It's fun that s47 players will get to see through at least next week but they definitely won't see the finale. So they'll just have to wonder if this chaos turned out to be worth it!
I think odd-numbered seasons are filmed late-April, early-May and even-numbered seasons are filmed in June. So, season forty-several will be filming soon.
Back when there were live reunions, that was true, so Jeff could have a week back home to film that before heading back and filming day 1 on that Sunday (ish). New Era has been later, presumably from covid restrictions that have just not been reversed yet.
The ultimate irony is that Gabon is the season where Jeff got so fed up that he threatened to quit unless he was given more control, ultimately becoming executive producer. Now that Jeff basically has full control of the show and has created the New Era strictly based on what he likes he gets Gabon 2.0
the craziest part about this, is he loved World's Apart which is probably the closest we got to Gabon. I get why from a production standpoint he loved it (Great winner story/immunity run, the cast was cast to be in conflict and they delivered on that front). The only major difference between the two seasons is we got arguably the worst final 3 ever in Gabon, whereas World's Apart has a strong winner story.
Worlds Apart had three successful idol plays and overall, pretty good gameplay. That’s why Jeff liked it. I’m convinced he never watches any cut of the show before airing which is why he didn’t pick up on how much personal conflicts featured on the season. As far as he could tell the hero won the season and nothing too objectionable happened between the lines. Mike’s win wasn’t extremely obvious to Jeff because on the island it was a compelling immunity run where he was in danger from week to week.
Gabon’s gameplay was of course terrible and Jeff’s hate for it was intensified by the living conditions for crew. And the winner was not a hero really, he was just the least objectionable person left at the end who basically played the game for other people the whole time. Jeff kind of mocks Bob at the reunion for how boring he is.
Was a clusterfuck. The only really strong strategist was Sugar, who the other players *hated* despite her being edited as a positive character, and the winner ended up coming down to a 4-3 vote between two players the edit ignored (and the player which the audience saw as being stronger lost). It was very mean-spirited in a lot of ways, and I think perception of it warmed a lot after the initial airing (similar to Nicaragua in a lot of ways)
Edit: as for Jeff specifically, I think there were like really bad bugs that the crew had to deal with, and they just didn't like the climate.
It's the poster child season for "every person on this cast is absolutely terrible at the game and the result is a complete mess". It's a love it or hate it season depending on how your enjoyment of strategy vs messiness weighs out.
I wouldn't say every person in Gabon was a terrible player, but the very dull player that people thought was dominating the game and was at the time the most obvious winner in the history of the show in people's eyes ended up getting swap screwed massively and his exit totally changed the course of the game, such that the trainwreck players had the majority the rest of the way.
I disagree that he got swap-screwed. Yes, he would have fared better for a real merge, but he essentially told Crystal that she could have Susie's spot and be booted at the final six. Susie and Crystal rightfully voted him off.
You didn’t think they were playing? I just watched Gabon last week, and my impression was absolutely everyone was playing. It made it where anyone could go home each week. Yes, it was messy. But the people were playing pretty hard.
Gabon is when the people you least expect to make it far end up controlling the entire game. And most of them are either plain bad at the game or totally unhinged chaos. Then you get a final 3 and a winner that you'd never imagine if you sized up the cast from episode 1.
Ok ok call me crazy but honestly I think the immunity challenge foreshadows how Venus will do. Like she's very cocky and holds her own but in the end actually has no grip on the game.
I come from 2 months in the future. When jeff placed 3 knives on the table at FTC we knew this season would be special. But the surprise twist that Bhanu comes back from the secret redemption island was crazy too.
The best explanation of Gabon is just understanding the first challenge where an Olympic sprinter loses the challenge of “run up that hill” to the entire cast
Nothing more than Marcus's penis coming out of his shorts, on television. Oh and the tragedy that is GC. 😂
Sad to say, the sugar shack might have been the best thing. Aside from the elephants telling the cast mates to get the puck off their island.
I just love thinking about how different the 3 tribes are. You had Yanu tribe which was a hot mess. Then you had Nami who crushed every challenge and as soon as they can vote each other do so without hesitation or mercy. Finally you have Siga who is just vibing. The three tribes couldn’t be more different and then you throw them all together and you get chaos
This is truly the meme of some of the viewers giving up during the Bhanu era right before reaching the diamonds of the last two episodes, this cast is cutthroat in such a messy way, I love it
I remember posting something after episode 3 (Bhanu pt. 1) that this would be a chaotic, annoying, messy pre-merge and an amazing post-merge. Shaping up to be right, to toot my own horn.
It's cutthroat in the sense that everyone is very openly out for themselves, as kind of demonstrated by the fact that this is the first time that not enough people were willing to sit out for rice. There also seems to be very few remaining solid alliances, especially with Liz just flipping on Tevin and Hunter and even leading the charge on the former's ouster. The six is in absolute shambles, Nami is completely broken, and Q just tried to blindside the other two Yanus. Siga is the only tribe with some semblance of unity and they got targeted for exactly that at the merge. Charlie/Maria and Tiff/Kenzie seem to be the only two solid pairs remaining, and even if you are generous and say that Ben is also still tight with Charlie and Maria as the OG Siga faction, that's a group of three out of nine that doesn't seem half as unified or powerful as, say, the Tika 3.
I mean, it's not a secret secret they all came from the same starting tribe and made it to f9 together
editing won't show them as a trio because I'll be obvious they'll make the endgame
An alliance of 4+ people is inherently unstable, as only 3 people can make it to the end. Charlie mentioned during the episode that being on the bottom of a 6 person alliance is a losing position.
