Survivor 42 Episode 4 Recap: Number One Allies & Another Survival Story

Swati Goel almost had a good thing going before her tribe figured out her shtick and sent her packing on episode 4 of Survivor 42. She had developed close ties with Drea Wheeler, Romeo Escobar and fellow young-person ally Tori Meehan. Rocksroy Bailey was inspired by her ability to take a leadership role on the tribe despite being naturally shy. But Swati made a vital mistake. Not only did she tell Drea, Romeo and Tori that they could all trust her; she revealed to each of them they were her number one ally in strikingly similar fashion.

It isn’t the first time a Survivor player has deployed this strategy. Jeremy Collins on Second Chance made everyone feel comfortable enough around him to think they were his number one ally. Nearly everyone Sarah Lacina eliminated on Game Changers admitted they thought she was closest with them as well. But Swati’s attempt at keeping everyone on her tribe comfortable felt a bit less genuine because the words she used to convince each ally was the exact same. If two or more of your supposed number ones find out you’ve told them both you’re they’re number ones, your word becomes worthless.

We saw something similar on Edge of Extinction, when a montage showed Aubry Bracco expressing to everyone she wanted to have a “dialogue”. Her tribemates grew suspicious that she was having the same type of conversation with each person. It is a tough balance to strike, especially on a tribe of only five players. Swati swung for the fences and she missed, but can we really say no one saw this elimination coming?

Most unnecessary spoiler: Tori’s Beware Advantage

In the opening minutes of season 42, Survivor breaks from format and teases a few clips from the season to get viewers enticed. One scene reveals Tori Meehan opening up a Beware Advantage and reading a phrase about potatoes. Survivor usually tries very hard to avoid spoiling the outcome of a vote. Sometimes, like in the Next Time On… segment the episode before Terry Deitz went home on Second Chance, the show accidentally reveals information before it intends to. But even in those situations, it takes eagle-eyed fans noticing a difference for a spoiler to be revealed. In this case, there was no secret about who found the potato phrase: it was Tori.

Four episodes in, Tori has yet to find a Beware Advantage. This wouldn’t be a huge deal if she hadn’t been one of two people potentially going home on two separate occasions. But she has! In the premiere, the vote was between her and Zach Wurtenberger; on Wednesday, the Ika tribe was undecided between Tori and Swati. Two could-be major suspenseful moments were instead stripped of their power because Survivor decided to spice it up and get cute with the editing.

Now, here’s the point where I admit that both times, I had forgotten about that Tori clip at the beginning of the season. In each Ika Tribal Council, I thought there was a good chance Tori could go home. I assume most fans didn’t notice either. A lot happened in the premiere. I’m glad my memory failed me in the moment. But fans with better memories than me don’t deserve two episodes out of four to be spoiled. Hopefully Tori finds the darn thing in episode 5 so we can all stop holding our breath, especially the people unlike me who haven’t forgotten.

Biggest waste of time: The reward challenge

Some people despise reward challenges. Question their entire state of being. I am not one of those people. Give me some product placement of a sub-par fast casual restaurant being teased like the greatest food on the planet and I’m hooked. But when the reward is nothing to salivate over, it’s hard as an audience member to get invested in it. This reward has to be one of the worst ones in recent history. Jeff Probst informs the three tribes that only one will win reward and the prize will be…10 fish.  Not freshly seasoned halibut on a remote part of Fiji flown to by helicopter alongside a bottle of Cabernet overlooking a volcano. Normal, boring fish, the kind that can be caught in the ocean in a few hours on a good day.

This reward challenge involved a physically strenuous portion followed by a part that required a tiny amount of athleticism. There was no equalizing puzzle at the end to ensure that the two tribes losing to the tribe with Jonathan Young on it would have a decent chance of catching up. No, instead it was predictably a blowout. The biggest source of drama was after the challenge when Jonathan announced that he and his tribe were a tight four. Maryanne Oketch found this to be a reprehensible statement because it gave away that her tribemates were close. Omar Zaheer agreed. What was Jonathan supposed to say? “You know Jeff, the people I live with kind of suck and I can’t wait to flip once a swap or a merge hits, but for now they are all I have to eat this mediocre fish with so that’s what I’m going to do.” 

It wasn’t like they were a post-swap tribe and Jonathan was yelling “Top 5 baby!” as a spurned former tribemate looked on begrudgingly. The other tribe members don’t even know their names; they have no reason to be suspicious if another tribe looks like they’re having a good time while they’re winning. In fact, they probably took Jonathan’s enthusiasm to be an act. No one could possibly be that excited about unprepared fish.

Most impressive survival story: Daniel Strunk

Daniel Strunk came onto Survivor already a survivor. He reveals early on that he survived childhood leukemia, a touching story.  On episode 4, Daniel opens up to Jeff about another flirtation with death. “The only reason I’m alive today,” Daniel said, “is because of Hai’s body heat.” This sounds like an embellishment. First of all, Hai doesn’t have that much body heat to give off; he’s a fairly slender man. Second, Daniel is a cancer survivor and almost had his shoulder ripped off by the ground in episode 1, and now we’re supposed to believe he’s only standing here today to tell the tale because a fellow contestant cuddled up to him during a storm we didn’t even get to see?

If Daniel makes it to the end—and after his antics last episode that seems unlikely—he has the ultimate survival story to tell. He cheated death when he was younger. But, ever the overachiever, Daniel wants to have multiple narratives of survival at his disposal just in case. If Daniel was truly dying before Hai’s healing heat cured his hypothermia, it would have made the edit. Instead Daniel, who, according to the teaser for next episode, might be milking that shoulder injury, is determined to win by surprising everyone that he’s still alive after 26 days despite an unprecedented accumulation of real or over-exaggerated maladies.

Survivor airs Wednesdays at 8pm EST on CBS.

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Justin Fedich
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Justin Fedich is a reality TV editor based in Washington, D.C. He has reported on the need for increased representation in the Survivor franchise and has interviewed stars from Netflix hit shows The Circle, Too Hot To Handle and Love Is Blind.

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