Survivor 48 | Ep. 7
NIU NAI - Night 13
“These people are absolutely obsessed with me” - Sai
Once again we find ourselves centering the conversation on Sai. Mitch is covering his tracks of voting for her and the rogue vote for Cedrek is being discussed. Of course that vote was Sai! Come on now Cedrek. I love that he is revealing to the viewers his analysis of the penmanship on the parchment, but the fact that he called it penmanship tells me he isn’t doing a very good job of analyzing it. This is pretty simple Ced, just ask yourself, who is the one person who would write your name down above everyone else?
Duh!
SURVIVOR 48 - Day 14
The wounded duck in the post Charity vote is Mitch. Charity was his number one, nobody told him the votes were going that way, and he got blindsided. As a result, Mitch needs to reset his game and find a new path. I love what Mitch said about his deliberate attempt to connect with people and that the editors showed us Mitch telling stories to Joe and Shauhin about being a Phys Ed teacher, a coach, and a former mailman.
As an emotional person and a teacher/coach I understand Mitch’s decision to leave the Postal Service and enter teaching. I appreciate his desire to seek a more meaningful and fulfilling profession. It’s why I am a teacher as well. Hmmm…maybe this should make my casting video for 51/52???
NIU NAI - Day 14
On day 14 I think it’s interesting to see that time and time again, Shauhin finds himself as the episode narrator. He’s communicating and connecting with Mitch, Sai, and Cedrek. He straight up tells the viewer that he’s in the middle and that he will ultimately be on the right side of the votes and/or deciding who the vote will be.
I believe him because when he was communicating with Sai, he explained how to communicate and how to connect with Sai. Shauhin has a conversational awareness. He understands Sai’s language and that telling her you voted for her is something she will respect because she is playing hard where most others would take it personally.
Watch out for Shauhin folks.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE — Day 14
TWISTS
Split into two groups of 6
ORANGE - Eva, Chrissy, Star, Mitch, Joe, Sai
PURPLE - Cedrek, Kyle, Kamilla, Shauhin, David, Mary
Winner of each group - WINS IMMUNITY
Each group of 6 will go to Tribal
Last person standing - WINS REWARD and GOING TO TRIBAL 2ND.
Person voted out of 1st Tribal - NOT ON JURY
This challenge is one that is definitely a lot harder than it looks. I know half the competitors dropped within seconds, including Cedrek (pathetic), but these people aren’t really worth talking much about.
The challenge comes down to Eva vs. Joe (ORANGE) and David vs. Kyle (PURPLE) and Shauhin doing his best Fijian war cries. David really cranks up the smack talk because he’s feeling good and in his comfort zone. David has trained for this challenge, his forearms are probably stronger than my legs haha.
Eva loses her grip and Joe wins immunity. Kyle backs down to the forearm alpha and lets David take the reigns to bring it home.
Joe and David both win immunity and do so in record setting fashion. Nearly 52 minutes in and Joe can’t hold on any further. Joe drops, but wins immunity, and David wins immunity, reward, and the right to go to Tribal Council 2nd which means everyone on PURPLE will be on the jury!
The part of this challenge I enjoyed most was the competitiveness/trash talk. Like, can we have more of that? Please. I am the first in line to trumpet how much I love this show and the incredible people they cast to be on the show, but a little competitive fire on a challenge goes a looooooong way.
POST CHALLENGE SCRAMBLE - Day 14
As the reward group stuffs their face with the peanut butter reward, the group reveals that Cedrek is the odd man out. He has no pre-existing alliance with anyone and he dropped in the challenge in under 30 seconds. It’s not looking good for Cedrek.
Meanwhile, at the old CIVA beach, Sai is once again showing us why she’s the self proclaimed “cat with nine lives.” Sai has Mitch in her crosshairs and is trying to work the room to go that way, but it’s an uphill climb considering Sai is coming off a Tribal Council where she received several votes.
