S45.E01: We Can Do Hard Things

[Whimsy]

Quote

Eighteen new castaways are abandoned in the islands of Fiji where they must learn to adapt or they will be voted out. The first Tribe to finish the first challenge secures crucial camp supplies. The other two tribes get sweaty in hopes of earning their camp essentials. Then, tribes climb their way to victory earning immunity, while the last tribe to finish heads to tribal council.

Original airdate 9/27/23

[GenerationX]

Wow, is this cast unlikable.

[Guest]

Collectively, this might be the most exhausting cast ever. Good god. I'm rooting for the Blue tribe simply because they are comparatively quiet, astrology-bonding aside. Plus Kellie is a fox.

[dizzyd]

Thanks for wasting my 90 minutes with such a crappy season premiere. Multiple people who just couldn’t cope, a bunch of Debbie downers and an actual quitter. I like sabiyah and kaleb. My auto correct is going to piss me off this season with these names.  

[LadyChatts]

Good bye Hannah, and good riddance!  I hate quitters, but glad she’s out first so she’s not taking more spots away from people who want to be there.  Brandon I don’t think is going to make it, but Emily might be talking herself out of the game.  I’ll preface by saying I like her, I don’t mind outspokenness, and I hope she brings some drama.  But she needs to know when to reel it in.  She got very lucky tonight I think.  She is not as smart as she thinks she is, and I have no idea why she is so threatened by Sabiyah and Kaleb.  I feel like there’s something we’re missing there.

Great to see Bruce back, and glad his tribe won so he has more time.  I’m a little worried he might have taken on the ‘in charge’ role a little too quickly.  I hope the Three Girls of September can stick together.  I like them and that might be a fun alliance.

I like Sifu but I thought it was funny he thought he was being sneaky looking for an idol (and everyone knew he was looking), and then trying to be Tony-like stealth, but got caught doing that.  Maybe he needed to take Austin’s lead in idol hunting. 

Drew can go anytime, I don’t like Jake, and I don’t care if Brandon goes.  I can’t imagine him lasting much longer without having a breakdown. 

[Haleth]

Wow. Have you ever seen such a bunch of whiners and complainers?

[Shermie]

Enough with the astrology nonsense already. Three women aged 29-30 squealing like a bunch of 14-year-olds because they’re all born in September. Oy.

Quitters are the worst kind of Survivor loser. I guess the episode title should have given it away that Hannah was going since that was her personal tagline. I don’t understand how Survivor applicants can be so clueless about hard this game is. Have they never watched the show? She seemed stunned that she was hungry and tired and mentally worn out when that’s literally the premise of the game.

[Mrsmom]

OMG! I guess they put the yellow team (can't be bothered to learn it's name)together to piss off the fans. Instant loser vibes as soon as they showed them. Please keep losing so we don't have to watch you!

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, LadyChatts said:

I like Sifu but I thought it was funny he thought he was being sneaky looking for an idol (and everyone knew he was looking), and then trying to be Tony-like stealth, but got caught doing that. 

Somebody else on the tribe even name-checked Tony, comparing Sifu to him 😆 

[vb68]

That ended up being all kinds of lame.

Probably the worst premiere episode ever..

[LadyChatts]

10 minutes ago, Haleth said:

Wow. Have you ever seen such a bunch of whiners and complainers?

This is probably Probst's nightmare come to life.  Especially after last season.  But hey, he takes a big role in casting, so...

[Straycat80]

I have a feeling after watching this 90 minutes premiere of whiny (Emily),  childish (Virgo girls), losers (Brandon and Hannah), I’ll be hate watching the rest of this season. 
I’m hopeful for the red team. What are the casting people of this show thinking? Are they picking people for their weirdness or quirkiness or maybe this person would cause the most discord or drama? 
I feel bad for the people who could have had a spot on this show and got cheated because of a quitter. And I’m betting Brandon quits next. 

[vb68]

I think my favorite thing in the whole episode was Probst's bewildered stare at Hannah and him trying to remember why they cast her.

[cdnalor]

What the hell is Brandon the Content Creator doing out in the jungle?  Or out in the real world, for the matter?  And so much crying and whining from so many people.  Does anyone know when Australian Survivor is coming back?  I really need a palate cleanser.

[Guest]

3 minutes ago, vb68 said:

I think my favorite thing in the whole episode was Probst's bewildered stare at Hannah and him trying to remember why they cast her.

