Welcome to a brand new season of our beloved SURVIVOR! I’m so happy to be back recapping episodes WEEKLY (thank goodness) and will be presenting the high, lows and cringeworthy moments of the episode. This week Australian Survivor winner, Pia Miranda, joins us to weigh in on her thoughts on the epic premiere! Let’s dive in.
THE HIGHS
- The opening segment of the premiere. Probst walking through the jungle towards us. His longer hair flowing. That Survivor cap. It’s like he was speaking directly to me. Telling us about monsters, hidden puzzles, some game within a game within a game, and hiding an advantage right in front of us. It’s all a bit rubbish, but I don’t care. This is a new era of Survivor and I’m here for it all!! #Goosebumps
- There’s nothing like castaways starting the game on a barge. Enough said.
- Seeing shots of the crew who work on Survivor. This shit is real y’all. It takes a village to get this show on the road! Screw the haters who think it looks phony.
- THIS CAST! When the cast was announced it was obvious CBS were ticking all the boxes with at least a 50% POC cast and hey throw in some gays <3 and even someone who identifies as non-binary and we are all set! I was initially worried they would just become tokenistic, but DAYUM, they really have lived up on screen. I cannot be more impressed with this cast. And how refreshing NOT to see the typical ‘blonde bimbo’ or ‘OTT macho alpha male’ or ‘standout geek’. It’s a pretty even spread and there’s some really cool backgrounds and stories we haven’t seen before in 20 years. I’m so excited to see these peeps play!
Early faves are Shantel (humming her music was GOLDEN), Ricard (haters gonna hate, he’s amazing), Voce (he really surprised me and not what I was expecting pre-game), Danny, Erika and Evvie. - A well-balanced edit of player confessionals. I felt by the end of the episode I personally knew all of the players on both Yase and Ua. Luvu, not so much as they won tribal immunity, so understandable they had lesser screen-time, but we still had confessionals from all of them. I hope Survivor editors keep this up throughout the season because it makes the show even more watchable and relatable than before.
- Genie’s vote on Ricard at tribal. Initial reaction was “WHAAAATTT?!” But upon reflection if Sara had rolled a SAFE dice, then Ricard would’ve been up for the chop (nooo!!) against Brad. Peeps gotta lookout for Genie!! <3
- Ricard standing up for people who aren’t happy with Probst using the phrase “Come on in, guys!”. I myself use it unaware how others might feel about it. It’s all about learning and bettering ourselves. All power to Ricard!
THE LOWS
- Savvy or Sweat – I was so disappointed to see neither team choose the Triangles puzzle. You had 4 hours to figure it out with the whole tribe! As a more cerebral person, I was very much on side with Voce on Savvy being chosen. Below is a screenshot of the puzzle which is the TRUE game within the game (will get to that Rebus puzzle soon). I counted 49 triangles. How about you? 😉
- The presentation of the Protect v Risk Your Vote on screen. It really was not as complex as it was shown. I felt very overwhelmed and confused with all the cutting of scenes when they could have just shown us the twist in full. I’m quite risk-averse, so props to Xander and JD! Not surprised with Danny’s choice though and also understandable, why rock the boat so early in the game.
- I’m not high on the Shot in the Dark dice, but I’m willing to see how often it gets used this season and how it affects gameplay. A 16.7% chance of being saved is better than none if you know you’re on the chopping block! I was truly hoping Sara would roll her die this week, especially with Brad throwing her name around infront of her (WTF!), and also the chaotic live tribal! Girl, you missed your chance. SO DEVO 🙁
- The amount of times they showed Sara crying on screen. I’d like to think that’s not all she did in 3 Days </3 I had high hopes for her pre-game and sad to see a Superfan go home so early. Her grandma died from Covid, what even?! We were robbed. Sara for Second Chances!!
- Live tribals. Just hope it doesn’t happen every week.
- Fans shitting on Ricard over speaking up about the use of “guys”. Puh-lease, have a cry!
THE CRINGE
- The slowmos. OK, castaways jumping off the barge look cool and I don’t mind one-offs. But slowmos during challenges, etc. Enough of that thanks. I feel like i was being transported through a portal to another realm when they were playing.
- Montages. Not the content of them, just the Touched-By-An-Angel-who-just-died look of them. Has someone at CBS been talking to Australian Survivor editors?? I’m all for the backstories of the castaways, but the amount of haze and blur was a bit much for my liking. Haha!
- So, can any player just come up with a nickname for themselves or choose to have their surname as their identifier? JD, Abraham, Voce?! When did this happen? Wentworth worked hard for hers!! 😛
- The Rebus puzzle for kids at home – Probst’s game within the game. Man, kids these days must be super observant and quick because that puzzle came up in the challenge for about TWO SECONDS. All I saw was a lion’s head! Anyway, it was pretty meaningless and non-game related so… Can you figure it out?
Pia Miranda is an award-winning Aussie actress turned Australian Survivor winner! Pia won the Champions v Contenders season in 2019 with her ability to build great social bonds and lowkey, stealthy gameplay. She became a fan favourite and one of the most lauded winners in Australian Survivor history. Pia lasted 50 days to become Sole Survivor; only had 8 votes against her the whole season and won in a landslide 9-0 jury vote.
