Survivor season 35 episode 4 preview: Buff swap party

Everything you need to know ahead of the Survivor season 35 episode 4 swapping of buffs (and tribes) comes packaged in our preview.

Welcome once again to our Survivor season 35 preview of the latest episode of Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers! This week has everything you could ask for; a Reward Challenge! An Immunity Challenge! A Tribal Council! Oh yeah, and the remaining 15 players will be swapped into three tribes of five, something that will happen for the first time in Survivor history.

With that in mind, let’s preview the hints given out so far for Survivor season 35 episode 4!

Immunity Challenge

This week’s Immunity Challenge features three tribes of five pulling a heavy set of puzzle pieces, hence securing the fact that we will have a historic tribe swap. It’s called “The Color and the Shape,” because I guess CBS has the rights to name their content after a Foo Fighters album (their best one, at that).

It combines ladder puzzle elements from a challenge in Worlds Apart with a bunch of physical dragging and key-unlocking elements of others, mixed in with a six-piece puzzle that requires identical colors at intersecting corners. With little variance and a color-coordinated puzzle segment, the strongest tribe may fare well here.

Everyone, drop your buffs

Once again, Chrissy gets a huge push in the sneak peek for Survivor season 35 episode 4, as the Heroes, Healers and Hustlers tribes await to see if they join the Levu, Soko or Yawa tribes (as they shall be noted going forward). Her noting that everyone was starting to get comfortable after nine days and that it’s a brand new game with the swap could highlight a possible theme of the episode; expect the unexpected.

Yes, that’s Big Brother’s motto, but when it comes to tribe swaps (especially with an unseen 5-5-5 swap), there’s nowhere to hide if you’re in the minority. It would be easy for two Heroes and two Healers to vote out the one Hustler on a swapped tribe, and the Hustlers are already down to four members to spread out over three tribes.

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Their best bet is to go 2-2-0 and for the Healers and Heroes to take each other out. It’s such an interesting dynamic, this swap, that things could continue to go horribly for the Hustlers or they could start to even things out. What happens if a tribe goes from four to three; will there be a fire-making tiebreaker? So many questions, so many answers that take place outside this episode, if possible.

Who benefits most from a swap?

With the original six intact, you would think the Healers are in the best position. In fact, with how quietly fractured the group is, only a few members are quite safe at this point in time. Jessica and Cole (aka Jessicole) could possibly be broken up, with each player losing a key part of their gameplay confidant strategy. Joe could be blindsided if literally anyone else joins him in a new tribe, as he’s a prime target to take out secretly due to him owning the idol.

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Seeing how somehow Dr. Mike is on the outs with his Healers tribe, he could be thrust into a good position in reduced numbers, with other Healers forced to work with him to keep the numbers strong ahead of a possible merge. Ali and Chrissy, both being strong women who can handle themselves at challenges and haven’t been targeted yet, are the most likely to integrate well in a small tribe format.

Anyone not named Chrissy that has a strategy partner stands to lose from the tribe swap unless they stay intact, so that becomes a big question that will be answered quickly into the episode.

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Survivor season 35 episode 4, “I Don’t Like Having Snakes Around,” airs tonight at 8 p.m. ET.