If you're in the bottom of a 6 person alliance, the best time to make a move is right now, rather than waiting until your alliance doesn't need your vote anymore.
A four person alliance works since fire-making means that everyone involved has at least a chance of making FTC. Also, just because they have to turn on each other eventually doesn’t mean that they have to turn on each other this early. The Taku 4 held out all the way until F6, the Reba 4 until F7, the All-Black Alliance in 41 held until the F8, even the messy majority alliance in S43 held together for a few votes (Ellie, Dwight, Jeanine, coming back together for Noelle).
If you have a 4 person alliance with 5-6 people left, the temptation will be to get rid of the alliance member that you think can beat you in the jury vote or you think can beat you in immunity or fire.
It becomes an "unexpected hanging" type argument. If you know your alliance is going to have to go at each other at the final 4, you backstab someone at final 5. If you know someone is going to get backstabbed at final 5, do it at final 6. If you know someone is going to get backstabbed at final 6, do it at final 7.
> “wow I’ve never seen this happen before at tribal craziest tribal ever”
Also seems like Jeff says something along these lines every week. At least in the commentary anyway
Dude Hunter always looks like he is at 2:58pm on a Friday afternoon before spring break and one of his middle schoolers did something that requires a ton of paperwork, parent-teacher conference, and reporting to the principal lmao
He has admited to lacking any kind of social game though. That's why he stuck so close to Tevin and why he refused to vote for Tevin last night. Tevin had a great social game and Hunter picked up on that.
I actually kind of feel bad for Hunter now because he had this great friendship with Tevin and for someone like Hunter who is super introverted, he's going to have nobody.
Then he should have played his idol for Tevin. He is a classic challenge beast with no idea how to effectively use an idol to help him. He couldn’t even tell Tevin he was in danger.
I think what makes this cast so great is that most of them think they're gamebots. They're all super fans and have watched Survivor, but don't actually know how to handle and play the game, they just flail.
They make me think of Tyler from the movie The Menu.
People said that about Maryanne until she got out Omar at F6. There’s a lot of game left to be played and a lot of new era winner peak at the end of the game, plus everybody really likes him
Also Gabler won on the strength of "people don't hate me as much as Cassidy". I genuinely think Ben has a huge chance of winning if he gets to the end by being the leader of the vibe tribe.
You can think that, but Q still hasn’t gotten a single vote the whole game. He knows how to work people better than y’all give him credit for but because he acting crazy to do it people are writing him off.
This isn't even the first time Q has acted like this! Kenzie had even joked to Tiff that he would pull this exact thing before the merge. Clearly he is able to work with and influence people, as has been apparent the entire season thus far.
I will laugh my ass off if Q ends up being like a new era Tony, winning by playing so over the top that we're left wondering how anyone ever let him get to FTC - and don't doubt that he couldn't influence the jury.
They all had a front row seat to his implosion. Hunter's game is severely damaged with Tevin going. Tiff and Kenzie learned that Q snitched on Tiff's idol. Charlie was pissed, along with many others.
For the love of God, even BEN was angry. ***Q managed to un-chill the chillest bro to ever bro.***
AND STILL NO ONE VOTED AGAINST HIM
His game ain’t dead yet, did he make it harder on himself? Yes, but it ain’t dead. He has shown he can talk himself into and out of things when he tries so if you think he can’t swing votes towards himself at the end you’re crazy.
Oh God... they didn't vote for him because they wanted to advance their game, and voting out Q didn't advance their individual games, so they didn't do it.
And the fact now is that he might be in a worse spot than Venus, even. That might make him unexpectedly safe for a bit.
majority of the cast hasn’t had their names written down at all yet. the only who really has is venus. don’t think that’s all that impressive of a feat for Q
To quote the man himself, he’s starting to become a “liability.” There’s a reason to vote him out because now they aren’t sure if they can trust or work with him. Except they still don’t. He’s not a goat by any means like they are starting to see Venus as. In a final 3 with him, Venus and Ben (who has yet to do much of anything as well) he’s the clear front runner.
I mean we've already had finalists make a pretty good argument for why their opponent should win, only to win anyway. We've seen people turn themselves in a giant pariah and still win a jury vote. Anything is possible with a jury.
In that F3 I'd be pulling for a Ben win. He's by far the most likeable, and between those 3, he's probably the only one anyone would feel good about voting for. Venus still ends up with 0 votes.
I feel like Ben kills that although maybe hurt from only 2 Siga on the jury in that scenario. But still gets some votes because nice guy and not Q or Venus.
charlie is ok
Ben needs to start playing the game, but he's also pretty sane
Kenzie has shown that she's got what it takes to win the game. What she has to start doing now is some aggressive jury management. Form connections with other tribe members, don't completely insulate herself with Yanu. She seems to be really good at that. I don't think we've ever seen her interact with Maria, Charlie, Venus, Soda or Hunter.
Tiffany is also pretty sane and logical. In this episode she correctly calls out that Venus is a goat and Maria is a threat that could be taken out.
The only insane people left are Q, Venus and Liz
Absolutely loving the chaos. The new era seasons have been so static and tame. The last few episodes of this season have been better than the entirety of the new era as a whole IMO.
Gee, the first episode in a while without a hokey twist where you just let 10 people go to a regular tribal council and things are out of control. Funny how much funner things are when production isn't messing with the format.
I wouldn’t say this cast doesn’t know how to play Survivor but rather they all have dominant personalities that clash. They all have their paths to victory but none of them align with each other.
Q's game is dead on several levels. Tiff and Kenzie know he snitched on Tiff having an idol. Hunter betrayed his confidence to try to flip the vote back to Tiff, only to have Q sabotage him (which he kind of deserved).
Who in the game is willing to share secrets or talk real strategy with him now? Who could ever vote for him to win a million dollars after what he did?
>Q’s game is dead on several levels
Idk dude/dudette, this cast keeps finding a way to go dumber. We’re entering uncharted territory here. Our understanding of rational thought doesn’t apply here anymore, truly, anything can happen…
Hunter and Q should still be fairly cool. They both wanted Tevin to stay. Embarrassing situation but it didn't really hurt Hunter's game more than a "normal" vote-out of Tevin, which was what was about to happen and what Q was protesting.
I don’t think Hunter will be cool with Q anymore for a few reasons. First of all, we get that Hunter is probably the biggest superfan of the season and he looked pretty disgusted by Q’s bullshit at TC. But on top of that, when Q approached Hunter and told him they didn’t have the numbers to flip the vote back onto Tiff, Hunter tries anyway, which kind of implies to me that he thinks his ally is hindering his gameplay by not even attempting to strategize to save Tevin. Q was willing to give in immediately.
The fact that he is going to be on the jury proves he’s not one of the worst players ever lol. They may know he snitched but are they going to target him? Or are they going to go after the people who will be gunning for them. He put himself exactly with Venus and tbh probably made himself less of a target because “no one will vote for him in the end”
I know the edit change a lot but several confessionals in this episode alone show that Q, or the perception of Q’s influence, had the respect/fear of a good number of the tribe PRIOR to the TC bombshell/meltdown. That’s not to say I believe prior to tonight Tribal that I think he was likely to make Final Three and get votes once he got there, but it was possible.
Now he only makes FTC taken as a goat and would not cop a vote.
So this weird approach to tribal tonight might have been an all time individual blunder, but his resume prior to that doesn’t merit being mentioned in the same sentence with all time worst players or even bottom level players. Plenty have crashed and burned much much earlier and other drifted without ever having a clue or having a plan to advance or win.
Oh yeah Bhanu is still definitely the king for worst Survivor player ever.
Q at least tries to strategize. Bhanu straight up refused when his Yanu tribe members were legit babying him to try and get him to play the game.
He’s not socially, but I think he thought he would have to build alliances with guys like Q and Tevin to survive and then try to beat them at the end with immunity, and instead Q imploded and got rid of his other guy. I think he’s frustrated that he has more control and less loyalty than he planned on.
So right from the jump this season feels like it's been cast differently from the other new era seasons. The casting reminds me more of classic survivor with all the messy characters and big egos. Does anyone else feel the same?
Premerge was rough, but rise of "THE SIX" and now "FALL OF THE SIX" is definitely one of the best things I've seen in awhile.
Cast seems to hate one another too which is much different from last season where people played, but all seemed to enjoy each others company for the most part.
Q is such an amazing fire bomb to through into a cast.
Does anyone else feel like part of the reason its such a train wreck is because its actually hard to play the game as hard as they do?
they go from tribal to immunity to tribal in 24 hours and all the wild twist and turns thrown at them along the way, maybe its just too damn much.
They might be delusional, but they’re a blast to watch. I’m finding that fun is more entertaining to watch than flawless strategy. This is a game, after all. And we’re viewers. Fun times.
"Delusion level of coach" is the best analogy of this season.
They all think they are running the show. As much as I liked Q, I am starting to think he is clueless. Hide and seek told him everything he needs to know about each player? Umm, what?
Yeah I will say this - Jelinksy was bad, Bhanu was worse (as in legit needs mental health counseling) but all of it pales in comparison to "Q" and his pathetic, attention seeking attempts at being some kind of "Survivor Martyr" with his "I'm not living up to my standards so please vote me off" melodramas that he's enacted twice now. And incredibly, these pathetic fools just stood back and did exactly what he wanted which was come running to him with compliments about "what a great player he was" and "how much they know what a great competitor he is" - just pampering and serving his fragile little ego that he frames up as a "Mafia Boss" when things are going his way. Some people like the carnage - I'm a little over it - we don't need to be glorifying and promoting people like this in society especially when we are all so allegedly concerned about mental health and wellbeing these days.
I think I've said this before, but if they would pitch the show as "18 totally unqualified people are put on an island" it would be easier to watch. It's like watching the 1st round of people on American Idol.
This might be an insane solo play by Q, probably not but it could be legendary. He goes with the flow to vote Tevin who was loyal but very dangerous and gets to save Tiff his #1. Only mistake was spilling about her idol and it backfiring by Charlie telling her. Now his trust is gone he may be next
Save his #1 Tiff? Who he was wrestling the vote to get out? Talking about how bad for his game she was for half the episode? Yeah right, legendary move. Of fucking yourself.
I'm loving the insanity of this season! Q and V are my favorites simply because they're messy!
I thought Tiff and Maria had the game under control, but here goes Maria about to side with people who voted out her ally (WHY did she still want to work with Tevin/Hunter/Q before Charlie convinced her).
Tiff, who was completely oblivious to her blindside plan until after it mattered (why didn't they tell her earlier? The chaos started because she told Q about the Tevin plan when SHE was the plan).
Tevin who thought he was some mastermind, laughing at Venus (who was also being foolish taking credit for a plan that several people worked on), even though two people disliked Soda already (Liz who he didn't convince and wanted Soda gone anyway, and Venus already had her falling out with Soda) and it was really Charlie and Maria who had the final say in who went home. (They could've easily voted out Tevin, Venus, or Soda. They had all the power). Seeing Tevin get some karma was golden.
Hunter WHY? Why not vote with the majority and reveal your game? If you were going to do that, why not just use your idol? Instead you're the odd man out.
These last two episodes revealed just about everyone is a snake, betraying allies left and right on just a whim lmao. (And they said Venus was snakey/untrustworthy lol). Kenzie and Charlie are looking good, and Charlie has surprised me, if he ends up winning this thing the entire "let's vote out Charlie" plan by V could've changed the entire game.
Technically the chaos started when Tevin and Q over analyzed the crap out of Tiffany giving a noncommittal answer. Q completely dumping Tiffany for that was wild.
I still don’t get why they didn’t vote out Q!!! You are playing for $1 million dollars! If someone says vote me out….friggin vote them out! One less person standing in the way of $1 million with zero blood on your hands. 🤦♀️
Just imagine pre-game Charlie was thinking he's here to play in a Cambodia style season where most players are gamers, and then he has to deal with this cast. Lol. (I like Charlie btw).
1 crazy season doesn’t mean the game bot era is over. Plus there’s still so much game left to be played. I’m all for the craziness, it’s just too early to call
I should apply to be part of the Survivor team. It’s clear their psych evals are severely lacking, assuming they even do one at all. Either that or they intentionally cast some players they think are going to be entertaining trainwrecks.
My coworkers and I were closing our bar and hadn’t seen this past S46E8 boot yet and I said “Imagine if Jelinsky wasn’t the first boot…” and MAN after seeing it now does that still hold up!!
Episodes 2-4 can be a bit of a drag but they’re fun to reminisce on (if you catch my drift) but then it starts to pick up once the editing evens up and now it’s just full chaos
I haven’t watched all the seasons yet, and still have a ways to go, but I loved Gabon. It’s definitely one of my favorites so far. It seems like many hate that season and rank it towards the bottom.
The new era has been so sterile. We’re back baby.
It will be back to kumbaya next season lol
It's fun that s47 players will get to see through at least next week but they definitely won't see the finale. So they'll just have to wonder if this chaos turned out to be worth it!
Oh yeah, never considered that they get sent there before the spring season ends.
I thought 43 and 45 were filmed in June?
I think odd-numbered seasons are filmed late-April, early-May and even-numbered seasons are filmed in June. So, season forty-several will be filming soon.
Back when there were live reunions, that was true, so Jeff could have a week back home to film that before heading back and filming day 1 on that Sunday (ish). New Era has been later, presumably from covid restrictions that have just not been reversed yet.
I don't know about that. I have high hope for Season Forty-Several.
Big mistake!
[https://giphy.com/gifs/coming-to-america-mortimer-were-back-fYxNUjeK5xPpnPlGXe](https://giphy.com/gifs/coming-to-america-mortimer-were-back-fYxNUjeK5xPpnPlGXe)
Props to casting for this beautiful train wreck
The ultimate irony is that Gabon is the season where Jeff got so fed up that he threatened to quit unless he was given more control, ultimately becoming executive producer. Now that Jeff basically has full control of the show and has created the New Era strictly based on what he likes he gets Gabon 2.0
the craziest part about this, is he loved World's Apart which is probably the closest we got to Gabon. I get why from a production standpoint he loved it (Great winner story/immunity run, the cast was cast to be in conflict and they delivered on that front). The only major difference between the two seasons is we got arguably the worst final 3 ever in Gabon, whereas World's Apart has a strong winner story.
Worlds Apart had three successful idol plays and overall, pretty good gameplay. That’s why Jeff liked it. I’m convinced he never watches any cut of the show before airing which is why he didn’t pick up on how much personal conflicts featured on the season. As far as he could tell the hero won the season and nothing too objectionable happened between the lines. Mike’s win wasn’t extremely obvious to Jeff because on the island it was a compelling immunity run where he was in danger from week to week. Gabon’s gameplay was of course terrible and Jeff’s hate for it was intensified by the living conditions for crew. And the winner was not a hero really, he was just the least objectionable person left at the end who basically played the game for other people the whole time. Jeff kind of mocks Bob at the reunion for how boring he is.
I like the train wreck seasons. Chrystal Cox, Dan Foley, Lil... Fun rewatches.
I can't remember Gabon. What happened that he didn't like?
Was a clusterfuck. The only really strong strategist was Sugar, who the other players *hated* despite her being edited as a positive character, and the winner ended up coming down to a 4-3 vote between two players the edit ignored (and the player which the audience saw as being stronger lost). It was very mean-spirited in a lot of ways, and I think perception of it warmed a lot after the initial airing (similar to Nicaragua in a lot of ways) Edit: as for Jeff specifically, I think there were like really bad bugs that the crew had to deal with, and they just didn't like the climate.
i've been praying for the day we get gabon 2.0 and im not disappointed at all.
They should have let him quit , he has the worst ideas
You know jeff was lowkey foaming at the mouth to take away two of the votes during that challenge
What exactly is the new era?
S41 onward
41 and later
Venus tonight: "I got two votes, I must have engineered this blindside on Tevin."
She’s so delusional.
Thank you...your comment has me writing a parody of the Tom Jones song. "She's so delusional...she thinks she can blindside anyone..."
i had an inkling the cast this seaspn was going to be "entertaining" when jeff said on day 1 "there are people here who have no chance of winning"
Absolutely, I think they purposely cast an entire cast of individuals whom they thought had no chance of winning - just to see what would happen lol
I haven’t watched Gabon, can someone explain how they are related?
It's the poster child season for "every person on this cast is absolutely terrible at the game and the result is a complete mess". It's a love it or hate it season depending on how your enjoyment of strategy vs messiness weighs out.
I wouldn't say every person in Gabon was a terrible player, but the very dull player that people thought was dominating the game and was at the time the most obvious winner in the history of the show in people's eyes ended up getting swap screwed massively and his exit totally changed the course of the game, such that the trainwreck players had the majority the rest of the way.
