Survivor 41: Takeaways from Survivor season 41 episode 3

Another episode of Survivor 41 has come and gone. This week’s episode seems to point out that finding fellow teammates that can be trusted far outweighs the benefits of finding sustaining nourishment i.e., FOOD! The building of a much-needed protective shelter seems to pale in comparison to searching for and finding the elusive, much sought after and priceless game advantages and immunity idols!

Even though the players are surely having hunger issues coupled with sleep deprivation, it has not stopped them from playing the game with fierce intensity, however, these vital issues may be clouding their judgment with important gameplay decision making!

Survivor 41 episode 3 recap

An important takeaway from this week’s episode is that maybe spending more time finding nourishment than being paranoid about others’ actions will go a long way to help individual gameplay with a full well-fed belly and a clearer thinking mind.

A good example of this is when JD made several mistakes with his “sloppy” gameplay when finding an advantage and not telling those in his alliance about it as well as unintentionally letting them find out about it due to his inability to hide it well. JD seemed to spend the rest of the time doing damage control as he tried to gain back an important element in the game, Trust!

Another takeaway from this week’s episode of Survivor 41 is that by trying to change up this new season of the show the creators may have gone overboard with the twists and turns of the game’s new advantages.

The overly complicated instructions to each new advantage take up a lot of air time and leave the viewers thinking, perhaps a bit more than they may have wanted. It may just be me, but I don’t want to spend an exorbitant amount of time figuring out all the ways a game move may go. After a long day at work, I don’t want “homework,” I just want to enjoy some good old-fashioned Survivor strategy from the players. One good example of this is when Tiffany, Sydney and Brad all found a “beware” advantage.

They had to sneak away from their tribes to take a midnight boat ride to an island where they had to make a decision after reading through the extensive rules of a three-way play that had several outcomes and they had to make their choices separately. Not knowing much about each other, but after only minutes together they each made judgments upon each other. Sydney didn’t trust Tiffany immediately as she felt she was playing too hard too early. Brad, just out for himself, didn’t care what the others would do; he was going to take a risk.

The most complicated advantage is the three-way Idol advantage. The three holders of this advantage can not vote at tribal until all three advantages are found and all three different phrases are spoken. There are many questions that go along with this new twist.

First, if one player holding one of the three advantages is voted off does that make the other two null and void? Second, do the phrases have to all be said together or is each advantage tagged valid as soon as each unique phrase is spoken?

Can a holder pass the “beware” advantage to another player? I’m guessing that we may find the answers to one or more of these questions with the vote at this week’s Tribal Council.

Lack of food and sleep didn’t seem to have a devastating effect on the immunity challenge. Each team seemingly made it through the water challenge fairly well and they all were able to complete the sand dig and find their large bags filled with many smaller bags.

All teams finally were tossing their bags to the platforms, but JD on UA tribe had a very difficult time landing his bags on the target even with his much proclaimed “athlete” status! In the end, LUVU won the top spot with YASE coming in second each winning a welcome serving of fruit and leaving UA to head to Tribal council minus one flint and soon to be minus another teammate.

At tribal council, UA member Shan was noticeably shaken.  Jeff inquired about her low energy and she said it was just going to be a sad night voting off a team member.  JD wallowed in his poor play hoping for some sympathy from other players.

It may have worked for after a heartfelt outpouring of how the show Survivor molded and shaped a small, sheepish and bullied child into a born again, walking, breathing compilation of many past survivor heroes, Brad was the one voted off in an epic blindside sending him home with an advantage and an inactive idol. That one will stick with him for a long time.

All in all, it was a good episode and as always leaving us wanting more! I’m hoping next week will show a bit more of the “survivor” aspect and have them settle down and work on their shelters as well as hunting or fishing for food. Finding food will surely feed their souls as well as their bodies and help them outplay, outwit and outlast the others and keep those infamous words spoken by Jeff, “the tribe has spoken” from ever being spoken on their behalf…