Welcome to a new season of Survivor and Screaming at the Screen. I touched on this in my season preview column, but it bears repeating that the cast of season forty-several got to watch a little over half of Survivor 46 before leaving for Fiji to play Survivor. In their preseason interviews, many of them mentioned watching three players in a row get blindsided while holding their Idols. This means they saw 10 of the 13 episodes, up to the blindside on Venus. They also got a healthy dose of Ben’s regular panic attacks. This also means they’re playing this season without knowing how Q, Maria and Liz went out, or how many votes changed during a hotly-contested Final Tribal Council between Kenzie and Charlie. I’m thinking this means the 47 players will be much less likely to hold on to their Idols or Advantages for fear of being embarrassed like Jem, Hunter, Tiffany, Venus and Q were.

I’m anticipating a lot of entertaining confessionals because there are so many media-savvy players in the cast. They’re also playing with the knowledge that they could be asked back to play in Survivor 50. I’m looking forward to a season full of Rick Devens-style “news update” confessionals. I’m as excited as I’ve ever been for a new season of Survivor.

And away we go ....

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One of the men said “I want to be the first head ...” and I was worried I was watching a “more mature” version of Survivor. Then I heard the rest of the quote “... on the Mt. Rushmore of Survivor. Mine is not based on popularity, but on who I think are the four best players (keep in mind, I put a heavy emphasis on rookie seasons). My Mt. Rushmore would be Sandra, Earl, Yul and Dee.

One of the women said “I’m either gonna blaze my own path here or burn down this island." I’m not taking the bait this time. In Survivor 45, Emily said “I’m either gonna go out first or I’m winning this game.” She did neither. I’ve got good ears, but I can’t recognize their voices yet.

They’re all arriving on the same boat but are dressed in their tribe colors. I’m not sure, but I think this hasn’t happened for quite some time.

Sam gets the first on-camera confessional: “You don’t find a guy who looks like me be super unsuspecting, its often the people who say ‘I’m a wolf in sheep’s clothing.’ I’m a wolf in wolf’s clothing.’” Hmm ... is he saying he’s gonna try to get himself voted out early?

Yeah, Kyle is almost the spitting image of Ian from Palau.

Sue: “When I win Survivor, I’m gonna say ‘I’m 59, and I beat all your asses.” Didn’t Reem say the same thing right before she got voted out first overall in Edge of Extinction?

I’m sure Probst worked on this opening speech for a while, but I already find myself tuning him out. Let’s get to the player questions already. I want to see someone putting a foot in their mouth.

Gabe gets the first question. In preseason, most of the players said they were put off by him because he never smiled or made eye contact. His body language here with arms folded doesn’t say “warm and friendly, you can work with me” either.

Teeny opens up by making everyone laugh. That’s not a bad start but don’t lay it on too thick. People will label you as “Too likable to sit next to in the finals.” Jon makes everyone laugh too. See my comment on Teeny.

I like the twist of Probst walking everyone to the challenge arena. It’s not a big change, but it’s something new. Good job, Survivor.

All six tribe members have to retrieve a puzzle piece but only two will work on the puzzle. The smartest players won’t touch the puzzle. The last thing you want is Probst telling everyone who well you nailed it, or how much you sucked at it.

Kyle starts out a mile ahead of everyone else running into the jungle. He’s chasing that “Challenge beast” label right out of the gate. But Sam brings back the first piece, runs back and helps Anika with hers. He ripped that “Beast” label right out of Kyle’s arms.

Probst is covering a lot of ground in this one. One moment he’s with everyone at the starting line, the next he’s watching people untie their puzzle pieces. This tells me some of the players aren’t hearing him raving about or trashing someone’s performances. Kyle is on the puzzle with Caroline for Tuku. He wants that “Beast” label back.”

Rachel and Anika take the spotlight roles for Gata, and Aysha and Kishan do it for Lavo.

Gata wins their supplies, and Probst says one person from the two losing tribes must perform a task to get their supplies. It looked like Aysha volunteered. Bad move. You should know better than that. You cover Reality TV for RHAP!

Tiyana: “We said ‘Throw rock or scissors and the odd man out goes.” So, TK throws paper. I LOVE that Tiyana called him out for his brain fart. But I wonder if TK did that on purpose to sandbag his intelligence? Either way, it’s a bad move to separate yourself from the majority of your tribe so early on. You’ve given them a chance to form an alliance and discuss voting you out.

Rome in confessional: “Aysha chose to go on this Journey. Big mistake ... I’m not gonna miss out on those first few hours of strategizing.” Rome gets it. Aysha didn’t get it. I say, “Get on the boat, lose your vote.”

Andy says he needs to bond with two people on his tribe, then walks off alone with Jon. So, what happens? The other four start talking about aligning against them! What do I always say? “Stay physically close to the majority!” Sometimes that’s all it takes to get yourself into an alliance.

Tuku got the same camp Kenzie, Q and Tiffany’s Yanu tribe had last season. I recognize that rock formation. Their tribe lost the first three Immunity challenges and set a record for the most days spent without flint. Is this a bad omen for Tuku?

Gabe immediately pitches Sue on a partnership, but in pregame, Sue said she was put off by his reluctance to smile or make eye contact. This should be interesting. Is she gonna play him, or use his loyalty pitch to use him as a shield? Sue connects with Caroline and wants her to join up with Gabe. The question here is how does Caroline feel about Gabe?

When I saw this close-up of Sol, I thought he was wearing a hearing aid. Then I realized it was mud.

Yeah, Teeny is giving me the same vibe I got from Elaine in Island of the Idols.

Genevieve pitches Teeny on a four-person alliance with Rome and Kishan, but Teeny says she wants to give Aysha a shot at that 4th spot. Bad move, Teeny. Your answer should be “Yes” with no hesitation. You just told Genevieve you value Aysha more than you value her. Being open to including Aysha is a smart move in the bigger picture, but you don’t say it to someone else’s face. In pregame, Teeny recognized Aysha from her (RHAP) podcasts. It’s great that you want to work with Aysha, but at least find out if Aysha wants to work with you before you hesitate on someone else’s pitch.

Aysha and TK have to race to solve clues to get one set of supplies. It was more of a scavenger hunt than a physical race. This was closer than I thought it would be, but TK prevailed. Now Aysha has to go back to camp empty-handed to five people who might not believe her story. Even though she didn’t lose her vote, they might think she did and target her anyway because they think she’s lying. Aysha played this one about as badly as possible.

At Gata, Anika immediately starts sharing her knowledge of survival skills, and making suggestions on how to build camp, which some may interpret as “giving orders.” (Eddie Murphy voice here) Did that hurt Sam? It looked real painful when it slammed into you.”

Sierra makes the tribe’s first fire. I bet the rest of the tribe is saying “Don’t let her reach the final 4 fire challenge.”

Gabe finds a Beware Advantage, then gets lucky when TK walks away so he can stuff it in his pocket. But then he can’t wait to try and find the Idol. Bad move. Be a little patient, gather some firewood and make sure everyone sees you doing it, THEN go get the Idol. So naturally, he gets caught when TK returns.

Teeny tells Aysha she recognizes her from RHAP, and Aysha isn’t sure what to make of it. If I were Teeny, I might not have come straight out with that info. I might have played it like Penner did when he played with Lisa Whelchel in Philippines. He chose to SHOW her he wouldn’t reveal her celebrity status before saying anything to her, and I think she trusted him more because of it.

Rome breaks my “stay physically close to the majority” rule even though he said he knew how valuable it was to strategize and bond with people early on. In my pregame column, I said I thought he’d play too hard too fast. So far, I think I nailed this one.

He finds the Beware Advantage, but he’s already got himself into trouble. It’s possible people think he’s got an Idol and are already planning their voting strategy around it.

And just like Gabe, Rome puts himself at more risk by spending more time away from the group while he tries to find the Idol. But he’s patting himself on the back???

Sue agrees to play lookout for Gabe while he goes to find the Idol. If I’m Sue, I’m not sure if this is good or bad. Sure, Gabe appears to trust me, but how do I know he’ll be honest with me about whether or not he found anything?

I think I like this Risk/Reward twist to holding an Idol. Aggressive players will surely get burned by it and regret opening that Beware Advantage in the first place. I don’t know that an Idol that’s only good for three Tribal Councils is worth the risk, especially since at least two people can reasonably suspect you’ve got it. Those two are the most likely to try to fool you to flush it out.

I loved watching the box tumble down those rocks. There should be NO mystery to what Gabe is doing now. This Idol is NOT worth the effort to find it. I don’t think Gabe realizes how much he’s put himself in the spotlight yet.

Andy realizes (possibly a little too late) that he hasn’t connected with a majority yet, so he tries to bond with Rachel. If Rachel is smart, she’ll make him feel comfortable with her. That way, she can fool him if her foursome wants to remove him, or she can quietly bring him in to go after someone else.

I’m getting a Ben/Kenzie vibe from Andy and Rachel. If her instincts are telling her Andy won’t be a strong alliance partner, she should cut him loose, or at least convince everyone else that’s what she wants to do. At a minimum, they’ll be talking about removing the high maintenance player instead of removing her.

And now Jon is getting sketchy about Andy. Andy is playing like David Wright in the first three days of Millennials vs Gen X. He was a neurotic mess. David calmed down and turned himself into that season’s best player. It doesn’t look like Andy can do that yet.

Gabe starts smashing wood while everyone is sleeping so he can find his next key. What are the odds someone heard him? This dude isn’t a bull in a china shop, he’s a scowling wooly mammoth in a window factory.

And he’s got yet ANOTHER key to find! I’m laughing my ass off again.

Gabe takes the 3-Tribal Idol. I can’t wait to see him blindsided while holding it for one more Tribal. It will serve him right for not learning the lesson taught to him by Hunter, Tiffany and Venus last season.

Sol: I really think Rome has something.” Good job, Rome.

I wonder how much of his drinking water Rome wasted trying to find that Idol clue? Idols are NOT worth the work you have to put into finding them this season at all. I bet everyone on this tribe got grossed out when they watched sweaty, dirty Rome diving into their drinking water supply.

I think we’ve seen every element of this Immunity Challenge before.

Gata has gotta throw it in reverse.

Tuku capsizes, and their chests start drifting away. How do you recover from that?

Then Gata does the same thing? I wonder if the Survivor Dream Team had this happen when they tested the challenge?

Sol looks like he’s doing all the heavy lifting for Lavo, but I don’t hear Probst heaping praise on him.

Aysha and Rome put themselves on the puzzle. They just love putting themselves in vulnerable positions, don’t they?

Andy looks like he knows his game is already over.

Tuku pulls it out, but I’m thinking we’ve got a medevac on our hands. I feel bad for him, but how can they NOT vote him out now? It’s clear he’s not a dependable partner for the long run. If he’s willing to say out loud “I’m on the bottom, I see it in their eyes,” it can easily become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Andy: “My best friend out here is Jon.” Andy just advertised the biggest reason for Jon to cut him loose. He just told everyone in the game who his partner is. Andy “I was thinking I was gonna throw him under the bus so I could stay.” Even Tiyana wanted him to stop talking. This is painful to watch.

Andy in confessional: “The last thing I’m gonna do is concede.” Too late, dude. You’re way past conceding. You’ve killed any chance that anybody will want to work with you, or give you the million.

Rachel: In all my Survivor watching, I don’t think that’s ever happened in front of everybody else.” Oh yes it has. I’ve already started writing the intro to next week’s column. It’ll be chok full of Survivor meltdowns.

Anika to Jon: “We need to tell Andy it’s you (who we’re voting out).” Jon: “Ok.” Its never a good idea to agree to be the decoy vote, but this case is so extreme, I’m not sure what Jon could do to avoid it outside of asking the women to suggest Sam instead. And that just wouldn’t be very believable.

So, Jon steps in to try and save Andy? That seems worse than Andy’s meltdown.

Rachel: “Andy is a ticking time bomb, and you don’t know when it’s gonna explode.” Truer words have never been spoken. The same is true about players like Noura (Island of the Idols), Brandon Hantz, Cao Boi (Cook Islands), Sugar (Gabon), NaOnka (Nicaragua), and the Queen of unpredictability Abi-Maria (Philippines, Cambodia). The longer they stick around, the greater the chance they’ll take you out.

Tribal Council. Sierra: “I’ve got to give props to Anika, she definitely led the tribe for a good bit.” Sierra just publicly labeled Anika a “leader.” Historically, that’s a death sentence in Survivor. People usually want to take out the “leader.” They usually don’t get past 10th place. Then again, Kenzie got labeled as a “leader” last season ... but Bhanu was the one who gave it to her. Nobody listened to him.

Anika knows this wasn’t good.

From where I’m standing, there’s only one reasonable option, and that’s to remove Andy. Keeping him in the game is asking to be burned by him later on, whether or not it’s intentional on his part. These players just watched Bhanu spill all kinds of tribe info when he went on a Journey. Andy is a prime candidate to do the same thing.

But they remove Jon. They deserve whatever damage Andy does to them.

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Recap

Wow, that surprised me. But Jon really did contribute to his own demise. If someone is talking themselves out of the game, you should let them do it. Asking Sam to vote for Anika might have been Jon dealing himself a death blow. Sure the other four know Andy has probably blown any shot of winning the game, and has little chance of outwitting any of them, but does that mean they should have kept him around? I don’t think so. They may have saved Bhanu 2.0.

What do you think? Did the Gata tribe just guarantee their own failure, or will one of them turn into another Kenzie? Did Rachel do as I suspected and quietly bring Andy in to remove Jon? Is this season gonna turn into a second straight game dominated by sloppy play? Who played things worse, Andy, Rome or Gabe? Let me know what you think in the comments.