Episode 13: Going out in a blaze

SurvivorSA: Immunity Island Recap/ analysis

By Jeff Pitman | Published: August 29, 2021

It was a big week in Survivor SA: Immunity Island, with a big reward (loved ones!), multiple idols played (for the last time!), and the exit of one of the biggest characters of the season, the flame-haired, tie-dyed, double agent fan favorite. And what a gloriously chaotic exit it was.

Episodes 16-18: The gameplay finds its footing

SurvivorAU: Brains v Brawn Recap/ analysis

By Jeff Pitman | Published: August 27, 2021

At long last, production allowed just enough room for Survivor AU: Brains v Brawn's players to play (in two of the three episodes, at least), and those players delivered: A tricky blindside-within-a-blindside, a one-vote idoling out (with a fun new idol variant), and a nifty plurality vote that took out a major player. It's a reminder that hopefully the show notices: If you cast people who are capable and eager to play, they'll do the work. No need for a twist and an idol every episode!

Episode 12: Destiny achieved

SurvivorSA: Immunity Island Recap/ analysis

By Jeff Pitman | Published: August 22, 2021

If you love idols and advantages, good news: They were combined in a satisfying way for a convoluted big move this week, and more were added. If you hate them, also good news: Their end is nigh, and Survivor SA: Immunity Island will have a clean, trinket-free endgame. All this season does is win.

Episodes 13-15: Lost in new twists

SurvivorAU: Brains v Brawn Recap/ analysis

By Jeff Pitman | Published: August 18, 2021

After delivering a top-notch merge episode,  Survivor AU: Brains v Brawn's week (and perhaps the entire season) careened predictably off the rails as production acted quickly to smother nascent gameplay in a duststorm of unnecessary and/or misleading twists. On the one hand, a non-elimination followed. One the other, still tilting the numbers all-but-permanently in favor of Brawn.

Episode 11: A shocking loss

SurvivorSA: Immunity Island Recap/ analysis

By Jeff Pitman | Published: August 15, 2021

The Vunas finally started aiming their fire at each other this week, and somehow, the side that had all the hardware ended up losing. It's a stunning setback that also surprised the audience, because it took out one of the most consistently positively-edited narrators. A Stark setback, you might say. But still, a tangible reminder that everyone is playing hard (and well) this season.

Episodes 10-12: Zzz, zzz, whoa!

SurvivorAU: Brains v Brawn Recap/ analysis

By Jeff Pitman | Published: August 12, 2021

It took a while to get there, but Survivor AU: Brains v Brawn closed out the pre-merge portion of the game with a bang, as the supposedly warring original Brains and Brawns got together (with two more Brains, for no obvious reason) and collectively took out an allegedly 'bulletproof' central character and power player. Boom.

Episode 10: Two if by waterpark

SurvivorSA: Immunity Island Recap/ analysis

By Jeff Pitman | Published: August 7, 2021

The big news in this week's episode of Survivor SA: Immunity Island, as is evident in the title, is the twist, "Tied Destinies." It was certainly a big swing by production, but did it connect? Oh, heavens no. Well, not in any way we'd want to see repeated, anyway. But at least it's now gone, so here's a post-mortem of what went wrong.

Episodes 7-9: Nothing in this place is normal

SurvivorAU: Brains v Brawn Recap/ analysis

By Jeff Pitman | Published: August 5, 2021

Things are both really good and really questionable at various points in Week 3 of Survivor AU: Brains v Brawn, and Laura's "What the hell?" reaction pretty much sums it up. Hayley was everywhere, overthrowing the patriarchy, grabbing idols, leveraging them to save the otherwise swap-screwed Brains. It was glorious. But production's heavy thumb was also on the scale at various points, which was significantly less wonderful.

Episode 9: The calm before the storm?

SurvivorSA: Immunity Island Recap/ analysis

By Jeff Pitman | Published: August 3, 2021

As the dust settles from the Survivor SA: Immunity Island merge vote, several players are taking stock and reassessing their position within their alliances. While this episode's boot went off without a hitch, the tension is definitely building for another explosive power shift, probably sooner rather than later.

Episodes 1-9: And then there were ten

SurvivorSA: Immunity Island Recap/ analysis

By Ryan Kaiser | Published: August 1, 2021

With ten players out and ten still in, Ryan dips his toes into international Survivor recapping  with a post-merge appreciation of the action thus far in SurvivorSA: Immunity Island. A full run-down of the highlights of the first half of the season (some of which didn't even involve Santoni), and predicting which remaining players will tank or triumph.