Survivor 48 | Ep. 2
NIGHT 3 - Post Tribal Council
The vibe at VULA is control and Sai is at the center of it. She HATES that her name was written down, just like anybody else would be, but there is something else present. It’s a certain level of control that I’m not sure we’ve seen in the new era. It feels like a very “old school” way of playing. It feels like the way Rome started in 47, but more aggressive.
CIVA - Day 4
The vibe at CIVA is comfortable with everyone laughing and sharing their unattractive details hahaha. Charity has a gnarly set of toes on her left foot, David has 4 nipples!, Mitch has a speech impediment, Chrissy has a Q-Tip length deep belly button, and Kyle has a giant wart on his finger. I like how Charity put it in perspective that 3 days spent on Survivor is the equivalent of 3 years of friendship. I get it. They literally have everything to talk about and an endless game of show and tell to play.
LAGI - Day 4
The vibe at LAGI is shady. Star finds the Beware Advantage to benefit her game, but Star couldn’t figure it out on her own so she brought in Joe. Joe then recognizes that this was a chance to build trust with Star, and then he parlays it into bringing in Shauhin to build trust with him. Shauhin is presented with this opportunity by Joe as a way to keep Star feeling comfortable but really keep her on the bottom, so Shauhin begins running around matching the decoder to the various signs around camp with pictures of animals on them while simultaneously debating on whether to fully help, somewhat help, or sabotage Star. Like I said, SHADY!
The other piece of action we saw at camp was Eva blatantly say that Star should not participate in the next challenge. Though Star sees this as shady, my background in special education and working with people who have autism (though not an expert at all) tells me, this is the first example of Eva’s autism working against her. Eva’s public announcement that Star should sit the next challenge is her social blind spot. Eva likely doesn’t understand the social implications of that statement.
Then, Star decides to bring in Thomas and Bianca. The shadiness continues. One minute Thomas is inclusive and happy that Star finally came to him, and the next, he’s telling Shauhin to throw the decoder away, leaving Star essentially naked without a vote. This level of aggressive strategy actually scares Shauhin (and me too) because it’s very aggressive but I do like it as Thomas was my winner pick.
With Star leaving out Eva, Joe is getting immersed in the internal conflicts Survivor presents players. Who to trust? and Who to deceive? Joe’s a loyal guy, he’s a fireman, and for my money, a very good one. His life and livelihood in life is built on trust, so he is going to struggle with deception and lying, so I think he’s going to stick with a game of trust and protecting Eva.
VULA - Day 4
Back at VULA, Kevin is speaking in meme’s when he says
“The math is mathing” - Kevin
in regards to thinking ahead to possibly going to Tribal Council and having to vote out Sai or Mary. I think this would be difficult for me. I don’t speak in memes. I would struggle to relate to that. I understand that people speak in memes and that people think memes are funny, but here’s the thing…
MEMES ARE NOT FUNNY. Sorry Kev.
JOURNEY
LAGI - Thomas
CIVA - Mitch
VULA - Mary
“Oh my God. The game seems easy breezy. but it’s so much pressure, all strategys evaporated. Panic set in and my brain went black.” - Thomas
Despite the struggles and pressure, Thomas and Mitch are successful. Thomas wins a STEAL A VOTE advantage and Mitch wins a BLOCK A VOTE advantage.
Then there is Mary. Poor Mary. She’s already feeling at the bottom at VULA and now she failed to win the challenge and has lost her vote. You have to play, you have to give it your all, and you have to take chances. Now, for Mary, you have to lie.
Does she lie?
NO! Mary spills the beans that she lost her vote. Silly.
Does Thomas lie?
YOU KNOW IT! He keeps the first secret of Survivor 48 by not telling LAGI that he won a STEAL A VOTE advantage. This guy knows what he is doing.
Does Mitch lie?
NOPE! Mitch decides to tell the truth about the challenge and that he won a BLOCK A VOTE advantage. An insane leap of faith by Mitch but that’s who Mitch is. He’s trusting and seems to not have a bad bone in his body.
CIVA - Day 4
The final Beware Advantage is found by Kyle while on a “we are threatened by Mitch having a BLOCK A VOTE advantage hunt” and like Star, Kyle ENLISTs (haha see what I did there) the help of Kamilla to open the scroll. Lines are being drawn at CIVA and we are ready to see if they will go to Tribal.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE - Day 5
Before I begin to cover the challenge, once again, I have to applaud Jeff Probst. The guy is so on top of it. He understands what his role is perfectly. He asks a question to Mitch about how the tool kit has helped at CIVA and what we really get is Jeff asking Mitch about how others should best handle Mitch’s speech impediment. It’s so simple, yet most people wouldn’t ask, but that’s why Jeff is a step above the rest.
CHALLENGE
REWARD - Large and Small Fishing Kits
An incredibly fun challenge. The setting out in the middle of the ocean is better than ever and the excitement of Mitch catching fire and sinking the buoys to win the challenge was fantastic. However, the euphoria of CIVA and LAGI isn’t without the disaster of Cedrek and Kevin being unable to carry the buoy across the balance beam. They’re off to Tribal Council again.
VULA PRE-TRIBAL SCRAMBLE - Day 5
Kevin approaches Cedrek and Justin to vote out Sai because she has the idol, is playing aggressively, and to “keep the boys together.” Cedrek spills the beans to Sai and encourages her to play her idol. Justin points out to Cedrek that Kevin votes for Sai and Sai votes for Mary will leave the vote in their hands. The question is who does Justin and Cedrek trust most going forward?
PREDICTION: Cedrek said he sees his relationship with Sai like she is “one of his kids”. The father/daughter relationship feeling will blind Cedrek from ever voting out Sai. Kevin will go home.
TRIBAL COUNCIL - Night 5
The vibe at VULA’s second tribal is blunt. Sai calls out Mary. Kevin feels outed. Jeff puts down Justin’s illusions of what could have been in the tribe’s first five days.
There’s no trust between Mary and Sai. There never will be. This tribe gives me the feeling of the dynamic between Rome and Sol in 47. Rome was in control and in the beginning was targeting Sol, hard. Similar to Sai and Mary.
We know how that played out for Rome.
VOTES
Kevin - 3
Sai - 1 (Sai played Hidden Immunity Idol)
Kevin gets voted out but becomes a bit of a martyr to the other VULA players not named Sai. His threat to her caused the idol to be played. Feels like it gives Cedrek and Justin the opening they need to pull in Mary and vote out Sai or to simply further cement themselves as Sai’s henchmen. I think we will find out about the kind of players that Mary, Cedrek and Justin really are in this game. We already know where Sai stands.
I think Kevin must feel good about his Survivor journey this season, although short, he still had the moment in episode 1 of overcoming dislocating his shoulder in the opening minutes to winning the tribe supplies. It’s not much but it’s something.
Also, it feels like Kevin was capable of playing the game at a higher level than Cedrek, Justin or Mary, based on the evidence so far. Having said that, that is likely the reason that he was the next one voted out. Maybe I’m underestimating Cedrek, Justin, and Mary, but I know Kevin was willing to take his shot at the Queen of VULA, but I’m not convinced that the rest of them will.
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