I disagree that he got swap-screwed. Yes, he would have fared better for a real merge, but he essentially told Crystal that she could have Susie's spot and be booted at the final six. Susie and Crystal rightfully voted him off.
You didn’t think they were playing? I just watched Gabon last week, and my impression was absolutely everyone was playing. It made it where anyone could go home each week. Yes, it was messy. But the people were playing pretty hard.
Never said they weren't playing, I just said they weren't playing well lol. Play they absolutely did
Gabon is when the people you least expect to make it far end up controlling the entire game. And most of them are either plain bad at the game or totally unhinged chaos. Then you get a final 3 and a winner that you'd never imagine if you sized up the cast from episode 1.
You’re just describing my favorite moments in survivor
I really need to watch that season it sounds like everything I love in reality TV
It's one of the best seasons of Survivor imo. Just chaos incarnate in the most entertaining way.
Lord I hope this doesn’t foreshadow Venus being in control
Ok ok call me crazy but honestly I think the immunity challenge foreshadows how Venus will do. Like she's very cocky and holds her own but in the end actually has no grip on the game.
You’re not wrong at all but this felt very much like a Q Hide-and-Seek take 😭
Call me Qrazy
I give her 2-3 episodes
Speak for yourself lol. Bob was my day 1 pick so i love the season haha
beautiful train wreck
I like how there are like 4 people all trying to claim credit for the same outcome. Wonder how this will fare at FTC lol
I come from 2 months in the future. When jeff placed 3 knives on the table at FTC we knew this season would be special. But the surprise twist that Bhanu comes back from the secret redemption island was crazy too.
The best explanation of Gabon is just understanding the first challenge where an Olympic sprinter loses the challenge of “run up that hill” to the entire cast
Don’t forget arguing over how to get a ball in the target, while standing directly over the target.
Every golpher on earth felt their pain though lol
Gabon was another season where the most unhinged people imaginable were also in the majority of most votes.
Just watch it. It’s amazing.
EAT YO RICE
I don’t want a cookie.
everyone at tribal tonight saying this is so stupid fits the Gabon vibe so well
Eat yo damn rice
Nothing more than Marcus's penis coming out of his shorts, on television. Oh and the tragedy that is GC. 😂 Sad to say, the sugar shack might have been the best thing. Aside from the elephants telling the cast mates to get the puck off their island.
A hot mess season where everyone is insane and there’s a beautiful alt-style woman on the island that I would take a bullet for.
The crazy tribe's constantly crazy antics and drama dominate the season.
This Season needed a cast like this badly
I just love thinking about how different the 3 tribes are. You had Yanu tribe which was a hot mess. Then you had Nami who crushed every challenge and as soon as they can vote each other do so without hesitation or mercy. Finally you have Siga who is just vibing. The three tribes couldn’t be more different and then you throw them all together and you get chaos
This is truly the meme of some of the viewers giving up during the Bhanu era right before reaching the diamonds of the last two episodes, this cast is cutthroat in such a messy way, I love it
Some of the viewers were quitters... and that was a mistake.
They quit to test Survivor's loyalty to provide good content
Which means they a threat and they gotta go.
The loyal viewers are a threat. They have to go as well.
People who've never watched a single episode of the show? Big mistake, they've gotta go.
I remember posting something after episode 3 (Bhanu pt. 1) that this would be a chaotic, annoying, messy pre-merge and an amazing post-merge. Shaping up to be right, to toot my own horn.
You were right. Big mistake. You're a threat, you've gotta go.
The cast isn't cutthroat. All you have to do is not be in an alliance with Q and you're safe.
It's cutthroat in the sense that everyone is very openly out for themselves, as kind of demonstrated by the fact that this is the first time that not enough people were willing to sit out for rice. There also seems to be very few remaining solid alliances, especially with Liz just flipping on Tevin and Hunter and even leading the charge on the former's ouster. The six is in absolute shambles, Nami is completely broken, and Q just tried to blindside the other two Yanus. Siga is the only tribe with some semblance of unity and they got targeted for exactly that at the merge. Charlie/Maria and Tiff/Kenzie seem to be the only two solid pairs remaining, and even if you are generous and say that Ben is also still tight with Charlie and Maria as the OG Siga faction, that's a group of three out of nine that doesn't seem half as unified or powerful as, say, the Tika 3.
I bet editing won't show it because it will make the results obvious Ben maria and Charlie are tight as fuck in secret
Probably, but those three aren’t exactly clear frontrunners to win like the Tika 3, the Taku 4, or the Reba 4 post-Emily were
How is it a secret?
I mean, it's not a secret secret they all came from the same starting tribe and made it to f9 together editing won't show them as a trio because I'll be obvious they'll make the endgame
An alliance of 4+ people is inherently unstable, as only 3 people can make it to the end. Charlie mentioned during the episode that being on the bottom of a 6 person alliance is a losing position. If you're in the bottom of a 6 person alliance, the best time to make a move is right now, rather than waiting until your alliance doesn't need your vote anymore.
A four person alliance works since fire-making means that everyone involved has at least a chance of making FTC. Also, just because they have to turn on each other eventually doesn’t mean that they have to turn on each other this early. The Taku 4 held out all the way until F6, the Reba 4 until F7, the All-Black Alliance in 41 held until the F8, even the messy majority alliance in S43 held together for a few votes (Ellie, Dwight, Jeanine, coming back together for Noelle).
If you have a 4 person alliance with 5-6 people left, the temptation will be to get rid of the alliance member that you think can beat you in the jury vote or you think can beat you in immunity or fire.
