Winds of Change: "Survivor" 51 Ep. 1 & 2 Quiz

Answer: Permanent Uncertainty

The winds of change were blowing in the opening scenes of "Survivor 51". There was no beachside framing and patter about the season ahead by host Jeff Probst. Instead, all the contestants were marooned on a sailing ship until Jeff came on board and tipped any predictability about what the contestants (and the viewers) faced ahead with one of the most forceful opening statements in "Survivor" history:
"This is a very exciting time because in this moment, everything is possible, for every one of you. Survivor's a really interesting game; think about it. We spend all this time designing a game and then just as much time searching for the people who are going to play it. And then, our favorite part, and the riskiest part, is we turn the entire game over to you. And from that point forward, we have no say in what happens, absolutely no control. You're in total control; we're merely there to witness it.
And I'm telling you this so you don't forget when you're out there, this is your game. You decide how it's played. You decide who stays. You decide who goes. You decide who wins. So don't ever wait for permission to play your game. Own your game. Control your story every day you're out there. That's how you play Survivor.
Now, as you sense this handoff of control about to happen, you're all wondering the same thing: what kind of game are we in store for? Well, I don't wanna spoil all the fun. But I will give you two words to guide you this entire season. Just two words. Permanent uncertainty."

And there it is. Permanent Uncertainty, the scope of which was encapsulated by two contestants: Kristen - "Opportunity" and Rob - "Chaos". With that, Jeff told the contestants they had two minutes to throw any supplies and equipment they might need overboard and get them to shore. They were on their own.

Answer: Helicopter alliance

When they landed the supplies on the beach, everyone started talking to one another. This all-in get-together was not part of the New Era of "Survivor," and it is a welcome addition; the contestants made the most of it. Ori and Jelly were attracted to one another because they both have braids. They meet up with Devin and Jelly a little way from the rest of the group. Right there, they solidify an alliance, later dubbed the "Helicopter Alliance", with Devin bringing in off-camera Sharonda as the fifth member as a helicopter appeared and dropped off a bag of tribe buffs, revealing the new tribe divisions.

(It is interesting to note that the "Helicopter Alliance" was not named at the time it was formed. No one in the alliance called it that. It is a moot point, but it appears that its name may have been 'pushed' by the production team during confessionals and editing to maintain some continuity after the players were assigned into separate tribes.)

A lot of airtime was devoted to the formation of this alliance, suggesting it will be important in future episodes.

Answer: Two groups of ten

Before the buffs were given out, a noticeboard was spotted at the top of the beach. It said that one contestant would not start the game with the others and would need to take a journey. Initially, no one volunteered. Lewis put up his hand to be considered. It was enough. No one else wanted it, presumably because it would take time away from getting to know their tribemates. Lewis was instructed to walk over to the other side of the island to face an unknown fate. This was the first time since "Survivor: Fiji" (fourteenth season). In this season, one contestant pulled out the night before filming, leaving 19 starting contestants and requiring an adjustment to keep tribe numbers equal.

After buffs were distributed, it was discovered there were only two tribes, each containing ten players:
Savu consisted of Alexis, Ana, Carter, Cristian, Eric, Kristin, Linnea, Ori, Rob, and Sharonda, leaving Toka to consist of Aaliyah, Brady, Devin, Jelly, Jenna, Kilby, Maggie, Mike, Patt, and Thien An.

The Helicopter Alliance was split 3-2 between the two tribes.

Answer: Both of these

Lewis discovered his fate was Exile Island (which was used nine times between seasons 10-32 but never in the "New Era" [Seasons 41-50]). It is an unpleasant place, to say the least: No apparent food, fire, or shelter (there must be water, surely); the beach is too rocky to sleep on. The next day Jeff appeared, thirty hours later to be exact. He explained that he would miss the first immunity challenge and tribal council (thereby he cannot be the first eliminated), and that he would join the tribe that loses a tribemate at the first TC.

Jeff further explained that it was not all doom and gloom. At the top of the ship's mast, holding up the Exile Island banner, is an immunity idol. Lewis must chop down the mast (not push over or climb) to retrieve the idol. Jeff produced an axe and a giant egg timer. Lewis must chop the mast down before the sand runs out. Jeff turned the egg timer upside down and left. Lewis chopped frantically but was beaten by time. The idol remained in place, out of reach.

Lewis stayed another night, then joined Toka after the first tribal council.

Answer: Thumb war

Each tribe nominated a captain to negotiate the supplies landed on shore. There were four groups of supplies: fire (flint, machete, pot); building supplies; fishing gear; and camp supplies. Kristen, a lawyer who specialised in negotiation, went up against game designer Kilby, who announced he was "pretty good" at negotiation. Kilby was no match for Kristen. She quickly collared the fire, machete and pot whilst Kilby cornered the building supplies. They both wanted the fishing gear next, so Kristen proposed a thumb war. Kilby mistakenly agreed to this. It was obvious that Kristen was good at this technique, and she won easily, claiming the fishing supplies.

While this part of the show was heavily weighted to show how good Kristen was at dominating, Kilby did not fare too badly. The Toku shelter was far more waterproof than the feeble Savu effort. Also, at the end of day three, there was a flint, pot, and machete waiting for Toku back at their camp, so the New Era flint rule appeared to be dead in the water.

Answer: Aaliyah

The first immunity challenge had a predictability about it: A physical contest with a puzzle leveller at the end. Savu won, sending Toku to the first Tribal Council.

