Survivor 46 Discussion Thread

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Come on in! It's time for another season of Survivor! Survivor 46, to be exact. The cast just dropped today, and preseason coverage will be in full swing over the next few weeks. That means it's time for a new thread. You can meet the cast by following the link below. I'm so excited for a new season. It premieres February 28th.

We know that they will be 90-minute episodes like Survivor 45. The first two episodes will be 2 hours long. So pumped!

Meet the cast of 'Survivor 46'

The 'Survivor 46' cast has been revealed. Here are the 18 contestants who will be doing battle out on the island.

ew.com

 

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We are ONE WEEK from the Survivor 46 premiere!

I've listened to all of the preseason interviews on RHAP. This is the first time I made a preseason power ranking of all the players. I'm still adjusting them and haven't decided on winner picks, but I'll do that before the premiere.

 

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The Survivor premiere is two nights away! I have made my winner picks. As usual, I make one male and one female winner pick. I had a pretty easy choice for male this season, but struggled between two for female.

My male winner pick is Hunter. I think he's the most balanced. A lot of the men were low on my list. I considered Tevin, but I thought he'd be too visible by the other players, and they'll vote him out.

My female winner pick is Soda. I like her personality based on her preseason interviews. I also think her profession as a special education teacher is going to help her deal with the unexpected. It's also a very social profession. I also really like Kenzie, but I feel she's going to be a bigger visible threat than Soda.

Here are my full rankings for this season...

1. Soda
2. Hunter
3. Kenzie
4. Tevin
5. Jem
6. Tiffany
7. Q
8. Moriah
9. Venus
10. Charlie
11. David Jelinsky
12. Maria
13. Randen
14. Tim
15. Liz
16. Jess
17. Ben
18. Bhanu

Here are all of my other winner picks, dating back to Second Chance. Some seasons I altered my own self-imposed rules for various reasons, but all picks were made before the premiere. I bolded my correct picks. I also was pretty close with Victoria, Ricard, and Jesse. From postseason interviews, Alison was also a bigger threat to win than we saw on the season.

31 - Vytas
32 - No winner pick
33 - M: Adam, F: Figgy
34 - M: Malcolm, F: Andrea
35 - Winner: Ashley, Runner-Up: Desi
36 - M: Brendan, F: Kellyn
37 - M: Dan, F: Alison
38 - Returnee: Kelley, Newbie: Victoria
39 - M: Tommy, F: Molly
40 - M: Jeremy, F: Parvati
41 - M: Ricard, F: Sara
42 - M: Hai, F: Chanelle
43 - M: Jesse, F: Elie
44 - M: Matthew (medevac backup: Yam Yam), F: Helen
45 - M: Jake, F: Sabiyah
46 - M: Hunter, F: Soda

 

[Jedijax719]

 

[dmw]

Not sure if any of you watched the premier of Deal /No Deal Island... someone we all know very well is a contestant. Boston Rob.

 

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Not sure if any of you watched the premier of Deal /No Deal Island... someone we all know very well is a contestant. Boston Rob.

I've heard he's on it, but I honestly have zero desire to watch that show. Sorry, Rob.

 

[Jedijax719]

My preseason picks are Kenzie and Tiffany (based on all the promos). Tevin and Ben will also go very very far.

 

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I feel decent about my picks so far. I'll share more thoughts on the premiere when I have more time.

 

[SAV]

I completely agree with who was voted out tonight. They quit multiple times in 3 days. Couldn't rely on them going forward.

 

[Jedijax719]

My picks came through with good edits. Kenzie had a picture perfect premier edit if she were to end up winning. She checked all the boxes (intro confessional, in depth alliance making, talking about how her profession will help her in the game, weighing the pros and cons about voting out an ally). All the things that people say a winner needs in the premier, she had.

Tiffany was strong too but maybe too much emphasis on the idol. Also, she wasn't show to waiver her vote but ended up voting out Jelinsky anyway.

Ben had a good episode, but he is more the big threat. No alliance making other than maybe his bond with Charlie.

Charlie and Maria's premiers were pretty good to.

Not sure what I think of Tevin. I like him, but he was all over the place and in our faces a bit too much. Maybe he's a distraction.

Jem was decent, but she reminds me a bit of Kelly last season. Strategic talk and alliance making but nothing personal.

Still undecided about Venus and Soda.

Tim, Randen, Liz, and Jess all seem to be doomed.

And Bhanu is just an over the top fun character. Either he goes early and his flame burns out or he can go far. I can't see him winning, but I can see him in the finals perhaps.

Q and Hunter are the obvious physical threats and both seem likeable. Their threat levels will be HUGE throughout the season so unless they turn into a Jonathan who has no strategy, they will continue to be targeted if they make the merge. In a swap situation, they will probably be in trouble.

Winner picks after episode 1:
1. Kenzie
2. Tiffany
3. Maria
4. Charlie
5. Ben

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

I thought the card game was going to be a bad twist, because it would just come down to a 50/50 guess as to who is lying.

I liked how Maria handled it by being aggressive. Telling Jelinsky he'd be making an enemy by lying was an effective tactic.

Sweat and Savvy continue to be uncompelling, along with the confiscation of flint. Let the tribes start on an even footing, please.

 

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I really liked how Kenzie played in the first episode. She did a good job of creating bonds, which led to alliances. Tiffany and Kenzie seem to be the power duo in that tribe. I think Q will make it to the merge, but be voted out relatively soon. He seems to be an old-school style player who values strength, but also work ethic. Bhanu was just a fun character, but I didn't see much from him strategically. Jess was fun, and I'm glad she was able to joke about herself. If it was for those types of interactions, I think she would have been a stronger candidate to be voted out.

