Previously on… ‘Survivor’ recap: S41 E4 – “Lions for Sacrificial Lambs”

At one point during the Episode 4 Reward Challenge of Survivor 41, Jeff Probst (clumsily) mentions how much he loves when the castaways become vulnerable, only to have their tribemates lift them up. For as exciting as the gameplay can be, it is this type of human emotion that has made the show last as long as it has, because we really get to know the players as human beings, rather than mere chess pieces. That much is apparent in this fourth episode, by far the best of the season thus far, where we finally get to see the entire cast fleshed out and experience all the euphoric highs and disappointing lows that come with being on Survivor.

The episode kicks off with an irate Genie lashing out at her fellow Ua tribemates for voting out her closest ally Brad at the previous night’s Tribal Council, a plan from which she was excluded. It is an uncomfortably tense moment for the tribe and Shan wants it to be over with, telling Genie that Brad had a vote steal, unbeknownst to Genie. This causes some unintended friction with JD, who also didn’t know about the vote steal situation and feels that Shan is being a touch hypocritical by withholding information but getting mad at him for keeping his extra vote situation a secret. Shan justifies her decision by explaining that Brad told her about the vote steal in confidence, but JD is understandably upset about the situation. For the first few episodes it seemed like Yase was going to be the hot mess tribe of the season but it’s a wonder Ua has won any challenges with the amount of dysfunction at its core.

Next, we have our first Reward Challenge of the season, as the producers finally decide that the cast has been cruelly punished enough, between their lack of food and supplies. The first tribe to win gets a Fijian visitor at camp to help show them how to find food and water, while the second tribe to finish gets one (1) fish. We finally get some proper screen time for Heather, but let’s just say it’s far from ideal. The challenge involves tossing a ball into an overhead track and then racing through ropes to catch it on the other side and Heather simply cannot do it. She tries over and over, visibly frustrated with each failed toss, as Ua wins the challenge, followed by Yase. A tearful Heather is brought to her knees as her tribe consoles her. It’s a devastating moment for Heather, but she ultimately comes to the conclusion that her tenacity makes this a personal victory for her, no matter the outcome. It’s a nightmare scenario to be stuck in, having your whole tribe rely on you as you continue to struggle in a challenge, but it’s a testament to Heather’s maturity that she turned this moment into a positive.

Back at the Yase camp, spirits are high as Evvie narrates her own “Previously on Survivor” segment. It’s another fun meta moment, but based on the lack of such segments at the beginning of episodes this season, probably the only “Previously on Survivor” we’ll get this year. Tiffany is feeling herself, quipping that she’s been very instrumental in their recent victories. She goes on to show the tribe some baby turtles that are slowly but surely making their way to the ocean and the tribe observes how much they symbolize Yase’s own underdog spirit. It’s hard to not root for this gaggle of misfits and I have a feeling all four of Tiffany, Evvie, Liana and Xander will be sticking around for a while.

Meanwhile, the Ua tribe meets Nathan, a local Fijian man who climbs up and down trees for coconuts and collects three fish for them. Ever the thinker, Ricard observes that with their newfound Nathan knowledge, they don’t really need Genie, who they’ve relied on for many of the camp life tasks up to this point. I’ve enjoyed him as a strategic player since the beginning but there is a level of smugness sometimes that suggests Ricard may be hoisted by his own petard. 

Over at Luvu, we finally get some camp life that isn’t about Naseer. And just like we finally got some focus on Heather in the Reward Challenge, it’s time to devote some time to the other previously invisible player of the season, Erika! It’s a big coming out party for Erika as she talks about how she’s played low-key up to this point but she’s ready to start making some moves. As we’ve seen time and time again from Survivor players on perpetually winning tribes, Erika is antsy as hell to start voting people out already. She describes herself as a lion dressed as a lamb and starts scheming with Deshawn, who she deems the only other player who’s really “thinking,” telling him they should take out Sydney. We see some footage of Sydney having a mini meltdown over not being able to make fire with the flint, and Erika believes she will be too much of a loose cannon to move forward with in the game. The problem is, as we’ve seen established in multiple episodes already, Deshawn has a close relationship with Sydney, so like literally everyone on this cast does with each other, he immediately spills the plan to Sydney. Speaking of smugness, Sydney seems almost amused by Erika wanting to get her out, claiming, “They hate me ‘cause they ain’t me.” 

