Spoilers for Survivor 41’s November 24 episode.
In a word, Survivor 41 is brutal. Advantages and twists are flying. The food rewards are scaled back significantly. And the show's “villain” this year, Shan Smith, had been truly merciless. (She even appointed herself an evil theme song/hum for her schemes.) Unfortunately, though, the Queen of Blindsides didn't see the latest blindside coming. At. All. And she has something to say to all the Survivor fans out there who were equally as shocked.
To summarize, the most recent episode of Season 41 came down to the wire yet again, all thanks to contestant Ricard Foye who decided to implode his alliance with the one, the only, and the magnificent Shan Smith. She gave her longtime ally a heads up that his name was on the chopping block and he repaid her by selling her down the river.
When Smith’s torch eventually was snuffed out by Jeff Probst, it was like the America's Next Top Model scene where Tyra Banks loses her cool and says, “We were all rooting for you!!!” But apparently, the former Survivor frontrunner doesn't regret her game at all. Smith wrote on her Instagram,
My only regret playing Survivor Season 41 was that my mom wasn’t alive to see it. Other than that, this was a dream come true. I loved playing this game. As an MS warrior I kicked so much ass y’all! Multiple Sclerosis is an unpredictable disease and no one but God and me will ever know just how terrified I was of competing. I was so worried about flaring up and having to be medically evacuated, or being unable to walk, or see or move just because my immune system felt like acting up. But I went to Fiji anyway, because I never want to live my life in fear. None of us should. It’s not what The Divine has in mind for us. Dear reader, whether you’re dealing with illness, identity or insecurity - may nothing hold you hostage.
Shan Smith did in fact have the most stacked Survivor resume out of anyone in the game. She bamboozled Brad Keese early on and practically stole from JD Robinson. Contestant Naseer Muttalif revealed after his own vote-out how Smith's position as a pastor (in the real-world) is what ultimately led him down the same primrose path. For Smith to do it all while starving and dealing with MS as well is nothing short of awe-inspiring.
The dethroned queen also made mention in her post that her place in Survivor history would have never happened without CBS' diversity initiative. The new casting changes even prompted the first-ever (organic) all-Black alliance on the show, led by Shan Smith herself. It didn't have the same end result as a similar alliance Big Brother 23 had over the summer, because Deshawn Radden and Danny McCray turned on Smith in the eleventh hour. Still, the foursome did some damage post-merge together. Check out Smith's full post here:
As I like to say, though, all is fair in love and war and Survivor. The Shan Smith blindside does make strategic sense. But nevertheless, I still have a pretty good idea who will win the fan-favorite $100,000 award at the end of the season, and hopefully we'll hear the “Shanthem” again when she does.
