The Best & Worst Moves of Episode 1 (RECAP)

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Survivor Season 46 Episode 1.]

Quitters won’t make it far in Survivor. That much became clear in Survivor Season 45, when a self-elimination trend started to form. Jeff Probst declared that from this point on, quitting in Tribal Council means you don’t get to hear him say, “The tribe has spoken.” But the quitting came early in Survivor 46. Thankfully, it was a different kind.

The season kicked off with a two-hour premiere on Wednesday, February 28 on CBS (90-minute episodes will follow weekly). The tribes are called Nami (orange), Siga (green), and Yanu (purple). On Tribe Nami are Hunter, Liz, Randen, Soda, Tevin, and Venus. On Siga are Ben, Charlie, Jem, Maria, Moriah, and Tim. On Yanu are Bhanu, Jelinsky, Jess, Kenzie, Q, and Tiffany.

Nami reigned supreme in the first challenge, with Siga falling in second and Yanu in third. The same thing would happen in the first Immunity Challenge. How is it that the orange/red teams always seem to be the strongest, with the purple team always trailing in last in recent seasons? That coincidence aside, Yanu didn’t have to fail so hard in this episode. There was one player who steered them in the wrong direction at every turn.

Yanu and Siga had to compete in the Sweat and Savvy Challenges after the first Reward Challenge. Yanu was assigned to Sweat, which saw Jelinsky and Q filling up a giant pot with small buckets of water with holes in them. They had several hours to complete the task, but Jelinsky — a 22-year-old slot machine salesman from Las Vegas, Nevada — vastly misinterpreted the definition of “several.”

He believed several meant seven, as in the task would take seven hours but they only were allotted four. He quit with 2.5 hours left, convincing the athletic and determined Q to quit with him. Jelinsky threw the sand timer down the beach and let it shatter. Why? Who knows.

Robert Voets/CBS

Jelinsky admitted he quit to his tribe and was surprised by their reactions. He shocked them even more after the Summit Journey with Maria from Siga and Tevin from Nami. The new challenge made each of them select a card. Whomever had the torch card had to announce it. The others had a vote and a skull card, and they had to convince the torch-bearer that they were holding the vote card. Maria had the torch. If she guessed who had the vote card right, she and that person got an extra vote. The losing player lost their vote.

Jelinsky had to lie about his skull card, but said in confessional that that’s OK, as “this is where the legends are made!” Then he folded after being asked one question, willingly sacrificing his vote so he wouldn’t look like a liar to Maria and Tevin, members of the competing tribes.

He struggled in the Immunity Challenge puzzle with teammate Jess, whose ADHD brain fog was really getting to her after a couple of days without rest or food. It was between them at Tribal Council, and neither of them advocated for themselves well. Jelinsky had made an alliance with Q, Tiffany, and Kenzie, but his bad pitch resulted in a unanimous vote against him. He left the show without even getting to cast a vote.

Each week in Survivor 46, we’ll end our recaps with a power ranking of three players. See our picks for the “Best Player,” the player with the “Worst Moves,” and the “Dark Horse” of Episode 1 below.

Best Player: Tiffany

Robert Voets/CBS

Maria and Tevin were both impressive players from the start, but Tiffany pulled out in front of our ranking when finding the season’s first Beware Advantage. In Season 45, it took Austin a couple of episodes to find the key to unlock his Hidden Immunity Idol. Tiffany was able to find hers sooner. The clue to her key was only revealed when her tribe lost an Immunity Challenge. Luckily for her, that happened in Episode 1. She showed her hustle and mental acuity when quickly deciphering the puzzle that revealed her key’s location, and then she acted fast to find its hiding spot without getting caught.

Worst Moves: Jelinsky

Robert Voets/CBS

I’m sorry to say it, but basically every single move he made in Episode 1 was a mistake. He made quick alliances through his affable, goofy personality, but quit every time something got remotely challenging and was bafflingly oblivious about how his actions would hurt not just his own game, but his entire tribe’s success. He said his elimination was a “blindside.” A blindside to him, maybe, but it was the obvious choice after his bad pitch in Tribal Council. If Jelinsky is any kind of Survivor “legend” like he claimed, it’s because of legendary blunders.

Dark Horse: Venus

Robert Voets/CBS

Venus was immediately written off for her appearance by Nami teammate Randen, who said he knows “a Parvati type” when he sees one. He was referencing Survivor: Micronesia — Fans vs. Favorites champ and The Traitors Season 2 star Parvati Shallow, whom Jeff has called the best player in Survivor history. Parvati’s ability to charm while secretly moving against a player is part of her great success (she finished in sixth, then first, and then second place in three of her four seasons played).

Randen painting Venus as a threat because she reminds him of Parvati gives her reason to act like Parvati. Both women are named after goddesses, so Randen has also given Venus a reason to play into that parallel. Invoking one of the most cutthroat players in Survivor history might not be the move he thinks it is. It’s too early to know if Venus is equally as skilled, but Randen just gave her a reason to be mad.

Survivor, Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS