HOLLYWOOD—I will admit, I am more eager for “Survivor” season 50 than I am for the current season. Oh, I’m still going to watch, but my anticipation for 50 is so exceptionally high because returning players are in the mix, but as a “Survivor” purist of course I’m going to watch, especially after that dreadful slog from last season.
The premiere episode, ‘Act One of a Horror Film,’ gave fans 2 hours of meeting new players and seeing what twists “Survivor” may have cooked up for its latest season. Surprise, not a single twist in this episode, I could NOT BELIEVE IT!
We have our 3 tribes:
Uli which consists of Sage, Shannon, Savannah, Nate, Jawan and Rizo. Kind of explains why Savannah and Rizo have been selected to play on “Survivor 50.” They are big characters, but it sucks knowing they are potentially safe for a significant period of the game I believe.
Hina which consists of Michelle, Kristina, Steven, Sophie, Jason and Matt.
Kele consists of Sophi, Kimberly aka Annie, Jeremiah, Jake, Nicole and Alex.
Per usual things kicked off with host Jeff Probst slightly hazing the contestants asking them typical questions about their “Survivor” prospects.
Kristina a little too excited, while Jason just felt awkward as hell. Sage, you provided a little too much information about your bathroom habits. Jake might appear as a muscle head, but with a softer side.
First challenge as all is all about supplies, so here we go with the ‘Try & Earn’ it portion of the game. Jake is proving a bit too earlier he will be a physical threat, but so is Michelle aka MC. Hina was off to a very good start, but Uli caught up garnering the lead, with Kele far behind. Hina is proving to be a possible tribe threat before the merge with MC striking that bell giving victory to her tribe.
Kele and Uli has to have one member to compete against the other tribe for their supplies, and Rizo and Alex are competing. Why does “Survivor” want to alienate players when it is critical for building relationships? Back at Hina, Steven and Kristina connected over their nerdiness, while Kristina was already annoying me with her antics.
Over at Kele, I feel like this tribe might be a hot mess, but I like Nicole; she comes across authentic. I don’t know about Sophi, she seems like a talker, who never stops talking. At Uli, Savannah was already aiming to connect with her tribemates, but she lied about being as a reporter. Wow, Nate is an actual film producer and downplayed his actual movie credits, and it had Jawan giddy as hell. Shannon WTH?
Ok, I’ll be honest this one-on-one battle involves a puzzle that seems quite equitable with Alex proving his cardio is not problematic. Rizo not being good at puzzles or cardio, this is not looking good for this guy at all. This is pitiful to watch, but impressive to see Rizo when supplies for his tribe, considering Alex had SUCH A MASSIVE LEAD and LOST. Rizo returned to camp and immediately bonded with his tribemates by sharing his upbringing and family and it just makes you adore this character.
Now it is time for Alex to share with his tribe what unfolded, but apparently his tribe didn’t care that much, and Jake was giddy to have Alex back at camp with Sophi. Jake is sharing a ton, on day 1, I don’t know if Sophi is going to stay loyal to that. Over at Hina, Matt was definitely annoyed with the nerd talk, but he needs to bond with his tribemates because he started the fire, and he might need to take the wheel as the leader.
Jake what the hell are you doing stealing shoes? Makes no sense, whatsoever. Annie is a bit bossy, and she didn’t appear physically capable of lasting thru what “Survivor” requires. However, Alex was connecting with Annie of all people, and he wanted it to be secret from everyone else. Hmm, could Alex find himself in trouble sooner than later?
OMG, Shannon is about to drive me nuts with her antics. Jawan and Shannon felt a ‘connection’ and they connected with Savannah, but I feel like Savannah is not going to be loyal. Ok, an hour and some change in, when are we getting to the challenge. It was a treat to see Steven and Matt connect, and Steven also tried to align with Jason. MC was cautious with Steven because it feels like he sells the same tale to everyone.
This bromance between Alex and Jake is funny, but I also think this is putting a massive target on both of them, and rightfully so, Sophi didn’t like it and voiced her concerns to Jeremiah. Jeremiah wanted to work with the duo and utilize them as a shield. I like Jeremiah; he is hilarious.
More Nate content, as his age came into question, so his goal was to build relationships with Savannah, and I liked this duo. They also brought on board Shannon and possibly Rizo. Jawan’s target feels like it could be amplified, as he struggled to make fire. I feel like the fact that we haven’t had a challenge, makes me feel like we might be seeing an medevac take a place in this 2-hour premiere.
The first challenge is upon us, and with the time we have left, someone is going to be injured; I just feel it. This challenge is just underwhelming to watch; what is it with “Survivor” and wanting people to crawl thru mud. Hina was the first to complete the challenge securing their safety, with Uli and Kele neck-and-neck, with Uli edging them out, sending Kele to Tribal Council.
My prediction of a medevac was wrong; it was just bad pacing from the “Survivor” producers. Nicole was already picking up that she could potentially be in danger, while everyone was lying directly to her face. Annie is playing and that led to her spilling to Jake and Alex. Alex are you sure you want to work Annie? Annie or Nicole looks like they are the obvious targets.
This Tribal Council feels like its going to be so underwhelming with less than 10 mins left and a commercial going to have to unfold in the midst of those 10 mins. Nicole was already picking up on the vibes of what the tribe was saying. This is a very boring first boot for a premiere episode. Jeremiah you just spilled that 2 people who performed badly at the challenge are at risk, you may as well have said Nicole and Annie (because it was so obvious).
With 5 votes Nicole saw her game come to an end. If this episode is any indication of the season, just give me season 50 right now. New episodes of “Survivor” air Wednesdays at 8 p.m. on CBS.
