Breaking Down Action-Packed Episode 6 (RECAP)

Cancel Christmas

Season 46 • Episode 6

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Survivor Season 46 Episode 6, “Cancel Christmas.”]

Finally, some action! The merge saved Survivor Season 46 from the slump it’s been in the last few episodes.

With the Yanu losing streak over, Jeff Probst mercifully told the players the “drop your buffs” and prepare to move to the Nami camp. It was in these interactions that the true power players stood out. Q, Hunter, Tiff, Tevin, Soda, Charlie, and Maria are the ones to watch from this episode. Each of them have been laying strong foundations on their respective tribes that didn’t crumble once the tribal lines were erased. Other players’ strategies that seemed strong on their former teams, like Tim’s, didn’t hold their own in the large group setting. And the struggling players, well… they’re really struggling.

After getting to know their new teammates, the players set off to the immunity challenge. In the new era, the immunity challenge after the buffs are dropped is the audition for the merged tribe. All of the men except for Charlie, plus Kenzie and Tiff, were on the winning team, which got them immunity and a celebratory merge feast. The losing team — Soda, Venus, Moriah, Liz, Charlie, and Maria — were up for elimination. Whomever was voted out would be the last person eliminated before the jury starts to form, making for an ever higher-stakes Tribal Council.

It was off to the races to gather the most votes, and it didn’t take long for Tiff and Q from Yanu to realize that Siga was trying with all their might to keep their green numbers in tact. Their attempts failed, with Moriah becoming the sixth person voted out of Survivor 46. Despite her elimination, Moriah didn’t make the biggest mistakes of Episode 6. She definitely didn’t set herself up for success by showing her intel cards too late at Tribal Council, but she was more so collateral damage than anything else.

Here’s our weekly Survivor Power Players ranking, where we break down who played the best, who played the worst, and who was the dark horse of the episode.

Best Moves: Tiff

Robert Voets/CBS

Once again, it was a close call between Tiff and Q. But Tiff takes it because her original plan to vote out a Siga member was the winning strategy. Q quickly revitalized his alliance made with Hunter in Episode 5, and he was astute in realizing that Tim’s reasons for not holding up his end of this trio bargain were weak. It was Tiff, however, who convinced the majority to keep the votes on Moriah in order to hurt Siga’s numbers after Venus was angry at the thought of voting out a woman.

Worst Mistakes: Venus

Robert Voets/CBS

There’s no ifs, ands, or buts about it anymore: Venus has horrible social game.

She hasn’t made friends this season, and she’s not going to make them by trying to force alliances. This makes players less interested in talking strategy — or talking at all, for that matter. And when they don’t show interest, she makes it worse by calling that out. Pressuring people into trying to connect is no way to build bridges, and now everyone in the cast has seen that this might be a bridge that’s better off burned.

In Tribal Council, Venus was all talk. She’s said throughout the season that people should want to play with her because she’s a great competitor. That supposed truth has yet to be revealed.

From what we’ve seen across six episodes, Venus is angry that people didn’t like her immediately, which has made it harder for her to make connections. Complaining about this in the open, and making snide remarks in front of the tribe, isn’t a good long game. Venus got her first votes in Episode 6, but we envision her getting more next week.

Dark Horse: Maria

Robert Voets/CBS

Tim didn’t tell Maria about his alliance formed with Q and Hunter in Episode 5, an alliance that he promised to loop her into. Because of this, Q and Hunter switched gears and invited Maria (along with her No. 1 ally, Charlie) into their alliance instead, noticing that she has strong relationships and is respected among the players. Maria, Charlie, and Ben are the only Siga players whose strategies stayed strong once the tribes merged, but Maria is the only one of these three that new faces made a point to befriend.

Survivor, Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS