Retro Survivor rewatch: Borneo episode 7, “The Merger”

Survivor test-piloted its merge in episode 7 of Borneo, and primarily focused not on the strategy, but the social aspect of it all.

The merge occupies a special place in Survivor. Throughout the pre-merge phase of Borneo, even Richard noted that it meant the “next round,” to use his words. It usually signifies that you’re a decent enough player of the social and physical games to make yourself useful but not too much of a threat.

Jeff Probst appeared at the start to explain the basics of the merge. The show also utilized the ambassador idea — something that’s kind of been left behind in more recent seasons, but back when the show was still more about “creating a society” it made more sense.

Sean and Jenna paid visits to the opposite camps before they had to decide where to live. Jenna at Tagi had musical accompaniment, even when she asked about alliances. Sean at Pagong did not.

Both tribes asked their ambassadors about alliances, and while Richard demurred to Jenna’s face, the editors also had a scene of him, Kelly, Sue, and Rudy discussing whom to pick off.

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Needless to say, Jenna and Sean decided to move to Tagi’s beach when they had their meeting, naming the new tribe Rattana after rattan wood. The two of them had to do everything: name the tribe, decide what to move over, design the flags, and pick where to live. They even got a bonfire, four bottles of wine, and a tent.

Pagong had five minutes to get themselves together and took the cooking pot, netting, and a wool blanket. Sean and Jenna also talked a lot about how much they’d eaten to Pagong, which seemed unwise.

Then came the circling as everyone figured each other out. Greg notably got a bead on Richard basically from the word go, and it went the other way, too. The women banded together to do shelter work, and the men worked on very important things like card games. It was all about figuring each other out, basically.

For the first individual immunity challenge, Survivor offered up an “immunity talisman,” and instead of having a little display for it, Probst just wore it. The show kept it simple: hold your breath, with only three making it to the final round. Everyone got goggles. The show gave a little stopwatch to show just how long the competition went.

Gervase lasted over two minutes, and he, Greg, and Sean advanced. They had to release buoys along a ladder course on the ocean floor to actually win. Since there was now a slight swimming component, Gervase basically dropped out, and Greg won.

Without much time to spare, there were only a couple of confessionals as Rattana walked to its first Tribal Council, showing the different perspectives: alliances or no alliances. That trend continued in what came up quickly before the vote.

With 10 people, one would think six votes would be ideal. Kelly, Sue, Richard, and Rudy did not need six votes. They needed just their four to send Gretchen out of the game in a 4-1-1-1-1-1-1 vote. Sean also debuted his alphabetical voting method, so he voted for Colleen. Gervase, Richard, Rudy, Jenna, and Sue all also got votes. Probst also saved three of Gretchen’s votes for the very end for maximum effect. Pretty much everyone not part of the alliance looked appropriately shocked.

Next: Big Brother 19 feeds: A Survivor fan's reaction

On episode 8 of Survivor: Borneo, we’ll have still more conflict between strategy and society.