Two Tribes and One Thumb: A Review of Survivor 51 Episodes 1–4

Written Kevin Kokoskza

Only four episodes into the new season of Survivor, and it’s already showing more promise than the last five years. The Open Era brings all advantages to the playing field, which beats the New Era’s predictable format. With a player chopping off their own thumb, a fake injury, an accidental mutiny and going back to the two tribe format, Survivor 51 is shaping up to be a refreshing change for longtime fans.

​Here are some highlights from the first four episodes of the show. If you haven’t caught up with the show, here is your warning for spoilers ahead.

Welcome back to part of the Old Era with everyone jumping off a boat and scrambling for supplies like fans saw all the way back in the first season. The 21 castaways are then forced to decide on one person to go to Exile Island, leaving them with only 20 players. 

Before the other contestants split into tribes, everyone is together on one beach. This leads to some early alliances forming, spicing up the gameplay as it’s not often viewers see alliances form before people are split into tribes. The most notable being the four-person “Helicopter” alliance between Devin Way, Angelica “Jelly” Loblack, Ori Jean-Charles and Sharonda Cox. 

​After a little while, 20 of the contestants on this beach are split up into two tribes, which hasn’t been seen since Season 40, and it’s already proving to be a very refreshing break from the stale three tribes format of the New Era.

​At the immunity challenge, an interesting first happens with Jeff Probst having the contestants vote on whether or not to keep the final-four fire-making twist, which some fans love while others want to see a normal vote. Probst said it must be a unanimous vote to remove fire-making; however, only a few people raised their hands to get rid of it. For fans who have grown tired of the fire-making twist, the segment is a frustrating reminder that the show may not be ready to move on from it.

​In the first episode, the Toka tribe goes to tribal council. The vote seems to be between Jenna Doore, who people thought is lying about her job as a wedding photographer, and Aaliyah Puglia, who made an enemy out of fellow contestant Brady Brooker way too fast. Brady spearheads the vote for Aaliyah, who becames the first person voted out of the game.

​The highlight of episode two is Brady accidentally cutting off the tip of his thumb, leading to one of the nastiest injuries ever seen on the show with him holding a chunk of his thumb in his hand. Despite this, he’s surprisingly able to stay in the game.

In this episode, the Savu tribe goes to tribal council, where Rob Antonson pulls off a never-before-seen move where he tries to vote for himself at tribal council. Any Survivor fan and even casual viewers know since day one you can’t vote for yourself.

Unlike Brady’s real injury and desire to stay in the game, episode three opens with Rob faking a leg injury after being on the wrong side of the vote the night before. He calls for the medic, and even after they said there is nothing wrong and he’s able to stay in the game, Rob decides to leave the game.

​Then in a major twist, each tribe needs to send one person to the other tribe’s beach, and that lucky contestant receives a clue to an advantage as well as the opportunity to mutiny and switch tribes. 

Devin goes to the Savu Beach and Carter Krull goes to Toka. In a very unexpected turn of events, but classic Survivor, the entire Toka tribe goes through Carter’s bag and finds his clue to an advantage. When it came time to mutiny or not, Devin returns to his tribe, while Carter seemingly misses the boat to go back and accidentally stays with Toka. This episode ends with a very exciting and rare 6-5 split vote.

​The most recent episode of Survivor 51 starts to shift in the opposite direction of what most fans want. The two tribes swap into three, making for fewer opportunities for people on the bottom to make moves. When a tribe has five people, there’s usually no crazy vote splits, and it’s obvious who’s getting voted out. The tribe of five that goes to tribal council includes 3/4 of the Helicopter alliance members, Devin, Jelly, and Ori, as well as Jenna and Alexis Levine. In an obvious vote, it’s between Jenna and Alexis, ending with Jenna going home.

​All in all, the first four episodes of Survivor 51 brings some iconic moments, but if Survivor 51 continues to embrace unpredictable gameplay and gives players more opportunities to make big moves, it could become a standout season.

Survivor 51 airs Wednesday on CBS and streams on Paramount+