Taako From Teevhii shares the best bonus scenes from the previous episode of Survivor: Chupacabra Cove.

This Week In Secret Scenes

“People Like Us”

Chris wants to work with Laurel. Laurel is still considering working with Chris. If the main edit planted the seed of a potential Chris Noble-Laurel alliance, then this Secret Scene lays down the fertilizer. (Fertilizer comes after you plant the seed, right? I don’t know; who do I look like, Pamela Isley?) Part of Chris’s pitch to Laurel is that they’re both part of the “Upper Class” in this season (and of course Chris Noble needs to couch our usual concepts of “strength” and “threat” in the framing of classism). And thus part of that pitch is “Complaining about the challenges of being Upper Class,” which is just another classic bit of Chris Noble fun.

This Week In Confessionals

“The Upper Class”

Classic Chris Noble fun that is spun into a full confessional (and a different one from the Secret Scene to boot). But anyway, this clip has me yelling, “Too vague! You were arrogant! Be arrogant to their face!”

Seriously, name names, Chris Noble! Who’s the middle class? Who’s the lower? SAY WHO THE SHITTY PLAYERS ARE, CHRIS NOBLE, AND YOU CAN’T SAY EVERYONE IN THIS CASE (because if you’re the only member of the upper class, then this metaphor makes no sense). I don’t even know that Chris Noble has thought this plan through. In fact, I know that he hasn’t. Because what happens when all of the “Upper Class” gets to the end together? Will you be able to outmaneuver all of them on your own, Chris Noble? Of course not (he may think he can, but he mathematically can’t). At a certain point, Chris Noble will have to sacrifice his bourgeoisie brethren to the “Middle Class” mobs. And thus, we know that Chris Noble will have to implement the Meat Shield strategy. But this strategy requires timing, awareness, and finesse, and “Jeremy Collins” Chris Noble is not.

“A Great Opportunity”

So the bookends of this clip are mostly unimportant. Talking about the tribe swap was a big theme for confessionals this week, and a lot of the first half of this clip is spent rehashing the mechanics of that. The last 30-60 seconds focuses on the Survivor mantra of “Knowledge is Power;” yeah, we’ve heard it before.

The middle bit is the meatiest here because it illuminates parts of Kellyn’s game that are a little at odds with the story from the official edit. Kellyn states her “tightest amigos” are Bradley (duh) and Sea Bass (huh?). She doesn’t even notice that Desiree has also drawn an orange buff until Des fails to walk off the Malolo mat with everyone else. Des seems to be an ancillary player in Kellyn’s alliance, which runs counter to what we had been led to believe. Kellyn also says that she feels closer with Michael following their recent talks, and apparently Kellyn takes those conversations at face value and doesn’t recognize them as Michael scrambling when he was in trouble. Okay. She also tells us that she was close with Angela when they were together (Kellyn called her “Mama Ange” when they reunited) and that James was a wild card who she knows nothing about.

So with all of that considered, I think that there must have been ample footage to construct a narrative where Kellyn is the one to pull everyone together and unanimously vote out James. But we didn’t get that narrative, and you have to wonder why. Was it for episodic tension? Did it just not happen? Or is this all just a bad sign for Kellyn’s future in the game? (and I should note, it can be two or even three things)

“I’ve Been Here Since Day 1”

Let’s hear from Domenick for the second week in a row. There are a lot of small moments in this confessional that made me think. Like when Domenick was that he was surprised that there was a swap and that the “ploy” of setting up a challenge had duped him as he walked in. I mean, really?

You’re a “superfan” of the show, and you didn’t see this swap coming? Really? Also, if the boats aren’t beached and there are no buoys in the water, chances are you’re not getting in those boats. They gave you all the clues.

But that’s just me being neurotic. Let’s talk about how Domenick was glad to draw purple because he “knew that the idol had already been found on this beach, that no one could pull a fast one on [him] here.” Let me ask you, when’s the last time that you thought about Domenick’s very real idol or his legacy advantage? Be honest. When’s the last time you thought about idols at all? It’s been a minute. Despite Ghost Island being in play, we’ve had a lot less time spent around idols and advantages. For example, we don’t know what happened to the Malolo idol that Michael played after the swap. It could be that no one has found it, but it could also be the no one’s really looked. We’re getting a stronger focus on the social game and strategy, which is a nice change of pace.

I also want to contrast Domenick saying “Purple is my color” with him saying that he could go either way moving forward. His options, as he sees them, are the old Malolos (Donathan and Libby) and the old Navitis (Chelsea and Bradley). And it’s worth pointing out that with swaps on Days 7 and 15, he’s spent equal amounts of time with both pairs. This is an echo of what James said at Tribal: the original tribes were random, and they’re an arbitrary way of forming alliances moving forward. But on the flip side, Domenick could still be targeting his original tribemates, even without Chris Noble around. Naviti strong indeed.

Quick Hits

Three clips that I wanted to include but not necessarily talk much about:

• Wendell is designing the Yanuya bed and in the process highlights the fact that players on the new third tribe usually don’t get super invested in the tribe or in their camp. So please, Survivor, stop doing this swap format. The tribes are now too small, which is oddly inconsistent with your recent compulsion to merge at 13 or 12.
• Chris Noble is dominating the game without even being on screen as Jenna has a confessional devoted entirely to Chris Noble.
• Sea Bass hasn’t seen Cambodia. Noted.

This Week In Gifable Moments

When people ask you what “literacy” means to you as a model.

When the tilapia is fresh.

When someone celebrates Sea Bass for not having seen Cambodia.