Episode 4 chat

Welcome to the conversation about episode 4 of season 46 of survivor!

“Don’t Touch The Oven”

Feel free to head down to the comments, that is where the fun is, the play by plays, the astute observations, and of course that’s where the friendships are happening.

I’ll be watching the show with the NY time zone tonight and I’ll be taking quick notes which will display here.

I have finished my second watch, streaming it and pausing to get the details down. The full show report is now written below.

Sometime over the weekend I will watch the show a third time, just for fun, with my late-watching Survivor pals. So, if YOU are also a late watcher, please don’t hesitate to add your comments to the conversation! The more the merrier!!

Here are the pictures to remind us of who everyone is:

Here is a reminder of who has which advantages and disadvantages:

And here is a reminder of the previews we were shown at the end of the last episode:

• Siga(green)’s Tim and Charlie poke around in a hole, while Moriah bends over them and watches. “We found something, it’s mysterious,” Moriah says, “our brains melted.”
• In Nami(orange) tribe, Hunter listens as Soda says to him: “We’re all vibing because I love everyone.” Meanwhile, Tevin, shown with a huge frown on his face, privately says: “She is manipulating… Soda got to go-da.”
• Bhanu, of Yanu(purple), is feeling bad again: “I said something wrong.” Tiffany reacts with horrified shock when she hears what he has to say. (probly about what he said to the others on his journey.) Tiffany announces later to Kenzie (who is gasping, mouth wide open), “Bhanu needs to go!” Bhanu stands under some leaves, with his hands on both sides of his chin, looking panicked. Kenzie frustratedly exclaims, “Aaaah!”

 

Links to past discussions:

• BACK TO MAIN PAGE.
• Episose 1 “This is Where Legends are Made”
• Episode 2 “Scorpio Energy”
• Episode 3 “Wackadoodles Win”

 

Episode notes:

Review clips of previously aired:

• In the dark, Jem of Siga(green) digs up, reads the clue, and buries her hidden immunity clue box.
• On Journey Beach, Bhanu of Yanu(purple) tells all about his tribe to the eager ears of Liz of Nami(orange) and Ben of Siga(green).
• At Yanu(purple) Bhanu admits to Q that he lost his vote. Q explains to us that Bhanu is a liability but Kenzie is a threat.
• At the beach of Nami(orange), Jeff and Dr. Will approach the area where Randen sits with Venus and Liz. The whole tribe gathers as Jeff explains about Randen’s medical issue and why it is considered serious enough to remove him from the game.
• Back at Yanu(purple) Jeff explains to the tribe that they won’t have to go to Tribal Council because Randen was pulled from the game. Q tells us that Kenzie got lucky, that she has no idea how close she was to being voted out that night.

New footage:

Yanu(purple) Bhanu and Kenzie talk and laugh about what an amazing twist this is. Various shots of hugs, relief, and happy celebrations.  Later, after Kenzie leaves the group, Bhanu admits to Q and Tiffany what he told their opponents on the journey that other day. That Q and Tiff are tight, that Kenzie is the mastermind. That Bhanu is the victim of them all. Predictably, there is a strong reaction from Tiffany and Q. When alone, Q tells Tiffany: “…and he probably made himself look good and harmless. Yep, back to plan A.”  Q tells Bhanu that he scared Tiff. He put a huge target on Kenzie’s back from other tribes, and now Bhanu feels horrible again. Stand in your choices Bhanu, this self-doubt is getting so tiring! Bhanu regrets spilling everything out.  Tiffany tells Kenzie, Kenzie reacts with passion, anger and bewilderment at his behaviour. “He’s got to GO!” and “If he just wanted the experience, why didn’t he just go camping?” Tiffany: “You wanna win a million hearts? VOLUNTEER!”

Opening credits.

Day 8

Back to Yanu(purple). Bhanu prays on the beach again, Q and Kenzie sit behind him along the treeline, talking about him beyond his hearing. Q: “He can sit there and pray all he wants. He made his bed, now he can rest in it.” In private Bhanu tells us that he screwed up yesterday when he revealed to his tribemates what he said to the other players about his tribe. Treemail is found in the form of a dark beige scroll of parchement paper. It’s written in upper-case caligraphy. Tiffany reads it out loud:

• “Fun little tests bookend this game.
• In between there’s no time to waste.
• Winners are nourished by victory.
• For the losers, not even a taste.”

