7 Thoughts on the Survivor Game Changers Premiere from a newbie.

Hi there to everyone reading this who is not used to me or my writing style, I usually cover MTV’s The Challenge, and the Bachelor, but as a reality tv junkie, I am making the jump into also covering Survivor. Survivor has been around my entire life, and I’ve watched episodes here and there, but this past Winter I watched seasons 26–31 on Hulu, and really got into the show by the time I viewed season 31. When it comes to Survivor, I am ready to go all-in as a fan so I could be a better writer for my content, and for those of you reading. Now, I am going to be writing about 7 key takeaways that I had from tonight’s premiere.

Thought #1: Opening intros are one of my favorite parts of reality television, the people you see in the opening are often either going to be lead characters or get eliminated quickly for dramatic effect on the viewer. When introduced to a world, you remember the first people you meet and the first words you hear, so when these people get removed from the universe it is emotionally jarring.

The opening boat scramble was intense. With a group of veterans, they knew what to go for, and Ozzy made an incredible dip into the ocean getting the tool kit for the Nuku tribe. Not 100% on if chickens are that huge of an advantage, but it seems nice to have.

Thought #2: Tony’s edit for this episode foreshadowed his quick exit, but also gave a glimmer of hope that he may take control of the game early. Probst was right during tribal council when saying that Tony was trying to accelerate the game by his early tactics, but when you’re a big guy like Tony with a nefarious past, greasing the wheels could be your only way of winning. After the first elimination, he attempted to work with Sandra — a smart idea, but he got too into his head(though he was right to) and created a distance between himself and her. When going for the last minute backstabbing of Sandra, he made good points about Sandra’s game-play and why it was smart to take her out, however he was not able to put into words to fully seal the deal and convince the others to vote her out. In a game called Game Changers, it makes me unhappy that a strong competitor who could change the game is gone. RIP Tony.

Thought #3: It was a poor decision for Ciera to start throwing names out. You should never be the first person to go out and start tossing names when you’re not a strong player or even the WEAKEST player. To add to the hilarity of her early exit on Game Changers, is that she could not do the puzzle that she lost on during an earlier season of Survivor. The person that changed the game the least was the first to go, and it only feels right.

Thought #4: Sandra is the queen, and she is right to title herself that. Her game skill and the way she discusses it is just on another level. How could someone win Survivor two times and go 2 for 2, but still live under this allure that she is so weak that you can take her out at any time? It is insane, and at tribal council when she said nobody wants to give a 2 time winner a 3rd win, I ATE THAT SHIT UP. With Sandra having never lost, she will draw my interest every week about the will she or won’t she finally lose. She is a God until she loses. I will say that the way she spoke to Tony after he was voted out, was a bit too cocky and a little disrespectful, we will see the aftermath of this next week.

Thought #5: The second Immunity challenge was completely one-sided until Malcolm almost went full Steph Curry on the Ring Toss. What I loved about this Ring Toss is that you could tell the Nuku Tribe was playing too cautious with their lead in the Ring Toss, they went too slowly, and they almost caught too much nerves once Malcolm caught up. Michaela getting mad at Malcolm for not taking a break to give her a chance was hilarious. Malcolm went 6 for 6 on his initial tosses and was literal centimeters off on his next two attempts, the dude was on a hot streak and she thought she could do better?

Thought #6: Sorry for bringing this up again, but Tai and his protection of the chickens just fascinates me. He gave the chickens a ton of the groups corn. If that isn’t dead-weight, then I really do not know what is. Then again, these people have been through the ringer before, so the nature side of it is probably the easiest part of the game for them.

Thought #7: This being my full on first real season as a Survivor fan is going to be so tough. It’s evident that the players on this season are just on another level. Lately, I have been studying strategies in order to understand the season better, but so far the players know strategy so well that they are trying to juke each other out. They are trying to play the game at every angle so they have no blind spots, but the biggest blind spot is probably themselves. As a big pick up basketball player, overthinking can often lead to the backdoor cut you never see coming.