Survivor 42 Premiere Discussion

I loved everything about the premiere of Survivor 42. We got to know nearly every member of the cast, with only a couple of people feeling invisible. And these people are infectiously awesome. The producers also have stepped up their game, it seems like they listened to the complaints of Survivor 41. I wanna talk about why I'm extremely optimistic about this season and how some of my predictions have changed.

The biggest standout to me was the editing. The episode felt insanely fast-paced, in the best way possible. We got to see so many camp life and character clips from every tribe. Moments like Rocksroy being bossy, Tori getting sussed out and Jackson's campfire story felt very vintage Survivor. And everyone had at least two confessionals.

Advantages and twists were present, but they weren't the focus. Prisoner's Dilemma Island only took up like 5 minutes of screen-time (thank God). And these new "advantage amulets" were explained in less than 30 seconds. If this is the new style of editing the crew is going for, this season could be fantastic.

The player that I was most impressed by in the premiere was Romeo. My entire perception of him has completely changed. I expected him to be more reserved and soft-spoken, but Romeo did a great job of taking control of his tribe. Out of everyone on Ika, Romeo has the most guarantee'd spot in the merge and I think he could easily win.

The green tribe, Vati, is a complete mystery to me. We saw in the episode that the dynamic is split into three pairs. Out of those three, I think Hai and Lydia have the most room to maneuver. Daniel might prove to be a liability for Chanelle. And I don't see the Mike and Jenny duo working out in the long term. But we need more information on what the real allegiances on this tribe are.

We also don't know anything about Taku. Jonathon is a beast and is probably going to solo carry them to the merge, so they won't be seeing tribal that much. I think if they have to vote, Maryanne could be in real danger as a social threat. We might see a Lindsay, Marya and Jonathon trio with a Maryanne and Omar duo. But I think Omar could fit in anywhere really, I'm interested to see how he plays it.

The only player that I'm more negative on is Tori. She really set herself up for the clown edit this season. I would be thrilled if she keeps getting shown to be hilariously unaware, but I don't think she'll be sticking around much longer. RIP Zach by the way, gone too soon.

I am very excited about the rest of the season. Premiere episodes are usually very high quality, so I don't want to speak too soon, but Survivor 42 seems like it'll be a ton of fun.