Survivor: Apex—Week Two in Review
Dear Loving Reader,
The Jeffs hope this love letter finds you well and warm after Snow Day (which my meteorologist tells me may recur—I shiver in fear at the thought). In any case, we are thrilled, delighted, exhilarated, and similar adjectives to bring you the second installment of Survivor: Apex!
This week was, without an ounce of hyperbole, insane. We watched frontrunners get their metaphorical torches snuffed, we saw paranoia surrounding allies and advantages lead to gasp-inducing betrayals, and we witnessed the Merge draw sharp lines in the sand between our remaining Castaways.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
Where we left off last week, our Players had just swapped into new Tribes—the new Panthera Tribe and the new Cayman Tribe—and the Comeback Challenge brought about the return of one Fallen Castaway: suave, sweet talker Shayon Malek ’25. What happened next?
Day Five took place on Superbowl Sunday (go Birds), but anyone who’s worth their salt knows the real game wasn’t in New Orleans but right here in Charlottesville. The Players faced off in the “Scavengers on the Prowl” Challenge, which degraded our Players by making them take some hauntingly beautiful selfies in the quest for immunity.
Ultimately, it was the new Cayman Tribe who prevailed, sending the new Panthera Tribe to Tribal Council for the first time. There, a coalition of six Players conspired to eliminate the blue-eyed, Bluebooking king himself, Ben Leonard ’25. This elimination left the Jeffs and Wes Jung ’25—the only Player not to vote out Ben—absolutely gobsmacked.
Lucky for Wes, Day Six gave him a reprieve. The Players faced off in a fan-favorite Challenge, “Curtain Call.” Each Tribe was given thirty minutes to conceptualize, write, and perform a skit with a truism about the natural way of life. The Cayman Tribe put on a heart-wrenching riff on The Lion King that witnessed managing partner Mufasa (played by Greg Mekenian ’25) birth junior partner Simba (played by Cam DiGiovanni ’25), and the mammalian nepo baby ultimately ascended to the throne of partnerdom.
But it was the Panthera Tribe’s production of the Real Housewives of Charlottesville that won our judges’ (former Castaways from last season’s Survivor: Wolfsbane) hearts—and who can blame them? With Noa Jett ’25 facilitating the salacious tell-all and standout, sass-laden performances from CJ Wittman ’25 and Danielle Ramsay ’25, Tribal Immunity was always coming home to the Panthera Tribe.
That spelled disaster for the Cayman Tribe. With his roommate Ben Leonard gone, Cam DiGiovanni expressed to his tribe his readiness to be voted out and follow in his footsteps (Cam claims he only played the game to send Ben packing). But the Cayman Tribe elected to ignore Cam’s wishes, instead eliminating the season’s most underground social threat, Ms. Worldwide herself, Mahi Taban ’25.
On Day Seven, the Jeffs ambushed the Players with an early Merge, meaning that the Panthera and Cayman Tribes—as well as Tribal Immunity itself—were no more, and all thirteen remaining Players would play on the same metaphorical beach. The new Merged Tribe was named the Fera Tribe, Latin for “ferociousness” (Elle Ondeck ’25 was obviously a Classics major). As their friends and lovers frolicked in the snowy, wintery wonderland of Snow Day, our Players had no choice but to scheme their way through the dangerous waters of the post-Merge politics.
First, however, the Players competed in their first Individual Challenge, “According to the Streets.” The Jeffs collected survey responses from Former Castaways to a series of delicious, occasionally slanderous questions about UVA Law, and Players had to guess the most popular responses. Those who guessed correctly were granted the opportunity to shatter another Player’s heart—by literally breaking one of their three Hearts in the Challenge. Ultimately, it was the Queen Bee of Hot Goss, Ugomma Uche ’25, who took home Individual Immunity.
But that Immunity Necklace did not bring safety to the rest of Ugomma’s alliance. With Oscar-winning performances from three spies on the inside—Elle Ondeck, Shevani Mehta ’25, and Micki Drucker ’25—the Girls’ Alliance (composed of the remaining girls and CJ Wittman, this season’s undisputed babygirl) crumbled in an astonishing 7-5-1 vote (Cam voted for himself, get used to that) that eliminated the Birds-toting, fan-favorite, and frontrunner Noa Jett and made her the first member of our Jury.
Still steeped in the tension arising from Noa’s blistering blindside, Day Eight brought the Players back to the law school for another in-person Challenge. In “Count Dracula,” the Players were tasked with running around the law school to count the number of certain objects before using those numbers to solve an equation. The first three Players to do so—Chris Huh, Cam DiGiovanni, and Shayon Malek—advanced to Round Two, where they were tasked with stacking cups with a claw grabber. Ultimately, it was Casino King Chris that clawed home immunity.
As my slender fingers write this final paragraph, we’re a mere four hours away from what is sure to be an advantage-laden, alliance-testing vote that will have huge implications for the remainder of the game. Who will be the next to turn from Castaway to Juror? Who will rise to power, and who will fall from grace? And once again, will a single Player or Jeff be able to survive a cold call this week???
Tune in next week and find out.
Smoochies,
The Jeffs
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bga4jv@virginia.edu
A Tribute to the Week Two Fallen:
