I can’t believe I have been watching this show for 20 years and now I am writing Survivor 41 recaps. Forty one seasons! I am so old! And also, very excited for this two hour premiere. If you missed my cheatsheats on who is who, please check out the male players here, and the female players here. I will be referring back to those two (VERY LONG) posts all season. It looks like a great group of players! And it is literally an all new game. It is faster paced, losing a challenge lands huge punishments, and the games are way more dangerous than usual. I can’t wait! OMG! HERE WE GO! This makes me so happy!
I am stupid excited for this. I might cry! And, I may be more excited than the actual players! The tribes have been divided into three tribes of six. I love Heather, she is a day one viewer. I might even know her from my Survivor spoiling days. Wow they are giving them NOTHING for free this season. The first task is to row their dingys to a hanging piece of flint. The first team to grab it wins flint, a pot and a machete. There is no rice given this season. The two losing tribes go to camp with NOTHING.
UA Tribe
The tribe with the green buffs, is called UA. They won the first challenge so they have the flint, the pot and the machete. The tribe is Sara, Genie, Shantel (Shan), Brad, Jairus, (who will apparently be going by JD) and Ricard.
Jarius was the first to make fire. Genie is sort of emotional. Everyone already seems to want Jarius/JD out first. Wow. Shan is playing hard already. She is an evil pastor, lol. I like it! The boat comes to take one of them away to take a journey and return to camp. They draw rocks and JD loses (or wins) and is sent off in the boat. The foreshadowing leads to sweet Jairius going home first.
Yase Tribe
The Yellow tribe is Yase. They are already the underdogs. The tribe is Liana, Evvie, Tiffany, XANDER, David Voce (who is apparently going by Voce), and Abraham.
This tribe has to decide between a mental or a physical challenge in order to get any supplies. Voce doesn’t want to do the physical challenge but somehow he is stuck doing it anyway. He should have just said he is really good at puzzles! Neither of these two guys look capable of this challenge. Why doesn’t Eric do it? He’s the only big guy on the team! Abraham is already over Tiffany. Liana tells Tiffany that Abraham is throwing her name under the bus. When the boat with the note comes for this tribe they send Xander Which means I have the names wrong above for this tribe and cannot for the life of me figure out who is missing.
Luvu Tribe
The blue tribe is called Luvu. They also choose the physical challenge. But the have some big guys on their tribe. Why are they not giving me chyron’s with people’s names! It’s episode one. The tribe is Deshawn, Sydney, Danny, Naseer, Heather, and Erika
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Danny and Deshawn both stop their water filling task to look for idols. I’m not sure if that is smart or not. Naseer goes to she how the water challenge is going and catches them slacking off and looking for idols. He is determined that one of them needs to go. Nevertheless, they managed to complete the challenge and win vital supplies for their team. Sydney tells Deshawn that Naseer came back and said that he saw them looking for idols. So Naseer is suddenly the target. Naseer was probably looking for idols himself.
A Boat Journey
Later a boat pulls up to deliver a message that says, “One person must get on this boat, take a journey and make a decision and then return to camp.” No one wants to go. So Danny ends up agreeing to go. I would totally have volunteered.
So Danny, Jairus and Xander go on boats and meet up on another island. There is a sign that says to follow the path and take some time to get to know each other. Basically, they are hiking up a mountain. I love Jairus and I am afraid he is going home tonight. 🙁 He’s getting too much of his story told. The three are told to separate and make a decision. It’s late and I keep having to let Banjo in and out and make sure he is comfortable. (So far, So good).
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But I don’t understand the decision they have to make. They have to decide to protect their vote or risk their vote. If they choose to protect their vote, if all three players choose to protect their vote, nothing changes. If they all choose to risk their vote, they lose their vote at the next tribal, but, if it is a split decision the players who took the risk option get a second vote at tribal. It’s kind of early in the game for this, no? Danny votes to protect his vote. So far we don’t know what Xander and Jairus chose.
Danny tells the whole story to his Luvu tribe. They believe him. Xander tells his tribe that he risked is vote. I kind of believe him because the default lie is to say he protected his vote. JD tells his tribe that he protected his vote. But he lied. And this is why he is going home. No one believes him.
The First Immunity Challenge!
On the first minutes of the show Jeff Probst asked everyone if it was still politically correct for him to welcome people to the challenge by saying “Come on in guys!” And everyone said it was fine. Now Richard tells Jeff it is not. Oh for fucksake! Jeff agrees. Jeff announces yet another new thing called the shot in the dark die. If you feel you are in trouble at tribal council you can drop you shot on the dark die into a container and you will have a one in six chance of safety. But! They also cannot vote.
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It’s a physical challenge with a puzzle twist. TWO people are going home tonight. I’m exhausted by this recap. It’s very difficult trying to learn 18 people on a two hour recap. I admit I am lost and probably have a lot of errors with names. Luvu wins the challenge and that means my girl, Heather is safe! The other two teams are not just going to tribal but they had to give Jeff their flint! Wow this season is brutal.
Two Tribal Councils
On the Yase tribe, the guys want to get rid of Tiffany. The girls want to get rid of Abraham. This season is so brutal there has to be a male winner. This tribe is spilt three to three. Tiffany is in danger and needs to play her die. But first she goes to look for an idol.
On the UA tribe everyone is miserable. But, Sara is sure it is her. Richard wants to vote out my boy, Jairus aka JD. I felt like he is edited to be a goner. But then Brad, my rancher guy starts straight up calling out the girls. I am upset already that my players are in danger already. I want Brad to go far! SHUT YOUR PIE HOLE, BRAD! Brad wants to send Sara home. JD is find with whoever is NOT HIM. Sara is probably going to play her die and that will likely send JD home.
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First up is Yase. Jeff calls out Abraham for saying a lot without really saying anything. When Xander goes into the voting booth he finds out he has an extra vote that he can play at any time until there are only six players left! He totally does not need to use it tonight. He puts the note in his pocket. Does he need it to vote because I would not want to be carrying that around. Tiffany was stupid not to use her die this week. She knew she was an option for the guys. Or not. These guys got rid of their strongest player, Abraham! MORONS! He was blindsided.
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Next up is AU which I will probably just start calling the green team. They seem very ready to vote JD. So I am even more worried about him. He needs to play his die! The suddenly, Sara is talking with Richard and another girl about voting out Brad. Oh sure, go for the older guy. Dumbasses. I want Sara to go. Richard gets up and tells JD to vote out Brad. JD gets up and tells one of the girls that getting rid of Brad is a terrible idea. Lots of individual conversations. Sara asks one of the girls if she needs to play her die. She says no. This is some big drama right here. Literally everyone puts their die in their pocket.
Jairus GOT AN EXTRA VOTE! YES BABY USE IT NOW! USE IT! Nooooo! He sticks it in his pants NOOOOOOOOOOOO! I Can’t with this. Sara goes home. THANK GOD. THAT WAS TERRIFYING. If you read all of this babble, thank you for reading. I get very enthusiatic about this came and I had to stop and comfort Banjo a bit, but overall he is doing well. xo ~ tt
I have missed Jeff! I love, love, love this show. I was going in wanting Brad to be awesome, but his game play is horrible. I am loving Xander. I was sad to see Sara leave, but it’s Survivor.
I haven’t watched it yet but it looks like I will be referring back to your posts, TT, to try to keep them all straight. Just excited to watch.
I didn’t realize how much I missed it till last night.
Best part of the entire show last night was that team trying to row away while being clipped to an anchor. Hilarious.
Jeff said they had to unhook from the back and the front. That was a strong team that seemed to have a good rowing technique. I could not for the life of me understand why they were not going anywhere. The yellow team already seems defeated. I can’t wait until next week.
Thank you for recapping! I also was distracted by my dog barking his head off at every leaf blowing down the street and was able to get some clarity with this recap. I missed Survivor so much in the last year. So glad it’s back.
You’re welcome! However, I’m utterly shocked that it brought anyone any clarity. It was infuriating that they didn’t put names under people in the interviews. I’m still not sure I even got the tribes listed correctly. I need CBS to put out some photos of the tribes WITH NAMES! It took me over three hours to get through the recap.
I am super excited about the new season. I just need to learn all the names. lol. Thanks for bearing with me!
SO glad that Survivor is back! I’ve also been watching since day one. It was hysterical to watch that team rowing and not realizing they were still anchored! I’m with you, TT – I love JD. Unfortunately his team does not really like him. Was not sorry to see Sarah go. I was also yelling at Brad to keep quiet! Can’t wait for next week!
You’re welcome! However, I’m utterly shocked that it brought anyone any clarity. It was infuriating that they didn’t put names under people in the interviews. I’m still not sure I even got the tribes listed correctly. I need CBS to put out some photos of the tribes WITH NAMES! It took me over three hours to get through the recap.
I am super excited about the new season. I just need to learn all the names. lol. Thanks for bearing with me!
I so appreciate your enthusiasm and I agree with everything you said. That is all.
Sooooo happy Survivor is back. I also noticed the lack of names and tribes and I’m annoyed. JD who I think is on the green tribe? The young guy with cornrows is my favorite. Also like Danny the ex NFL player who is not telling anyone about that. I loathe Ricard for complaining about “c’mon in guys”. It’s such a unisex saying that doesn’t affect the great majority of people. Hope his stay is a short one. I’m also wondering if they are doing away with idols, seems odd that nobody found one yet.
I’m going to miss the come on in guys too…
I live in NY where “guys” is used constantly, I never thought about it, I knew it would get canceled.
For me this is another OVER CORRECTION of political correctness. I don’t care what Jeff Probst decides to do, but I say, “Hey you guys! Check this out!” all the time. Even here, to me “guys” is unisex.
This was a great first episode. I’ve been craving me some Survivor. Thanks for recapping. I don’t know the names either, so it doesn’t matter what you call them for names, I know who you’re talking about!
I don’t think JF’s protect or risk decision was shown until the end of the show. I thought that was brilliant editing as the viewer only heard him tell his tribe he protected the vote- but didn’t show the the footage of his decision until the end. It increased the tension. I told my kids he was ab long too much and that’s why no one believed him.
i was so excited to see the new season. I dont know if I ever mentioned it, but in August 2000 my father died unexpectedly. My sister and I were together a night or two before his memorial service. We wrote his eulogy, then smoked a big joint and watched the first ever survivor finale.(the epic tribal council) She had never seen it, and she turned to me after it ended and said, “I LOVE this show!” and she has been watching it ever since as have I. It was a moment.
I am paying more attention to the show since it is going to move quickly. I love how it always changes, and they are even showing the production crew a little! I hope they keep it up. I am really not attached to anyone yet, but I thought it was a good strong show.
What a great bonding experience! I have an Internet friend that I have had for twenty years!!!!! now. That began on a website about Survivor. That relationship has helped me through a lot of difficult things. It’s my longest friendship and the one I am most grateful for. After a few glasses of wine I find myself sending drunken emails just thanking that person for being my friend.
That is so sweet, Survivor is bonding for everyone!
There are idols this season as one of the players (confused who!) was standing right next to it while searching and missed it. Production pointed it out after she moved on. I was dying! I wanted her to find it so damn bad!
Love this show. Finally got a chance to watch this. I agree about them not putting the names of the players on the chryon thingy-how are we supposed to remember these ppls names? Don’t have any favorites yet I honestly think that this might be the best show on television. It’s super brutal this season! Fuck Bravo, Andy & the felons!