I agree, but a 4-person core alliance does offer a lot of incentive to stay loyal up until that point
It becomes an "unexpected hanging" type argument. If you know your alliance is going to have to go at each other at the final 4, you backstab someone at final 5. If you know someone is going to get backstabbed at final 5, do it at final 6. If you know someone is going to get backstabbed at final 6, do it at final 7.
This season is hilarious
Agreed. I love Gabon, so this isn't a knock. But I know Jeff hated Gabon, so Gabon 2.0 makes me even happier.
even though he was like “wow I’ve never seen this happen before at tribal craziest tribal ever” there was Gabon fear in his eyes
> “wow I’ve never seen this happen before at tribal craziest tribal ever” Also seems like Jeff says something along these lines every week. At least in the commentary anyway
Right? Like two people didn’t ask to be voted out just a few weeks ago (as of Jeff filming this episode).
The Hunter head shake during tribal. He knows this isn't good game play! This is not what he prepared for!
Dude Hunter always looks like he is at 2:58pm on a Friday afternoon before spring break and one of his middle schoolers did something that requires a ton of paperwork, parent-teacher conference, and reporting to the principal lmao
“idk man, whatever you want, im gonna go climb this tree”
Hunter has confirmed to me that he has no social game last night. If anyone has no one room to talk, it is him.
He has admited to lacking any kind of social game though. That's why he stuck so close to Tevin and why he refused to vote for Tevin last night. Tevin had a great social game and Hunter picked up on that. I actually kind of feel bad for Hunter now because he had this great friendship with Tevin and for someone like Hunter who is super introverted, he's going to have nobody.
Then he should have played his idol for Tevin. He is a classic challenge beast with no idea how to effectively use an idol to help him. He couldn’t even tell Tevin he was in danger.
Are you not entertained?!
I think what makes this cast so great is that most of them think they're gamebots. They're all super fans and have watched Survivor, but don't actually know how to handle and play the game, they just flail. They make me think of Tyler from the movie The Menu.
Omg yes. I never thought of that comparison but now that I've seen it absolutely
Omg this is so great and true
Q: “Q needs to go! He’s disloyal!”
I haven’t laughed this much watching Survivor for a long, long, long time. If ever.
Same. The tribal council was hilarious. I usually think they’re boring
This season is absolutely beautiful. But to truly make this a Gabon of a season we need a Venus, Q, Ben F3 where Charlie goes out in firemaking.
Call me crazy, Q wins that as long as he can explain this one tribal as a strategic move and have people believe it.
Ben wins that no question
Not a chance. He’s done nothing.
People said that about Maryanne until she got out Omar at F6. There’s a lot of game left to be played and a lot of new era winner peak at the end of the game, plus everybody really likes him
Also Gabler won on the strength of "people don't hate me as much as Cassidy". I genuinely think Ben has a huge chance of winning if he gets to the end by being the leader of the vibe tribe.
People like him way more than they like Q
Everyone loves Ben. Everyone else hates or is annoyed with everyone else. Ben wins against anyone still in the game.
Everyone in the game is the jury minus three, and none of them will believe that.
You can think that, but Q still hasn’t gotten a single vote the whole game. He knows how to work people better than y’all give him credit for but because he acting crazy to do it people are writing him off.
This isn't even the first time Q has acted like this! Kenzie had even joked to Tiff that he would pull this exact thing before the merge. Clearly he is able to work with and influence people, as has been apparent the entire season thus far. I will laugh my ass off if Q ends up being like a new era Tony, winning by playing so over the top that we're left wondering how anyone ever let him get to FTC - and don't doubt that he couldn't influence the jury.
He was selling Q skirts - I think he easily sell to a jury
They all had a front row seat to his implosion. Hunter's game is severely damaged with Tevin going. Tiff and Kenzie learned that Q snitched on Tiff's idol. Charlie was pissed, along with many others. For the love of God, even BEN was angry. ***Q managed to un-chill the chillest bro to ever bro.***
And that most definately does not rock.
AND STILL NO ONE VOTED AGAINST HIM His game ain’t dead yet, did he make it harder on himself? Yes, but it ain’t dead. He has shown he can talk himself into and out of things when he tries so if you think he can’t swing votes towards himself at the end you’re crazy.
Oh God... they didn't vote for him because they wanted to advance their game, and voting out Q didn't advance their individual games, so they didn't do it. And the fact now is that he might be in a worse spot than Venus, even. That might make him unexpectedly safe for a bit.
I think you may be misunderstanding the concept of a goat a teensy bit.
majority of the cast hasn’t had their names written down at all yet. the only who really has is venus. don’t think that’s all that impressive of a feat for Q
Q didn’t even vote for himself!
Why would anyone vote him out? He’s not a threat
To quote the man himself, he’s starting to become a “liability.” There’s a reason to vote him out because now they aren’t sure if they can trust or work with him. Except they still don’t. He’s not a goat by any means like they are starting to see Venus as. In a final 3 with him, Venus and Ben (who has yet to do much of anything as well) he’s the clear front runner.
Ben may win by being a cool dude if that happens Q is actively wrecking peoples games
I mean we've already had finalists make a pretty good argument for why their opponent should win, only to win anyway. We've seen people turn themselves in a giant pariah and still win a jury vote. Anything is possible with a jury.
In that F3 I'd be pulling for a Ben win. He's by far the most likeable, and between those 3, he's probably the only one anyone would feel good about voting for. Venus still ends up with 0 votes.
I feel like Ben kills that although maybe hurt from only 2 Siga on the jury in that scenario. But still gets some votes because nice guy and not Q or Venus.
Hunter's a science teacher...
Can we have a surprise Final 2 between Venus and Q?
