Last week, I mentioned how the Hina vs Uli War was upon us in Survivor 49 with the elimination of Matt, and while that statement is true, this week’s episode set up an Uli Cold War coming on both of the new Tribes.

For starters, over on Kele, the Sage vs Shannon War is here, unbeknown to Shannon, who is going around talking strategy to everyone, including Steven on the beach when they first wake up in the morning. She pitches a two Hina, two Uli and two Kele alliance at merge. 

Meanwhile, while bonding, Sage overhears Alex and Steven talking about Shannon’s strategy and comparing notes. Sage begins throwing her original Uli member under the bus to not only Alex and Steven, but the entire group. While everybody is up in the morning and Shannon goes off to get water, Sage tells the group about Rizo’s beware advantage that he found on the old Uli beach. Shannon and Sage then go off in private, and Shannon thinks everything is fine between them, unbeknownst to her what Sage just did. In a confessional, Sage says Shannon see’s her as a puppy, but that she is a wolf. 

Over on Hina, Savannah is getting annoyed with Jawan once again, as he steals her water bottle and continues to ease drop in Savannah’s conversation. But Jawan, at least for now, is still Uli strong. We know this because a boat arrives and one person from each Tribe has to get on said boat. While MC volunteers for Kele, Jason, Savannah, and Nate volunteer for Hina. In a confessional, we see Jawan does not want Jason to go to potentially mess up the numbers on the Tribe, so he picks up a white rock and puts it on top and lets Nate go first, so he gets to go on the journey.

For the journey itself, Nate and MC must lift sandbags back and forth. If they get through all the sandbags in time, they keep their vote. If not, they lose their vote. About halfway through the challenge, MC spots a note that says an advantage is in the jungle. Nate pitches that they do all the sandbags until one remains. At that point, they search, and if they get the advantage, cool, though in a confessional Nate says he doesn’t want MC to get the advantage, so he lies to her about the time they have left to finish the challenge. They both keep their vote, which to Nate is most important.

For this week’s immunity challenge, Tribes have to carry a large bamboo-like steel cage like you would see in WWE from the water to shore, then dig one person out to rebound balls. The others shoot from the cage to make baskets. The winning Tribe would receive chickens to eat. Kele wins immunity once again as Alex knocks off Rizo in the shooting game. After the challenge, the exhaustion is clear on the face of Savannah and Jawan on Hina, as Jeff notes how hot it is in Fuji when they filmed this season.

Back at the Kele camp, everybody knows they have to eat the chickens, but they don’t want to cut off its head. Alex and Steven know that as the guys on the Tribe, they are the only ones who can do the job. Eventually, the chicken is eaten.

As for who’s going home, Nate and Savannah are driving the vote, as the conversation is between Jason and Jawan. They have to decide if they want to start a Uli vs Hina War or not?

The Tribe ultimately decides to put all their votes on Jason, with the latter voting for Rizo.

Now that Jason is eliminated, all six original Uli members are still in the game, but unbeknown to the original Kele and Hina, they’re cracks between Savannah and Jawan and Sage and Shannon. The interesting dynamic with all of this is that we know by the previews next week that there will be another Tribe switch next week, and this time there will be three Tribes again, as three Tribes of four are formed. This will undoubtedly change the game.

From the brutality of the journey and immunity challenge, to the potential blindsides down the road, while there was no drama at Tribal, this was the most action-packed episode of the season.

Grade: A