Is the Yase tribe in serious trouble on Survivor 41? A disastrous defeat like that is hard to come back from. “Juggling Chainsaws” focused on the tribe suffering another major hurdle from a bad immunity challenge outcome. And, it highlighted a questionable move that might hurt them in the long run. The tribe is in need of a miracle to put them ahead, but if the momentum keeps going the way it is, they might be heading back to Tribal Council pretty soon.
The big hurdle in question came from Tiffany’s lack of challenge prowess. Look, she claimed she only sat on the balance beam for a minute, but from the amount of footage that it took for her to get across, her delay had to have taken much longer than expected. Both of the tribes were able to lap her in the obstacle course rotation and get to the puzzle before she was able to get across. It’s a miracle Liana rushed her portion so that the tribe could catch up to the others to give them a chance. We need to keep our eyes on Liana as a potential challenge threat; she’s played mostly in the background, but she could emerge as a strong contender during the individual phase.
Not all castaways will be strong in every challenge, so potentially this watery obstacle course wasn’t in Tiffany’s wheelhouse. However, a bad fumble like that should’ve been a warning sign to the rest of her tribemates; both from how she performed in the challenge and her dismissive attitude afterward. Tiffany could be a liability during the tribe portion of the game. Yase needs to win challenges and trust that she’ll play along, but if she can’t deliver, the team will just keep losing more members.
The questionable move came from not voting out Tiffany and instead of voting out Voce. Evvie, Liana, and Tiffany played the long game to ensure their numbers, which was a smart move on their part. They gave themselves the advantage in their tribe instead of giving the men a chance to take them out; this is great from a power angle and protecting their spot. The part that caused the most curiosity was the need to vote out Voce. Why not take the risk by voting out Xander? The trio wanted to get out Xander AND Evvie knew firsthand that he couldn’t have had a hidden immunity idol since he didn’t complete his requirement. Plus, since he didn’t have his vote, the women had the voting upper hand.
If Tiffany was truly scared, Tiffany, Evvie, and Liana could’ve split their votes by placing one vote on Voce and two votes on Xander. Voce would’ve voted Tiffany out, and since Xander couldn’t vote, the final tally would be 2-1-1. Even if Xander had an idol, the women would get to revote in the tie and vote out Voce, which would still protect their numbers. Xander’s extra vote had no power, so the alliance had nothing to worry about. They were too shortsighted in protecting Tiffany’s paranoia that they couldn’t see they could get everything they wanted with simple math.
Evvie should start worrying about her tenuous spot playing the middle. The method worked to her advantage here since both Tiffany/Liana and Xander/Voce wanted to work with her and needed her vote. However, now that she’s drawn a line in the sand, her position has become more open. Plus, she got picked to do the vote advantage with Deshawn from the Luvu tribe, so it’s no secret that the other tribes are open to working with her. Evvie should continue building her alliances, and if the tribe swap does happen, she should reiterate that her tribe was already at a disadvantage by losing both Abraham and Voce. Her social and strategic game will be key for survival.
Speaking of strategy, what was Brad thinking on the Ua Tribe? Did he not think that someone would spill to Ricard and JD that he was listening to them?! Brad is panicking after the previous chaotic Tribal Council; that type of worry will only cause paranoia and panic. JD and Ricard were already low on him after the vote, but now that they heard about the eavesdropping, he’s low on their alliance list. Brad either needs to repair bridges with them OR work hard strategically to get them out. There’s no middle of the road for Brad at this time—he needs to work on his relationships and make a play before it’s too late.
“Juggling Chainsaws” was a Yase-heavy episode. Did anything else happen during the road? Possibly, but the focus was placed squarely on the floundering yellow tribe. This round was a case of the story focusing on one tribe because they had all the story, from their terrible performance in the challenge to their chaotic vote. Future rounds will better balance the tribes, but the narrative stayed where the drama was … and that’s Yase in a nutshell. We’ll have to wait and see if this tribe has any chance of survival now.
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Survivor airs new episodes Wednesdays at 8 p.m. EST on CBS.
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