"Survivor 47" Premiere Recap - Gata Keep It Together
Jelinsky has some competition for the worst first episode ever...
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.
So, don’t miss a thing. Follow me here, follow me on YouTube, on X, etc…
Hooo…boy! We kick things off with a trio of boats racing across the water.
First up, we meet…
Sam, who mentions how diverse he is as we watch clips of him pitching a baseball and performing in musical theater. Yeah, bro. I did those things as well. Harold Hill represent.
Aysha tells us she comes off as someone who wouldn’t hurt a fly, but she has a flyswatter in the her back pocket. Also, she paid money for a Yam Yam shirt. So…
Kyle had a rough upbringing, but he now seems to have a happy family.
Tiyana does her best Maui from “Moana” impersonation. Welp, there’s my daughter’s early fave.
Jon tells us his family wants to watch him suffer. Well, you went on the right show.
Anika is ready to get evil. Welp, there’s my early fave.
Sue says her final words when she wins “Survivor” will be, “I’m 59 and I beat all your asses.” Yeah…maybe save that for after the jury votes.
And then once again, Jeff Probst neglects to say anything about…
39 26 Days, 18 People, 1 “Survivor” blog…
Alright, let’s check out these tribes…
The Gata Tribe (wearing yellow)
Andy, 31 - AI Research Assistant
Anika, 26 - Marketing Manager
Jon, 42 - Podcast Host
Rachel, 34 - Graphic Designer
Sam, 24 - Sports Reporter
Sierra, 27 - Nurse
The Lavo Tribe (wearing red)
Aysha, 32 - IT Consultant
Genevieve, 33 - Corporate Lawyer
Kishan, 28 - ER Doctor
Rome, 30 - Esports Commentator
Sol, 43 - Medical Device Sales
Teeny, 24 - Freelance Writer
The Tuku Tribe (wearing blue)
Caroline, 27 - Strategy Consultant
Gabe, 26 - Radio Show Host
Kyle, 31 - Construction Worker
Sue, 59 - Flight School Owner
Tiyana, 27 - Flight Atttendant
TK, 31 - Athlete Marketing Manager
OK, the trio of boats arrive at a beach where JPro is waiting for them.
Jeff welcomes them with a speech about community and how they have to work together and then eliminate each other.
TK thinks this will be an easy win. Fortunately, words never come back to bite people on reality TV.
Jon makes a great point about how everyone has an idea of how they’ll play the game, and they’re all about to get a fact check.
Probst then leads them into the jungle, where they’re greeted with a very elaborate challenge.
Opening Challenge: Two players from each tribe will crawl under a muddy net, they’ll race into the jungle and retrieve two big puzzles pieces. When they return the next two player will go until they have all six pieces. The first tribe to finish the puzzle will win their camp supplies. The two losing tribes will have to earn their stuff another way.
Result: Sam retrieves his piece and then is able to run back to help his partner. Very impressive. But the rest of Gata can’t maintain the lead and they’re the last tribe to start working on the puzzle. But, they figure it out and pick up the win.
Twist: The other two tribes will have to pick a member to complete a task, but they have nothing to go on. No clue as to what the task entails. Aysha will go for Lavo, while TK will go for Tuku.
As they head out, Rome thinks it’s a big mistake that Aysha is going to miss out on the first hours of bonding.
Runner-Up Challenge: Both players will race through the jungle on separate paths to retrieve keys. Whoever discovers all four will get the supplies.
Result: After TK and Aysha both retrieve three keys, they learn that the fourth key is in the ocean. TK gets to beach first but has trouble locating the key. Aysha is almost able to snatch it away, but she just can’t make it happen. TK wins the supplies.
At Gata Beach
The tribe takes some time to get to know each other and Jon owns up to being a famous podcast host. He tells them he used to write speeches, but we don’t know if he told the tribe that he wrote speeches for Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.
Andy tells us that he’s a math guy and that in a tribe of six people there are 15 one-on-one relationships. He says it’s a pretty easy equation, then he proceeds to do this…
OK, truth be told, I don’t know what half of those symbols even are.
