Reality Roundup: Oct. 27

"Survivor" Season 45 Episode 4

The first tribe swap of the New Era of "Survivor" did not save what was another disappointing episode with a disappointing tribal.

The episode kicks off with Sean Edwards doing damage control after the epic blindside Emily Flippen and Kaleb Gebrewold pulled off at the last tribal.

However, Edwards seemed to dig himself deeper into a hole as he received annoyed glances from his fellow tribe members.

Jeff Probst then called the tribes in and announced a tribe swap that was needed for the depleted Lulu tribe. The new swap put the casts into three tribes of five players.

New Belo appears to be the most intriguing swapped tribe. New Belo is composed of two former Reba (Drew Basile and Austin Li Coon), two former Belo (Brandon “Brando” Meyer and Kendra McQuarrie) and Flippen in the middle of the two duos.

Flippen immediately recognizes her position as one of power and sells herself as a potential swing vote. Basile and Li Coon see this and view Flippen as a player they want to work with and try to bring her into their alliance.

Flippen seems to have a more confident and headstrong approach to her new team and goals, compared to her previously getting in her head and coming off as unlikable.

New Reba consists of the entire old Reba tribe with the addition of Edwards from Lulu (and without Basile and Li Coon), while new Lulu includes Gebrewold and the rest of Old Belo.

Edwards was immediately on the outs in a close-knit Reba foursome, although J. Maya was pitching a blindside on Nicholas “Sifu” Alsup as she saw Edwards as someone she wanted to work with.

The tension between Old Belo, and specifically between Katurah Topps and Bruce Perreault, was immediately recognized by Gebrewold. He also formed an alliance with Jake O’Kane, who said he wanted to help Gebrewold survive the swap.

New Lulu had much more success in the challenge (ironically led by old Lulu member Gebrewold), as they and New Belo won immunity and sent New Reba to the tribal council.

The three women of New Reba had an ongoing debate between the easy vote in Edwards and a blindside in Sifu. Julie Alley was the voice of the simple vote, as she recognized Sifu as the most physically adept of the tribe and wanted to keep her tribe strong to avoid tribals.

J. Maya strongly wanted to vote off Sifu as she viewed this as a big move and wanted to potentially work with Edwards in the future.

While this move was beneficial to J. Maya as a resume-builder, eliminating the strongest tribemate in terms of physicality would likely lead New Reba to lose the next immunity challenge. That is the situation Alley fears, and why she is opposed to the Sifu vote.

Edwards was in a difficult, almost powerless position. He could either put his fate in the hands of J. Maya, who was beginning to appeal to Dee Valladares, or play his shot in the dark and hope luck was on his side.

Apparently, there was a third option that none of the audience considered. By far the worst option out of the three, Edwards decided to go with the third option of… removing himself from the game.

All of the built-up drama immediately crumbled at the tribal council after Edwards announced his desire to get voted out so he could reunite with his husband. That makes two pre-merge quitters this season, with Edwards’ quitting being frustrating for viewers specifically because a strong player who wanted to play the game in Sabiyah Broderick just got voted out.

Regardless, Edwards did get voted out, albeit not unanimously as Valladares wrote down Sifu’s name in a questionable move that made Sifu wary of the three women.

Probst revealed in his “On Fire” podcast that going into tribal, Sifu was going home. J. Maya successfully convinced the other Reba women to vote out their strongest tribe member and keep Edwards. However, this happened before Edwards told everyone to vote him out at the tribal discussion, which most likely frustrated J. Maya as she advocated on Edwards’ behalf.

Many factors may have influenced Edwards’ decision. Maybe the losing streak took a large mental toll on him. Maybe Survivor helped him realize the importance his husband has in his life, thus making him feel like his journey was completed.

However, there are thousands of fans who would do anything to get cast and play this incredible game, and having half of the season so far have a pointless feeling due to quitters is frustrating. Here’s to hoping there are no more issues with castaways quitting this season.

Alex’s Player of the Week- Janani “J. Maya” Krishnan-Jha, Reba Tribe.

In another episode with another quitter, it was once again difficult to find a standout player. However, J. Maya did a phenomenal job convincing her alliance to vote out Sifu and keep Edwards. This would have happened had Edwards not quit.

J. Maya had played a quiet game up until this episode, but the singer/songwriter showed strong persuasive abilities that could help her down the line.

Rachel’s Player of the Week- Emily Flippen, Belo Tribe.

Flippen stood out this week with her bold social moves of coming clean to her new tribe about her difficulties in Lulu and how she managed to play a part in Broderick’s elimination.

She gained the trust of her new tribe while also enticing them with new information to solidify her place in the tribe.

Flippen risked being an easy target by proving her reliability and genuineness, and it seemed to have worked in her favor as the members of New Belo quickly took a liking to her, making her the potential swing vote for the next tribal council.

“Dancing With The Stars” Season 32 Episode 5

Week five of “Dancing With The Stars” brought an episode full of unforgettable moments, which was fitting as it was the Most Memorable Year night for the stars.

This episode featured several contemporary routines along with other ballroom-style dances as the 10 remaining couples fought another week to stay in the competition.

Most Memorable Year Night has the stars look back on unforgettable years in their lives, but the most memorable part of this episode was the tribute to the late Len Goodman, who was previously a judge on DWTS and passed away in April 2023.

Derek and Julianne Hough, alongside current and former DWTS pros, danced a waltz to the song “Moon River” to honor the late judge.

It was a tear-jerking performance that had everyone crying, including judges Bruno Tonioli and Carrie Ann Inaba who worked alongside Goodman on the show.

At the top of the leaderboard were Xochitl Gomez and Val Chmerkovskiy, with a score of 28 for their Viennese waltz. Tied with them were Charity Lawson and Artem Chigvintsev, who scored the first 10 of the season for their contemporary routine.

Harry Jowsey and Rylee Arnold received a six from each of the three judges for their contemporary dance and landed at the bottom of the leaderboard.

The three stars up for elimination were Harry Jowsey, Mira Sorvino and Alyson Hannigan. Sorvino and her partner Gleb Savchenko were the couple eliminated.

Week six of “Dancing With The Stars” will air on October 31, bringing viewers a spooky night filled with Halloween-themed routines from the nine remaining couples, and it was an episode to look forward to. - Sarah Gavlak

Alex Perez is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact him, please email app5877@psu.edu

Rachel Fisher is a third-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, email rlf5481@psu.edu

Sarah Gavlak is a second-year majoring in telecommunications. To contact her, please email sng5393@psu.edu.