Survivor Insights 119: One World, Two Tribes (Pilot Episode)

THE GOOD: Survivor is back, at last, and this time around with no redemption. Once you’re out, you’re done. End of story. The only trickiest thing here is creating alliances can be so complicated now that eighteen of them are living on the same beach. Yes – Alicia and Matt quickly made a little circle of their own. Alicia quickly sealed an agreement by words with Kim, Sabrina and Chelsea while Matt invited Michael, Jay and Bill on his side. These looked like a good group of four but will this bond lasts? The answer remains uncertain. It’s just three days in and the collision of personalities are still about to come. I expect more drama. I’m also preparing myself for more complicated series of events. The more complicated the events are (Remember what happened in Heroes vs. Villains? Every episode in this season was complicated), the better it gets.

THE BAD: Matt was immediately the target – I knew it. I was second guessing it after reading his CBS Profile but the inevitable happened. I’m getting use to it though. It’s a consistent pattern that each time I picked first-impression bets, one of the four won’t make the merge (Candace in Tocantins, Marisa in Samoa, Yve in Nicaragua, Mikayla in South Pacific). Will it happen this season again?

It’s uncertain if Matt’s alliance stays loyal to him given the fact that he’s physically fit, smart and obviously a big target in individual challenges. He’ll stay for now. His strength is surely needed in challenges however, if Matt continues to think he’s always in control and “condescending” as what the other tribe puts in, his alliance will most likely cut his throat.

WHO STANDS OUT?: This is a pilot episode in which most names are given a fair amount of airtime. The camera loves Alicia. The edit shows how fast and precise Chelsea is in catching two chickens. Matt airs out his feelings in confessionals. But the stand-out player of all is Colton. He’s clearly sitting in his luckiest position right now. Matt’s alliance wanted him to snoop while the Salani women were accepting him with open arms. Sabrina even gave the hidden idol to him. She instructed Colton to vote out the strongest member of his team once the right moment comes. As expected, Colton targeted Matt.

THE UNLUCKIEST: Accidents happen all the time. It’s inevitable. It’s beyond anyone’s control but I never thought this would be the cause of  Kourtney’s exit. In one of the shortest immunity challenges I’ve seen in history, Kourtney’s wrist was broken. The challenge was unexpectedly stopped, a medic was called and just like that, her x-ray results revealed she needed to leave the game for surgery.

EPISODE RATING: 8 of 10 stars. It was not the best pilot but a quite memorable one.

Photo courtesy of: CBS