Jelinsky was one of the biggest flame outs we've ever had as a first boot. Zane Knight may be the only one who surpasses him. From the moment he readily agreed to do the sweat challenge, to giving up less than halfway through, then essentially blaming Jeff and production for him giving up. Jeff was not having any of it, and he called Jelinsky out for it. Just like usual, Jelinsky immediately folded in the face of adversity or confrontation.

The card game was interesting, but the person drawing the skull card is in a lose-lose situation. Either they succeed in lying and let everyone on the season know they're good at lying, or they lose their vote. Jelinsky should have never told his tribe he gave up, though. That's where he went wrong. Especially after quitting the sweat challenge.

It seems like he doesn't have a good read on how others perceive him. He was calling himself a legend in confessional, while everyone actually viewed him much differently.

On the other tribes, I really like Tevin. His opening narration was excellent. It's not quite Carolyn opening season 44, but it's still really fun. He seems to be the center of his tribe. He's getting close with Soda and Hunter, but they aren't as close with each other. I think Liz ultimately falls with them, and then it's Venus and Randen on the outs, but they're going against each other, too.

I really like the three women getting together on the green tribe. Maria seems to be a player. Jem, too. Moriah seems fun and self-aware. Charlie is in the middle. It seems like Tim is the only one upset with his tribe dynamics. He's telling others that the women always vote out the men. That can't be farther from the truth. The two seasons they saw prior to coming out each started with four consecutive women being voted out. Ben was fun, but I don't know if he's a contender. He seems more like an energy guy than a game player. But it's just the first episode, so we'll see.

 

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I listened to Jelinsky's exit interview on RHAP. It's interesting because he said Q was the person who suggested they quit the sweat challenge.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

I've heard he's on it, but I honestly have zero desire to watch that show. Sorry, Rob.

A side note on Deal or No Deal Island since it is Survivor-esque and brings back Boston Rob.

It wasn't bad. Eliminations come down to one person choosing two people to play for safety, and then that one person either goes home or, if safe, chooses who leaves.

A different voting dynamic but still has the social gameplay and alliance building of a show like Survivor.

The biggest downside is the inclusion of the classic Deal or No Deal briefcase game. There's a reason I watched it once, and only once. It's tedious. If one fast forwards through that segment they might enjoy this show.

 

[dmw]

The biggest downside is the inclusion of the classic Deal or No Deal briefcase game. There's a reason I watched it once, and only once. It's tedious. If one fast forwards through that segment they might enjoy this show.

Yeah, that is why I stopped watching the original Deal or No Deal. I'm not sure about this new version... I'll probably give it a few more episodes to decide.

 

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I've enjoyed the Traitors this season. I'll have to go back and watch season 1. Although I'll say the second half of season 2 has been less exciting than the first.

 

[Smiley/OCD]

At the present moment, I’m rooting for Maria…that’s of course FWIW…I’m glad Jelinsky was voted off…to just give up the way he did, just as bad as the girl who gave up after week one…

 

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This was one of my least favorite episodes of Survivor in a long time, and I think it had to do with the length. Two hours is great for premieres and finales, or even double-boot episodes. But I think we found out that it's too long for anything else. 90 minutes is the sweet spot. There just wasn't enough to fill the time, or at least they didn't choose the right content.

We did not need 5 minutes of a Metallica vs Taylor Swift battle. I also feel like we got so much negative content about players. There was too much crying, and I'm not normally one to complain about that. I also walked away feeling more negative about players that I came away positive about last week... Soda, Kenzie, Q. Maybe it was just because of how much of a drag I felt this episode was.

And then all the Kenzie talk, only for the most predictable thing to happen. Again, I would rather have a boring episode of Survivor than a fabricated episode. But if there's not enough content on the purple tribe because it's a straight forward vote, show us more of the other tribes. It felt like they were just filling time the whole night.

I shouldn't complain, because episodes like these are why we have too many twists and advantages. And it's likely the producers didn't know this would be a two hour episode when it aired. I'm guessing the only reason it was two hours is because CBS needed to fill an hour since TAR hasn't premiered yet. Next week we will get in the groove of the 90 minute episodes.

As for the gameplay, Kenzie looks like she's playing way too hard. I also didn't love how she was saying everything was too easy. She was pretty much calling Jess an awful player, which I didn't think was necessary. The fake idol was so over the top. Even is Q votes with Jess, it doesn't look good to give her a fake idol.

I agree that Bhanu is too emotional. It's okay to be emotional, but you can't let them control your game. Carolyn was the perfect example of how emotions don't have to control your actions.

I didn't love the trash talk from Soda. I felt like her comments came out of nowhere. Q was talking about how it feels to keep losing. From what I remember, he wasn't targeting or calling anyone out. Then Soda jumps in and says what she says. She's creating enemies before she's even met those people.


Through two episodes, I think Maria might be one of my favorites. Tevin is up there, too.

Also, the chat between Moriah and Liz was fun. Especially when you know they look alike and have been mistaken for each other in the preseason by their handlers. And how they mentioned in their preseason interviews that their doppelgangers were out there.

 

[Wendy Pleakley]

I didn't even realize it was another two hour episode. So that's why it did indeed drag a bit.

I feel this episode might prove that the flint thing is just too lopsided. They've put one tribe in a hole and it doesn't feel like they can get out.

Not surprising to see that Jelinsky's "several" and "legendary" moments will live forever.

 

[SAV]

I'm tired of the one weak tribe losing every week. It's been happening a lot in recent seasons. Soda came off as classless with her comments and grabbing the statue that they showed. Bhanu needs to chill. He gets out of control when the pressure goes up.