Smiles all around, Tiffany: “It’s gonna be foooood!”

Nami(orange) also gets the Tree Mail, and Venus reads it out loud.  Soda and Tevin sing about eating: “Get on your feet … if you wanna eat … I’m in the mood … to win some food … And that’s what Nami … is gonna do … because it’s morning time in Fiji” They sound pretty darn good, especially with the wizard Survivor editors adding background music to it. Soda talks about what she does to build up team moral, and we are treated to short clips of Nami going about thier day-to-day business together.

Siga(green) gets the treemail too. Their tribe gathers in a standing circle, everyone dressed for warmth. Cheers for food. Maria finds Jem’s beware advantage–I TOLD you Jem hid it badly! It says to dig directly below the spot where she found the beware advantage – she will not find anything, because it was actually found elsewhere, days ago, by Jem. Maria decides to go for it, and the others on the team get involved in helping Maria find her hidden idol. There are massive black ants where she digs, and they seem to be stinging. Not deterred, the tribe keeps diggin. Jem is enjoying herself immensely. Ben: “Wouldn’t it be something if someone else already found it and just hid it under this tree?”

Commercials

Day 8 continues at the Reward Challenge. Siga(green) enters first, watching with a bit of confusion as Yanu(purple) – still with 4 tribe members, and then Nami(orange) – unexpectedly with only 5 tribe members enter the scene. Jeff announces Randen being pulled and then explains to Siga(green) what happened last night.

The challenge winners will find 10 decent size fresh fish and a cooker (and a diagram for how to use it) delivered to thier camp. The second tribe to complete the challenge will find 5 fresh fish delivered to their camp.

Sitting out:

• For Nami(orange) is Venus.
• For Siga(green) is Ben and Moriah

Paddle your boat to the buoy stand. The order that teams reach the buoy stand:

• Siga(green) – Tim jumps out onto the buoy stand and pulls it upside down.
• Yanu(purple) – Kenzie grabs it by keeping her legs in the boat.
• Nami(orange) – Liz grabs it without fully leaving the boat.

One tribe member collects a buoy that holds a key, the order that the key holder returns to the boat:

• Nami(orange) – Liz
• Yanu(purple) – Kenzie
• Siga(green) – Tim struggles with balance and slows the tribe’s progress down considerably

Paddle to the shore, the order that tribe boats reach the shore, and clip their boats in:

• Nami(orange)
• Yanu(purple)
• Siga(green)

Use the key to unlock 4 lightweight large rings that are tied to a tall post. The order the rings are unlocked:

• Nami(orange) – Lizz carried key as they ran, but Hunter unlocked.
• Yanu(purple) – Kenzie
• Siga(green) – Charlie

One at a time, each tribe member must toss one of the rings up and over the top of the pole and at the top of the pole, two thick, long nails are sticking out of opposite sides to make the task a little more difficult.

• Yanu(purple) – Tiffany, Q, Bhanu, Kenzie – finished first
• Nami(orange) – Hunter, Tevin, Soda, Liz – finished second
• Siga(green) – Charlie, Tim, Jem, Maria had great difficulty with this task and slowed the team down considerably, she doesn’t succeed until right after Hunter lands the first ring on the last pole.

Once the rings have all been released, tribe must dig under a log to crawl out the other side. Order of completion and first through:

• Yanu(purple) – Kenzie, (I think Tiffany, then Bhanu – it wasn’t shown), Q
• Nami(orange) – Tevin, I think Soda, then Liz, then Hunter, but it wasn’t shown after Tevin.
• Siga(green) – Jem, Maria, Charlie – Nami(orange) finished before Tim got through.

Race to throw all four rings back onto another tall pole. Each tribe elected to use one thrower:

• Yanu(purple) – Tiffany tries first and gives up, then Q quickly lands all 4 rings! Yanu WINS first place!!
• Nami(orange) – Hunter quickly lands all 4 rings, Nami WINS second place!
• Siga(green) – never got to this part.

