Shock and Awe-nika: Survivor 47 Episode 5 Recap and Power Ranking
Survivor 47 brought us another good episode this week. While not as shocking (to viewers) as last week, we got blindsides, and chickens, and twists — oh my!
Lavo is in the air
The new hierarchy in Lavo is a little hard to suss out. After returning from tribal, Rome was upset with Teeny, but then they made up. All’s good, right?
Wrong.
Later in the episode, Rome tries to play Sol against Teeny and tells Sol that Genevieve would prefer working with Teeny. This gets back to Genevieve and she’s pissed, resorting to making faces of exasperation that rival Jim Carrey in The Mask. There’s some plotting against Rome and his chaos, but nothing comes of it… yet.
The only person truly in control is Genevieve. The other three could file in in any remaining slot in the hierarchy. Unfortunately for her, she’s the leader of three blind mice who all don’t like each other. Good luck.
Everybody do the (new Survivor) twist
The Survivor social hour was beyond underwhelming as a twist. Yes, making bonds with the other tribes’ castaways is key, but in the new era when there’s a journey every two days, a forced shuffle of the three tribes post earn-the-merge, and a complete lack of loyalty, is it really that important? If anything, on the wrong tribe it could distance you from the people back at camp who are more important to your immediate game.
That doesn’t even mention the one — yes, one — hot dog each person got on the award. No condiments, no fixings, no chips, no potato salad. Just a dog and a bun. It was very sweet they had a veggie dog for Kyle, but that’s all I’m giving credit for.
OK, I lied. I will give credit for a couple other things. The reward was a fun version of messy. Tiyana tanked her game in an obvious way. Even if she’s right about Gabe, she was too much of a blabbermouth for people to trust her as an alliance partner down the line, least of all her Tuku tribemates that are crucial to keep close post-merge.
Also, cornhole. Notice that our Michigan-based king Kyle was of course the one to drain two shots during the cornhole game. Midwest supremacy. Also take that people who call it “bags” — you’re wrong and Jeff Probst says so, too.
What came first?
Gata brought their mostly-useless chickens to trade them for eggs. Not everyone was comfortable killing and eating the chickens, and two of the three laid eggs broke.
Gata opened negotiations at two dozen eggs, Jeff countered with a generous 15 and somehow they landed at 18. Jeff has officially gone soft.
Jokes on Gata, though. By losing the immunity challenge, they lost their flint and steel and cannot make a fire to cook their eggs.
Not a fan of getting rid of the chicken dilemma. The whole point is it’s a dilemma. It can create friction on a tribe, result in some tribe members being less nourished, and forces people to face the reality of what it means to eat an animal. This dilemma stretches all the way to season one, though the first real dilemma was in season two, Australian Outback, when Kimmi the vegetarian wouldn’t eat animals. It’s a classic and letting them trade that easily for that many eggs sets a precedent I don’t love.
Here’s your headstone
Survivor’s George Costanza has turned into Survivor’s John Wick. Maybe that’s a bit much considering he sawed the rope backwards in the immunity challenge, but Andy came in with one of the most badass lines I’ve ever heard at the voting booth.
“I’ve been burying you for the last 10 days. Here’s your headstone.”
With his — along with Sierra and Sam’s — vote against Anika, he lowered the #girlboss into her grave. And boy was it a captivating funeral.
In one of the longest post-vote, pre-snuff, scenes in Survivor history, we saw Anika absolutely jaw-droppingly shocked. Mouth agape, she expressed her vitriol with her eyes alone, cutting through Sierra and Sam like Jon Lovett through a coconut. She circled around behind the benches, gathered her bag, and addressed the group, searching for answers.
She asked Rachel if she knew, to which she responded truthfully she did not.
She inquired who was responsible, Sam raised his hand while Andy — who could not hide a triumphant smile — also took credit, saying it was all three of them.
“Three votes,” Sam deadpanned while Sierra gritted her teeth to fight the guilt.
Anika went over to Jeff, still in shock, had her torch snuffed and exited the tribal council set in tears.
It was pure cinema.
I’m Noticing
This section is new. Here’s some random things I noticed, either for fun or things that may be foreshadowing what’s to come.
Andy was the only one who shot a basketball-style shot in the challenge
Kyle is super agile. Potential individual immunity threat on a lot of obstacle courses and hanging-style challenges
Sam bickering with Rachel on the puzzle — showing he gets irritable easy still
Andy is showing his intelligence and acting skills. He’s perfectly set up to play dumb while scheming.
We got Caroline saying Sue is her No. 1, but Sue says Gabe is her No. 1
Andy is a southpaw
Power Rankings
Sierra (+1)
Sam (+1)
GENEVIEVE (-2)
Sue
Andy (+2)
Caroline
Gabe (+1)
Kyle (+5)
Rome (-4)
Teeny (+2)
Sol (-1)
Rachel (-3)
Tiyana (-2)
X - Anika (previous: 14)
Biggest Winners:
Sierra and Sam only moved up one each, but they’re the clear strongest alliance in the game. Andy is their agent, and even though not the most reliable he will likely be their lapdog for at least a few votes post-merge. Voting out Anika got rid of most of the Sam and Sierra infighting as well. Andy gained two spots as a result of being the free rider on that power pair. Kyle is the largest mover for me. He gets that movement because I was very concerned last episode about him not having a vote for the next tribal, but we’re one episode closer to the merge and he’s also clearly not the bottom of his tribe. He’s essentially safe until the merge, and I think he’s got strong challenge ability and likeability once we get that point — and now that path is clear for him.
Biggest Losers:
Tiyana sits at the bottom of the barrel. She backstabbed one of the leaders of her tribe for no reason, or at least did so too obviously. This set off Sue, put off Caroline, and got herself caught in a half-apology half-truth with Gabe. She activated a speed run to the bottom from an already precarious position. Rome’s heavy pushing for moves and being overbearing worked when he had an idol and a steal-a-vote. Now… not so much. He’s losing his manufactured power, and it’s starting to make him less valuable and more expandable in the eyes of the real players in his alliance. Rachel lost her No. 1 and doesn’t have anything up her sleeve at the moment to recover. She mainly needs time. In the new era, that’s a thin resource. She can dig herself out of this, and I like her as a player so I hope she figures something out, but it’s going to be tough.