Survivor 51 episode 4 recap: ‘throw it all away’ for 3 tribes!

After three exceptionally strong episodes of Survivor 51, the show hit a speed bump placed there by the producers: the corpse of the New Era, i.e. a three-tribe split.

Those who planned this season didn’t trust their own idea of two tribes enough to leave them alone for several episodes. Perhaps they feared a Pagonging? Instead, we got a return to what plagued the new era: tiny tribes, one of which gets quickly decimated.

“Today we’re going old-school,” Probst explained, meaning the last five years.

The first third of the episode was mostly talking about all of this, which for me was the real problem. Last week’s episode was peak, gorgeous, amazing Survivor! And that was because we were immersed with the players at their camps as they navigated their inter tribe dynamics and one external twist.

And this week, meh, especially in comparison. I guess it was fine—once the talking stopped. The best part was that the dynamic on the losing tribe meant that we didn’t get a simple original tribal line vote.

Instead, the fractured dynamic of an original tribe persisted. Devin and Jelly voted out Jenna because they’d been in opposite alliances, so they’re now aligning with Ori and Alexis and/or helping to even up things on their original tribe in case those alliances come back.

When the tribes were summoned to a lecture with their host, there were some meta reactions. “Absolutely not,” Sharonda said. “We just got a reward—give us some time, Jeff. Can we at least appreciate what we have right now?”

“Throw it all away,” Ori said. “Brand-new game.” Kilby called it “the swap screw.”

Jenna said “instant knot in my stomach. I’m like, Please, no!” But she also tied my stomach in a knot by repeating the company line: “You can’t control it in this open era. The name of the game is permanent uncertainty.”

No, the name of the game is Survivor. “I’m just trying to make sure I don’t poop my pants,” Lewis said, and I thought he meant out of anxiety, but apparently he was actually sick.

Before Probst fucked with the players’ games, he fucked with them. After reminding them they thought the first day would be like One World, he said “to now have everybody come together as one group, live together on one beach … it is the open era, and that is what is going to happen—at some point in a future season maybe. But not today.”

One interesting moment came when Probst explained that this swap was planned for when 18 people remained in the game. Rob’s self-eviction (for his mystery illness that was so severe he got annoyed when asked how he’s recovered) screwed that up, but the swap took place anyway.

After a random draw, there were two new tribes and one screwed tribe with one fewer member:

• Yellow: Brady/Brody, Carter, Kristin, Maggie, Mike, and Thien An
• Purple: Alexis, Devin, Jelly, Jenna, and Ori
• Pink: Cristian, Eric, Kilby, Lewis, Linnea, and Sharonda

On Pink, players had to start over, building a new camp but without Lewis, as he tried to sleep off some kind of illness.

Eric and Kilby became BFFs/lovers. “Dream come true,” Eric told us. “I’m gushing. We have, like, a million things in common.” Kilby said this is “a little bit of a bromance,” and Eric clarified that his side hug with Kilby was “a bro hug.”

But they also named their alliance “Lover Boys.” That’s like Luke from Below Deck naming his band Come On Nate and insisting it was about encouraging Nathan to turn himself in.

On yellow, Kristin was the minority, which she called “terrifying adjacent.” But what was terrifying—in a good way—is how quickly she used her skills to help. It’s “kind of my brand to be level-headed in a crisis,” she said.

Kristin used her preparation and knowledge of Fijian plants to point out a delicious snack that was waiting for them in a tree: Dairy Queen Blizzards.

Carter saw through that, saying “at home we butter pigs up” and “Kristin is doing that to me right now.” Perhaps she sees you as edible, too?

He tried to align with Thien An, who’s actually with Maggie—and together they were ready to turn on Mike before Kristin.

On purple, they inherited the chickens, and finally ate one: before Tribal Council. I’m unclear on the timeline, but I assume they didn’t have time to eat it before the challenge.

Some of the best footage we got at camp was Ori and Jelly bonding and maybe flirting. Part of that was Jelly annoyed with Devin being a terrible wingman, and Ori insisting he was on Survivor to win, not to find a partner, though “maybe I should be looking for that too.”

Alexis and Ori were technically outnumbered by Devin, Jelly, and Jenna. But Devin and Jelly voted for Jenna at their first Tribal Council, and then were just blindsided by an alliance that included Jenna. So of course they didn’t trust her.

Add to that Ori, Devin, and Jelly being part of a quick day-one alliance, and Ori’s bond with Alexis, and Jenna was screwed.

They had to lose immunity first, of course. The challenge was fun as in “funny” as in it’s funny to watch people throw buckets and/or the water from buckets at each other.

It was also a well-designed challenge that forced players to work together, versus the obstacle courses that just gave people individual roles. To quote our host, “This is all about communication and teamwork.” In case you didn’t understand those words or what you were seeing, he explained: “Requires players to work together.” Ah! Wait, you’re going to have to go over that again; I was rewathing bucket throws.

Pink was first, then yellow, with purple far behind. They all caught up at the maze, where pink won, followed by yellow. In a weird moment, yellow’s ball fell out of their vertical circle maze and didn’t drop into the little box. Instead, it flung out onto the sand. Apparently didn’t matter. Sorry to whoever built those little ball-catchers.

The decision came down to “the devil you know versus the devil you don’t know,” as Jelly explained, and the devils were Alexis and Jenna. Alexis tried to get Jenna to split, because Devin and Jelly “clearly, like, don’t like you” and “they’re like the cool kids in school.”

Jenna reported this back to her enemies turned allies. For a moment, it seemed like that would make Alexis the odd one out.

Tribal Council was full of insights such as:

• Jenna: “Everyone is playing for themselves.”
• Probst: “You start this game with a random group.”
• Jelly: “We’ve had 24 hours and a chicken together.”
• Devin: “Sometimes the simple route is the best route.”
• Probst: “This could be a pivotal vote.”
• Andy: “I am so bored. Can we just vote now, please?”

Everyone voted for Jenna, and now we have a 6-6-4 split, meaning purple can never sit anyone out of a challenge, and we’re on the way back to the new era. C’mon, open era, save us from this fate!

A few other things that have to start over on their own beach because I didn’t fit them into the recap:

• I’ve decided Brady’s “brodies” is worse than Rizo’s “Rizgod,” mostly because “brodies” continues to confuse me.
• Jelly now has an idol that no one knows about. And there were no new idols found and/or twists introduced, which is something I am grateful for.
• Maggie saying “Brady’s a bulldozer. He’s going to plow whoever” made me snort.

All of reality blurred’s content is independently selected, including links to products or services. However, if you buy something after clicking an affiliate link, we may earn a commission. Learn more.