Survivor 51's chaotic first elimination foreshadows an even more exciting power struggle

WithinJeff Probst'sbrief explainer onthe "Open Era" ofSurvivorahead of his two (just two!) tribes' first immunity challenge was the thesis of this entire season—permanent uncertainty. In other words, anything goes.

One player (sweet Irish farmer Lewis Kelly) started off the game on Exile Island. A game designer named Danny "Kilby" Kilby lost out in early negotiations over tools, fishing gear, camp supplies, and gathering/cooking supplies to closeted lawyer Kristin Flickinger in a game of thumb war. Players got to vote on whether or not they wanted tokill the Final four fire-making challenge(they didn't).

Any game-changer from the last 50 seasons ofSurvivoris on the table and, clearly, Probst is looking to set even more new precedents. But the beautiful thing aboutSurvivoris that there will always, unfailingly, be familiar beats for both fans and players to fall back into.

From the jump, before the Toka and Savu tribes were established, a group of four—Devin Way, Ori Jean-Charles, Angelica "Jelly" Loblack, and Aaliyah Puglia—dubbed themselves the "Helicopter Alliance." All except Ori ended up on Toka along with wedding photographer Jenna Doore and pro wrestler Brady Booker, among others.

Toka lost the first immunity challenge, and seeds of distrust toward Jenna in particular had already been well planted. Devin, a charismatic and affable actor, was put off by her reticence—she established in a confessional early on that there were some things going on in her personal life that she just didn't want to get into—and quickly mobilized the rest of the tribe to make her the easy out at that night's tribal.

Devin was framed as a kind of early leader in this tribe, and he persuaded everyone to turn on Jenna relatively easily. But by the end of the night, the power dynamic zig-zagged and spun around and turned over. After a live Tribal Council and two shots in the dark played to no success, Aaliyah got the dreaded honor of being first out in a game ofSurvivor.

Aaliyah Puglia's elimination inSurvivor 51'spremiere was an unfortunate crossfire kill that revealed a far more interesting power dynamic

Despite the chaos of this particular Tribal Council that ended in a blindside boot, the underlying storyline was far more interesting. Federal prosecutor Patt Cannaday, mostly ignored in the edit through the first hour and a half of the episode, let it slip to Jenna that her name was being heavily mentioned—but only after Jelly and Aaliyah threw Brady out as an alternative.

Jenna, in a moment that she will most certainly refer back to in a potential Final Three plea to the jury, didn't stand pat. She went straight to Brady, who had already cast himself as a kind of chaotic meathead, and redirected fingers toward Aaliyah.

Come Tribal Council, Jenna admitted that she struggled to be open with her tribe members in the first few days. Kilby came to her defense, saying, "Sometimes as a human being, it's hard to open up." This is a sentiment thatmostpeople can agree with, but not Devin, who then went into a rather sanctimonious spiel about "radical honesty."

Probst threw to Patt, kind of the chaos element in this particular episode, who revealed that Aaliyah was also under consideration. A live tribal and the two shots in the dark followed before the group overwhelmingly voted Aaliyah out in a 6-2 vote.

The smirk on Brady's face as she gathered her torch and walked out basically said it all. As long asthis group of 21is still broken up into two tribes, there's going to be a messy power struggle going on in Toka. There's Devin, who thought he had everyone under his thumb from the get-go; Brady, the indisputable brawn of the team who may also be easily manipulated; and Jenna, who's clearly able to think and act fast on her toes.

SeasonedSurvivorfans will be able to tell you the general beats of how the first scene of episode two will go. Devin will return to camp, probably claiming betrayal but mostly scared of how the power rankings within the tribe have turned themselves on their head. Brady will be smug and might even say something like, "There's a new sheriff in town."

Jenna is the biggest question mark. Will she have a heart-to-heart with Devin and reveal that her divorce has thrown her for a loop, or will she try to puppet Brady just like she did at the first Tribal Council?

Permanent uncertainty means anything could happen next.

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