For the first time, Siga(green) goes home empty handed, and Yanu(purple) will finally have food! 10 fresh fish and a cooker! But wait, they have no flint, so Jeff offers them a trade for a previous prize. They trade for the large tool kit and large tarp. Nami(orange) wins the five fish, and Siga(green) gets nothing.

I was halfway expecting a merge before this challenge, but maybe it will happen next episode.

 

commercials

 

Nami(orange) returns home to their five fish, a cooker with directions on how to use it, and a few lime slices for garnish. Liz explains how little she has been able to eat, because the food they are able to gather, all the fruit and the coconut, happens to be food she has an allergic throat reaction to, so she is eager to give her body the protein. Tevin offers to cut and clean the fish, as a tribute to his father who passed away about 10 months before and had taught him how to prepare fish.

Tevin: “I had been trying to go fishing with him for about three years, but I was so busy with my career and I kept being like, ‘Oh, I can’t do it’ You know, ‘I can’t do it. i can’t do it.’ And then the time to do it is eternally past. My dad passed away about ten months ago. And so I didn’t get to fish with him that one last time, so It was just nice to do something today that was just, like…Dad’s right here. We had a very powerful relationship. When I didn’t have a car, he gave me his one and only car, so that I could get back and forth to high school. And he had no transportation. And he called me every single day just to say, ‘Hey, how are you doing?’ One of the hardest parts about him passing was that, the day after he passed, my phone didn’t ring.”

Tevin returns to the tribe kitchen with the cooker (basically a strong bamboo rod split on one end to load 5 fish into and clip them in place; designed for use over the fire, like a marshmallow stick.) Soda, Liz and Venus smail and cheer. Tevin: “My dad taught me how to do this, and this is, I think, the first time I’ve done it without him. But, like, I did it!” More cheers, clips of everyone eating cooked fish. “So I was filled with pride to know that something my daddy taught me is coming into play right now and I’m about to give this thing that I have crafted to the people who need it, which is what he was all about. So he lives on.”

 

Yanu(purple) returns to camp happy to have tools and tarp, and they savour it. Tiffany: “Well, we finally won something!” Kenzie: “First place! Who would have thought?” Tiffany: “That’s crazy. We really bodied that whole challenge.”  Together, they throw the tarp over the roof of their shelter. Bhanu lays in a sort of attic area inside their structure and the other three try to instruct him which way to turn when they are asking him to go to his right. It’s frustrating for them, becuase with everything else that bothers them about him, they have no patience left for this somewhat funny situation. Q kinda drops his head and shakes it.

Q decides that now is the time to coach Bhanu to fix his social and strategic game. He wants to teach him how and when to keep his mouth shut. I think that there is a huge cultural divide between Bhanu and his tribe. It’s not just that he is extremely religious, nor even only that his emotions are out of control, it’s both those things, but then add to that, the fact that he is intimately familiar with living the way contestants on Survivor consider a survival and endurance contest, because he grew up in similar conditions. He is well educated, but newly immigrated. Usually people can weather that painful and sometimes messy adjustment in private, but he’s learning about the North American culture in a very public setting. I’m just not sure that learning to manoeuvre the social subtleties of a nation is something that can be learned in a few days or weeks on Survivor.

Q leads Bhanu in a variety of role plays. They act out situations that have happened or might happen, and Bhanu is given a chance to edit his response to the situation. Bhanu is desperate, his face is set, he is ready to become whatever Q tells him to become. It’s an interesting approach for Q to take. He knows that if they lose an immunity challenge again, Bhanu will be gone, but what if they win? For that reason, Q wants to equip Bhanu to be a tool in Q’s favour.

I’m not sure what I would do in that situation, I know that when I was younger I let people (who thought that the way I was wasn’t enough) wreck me, and now I’ve learned that there never has been anything wrong with the way that I was, I was just dancing to the wrong music. I’ve become someone who needs to work with people who can accept me the way that I am. If someone tries to polish me up or make me ‘better’ than I am, Like Q is trying to do with Bhanu, I resist it now.  Bhanu is just playing the wrong game, he should be playing a game that celebrates the person that he is, without giving him such pressure to be a different way. His tribe should just relax and try to enjoy him while they are still living with him, this will give him less cause for extreme emotional outbursts too, everyone would just enjoy their time together until he moves on.

Q to Us:

• “I know that if we go to Tribal next, Bhanu is the one that’s going home. But if he’s going to be around, I have to make sure that Bhanu is the best player that he can be.”
• “But I think there’s so much that Bhanu don’t understand and don’t know about the game of Survivor.”
• “So what I’m doing is taking my time to actually train him, and that is my job as the coach.”
• “Hopefully I can teach him how to keep his mouth shut.”
• “My training with Bhanu is training his emotions, training his speech. Teaching him techniques to use in general conversations with others. And I’m teaching him how to talk at Tribal.”
• “I’m not very optimistic about his approach, going forward, but if the little bit that I can teach him can help, I’m going to continue to try.”

Q to Bhanu:

• “Just stay in the moment stay in the current.”
• “We have to fix your social and strategic game to where it’s not a liability.”
• “We’re having coaching sessions.”
• “You need to be thinking about every moment. From here on out, start playing conversations in your head.”
• “In this game, you have a lot of people who want to manipulate you. They ask you questions and they buddy you up. And you feel like, ‘Oh, my god. I’ve got to give something back’ No. You don’t.”

Kenzie asks Bhanu what he learned, he shares a role play with her, his awkwardness makes her impatient, which she tries to hide by saying nice things, “I’m glad you’re practising.” Bhanu says that he wants to practise with her too, but she tells him that she needs a rest first, she just wants to enjoy the win for, like, 5 minutes. Bhanu backs off and says he will walk away now.  After Bhanu walks away, and she moans to Q: “You have the patience of a saint!” She goes on to bemoan to us that he is probably 15 years older than her (Good estimate, Kenzie, he is 12 years older than her), so age wise, she figures shouldn’t have to help him play Survivor. “I’m OVER babying Bhanu, he is so annoying!”

 

At Siga(green) Maria cries over failing.

• The six of them sit together as Ben encourages everyone: “Let’s start with the positives. This was just a reward challenge. And I want to say that even in the face of all the insanity, you guys were still a team and I couldn’t be more proud of y’all. So, you know, Maria, I know you feel like the weight is on your shoulders because it was that whole situation, but you still did it.”
• Charlie continues as everyone is nodding in agreement with Ben, “Every single person out there believed in youand trusts you and doesn’t put any ounce of blame on you.”
• Jem cuts in, “And we don’t even – it’s just fish, Maria, It’s not that big a deal.”
• Maria shares some of her background with them: “You know, as immigrants, success was survival for my family. And so we grew up where we had to be perfect. And so I never wanted to fail. So many times I wondered, like, ‘Am I enough? Am I good enough?’ You know? And this was, like, a big, big place…to fail in front of a lot of people.”
• Maria shares more of her background privately with us: “Growing up, our parents wanted so much for us. They came from Lebanon to this country and worked so hard. And so, you know, we were pushed hard. We were pushed with this sort of fire in us to succeed. And when there were moments in life when I didn’t, you know, I was hard on myself.”
• Maria, sharing with the tribe again (still), “What I’ve worked on the last couple years is shedding the shame. The shame and hte guilt behind not succeeding.  And just knowing that it’s a moment in time, and that doesn’t define who I am.”
• Ben: “Listen Maria, I know you’re taking this loss hard, but it’s gonna be a lesson for you in more of that letting go of shame, you know what I’m saying? So either way, whether we had the fish or not, it’s gonna be a positive.” Everyone: “Ya.” Ben: “Let’s not forget, we also have a beware advantage we can look for too.” (Ha ha ha)

Charlie doesn’t like that the whole tribe is aware of the beware advantage. He also is irritated that they can’t find it. They have dug a huge hole under the tree. Poor tree has naked roots now, and the large black ants are probably homeless. Charlie, Moriah and Ben are beginning to suspect that someone planted it there. Moriah tells Jem that she thinks that Tim planted it.

The three women discuss the likelihood that Tim planted it, cuz he was hunting so hard for it. Jem loves casting the blame and suspition on someone else.

