Is Yanu the Worst Tribe In Recent Memory?

Don’t Touch the Oven

Season 46 • Episode 4

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Survivor Season 46 Episode 4.]

For four weeks now, these Survivor 46 power rankings have mostly been comprised of members from the Yanu Tribe. It’s nearly impossible for anyone in the game to be the most talked-about player of the week when so much of the 90-minute episodes are focused on this flailing group. For the fourth week in a row, Yanu ended up facing elimination. Episode 4 may finally be the beginning of a new age for this struggling team. And let’s hope it is, because as it stands, Yanu is one of the worst — if not the worst — tribe in recent seasons of Survivor. Not because everyone there is a bad player, but because none of them can get their group act together despite their efforts.

Last week, I named Bhanu the Dark Horse of the episode, as his and the team’s luck seemed to turn with Randen being pulled from the game over a medical emergency. I was truly gunning for Bhanu to turn things around and become a power player, but even with Q coaching him on strategy, the kind-hearted player couldn’t improve his skills. Hope wasn’t all lost at first. Q was invested in keeping Bhanu as an asset; his social game improved when refusing to engage with Kenzie after she snapped at him (and later apologized); and Yanu won a challenge at last, winning them tarp and fishing tools (they still don’t have flint). But there wasn’t enough time for these small pieces of progress to stick.

Bhanu lost his vote last week, leaving him with no vote to risk with his Shot in the Dark, and he didn’t find a hidden immunity idol back at camp. With Bhanu’s lackluster performance in the Immunity Challenge causing their loss, there was no point in voting at Tribal Council. Q, Tiff, Kenzie, and Bhanu all knew it. In fact, Tiff told Bhanu upfront that she was voting him out. With everyone in agreement, and with Bhanu having no means of defense, Jeff Probst didn’t make them vote at Tribal Council. The tribe had spoken, and their message was resounding. Bhanu spent Tribal sharing his touching story of pulling himself out of poverty in childhood and creating a happier life for himself.

There was no real “best” player of Episode 4, although there were some impressive physical performances from Hunter and Q and good strategy from Tevin and Jem. What can’t be ignored in the episode is just how bad Yanu has played all season. Q, Tiff, and Kenzie are all strong players individually, and when they come together as a group they devise smart plans (the fake idol that bamboozled Jess being their best move). But Bhanu, Jess, and Jelinsky aren’t the sole reasons why this group fails week after week.

It seems that their early losses, like in the Episode 1 Sweat challenge when Jelinsky made them quit and when he was pissy over the difficulty of the puzzle, set the tone for the subsequent obstacles, both in challenges and back at camp. No one can play at their best because they’re stuck in the mindset that they’re stuck on the worst team. This negativity becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy, which is fueled by intense hunger and exhaustion.

Just like Bhanu needed to figure out how to play the game without begging others to help him, the rest of Yanu needs to figure out how to motivate themselves to group victory even when a weaker link is present.

There’s always a struggling tribe at the beginning of Survivor seasons. Season 44’s Tika was notably awful at challenges in the beginning, leading them to Tribal Council more often than not. But they had a core trio there — Carolyn, Yam Yam, and Carson — who made it all the way to the Final Four (and Yam Yam became the winner), and they turned their fate around quicker than Yanu seems to be doing. The remaining members of the Yanu tribe, Q, Tiff, and Kenzie, don’t have the close bond showed in the Tika Three (Q and Tiff are definitely showing signs of a season-long alliance, however).

What do you think makes Yanu incapable of improvement? Has it really just been Bhanu’s fault in Episodes 3 and 4? And should Yanu be dissolved by adding its remaining players to Siga and Nami? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below. (Side note: I’ll be thinking the fact that Moriah can’t jump for a long, long time.)

Survivor, Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS