Survivor 41 Episode 8 Reaction

The strategic maneuvering on episode 8 of Survivor 41 wasn’t as chaotic or consistent as the previous episode, and ultimately the majority alliance went with the safe vote rather than big game hunting. The main story of this episode is just how many cracks there are in this majority.

Papaya Etiquette

Remember in Heroes vs Villains (one of the few Survivor seasons available on Netflix) when James Clement found it ridiculous that he had to ask his tribe permission to eat a banana? Well fast forward 21 seasons later and this time papayas are the source of drama. This is intensified by the results of the reward challenge: the group that won the food reward was almost identical to the group that enjoyed the merge feast a few days prior. One of the contestants who enjoyed both meals, Ricard, noticed the people who lost the challenge were eating some papayas that Naseer found. Ricard asked for a small amount as he was excited to try the fruit, but Shan got mad because Ricard had already eaten. Another collision between two close allies from Ua!

I initially thought this was going to be another scene that would paint Ricard as a scheming or devious player, but as the episode would progress, Shan ended up looking worse. One of the recurring themes of this episode is Shan having to have things go her way. Whether or not this is an editing technique for just this one episode remains to be seen. Shan has already done a lot of good strategic work this season so I don’t want to discredit her for that, this is just an…