 

commercials

 

Yanu(purple). Bhanu wanders around mumbling and confiding to the cameraperson: “People want to, like, chill, lounge, and uh, you know, Bhanu is a stupid ass. And so the stupid ass is gonna go and do stupid … I left the camp because Kenzie all of a sudden just snapped at me. I’m being treated like … nobody. They’re not respecting me. I’m so stupid. I had so much power in the game and now I’m like a puppet, and they’re the puppet masters. They’re like, ‘Do this, do that, do this, do that.’ And this is what I get. I’ve seen all the seasons of Survivor as a superfan, but when it comes to social skills, it’s still not sinking in me. Everyone feels like I’m a dumb dumbo. ‘Oh, we need to teach him how to walk, how to talk.’ So I became a robot, so I’m no longer a Bhanu, I’m just, like, you know, I  They’re like puppeteers and I’m a puppet. It feels…it…I don’t like that.” He’s right, he did have power at the beginning. It was when he began to doubt himself and lost his confidence in himself that he gave his power over to the others.

Kenzie and Q have moved to the beach. Q does something with shoe liners, while Kenzie says, “I should  probably go apologize for snapping at him.” Q: “Take your moment.” Kenzie, “I’ll go apologize, I don’t want him to spiral.” Kenzie privately: “I snapped at Bhanu, and then, because I know he’s emotional, I know that I have to go run damage control so that Bhanu doesn’t think that everybody’s mad at him again.” “We have to make Bhanu feel good because if we go on a winning streak and we take Bhanu to the merge, we need him to stay loyal to Yanu.”

Kenzie to Bhanu: “I’m sorry I snapped at you. Like, we are a tribe, we want to keep our numbers. We need you to be successful at Tribal, like I’m here to help you. We need you, and like, I know it’s hard.” In private, Kenzie tells camera: “When any other person would be like, ‘Maybe I shouldn’t enlist her to, like, train me on how to do the thing we came out here to do right now,’ but…”

Bhanu to Kenzie, “I feel so bad that here is this old child-man that needs help.” Kenzie: “It’s OK.”

Bhanu to Camera: “Kenzie came to me and said, like, I really…I apologize. Makes me feel better, and I was like, Okay, you know what? I can take some lessons, like you know, I know it’s very importantfor my game, for everyone’s game. If so many people are putting work into me, I think I need to put some effort in it.”

 

Day 8 continues…

Laundry day at Nami(orange). Washing socks and undies etc over a hot fire in a pan. Yum!

• Soda to camera: “Even though I’m pretty good at just being, like, kumbaya, your head has to constantly be in this game.”
• Soda to Liz, walking: “You know I like to check in and stuff, see where people’s heads are at.”
• Soda to Tevin: “You know I really want to connect with you. I want to stay connected to you. And you are my confidant out here. Like it’s a 100%”
• To Venus: “Me, Liz, you, Tevin and Hunter. There’s nothing that this fav five cannot do.”
• Soda to camera: “If you’re even out of the game for a second and you get stuck, that’s it. You will be out like a light. You’ll be gone.”
• Tevin to Soda: “You spend a lot of time with V, what is she thinking is going on right now?” Hunter is part of the conversation too. Soda: “I feel like she knows that, like, we are tight, and I feel like that three going into the merge is gonna be super powerful three. And I know this is tight, so I’m not worried.” Tevin: “Hmm.”
• Tevin to camera: “Soda is a social butterfly, as am I. However, she’s playing the game a little too hard for me. There’s moments where I’m watching her and it seems like she’s having little whisper moments behind my back.”
• Soda to Hunter: “We’re all vibing, but I’m down for individual vibes because I love everyone.”
• Tevin to camera: “I’m just a little worried that she may be playing me just as she is playing everyone else. And it breaks my heart to say it, because I do have a connection with her that is so deep. But the target in which I am seeking to hit now — is shifting. And so now I need to be the one to get into everyone’s head and plant seeds.”
• Tevin to Hunter: “For tribe strength, I would rather get rid of Venus than Soda, but you already know that Soda is playing a real … GAME.”
• Hunter to Tevin: “I would rather keep our game alive and have a weaker tribe than …”
• Tevin to Hunter: “So are you saying just making it seem like it’s Venus, and then we just switch to Soda?”
• Hunter to Tevin: “I think that’s the safest, cause…”
• Tevin: “Cause she wouldn’t expect it?”
• Hunter: “She wouldn’t expect it.”
• Hunter to Camera: “I actually have wanted Soda out for a while because she’s my competition for closeness with Tevin. So whenever Tevin started expressing doubt in Soda, you know, that sounds great to me. Let’s do it, right?”
• Tevin to Liz, while Hunter listens: “I just want to ask if we have to go to Tribal Council, how do you feel if we were had to vote Soda? Because my gut is telling me ‘Tevin, you got to play the game’ And if playing the game means that I have to get somebody out of this game who I think is manipulating everyone…”
• Liz to Tevin (while Hunter listens): “To be honest with you, I think she’s the one to beat.”
• Liz to camera: “This is great news for me because I really have this feeling that if Soda makes it to the merge, Soda is on her way to final Tribal Council, and I cannot have that.”
• Tevin to Hunter and Liz: “And we may not have another opportunity.”
• Tevin to camera: “As far as we’re concerned, me, Hunter and Liz are on board, like, Soda got to Go-da.”