That was a highlight 😆 Like you could see the moment when he realized what was about to happen and he was effing FURIOUS. And I feel his pain because it was lame as hell, but also heehee Jeff got mad over his silly little game 😆😆😆

Edited September 28, 2023 by tracyscott76

[Jodithgrace]

So Brandon has been a huge survivor fan since age 11? Did it ever occur to him to, you know, get in shape? There have been plenty of couch potatoes that have been on the show, but none who claim to have wanted to be on the show since childhood. It just frustrates me that people who claim to really want to be on survivor, won’t do the work involved to succeed. Do they really not think it’s going to be hard? Ugh!
 

 

[CoyoteBlue]

Sabiyah and Kaleb did not deserve to be stuck on the Lululemon team. Brandon may actually die on one of these challenges from sheer "heart exploding in his chest". How did he survive outside of his home long enough to get here? Did Hannah even try camping in a tent for a weekend before trying out?

[Colorado David]

good gosh why did hannah bother to sign up for the show? zero commitment, no real hardships and already whining about how hard it is.

[Valerie]

Congrats, Shan! You are no longer the most vile and nasty player of the new era. That title has been passed down to Emily.

A very chaotic cast. 

Some insights right off for me:

Caleb -- He's from BC, a Poco native! I live about an hour away from his stomping grounds. I liked his vibe with Sabiyah.

Bruce -- Great to see him back. I do think he would be a good leader and he shouldn't shy away from that.

Sifu -- You aren't Chinese, bro. And I'm pretty sure you don't refer to yourself as a seifu in martial arts, it's something other people call you. 

Jake -- He reminds me of a golden retriever with how fast he was ready to talk up his recent attorney adventures.

Brando -- Took me a minute to realize there was a Brando and a Brandon. At least this one seems emotionally stable.

Brandon -- I have anxiety and panic attacks. I know how absolutely debilitating they can be. And that's why I would never go on Survivor lol.

The thing about Survivor is that whatever team doesn't win immunity gets that extra few minutes of screentime at the end where you get to see them actually strategizing, and so I find that even with the camp life sort of scenes at the start of the episode, you don't really get a ton of exposure to the other tribes' gameplay.

[Lurk]

Oh dear sweet baby jeebus. That was painful to watch. I don't know if it's a generational thing or just the new buzz word thing but if I hear "xxx can do hard things" my head my blow off my shoulders. Seems like it's been in ads and on other shows or somewhere a lot lately and then tonight. I don't remember growing up with an "I can do hard things" as a mantra. I think mine growing up was "get off your ass and do it before I come over there and make you do it".

 

I can't say that I like any of them. I don't feel like even with 90 minutes, that we got any more insight on the players. Did they let us see the whole strength/savvy challenge down to the timer running out or just cut to them in the boats on the way back talking about losing?

[LadyChatts]

1 hour ago, Straycat80 said:

I have a feeling after watching this 90 minutes premiere of whiny (Emily),  childish (Virgo girls), losers (Brandon and Hannah), I’ll be hate watching the rest of this season. 
I’m hopeful for the red team. What are the casting people of this show thinking? Are they picking people for their weirdness or quirkiness or maybe this person would cause the most discord or drama? 
I feel bad for the people who could have had a spot on this show and got cheated because of a quitter. And I’m betting Brandon quits next. 

I think, unfortunately, they see what works the previous seasons and go from there.  It used to be all about the alpha male and the Ozzy's and Spencer's, but now it's about the super fans, the nerds, the personalities.  I think there's a minimum level of 'whoo-hoo!-ing' and screaming and fan girling/boying and talking about how this has been their dream since they were in the womb that every season opener needs in the first five minutes.  Brandon probably screamed super fan to them.  I have a feeling they saw Hannah, being awkward, wearing her glasses, tattoos on her arms, and thought she'd be another Carolyn or S33 Hannah or Aubry.  But it sounds like Brandon has some legit medical issues, and we know the show would rather an amazing medevac moment where someone almost dies than actually take that into consideration.  Sadly, I consider Brandon another casualty of the day 1 challenge.  I question if it wasn't for that if he would have been on better footing.  Then of course, he took a beating in the actual IC, but at least none of his tribe did so hot there.

Edited September 28, 2023 by LadyChatts

[choclatechip45]

I actually liked the premiere. I think this cast is entertaining even the hot mess tribe. 

Edited September 28, 2023 by choclatechip45

[Guest]

16 minutes ago, Lurk said:

Did they let us see the whole strength/savvy challenge down to the timer running out or just cut to them in the boats on the way back talking about losing?

They did show the whole thing. Both pairs were working on the savvy puzzle and making some comments about how none of them were going to get it (Jake: "At least we're all being dumb together" 😆), and then they showed the sand running out of the hourglass.

