Fantasy Survivor – Episode 11

Having satellite TV (I’m the last remaining non-cord-cutter, I think) is good, but man, rain is annoying, especially since Survivor doesn’t drop to streaming until the day after. Long story short, it’s 6:55 a.m. Thursday morning as I write this, which feels like an extremely nerdy way to live your life.

Anyway, Wednesday was our penultimate episode of Survivor 42, taking us down to final five. And I figured that means it’s a good time to look back on what I thought about these contestants in the preseason, just to see how dumb I am:

• Lindsay: “The most New Jersey woman on earth … if she makes it past the first two tribals, she has a shot at going far, but also there is zero chance she makes it past the first two tribals.” In my defense, her bio indicates a level of brashness to her personality that we have super never seen.
• Romeo: “He stresses that he is competitive … that type can make it a long way if things break right.” Technically I was right, though Romeo feels like the most “carried to the end” player ever.
• Maryanne: “One of her pet peeves is ‘anything that disrupts my sleep,’ and sorry Maryanne, but you’re not gonna make it very far.” This felt right until somewhere around the merge, when suddenly Maryanne turned into the most strategic player ever? I never saw it coming.
• Mike: “He will be loud and demanding and make it exactly six episodes … and then he’ll get blindsided.” Like Lindsay, I was flat wrong about the New Jersey aspect of his personality. Maybe I owe that state an apology.
• Jonathan: “He looks like the winner … which means there is no chance he wins. If he makes the merge, he will be voted out the very instant he doesn’t win individual immunity.” I was smart, except he’s missed out on immunity several times and they persist in not voting him out. Oh well.

And now, on with our look at Episode 11 of Survivor 42, including some key takeaways and an update on our preseason picks (that part doesn’t go well for me).

Survivor 42 Episode 11 Recap

The tribe gets back from Tribal, with Lindsay super excited she survived the Monty Hall Problem (and Jonathan’s no-affect “Wow, how wild was that” given how he mostly wants her out is hilarious). Lindsay’s also happy that her amulet is now an idol, and it has to be used at Final Six.

Omar cackles at everything being successful, even going so far as to unleash his “evil laugh,” and I know things had been going well for Omar to that point, but literally going full evil laugh is just asking for it. He also gives Mike his idol back, which … I mean, keeping it would have been a real target-on-your-back move and he probably couldn’t really have kept it and been OK in the game, but I wonder looking back if he’s kicking himself.

Mike thanks Omar and pledges loyalty publicly, then in a confessional, acknowledges that Omar is playing super well and it’s time to cut him loose. He says the same to Maryanne, who isn’t sure she wants to go that way. She tells Mike about her extra vote, which apparently also has to be used in the next tribal.

Jonathan says he doesn’t trust Lindsay and Omar anymore and says “Taku Four made the final six, and it’s time to break up.” And here’s just a little aside that that foursome lost Jackson in the first episode (without a vote) and voted our Marya in the second (my preseason pick, but I’m not bitter), and … they have just sailed through since. That’s a pretty dominant run from one tribe.

The reward challenge — unspin a spool around your waist, go through an obstacle course while dizzy, do a block puzzle — features a choice for the winner of chicken and veggies or cake and cookies. Maryanne does the challenge like a drunk toddler in the best way possible, even frantically spinning the other way to try to un-dizzy herself, which … does that work? I cannot imagine that works. In the end, Omar wins, and despite editing trying to make it seem like Maryanne is close, it appears Omar’s puzzle prowess had him well ahead.

(We get essentially no shots of Romeo it the challenge, and had gotten almost no shots of him in the tribe beforehand. He’s still there, and that’s about all you can say about him.)

Probst gives Omar the absolutely evil wrinkle that he if chooses chicken and veggies he can bring two people with him, but if he chooses cake and cookies he can take three. That’s mean. Omar basically feels like he has to take cake and cookies and chooses Romeo, Maryanne and Mike, and poor Jonathan and his calorie deficit, man.

While they gorge on sweets, Jonathan and Lindsay both appear to try to lull the other into a sense of security at camp, and basically they both hope they did a better job than the other.

Later, Lindsay tells Mike that Jonathan needs to lose immunity to keep Mike safe and tells him about her idol, but that pings Mike’s radar and he immediately tells Jonathan about that, because they fear she’ll use it to save Omar if she wins immunity. He also tells Maryanne about the idol, and that news makes Maryanne feel like it’s about time she makes a big move.

We head to immunity, which involves going over some obstacles to get puzzle steps and build stairs, then climb a ladder and free some balls, which they use to do one of those table mazes where you guide a ball through an obstacle course. Jonathan appears to struggle with the puzzle-steps part, while Omar and Lindsay decidedly do not, and then Lindsay flies through the tower while Omar struggles. In the end, her advantage in the stairs is the difference, because Lindsay and Jonathan are neck-and-neck at the table maze but she ekes it out, and if they had gotten to the top at the same time I think Jonathan could have gotten there.

Jonathan and Mike are sad Lindsay won, because that probably saves Omar. There are some discussions and everybody more or less lands on Jonathan, which feels smart because he could win his way to the end, but it’s also far too early in the episode for it to be that easy.

Lindsay mentions not wanting to use her idol to save Omar, because that would probably bring another idol into play and she doesn’t want that. Except … the idol is gone after this Tribal either way, and while the other castaways might not know that, the showrunners definitely do and can put one back in play anyway, so this feels like a big overthinking issue.

Maryanne uses her “I want to make a move” brain to decide she wants Omar out, especially since her extra vote also needs to be used in this Tribal. She floats the idea to Mike and Jonathan, who both think it’s too risky and just want to go with the easy move and vote Romeo. Maryanne’s frustrated face is hilarious.

At Tribal, it’s awful weather again, because these people are cursed. There’s some discussion over whether you can feel safe at the final six and how much of the vote is based on making it and how much is with an eye on Final Tribal. Omar says he’s “Survivor confident,” saying he feels good but also knows that you can never feel too good. He also drops a “You can’t feel safe unless you have an immunity idol, and I don’t have one,” and the editors had to be jumping for joy at that line, because it made for the easiest last-minute intrigue ever — you can’t watch that and not figure “Oh, Lindsay gave him hers and he’s just saying that to attract votes,” and then when Omar gets voted out (3-2-2, with Jonathan and Romeo each getting two votes) and doesn’t actually have an idol, that’s just some good dramatic irony.

Omar’s three votes come from Maryanne (twice) and Romeo, with Mike and Jonathan voting Romeo and Omar and Lindsay voting Jonathan, and given that Romeo is just there to be another person on the tribe, that basically means Maryanne negotiated the ouster of one of the season’s biggest threats all on her own and made it happen, and … damn, that was a good move.

Once again, Omar takes his eviction in good spirits, though at least he doesn’t ruin anyone’s game on his way out, Drea. Good on this whole season for an apparent lack of bitterness.

Recapping My Picks

I chose Marya. She went out early. I chose Jenny. She went out early. I chose Hai. He made it a long way, but he’s gone. And I chose Omar. And he just went out. Cue the “He chose … poorly” gif.

Stock Rising

Maryanne still has an idol, has gotten very little in the way of negative attention, and just coordinated a huge ouster. She’s a bona fide threat.

Jonathan keeps escaping his lack of immunity wins. Is there an immunity run coming? He could slide right into Final Tribal.

Stock Falling

I can’t say Romeo’s stock is “falling,” because it was never high, but he continues to be the least possible winner this late in the game ever.

Lindsay now has no idol and lost her biggest alliance mate. She better win more immunities or find a new idol.

Tracking the Advantages 

• Immunity Idol: Mike, Maryanne (next Tribal is the final time either one can be used)