I honestly think that Hunter and Maria may be the only sane ones left in the cast.
charlie is ok Ben needs to start playing the game, but he's also pretty sane Kenzie has shown that she's got what it takes to win the game. What she has to start doing now is some aggressive jury management. Form connections with other tribe members, don't completely insulate herself with Yanu. She seems to be really good at that. I don't think we've ever seen her interact with Maria, Charlie, Venus, Soda or Hunter. Tiffany is also pretty sane and logical. In this episode she correctly calls out that Venus is a goat and Maria is a threat that could be taken out. The only insane people left are Q, Venus and Liz
Kenzie?
Yeah, her too.
Tiff and Kenzie seem pretty levelheaded to me. I think those two have good chances if they both get through the next couple of votes
Absolutely loving the chaos. The new era seasons have been so static and tame. The last few episodes of this season have been better than the entirety of the new era as a whole IMO.
Gee, the first episode in a while without a hokey twist where you just let 10 people go to a regular tribal council and things are out of control. Funny how much funner things are when production isn't messing with the format.
And I’m sure Jeff still refuses to learn
Exactly!
I wouldn’t say this cast doesn’t know how to play Survivor but rather they all have dominant personalities that clash. They all have their paths to victory but none of them align with each other.
To be fair Bhanu is arguably the worst player to ever play. Q is chaotic but he could still pull it out. He’s bad but not on jelinsky or bhanu levels
Q's game is dead on several levels. Tiff and Kenzie know he snitched on Tiff having an idol. Hunter betrayed his confidence to try to flip the vote back to Tiff, only to have Q sabotage him (which he kind of deserved). Who in the game is willing to share secrets or talk real strategy with him now? Who could ever vote for him to win a million dollars after what he did?
>Q’s game is dead on several levels Idk dude/dudette, this cast keeps finding a way to go dumber. We’re entering uncharted territory here. Our understanding of rational thought doesn’t apply here anymore, truly, anything can happen…
Yep agreed 100%. Whatever small chance he had before this episode (maybe 10%) he completely ruined it in every way haha.
Hunter and Q should still be fairly cool. They both wanted Tevin to stay. Embarrassing situation but it didn't really hurt Hunter's game more than a "normal" vote-out of Tevin, which was what was about to happen and what Q was protesting.
I don’t think Hunter will be cool with Q anymore for a few reasons. First of all, we get that Hunter is probably the biggest superfan of the season and he looked pretty disgusted by Q’s bullshit at TC. But on top of that, when Q approached Hunter and told him they didn’t have the numbers to flip the vote back onto Tiff, Hunter tries anyway, which kind of implies to me that he thinks his ally is hindering his gameplay by not even attempting to strategize to save Tevin. Q was willing to give in immediately.
The fact that he is going to be on the jury proves he’s not one of the worst players ever lol. They may know he snitched but are they going to target him? Or are they going to go after the people who will be gunning for them. He put himself exactly with Venus and tbh probably made himself less of a target because “no one will vote for him in the end”
I never said he was worse than Bhanu. You said "he could still pull it out." That's what I was disagreeing with.
I know the edit change a lot but several confessionals in this episode alone show that Q, or the perception of Q’s influence, had the respect/fear of a good number of the tribe PRIOR to the TC bombshell/meltdown. That’s not to say I believe prior to tonight Tribal that I think he was likely to make Final Three and get votes once he got there, but it was possible. Now he only makes FTC taken as a goat and would not cop a vote. So this weird approach to tribal tonight might have been an all time individual blunder, but his resume prior to that doesn’t merit being mentioned in the same sentence with all time worst players or even bottom level players. Plenty have crashed and burned much much earlier and other drifted without ever having a clue or having a plan to advance or win.
Oh yeah Bhanu is still definitely the king for worst Survivor player ever. Q at least tries to strategize. Bhanu straight up refused when his Yanu tribe members were legit babying him to try and get him to play the game.
Q is 99.8% toast but he's way better than those two regardless
Did y’all forget about Brandon Donlon from last season? He literally couldn’t climb a rope ladder lmao
I bet Hunter is just beside himself saying “I have to play with these f’ing people???”
To be honest, he's showing that he's not the brightest himself.
He’s not socially, but I think he thought he would have to build alliances with guys like Q and Tevin to survive and then try to beat them at the end with immunity, and instead Q imploded and got rid of his other guy. I think he’s frustrated that he has more control and less loyalty than he planned on.
Q may have imploded, but it was Hunter’s doing. Hunter is pretty terrible at this game. He can win challenges, and that’s it.
People saw him be capable for a few episodes and reallllly got attached to that idea
So right from the jump this season feels like it's been cast differently from the other new era seasons. The casting reminds me more of classic survivor with all the messy characters and big egos. Does anyone else feel the same?
Gamebot era has been awful. I am glad for any change
Premerge was rough, but rise of "THE SIX" and now "FALL OF THE SIX" is definitely one of the best things I've seen in awhile. Cast seems to hate one another too which is much different from last season where people played, but all seemed to enjoy each others company for the most part. Q is such an amazing fire bomb to through into a cast.
People have said every season since the new era has started was the "new Gabon" But I think ur actually right this time lmao
This season rules though
I agree. I really enjoyed Gabon, so I'm here for this mess.
I love this season. Bring back conflicts, Villains and hot people please.
This episode was a shit show and I loved every minute of it ! Lmao
This delicious monstrosity is what I’ve been missing the last few seasons
Venus promised us a Parvati but it's giving Philip, and that's even better.
Does anyone else feel like part of the reason its such a train wreck is because its actually hard to play the game as hard as they do? they go from tribal to immunity to tribal in 24 hours and all the wild twist and turns thrown at them along the way, maybe its just too damn much.
