"Survivor 46" Premiere Recap - Several Mistakes Were Made
One player has about as bad of a premiere as you can possibly have...
Every Wednesday after the “Survivor” episode airs you’ll find a full recap along with individual player grades right here. The next day I’ll have an exit interview with the latest castaway on my YouTube Channel. And…get this…this Monday we’ll have the return of the “Survivor” Power Rankings! That too is available on my YouTube Channel.
So, don’t miss a thing. Follow me here, follow me on YouTube, on X, etc…
Holy cow, we start things off with Tevin giving a movie trailer-esque breakdown of the core of “Survivor."
(Stands up, claps)
Well done, sir. Just let him narrate the whole season.
We then see a trio of boats racing past some Fijian islands. We get to meet…
Bhanu who applied to be on "Survivor" the day he became an American citizen.
Jess who is worried that she's a little awkward. She's also an identical twin…whoa...which makes me bummed that they don't do family visits anymore, cause what if they switched? Then her nutritionally superior twin could dominate challenges…
Hunter who is worried that he might have trouble bonding because he's not a huge Taylor Swift fan.
Charlie who is a huge Taylor Swift fan. That’s awesome.
Tiffany who's a self-taught artist.
Venus who looks small, but is mighty.
Kenzie who is ready to party.
And finally, Jeff Probst welcomes us to “Survivor 46.” However, he neglects to say…
39 26 Days, 18 People, 1 “Survivor” blog…
Alright, let’s check out these tribes…
The Nami Tribe (wearing orange)
Hunter, 28 - Science Teacher
Liz, 35 - Marketing Strategist
Randen, 41 - Aerospace Tech
Soda, 27 - Special Ed Teacher
Tevin, 24 - Actor
Venus, 24 - Data Analyst
The Siga Tribe (wearing green)
Ben, 36 - Musician
Charlie, 26 - Law Student
Jem, 32 - International Brand Mentor
Maria, 48 - Parent Coach
Moriah, 28 - Program Coordinator
Tim, 31 - College Coach
The Yanu Tribe (wearing purple)
Bhanu, 41 - IT Quality Analyst
Jelinsky, 22 - Slot Machine Salesman
Jess, 37 - Software Engineer
Kenzie, 29 - Salon Owner
Q, 29 - Real Estate Agent
Tiffany, 33 - Artist
The trio of boats arrive on a beach where J-Pro is patiently waiting. And, apparently the boat ride was pretty rough as Soda says she didn't know whether to laugh or cry or crap her pants.
Here's hoping she chose the former.
Ooof…and it was so bad that Ben actually vomited. Kudos to "Survivor" production for having the restraint not to show it.
Jeff then breaks into an odd monologue where he says that not everyone can win. He doesn't say that only one person can win, he says there's a person who can't conceivably win.
That’s weird, right? Somewhere in the multiverse of madness there's gotta be a timeline where each player wins.
Reward Challenge: Two at a time, players will race under a net and retrieve two heavy puzzle pieces. Once all six pieces have been retrieved, three tribe members will use the pieces to build a podium. Then one tribe member will scale the podium and use a long pole to retrieve flint. The winning tribe will also receive a machete and a pot.
The second tribe gets to choose between sweat and savvy for their supplies.
Aww…no “sweat and savvy”? I liked that twist.
Nami runs away with the challenge, claiming first place. Siga comes in second and chooses the savvy task.
Huh, they didn't even let them know what the sweat and savvy challenges were.
At Yanu Beach
Jelinsky starts things off by telling us that Probst preaches about the monster in the game, and Jelinsky is the monster. Oh boy…
Sweat Challenge: Two members of the tribe will have to fill giant urns with water using small buckets. If they fail to do it in the allotted time, they won't receive their supplies until after the first immunity challenge.
Q and Jelinsky step up to do it. And hilariously, the buckets have holes in them.
Ha! Jeff said there would be no more villains on the show, that’s cause Jeff is the villain. Love it.
The challenge is so exhausting that Jelinsky goes full Jim Halpert on us.
Jelinsky eventually tells Q that he doesn’t think they can complete it in time and he chucks the hourglass across the beach where it shatters. Oh no! Will it reset the last immunity challenge?
Also, dude, there's broken glass on your beach now.
Q takes this as a sign that Jelinsky is mentally weak.
In other news, it seems like Kenzie is making alliances with everyone. We see her with Q, Zelinsky, and Tiffany. She wants to work with Jess as well, but Jess doesn’t want to talk strategy just yet.
Zelinsky also wants to call his alliance with Kenzie, “Shaggy and Daphne.”
Jess is just having an overall rough time out there. She isn't sleeping, she’s losing things, she's afraid to talk strategy.
Later on, Tiffany finds the Beware Advantage and IMMEDIATELY TELLS KENZIE!
Why?!
Seriously, why?
The clue leads her to a box that is locked. And, she won't get a clue to the location of the key until her tribe loses immunity. She also won't be able to vote until she retrieves the idol. So, she’ll have from the challenge until Tribal Council to find the key.
At Siga Beach
Savvy Challenge: Two players will need to complete a word puzzle. If they fail to do it in the allotted time, they won't receive their supplies until after the first immunity challenge.
Ben and Charlie step up to take it on, and it is tough. They have to discover numbers in a word find puzzle. The letters that aren't used tell them where to dig. They aren't able to figure it out in time, and declare this the beginning of the “Dumb and Dumber" alliance.
Also, everything Ben says is some kind of music reference.
But, his tribe seems to love him. Apparently they’re sur-vibe-ing.
Meanwhile, Maria and Tim bond immediately, and seem to be setting up some kind of parenting alliance. Moriah and Jen also seem like a pair who are bonding with Maria.
Eventually, we learn that the women are working together and want to partner with Charlie in an alliance called “Charlie's Angels.”
At Nami Beach
During a group chat session, Liz talks about all of the businesses she’s started and sold, and I'm wondering if she knows how this show works. Sure enough, Tevin takes exception to this, because he's out there for the money.
Also, Soda shows that she does know how the show works, by starting a fire.
Later on, Soda shows off her camp counseling skills by singing some camp songs. However, Hunter is also a camp counselor, and apparently he hates camp songs.
Weirdest start to a feud ever?
Then, Tevin and Hunter bond over their shared love of “The Andy Griffith Show.” Yes, seriously.
Weirdest start to an alliance ever?
Also, did production make it a mandate that the alliances need to be named after old TV shows? Are these programs available on Paramount+ or something?
Elsewhere, Venus doesn’t like that people think she's a princess. In fact, she’s envisioning saying “Screw you" to everyone who thought that when she makes it to the final Tribal Council. Well, that's certainly a way to endear yourself to jurors.
Randen thinks that’s Venus is a Parvati-type player, and expresses this concern to Soda. However, Soda doesn’t trust Randen at all and immediately tells Venus.
Hilariously, Venus agrees that she is a Parvati-type player, but how dare Randen notice the truth.
They’re On a Boat
The boat of excessive twistS shows up at each of the beaches. Jelinsky says he wants to go and his tribe just lets him. Tevin wins a dice roll and Maria wins a rock-paper-scissors battle.
The trio is taken to a sand spit where they're greeted by a game that will test their ability to read each other. There are three cards on a table; a torch, a skull, and a vote. Each person will take a card. The person with the torch will have to tell the other players that they have the torch card. The other players will have to convince the torch holder that they have the vote card.
If the torch holder picks correctly, they'll get an extra vote. If they pick incorrectly, they’ll lose a vote.
They shuffle the cards and Maria ends up with the torch. We learn that Tevin has the vote card and Jelinsky has the skull card.
Jelinsky starts by saying, “I’m not going to lie to you.” Which, I've always heard is a good indicator that that person is lying.
And Maria, promptly kills this challenge. She makes it about the overall game and not the challenge, saying she won't be able to work with the liar in the future.
AND IT WORKS! Jelinsky immediately confesses!
Soooo…Tevin and Maria get an extra vote and Jelinsky loses his vote.
That's how you break a challenge. They can never do that again.
Wow. Jelinsky is off to a rough start.
Back at camp, Jelinsky tells his tribe that he didn’t want to cost the other players their votes and everyone hates this decision. Kenzie in particular is annoyed that her number one wouldn’t lie to strangers.
Maria tells the truth to her tribe, and Tim is really worried that this extra vote is going to let the women take control of their tribe.
