Warning: major spoilers for Season 42 of Survivor!
A very rare occurrence happened in the most recent episode of Survivor 42. A double-tied vote forced the infamous going-to-rocks debate: come to a consensus on who’s out or decide to draw rocks, leaving everyone vulnerable for elimination. But what made it even rarer was that – per the new twists of the game stealing two people’s voting rights – only two (out of six) were left to decide the result. It didn’t end well for one contestant, who is unpacking the situation and calling out the “numskulls” on the other side of her elimination.
Player Speaks Out About Crazy Survivor 42 Tribal
The gridlock came down to a back-and-forth between Daniel Strunk and Hai Giang. They had to decide on either Jenny Kim or Lydia Meredith – or else go to the rocks. And it got super messy for Strunk, as he faced criticism from all sides and had to cave to Giang’s steadfast bluff that he would absolutely, 100% go to rocks if necessary. All said and done, they came to the consensus of Kim. Entertainment Weekly caught up with the ousted Survivor 42 player and asked what it was like watching her fate being left to a ping-pong game between two strangers, essentially. She said,
By a couple of numskulls? Yeah, that was tough to watch. I knew that Mike and I had been working with Chanelle and Daniel for some time. But all along, I knew that Chanelle and Daniel were riding the middle. To what degree, I did not really know until my final Tribal Council. I did not know Daniel was sharing so much in information with Hai until Tribal Council happened and what they did not show was that Hai definitely called Daniel out and shared information that I had shared with him.
That information was actually intel about Daniel Strunk selling his alliance with Hai Giang and Lydia Meredith down the river. Jenny Kim shared that, with Strunk exposed and Giang remaining dead-set, she knew she was “screwed” and that her “game was sunk.”
Some would argue that if Daniel Strunk (one of the many secret-keepers of the game) had likewise bluffed about potentially going to rocks, then the decision wouldn’t have become so cut-and-dry. But the latest Survivor 42 elimination remarked that she doesn’t totally blame him for what happened because she, too, would’ve never considered going to rocks with a $1 million prize hanging in the balance. She continued that her only option at the time was trying to do a fake-out – telling Strunk that Hai Giang had been actually throwing his name out there – which obviously didn’t pan out.
Survivor 42: Season Of Surprises
The recent one-in-a-bajillion occurrence comes on the heels of several other wild scenarios befalling Survivor 42. There was an early medical removal that did not, as would typically, cancel a tribal council. Love proclamations for ousted players. And in the latest episode, Jeff Probst had to literally stop a challenge and modify it on the fly for the first time in the show’s history. And now, they’re contemplating going to rocks over the say of just two people?
It's madness, I say! And we’re not even at the merge yet. The next episode is sure to be another doozy for both us and Daniel Strunk, who likely will face some fallout for what has transpired of late. Stay tuned for the upcoming episodes airing on Wednesdays on CBS at 8 p.m. EST as part of the 2022 TV schedule, also streaming next day with a Paramount+ subscription!