At this stage, Devin appeared to be the ringleader. He said at the very outset that "Survivor" was about relationships. He had his two Helicopter Alliance members, Aaliyah and Jelly, to count on, plus he had made a strong connection with Brady, a pro-wrestler and physical threat. Devin didn't believe Jenna's story about being a wedding photographer, so when he asked for specifics about her job, Jenna was vague. To Devin, this made her "sketchy," making her his target from day one. He set about gathering votes, only needing one more. Meanwhile, Jelly and Aaliyah discussed Brady as a future target and relayed this to Patt and Jenna. Believing Jenna worked well in the puzzle challenge and not wanting her to be voted out, Patt informed Jenna on the side that she could be the one going home.

Jenna told Brady of Aaliyah's doubts about him. Brady immediately wanted Aaliyah out, and met with Devin to say he was voting for Aaliyah. The two cannot reach consensus. At Tribal Council, it became apparent there were two targets: Both Jenna and Aaliyah forfeited their votes by playing their 'Shot in the Dark'. Both are deemed "not safe". Aaliyah is voted out 6-2, with only Devin and Jelly voting for Jenna.

We, the audience, through confessionals, found out that Jenna had recently gone through a divorce and was "single for the first time since she was 18". This had made her vulnerable and not very open to new relationships. Not great timing in cutthroat "Survivor," but the audience could see Devin's suspicions were incorrect.

Answer: Lost top part of the thumb

Before Brady chopped the top of his left thumb off with a machete, there were other issues that preceded this event. Namely, fallout from the previous night's Tribal Council. While being left out of the major alliance vote, Devin attached his spin at confessional and said he and Brady had told each other how they intended to vote and that they could vote differently and stay buddies, as there was no deception. (You can't do this when the number of voters is small, though.)

Lewis came into the Toku tribe and told them of his time on Exile Island. He told the truth and told it completely, but Kilby did not believe him (This was after Kilby had declared at confession that he could tell when someone was lying). Lewis had some ground to make up as alliances had already been formed.

After Brody lopped off the top of his thumb, he was more worried about being pulled from the game than losing a body part: tears streamed down his face in great, wracking sobs as he offered to do push-ups to prove his fitness and capability. There was a poignant moment when Patt was holding the amputated thumb tip in a shell as Medical examined Brody in case they were going to sew it back on (they did not). Further into this episode, Kristen hurt her foot and believed she had a broken bone. She found some local flora that had anti-inflammatory properties and quickly applied a poultice and declared her injury would not stop her from competing.

Both these segments chewed up a large swag of air time. It is this viewer's opinion that this was done to contrast something that happened in episode 3, where similar determination was not demonstrated by one contestant.

All the other answer options were reasons contestants had been medically evacuated.

Answer: Three known, two claimed

Rob (Savu) found an immunity idol early in episode 1, and Jelly (Toku) found one in episode 2 after Toku won camp comforts (including a tarp to waterproof their structure) on a reward challenge. This allowed Jelly to wander off to find her idol undetected. We already knew there was an idol on top of the ship's mast on Exile Island that Lewis failed to claim.

Both claimed idols had no caveats. They did not need to give it to someone else (à la New Era) or any other conditions. This author believed that this was an improvement over the way idols in the New Era were handled.

Interestingly, Jelly did not want to tell Devin of her idol. She told Patt instead, and together (without telling anyone else about the idol), they formed a five-person alliance with Devin, Brady, and Mike.

Answer: Rob tried to vote for himself

At the Immunity Challenge, tribes had to drag a 500lb artificial whale through the ocean and over a roller approximately 4ft / 1.2 m out of the water, then drag it onto a platform above the high tide line. Once landed, they had to roll three balls down a lane into designated holes. Toku found an easier way to get their whale over the roller and easily won the challenge, sending Savu to tribal council for the first time.

Rob was spiralling downwards at this time; he was homesick, and he wasn't sleeping. He had thrown his fellow Rhole Islander Eric under the bus. He told his tribe mates Eric was out idol-hunting when he was fishing for food. Eric, for his part, was trying too hard to be social, but to the point of irritating other tribe mates. Rob thought he had convinced the tribe to vote Eric 9-1.

However, Rob was trying to get out of "Survivor" without the ignominy of quitting. During Tribal Council, he pulled Eric aside and told him to play his Shot In The Dark option, and if that did not work, Rob would play his idol for him. When Rob went to vote, he wrote his own name down, reasoning that all votes for Eric would be negated and his casting vote would send him home. However, after he wrote his own name down, an off-camera producer told him he could not vote for himself - a rule that Rob was unaware of, yet it had been in play for all 50 previous seasons. This screwed up Rob's plan, so he wrote Eric's name down instead.

Answer: Ana

During this episode, Ana started throwing names like Sharonda and Kristin around to Alexis, but then went and relayed her conversation with Alexis to Ori and Carter. Alexis, worried, took this information back to Sharonda, and Linnea decided she could keep Eric as a number and get the untrustworthy Ana out instead. Linnea mistook a conversation between Ori and Carter about strategy when it was a mere conversation about crabs. When confronted, Ana volunteered her name as decoy (for Eric). No one dissented. At Tribal Council, Eric received four votes: Ori*, Carter, Ana, and Rob. However, Sharonda had rallied the others, so Ana received six votes (Sharonda, Linnea, Alexis, Christian, Kristin, and Eric). Ana was blindsided. There was an irony - if Rob has gotten away with writing his own name, his plan would still not have worked as he assumed Eric would get all eight votes.

*There is a possibility that Ori voted for Eric so there would be no appearnt alignment with Sharonda (Their alliance was secret) or that he knew Sharonda had the numbers so his vore was moot.