Survivor Island of the Idols episode 1 Canadian reference guide: No. 99

With Canadian Tom Laidlaw bringing Canadiana to Survivor we figured we might as well count out the Canadian references and help contextualize them.

Welcome, one and all, to our first-ever Canadian reference guide for Survivor fans! Both my fellow editor, Michael, and I, are from Canada, and with the first-ever Canadian-born player, Tom Laidlaw, being cast on the show, we figured it was only pertinent to provide a reference guide for every piece of Canadiana discussed on the show.

Let’s get it started off the bat with who Tom Laidlaw is as a player heading into the game.

Hockey: A 6v6 ice-based sport where five skaters plus one goalie per team take the ice to try and score a puck into a net. Contact is allowed outside of headshots, knee-on-knee contact and other charge-based altercations, and fighting does happen.

Tom Laidlaw was a defenseman in the National Hockey League during the 1980s for the New York Rangers and Los Angeles Kings, using his physicality to keep other lines of players in check while trying to prevent opposing teams from scoring by playing back and closer to their own net.

Wayne Gretzky: Easily the most offensively-minded player in the history of the NHL, Wayne Gretzky is often considered the greatest to ever play the game of hockey. Tom refers to having a strong team not based entirely on physical strength, as number 99 was one of the smaller players of his era yet outscored everyone in NHL history.

What makes Tom’s comparison here interesting is that he wants to work with Elaine and Vince because they’re willing to put trust into one another and have the cohesion to make things work. Tom’s idea of a strong tribe is not a stacked team of big dudes, but one with savvy players who know how to make things work. He’ll be the brick house that pushes back on others.

Grey Poupon: When discussing the spice cumin, Elaine talks about how “it’s city s—.” Tom jokes that they deliver it to people in a limo, referring to a Grey Poupon commercial from the 1980s. Though it originated in France, the American version of Grey Poupon uses Canadian mustard seed!

Powwow: A social gathering held by Indigenous peoples in Canada that often involve the meeting of the minds in the indigenous community, as well as singing, dancing, and other traditional honors. The term powwow is difficult to find the tribal origins, but it does come from the Narragansett word “powwaw,” meaning “spiritual leader” from Algonquin peoples in lands defined today as Canada and the United States of America.

When Lairo arrived back at camp, Tom called everyone “to have a quick little powwow as a team.” The term isn’t used in commonplace talks amongst groups of young people in Canada outside of the indigenous community, but I’ve heard countless parents, coaches and others in their late 50s and older use the term.

As long as Tom is on the show, we’ll keep you updated with Canadian references guides in Survivor: Island of the Idols. We’ll be watching on the Canadian affiliate, Global TV!