SURVIVOR INSIGHTS 356: Season 46 | Finale Lesson of The Story

Episode 13 Review: The last two challenges of this season are amazing. One, these are not recycled challenges. Two, I love the one who wins the challenge. However, the end result is okay.

Maria was hungry to win her fourth immunity necklace when Liz all of a sudden helped Kenzie to win the challenge to vote out Maria.

For her threat level gone to the roof, Maria was voted out during the Tribal Council.

Charlie, Ben, Liz and Kenzie competed for the Final Immunity Challenge of the season. It was a time-pressured challenge that required them to solve a logo puzzle, while dividing their time to toss a ball into the gigantic Pinball Machine.

When the ball inside the Machine fell, the survivors had to pause and wait for the ball to roll back to them.

Unexpectedly, Ben aced this challenge with enthusiasm. He handled his time well between two different activities and win!

Ben had the power to choose who to vote out and who could potentially exit the game through fire-making.

Ben chose Charlie to sail through the Final 3 without stress.

For Liz and Kenzie, however, was crunch time. Kenzie collected herself and built the flame with a focus to win.

She won and sent Liz to The Jury table.

Jeff welcomed the Final 3 for their Final Tribal Council. The Jury of 8 expected thought-provoking responses From Charlie, Ben and Kenzie to earn their votes.

Charlie’s responses were calculated in a way he focused on numbers. These numbers told the story of how he played the game the whole time.

Ben’s responses were mixed of emotions and a level of self-awareness that was hard to find on Charlie’s responses, especially when he shared his advocacy on spreading good music among the young students.

Kenzie was a social butterfly when answering The Jury’s questions. She answered their questions unfiltered and at the same time, these were the truthful answers The Jury wanted to hear.

Kenzie’s answers were neither as objectively narrative as Charlie nor as likeable as Ben’s. She remained simple and injected her answers with passion.

It was a mystery why Ben did not receive votes. The final voting result favored Kenzie more by 5 to 3 than Charlie. 4 of 5 stars, GOOD.

Lesson Learned: “My game has been about adapting and knowing when to sit back and when to step up.” – KENZIE

More Lessons: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8 | Episode 9 | Episode 10 | Episode 11 | Episode 12

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SURVIVOR INSIGHTS 355: Season 46 | Episode 12 Lesson of The Story

Episode 12 Review: This pre-finale episode is a mix. The first 60% is good consistently, but the last 40% is “too” predictable.

The climax of this episode began when Charlie won The Sanctuary Reward Challenge, but he did not choose Maria with him.

Charlie, instead, chose Kenzie and Liz – who unexpectedly could eat Chinese food.

Maria began to believe the possibility to shift an alliance and would give a chance to trust Q more.

To seal her safety, Maria dominated the Immunity Challenge for the third time. She surprisingly surprised everyone by finishing the dolphin puzzle by a mile ahead of Charlie and Ben, who solved the foundation first.

Then, Charlie played his social politics as delicate as The Tortured Poets Department.

And, it worked!

Even Maria felt instantly guilty with the way Charlie convinced her to vote out Q. The Number 1 Taylor Swift fan was convincing without a drop of bad blood.

Tribal Council came. There were layers of great insights shared on the table. Maria voted against Charlie, which was a testament that her loyalty shifted totally.

Charlie’s Numbers Game saved him, however. The rest voted against Q; therefore, he was knocked out with an idol inside his Q-Skirt.

Correct me if I was wrong, but this was the third consecutive time that a hidden idol was not played, which was unrealistic anymore.

Kudos for Q for his no-silent promotion of Applebee’s on his exit confessional. This was fun and real good! 4 stars of 5.

Lesson Learned: “I either let this knock me down and take the wind out of my sails or I’m gonna channel this into fierce determination to win the challenge today.” – MARIA

More Lessons: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8 | Episode 9 | Episode 10 | Episode 11

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SURVIVOR INSIGHTS 354: Season 46 | Episode 11 Lesson of The Story

Episode 11 Review: It is official! I have no Early Favorite left for this season.

However, I could not help it but notice the consistent unrealistic pattern of those with hidden idols. From Jem to Hunter to Tiff and Venus, none one of them played their idols.

It was a mystery, and it was frustrating to watch.

I thought this was a new era. The game amplified, but it turned out this season was totally a replay of Survivor Redemption Island in Season 22. The new players were un-strategic, letting the power players like Boston Rob stay and win effortlessly.

In this season, all the power players namely Charlie, Maria and Ben were completely safe.

None attempted to vote them out. Instead, the majority voted for Venus who has no solid alliance since the merge.

Considering that Venus found a hidden idol, did it make her a threat?

No. She simply found it.

It was a huge effort for Maria to win the Immunity Challenge for the second time. The timing was right!

She needed that necklace for an extra layer of protection knowing that her closest ally (Charlie) began to explore other options that could benefit his game.

It was a wasted opportunity to not vote out Charlie, however. His invisible social game was too powerful to be noticed. Not even Venus sensed it.

Frustrating.

