sleep and panic attacks all season. Ben answered, “He didn’t really know but when he saw the giant plinko board, the kid inside of him came out and he just had fun with it.” What an awesome moment for one of the most lovable characters in the history of the show. However the fun times ended quickly for Ben, as he had a big decision to make. Two people were making fire and one person was safe. 

Pre Final Four Tribal 

As the Final Four got back to camp, there were four knives and four things of flint. It was time to practice fire and time for Ben to make a decision. Before that though, he took a moment to soak up the win. It was a cool moment for Ben and probably what I will remember him most for. After Ben had his moment, he talked to Liz. Ben saw Liz as a jury threat because she had four former Nami members on the jury (Soda, Hunter, Tevin and Venus). Ben also stated to her that he felt that Liz was playing a good under the radar game and could sway the jury…. I bought the former Nami threat but the good game? I’m not sure. Liz had two moves this season to me, 1. The Tevin blindside and 2. Teaming up to help Kenzie win Immunity at the Final Five. That’s not enough to win the game. Ben was in a tough spot because he played a great game from a likability standpoint but really had the overall weakest game of the Final Four. However Ben wanted Liz out here so she was a lock for fire. Also I want to note that this is where Liz told the viewers that she has a weird condition in which her ligaments in her wrist are too big for her body and her wrist pops every time she moves them…. How this woman got medically cleared to be on this show, I’ll never know. So one decision was down but the hardest decision was left for Ben… Kenzie or Charlie. Charlie was Ben’s day one best friend and was crushing the fire making practice. Ben didn’t want to put Charlie in fire but saw how good he was doing at practice and thought maybe that was the move. Then there was Kenzie who was nicknamed the Fire Sprite by her fellow cast members because of her skills making fire… but the pressure was getting to her. She didn’t make a single fire on camera prior to Tribal and Ben was worried if he put her in then Liz could find a way past her. Kenzie was struggling here and the background music of flint clinging to the beat was so epic! The stage was building and it was the biggest moment of the season as we head to the Final Four Tribal Council

Final Four Tribal Council 

The jury was shocked to see Ben walk into Tribal with the Immunity necklace on and it seemed like they knew this was going to be good Survivor Theater. The challenge was touched on and how important little things are in this game. Kenzie made one mistake in the challenge and that was the difference in her safety and her potentially going home. Again that’s why I love this game so much. Everything matters! After the challenge was touched on, it was time for Ben to make his choice. Liz was in for sure and she would be facing… Kenzie. Ben took Charlie because of their day one relationship and that is what Charlie wanted. He didn’t want to risk fire and I totally agree with him on that. The stage was set, Liz vs. Kenzie. In what took longer than the edit (according to post game interviews) Kenzie struggled but gathered herself to spark a flame and beat Liz in fire to make the Final Three and send Liz to be the last member of the Jury. Both were in tears. Kenzie with happy tears and Liz with tears of disappointment. Liz in her final moments stated that she would have wiped the floor with all of them at Final Tribal… and ah… yeah that was a wild statement to make. Most of the jury laughed at her (I did too) but you have to admire her confidence. Liz was a funny character to watch. She was allergic to damn near everything on the island (Coconut, most fruits, pasta) she had big ligaments in her wrist, she was denied Applebee’s (her favorite restaurant) and never won an individual challenge but helped Kenzie win one. She claimed to be a millionaire that didn’t want the money but just the title of Sole Survivor. Then in a post game tweet said she wasn’t a millionaire and a single mother supporting three households and that was her bombshell she was saving for Final Tribal… Look Liz was entertaining. Also an enigma because I can’t believe if she’s real or an actor but she screams returning player just  because of her unfiltered attitude. For the record, I think she had no shot at winning but we’ll never know… she’s a better player than me because I’ve never been cast so you have to give her credit on a fourth place finish… and with that, the Final Three of Season 46 was set. 

Final Tribal Council and Send Off 

I have rewatched Final Tribal Council once and I will try and sum things up the best I can, but I encourage everyone to watch Final Tribal Council more than once. First I will say I miss the old Final Tribal Council format where each Jury member got to ask one question. The open form doesn’t let everyone shine and leaves some meat on the bone. Two jurors didn’t even ask a question (Liz and Maria). This is my least favorite part of the game and I wish they would go back to the old format. 

I think the best way to attack this is to break down each player's answers about their game and then highlight what stood out from the jury. First Charlie,

Charlie played a very good strategic game with his closest ally Maria. He was with her every step of the way but did a good job making connections with everyone post merge and made it a point to never close a door on a relationship. He always left the door open and that paid off for him with his big moves being using Tevin to get information about Nami and finding out he had all the power on that tribe, and using the foursome of himself, Ben, Kenzie and Liz to take out Maria’s new number one Q and avoid Maria taking him out at the Final Six. His weakness was differentiating his game with Maria’s game but I felt like he was able to do that. Maria did help Charlie a lot but Charlie was with her side by side. She didn’t lead him and he won the war against her and took her out at the Final Five. Charlie played an excellent game and I thought he performed well here. 