 

commercials.

 

Day 9 morning dawns

Maria opens tree mail and reads it to the tribe:

• One Moment, you’re flying high
• The next you’re in the abyss.
• Another is banished into darkness tonight
• So today be sure not to miss.

They immediately suspect that the challenge will inculde jumping off something into the water, grabbing a key on a buoy on the way down.

Moriah cannot jump and admits to the others that she is worried about the challenge.

• Moriah to camera: “Homegirl can’t jump. And coming out here, even my friends were like, ‘You know, Moriah, you’re gonna have to tell them eventually.’ And I’m like nononono. it’s fine, its fine. And then we get to tree mail today and immediately, my heart sinks, like the dense gravity that I apparently have in my body.”
• Eventually we see Charlie coaching her to practice jumping. She can jump up about 4 inches, the whole practice scene is quite cute. Charlie, Jem and Ben laugh fondly about it.
• Moriah to Camera: “This is such a Siga thing. We’re very, very open as a tribe, of what our advantages and disadvantages are.”
• Charlie to Moriah as he guides her through the motions: “Squat down, arms down, and this is your motion.”
• Moriah to camera: “And part of our spirit is that we work together to think of a solution that will get us that extra inch.”
• Ben to camera: “Moriah, she cannot jump. I don’t know if David Lee Roth will be proud of THAT one, you know what I’m saying?”
• Charlie , to camera: “Moriah’s jumps were not, uh, great. It was … it was not great. But, we want to inspire confidence in Moriah. It’s all about building up in her mind..You can crush this.”
• Charlie to Moriah: “You got this!”  Moriah laughs, “I don’t know if I actually got better at jumping, but I know that I felt more confident.”

 

Off to the Immunity Challenge!

Camera takes us over a hill, yellow with ripe straw, heading towards the shore of the water where the competition will take place. Three boats speed towards the platform Jeff stands on. Birds-eye-view tells us that they will head one direction from the platform to do one part of the challenge, then pass over the platform Jeff stands on to complete it.

Jeff takes back the two idols and sets them on their stand.

Sitting out are:

• Siga(green): Jem and Maria sit out
• Nami(orange): Tevin sits out.

One at a time tribes will jump off their platform, swim to and climb up a steep net, to the top of a tall tower, and then LEAP into the ocean. This is the order that they jump off the first platform: Hunter is the first up by a long shot, and he then leaps to almost the next platform. Charlie leaps off yelling, “Taylor Swift!”

• Nami(orange): Hunter, Soda, Liz, Venus
• Siga(green): Tim, Ben, Moriah, Charlie
• Yanu(purple): Q, Bhanu, Tiffany

You’re then gonna climb up onto a crate, jump back into the ocean. Hunter quickly up and over. Q face plants into the water. Bhanu stepped around the crates instead of climbing them and jumping off before getting his buoys. He gets sent back to do the crates, then he must fetch his buoys after.

• Nami(orange): Hunter, Soda
• Siga(green): Tim, Ben
• Yanu(purple): Q, Bhanu

Two players will be responsible for releasing a net full of buoys from underwater.

• Siga(green): Tim, Ben
• Nami(orange): Hunter, Soda
• Yanu(purple): Q, Bhanu

Get up on the platform Jeff is on, with the buoys if you have them. This is the order each team reached the platform. Hunter got up right after Q’s face plant. Q reaches the Jeff platform after Soda and Ben have jumped from their first obstacle. Soda reaches the Jeff platform after bhanu belly flops off the crates. Moriah reaches this platform after Liz jumps in. Bhanu reaches platform after Charlie jumps in.

• Nami(orange): Hunter, Soda, Liz, Venus
• Siga(green): Tim, Ben, Moriah, Charlie
• Yanu(purple): Q, Bhanu, Tiffany, Kenzie

Once all players in the tribe have reached Jeff’s platform, they must search through their 2 bags of buoys for 3 buoys that have their insignia on them. This is the order that they found their three buoys:

• Siga(green): reached it before Venus and Kenzie had even jumped in
• Nami(orange)
• Yanu(purple)

Once everybody’s at the finish, one player will attempt to land those buoys in three baskets.

• Siga(green): Tim tried to jump on the platform but fell, nearly fell off, bought won his balance while still holding his first buoy. Ben is in the water ready to retrieve any buoys that miss the mark. He gets one buoy in the basket before the other tribes have even finished the first part. Tim gets the last one in after Q’s second shot gets in.
• Nami(orange): Hunter gets all three buoys in without a miss
• Yanu(purple): Q gets one in before Hunter finishes. Bhanu retrieves the buoys from the water, but he is too slow. Switches with Tiffany. Q gets a second buoy in the net.

First two tribes to finish win immunity, safe from the vote. Losers, Tribal Council where somebody will be the fourth person voted out of Survivor, and as a penalty for losing I will take your flint. Jeff at beginning of challenge: “Yanu, day nine. You are still fighting to get yours.”

• Nami(orange): First
• Siga(green): Second
• Yanu(purple): Tribal Council.

After Yanu(purple) returns home to their camp, we are treated to another fatalistic monologue by Kenzie: “Wasn’t that fun? To think that Yanu would win an Immunity Challenge? It was a dream that just got swuandered before our eyes yet again. But tonight, we’re all voting out Bhanu.”

• and Q: “Bhanu’s a great guy, but my vote has to go towards Bhanu tonight.”
• and Tiffany: “Tonight I think there’s only one thing that needs to happen, and I think that is Bhanu needs to go home.

 

commercials

 

At Yanu(purple) Bhanu sits alone in the shelter while the other three stand by the clothes line and change out of their wet clothes.

• Kenzie: “It’s an easy vote tonight, so we can just chill.”
• Tiffany: “It’s not the end of the game …. for us.(chuckles)”
• Bhanu walks out towards the water, where he can see them but not really hear them. Bhanu: “Yeah, all three of them, they’re having a conversation there. Never once, they talk to me. Never once they include me in anything.”
• Kenzie: “What are we gonna do about Bhanu this afternoon?”
• Tiffany: “I ain’t doing nothing about Bhanu this afternoon.” (Now Bhanu indicates that he is close enough to listen in.) Tiffany continues: “It’s just the frustration of constantly making somebody feel better about the things that they’ve done wrong to you. ‘It’s OK, you put a target on my back, it’s okay’, ‘It’s ok, you liked to me.’ No, it’s not okay. It’s not okay.”
• Bhanu shrugs and walks away from the shore, “The vote is already decided. You know who you’re voting: The one person who doesn’t have a vote today–me.”

Bhanu resumes looking for the idol, he prays to his God to please help him find the idol, Trusts that God will help him find the idol. Wouldn’t it be fun if there is another actual idol hidden somewhere for him? “If I can find the idol, I won’t go home tonight and I can change the course of the game.”

• Hey, now Q asks Tiffany the same thingI just did, what if Jeff his another idol for Bhanu to find? Tiffany tells Q: “The best thing he can do is save himself with an idol that he MIGHT find, which he won’t because I have it.”
• Bhanu prays some more, feels hopeless, expresses anger at his God. In Kenzie’s precense, Bhanu angrily lashes out at his God: “If this is what You wanted to happen, if You wanted to end my story so soon, then You shouldn’t have put me on Survivor in the first place!”
• Kenzie hugs him: “I’m so sorry Bhanu, what can I do?” She asks him.
• Bhanu: “Can you find me an idol?”
• Later, Bhanu goes on hands and knees in front of Tiffany, tearfully begs her to help him. She has no patience for his drama. “Stand up. I’m not going to talk to you if you are on your knees” she tells him honestly that she is voting for him tonight. he asks her why? What did I do wrong? She says she can’t trust him.

Laying in the sand between some trees, Bhanu slowly comes to acceptance about his fate. “Thanks for the island. Thanks for everything here.” He prays thankful prayers while telling himself that a momentary truth caused so much damage. He tells himself that it was only 5 seconds of honesty that ruined his game. He still hopes for a final, saving grace miracle. Apart from the very beginning when he first shared a bit about his upbringing, his character has irritated me pretty much the whole time he has been on this season. I hope there are no more miracles for Bhanu in Survivor.

 

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Tribal Council, Night 9

Yanu(purple) four enter the Tribal area, and quietly put their torches down. There is thoughtful music playing.

Bhanu is asked about the journey. He tells everything, holding nothing back.

Tiffany is asked what his motive was in revealing that information. She doesn’t think he understood in that moment that by sharing all that information he was putting a target on all three of them, she doesn’t think he understood that he was being played.

Bhanu is going home tonight. Jeff appreciates the honesty from everyone, that Bhanu knows he is going and that no one is trying to blind side him. They won’t bother voting, since there are no shots in the dark, there is no vote for Bhanu, there are no idols for him to play.

Bhanu tells us that he was lying when he told the other that he had a very good life. “I was born into poverty to a teenaged mother, and was abandoned by my maternal father (??) whenI was three months old. (In India) After a few years my mom got married, moved to a different city, and I was living with my grandparents.” Jeff: “Can you describe for us a little bit of what poverty is like in India for you?” Bhanu: “Yes, the poverty is just like the camp. That was my house in India. A thatched roof. And that’s how I grew up. I grew up literally on streets. But I learned to be honest and help each other, and that’s how we all survived. I put in a lot of effort, and I am the first one in my entire family to graduate from high school, first one to have a graduate degree, first one to actually move to United States. And I also found my partner. So, all these things. So, the reason why I wanted to be on Survivor is because there’s so many Bhanu’s still out there, still living in poverty. So all the Bhanu’s out there, listen. There is always hope, and you can move mountains. And if I can come from that place, a lot of people can also do it. But unfortunately, this is how it it’s ending, so it’s on me. Thank you so much for this opportunity, and thank you tribe.” Kenzie hugs him.

Q: “You know, Bhanu, I don’t know if you understand, brother, you’ve done a great job with the man you’ve become today. And the man that you were in our tribe. showed us that , man we could count on you for a lot of things.”

Jeff: “You know, Bhanu, one time you said to me, I am your guru, which I took as a compliment. But also remind yourself  you’re your own guru. What you’ve done with your life is remarkable. And I say this all the time, The game of Survivor is about the adventure, putting yoruself in this environment to see what you’re capable of, and that’s what you’ve been doing.”

Tribe: “You won my heart Bhanu” “All of our hearts” “Yeah”

Bhanu steps forward and watches as his torch is snuffed. Love is expressed and exchanged. We hear him sobbing as he walks away. The remaining three grab their torches and head back to camp.

I wish I could put “like” symbols on some of your comments. Brent, I love your point of view. You’re right, the others aren’t that good at stuff either. He was on the outs from them and there was no way to get back in.

 

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Scenes from the next episode:

• Yanu(purple): Kenzie: “What will Yanu lose today?” Tiffany: “Our minds!”
• Nami(orange): Soda searches for an idol, tells us we wouldn’t want it to fall into the wrong hands. Camera shifts from Soda to Tevin and lands on Venus to stay.
• Siga(green): Jem walks while Tim asks her, “You moved the Beward Advantage?” she responds, “I don’t know much about that.” Tim tells camera that somebody is not telling the truth. We’re all suspects. Jem runs through the woods, glancing behind her.

 

Bhanu’s final words:

“I’m a superfan of Survivor, and I came here to just be an honest person, and that’s where the game caught me. But I hope my story reaches out to the audience and all the Bhanu’s out there. Have faith. Don’t ever give up on anything in life. I came from poverty, and here I am sitting on Survivor. Namaste.”