Survivor 48 — Episode 6 Reaction

Another episode of Survivor 48 is in the books! The castaways have officially merged and we enter the next stage of the game. Let’s dive in!

Survivor 48’s Momentum from the Pre-Merge Grinds to a Halt

I think we’ve had a pretty entertaining and unpredictable start to the season for Survivor 48 filled with big plays, fun characters, and interesting moments… which made me a little disappointed that the mergatory brought this season’s least interesting episode. Everyone meets up and essentially agrees on who needs to go home without much fanfare, and a bloated two-part challenge didn’t allow us to really explore many of the new dynamics and relationships that are forming and reforming when all castaways combine on one beach. I simply don’t like that most of the time this episode was spent on a mildly interesting challenge and then was followed by a straightforward vote where much of the pre-tribal scramble is spent by listening to different people talk about why they want to vote Sai or vote for Charity in a state of extended artificial suspense.

I still long for the old merge. Give everyone a feast upon arrival and let us see how the wining and dining goes… throw an advantage in there too for good measure, because it’s the new era. I don’t understand the point anymore of splitting up the group in half randomly for the chance at food. The hourglass twist was killed long ago, and mergatory feels like it was originally made to foster that twist and now they just keep it in for artificial suspense.

The Strongmen Form an Alliance… But Who Really Runs the Show?

Limited dynamics were explored in this episode, but one new alliance was given the spotlight: the strongman/beefcakes alliance as I have dubbed it. Spearheaded by David, Joe, and Eva, the physical threats crossed tribal lines and got together to play what they deem an “honorable” game… which really means vote out anyone who tries to rock the boat. As David clarified, he wants social gamers, strategists, and puzzle experts to be the real targets… not the musclebound traditional challenge beasts. By bringing in Shauhin and Kyle, this new fivesome hopes to build some trust now for unity later into the game.

It’s interesting to note that this potential strongman alliance did not make itself known for now. More outward focus is on the Civa tribe maintaining all of its original members in the game. Placed smartly in the middle is Kyle, who is both on Civa and in the strongman alliance, and Kamilla. Kyle with his connections deeply involves Kamilla in his strategies, and as a duo they can shift the numbers however they like as long as they don’t get caught.

Sneaky People Get Snuffed

As I said earlier, this episode had a straightforward vote centered around the two most sneaky players in the game: Sai and Charity. Sai’s reputation speaks for herself. She plays Survivor with insane aggression, and she has had no problem rubbing multiple people the wrong way with the immature way she chooses to carry herself. Charity has been the more subdued sneaky player, but the most powerful players in Civa have been well aware of her for some time now and have wanted to vote her out but haven’t had the chance to so far. Charity did not help her case this episode by trying to convince Star to ask for Eva’s idol back. She either misread Star’s strategy or just thinks she’s an idiot, because it made it very easy for Star to walk back to Eva and divulge what Charity has been scheming.

Leading up to tribal council the pressure unknowingly continued to pour upon both Charity and Sai. Charity cooled off trying to push Eva and her idol out of the game and focused instead on Sai, but behind her back many castaways have already identified her as a untrustworthy player who is clearly trying to charm people to her side. Sai insisted she was going to do things differently in the merge and take a back seat, but all of her reckless driving in the pre-merge had done irreparable damage to her social game. At the end of the day Charity got the boot, and things have now been lined up to take out Sai next, who threw a lone vote on Cedrek probably because she was kept in the dark.

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Weirdest Multi-Episode Storyline: Milk Drinkers

In yet another episode, people’s milk habits have been dissected. This episode we learned that its not just David, but Joe too. They both drink a full gallon of whole milk a day… which can’t possibly be good for your body, especially as a man in your 30s and 40s.

The Jeff Probst “Jeff Probst Moment” Moment of the Episode: Jeff Probst Tries to Spice Up Tribal Council by Dancing, of all Things

We continue to be in the era where Jeff tries to be goofy during tribal council, so I’m not surprised when he tries to pull out some subdued dance moves in response to tribal council metaphor. He’s going for fun uncle energy, but I think he’s too much of a boomer to pull it off.

Best Love-Hate Relationship: Mary and Sai

The conflicting confessionals given by the two enemies-to-maybe-allies was quite rich. Sai reminisces on how fun it was to chase around Mary and is excited for their reunion. Meanwhile, Mary speaks of her time on Vula like she has irreparable trauma and really doesn’t want to work with her former tribemates anymore, though she will have to look like she wants to. I wonder how the tension will be resolved in the coming days.

MVP of the Episode: Star

Star had for the most part been unimportant to the story, but this week she finally got to be in front of the camera a bit… which made me realize that Star is a fun castaway. The non-serious way she carried herself, hyping up Cedrek and dropping the tribal council pen, made me like her a lot more than I did before. In a dull episode Star was a shining beacon of personality.

Goat of the Episode: Charity

This final episode for Charity bookends a flat game of Survivor. She had been due to be voted out for weeks and the unknowing self-sabotage by trying and failing to manipulate Star was the icing on the cake for a disappointing performance.

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PLAYER TIER LIST:

OUT OF THE GAME

18. Stephanie

17. Kevin

16. Pizza

15. Thomas

14. Bianca

13. Charity

BOTTOM OF THE TOTEM POLE

12. Sai

Well, if it isn’t the consequences of her own actions…

IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION

11. Mitch

I think there’s a good chance Mitch finds a place at the bottom of a new alliance, but for now he’s lost his number one ally and is vulnerable to be voted out next episode.

IN A GOOD SPOT

10. Cedrek

9. Chrissy

8. Star

Not on the chopping block as of now, but I don’t really know where these three castaways stand in conjunction with the rest of the merged tribe.

7. Shauhin

6. Eva

5. Joe

The Lagi trio have found themselves a new alliance with David and Kyle centered around protecting the physical threats, which keeps them in a good but not great spot. However, this alliance has not been confirmed through the fires of a tough tribal council. I could see original Lagi castaways and the threateningly tight duo of Joe and Eva being a target sooner rather than later.

4. Mary

Under-the-radar gameplay engaged.

IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT

3. David

Not much has changed at the top (or in the whole list for that matter). David has built a new alliance with the Lagi castaways with the goal of targeting more cerebral, social, and sneaky players… the question is if his philosophy will hold power for very long once Sai is out of the game.

2. Kamilla

1. Kyle

Kyle and Kamilla continue to look like the most dynamic and important endgame players in Survivor 48. Kyle has hopped over Kamilla for me again because he is simply more connected with his inclusion in the “beefcakes” alliance, whereas Kamilla is more strategically dependent on their duo right now.