Andy DehnartA new promo airing for Wednesday’s episode of Survivor again reveals more than it should, and while it’s not quite as much of a spoiler as the Samoa preview that showed too much, it still gives away a lot more than the next time on Survivor preview did. (Stop reading if you don’t want to know.)
The preview shows that both tribes will go to Tribal Council, which a press release also revealed: “When the castaways discover that two people will be sent packing in a rare double elimination, everyone scrambles to save their own skin, and one castaway surprises everyone and risks it all at Tribal Council.” In other words, time to force some drama on the Villains tribe, because they have been sitting back and decimating the Heroes. I suppose in the desperation to get us to watch on a special night and after disappointing game play in the last episode, but why not tease this instead of just showing everything?
The preview has also generated conversation because at the end of the preview, Russell and Rob are talking, and Rob says, “If you don’t have that idol, you need to go get it.” Russell says, “I don’t have it,” and then Rob says, “Well, it’s been real.”
But Russell saying “I don’t have it” sounds a bit weird, and perhaps not quite like him; the background noise changes suddenly, too, as if a wave had just hit the shore. While Survivor does it less frequently than some shows and does it better, the show still does dub in audio, like when Jeff Probst gives the rules for a challenge that has been compressed for time. (For example, I doubt that last week, Schmergen Brawl was played to two points, but that’s all they had time to show.)
Of course, Russell loves to show everyone his idol, even when he shouldn’t, so that’s one red flag. And if we don’t see Russell tell Rob exactly that on Wednesday, that will be another clue, because why wouldn’t they show such a definitive statement and important moment?
But Russell’s mouth pretty much lines up with “I don’t have it,” and he shakes his head, so even as someone who readily calls bullshit on dubbed-over reality TV, I’m not entirely convinced this is deliberately deceptive, as commenters on the video and others are. It could just be the quality of the audio. Judge for yourself: