Survivor 48 has come and passed, possibly into the deepest recesses of our minds. The second half of the season was not particularly memorable or exciting, as those in power essentially marched their way to the end of the season. There were still some amusing moments, though, perhaps none more so than the coconut etiquette discourse from episode 11.
For most people in the world, if you are hungry, you eat. It is that simple. On Survivor, though, where supplies are limited and food is heavily rationed, there are ways to handle the dispersal of food. There are actions that must be taken, and if players do not respect that, they are often heavily criticized for it. It started with James Clement on Heroes vs. Villains, when he was taught banana etiquette. This season, it was the coconuts.
What happened that caused the coconut controversy?
On episode 11 of Survivor 48, entitled, appropriately, "Coconut Etiquette", Mary Zheng made waves when she started eating a coconut for herself. Some may read that and say, So what? It is just a coconut! That may be true in certain instances, but on Survivor, or really anywhere that food is communally shared, especially when the supplies are limited, this is a major social faux pas.
Her tribe definitely noticed it, though, and it immediately impacted her social standing. Kamilla Karthigesu even had an entire, rather hilarious, confessional in which she essentially condemned Mary for her awful manners and terrible game strategy for eating their coconut. While Mary was indeed at the bottom of the tribe at the time, there were potentially moves to be made.
Kamilla and her silent duo, eventual winner Kyle Fraser, were considering a possible blindside of Joe Hunter at tribal council. The problem was, they needed Mary, so her rocking the boat was incredibly poor timing. In the end, she was voted out unanimously. Did her coconut catastrophe cost her? We may never know. But it certainly did not help.
If there is one thing Mary is, though, it's that she is unapologetically herself. She may have bumped heads, ruffled feathers, and caused some chaos, but she always played the game her way, and that is to be commended. Fans are probably asking, though, what was the big deal about the coconut?
Rachel LaMont explains coconut etiquette in detail
Luckily for us, we have access to a behind-the-scenes podcast that lets fans in on some of the unknown game details. On episode 11 of On Fire with Jeff Probst, cohost Rachel LaMont broke down exactly what the unspoken rules are about food on Survivor, and the impact it can have on player perception.
Here's what she said:
"Coconut etiquette is simply making every choice around food a democratic one. The group decides when you eat, how much you eat, and everyone shares what they want to. You know, Mary has some reasoning here. She's probably actually eating the least because no one is taking her on rewards, but eating tribe food solo especially without any discussion is gonna piss people off..."
"There's a long history of this on Survivor, right? I mean, Tyson and Gervace on Blood vs. Water had an alliance called the Coconut Bandits because they collected coconuts, cut a small little hole in them and drank them dry all season, but the secret to their success was that no one knew about it."
So why did Mary stand out so much in this instance? Rachel tries to explain.
"Like Mary may be on the bottom and not care about the social implications, but we see Kamilla and Kyle may be trying to take a shot at Joe here and they need to trust Mary, they have to want to keep her around and this kind of chaos only makes the likelihood of people sticking their neck out diminish even further."
This is exactly what ultimately played out, as I explained above. They did not stick their neck out, and Mary was voted off. As James learned before, and Mary learns here, food on Survivor matters. Do not rock the boat!
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