It’s an advantage-palooza on Survivor Season 41 Episode 3!
Tribe dynamics are settling and the castaways are starting to get a sense of who they want to play with.
One thing this season is already proving is just how eager everyone is to play — HARD.
How did Brad suddenly find ALL the advantages?
It seems like hard work and dedication to camp chores paid off because the second Beware Advantage was right there by the fire. But he also found the first Beware Advantage somewhere else (probably while he was collecting firewood or rescuing baby birds or curing malaria or something).
This guy is so genuine and seems like such a good, honest person. Unfortunately, this is what makes him a terrible Survivor player.
What? How can he be terrible if he found all these advantages and even got a steal-a-vote out of it?
Finding advantages does not make you a good Survivor player. Knowing how to use them, either by keeping them secret or sharing them with the right people, is how you get ahead in the game Otherwise, they just put a huge target on your back.
Bye-bye, Brad. Bye-bye to your Beware Advantage and your Steal-a-Vote — unless they are transferable, in which case he may have bequeathed them to Genie. But in order to do that he would have had to have known he was going home.
Maybe whoever gets the Beware Advantage next will be able to say the broccoli line properly.
Xander is going to be so disappointed when he finds out Brad is gone and he has to keep saying that stupid butterfly line over and over again. I’ll hand it to him, though, he made it work two challenges in a row.
Look at JD — he’s learning firsthand what happens when you get careless with an advantage.
Today, it was like crap hit the fan and the fan was made of crap.
JD
JD is flying by the seat of his pants, but he’s showing how great he is at playing a reactive game. He lets things happen and then does damage control.
This is honestly one of the best skills to have in this game. Survivor is wildly unpredictable at the best of times and this is a whole new era filled with constant unforeseen twists and advantages. Being able to roll with the punches is key.
I’m not hurt. I just don’t trust him.
Shan
Ricard and Shan, though they don’t trust him, now have something over him, which means they will want to keep him as a pawn. If they feel like he owes them, they certainly won’t want to get rid of him any time soon.
Also, JD has some of the best lines and analogies of the season thus far. They don’t always land, but you have to wonder if he was practicing his material at home before he left for Fiji.
Trust in this game is like crystal, right? Each one of you has your own crystal and it’s precious — it’s not easily given away. And I hope that even though I may have dropped your crystal that you don’t drop mine.
JD
Of the two, I’m glad Ua kept JD instead of Brad. Both are entertaining players, but overall JD is the more dynamic of the two.
Speaking of which, Shan and Ricard are really running things over on the green tribe!
Let’s hope these two are in it for the long haul because they make a fascinating pair. They’re both very intelligent and have enough respect for each other and the game that they can really break down what needs to happen and then make it happen.
Shan’s emotional story about her parents is such a heavy confessional, which goes to show how raw emotions can get with the deprivation they are experiencing. To compare something like that with choosing who to vote off only highlights what an emotional player Shan is — but that’s not a bad thing.
She’s not afraid to go there and embrace that side of herself. She knows how to use the emotional connection to her benefit, which is apparent when JD gives her his extra vote to “hold on” to.
You got caught! That’s not coming clean, that’s getting caught!
Shan
Yase finally got a reprieve this episode, coming in second at the immunity/reward challenge. It’s always such a relief to see the scrappy underdogs get it when they need it.
Tiffany is coming into her own. She’s not the most likable player, but you’ve got to admire how much she’s improved. She makes it over that rope bridge with only a minor struggle — still in last place, but the determination and drive are there.
Xander really comes through for his tribe, clinching a second-place finish in a nail-biting challenge and keeping himself safe for another vote.
Once again, Xander proves that he’s extremely useful to them and absolutely a threat. He has got quasi-allies on the other tribes (Danny on Luvu and JD on Ua from the “summit’) and hopefully the Beware Advantage Three-way Immunity will be activated sooner rather than later.
Speaking of which, it really seems like the Beware Advantage is the only source of individual immunity in the pre-merge. This is so refreshing.
Idols have become such a huge component of how contestants strategize, it’s a great way to flip the concept on its head — make them work for it! How it will carry into the post-merge game is anyone’s guess.
There may not be a tribe swap this season. All in all, there may not be time for it. That in itself is a twist!
Change is the only thing that’s constant in this world.
Liana
There’s enough going with all the twists and advantages and secret meetings between different tribe members that once the merge rolls around, there will be plenty of dynamics to explore between those who remain.
Once again Luvu remains low-key. Without having to vote anyone off, there’s not much conflict to show, apart from the Sydney-Naseer dynamic. Even then, I wouldn’t worry too much for Naseer. Luvu will likely continue to dominate.
Let’s hope someone on Luvu can find the Beware Advantage so the darn thing can get activated and Xander can be safe and get to vote again!
Sydney is right not to trust Tiffany and vice versa. Both had excellent reads of each other in their short time together.
The whole boat excursion sadly seems to have been for nothing.
Again, the explanation felt overly convoluted and confusing. Maybe seeing it written down would help it make more sense, but at least the three of them figured it out — even if they ended up with nothing to show for it.
With Brad and his pile of advantages gone, it should be easier for us at home to keep track. Perhaps that was Shan and Ricard’s thinking as well — keep it simple and vote out the player with the most advantages.
Brad must have been blindsided. He had too much faith in his fellow castaways — while else wouldn’t he have used his shot-in-the-dark?
What do you think? Did Ua made the right choice in ousting Brad and keeping JD?
Share your thoughts in the comments!
Mary Littlejohn is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.