From as early as episode two, I knew Kenzie was a player to watch as far as winners go. The resident crybaby on this season Bhanu (remember him) said it best when he called her a Mermaid Dragon back in episode four. I oddly enough think that describes her game to a tee. On the surface she was everyone’s bestie. There when you need to cry, need to gossip, need to laugh. Kenzie was just there for everyone. Tiffany was her main ally and she did try and get her out but chose not to and I thought that may be the downfall of her game but she was able to use that social connections to regroup and build a strong four person alliance in the end with Charlie, Ben, and Liz after Tiffany was blindsided at the Final Eight. Kenzie didn’t drive votes and never was in charge but she controlled what she needed to with Tiffany and Q until Q pissed everyone off. She also came from the bottom starting on Yanu who set the record for the longest time without flint in the history of the game at 11 days. So the fact that she finished her journey by winning at fire was a full circle moment. She was just a lovable character and she knew it. She was herself and that was the best part of her lovable game. 

Ben was the odd man out in this Final Three but did a good job explaining the game he played at Final Tribal Council. Ben was in a majority alliance all premerge and connected well with Maria and Charlie. At the merge he took a back seat on strategy and played a chill and vibes game. Connecting with people through his laidback rocker attitude was his game. He was also very emotional. Struggling with night terrors and panic attacks for most of the season. He barely slept but still was likable and proved everyone wrong by winning Immunity at the Final Four (his biggest move of the game). He didn’t make a big strategic move all season but he was just so fun to watch and even though he was in the background for most of the merge, this strong final episode made him a player to remember for quite some time. 

The final piece of this Tribal was the jury. I thought the jury was given too much time to shine. The Final Three got their points in but I think the jury talked more and that’s never good because it’s not about the jury. Tiffany and Q argued like the old Yanu days for a bit . Tevin got his moment to shine. Venus asked a question that just sounded like the producers were in her ear. Soda (Coca Cola) had Tiffany be a strict 30 second timer on her question which was rude because the Final Three all got cut off early. This jury seemed petty and I do hate that. I understand it sucks to lose but don’t hold a grudge when it comes to your vote. Vote for whoever played the best game and put your differences aside… 

After all of the back and forth it was finally time to put a bow on Season 46 and cast the votes for the winner. 8 votes, 3 players, 1 winner…. And with a final vote of 5 to 3 to 0… Kenzie was your winner of Survivor Season 46!!! She is the sixth New Era winner and the fourth female winner in the New Era joining Erika (Season 41), Maryanne (Season 42), and Dee (Season 45). Kenzie is also the second 5-3 winner of the New Era joining Dee (Season 45). Charlie was the unfortunate second place winner and Ben was our resident 0 vote finalist . 

The jury votes broke down as follows: 

Hunter, Liz, and Soda voted for Charlie. Q, Tiffany, Venus, Tevin and Maria voted for Kenzie…. That’s right Maria voted for Kenzie. Charlie’s number one ally all game didn’t vote for him to win and ended up costing him a million dollars. In post game interviews Ben has stated that if it was a 4-4 tie, he would have voted for Charlie in the tiebreaker. Maria’s sole vote was the difference… but why? In the “reunion” recap after the votes, Maria stated that she switched her vote to Kenzie after the “fire in her eyes” during the fire making challenge…. Umm what? In post game interviews players have stated that the fire making challenge took way longer than the edit and Charlie stated that he thought they were going to go to matches… that’s not good. Kenzie did gather herself and get the job done but it wasn’t this empowering moment that Maria is claiming it was. It was your normal Fire Challenge… Maria also promised her vote to Charlie if he made it to the Final Three and she backstabbed him… Charlie handled himself like a professional in the after show but you could tell that he didn’t need to be in that moment. He needed a moment to take in the loss and the betrayal of Maria… that had to hurt and I feel for Charlie. I feel as if Maria’s vote was pure pettiness for losing the war to Charlie. He beat her to the punch and took her out and she couldn’t handle it. She was a sore loser and the true villain of Season 46. I do still have to hype up my girl Kenzie who I predicted to win and she deserved it. There were two deserving winners, one got the glory and the other got shafted. That’s the mark of a great Survivor season. That’s what Season 46 will go down as, a great season. Probably top 20 all time and I think the best one of the New Era so far. From Jelinsky, to Bhanu, to Yanu losing, to the 5 people voted out with idols, to Liz yelling about Applebee’s, to the downfall of Maria, to Ben’s emotional win at the Final Four, to ultimately Kenzie winning… this Season had it all! For another perspective on the Finale  before we wrap this recap up, here is Cameron’s thought with one last Cameron’s Corner for Season 46:

Cameron’s Corner

What a finale to our 46th season of Survivor. Lots of twists and turns and drama leading up to our newest member of the winners club for this show we all call our favorite. I’ll start by saying I think this has been the best season since 40. In the new era (41-present), we have had a lot of solid players, but I think this season’s casting provided us with such a wide range of personalities and attitudes, to the point where I think I said for the first time in this new era “I need to see some of these contestants play again.” Now pre-merge, I was scared that this might be one of the worst seasons in the new era just strictly based on how poorly the tribes were balanced. While we didn’t see any quits (looking at you season 45), the original Yanu is one of the worst tribes I’ve ever seen. Jelinsky is one of the dumbest players we’ve seen, Jess wasn’t really doing anything, and Bhanu had no business being on the island. From there, I was genuinely worried because Q, Tiff, and Kenzie were three of my favorite players and didn’t want to see strong players go home. Thankfully they were able to regroup and finally win to stay alive and eventually made the merge. I was also scared at this point because I thought the Yanu 3 would simply get picked off one by one, but the complete opposite happened. The former Siga and Nami tribes went at each other’s throats, attempting to pull in the Yanu 3 for each vote. This allowed the Yanu three to skate by for 4 straight merge votes while not having the numbers. Truly incredible gameplay by those three. But it’s about this point where Q has his meltdown, pushes away Tiff and Kenzie, and it leads us directly into one of the most interesting finishes to a survivor season ever. After Q goes completely rogue, it was simply assumed that Q would be next on the chopping block due to his erratic behavior. However, others saw this as an opportunity to make big moves, and for three straight weeks we saw each contestant go home with an idol in their pocket because they were tricked into thinking Q was going home. What’s that saying about fool me once, that George W Bush can’t get out? Yeah that’s exactly what happened here. Hunter gets voted out after telling everyone on the entire tribe that he was going to play his idol. Next, the blindside of Tiffany was a solid play orchestrated by Maria, yet Tiffany should’ve had a better pulse on the game after the major blindside of Hunter. That should’ve been your wake up call that everyone is playing this game. She was blinded by wanting Q out and it burned her. After this, we see Venus go home with an idol. Say what you want about Q but his explanation of his gameplay after his meltdown is 100% the truth. He goes out to try and win immunity. If he doesn’t, he proposes a name back at camp, and if it happens then he lives to see another day. Immediately after getting back to camp for this vote, Q proposes Venus and that’s exactly what happened. Venus finds an idol but tells Charlie and buries herself even deeper. It was around this point in the game where Jeff brought up a good point. There were a solid 2 or 3 people gunning for Q every tribal, but at what point is it more valuable to keep him since everyone doesn’t like him and should be an easy person to beat. This should’ve woken Venus up, but again she goes home with an idol in her pocket, becoming the third straight to do so. And finally, before our final 5 episode, we have our 6th place finisher……. Q. And go figure!!! Q had an idol as well (those poor producers having to hide idol after idol just for it to not be played). Maria devises a plan to take out her strongest ally, Charlie but the harsh reality is that she simply didn’t have the numbers and Charlie was able to sway everyone onto Q. The frustrating part here is that Maria should’ve told Q to play his idol. This was her chance at a massive game winning move and she blew it. If Q plays his idol there to save himself, he instantly becomes target number 1 again and Maria likely makes the final 4 easily with at the very least a fighters chance to make the final 3 where she likely would’ve beaten anyone left on that island. But instead, Q goes home and it leaves her to be picked off next. So then we have our final 4 of Charlie, Liz, Kenzie, and Ben who wins our final immunity. Ben decides to take Charlie with him as his closest friend on the island, forcing Liz and Kenzie to make fire. Not a very good fire matchup as Kenzie struggled and Liz barely had operational hands, but nevertheless Kenzie pulls it out and we see Liz have another meltdown claiming she was the best player this season and the jury looking very confused. This was truly one of the funniest moments of the season. We had seen Liz explode before but her claiming that she would’ve won easily was the cherry on top. Our final 3 were Charlie, Kenzie, and Ben. There wasn’t much optimism for Ben as he didn’t have a very strong resume so it was a battle between essentially just Charlie and Kenzie. Both players did a great job selling themselves and honestly, Charlie may have done the slightly better job. But after Jeff tallied the votes, it came out 5-3 in Kenzie’s favor. For those who have watched, the clear and obvious drama to this was Maria not voting for Charlie even after promising to vote for him and even going as far to call him the “uncle” of her children. This was a complete blindside and truly it shows how bitter Maria was. Now as a jury member you certainly have every right to vote for whoever you want, but that was pretty coldhearted and her reasoning at the post game discussion was pretty lame too. That being said, Charlie handled it beautifully and is still handling it beautifully since the airing of the final. In the end, Kenzie was a very solid player who I think deserves the win, money, and recognition. Something I can’t say for every season winner. With that, we look forward to hopefully another exciting season later this fall with Survivor forty several!

Thank you Cameron and Cameron’s Corner will return for next season! What a great season to start this blog on and we had some love from the cast with Q and Ben interacting with us on Twitter! We will continue to grow and try things in the Survivor offseason to keep us engaged with the fans of this amazing show and who knows… maybe I will get lucky and finally get a casting call??? We’ll see but Congrats Kenzie well deserved! Until Season Forty Several, this is Hunter and Cameron signing off for Survivor Season 46!

Written by Hunter The Commish  and Headband Cam