Survivor 46 Is Where Strategy Goes to Die. Good!
Has Survivor ever had a worse alliance than the Six? So far, the supposed supergroup has only targeted and voted out people within the alliance. It’s self-destructive madness, but it’s on par with everyone’s behavior this season. This week’s contenders — control freak Q and his flop alliance of Tevin, Hunter, Maria, Charlie, and Tiffany, as well as the too-blunt Venus, rockstar Ben, mermaid-dragon Kenzie, and wealthy Liz — never seem to act in their best interest and always lead with emotion. On a show dominated by efficient robots in recent years, these incompetents are both infuriating and delightful.
Though the structure of season 46 felt typical of the New Era — three tribes, one absolutely decimated, and a “twist” that meant the merge began two episodes ago with a fake version and a split tribal — the cast’s chaotice energy made itself known from the start. Jalinski became an instant meme by giving up at every turn, while Bhanu’s attention-seeking antics drove viewers up the wall. With tonight’s episode, it’s official: Survivor 46 is delivering some of the worst strategy we’ve seen in a decade, and it’s coming from all sides. Last week, Tevin voted out Soda despite knowing she would’ve never voted against him; this week, Liz voted out Tevin because he annoyed her. Q is targeting players based on off-handed comments. Venus is … Venus. This isn’t a carefully plotted chess match — it’s a bunch of paranoid control freaks lashing out at each other for perceived slights and then failing to contend with the fall out. It’s a callback to other hot mess seasons (Gabon, Nicaragua), where gameplay gave way to entropy, and Survivor needed this reset.
A rundown of tonight’s best chaos: The episode begins with a hide-and-seek montage that’s as good as anything Survivor has done in recent seasons, largely because it’s narrated by Q and Venus, both of whom believe the children’s game holds the key to determining the inner psyches of all their opponents. Maria is a threat, for example, because she tries to camouflage herself by putting grass in her hair(??). The Six decides to target Tiffany, who is, in fact, a member of the Six. Meanwhile Liz, who normally does nothing, decides to target her close ally Tevin because he wasn’t giving her enough credit for a move he was also not getting credit for. At this point, the only players being eyed for elimination are Tiffany and Tevin, both of whom are in the all-powerful alliance. Finally, we arrive at Tribal Council, where Q tells everybody to vote him out (whether this is an illegible strategic move or a genuine temper tantrum is unclear), causes absolute mania, receives no votes, and ultimately sends Tevin, his alliance member, home.
It’s infuriating gameplay, yes. But is it good TV? Absolutely. A great Survivor character is not one who plays a perfect game — look at Tommy from Island of the Idols. A masterful winner, sure, but can you remember anything about him five years later? Nobody is playing as well as Tommy this season, but their mistakes make every move worth watching. It’s refreshing! Whoever wins this season will be a survivor in the truest sense — the kind who made it through the plane crash of season 46.
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