9 minutes ago, choclatechip45 said:

I actually like the premiere. I think this cast is entertaining even the hot mess tribe.

Agreed that it wasn't all bad. There were some people I liked (Kaleb/Sabiyah and most of the Blue tribe, for example) and some humor, and hopefully the freneticism will go down a bit when people settle in.

[Lurk]

1 minute ago, tracyscott76 said:

They did show the whole thing. Both pairs were working on the savvy puzzle and making some comments about how none of them were going to get it (Jake: "At least we're all being dumb together" 😆), and then they showed the sand running out of the hourglass.

Agreed that it wasn't all bad. There were some people I liked (Kaleb/Sabiyah and most of the Blue tribe, for example) and some humor, and hopefully the freneticism will go down a bit when people settle in.

Thanks. I missed the sand running out. I usually record and then watch it back later, but tonight I watched live so I couldn't run it back.

 

[mertensia]

"Pyramids are batteries!" I so sympathize with the gal going "they are,too stupid to live".

[LadyChatts]

19 minutes ago, choclatechip45 said:

I actually like the premiere. I think this cast is entertaining even the hot mess tribe. 

The only thing that ruined the premiere was the quit, but other than that I thought it was decent.  I actually like what we've seen of the cast so far, too!  I like Emily, even if I feel she needs to take it down about fifty notches (but as I said in the live chat thread, if she were a man the tribe would likely not be out to get them).  Drew and Jake are the only two I'm not liking.  

[Cotypubby]

Can there be an option to just vote out the entire Yellow team?

Jesus Christ has there ever been one team made of so many unlikeable people? Whining crying losers who are useless in challenges, bitchy negative nancy (and likely racist) Emily, and an actual quitter!

Edited September 28, 2023 by Cotypubby

[Drogo]

These kids is soft.

[TVFan1]

I agree that this wasn't a bad premiere, but it's not one of the good ones either. I wish we could have seen a vote in the premiere instead of Hannah quitting, basically begging to go home. Why sign up for the show at all? The whole Lulu tribe is a mess. Emily and Brandon can't leave fast enough. I like the Belo tribe the most. 

Here's hoping it gets better in the upcoming episodes.

[Chicago Redshirt]

20 minutes ago, Cotypubby said:

Can there be an option to just vote out the entire Yellow team?

Jesus Christ has there ever been one team made of so many unlikeable people? Whining crying losers who are useless in challenges, bitchy negative nancy (and likely racist) Emily, and an actual quitter!

I try to avoid using the r- word, but I totally got that vibe from Emily. It didn't seem coincidence that she was publicly trying to stir up sentiment against three Black players the way she did. Going after Bruce like he's some major threat. (Also, why was Jeff acting like "Everyone knows who this is!" I definitely watched last season and I had no clue he was on until they did flashbacks.)

And being literally like "We wouldn't gotten anything done in our challenge without Caleb, but let's try to vote him out." It just doesn't make sense from any sort of strategy perspective.

[30 Helens]

First the positives:

I like the 90-minute timeframe. That’s one reason I have strongly preferred Australian Survivor over US Survivor— the episodes are longer, so there is more opportunity to get to know the players, and spend more time on camp life, not just comps. Hopefully the show will make better use of this extra time than they did in this first episode, because it still felt a bit unfocused.

Now the negatives:

How on earth did all the lame people end up on the Lulu Lemon tribe? I felt bad for Brandon at first, but then he just leaned into his anxiety. This is not a Cirie in Training, this is a full blown waste of an opportunity.

Speaking of which, Hannah. Casting needs to re-evaluate their entrance exams.

And Emily. Has anyone ever worked as hard to be targeted out of the gate? My husband thinks she’s a racist with her focus on Kaleb and Sabiyah. I can’t say for sure, but who worries about “duo”s on Day One? 

I also heard talk about someone being a problem because they might not be loyal at the merge. The merge?? Again, it’s Day One. Combine this with Emily’s paranoia about people taking secret advantages on the first trial, and you have a  group of people who have spent too much time studying the game, and not enough time understanding it.

Congrats to the Reba McEntyre tribe. They did their patron saint proud. The Belo Broadcasting Group is living up to its namesake in terms of shadiness and paranoia. Of course Bruce has a big advantage, with his four hours of prior experience! This tribe does have one of my early favorites, though: Katurah. She knows she’s smarter than the Baby Lawyer, but she doesn’t rub it in. Too much. I’m looking forward to seeing where she goes.

