The following contains spoilers for Episode 11 of Survivor Season 42.It often seems like Season 42 ofSurvivorexists solely to be a comparison to Season 41, with both seasons acting as an experiment. The show tried out new twists and game elements in 41, and now they’re replicating them in 42 to see how a different group of players reacts to them. It’s sort of an interesting idea and makes the twists and advantages that haven’t been super well-received by the fanbase more compelling because rather than being interested in the twists themselves, the audience is more interested in the fallout from the twists and how they differ from Season 41.
The comparison aspect had been absent from a few of the more recent episodes, but it came back full force in Episode 11. The episode starts off with theusual post-Tribal debrief, and Mike reveals himself to be quite happy about the Hai blindside in a confessional. He’s celebrating the fact that they voted out the guy calling all the shots, and now he’s free to play his own game. What’s ironic about this is that he’s still not playing his own game, and he’s not even aware of it. Omar is continuing to run this game and no one is the wiser for it, which has been so entertaining to watch.
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The next day, the players at the top who are in an alliance start talking about who their next target should be. They decide on Romeo, the reason being that he doesn’t pull his weight around camp and eats more rice than he should, both of which are cardinal sins in this game.These players make a pactto go to the final five, agreeing to take out Maryanne and Romeo before turning on each other. As soon as he and Omar are away from the other players, however, Mike reveals he was just lying and he actually wants to take Drea out. It’s interesting how Mike gets very offended when other players lie to him or go back on the promises they made, but it seems to be fine when he does it.
Omar clocks this behavior from him and says that he thinks Mike is riding a little too high after the Hai vote and seems to think he’s running things, which is exactly what he criticized Hai for doing. Omar is more wary of Mike now, and seems to have him on his list of players that are becoming big threats.Speaking of big threats, Jonathan reveals later on in the day that he’s really struggling with the lack of food. He claims that since he’s twice the size of the other players, he needs more calories but is only eating the same amount as everyone else, so he feels he actually has it harder than anyone else on the island.
This hunger is also making him irritable, however, as he snaps at Drea when she asks for help figuring out the fishing net and seems annoyed that he’s not helping them when he’s the only one that knows how it works. It seems that everyone has clocked Jonathan’s changing attitude, and even the editors are pulling back from the “nice-guy” edit he’s been getting for most of the season.
At the Immunity Challenge, Jeff Probst reveals thatthe Do Or Die twistfrom Season 41 is back, much to the chagrin of the audience. The twist is basically that players can choose whether or not to participate in the Immunity Challenge, and if they choose to play, the first player out will have to randomly choose a box at Tribal Council that either says they are safe or instantly ejected from the game. A lot of people hate this twist because it leaves too much up to chance and undermines any actual gameplay that these players have done. This time around, only two players choose to participate in the challenge: Jonathan and Lindsay.
It’s fitting because they’ve been each other’s biggest challenge competition up to this point, and they duke it out in an endurance challenge that seems grueling. In the end, Jonathan manages to hold out longer andwins Immunity, meaning that Lindsay will have to play the Do Or Die game. She reveals that she regrets the choice to participate in the challenge at all and worries that it might have been a million-dollar mistake. This is when some Lindsay backstory gets revealed, as she divulges that she’s always been competitive, and was the only woman on her hometown football team. She’s clearly a fighter, which is what is so frustrating about the fact that her fate in the game is ultimately decided by chance.
At camp, people are scrambling despite the fact that there may not even be a vote. Drea would be happy if Lindsay loses Do Or Die because it means her amulet would turn into a full idol with Lindsay’s out of the game. Unfortunately for Drea, Lindsay is thinking exactly the same thing. The whole tribe (correctly)sees Drea as a threat, both strategically and socially, and they make a plan to vote her out if Lindsay survives Do Or Die. Drea, feeling comfortable with Omar, tells him about her Knowledge Is Power advantage and says that she plans to ask Mike about his idol in order to steal it. This puts Omar in the perfect power position of being able to either go with that plan and get Mike out when he’s not expecting it, or tell Mike about the advantage and hold onto the idol for him so that Drea can’t steal it.
Tribal Council kicks off, and it’s becoming clear that this tribe (perhaps with the exception of Romeo) really likes each other and have bonded over these past few weeks. There’s agenuine sense of camaraderiesurrounding them, which is so fun to see. Lindsay steps up to do the Do Or Die game, and manages to choose the box with the flame in it, meaning she’s safe for another week. This is exactly what happened last season when Deshawn had to participate in this twist. It’s actually a blessing that the twist has yet to send someone home, because it would be the most frustrating way to leave the game, for both the player and the audience.
With that, it becomes time to vote. Drea pipes up before they can be sent off and plays her Knowledge Is Power advantage, asking Mike for his idol. However, Mike tells her that he doesn’t have one, much to the shock of most of the tribe. It’s revealed in a flashback that Omar did choose to tell Mike about the advantage, and is now holding on to Mike’s idol for him (it remains to be seen whether or not he’ll give it back, though). Again, this is exactly what happened in 41 withthe Knowledge Is Power advantage, so it almost packs less of a dramatic punch when the audience has already basically seen this exact scene happen at a Tribal before.
In the end, Drea is voted out despite her attempt to put an extra vote on Mike. She really went out swinging using every advantage she had on her, which is a great move and much more satisfying than going out with an idol or advantage in her pocket. She has a little moment with the tribe before she leaves, where she and Mike laugh about the extra vote that she tried and she gives a one-sentence speech to every player. This was nice because it once again showed the connection between the tribe, but it’s also a bit of an iffy situation whenever players who are leaving address the tribe in this way, as it can give away information that should stay secret andblow up someone’s game(which the voted-out player shouldn’t be able to affect anymore). It will be interesting to see if there’s any fallout from this next week, and if the tribe will finally clue into how big of a game Omar has been playing so far.
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