Enough people commented last week that I have returned with coverage of episode two of Survivor NZ Thailand.
The excitement level for this season was quite high after episode 1, the fandom is happy that it looks like we have real players this season and a level of production that is now about the same as Borneo.
Recap
The episode opens at Chani camp after the vote. Liam is dumbfounded that Jose was eliminated, me thinks Liam’s utter surprise will be a theme this season. People explain why they went for Jose and it amounts to JT saying that he wanted to get rid of any chance at a second alliance forming in his tribe and Jose was the one who could have done that.
At Khangkwah Dylan is seeing that the athletic men are hanging out a lot and ignoring him. Josh has a five with Brad, Matt, Tess and Adam, he thinks and he wants them to get Dylan out. Tess and Josh are being bitchy and giggling about how much they don’t like Kaysha. Adam overall says he likes Kaysha but it’s a shame she’s aligned with Dylan because “he’s such a dick”. This is pretty good analysis by Adam.
Reward Challenge time, a lot earlier this episode which is good. It’s the Ozzy is an amazing swimming machine tile smashing challenge. The prize is tropical fruit and the reaction is overhyped for sure, you’d think Chisholm offered them a 5 course meal from Adam’s reaction. Adam everyone likes watermelon ok.
Chani take a lead on the second leg but Brad catches up with Arun on the Reynolds throwing things at things section of the challenge. Arun really blew it.
They had to call Medical called twice during/after this challenge. I dunno guys, maybe having physically taxing challenges in the most humid season in Thailand might not be the best idea.
JT and Liam find a treemail saying “select one member of your tribe to go to the Outpost” and JT is keen to go but the tribe is happy for him to go. Which I think is dumb. Dave thinks it’s an opportunity to test the trust. Over at Khangkaw they decide to draw straws and Tess the Rookie is selected.
Chisholm explains that the outpost will sometimes be a challenge, sometimes a dilemma and one member of each tribe will go there. The first one is for reward and it’s a firemaking challenge. Becky and Sundra, sorry, JT and Tess get going. Tess wins. The reward is an immunity idol clue.
JT asks Tess to tell him the clue and says he won’t say anything. It’s a toughey, if I were Tess I’d show him and let everyone know that JT beat her. Tess gives the clue to him without first reading it and automatically regrets it because she’s given him the exact location of the idol on the mat at the next challenge.
Tess gets back to camp and for some reason tells her tribe she won and then goes about the worst lie I’ve heard in Survivor. This worse than the neutral box or Nick Iadanza’s fake clue. She tells them that her option was tarp and mattresses but for both tribes and that she turned it down to keep the other tribe weak. It’s real dumb, Survivor would never offer such a reward. For the love of god Tess just tell your tribe you lost and when JT tells them he lost just go “you are going to trust JT, he got an idol clue of course he’s lying about it”. I am legit angry at how bad this lie is. Dylan and Kaysha see right through her. Tess is already a brilliant goat candidate.
JT however plays it much better. He tells the truth except for the fact that the immunity idol is only for the yellow tribe. Arun however sees through the lie but JT tells him the whole truth about the fact they can get the idol.
Frankey ends up needing to call a medic due to the heavy rain, but she had to decide whether not to be pulled for treatment or just tough it out. She stays in the game. She is seen by medical the next day however, could this come back to bite her?
Tess tells Adam the truth about the clue. She then tells the rest of the Invisible Five. The invisible five is a great alliance name. The only problem is that they aren’t invisible. The only one who is not known by their tribe to be with them is Adam.
Immunity Challenge time. Tess and her alliance are excited for a chance to get the idol, similarly so are JT and Arun.
It’s the Hold a Lot of Weight Challenge. Brad left his shoelaces untied on purpose, smart work Brad, he grabs the idol.
Kwangkwah wins again. Four challenges and four wins.
Back at camp in a lot of Chani see Frankey as an easy target due to her illness. The tribe discuss what Tess told her tribe and Dave let’s them know that he’s sure Brad, Matt and Josh know about the idol. JT is sure they got it.
JT has decided Frankey is a big threat as she is building relationships with people on the other side. Frankey and Renee talk about getting rid of Karla.
Tribal time. Chisholm is a dick about their challenge performance and Eve (Yve?) tells him it’s unfair to say that as they are dealing with poor conditions and no food. Frankey has to defend herself over her illness. Is she is a burden? she doesn’t know. Eve breaks down over her partner and loved ones, lady it’s 6 days in, it’s going to keep getting harder. Karla goes on a little rant about her camping and outdoor experience.
Chisholm counts the votes and the second person voted out of Survivor NZ Thailand is Karla. It sucks for Karla that she never stood a chance. She is the third oldest castaway and the oldest on her tribe by 5 years. Had they done the sensible thing and voted her out first then Jose would have been a huge help in the immunity challenge.
Analysis
An interesting narrative is the different feelings each tribe has for JT and Dylan. On Chani it seems like JT is at the centre of the strategy and he’s trusted. Yet Dylan who the show is presenting as similar to JT is disliked by his tribe.
The Outpost is an interesting twist, I’m hoping it brings in some good gameplay to the season. A Tocantins style alliance becomes made there and unknown to everyone is one option. It also brings so many opportunities to sell lies and half truths to opponents.
The second episode was as standard and easy a boot as you can see in early episodes of Survivor but the episode still ticked along nicely. The pacing of the episode was a lot better. The narratives of the season feel like they are being built; JT is the strategic powerhouse, there is a “cool kids” alliance on Khangkaw and an idol was found. All in all I continue to be really positive about this season of Survivor NZ. I’ll see you next week to see if it continues.
Edgic
As we all know Edgic is flawless and never wrong.
