How would the players on Survivor 49 follow up THE ULTIMATE BLINDSIDE from episode 10? That was the question heading into the third-to-last episode of the season, and we found out right away for the person who was blindsided the most.

Following the Tribal Council that sent Jawan to the jury, Sage is visibly upset at Sophie. Sitting on the beach, she tells her she’s upset that she had a wide smile on her face when Jawan’s name was shown on parchment, and in a confessional, she says she’s out for revenge.

The next day, Sophi starts to realize that she is the No. 3 in the relationship with Savannah and Rizo. She talks to Sophie and Sage about flipping on them as early as next Tribal if the opportunity comes about.

Meanwhile, we have our first journey of the post-merge game, as a boat comes on the island, and one person must get on it for a “strenuousness” journey . Only Steven volunteers to go, which doesn’t make sense to this writer because we see the group in multiple confessionals admit that Steven is a dangerous player. All of them are nervous about the potential reward he may receive while on the journey.

Steven did certainly earn said reward, as he had to go around an island to find a number code before the tide rises and smashes a buoy.

He earned block a vote, giving him tremendous power, with only seven players left.When he returns to camp, he’s exhausted. He does tell the group he has an advantage, but he doesn’t say what it is, leading everybody’s wheels to spin. Rizo believes it’s a steal a vote and confronts Steven directly.

The immunity challenge was a twist on a classic. Players had to spell immunity backwards while stacking blocks with the letters, but the twist was the blocks were on a spinning table. It looked harder than it actually was because there was little drama. The rocket scientist who just earned the block a vote advantage dominates the challenge and takes Kristina and Rizo on a spaghetti reward back at camp. His reasoning for taking those two players:

  • Kristina: Played the idol for him
  • Rizo: Hadn’t eaten in days.

At the reward, Rizo tells Steven and Kristina he will not play his idol and that his play is Sophie. His logic is she’s the only one that’s voted correctly every time, and she’s won two immunity challenges, the same number as Steven and Savannah. In a confessional, Steven says while he wants to vote out Savannah, he’s considering this plan because then he can use his block a vote at six, which is 10x more powerful at six than seven, which is an important note.

Meanwhile, back at camp, when Savannah goes off to get water, we see Sophi, Sage, and Sophie plot the vote against Savannah, but it completely flips when Sophie goes off when Savannah comes back. In a confessional, Sage tells us she knows she has to take Savannah out to win the game, but the revenge card is the card she needs to play tonight.

That confessional told us all we needed to know about what to expect at Tribal. Besides a little verbal spar between Savannah and Kristina, who both admit their personalities are oil and water, and Steven and Rizo being very open about their advantage and idol, respectively, the votes all pile on the Yellow Sophie, with Savannah getting the only other vote from the now fifth member of the jury.

On the jury bench, we see Jawan stand up and flex, as Sophie is about to join him, Alex, MC, and Nate next week.

This episode was the Steven episode in a lot of ways. He had a great edit, he won immunity, and he received power. Steven is in a position right now to where I can see him at Final 3. I don’t think his edit is a winning edit though.

For me, Savannah is still the front runner for winner of the season. Even her edits at Tribal and in the voting booth have been shown. She’s becoming, dare I say, an anti-hero?! I would give Rizo the next best odds, with Sophi and Steven tied for third. I like Sage. I think she plays a lot like Genevieve from Survivor 47, but her screen time has somewhat diminished in the past few weeks. 

Personally, for me, this will be the last recap until the finale as I’m traveling next week, so we’ll see if I’m right on the outcome of the season. 

Grade: A-