Lyndz: Welcome to Reality Ramblings, Pia! Thanks for joining me for this week’s episode recap.
Before we get into the episode, how has life been treating you post-winning Australian Survivor? Has all the hype settled down yet and you can go back to watching Survivor as ‘just a fan’?
Pia: I can 100% enjoy as a fan and now I don’t feel like such a loser being a couch expert, my family actually have to listen to my ramblings. I haven’t watched AU Survivor since playing… too triggering I guess? But I’m very invested in US and SA [Survivor South Africa].
Lyndz: On a scale of 1-10, how much do you love Jeff Probst? (Dear Jeff, please call Pia!!)
Pia: 10 – do you think he knows I exist?????? Lol
Lyndz: With all the pre-season chatter in regards to a shorter season, more diverse casting and focus on their stories, and new twists (starting with no food!?), how excited were you for Survivor 41?
Pia: I was really excited, I think it’s the escapism we all needed. I live in Melbourne so we have had it pretty hard here… we have been in lockdown most of 2020/2021 so it’s nice to have something to look forward to. Plus, I am so happy they got to go back to Fiji as I know how much international TV production means to the Fijian people who are are just so wonderful and honestly the only ones who were nice to us out there! Haha.
I think the shorter season is just a result of the Covid/quarantine situation so I think it was unavoidable, but the difference between 26 days and 50 is huge and would definitely fast-track harder gameplay. 50 days means you need to keep a low profile for a good chunk of the game.
I think the conscious diversity in the casting is timely and something to be proud of… There was a definite good vibe feeling in the first ep that I really loved. My personal experience on the show was the complete opposite so I really appreciated the casting this season.
Lyndz: Do you like the tribe splits of 6 where it requires quicker gameplay and nowhere to hide? How would you approach the game? It is a stark contrast to Australian Survivor’s 12 players tribes where there is a lot of room to move.
Pia: The tribe splits are reflective of Survivor SA which I really enjoy so I like it. I think the smaller tribe would definitely be harder for a player like me who likes to duck and weave because there aren’t as many places to hide, however for some reason I feel the smaller tribes become less obsessed with physical strength and more interested in voting out threats so that could work for me early days.
Lyndz: Which castaways are you currently drawn to and who do you think you would align with? (P.S. I love Shan!)
Pia: I saw Erika’s promo video and she definitely had a game-plan that reminded me of mine, PLUS she hates camping and has no upper body strength so I am already on her side! I really loved Evvie and Shantel first ep and I would definitely be aligning with those two. They seem awesome.
Lyndz: I’m not sure if you ‘researched’ the cast like other nerd fans pre-season, but if you did, did anyone surprise you or change your perspective of them after watching the episode?
Pia: Not yet, but I’m looking forward to some surprises.
Lyndz: We saw the tribes face their first dilemma on the beach with a Savvy or Sweat option. I personally would have loved to have seen the Triangles puzzle completed, but which would you have advocated for?
Pia: I would have advocated for Sweat, because I know that I wouldn’t be first choice to do it which would give me time at camp with 2 less people to compete with. Plus as a smaller person you try and pitch yourself as good at puzzles so if you fail the first day you have no currency.
Lyndz: The second dilemma presented to us was the Protect Your Vote v Risk Your Vote. Which would you choose? And was it just me or was how the dilemma presented really confusing? Haha.
Pia: I found it so confusing! I probably would have taken the safe option so I could go back to camp and be honest and tell everyone what happened and then hopefully earn their trust.
Lyndz: The third huge twist for the season was the “Shot in the Dark” dice, where every player has one shot to roll a die to save themselves. I’ve read differing opinions on this as it messes with traditional voting strategies. What are your thoughts on this extra element of the game?
Pia: I’m an old school player so I’m not that into twists, I prefer it to be about old fashioned gameplay, but it’s season 41 so I completely get why they feel the need to change it up. I’m just a nerdy purist.
Lyndz: Unfortunately, we saw (Eric) Abraham and Sara become iconic first boots. Do you think there’s anything they could have done to save themselves (aside from rolling the die of course)?
Pia: I think Eric was Old-school blindsided so he probably had no chance, but Sara had some shade thrown her way so I would have played my die for sure. The stress of going out first is so horrendous and it was almost me and I would have definitely rolled a die if I had the chance.
Lyndz: Who do you think are targets to go home next week?
Pia: I think Brad may be in trouble.
Lyndz: I know it’s early days, but who do you think will make Final 3?
Pia: Ahhhh, I don’t know!!! OK, stab in the dark – Shantel, Evvie and David (Voce).
Lyndz: Awesome, thanks for your time! Any final words, Pia?
Pia: I hope the new season is making everyone happy after a long Survivor drought.
I’m _piamiranda on my socials and you can follow me if you like Survivor, food (carbs) and dogs :))
Blog by Lynda Olson.
ALL IMAGES USED IN THIS ARTICLE ARE COPYRIGHT CBS. THIS IS A PERSONAL BLOG AND ALL GIFS AND VIEWS ARE MY OWN.
