Hey all! It’s been fun breaking down the tribes each week and episode 4 is probably the best episode since the premiere. I also have Phil Ferguson from SurvivorAU Brain v Brawn for a Q&A. Hope you all enjoy reading it ^_^
UA TRIBE
Brad was voted out last night and Genie is pissed!! Shan starts what seems an unnecessary damage control. Her and Ricard should’ve just remained a bit more tight-lipped. Along with JD they’re a majority. A part of it is also keeping Genie in check, but they probably could’ve taken her aside and not blown up in her face.
Ua won reward and a stripper pole class from Fijian survivalist, Nathan. WOW! He was amazing to watch… them coconut climbs! Definitely a highlight of the episode.
Shan playing JD was a masterclass. Who cares if she’s a pastor in real life. This is Survivor and Shan just outplayed one of the biggest fans of the show! This is what we’re here for. Shan and Ricard are well-placed. Some may think she’s playing too hard too early, but is it? We’re 9 days in on a 26 day season; may as well go all out when you can. The only thing I’m worried about is when/if a tribe swap happens Genie may spill the tea on the other two to everyone else. Thankfully, she doesn’t know Shan has JD’s Extra Vote! And speaking of Genie, I was freaking the F out when she didn’t roll her dice. She put all her faith in Shan and Ricard and this time it paid off. Poor JD couldn’t catch a break. He tried so hard and like he said, how he played the game was not how he envisioned. As a huge fan my heart goes out to him. You really can’t trust anyone in the game of Survivor!
Ua is quickly becoming the Matsing on Survivor 41 and I’m secretly here for it. I’d actually love to see if 3 tribes dissolve into 2 without a swap soon. How interesting!
YASE TRIBE
We barely saw a thing at Yase this week, but I’m so, so proud of them winning both reward and immunity challenges. Just when we thought Tiffany was absolutely hopeless she absolutely smashes parts of the challenges we never saw coming. And her and Liana did an amazing job at the ring toss in the immunity challenge! Evvie brought us the funniest moment of the episode when she was trying to swim backwards… Y’all don’t laugh at us blind peeps. It’s hard to see in the water when your glasses are wet!! Haha. We also didn’t have to see Xander embarrass himself for a third time with the butterfly line!! I do wonder if he did say it and it was just edited out. Poor guy, haha.
Lastly, one of my favourite scenes this season was Yase watching the baby turtles crawl out to sea. It was a beautiful moment and how lucky for those 4 to witness a once in a lifetime event! It’s rare we see island life on Survivor anymore <3
LUVU TRIBE
Hot dayum, Sydney. What an arrogant queen bee. I love it. Apparently haters hate her coz they ain’t her. Even the way she was sitting in her confessionals was pompous. I loved how she didn’t even think someone like peasant Erika would throw her name under the bus! xD as I said last week, I think it’s a pretty smart idea sticking with the two meat shields in Deshawn and Danny. They seem to trust her too. For now.
Going back to Erika,. I was worried that if we saw more of her it’d be her boot episode, and jeezus had Luvu lost that immunity challenge it could have! Deshawn tried his half-ass darndest to throw the challenge, but alas, Erika found the key (thank you queen!!) and Naseer was a BEAST throwing those rings. He pretty much carried the tribe win. I am worried for Erika moving forward in this tribe iteration. The others should be worried as she’s a strategic force to be reckoned with!
Finally, Heather. Oh sweet Heather. To be the oldest on a tribe and not do well in a challenge. It’d be tough, but the others don’t seem to think she’s too much of a liability to keep around. Heather’s lucky to be on such a strong team. Fingers crossed we get to see her game play soon.
Phil “Chili Philly” Ferguson became a quick favourite amongst fans on the latest season of Australian Survivor. With their famous crocodile crochet hat in tow, Phil lasted just two days, their vote out mainly caused by a never-before-seen advantage played by King George. The result made viewers weep and we knew we had been robbed of some golden TV. Phil was the youngest player on the season and first non-binary castaway in Survivor history (shout out to Evvie for being the first NB castaway on US Survivor! <3). I’m so grateful to have Phil on the blog for another first (plus I love my LGBTQ+ peeps) and they have so many cool things to say about Survivor 41 so far:
Lyndz: Welcome to Reality Ramblings, Phil! Thanks for joining me for this week’s recap 🙂
Chili Phil: Hello! I’m so happy you asked me! This stuff is always super fun!
Lyndz: Firstly, how has life been post-Survivor? Lockdowns aside, have things gone back to crochet normal?
Phil: Yeah, basically! I already was working the freelance art life for most of last year, so outside of losing all ability to be social, work is as normal as it ever was, luckily!
Lyndz: You’re now an iconic Survivor first boot. Did you have flashbacks seeing Abraham and Sara be booted on episode 1? Do you have any advice for any future first boot icons?
Phil: It’s funny, because the scenarios of six people being at tribal were definitely very familiar, but I never had the lead in time that they had at all! I think Sara’s tribal was the most like mine in terms of the slow-moving train coming towards you and knowing it was coming. Though I would’ve loved to share the first boot night with someone, I never got to talk to Janelle until after the show was done!
I think one of the things I am always thankful for is being convinced to bring that crochet hat with me. While I think being ‘quirky’ put a target on my back, for being first out, it gave me a lot to leave an impression. So my advice is, if you don’t want to be the first boot, play from the start and don’t think you have time to recover. While if you want to be first and leave an impression, remember you do have time from when the votes are read to you walking out the door to do anything you ever want to. Channel your inner Miss Vanjie and hopefully you can leave an impression even when you are exiting!
