The day of reckoning is almost upon us. We’re officially one episode away from our pool starting. Week 1 picks are going to be opening up this Wednesday night after the episode airs. I still need buy-ins from a bunch of you, so please check the spreadsheet attached to this email. If your name isn’t highlighted in green, it means you need to get your payment in if you want to play this season!

Alright let’s get into this week's recap! Definitely a weaker episode after such a strong start to the season. (we'll get into that) I'm going to breakdown the Top 5 quotes of the episode.

5. Jeff: “Were switching from two tribes to three tribes. This was originally planned for 18 players, but Rob decided to go home.”

Going back to two tribes has given us the best start to a Survivor season since COVID. We’ve had fun tribals with interesting votes, fun blindsides, and a budding rivalry forming between Savu and Toka. So Jeff decided this would be the perfect time to do a tribe swap and go back to the same stale three tribe format we’ve had for the past 10 seasons in a row. This led to the weakest episode of the season by far. I hope Jeff sees the positive reaction to the start of this season and decides to stick with 2 tribes for Season 52. At least he took the opportunity to take one more parting shot at Rob.

4. Eric: “Dude, meeting Kilby was like a dream come true.”

…Said no one ever. While I clearly wasn’t a fan of the tribe swap, one thing it did give us was the formation of the “Loverboy Alliance”. (An apt nickname given the sexual tension brewing between these two) The close up shot of Kilby twirling his hair while talking/flirting with Eric was too good. Sharonda's face watching these two interact spoke for us all. I think I’d pull a Rhode Island Rob and fake an injury and go home if I had to spend 24 hours a day with these two knuckleheads.

3. Thien An: “Mike is so Bogus”

Mike’s clearly in a tough spot after losing his #1 Patt last week. The editors gave us a montage of him scrambling around trying to secure a new number one, and it was not pretty. He looked super desperate and people were clocking him as insincere. Not looking great for my early winner pick. :/

2. Brady: “Hey, Stop Talking!”

Eric: "I understand."

The immunity challenge gave us the funniest moment of the episode (and maybe the season) when Eric started heckling Maggie from the sit out bench. Brady lept into action and immediately told him to shut up. Truly a man of the people.

1. Alexis: “How do I know I can trust you? Would you give me your shoes?”

The tribe swap giveth (Eric and Kilby meeting of the minds) and the tribe swap taketh (Jenna getting swap screwed). Jenna was cooked as soon as she drew the same color buff as Devin. He’s been gunning for her since Day 1 because he thought she was lying about being a wedding photographer. (Who would lie about that?!) Also an insane move from Alexis demanding her shoes as collateral. If this is her go to strategy move I don’t see her lasting long in this game. Bummer for Jenna as she was in a good spot on Toka. Thanks again for the tribe swap Mr. Jeff!

Well that does it for this week. Linking the google sheet tracking buy-in’s below. $30 due to me via Venmo (@Dylan-Warner) linked below. I will send out another email on Wednesday with the rules and you should be getting an email with a link to make your first pick on Wednesday night, so be sure to check your spam if you don't see anything. Until then!

Your HSSC,

Dylan