There are quite a few moments from Survivor 51 episode 2 that left fans talking long after the latest eliminated player’s torch was snuffed. This week, all I’ve heard fans talking about is thumbs, crabs, and votes. That’s Brady Booker’s thumb to be exact, the crabs Linnea Capobianco overheard Carter Krull talking about that made her think she was being secretly targeted, and Rob Antonson deciding his master plan to shake up the game was to write his own name down, only to be told no by production.
And of those top three moments from the episode, one definitely stands out against the others. Because people get hurt on Survivor, it happens. And people mishear their tribemates and have to pivot to make sure they’re safe. But the one thing that has never accidentally happened in Survivor’s history is a player writing down their own name. Because it’s against the rules and everyone knows this.
That’s why we’ve seen players beg their tribemates to write their own name down and send them home so they aren’t technically “quitting.” Or why back when there was a Final Two, the player who won immunity at Final Three had to pick who went to the end with them because the other two players would have to vote for each other and cancel their votes out anyway.
The rule isn’t new, although Christian Hubicki might be a little annoyed to see Rob trying to write his own name down after Christian was forced to vote himself out of the game thanks to a terrible twist by Jimmy Fallon back in Survivor 50.
And in an interview his new weekly “Field Notes” social media post (below), host and showrunner Jeff Probst is admitting to wondering what—basically—everyone watching from home was wondering.
“WHAT WAS HE THINKING?” Probst shared in his on-site notes from the episode’s filming days—now released every week after the new episode airs on Survivor’s official Instagram. “I rarely comment on player moves, but I still don’t fully understand what plan Rob was trying to pull off by having Eric give him his Shot in the Dark and then hoping he could vote for himself?”
Probst also clarified to everyone at home who was just as confused that yes, production always tells all the players the rules of the game—including that you can’t vote for yourself—before they officially kick things off. Apparently Rob just wasn’t listening during the most important conversation the producers had with him.
“Another live Tribal [Council].” Probst enthused in his notes. “And this one even weirder than the first.”
At this pace, truly anything could happen in episode 3, “What I’m Smellin’ Is Stinky,” and I don’t just mean with production introducing an uncertain twist. I mean apparently even the players are prepared to shake things up in the open era, whether they’re allowed to or not.
Add us as a preferred source on GoogleLoading recommendations... Please wait while we load personalized content recommendations