Lyndz: What are your thoughts on Survivor 41’s diverse cast and shortened season?
Phil: I love it! I was kinda fortunate that I at least had one fellow POC and two other LGBTQIA+ people on my tribe. Though unfortunately two of them had immediate targets on their backs which made me apprehensive to draw too much attention to myself (which of course was to my detriment).
I think having a shorter season instantly puts in your mind to play hard fast, because there is only so much time, while also having a better range of diversity limits people to not make judgements on people’s appearances and backgrounds. I think the latest season of BBUS proved that having more diversity actually allows minorities to succeed, rather than being placed in an immediate numbers disadvantage.
Lyndz: Have you liked all the twists and advantages so far? Are you more a Protect or Risk your Vote kinda person?
Phil: I didn’t get sacrificed and voted out of the first tribal because of an advantage for me to hate twists! I think we are in an era where you have to now play from the start because they WILL throw everything at you, no matter what season you are going to be on around the world!
If I was playing the first time I would’ve been a protect my vote kinda pal but I’ve now learnt that being a team player early on may not actually pay off in any way so if I was walking up that hill, I’m risking my vote and making sure I at least got to make game decisions for myself!
Lyndz: Looking at tribe dynamics, which tribe (Ua, Luvu, Yase) would you choose to join and which castaways do you think you’d align with?
Phil: I think the tribe I would wanna be on is Yase! No bias for the yellow tribe, but I like all of Evvie, Xander, Liana and Tiffany. Obviously, Evvie and I would probably get along and align, but I think the other three have the types of personalities I would appreciate being around. I naturally don’t gravitate towards intense people and so I think there were people on the other sides that I think have energy that I would’ve found hard to navigate.
Lyndz: Speaking of, what are your thoughts on Sydney – do you think she’s ALL that? Do you think people really hate her coz they ain’t her?
Phil: Well living in Melbourne it is natural to not be a fan of Sydney, and after the first episode I was not loving her. I’m sure she’s awesome in real life, but after she told on Naseer for pointing out that the guys were looking for idols instead of doing the challenge, I could identify what sort of player she was. There is a lot of power in creating unconventional alliances and unfortunately she’s as predictable a player as the archetype she’s trying hard to be (and she’s trying so hard).
Lyndz: Is Shan playing too hard too early or is she doing things just right so far? I thought her outplaying JD was brilliant! Girl is getting so much hate for some reason…
Phil: Aren’t the people hating on her because she’s a pastor and she’s lying? It’s a bizarre standard to put on people playing Survivor, so all my love goes out to her.
She’s definitely playing the game hard and well, using her social game to maneuver, not get votes, and gain advantages. She’s smart as well because at the end of the day, if they swap or merge there is only three people on Ua now and they all have had a hand in a blindside (especially this JD blindside) so the chances of the other two throwing her out there as a ‘threat’ to new tribe members is quite low. Hey, they might lose one member next week and then you have a Malcolm and Denise scenario on their hands.
I feel like the idea of playing hard early is only applicable to large tribes and longer seasons, if you are in a group of 10 and you draw attention to yourself it’s so easy for 9 other people to just turn on you because you are still disposable. Though in such small groups, your number is important, everyone is a threat and so I just don’t think it will blow back onto her like some people think.
Lyndz: Deshawn tried so hard to throw the immunity challenge so they could go to tribal. What are your thoughts on throwing challenges and are you Team Erika?
Phil: I like Erika, Filipino pride!
To be honest if they wanted to really throw it, try harder! Why even pretend to even be ‘trying’ at that point if you really want to throw it! Act passed out, roll your ankle, tell everyone you HAVE to be throwing the rings. I feel like they just kept letting Naseer do things because they had zero commitment to be honest, half of them were trying to throw it!
Clearly there is a solid group in Luvu that everyone keeps thinking they are with and unfortunately they are sharing all the information amongst themselves which gives them all the power. It’ll be interesting how it shakes out because I just don’t think half the tribe are ‘playing’ and the other half want to so bad.
Lyndz: At tribal, were you shocked when Genie didn’t roll her dice? Do you think JD could have done more to save himself, like not giving Shan his Extra Vote? Haha.
Phil: I have a feeling Genie knew there wasn’t any point, I think with the tribe now at three, Ricard and Shan need to make sure they had to include Genie so she was definitely on their side if a swap comes to be.
Though on JD’s side, if someone in my alliance was acting paranoid, I would immediately think that they already think I would turn on them and that they don’t trust me at all! Like if we were in a trusted alliance, why would I randomly turn on you? That should’ve been his red flag to grab Genie, tell her about the extra vote and both vote for Shan!
Lyndz: Who are your top 3 favourite castaways so far?
Phil: I’m a bit biased, I love Ricard and Evvie. If I was to pick a third it’d be between Tiffany or Xander, random, but I think I would be obsessed with them out there and love to work with them too.
Lyndz: Who do you think will go home next week?
Phil: I think we are leading to a Sydney vs Erika showdown next week! On paper Erika seems doomed, but I think we will appreciate the downfall of Sydney a lot more.
Lyndz: Still early days, but who will be Sole Survivor?
Phil: I think someone on Yase will win, they seem to all be evenly focused and strategic. For now I’ll say Evvie, but there is so much game left it could turn and Sydney is the winner.
Lyndz: Any final words, Phil?
Phil: Thanks for having me! It’s fun to watch a new season with the experience under my belt and I hope the season keeps up the intrigue because when its good, it’s definitely fun to watch!
Follow Phil on Instagram and Twitter.
Blog by Lynda Olson.
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