[LadyChatts]

Out of all the things they could have cut from the episode, this is what they decided?

https://parade.com/tv/survivor-45-twist-jeff-probst-podcast

Apparently, the first winning tribe at the IC (Belo) sent one of their members as an ambassador to the loser's tribe.  And on top of that, that person actually cast a secret vote at TC to vote someone out.  But because Hannah quit, apparently they didn't see the need to air this.  It doesn't say if this will be a regular thing all season, just that it could proceed.

But even with the Hannah quit, I'm still shocked this was cut.  

It was revealed on Probst's podcast who went and who they voted for.  I didn't listen, but posters on Sucks said it was Kendra and she voted for Brandon.

[Steph Sometimes]

At least at the beginning, I usually root for women. I know they're often the first few voted off, and there was a while where we weren't getting any women winners. I like when strong women are featured in the premiere (because, well, sometimes they can be underedited/purpled).

Emily cannot get off my TV fast enough. I have liked and rooted for past players like Sandra and Courtney, and I even found Kass entertaining. Hell, I still really enjoyed Karla a few seasons ago and was sad when she was voted out. But Emily isn't fun to watch; she's just unpleasant. Maybe she'll mellow out a little and change my mind. It's happened before.

I didn't mind the blue team bonding over their September birthdays. Maybe because I'm a September birthday too, so I would've fit right in!

I got so much joy every time Jeff yelled something about "Reba going over the wall" or "Reba digging deep."

[Lantern7]

"Okay, Hannah, we're done with the interviews. I shouldn't say it, but you are a shoo-in for the upcoming season. There is one thing . . .  you are a smoker. Now, we have one final question we need to ask. Are you familiar with the story of Shane Powers?"

I'm guessing the above was never asked of Hannah. She quits, and now Lulu (really, Survivor?) is not only down one player, but they are stuck with Brandon, who did everything short of having a massive bowel movement in the middle of competition. I see a lot of myself in him, and I also see why I would never try out for Survivor. Granted, he could bounce back . . . remember, Cirie got votes in her first two Tribal Councils, and she wound up becoming a legend. I'm not betting on that, though.

Hannah? Whatever. I'm not invested enough to drag her for quitting. It's been over three hours since the episode wrapped up, and I forgot what Emily did to become so reviled.

We got a guy with an alter ego. Okay, then. I don't think lanky guys should have alter egos.

I'm sure there are a few bright spots, but I don't think we'll match the S44 cast. Right now, I see Survivor as a ninety-minute prelude to The Amazing Race.

 

[tinkerbell]

I want a Survivor season made of all lawyers, who are told at the start to not let anyone know they are lawyers, with a penalty if anyone guesses their secret. But nobody guesses, because they are ALL secretly lawyers.

 

Edited September 28, 2023 by tinkerbell
Edited to clarify. They ARE lawyers, they didn't eat lawyers

[Nashville]

What I kept thinking while watching Brandon just HANG from the ladder on the side of the boat, not making any attempt to actually climb the ladder:

Maybe I’m just more ultra-competitive than many, but I was internally screaming at Brandon to get his asymmetrical sagging ass in GEAR AND FUCKING MOOOVE!!!

Hannah?  More like Felicia - as in:

 

34 minutes ago, Steph Sometimes said:

Emily cannot get off my TV fast enough. I have liked and rooted for past players like Sandra and Courtney, and I even found Kass entertaining. Hell, I still really enjoyed Karla a few seasons ago and was sad when she was voted out. But Emily isn't fun to watch; she's just unpleasant. Maybe she'll mellow out a little and change my mind. It's happened before.

I doubt it. 😄 Emily immediately struck me as somebody who likes to think of herself as the next incarnation of Chaos Kass, but apparently nobody ever told Emily that trying to stomp your accelerator through the floorboards on Day 1 never ends well.  What a maroon.

Well, that’s everybody I already heartily dislike; no likes so far, but I’ll keep y’all posted.

[HurricaneVal]

What kind of therapist is Hannah?  I mean, from that 90 minutes I just watched, imma gonna say not a good one.  Brandon obviously has experienced some sort of therapy based on his dialogues with Hannah--was giving better advice and affirmations than Hannah was.  Sheesh!

Her quitting kind of came out of the blue.  I say "kind of" because she certainly wasn't portrayed quite as quitty or as despairing as Brandon, but if you looked close... in all her footage, she was quite clean and tidy.  That made me start thinking she was waaaay too prissy for this game.  She was really only poking at the edges.  So in retrospect, not as much of a shock.

Speaking of clean and tidy, I literally snort-laughed at the drone footage of the tribe rinsing off in the ocean back at camp and the muddy cloud all around them.

Emily must be reeeaaaaalllly annoyingly super over playing back at camp.  The vote is literally, what, day two, maybe three?  Yet even with the utterly abysmal tribe dragging performance of Brandon, the name on their lips is Emily?  Yeah.  That's extra bad.

I like Kaleb and the truck driver and the principal, and am very sorry for them on the yellow tribe.  Unless there's a massive shakeup, they're going into the little merge or the big merge at a huge disadvantage. 

The yellow tribe sucked the air out of this episode, I hope next week improves.

[AntFTW]

This felt like a waste of a first episode.

[Andyourlittledog2]

4 hours ago, Straycat80 said:

And I’m betting Brandon quits next. 

He'll probably accidentally drown when no one's looking.

Have we ever had a cast so whiny and self-involved and sure of their own unique wonderfulness in spite of absolutely no evidence of that at all?  I think Hannah will be shocked to find that she doesn't get a little participation award when she leaves. What a waste of a game.

[eel2178]

2 hours ago, 30 Helens said:

Speaking of which, Hannah. Casting needs to re-evaluate their entrance exams.

Remember when they used to cast people who had some wilderness survival skills? What was the point in totally abandoning that?

[eel2178]

5 hours ago, vb68 said:

I think my favorite thing in the whole episode was Probst's bewildered stare at Hannah and him trying to remember why they cast her.

How's his health? He looked emaciated.

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, HurricaneVal said:

Speaking of clean and tidy, I literally snort-laughed at the drone footage of the tribe rinsing off in the ocean back at camp and the muddy cloud all around them.

Thank you; I purely loved that shot as well - especially the mud cloud.

[eel2178]

1 hour ago, Nashville said:

What I kept thinking while watching Brandon just HANG from the ladder on the side of the boat, not making any attempt to actually climb the ladder:

Was he supposed to be paralyzed with fear?

I've had panic attacks, but they always include a serious case of Fight or Flight, and I can't sit still. I would think it would have given him the adrenaline rush he needed to get himself up the ladder and out of a situation where he considered himself to be in peril.

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, HurricaneVal said:

Emily must be reeeaaaaalllly annoyingly super over playing back at camp.  The vote is literally, what, day two, maybe three?  Yet even with the utterly abysmal tribe dragging performance of Brandon, the name on their lips is Emily?  Yeah.  That's extra bad.

No shit.  A little clue from a couch potato, Emily: before you start worrying about who will be a liability for you at the merge, you might want to take a few steps to ensure you actually have a shot at making it to the merge.  Emily is trying to counter playoff contenders when she hasn’t even made it out of the pre-season yet.

[Kenzie]

Every season the producers are choosing weaker, flakier, more world-stupid players.

This group in particular is an embarrassment to their generation. This is what you get when you have kids that think successfully down-loading an App or taking a great selfie is an achievement and a survival skill. 

Brandon seems like someone who struggles with normal at home let alone a challenging environment and Hannah stole a spot from someone who really would have wanted to be there - all for a hot meal, a pillow and a cigarette.

My money is on the lady truck driver. At least she seems down-to-earth and has a tough real-world job.

[Nashville]

19 minutes ago, eel2178 said:

Was he supposed to be paralyzed with fear?

I've had panic attacks, but they always include a serious case of Fight or Flight, and I can't sit still. I would think it would have given him the adrenaline rush he needed to get himself up the ladder and out of a situation where he considered himself to be in peril.

Maybe at that exact moment in time it occurred to Brandon that he might have left his stove on… I dunno.  What I do know is Brandon just demonstrated why he’s exactly the person you want at your side when you’re trying to, say, outrun a bear….

[mojoween]

Emily Has Thoughts.  And she NEEDS you to know them as soon as she thinks them.  Also, every time she spoke, if I had a dog, his ears would be PERKED at all the whistling.

Sabiyah and Kaleb need to boot her at the next available opportunity just to preserve their own sanity.

[Fake Jan Brady]

Can't wait to see what crackpot theory the Red team comes up with to match the Yellow team's alien battery proposition and the Blue's belief in Astrology.

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Fake Jan Brady said:

Can't wait to see what crackpot theory the Red team comes up with to match the Yellow team's alien battery proposition and the Blue's belief in Astrology.

Well we already have Drew of the multiple personalities and Sifu the second coming of Tony, so they're well on their way.

[Drogo]

6 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

Brandon, who did everything short of having a massive bowel movement in the middle of competition.

I’ve seen no evidence that he did not shit himself.