From Erika’s perspective, it is absolutely the right move to target a player as dangerous as Sydney, but she probably should have talked to someone like Naseer, who was burned by Sydney’s loose-lipped behavior in the previous episode. Erika has now placed a huge target on her back, with Deshawn proposing the idea to Danny that they throw the next challenge so they can take her out. Competitive athlete Danny isn’t keen to the idea at first, but we come to see him embrace the idea at the Immunity Challenge.

The Immunity Challenge involves swimming out to grab bags at stations, untying knots, and ultimately tossing rings. Deshawn makes a concerted effort to throw the challenge and Danny isn’t giving much effort either, and we get a rare moment of confessionals from the two of them spliced in mid-challenge. It’s cool to see the show playing around with editing this season, though their commentary can be a bit redundant when we can see the action played out with our own eyes. Yase is the first to finish and it comes down to Ua and Luvu to determine who goes to Tribal Council. Despite Deshawn doing everything in his power to lose the challenge, a combination of Ua’s lack of landing the rings and Naseer taking over at Luvu and powering through causes the latter to win the second Immunity, sending Ua to their third Tribal Council of the season. Deshawn still considers Luvu’s win to be a loss because they weren’t able to properly throw the challenge, but it’s champagne problems compared to what the Ua tribe now has to deal with.

Genie knows she’s in deep trouble and tells JD she’s probably going to use her shot in the dark die to protect herself at Tribal Council. She tells him to throw a vote on Ricard in case the die lands in her favor. Like clockwork, JD reports this back to Ricard. They worry about Genie and JD using his extra vote to blindside Ricard or Shan, so the latter devises a plan where she pretends to be paranoid in front of JD, all in an effort to persuade him to give her his extra vote advantage. JD tries to make an argument about needing it for himself, but he eventually gives in and entrusts her with the advantage. It is here that we finally get the return of Shan’s evil music cue, having been teased in the premiere. She ponders whether she should take out JD now that she has his extra vote. It would be a cutthroat decision, but in this pre-jury phase, relatively low risk if it means wielding an extra vote moving forward in the game.

At Tribal Council, Genie is sweating bullets and tells her tribe she might roll her shot in the dark die. She eventually breaks down in tears saying she will miss her tribe dearly if she is voted out tonight. JD invokes his version of a Keith Nale stick-to-the-plan wink to Ricard and Shan, adding that he still has a lot of items to check off his Survivor wishlist. No matter which way Ricard and Shan vote, they will be crushing a dream, and that isn’t lost on Shan in particular. As the votes come in, it is clear that Genie did not use her shot in the dark die as all three of her, Ricard and Shan voted JD out of the tribe. JD is hurt, asking for a reason why, but all his tribe can offer is generic platitudes.

This episode provided the kind of emotion that can sometimes be lacking in modern Survivor, focusing on the emotional journeys of the players as they make tough decisions that drive the narrative, rather than reacting to advantages and other game complications. It isn’t a coincidence that this is the first episode of the season without a risk/reward advantage segment. As for the vote-out, it’s tough to see JD go, having had such an earnest love of the game. It is an interesting play by Shan and Ricard, though, who don’t seem that close with Genie, but she may feel loyal to them now that they’ve kept her in the game. Additionally, this marks the fourth man to be voted out of Survivor 41 from five Tribal Councils, so the women now have an 8-5 advantage. It’s hard not to get my hopes up of a woman finally winning Survivor for the first time since Season 34 in 2017.

 Photo: Robert Voets/CBS Entertainment