With Survivor 50, a season that felt like a celebration of Survivor, officially over, there is no better season than Survivor 51 to have a refresh. What exactly does a refresh entail though? Would it be better to introduce even more twists and advantages to shake up the format, or bring it back to basics, with normal immunity idols and two tribes. The Survivor producers thought: why not both? Survivor 51 puts everything back on the table, or at least, that’s what the producers claim. Just in the first episode alone, we’ve seen a classic marooning, regular immunity idols comings back, and exile island returning. Jeff promises that no one will know what to expect this season, which is both exciting and terrifying for the future of the show.
A New Cast of Characters!
With 21 new castaways, we unfortunately did not get that much time to get to know everyone. That doesn’t mean that we didn’t meet some amazing people though. In this section, I will go through 3 standout castaways from the premiere and why I love them already.
Jenna was the standout character of the premiere, having a short arc throughout the episode that hopefully set us up for a long stay from her. Jenna is mostly quiet during the marooning and even when the tribes are formed. It continues even as her entire tribe introduces themselves to each other in the water. She simply tells them her name and that she’s a wedding photographer, saying she has nothing else to add. In confessional, she tells the audience that she’s in a weird time in her life and that’s why she’s having a difficult time talking about herself. It feels like it’s going to turn into a New Era sob story, but then it just doesn’t. Another one of the standout castaways, Devin, questions Jenna in his confessional and says that he doesn’t believe she’s actually a wedding photographer. He plans to put a target on her back with this theory. Before the first immunity challenge, Jenna is already looking like the target, with most of her tribe agreeing with Devin that she’s probably hiding something from them. When her tribe loses the first immunity challenge, the situation looks dire for Jenna. Luckily for her, both Jelly and Aaliyah do not want her to go home since she did well on the puzzle. Aaliyah in particular is annoyed with Brady, who she found to be abrasive during the immunity challenge. In the water, Aaliyah and Jelly talk about potentially targeting Brady with Jenna and Patt. Patt is another saving grace for Jenna, warning her that she’s the main target. Jenna takes action quickly, and here is where her first confessional comes full circle. She tells the audience that she went through a divorce right before coming on Survivor, and that’s why she’s been closed off. She’s not about to let that be her downfall. She throws Aaliyah under the bus to Brady, completely shifting his sights toward Aaliyah instead of her. She also inadvertently creates a feud between Brady and Devin, with Devin still wanting to target Jenna. It is a great example of escaping the target on your back. At a crazy first tribal council that will be discussed later, Jenna is able to save herself and Aaliyah ends up being the first boot instead.
Devin is the second standout character. He is a bold player who seems willing to do anything to win, and then apologize after it’s all over. Before the tribes are formed, he gets into a solid alliance with Aaliyah, Jelly, and Ori. Once the tribes are formed, he is able to successfully place the target onto Jenna and form a bromance with Brady. It’s a solid start, and you start to think that this guy might be one of the best players of the season. But after that, it all goes downhill. Thien An, one of the quieter people this episode, has a confessional about being suspicious of Devin. His bromance with Brady dies before the first tribal, as the two butt heads over who to vote out. Then, at tribal, he tells everyone that he’ll be voting Jenna out, causing some big reactions. In fact, this move may have pushed more people to vote out Aaliyah instead of Jenna, accidentally sealing his ally’s fate. You have to respect how hard he’s willing to play, but we’ll have to wait and see if it actually works out.
The first two castaways were from the yellow Toka tribe, so let’s switch it up for the final castaway and talk about someone on the purple Savu tribe. Kristin was the standout character from the Savu tribe, which was overall less developed than the Toka tribe. Based off the premiere, Kristin seems like one of the most promising players this season. She has been waiting for this opportunity since season 2 and she’s finally gotten it. Just based off that alone, you want her to do well. So far she is doing great in the game. She builds a friendship with Sharonda during the marooning and it seems like the two are going to be working pretty closely this season. Then, once the tribes are formed, she volunteers to negotiate for supplies. She is confident in her negotiation capabilities as someone who works in crisis management and she does not disappoint. She faces off against Toka’s representative, Kilby, who is not as confident. He mainly just wants to prove to his team that he is a valuable member. When the two come to a standstill about who gets the fishing gear, Kristin suggests they play a game to decide. Kilby agrees, then Kristin suggests thumb wars, which she tells us she’s great at. She demolishes Kilby, earning her tribe the fishing gear. I love what we got from Kristin in the premiere and I can’t wait to see what else she’ll do in future episodes.
Of course, Jenna, Devin, and Kristin are not the only three standouts from the premiere. Lewis and his stint on Exile Island, Rob and his aggressive gameplay, and Patt with her messiness are just three of the castaways that also have great reasons to be mentioned. Unfortunately, I only wanted to focus on three contestants for now before moving on to the next segment.
The Elephant(s) in the Room
What exactly is ‘permanent uncertainty?’ Well, in the premiere alone, we’ve already seen a lot of twists being introduced, ranging from great, to mid, to awful.
Starting with a huge positive, regular immunity idols seem to be back! In the premiere, Lewis had the chance to earn an immunity idol on Exile and Rob found an immunity idol. There are no strings attached! No one loses their vote, no one has to do a menial task to activate the idol, the idol lasts until the final five with all of the functions of a regular idol! I never imagined that I would be so excited to see an immunity idol again! An immunity idol, the most quintessential and normal advantage in all of Survivor! I should not be this excited to see it. But after the New Aware beware advantages and the ridiculous Billie Eilish Boomerang Idols on 50, I am absolutely ecstatic. And I only briefly mentioned the other huge positive. No one lost their vote in the premiere! I never thought I’d see the day, but it’s here. This is so, so promising for the future of Survivor.
From amazing changes, we go to a controversial permanent change. The Mr. Beast Coin Flip is back, with Jeff saying from now on, it will be on every season. The money has the ability to stack, meaning if the coin flip fails this season, next season the castaways will have the chance to flip for $3 million instead of $2 million. It’s great for the castaways, but from a TV perspective… On 50, the coin flip only worked because Devens was already on the bottom AND because he didn’t land on tails. A castaway landing on tails, being sent packing without a vote, would be so anticlimactic. This is a worst case scenario, but if the castaways cannot agree on who flips the coin and it gets decided randomly, it would suck for someone in a good spot to have to flip it, get tails, and be eliminated without any say. It just goes against what the game is and I am not a fan of this being a permanent addition to the franchise.
A Crazy First Tribal Council
Who would have known that when you divide the cast into two tribes of ten, instead of the 6-person tribes with so little room to hide, that you have more possibilities for exciting tribals? Survivor 51’s first tribal starts the season off with a bang, as Devin’s declaration that he will vote Jenna out leads to a scramble between the two of them to survive. Jenna tells Devin that she’s not going to lay over and let everyone vote her out. Devin says that if Jenna survives, she’s going to make it all the way to the end (foreshadowing?). Then, Patt accidentally exposes the plan, saying that it’s hard to choose between two great people. Jeff asks if Jenna is the first, then who is the second? Patt then admits that it’s Aaliyah. Aaliyah acts shocked, although she explains in her exit press that Devin, Jelly, and Kilby had actually told her she was in danger before tribal. Everyone starts huddling into small groups trying to decide how they’re going to vote. It’s all amazing and really promising for the future of the season. I truly believe that this cast has the potential to be one of the best in years. Both Aaliyah and Jenna play their shots in the dark, although both miss. In the end, unfortunately, Aaliyah is the first boot in a 6-2 vote, with only Devin and Jelly voting to keep her. You have to respect how hard they both fought for her though.
Aaliyah Puglla: The First 21st Place Newbie
Unfortunately, we only got one episode to get to know Aaliyah so there’s not a lot to say about her. She was able to get into a solid alliance right off the bat, but her loose lips about Brady sunk her game. She showed a lot of promise though and is definitely one of the better 1st boots in terms of gameplay. I do also want to mention her exit interviews, where she takes her loss really well and gives a really good explanation of her thought process and why she’s not too hurt.
Conclusion: A Strong Start
Besides the coin flip’s reintroduction, everything else in the Survivor 51 premiere looks promising. The producers have listened to fans on a lot of our concerns and they seem willing to shake things up. I think the show is in good hands, both in terms of the producers and the casts. I can’t wait to see how the rest of Survivor 51 shakes out.
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