Jon and Andy go off on their own for a bit and this is not lost on the other four members of the tribe. However, Andy is hoping to bring Rachel into his group.
Anika is very prepared and knows quite a bit about coconuts. This results in her taking on somewhat of a leadership role. Sam is very excited about this because he wants to be the “glue guy” which in sporting vernacular means someone who holds the team together.
Later on, Sierra is able to make fire. Phoenixville, PA represent!
That night, Andy wakes up Rachel because he’s having a tough time and he needs someone to talk to. This upsets her, because she’s worried late-night secret conversations are going to wreck her game.
That’s a very interesting situation; the human in you wants to be there for this person in need. But, the player in you recognizes that it doesn’t look good.
At Tuku Beach
Tiyana is not happy that they lost the challenge, because she thought they had the edge in physical strength.
Gabe wants to work with an older person. Luckily for him, he’s on a tribe with Sue. Sue and Caroline seem to be bonding as well.
TK arrives with the supplies and his tribe is downright giddy. Maybe he’s right and this will be easy. (But, probably not.)
However, this puts a target on his back as Caroline thinks all the guys have fallen in love with each other.
Later, as they’re retrieving firewood, Gabe stumbles upon a Beware Advantage. He manages to pocket it without TK seeing. Gabe opens it up, follows some instructions, but is busted trying to retrieve a key. Gabe quickly brings TK on board, but TK is clever enough to realize that he didn’t find the key without a Beware Advantage and Gabe didn’t intend to tell him about it.
Very savvy, TK. Maybe he is as good as his boasts.
Gabe tells Sue that he found the advantage and enlists her to be the look out while he goes to unlock the idol. He cracks it open and is greeted by another lock!
Now they’re just messing with him.
The note says that he has an idol good for the next Tribal Council, but if he wants to perform another task, he can earn an idol good for the next three Tribal Councils.
He’s gonna need Andy to help him with this math.
Gabe decides to go for it. That night, he sneaks out to retrieve the key from a giant piece of driftwood. He opens the second box and receives…another box!
“Survivor!”
He’s given the opportunity to trade the idol for a chance at an idol that’s good until the final five. Does he have to choose now? Can he just enjoy his idol and his vote and do it later?
We don’t find out as he just decides to keep the three-Tribal idol.
At Lavo Beach
Kishan owns up to being an ER doctor, and his tribe seems into it. Which is nice, too often you get, “He’s a smarty? Gotta go first!”
Teeny is hoping that her social game will take her far. She says her goal is to be every single person’s number one. Oof…that’s a tough tightrope to walk there, Teeny.
Anywho, she bonds with Kishan because he’s more introverted, so they complement one another. She also makes a good point that based on his career, he’s probably good under pressure.
In other alliance news, it looks like Rome and Genevieve are getting along as well. Genevieve is also trying to start a partnership with Teeny. But, Teeny wants to wait for Aysha to return before deciding on an alliance.
When Aysha gets back to the camp, she tells everyone the truth about what happened.
Teeny pulls Aysha aside and tells her that she’s a fan of her podcast. But, she’s not going to blow up Aysha’s spot because it would just show everyone that she’s a huge fan of “Survivor.”
That cat might already be waaaay out of the bag there, Teeny.
Apparently Aysha is on something called “Rob Has a Podcast.” Whatever that is.
Later, Rome manages to find his tribe’s Beware Advantage. But…he is not subtle about hunting for it. While he’s completing the other tasks, Aysha catches him soaking a piece of driftwood. She tells the others and now Rome is public enemy number one.
While Rome is competing his next task, he says it’s almost like Probst wants people to catch him.
Yeah, dude. He’s a reality TV producer.
Immunity Challenge Time: The players will start in the water on a platform. They’ll swim to a boat, then use the boat to retrieve three heavy chests along the way back to shore. They’ll drag the boat across the beach, then complete a giant puzzle. The first two tribes to complete the challenge will win immunity. The first tribe will receive a building kit. The second tribe gets a slightly smaller kit. The losing tribe will go to Tribal Council and forfeit their flint.
