More Whatnot

Welcome to MoreWhatnot.com, my personal blog where I’ll be posting “Survivor” episode recaps all season long. For exit interviews with all of the eliminated players and the RETURN of the “Survivor” Power Rankings with Owen Knight, be sure to check out my YouTube channel!

Last Week: Three contestants played team musical chairs, Soka split up into pairs, and Sarah was sent down the Tribal Council stairs…

39 26 Days, 18 People, 1 “Survivor” Blog

Let’s take a look at the tribes as they currently stand…

The Ratu Tribe (wearing orange)

• Brandon, 30 – Security Specialist
• Carson, 20 – NASA Engineering Student
• Lauren, 31 – Elementary School Teacher
• Kane, 25 – Law Student
• Matthew, 43 – Barbershop Owner

The Soka Tribe (wearing green)

• Danny 32 – Firefighter
• Frannie, 23 – Research Coordinator
• Heidi, 29 – Engineering Manager
• Jaime, 35 – Yogi
• Matt, 27 – Security Software Engineer

The Tika Tribe (wearing purple)

• Carolyn, 35 – Drug Counselor
• Josh, 34 – Surgical Podiatrist
• Yam Yam, 36 – Salon Owner

Post-Tribal Wrap Up

Yam Yam is trying to pick up the pieces after a dumpster fire of a Tribal Council. Carolyn’s explanation is that she had two people telling her what to do, so she felt like a third wheel. Like one of those wobbly shopping cart wheels, I bet.

Carolyn says her heart tells her to work with Yam Yam, but her brain tells her that Josh is best for her game. What does your spleen tell you?

Yam Yam tries to smooth things over with Josh the next day, but he feels like Josh is taking the potential blindside personally. Eventually they make peace with each of them sharing their coming-out stories.

Josh has also been planting some seeds, telling Yam Yam that he has the Soka idol from their birdcage. He even goes so far as to fashion a fake idol out of some treemail beads.

See! Fashioned by someone in the game, the way the “Survivor” gods intended!

Josh isn’t sure which way he wants to go with the next vote, but he wants both Carolyn and Yam Yam to feel comfortable until he has to make a choice.

At Ratu Beach

Matthew is having a really tough time dealing with the pain from his fall. Carson and Kane are both very supportive of the emotional state that he is in.

We also learn that Carson and Kane are finally able to nerd out about “Lord of the Rings,” “Pokemon,” and “Star Wars.” Oh man, Danny’s gonna steal their lunch money.

At Soka Beach

We meet up with Danny teaching his tribe about his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu breathing techniques. He also tells us about how much he misses his four-month-old daughter. (OK, maybe he’s not the lunch-money-stealing type.)

Meanwhile, Jaime is making inroads in tribe with everyone except for Matt. She tries to work with him and he’s like, “Ah…meh…”

But, maybe Jaime isn’t as in-tune as she thinks. She hasn’t picked up that Matt and Frannie are an alliance.

And are in looooooove.

Immunity Challenge Time: The tribes will be tied together and race through a series of obstacles. They’ll fill a bucket with water and use the water to lower a bridge. From there, the first two tribes to successfully maneuver three balls through a table maze will win immunity. The first tribe will also get to decide which three people to send on a journey.

Sitting Out: Matthew, Lauren, Jaime, and Frannie

Result: Ratu claims first place, with Soka taking second. Ratu chooses Brandon, Danny, and Carolyn to go on the excursion.

Probst asks medical to take a look at Matthew and it appears the injury isn’t getting better. They do not pull him from the game, but it’s not looking good.

The Excursion

Instead of having to play a weirdo game of rock-paper-scissors, the players are taken to the Sanctuary where they are treated to a pre-merge-atory meal.

Carolyn tells the guys about Josh’s idol, which leads them to believe that Jaime and Carson have limited-time idols as well. Brandon and Danny also start laying the groundwork for a post-merge alliance.

And true to form, Carolyn immediately starts to feel left out as they bro-down. They tell her they want to work with her if she makes the merge. Which, she’s totally capable of doing since she’s still packing an idol.

The bro-down has Carolyn very wary of Josh as he was mentioned as someone that Danny wants in the alliance.

Pre-Tribal Politicking

While Carolyn is on the excursion, Josh tells Yam Yam that he doesn’t want to have to play idols in back-to-back Tribals. Not bad.

When Carolyn returns, she tries to signal to Yam Yam that they should work together again.

Then she flat out tells Josh that he’s in trouble because the guys want to alignwith him. This doesn’t bother Josh though because he has an “idol.”  He produces his masterpiece and Yam Yam immediately recognizes the beads as having come from a treemail.

So, after everything that happened last week, Yam Yam ends up as the swing vote. “Survivor” is fun.

Uh-oh…Jeff shows up on a boat. I’m assuming he’s showing up to tell us that Matthew is out.

Sure enough, Matthew has decided to leave the game. But…did he do anything with his idol before he left?

Verdict: Hate to see Matthew go out like that. Especially because it was somewhat of his own doing. Hopefully he and Bruce get to lead tribes in an upcoming season.

Otherwise, less twisty, more personality…love it. Seeing Kane and Carson, and Jaime and Team Mannie, all good stuff. 

Looks like we’re off to merge-atory next week. Where Carolyn is bound to set the bro-liance ablaze.

Power Rankings Result: Owen had Matthew in spot ten and I had him in spot seven. So, the current score is Team Holmes 30, Team Knight 40. Check out my YouTube channel for the full episodes!

	Yam Yam – You managed to work your way from the bottom into a swing-vote position. Well done, sir.
	Carson – He’s done a fantastic job making some strong bonds without having to tip his hand about how savvy he is. He doesn’t have to play his time-delayed idol and he’s about to be reunited with Yam Yam and Carolyn. Frannie – She’s just a star. Every time I see her I think she can win this whole thing. Just hope the showmance doesn’t take her down.
	Kane – Hey! We finally got to see Kane do some strategy! And he has a buddy!
	Danny and Brandon – I’m sure there was some editing trickery going on there, but it was obvious that these two were driving Carolyn up a wall. Kudos for setting up a post-merge alliance though. Shame if Carolyn wrecks it. Matt – You are so lucky to have Frannie. But best case for you is being Amber to her Boston Rob. (Which honestly isn’t a bad best-case scenario.)
	Josh – He should have been the swing vote, but his real fake idol and Danny’s big mouth put him in a lot of trouble. Carolyn – It’d be fascinating to play poker with Carolyn, right? Would she just tell you what cards she has? Jaime – You aren’t wrong about being valuable, but you need to learn to read a room better. And with Matthew gone, you’re in big trouble.
	Lauren and Heidi – I can’t grade you correctly if I don’t see your work.

Any Questions? Drop me a line on Twitter: @gordonholmes

This entry was posted on March 29, 2023 at 9:00 pm and is filed under survivor, Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.