Survivor 43 Scoop – Week 1 Recap: Winners, Losers, Top Moments

Posted By: John Powell

September 21, 2022

Survivor 43 Scoop – Week 1 Recap: Winners, Losers, Top Moments

John Powell – GlobalTV.com

Are you feeling it? For me, Survivor has a different energy this year. It is definitely more distinctive than the last two seasons and I think it is more than finally being free of the physical and mental restrictions of the COVID era. It is more than that grateful sigh of relief we all experienced in our own lives too.

Part of that new vibe is borrowing from Survivor Australia’s format to some degree, like the short but informative bios that give you some background on the castaways and their lives back home as well as the more kinetic tone to the happenings.

As far as the bios go, I especially sympathized with Jesse Lopez. Not because I was in a gang or anything like that. I could have been but I choose a different path. Even though I grew up in government housing in Toronto and in an abusive household, I worked hard, obtained a college degree because people gave me a chance to raise myself up and believed in me. That’s everyone from teachers to former bosses to good friends and family. Although I experienced hardships growing up such as plugging an extension cord into our apartment’s hallway just to have electricity, I never went through what Jesse did. Like him, I do hope that perhaps in some small way his story inspires others to scratch and claw their way to a better life or others to give those people who have so much potential that boost they need to change their future forever like others did for me.

All in all, let’s hope this momentum continues because if it does we will have a great season on our hands.

Survivor is a marathon not a sprint. It is hard to know though when to put your foot on and off the gas. That is a quality most winners have. Morriah Young has the distinction of being the first voted out this season. It wasn’t for lack of trying though. The Baka tribe was in the honeymoon stage of the game in which everyone was one big family roasting marshmallows around the fire and singing campfire songs when they should have been preparing for war like the other tribes were. War inside and outside the tribe. As the great Sun Tzu once wrote: “He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared.” Another words, if you snooze you lose and Morriah napped for far too long while others were already marshaling their troops.

Some may think it was a bit too harsh but I loved Probst making the tribes work for their meager supplies and taking away their flints if they lose. In the last decade Survivor in some ways has pampered the players allowing them to trade for more rice, etc. The experience should be harsh and rough. Those that make it to the end should earn it by struggling against the other players and the environment, conditions themselves.

I agree wholeheartedly with Elisabeth “Elie” Scott too. What was Mike thinking? Forfeiting immunity is a rookie move. Nobody would hold it against Mike if he played his immunity. They would certainly do the same in his shoes.

That scene with Cody leaping off the rock in the preview for next week is peculiar. It stands out in my mind as having more meaning or importance than it would appear. Does Cody get injured in some way? Does he have to be medevacked? Something just seems really odd about it.

Stay tuned folks.

News

Moment # 5: Mike and Elie’s heavy metal talk.

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Moment # 4: Elie reveals her personal tragedy.

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Moment # 3: Ryan discusses what he has overcome in life.

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Moment # 2: Sami solves the puzzle.

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Moment # 1: The flint challenge strategy works like a charm.

Morriah Young

Morriah wasn’t thrown overboard because of any missteps or mistakes. With three smaller tribes the game is accelerated and winning challenges becomes incredibly important as does the notion of having a “strong” tribe.