Retro Survivor rewatch: Borneo episode 4, “Too Little, Too Late?”

In the fourth episode of Survivor: Borneo, there were some strange decisions in the edit as well as the introduction of a “nature phone.”

Welcome back to the Surviving Tribal retro Survivor rewatch! We started with episode 1 of Borneo, and after a gross eating challenge and an episode that involved a lawsuit (no, really), it’s time to take a look at episode 4, “Too Little, Too Late?”

Once again, we began an episode of Survivor with the explainer from Jeff Probst before the usual recap, showing the rat eating from Pagong again as well as Richard’s fishing skills. But there was a change: Probst did at least ask “who will be voted off this week?”

The continuing usage of “week” does also limit what exactly can be covered. Now, since Probst says “previously,” the production has the opportunity to include things from more than just the last episode.

As we saw on the last episode, “Quest for Food,” the elements played a major role for the first time. Survivor focused on Pagong, and Gretchen finally put her foot down about the shelter … and Greg picked up his “nature phone,” which was a coconut.

Funnily enough, Gretchen pointed out in a confessional that Greg was playing the game. That makes perfect sense. It certainly constitutes an approach to the game — acting strange to hide how much of a threat you are. It’s a dangerous strategy nowadays, though; unpredictability makes strategists nervous.

Jeff Probst’s explanatory segment about tree mail made a comeback, as did the horn to signal a new scene. The challenge was an early Survivor classic: “Distress Signal,” or, a challenge to get attention from a plane. Probst added things to the reward of Target-sponsored comfort items for Tagi in the form of a fillet knife and Pagong’s spices. The wording suggested that Dirk and Jenna negotiated for these additions, which is not something that often flies on Survivor anymore. (But when it does, it’s usually for a reward … or food in general.)

Agreeing on what constituted a good signal did not go well for either tribe, really. But the plane took off nevertheless. First, Probst assessed Tagi’s “Tagi is groggy” message, which included a water element and had each tribe member wearing their bright yellow coats. Pagong made a smiley face. Tagi won the reward because they thought to wear their rain jackets.

However, one thing aside from winning the reward did happen on Tagi. Richard dropped the dreaded A-word: alliances. As he said, he didn’t do too much. Kelly and Sue kicked it off, but Richard joined right in.

Meanwhile, Pagong had a momentary bout of sadness about losing, but Ramona showed that she was bouncing back after several episodes of not being in a good place. She said she had started feeling better, but Jenna said the episode title, that she thought it was “a little too little, too late” in terms of the change.

For immunity, the tribes had to use some strategy to decide who would do what task. As Probst said, it was a relay that involved swimming, running, and finally digging up a treasure chest. The music was appropriately fast-paced. Tagi pulled out to a lead pretty much immediately, probably boosted by the fishing and spices. One note: the treasure chest was buried deep. Tagi won.

Alliances didn’t really play a part in the Pagong pre-Tribal negotiations, but Survivor did spell out the people in danger pretty effectively even before Probst introduced Tribal again and said that Gervase and Ramona were in the hot seats. The former came out of nowhere — especially since the pre-Tribal scenes had just painted Colleen and Jenna as targets. Not to say that Gervase didn’t contribute to Pagong losses, but the narrative mostly came from Probst, not the players themselves.

This Tribal signaled a shift in Probst’s approach. He asked Ramona about what was influencing her vote. That’s the kind of question he still asks. He asked if anyone felt safe. When Gervase said he did, Probst actually pushed back with the challenge performance concept.

Weirdly enough, only Ramona, Colleen, and Jenna got votes, with a count of 4-2-1 respectively. So, in that respect, it seems like the decision to point out that Jenna and Colleen were in danger came later. Having Probst bring up Gervase seems like an uneven editing decision in the context of the episode itself, though it did establish some of Gervase’s confidence for episodes down the line.

Next: Why you should watch The Amazing Race as a Survivor fan

In episode 5 of Survivor: Borneo, things get heated (again).