The takeaway from this pre-Tribal scramble is that on both the winning group and losing group the key element of who the votes are leaning toward (Winner Group - Cedrek, Losing Group - Sai) is the relationships and connections that have been made to this point. It tells me that in this season, what really matters for how this community of people make decisions is the relationship and connection they have or don’t have with others. I think that’s the way I want to see Survivor be played.
If you don’t believe me, rewatch the Kyle and Kamilla scene. Those two are the unlikely duo in this game and they are also the most strategic players that nobody knows about. They have identified Shauhin as the larger threat in the game and are able to understand how the other chess pieces on the board think and how they can manipulate them.
Look out folks, Kyle and Kamilla are at a whole other level. Kyle is able to infiltrate the “strong alpha male” alliance because of his appearance, but his real assets are his intelligence and the alliance with Kamilla. They are the true power players in Survivor 48 and it feels like Shauhin will be the only one smart enough to figure it out, but that’s why he’s their target and the scapegoat to Cedrek.
In contrast, at old CIVA beach, the gameplay seems much more straightforward. When you add up Sai’s aggression, Mitch’s desperation to make it one more day, Joe and Eva’s demeanor, and Chrissy and Star’s simplicity, I think you have a bunch of jury members, minus one, and no threats to actually win Survivor.
TRIBAL COUNCIL 1 - Night 14
The takeaways from the first Tribal are that this group of people hasn’t really connected, they are relying on their already formed alliances, and to me they just feel like one giant Survivor cliché. For example, when Chrissy repeatedly says that “eventually the honesty and loyalty has to go” or Mitch is coming from a position of “being on the wrong side of the votes” and “trying to build trust” it just feels like they are regurgitating what they see and hear people say and do on Survivor, as opposed to, playing Survivor their own way. Joe is the only one who is doing that and it’s because of the unique circumstance that connecting with Eva has presented to him.
MITCH BLOCKS SAI’S VOTE
I like the timing on Mitch using the advantage here. He’s never been this vulnerable in the game and this vote is more unpredictable than ever because of how disconnected the group is. Plus, it’s a great way to build the trust he is trying to build with Joe and it’s used against Sai who people have already written down. Well done Mitch.
VOTES
Sai - 5
DING DONG the attention dominator is dead! My initial reaction is Sai is a bottle rocket. Her style of gameplay burns brightly and intensely, but it cannot sustain itself for very long. Plus, Sai has been the aggressor and a threat from the jump. Sai played this game hard, and she’s right, people were obsessed with her, but what she didn’t realize was that isn’t a good thing long term in Survivor. For those reasons, it feels fitting that she won’t be a jury member.
TRIBAL COUNCIL 2 - Night 14
VOTES
Cedrek - 5
Shauhin - 1
How fitting that we just said good-bye to Sai and immediately we say good-bye to Cedrek? Doesn’t that feel right? It’s interesting also that they got voted out back-to-back, yet didn’t pull the trigger on each other, nor did they have to. It’s interesting that Mary becomes the lone Survivor from VULA. Remember she hit on her Shot in the Dark to survive? Crazy right.
Cedrek being the first member of the jury feels right. He found himself at the center of all the old VULA votes including the bizarre Justin vote out where he saved Sai. I don’t think Cedrek could’ve win Survivor 48, nor any season of Survivor. He' showed us his vulnerability at Tribal, in challenges, and at camp life. He survived many Tribals, played a major role at Tribals, overcame mudbaths and climbing up to puzzles at challenges, and we saw the game break him at camp and lean on Star. I think Cedrek did enough to earn a jury vote, and to me, it feels like the first jury member is Cedrek’s Survivor ceiling.
In real life, Cedrek’s a surgeon, and one thing I know about surgeons is that they operate in an environment that is thoughtfully laid out, precise and predictable. Contrastly, tne one thing I know about Survivor is none of those attributes exist. 🤣
I look forward to seeing the strategic surgeons continue to operate in the game, without Cedrek and Sai contaminating the operating room.
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