‘Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X’: Winners and losers from episode 4
By the time you get to the tribe swap on any season of “Survivor,” you do want to start to get a sense as to who the pretenders and the contenders are. At present with “Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X,” we do think that is happening. We’ve got a reasonably good idea now as to who is delivering, and at the same time, who is probably going to be cut quickly the moment things don’t go their way.
If we were to sum up things in a couple of phrases, though, here’s what we would say: The Millennials have potential, and Gen X is a dumpster fire. Who would’ve imagined that the older tribe would be so chaotic strategically, given the our assumption is that they would stay the course, keep a tight alliance, and play conservatively? Ironically, we think that the people who are keeping that mindset are playing the best, even if they’re ending up on the wrong side of the vote. That’s the jumping-off point for our latest Winners and Losers article, which we post every Friday during the season.
Winner (Gen X) – Chris Hammons. As mentioned, he was on the outside of the vote; yet, at the same time Chris may be set up better than anyone entering the swap on this tribe. Nobody’s got an idol, and at least with him you’ve got a workhorse, a physical competitor, and someone you can rely on as a loyal alliance member. He’s not making a habit of stabbing people in the back early in the game. Maybe it’ll happen eventually, but he doesn’t appear to be in a hurry to make it happen.
While it may not have to do with anything strategically, can we just say for a minute that we find him underrated as entertainment? He’s got some of that southern charm, but a strategic head on his shoulders unlike many people we’ve seen in this archetype the past few seasons.
Loser (Gen X) – David Wright. He entered the episode with an idol, and he left the episode without one, and there were no votes even cast on him. He used his idol to protect Jessica Lewis, someone who in this same episode was ratting him and Ken out to Lucy. Why in the world would you want to do deliberately save her? We do think that this move buys some loyalty, but Jessica’s been established as the sort of player who is looking out for herself first and foremost. You don’t even know if she’ll be a number on your tribe next week with a swap imminent, and David had to know as a fan this was coming.
Maybe this all works out and David proves us wrong. We love him as a person on this season, so time will tell.
Winner (Millennials) – Adam Klein. While his idol hunt wasn’t perfect (Hannah has to suspect that he has it), we love that he found it when he needed it as opposed to when he was just being paranoid. From a character standpoint, our heart broke for him in hearing about his mother. We admit to having some bias (he’s our favorite player this season), so it’s nice to see him have a win.
Loser (Millennials) – Viewers. The edit for this episode was such that the majority of the Millennials’ screen time was spent on Adam and his idol hunt, so there wasn’t much time to see anyone else make mistakes. You can argue that maybe Hannah shouldn’t have yelled anything towards Adam, but we kind of liked the move regardless of if it was intentionally a “move.” He now has a little paranoia in his head.
Judging from the preview for the next new episode, the real losers moving forward could be Figgy and Taylor if they’re broken up.
Who did you think were the winners / losers of episode 4? Share below, and head over here to check out our recent exit interview with Lucy Huang!