Survivor season 35 episode 7 commercial tries to hide the merge, fails
It’s weird to pretend that the Survivor season 35 merge episode being next week isn’t public knowledge, especially when it reveals itself immediately.
Last week saw the final pre-merge boot, Ali Elliott, voted out in a brutal blindside. Ryan, the “little twerp,” decided that JP was less of a threat to him and Chrissy, his most trusted ally, ahead of a possible merge. Then, immediately during the “Next time on Survivor” preview, Jeff Probst drops the bomb that the tribes will merge into a group of one.
It’s a technical impossibility to hide the merge episode these days, especially with the advent of press photos and people spoiling things online, but for someone to pretend a merge isn’t happening after revealing that it’s going to happen is downright lunacy. However, the latest commercial for season 35, Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers, aims to do just that; by highlighting Levu’s struggles with food.
In a very Gabon situation, Levu is out of food. They’re in a massive starvation mode, having drained all of their resources despite winning four or so straight challenges (including rewards). “If we don’t get food today, we may die,” Ashley Nolan suggests, painting a picture of just how dire things are at camp.
More from Heroes Vs Healers Vs Hustlers
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- Survivor Heroes vs. Healers vs. Hustlers DVD set now on Amazon
- Big Brother 21’s cast pre-show ties harken back to Survivor season 35
- Survivor season 35’s Simone Nguyen is now married
- Survivor’s Ashley Nolan is now teaching kids to surf
Immediately after, footage of the next episode shows the 12 remaining players gathering together, with the commercial narrator asking, “But can they stomach what’s coming next?” The thing that’s so weird about this ad is that they’re pretending there’s some big mystery coming up in Survivor season 35, but they show Ryan enter with Soko wearing a yellow headband, then show him exclaiming “Oh my god” while wearing a purple headband!
This is the weirdest form of gaslighting I’ve seen; CBS is trying to pretend like it’s not been made aware to the general audience that a merge episode is coming after revealing its existence in the last episode, sending out press photos of the merge, and even showing a new merge buff within the same commercial it’s suggesting is a mystery.
Next: Survivor Winners: Ranking All 33 Sole Survivors By Season
The Survivor season 35 merge episode airs Wednesday, November 8 at 8 p.m. ET. Unfortunately, it looks like it will be a one-hour merge episode, forcing all of the character and gameplay dynamics quicker than one would like.