With only two members left of the Kele Tribe, episode four of the season starts with Alex and Sophi just trying to survive the night. Their boat goes into the ocean, their pants get soaked, Sophi loses her shoe. Everything is going wrong for this Tribe. They cannot catch a break.

That is, until the next morning. As everybody arrives at the immunity challenge, we see it is set up for a 2v2 showdown, but we know from the previous at the end of episode three that there is going to be a Tribe Swap, which is what indeed happens. For the first time in The New Era, we have two Tribes:

  • Hina- Matt, Jason, Rizo, Savannah, Jawan, Nate, Sophi
  • Kele- MC, Kristina, Stephen, Sophie, Shannon, Sage, Alex

Jeff tells everyone to head back to camp that there will be no challenge and that the setup is part of the evolving game of Survivor.

Back at the camps, and Sophi is elated to be away from Kele. Everybody treats her like gold. She bonds with Savannah right away. In a confessional, Savannah says Sophi reminds her of one of her close friends back home. With four former Uli’s on this Tribe, it is clear they have the advantage, even if Jawan was on the bottom at Uli. 

Savannah does try to work with Jason, but Jason indicates he wants to remain Hina strong. Savannah also becomes weary of Matt when he tells the group his background is in fiance. Savannah tells her other alliance members (minus Shannon, who’s on Kele) that being in fiance means you have to be extremely smart, and the group has to be careful of Matt. We really see the entire perspective of Hina through Savannah. Her presence is all over the screen in this episode, and it’s clear why she was chosen for the 50th season.

Over on Kele, Alex shows everybody home sweet home. In a confessional, we see Steven wanting to bond with Shannon and Sage from Uli and that he see’s Sage as easier to work with. Steven starts seeing Shannon’s constant messaging of her faith as a strategic play, as she leads them through a prayer session the way she led the Uli Tribe. Shannon and Kristina also bond over their mothers, as Kristina discusses the anniversary of her mother’s passing.

Now with only two Tribes, for the immunity challenge, five Tribe members swim out to a platform while the other two grab the blocks in two different sets. Then, one person has to carry the blocks across a beam (Matt struggles with this for Hina) and the others have to navigate smaller blocks across a platform. All together they must stack 20 blocks (big to small). The winner gets fruit, which Sophie on the Kele Tribe much shuts down and says she needs carbs. The other cast members disagree, but Sophie will have to eat fruit, as great teamwork helps Kele win its first immunity challenge of the season as a Tribe.

As soon as they get back to the Hina beach, Savannah, Jawan and Nate help Rizo dig up his beware advantage, which was under water and very different than what Alex had to do at the Kele beach. Rizo also tells Sophi about the advantage before grabbing his idol. At this point, it’s the Uli members and Sophi deciding between Matt and Jason as to who goes home.

Meanwhile, Matt is trying to pitch Jawan (who he met on the journey on episode two) about using him, Jason and Sophi to take a shot at Nate. Jawan goes back to Uli and provides them with this information. At the same time, Jason is threatening the Uli members with the possibility of him playing his Shot in the Dark.

At Tribal, Uli makes it pretty clear it’s between Matt and Jason. Matt says he was trying to make moves all day. Ultimately, the vote goes 4-2-1 (Matt, Jason, Nate), with Nate, Jawan, Jason, and Rizo voting for Matt, Sophi and Savannah voting for Jason, and Matt voting for Nate, sending Matt home as the first elimination of the old Hina Tribe, as this war between Hina and Uli kick off.

I think the biggest takeaway from this episode is with the Tribe switch, Alex and Sophi are actually in power positions on their respective Tribes. The war between Uli and Hina has only just begun, but (SPOILER ALERT), could an internal war be coming between Uli members Savannah and Jawan on Hina and Sage and Shannon on Kele? That’s what the previews next week indicate.

Overall, this episode moved a lot of stories forward. Come merge, I think Savannah’s cutthroat personality will run roughshod. Without Jake, she is the star for me this season, followed by Rizo, Sophi and Alex.

Grade: B