Leading up to the week’s episode of Survivor 49, the CBS promos kept promising an “EPIC Tribal Council”. Now, as always with promotional material, we as consumers should take everything with a grain of salt, as these networks like to use marketing language to get more viewers to tune into their shows.
This week, however, the promotion did not lie. But how did we get to this EPIC Tribal Council?
Well, we start off with a worried Kristina and Steven, who are now plotting who they want to take out next. Both are on the bottom with the elimination of Alex.
They are not the only ones plotting, as Jawan and Sage also begin to calculate how to take out Savannah. Sage is the one driving the push, saying that if they are going to do it, it has to be at the next Tribal. To ensure more trust with Jawan, Sage tells him that Steven told her about Kristina’s idol. Jawan goes to fact check with Steven, who lies to his face, and so in a confessional, Jawan now says he’s not sure about Steven.
Meanwhile, Sophi, Sophie, Rizo, and Savannah are targeting Steven at the next Tribal over Kristina, as Steven had just won the last immunity challenge and is viewed as a bigger threat to that group, both socially and strategically.
We had a reward challenge in the water that featured two teams of four. Before the challenge, we had an emotional moment with Kristina who was struggling out in the jungle and missing her mom, who had passed away a few years earlier. This is the most screen time Kristina has gotten throughout the season.
For the challenge, the two teams had to grab buoys out of the water and then swing them into a basket. Winners would receive a backyard picnic, featuring hamburgers, hotdogs, and chocolate cake at the sanctuary, where good things happen.
The team of Sophi, Sophie, Sage, and Steven earned the reward, and at the sanctuary, while sitting in a hammock, Sage begins really pushing Sophie about eliminating Savannah.
A small detail in this episode before we go to the immunity challenge, after the reward, Sophi, Rizo, Savannah, Sophie, Sage, and Jawan are all having a conservation about their target is Steven. Rizo, Savannah, and Sophi think Jawan and Sage are back on their side. That’s a key detail for what comes later in the episode.
At the immunity challenge, we have the rice negotiation for the season immediately declined. Rizo says he can eat rice in seven days. He has a 1/8 shot in being a millionaire. That line makes this writer believe that Survivor needs to drop the rice negotiation or change it to earlier in the game. With only eight players remaining, the rice doesn’t mean as much.
As for the challenge, players have to go through a slingshot slide, then use a stick to balance puzzle pieces of the Survivor logo to a mat. Then, solve the Survivor logo puzzle. Sophie dominates the puzzle and wins her second immunity of the season.
With Sophie now immune, she realizes that Sophi, Savannah, and Rizo are a group, and that Jawan, Sage, and Steven are a group, with Kristina tagging along, and that essentially she is the deciding vote. She knows Jawan and Sage are pushing hard for Savannah, and she lets Savannah know about Jawan and Sage’s plan to flip on them.
We then see a moment where Savannah and Sophi decide to flip the vote to either Jawan or Sage, and they have the numbers with Savannah’s extra vote. We also see Savannah, knowing the plan is to blindside her, straight up ask Kristina who she’s voting for. Another moment from Savannah The Savage.
In a confessional, we also see Sage’s three goals for Tribal Council:
- Have Rizo play his idol on himself.
- Have Kristina flush her idol as well on Steven.
- Eliminate Savannah.
Only one of those goals ended up happening. Sorry, Sage, you may be a master strategist on Survivor, but this plan only hit at a 33% rate!
At Tribal, the discussion is about idols and advantages and how public they are and that this vote has to be a blindside. Jawan even says my target tonight is a dangerous player and her name rhymes with banana!
As for what happens, follow me here:
Kristina plays her idol for Steven.
Rizo, after taunting about his idol for multiple episodes, plays a FAKE IMMUNITY IDOL He stands up next to Jeff and tells the group, “Tonight is where legends are made on Survivor!”
Savannah plays her extra vote in the voting booth, so they’re nine total votes.
When Jeff starts reading the votes, Savannah asks Jawan if the plan was his when her name comes up. Jawan mouths yes, and Savannah acts in disbelief. Then, when Jawan’s name comes up, Savannah mouths to him, “I spoiled your plan!”
So the vote goes 5-3-1 (Jawan, Savannah, Rizo). Savannah (voting twice), Sophi, Sophie, and Rizo vote for Jawan. Sage, Steven, and Jawan vote for Savannah, and Kristina is the lone Rizo vote, in case Rizo played his idol for Savannah.
On top of the Jawan elimination, he takes RIZO’S TORCH ON THE WAY OUT, THE SAME WAY HE TOOK SAVANNAH’S BACK AT THE ORIGINAL ULI TRIBE!
WHAT. AN. EPISODE.
THIS. WAS. SURVIVOR!
This had everything in an episode of Survivor! Alliances strengthened, alliances broken, advantages played, an epic blindside, an epic fake idol play, an epic taunt. Yes, I’m using the word epic because this is what this pre-Thanksgiving episode was.
To this writer, this is the episode that turned the season from “the season before 50” to season 49.
Grade: A+
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