Immunity Challenge Time: Players will race to the top of a ramp where they’ll be greeted by a giant gecko. They’ll then untie the gecko and carry it through an obstacle course. Once they’re through the course, the first two teams to complete a puzzle will win immunity.
Before the challenge starts, Jelinsky expresses frustration that they were told they'd have several hours to complete the sweat challenge, and that several means “seven.”
Uh oh…
Remember when Sandra won "Survivor: Several”?
Result: Nami is the first tribe to get to the puzzle by a looooong shot. Soda and Venus take care of the puzzle and earn their tribe the win. Siga claiming second.
Pre-Tribal Politicking
When they get back to camp, Jelinsky decides to hang back and relax, rather than talk strategy at the water well with his alliance.
Wow, if Jelinsky goes home, he is the absolute king of unforced errors.
It seems like the initial plan is to vote for Jess, but to tell Jess they're voting for Jelinsky.
Tiffany is not bummed out that they lost the challenge, because it’s her chance to get her idol and her vote. She's greeted by a code. She cracks it pretty quickly and is able to retrieve the key and eventually her idol. Way to be, Tiffany!
Meanwhile, Q is fed up with Jelinsky and wants him to go.
Tribal Time
Q calls out Jelinsky for giving up on the sweat challenge, which was followed by Jelinsky saying he’s the type of person who never gives up.
When Probst calls him out on this, he says, “we” quit the challenge. Oh, Q must’ve loved that.
Oddly, there's no follow up on Jelinsky’s comment.
Then, Jelinsky says he lost his vote, but Q thinks he gave up his vote to give other people their votes.
Jeff tries to talk to Jess, but she can't put together a coherent thought. It's very odd. I hope she's OK.
Oof…then Bhanu says that he isn’t sure which way the tribe is going and it might be too late for Jelinsky. When Probst asks if he thinks Jelinsky is going home, everyone gets quiet and Bhanu simply says, “It’s time to vote."
Voting Time: No votes are shown.
JPro tallies and returns. He asks if anyone wants to play an idol or an advantage and…nobody does.
We’ve got two vote for Jelinsky and the first person voted out of “Survivor 46” is…Jelinsky.
Verdict: Huh, Q said that the Sweat Challenge would either bring him and Jelinksy together or tear them apart. He was right.
And wow, has anyone ever had a worse premiere than Jelinsky? It’s like that “Seinfeld” thing where every instinct he had was wrong.
Otherwise, good premiere. I felt like we got to see something from everybody.
A: Maria - It was masterful how she handled that lying game. And, it seems like she has a solid alliance. Well done.
A: Tiffany and Kenzie - Jelinsky was a rough person to have in your alliance. So, kudos for making the call. And you’ve got an idol. Not too shaggy…er…shabby.
A-: Tevin - We didn’t see a ton of his tribe, but it seems like he and Soda are going to be running the show.
A-: Soda - Fire starting, fire singing…
B+ Moriah and Jem - Charlie’s Angels are off to a good start.
B+: Ben and Charlie - Yeah, you blew the Savvy challenge, but your personalities immediately endeared you to the rest of the tribe.
B: Q - Physically, Yanu can’t get rid of Q. But, if they get blown out in the next challenge, he might take some heat over it.
B: Hunter - Who hates camp songs? Monster…
B: Venus - Soda had to choose between you and Randen, and she clearly went with you. That’s a good place to be.
B-: Liz - It felt like a bad call when you were discussing the businesses you’ve sold and Tevin immediately picked up on it.
B-: Bhanu - You need to toughen up, Bhanu. You’re going to have rougher Tribals than voting out a guy you’ve known for three days.
C: Jess - I like Jess a lot, so I hope she can pull it together. But until she does, she’s in trouble.
C: Tim - That parent alliance was grounded quickly.
C: Randen - Burning like a silver flame…the summit of beauty and love…
Welp, that’s it! Check out my exit interview with Jelinsky on YouTube tomorrow. And, this Monday don’t miss the debut of the “Survivor” Power Rankings for season 46.
Follow me here on Substack, as well as YouTube, and X.
And, be sure to check out the official “Survivor” podcast - “On Fire with Jeff Probst”