Probably, the season finale will be as predictable as Season 22 all over again. If Charlie will win, that is given.

It is also given if Ben wins. Surprisingly, that is one less predictable than having Jeff Probst announces a Charlie or Maria win. 3 stars of 5, So-So

Lesson Learned: “This game is all about working with people, adapting to what’s in front of you and keeping your options open.” – CHARLIE

More Lessons: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8 | Episode 9 | Episode 10

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SURVIVOR INSIGHTS 353: Season 46 | Episode 10 Lesson of The Story

Episode 10 Review: This is a predictable episode, but it is a fun one for the food sponsorship of Applebee’s is back at The Sanctuary.

The final stretch of the season was on!

The eight remaining survivors were getting thinner, hungrier and angrier. After Q won the Reward Challenge, Liz was having a moment of meltdown for not having been selected for The Sanctuary.

It was understandable that Liz was starving but having a meltdown like she blamed Q for having the entire solar system collapse on her, this moment was uncomfortable and scary to watch.

It was clear that even Venus, Ben and Charlie who were not selected for the reward felt awkward. Venus attempted to console Liz but hesitated for the rage in Liz could be uncontrollable.

On to Applebee’s Sanctuary – Q was with Tiffany, Kenzie and Maria in an aim to bring back the trust that was lost. These four had a good time, but Tiffany and Kenzie were not going to trust Q again.

For this reason, Q was once again the Public Enemy Number 1 coming into the Immunity Challenge.

Q failed to win the Immunity Challenge. Charlie also stopped Tiffany from winning.

This meant that the majority could either go for the expected and easy vote, which was Q, or go to blindside Tiffany, which personally was not a blindside.

Tiffany was not a threat (the way I see it). Her hidden idol was not a threat either.

Most power players of this episode were Charlie and Maria who were controlling the game with finesse since the merge.

Truth was, no Former-Siga yet was eliminated since Tim who is one of my early favorites.

In this case, Tiffany was a sacrifice for Maria and Charlie to protect Ben.

These power players found the right timing to break the alliance of Former-Yanu 3 with the help of Q and Liz.

Tribal Council came. The plan was set then Jeff Probst revealed the votes.

Q was safe again. Kenzie was shocked, however, as Tiffany received more votes than expected and became the fourth member of The Jury. 4 of 5 stars! GOOD

Lesson Learned: “If I keep sitting back and waiting for the light to turn green, it may not turn green. So, I’m gonna have to run the red light.” – MARIA

More Lessons: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8 | Episode 9

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SURVIVOR INSIGHTS 352: Season 46 | Episode 9 Lesson of The Story

Episode 8 Review: This is a wasted episode for one survivor who can potentially win it all.

It began with Liz saying that Q stole her thunder. She wanted to be appreciated for the masterful vote-out of the biggest threat of the season.

Then, the nine survivors were divided into three groups of 3 for the Immunity Challenge.

One team would be eliminated at every phase of the challenge until one team would make the final round and compete against each other until only one would win.

Hunter, Maria and Charlie made the final round easily.

The final round required them to stand on a narrow perch for as long as they could. Maria went out first.

In a similar showdown as last week’s, Hunter and Charlie attempted to survive the pain they were going through.

Both were tough as nails, but the physical pain devoured Hunter. Charlie won!

Back at camp, layers of options were laid on the table. Plan A was to vote Q out, which was a boring vote for Kenzie.

Kenzie wanted to take a bigger risk and proceed to Plan B, which was to blindside Tiffany.

Tiffany confessed to Charlie to she would play her hidden idol and for this, the new alliance of Maria, Charlie, Ben and Kenzie went for the obvious, which was to vote-out Hunter.

Hunter made the right calculation that he was vulnerable hours before the Tribal Council. He approached Q for help and decided to blindside Ben, while he would protect himself with his idol.

This was a brilliant plan, but it was a big mystery why Hunter continued to branch out and shared to Venus and Liz that he had an idol.

Hypothesis A: Maybe, Hunter aimed to preserve his idol until the next Tribal Council by creating a new layer of alliance as his shield.

Hypothesis B: Maybe, Hunter did not trust Q anymore, so in case Q would betray him, his second layer of alliance would protect him.

Hypothesis C: Maybe, men in general had poor instinct. Hunter was simply one example.

From a brilliant plan, all momentum spiraled down for Hunter during the Tribal Council.

Hunter felt confused and hesitant to play his idol before the vote-read. He appeared to have completely forgotten to live in the moment.

Therefore, the votes were tied at 4-4 for him and Q.

During the re-vote, majority of the votes went for one of the calmest, humblest and most competitive survivors of all time (next to Aras).

Hunter became the third member of The Jury, but objectively, I still have one Early Favorite left. How far can Venus go? 4 stars of 5, GOOD.

Lesson Learned: “If we can’t say what we’re seeing, what’s the point of being out here?” – JEFF PROBST

More Lessons: Episode 1 | Episode 2 | Episode 3 | Episode 4 | Episode 5 | Episode 6 | Episode 7 | Episode 8

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