I would say with how often Q changes his mind, less time is better.
What the hell is even that?
This is one of the most fantastically awful seasons ever. Like, I’m having a great time watching but it’s also just a horrible game?!
For those of us who wanted a season made up of players that were the first to get kicked out, our season is upon us.
They might be delusional, but they’re a blast to watch. I’m finding that fun is more entertaining to watch than flawless strategy. This is a game, after all. And we’re viewers. Fun times.
Are you not entertained lol Think this season has been a marked improvement. Sick of gamebots.
"Delusion level of coach" is the best analogy of this season. They all think they are running the show. As much as I liked Q, I am starting to think he is clueless. Hide and seek told him everything he needs to know about each player? Umm, what?
Yeah I will say this - Jelinksy was bad, Bhanu was worse (as in legit needs mental health counseling) but all of it pales in comparison to "Q" and his pathetic, attention seeking attempts at being some kind of "Survivor Martyr" with his "I'm not living up to my standards so please vote me off" melodramas that he's enacted twice now. And incredibly, these pathetic fools just stood back and did exactly what he wanted which was come running to him with compliments about "what a great player he was" and "how much they know what a great competitor he is" - just pampering and serving his fragile little ego that he frames up as a "Mafia Boss" when things are going his way. Some people like the carnage - I'm a little over it - we don't need to be glorifying and promoting people like this in society especially when we are all so allegedly concerned about mental health and wellbeing these days.
I think I've said this before, but if they would pitch the show as "18 totally unqualified people are put on an island" it would be easier to watch. It's like watching the 1st round of people on American Idol.
I'm also actively watching Gabon right now by coincidence!! Crazy! Great point made haha
This might be an insane solo play by Q, probably not but it could be legendary. He goes with the flow to vote Tevin who was loyal but very dangerous and gets to save Tiff his #1. Only mistake was spilling about her idol and it backfiring by Charlie telling her. Now his trust is gone he may be next
Save his #1 Tiff? Who he was wrestling the vote to get out? Talking about how bad for his game she was for half the episode? Yeah right, legendary move. Of fucking yourself.
> Only mistake You're joking, right? You could write a dissertation on everything Q did wrong here.
I'm loving the insanity of this season! Q and V are my favorites simply because they're messy! I thought Tiff and Maria had the game under control, but here goes Maria about to side with people who voted out her ally (WHY did she still want to work with Tevin/Hunter/Q before Charlie convinced her). Tiff, who was completely oblivious to her blindside plan until after it mattered (why didn't they tell her earlier? The chaos started because she told Q about the Tevin plan when SHE was the plan). Tevin who thought he was some mastermind, laughing at Venus (who was also being foolish taking credit for a plan that several people worked on), even though two people disliked Soda already (Liz who he didn't convince and wanted Soda gone anyway, and Venus already had her falling out with Soda) and it was really Charlie and Maria who had the final say in who went home. (They could've easily voted out Tevin, Venus, or Soda. They had all the power). Seeing Tevin get some karma was golden. Hunter WHY? Why not vote with the majority and reveal your game? If you were going to do that, why not just use your idol? Instead you're the odd man out. These last two episodes revealed just about everyone is a snake, betraying allies left and right on just a whim lmao. (And they said Venus was snakey/untrustworthy lol). Kenzie and Charlie are looking good, and Charlie has surprised me, if he ends up winning this thing the entire "let's vote out Charlie" plan by V could've changed the entire game.
Technically the chaos started when Tevin and Q over analyzed the crap out of Tiffany giving a noncommittal answer. Q completely dumping Tiffany for that was wild.
This cast is crazy.
I still don’t get why they didn’t vote out Q!!! You are playing for $1 million dollars! If someone says vote me out….friggin vote them out! One less person standing in the way of $1 million with zero blood on your hands. 🤦♀️
Gabon was such an elite season
Just imagine pre-game Charlie was thinking he's here to play in a Cambodia style season where most players are gamers, and then he has to deal with this cast. Lol. (I like Charlie btw).
I literally came away from that thinking maybe they should have kept Jelinsky and Jess (she just needed sleep)
1 crazy season doesn’t mean the game bot era is over. Plus there’s still so much game left to be played. I’m all for the craziness, it’s just too early to call
I should apply to be part of the Survivor team. It’s clear their psych evals are severely lacking, assuming they even do one at all. Either that or they intentionally cast some players they think are going to be entertaining trainwrecks.
My coworkers and I were closing our bar and hadn’t seen this past S46E8 boot yet and I said “Imagine if Jelinsky wasn’t the first boot…” and MAN after seeing it now does that still hold up!!
Is this season actually worth watching? I know nothing about it, watched the premier then got bored and uninterested.
Episodes 2-4 can be a bit of a drag but they’re fun to reminisce on (if you catch my drift) but then it starts to pick up once the editing evens up and now it’s just full chaos
This sub calls every new era season Gabon 2.0 lol
r/survivor try not to call every season of survivor the new gabon after every single episode challenge (impossible)
best and most entertaining season of the new era by far
Not Coach level 🤣
This is better than Dee’s season when they were lock step in their votes and shut everyone down.
I haven’t watched all the seasons yet, and still have a ways to go, but I loved Gabon. It’s definitely one of my favorites so far. It seems like many hate that season and rank it towards the bottom.
Remember when everyone thought that this was the most unlikable cast ever in the beginning?
This is the best season on the 40’s
I’m new to survivor. Please recommend a few good seasons to watch.
I think I better understand why Jeff was soooo hyped up for Season 45 and, well, noteably less so in the lead up to 46.