Survivor Tocantins episode 1
39 days, 16 people, 1 survivor
Survivor is back with a bang and a vicious twist right at the start- the scramble for resources and the first vote…
The last time an impromptu vote twist was seen was in season 10, where Wanda and Jonathan were booted from Palau.
First impressions are important and this played big part in this vote….In the game of Survivor-Perception is Reality!
From Jalapoa, Sandy, the older woman was voted for, while Sierra, the unwell, young, blond girl was voted out by Timbira.
Another twist…Sandy and Sierra are not voted out. They are flown to their respective camps where they are faced with a choice: search for the hidden immunity idol that will protect them in the first tribal council or they can set up their camps.
Sandy decided to look for the idol. A bad choice in my opinion. She is already an outcast in her tribe, and setting up camp would have definitely scored her some brownie points with her camp. Later, she puts herself in a worse position by isolating herself from her tribe and went looking again for the idol. The idol, if she finds it, will only protect her once. What will she do afterwards? How long will she last?
Sierra took a different route. By setting up camp and neglecting the idol, she put herself in good faith with her tribe. But is her good deed enough to save her?
My first impressions of selected castaways
Coach looks like a talker
Jt seems to have a good work ethic
Stephan may not adapt well to the environment
Tyson is the funny guy
Taj is a straight shooter
Spencer , the nineteen year old, is currently the youngest person to play survivor
Brendon is a likely strategist
Carolina is too talkative
Debbie is a free spirit
Sydney may play the flirt card
Joe seems to be trying to be his tribes leader
The other castaways were not shown enough to formulate a useful first impression comment. “Invisible contestants” do not make it very far historically in Survivor. Will this be the case again? Then again, Danni Boatwright, Tina Wesson and Sandra Diaz-Twine all played an under-the-radar game and won their seasons of Survivor. Survivor is unpredictable- anything can happen!
The immunity challenge consisted of three parts: A sprint across the water to fetch ladder rungs, building a ladder and then a table puzzle.
JT dominated the sprint across the water. He will definitely be an asset to his tribe or a threat if he is seen as a challenge dominator. In many past seasons, we have seen possible challenge threats getting an early boot pre-merge…Yau man (Micronesia), Marcus and Dan (Gabon), Aaron (China)….
Carolina was shown to be weak, which puts a target on her back.
Sierra and Sandy worked really hard at building the ladder, which shocked their tribes. Sandy and Taj quickly built the ladder, putting Jalapoa in the lead. However, Brendon and Erin, who worked well together at the table puzzle, led Timbira to victory.
Sandy is in trouble. She is still seen as an outcast in her tribe, despite her good performance at the Sandy the immunity challenge. But Spencer doesn’t want to vote out Sandy…
Carolina put herself in a bad situation by being to boisterous around camp, and by performing poorly at the immunity challenge. Taj gives Carolina a warning about her attitude. Later, Joe puts a noose around Carolina’s neck by suggesting Spencer and Jt that they should vote her out. Carolina is not aware that she is on the chopping block…
Tribal council…we have heard Jeff’s phrase: “Grab your torch and approach the flames and light your torch. In this game fire represents your life. When your fire is gone, so are you,” so many times now that it’s boring.
Is Sandy crazy? Jeff asks her that.
The votes…
Who is more stunned that Carolina received more than one vote? Sandy or Carolina? Sandy looked like she just won the game, and Carolina was just struck dumb….BLINDSIDED!!!!!
Carolina…the tribe has spoken…
****SPOILER ALERT****A few seasons later we will hear Carolina say: “This game loves blindsiding me”…
The tribe made a good decision in voting out the weakest link. This game is about numbers and to get numbers you have to keep the strongest tribe mates to win challenge. Will Jalapoa continue to vote off the weaker players to keep their tribe strong, or will they start eliminating threats and simultaneously weaken their own tribe?
Overall, Sandy and Sierra received a lot of camera time. Does this mean that they will make it far? You will have to wait to see. A sneak peak into next week’s episode reveals a very physical “water-basketball” challenge… Exile Island returns with a twist...things will get awesomely crazy!
Until next week...