Result: Tuku and Gata have a really tough time with the boat portion with both wiping out and losing their chests. Jeff calls this the worst start to an opening challenge in “Survivor” history. I dunno…I saw Gervase almost die during the first “Blood vs. Water.” Lavo wins this easily with Rome and Aysha taking care of the puzzle. As Tuku is finishing the puzzle to claim second, medical is called in to check on Andy.
As they’re tending to Andy, he says, “I was going to go home tonight.” But Jeff assures him that he’s still in the game.
Once he’s better, he joins his tribe on the mat. When Jeff asks for an update, Andy says that he was fighting for his life because he knows he’s on the bottom of his tribe. The others try to assure to him that they like him. Andy says that he’s a strategist and he’s going to do anything to stay, including throwing his closest ally Jon under the bus.
I would normally make some jokes here, but this is kind of disturbing. He’s clearly not thinking clearly.
Pre-Tribal Politicking
Rachel points out that she’s never seen a meltdown quite like that on “Survivor.” Yeah, there’s burning bridges and then there’s nuking them.
Andy holds a group meeting and apologies for his behavior. But, I’d imagine people aren’t thrilled to work with him anymore.
Anika, Rachel, and Sierra tell Jon that they want Andy to go, but they’re going to use Jon as a decoy name. This of course makes Jon very nervous.
Jon and Andy have a discussion where Andy tries to target Anika. They approach Sam with this plan and all this does is make Sam think that Jon is playing really hard.
What it seems to come down to is; Andy’s potential to meltdown again vs. Jon not being much help in challenges.
Tribal Time
Sierra thanks Anika for taking on a leadership role, although Anika smartly is quick to be like, “Leader? Me? Nah…”
Maybe not literally.
Andy admits that part of his motivation for coming on the show was to take on this big social test.
Jon doesn’t want people to be judged by their worst moments.
Andy doesn’t think it’s OK to just vote him out based on what happened after the challenge. But if it happens, he’ll accept the result.
Sam makes the point that it’s tough to work with someone who just threw his closest ally under the bus.
Jon makes a fantastic point that Andy is the natural target…so who’s the unnatural target? It could be him.
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 one vote for Jon, one vote for Anika, two votes for Jon, and the first person voted out of “Survivor 47” is…Jon.
Verdict: Booooooo! I wanted more Jon!
Yay! “Survivor” is back with an interesting cast and we weren’t too bogged down with advantages and whatnot.
A: Teeny - There’s something to be said for someone who’s fun around camp and getting along with everyone.
A: TK - He made it happen at the supply challenge and he was smart enough to sniff out Gabe’s ruse. Well done, sir.
A: Sam - There was a lot of talk about being the player you thought you would be. And it seems like Sam is playing that role to perfection.
A- Sierra - Fire starter?! From my neck of the woods? Get it, Sierra! Also, let’s meet at the Colonial in December for a screening of “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
B: Asyha - She got off to a rough start, but fortunately Rome’s sloppy gameplay is going to buy her some time to make some friends and blend in.
B: Anika - We’re getting a lot of leadership talk about Anika. Not always great. Although, with Sam looking to hide behind someone playing that role, she should be fine.
B: Sue - Gabe trusts her enough to share his info about the idol, but he could be in hot water quick. I wouldn’t get too attached.
B-: Rachel - I think she played her hand well, but I can’t help but think she’s in a bad spot. Since they saved Andy, they won’t be looking to boot him next vote. And since Andy seems to think she’s somewhat of a fake friend, that could be a problem.
C: Gabe and Rome - A lot of unforced errors from Gabe and Rome this week. Why the rush to find this idol? He and Rome need to pick their spots better.
C-: Andy - Wow…that was rough to watch. As the permanent new kid in school, I appreciate assuming people hate you when they meet you. Game aside, I hope you can find some peace with that. Game not aside, there’s no way I’d ever work with you.
Incomplete: Sol, Kishan, Genevieve, Kyle, Tiyana, and Caroline - I can’t grade you if you don’t show your work.
Welp, that’s it! Check out my exit interview with Jon on YouTube tomorrow.
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And, be sure to check out the official “Survivor” podcast - “On Fire with Jeff Probst”