Survivor 48 — Episode 7 Reaction
Another episode of Survivor 48 is in the books! A double tribal council sends two castaways out of the game. Let’s dive in!
Introducing Decoys
After Survivor 48’s most predictable episode, we follow up with Survivor 48’s most formulaic episode. This week two new castaways get a bulk of spotlight — Mitch and Shauhin. Mitch’s backstory is delved into further as he starts to scramble to find new allies to replace Charity. Shauhin’s backstory is not discussed, but he is shown as an approachable ally for those on the bottom of the tribe and he pontificates about how he believes he is in a fantastic position in the game.
Of course, while watching the episode you realize that the reason we learn more about these two castaways is because they both were discussed as people to vote out this week, in an effort to set up tension for the upcoming double tribal council. The forced exposition is a little disappointing and indicates the lack of fleshing out we’ve had for some castaways, especially Shauhin. Shauhin has been more of a bystander and occasional commenter on the season instead of a central character, so the alarm bells immediately rang for me when we began to get extended confessionals from him. I thought he was going home this week, and even though he survives I don’t think the character arc really changes much. While Shauhin stays in the game, it feels he has now been set up as an obstacle in the way of the real winners instead of a winner contender himself, especially given that his reasoning for his strong position being centered around people on the bottom wanting to work with him… but now all those people on the bottom just got sent home.
Mitch has had a fuller character arc than Shauhin, mainly because the show has wanted to highlight his backstory of overcoming his speech impediment. Mitch’s in-game trajectory reached a new low after he was left out of the Charity vote. Without a number one ally, Mitch tries to shop around for new friends, but while tribemates think he is a nice guy they are threatened by his likability and don’t want to risk giving him an easy path to the end. As the episode went along it seemed more and more like Mitch was falling apart under the pressure of feeling vulnerable in the game. While Mitch was not sent home at tribal council, I am unsure if Mitch will be able to find much footing moving forward to make a case for victory, especially if he resigns himself more to his emotional turbulence and less to a solid plan of staying in the game.
That Immunity Challenge was Peak New Era Corny
A lot of the episode was spent on Joe, David, Eva, and Kyle’s duel in the grip strength challenge, as the strongest physical players in the game put on a show by keeping a bucket in the air. While I find myself personally impressed by David and Joe staying in the challenge for 55 minutes, I could’ve done without fun uncle Jeff trying to spice things up. He made Shauhin beatbox (to be fair, after Shauhin chose to start beatboxing… unless a producer had him at gunpoint offscreen) and encouraged a bunch of forced smack talk. This was turned into a weird challenge supercut, and it came off as incredibly corny to me. This feels like standard new era now, which values the campiness. I’d rather the show skip over these cringe moments if the castaways aren’t able to live up to the humor and tension the show wants them to be at.
I’m slowly concluding that this cast isn’t filled with entertainers. I’m watching back though Survivor 46 and little challenge moments, such as Q trying to play the alphabet game and everyone messing it up, feels much more organic than what we got here. While some of the castaways can be charismatic within a confessional, I don’t think it has translated to real-time moments such as this challenge. I don’t find it shocking with this cast that the best moment of the season by far was a serious one at the challenge between Joe and Eva.
Someone will need to take the mantle of the central entertainer if Survivor 48 wants to be long-term memorable, especially with Sai gone. Will it be David, whose vain charisma makes him a polarizing character? Will it be Star, who’s a full ball of energy but unimportant to the season so far? Is it Mary, who gives fun confessionals but is playing a quiet under-the-radar game? Or will Joe and Eva’s emotional relationship evolve into something that can carry the whole season?
After Two Games of This or That, the Easy Paths are Taken
Two tribal councils this week, zero blindsides. While Shauhin and Mitch were teased as possible vote outs, it was the Vula outcasts that met their demise.
All of Sai’s scorched earth gameplay ends up being for naught as she is sent home unanimously before the jury. Feeling the pressure of her negative reputation, Sai compromised on her Survivor strategy and tried to jumpstart a social game by getting to know people like Shauhin and scrambling to get people to vote out Mitch, but ultimately it was not enough and Sai doesn’t even make the jury. It was ultimately Sai’s arrogance and mistakes at the start of the game that got in her way later on. In another season, maybe Sai is able to become a goat or a shield with her behavior, but too many castaways are focused more on keeping alliances strong instead of blindsiding threats, which makes Sai an unnecessary wildcard. Sai realized this too late and by the time she tried to ingratiate herself into the tribe, the lines were already drawn with her on the outside looking in. It will be sad that Sai’s big persona will no longer be a part of the game or the jury. We will desperately need someone to fill the chaos hole she leaves behind. Sai was able to pull off a more polished version of Rome’s gameplay from last season, but the result is still the same as they both are sent home post-merge, but before the jury.
On the other beach, interesting pieces were being put in place for a Shauhin blindside, but ultimately the strongman alliance holds and Cedrek goes home. Kyle and Kamilla made a sneaky move by lying to David that they thought Shauhin was secretly holding an idol, hoping to sow some discord in David’s anti-backstab agenda and make him doubt Shauhin’s loyalty. David considered the warning, but it did not change the plan and the tribe voted out Cedrek, who at this point in the game is alliance-less and an easy, sweat-free option. While Cedrek held key positions in Vula votes, his moves did not set him up for long-term success and once he hit the merge, he did not find himself a new alliance to lean on.
The only Vula left is Mary, and it is yet to be seen if her choice to distance herself from her former tribemates and try to ingratiate herself into new alliances will be rewarded.
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Most Petty: Sai
New era players seem to get a lot more in their feelings about receiving votes in tribal council, especially when it’s a single rogue vote. Cedrek was genuinely distraught that he could not figure out who voted for him. Of course, we know it was Sai, but when Sai revealed she had purposely changed her handwriting just to cast a middle finger vote, I had to give my respect. It was major league level pettiness, and I am here for that.
The Cedrek McFadden Award (Completely Dismal Challenge Performance): Cedrek
As he leaves the game, let’s take time to celebrate just how bad Cedrek was at challenges. With his immediate elimination in the bucket grip challenge and complete upper body shut down in the mergatory challenge, we need to eulogize the physical ineptitude of our favorite butt surgeon. While he doesn’t have the worst challenge performance of the new era (I think the legend Brandon Donlan not being able to climb a cargo net in the opening challenge, fresh off the boat, has a lock on the title), Cedrek’s consistently bad performances puts him in an upper echelon of bad challenge castaways. He has a trifecta of abysmal challenges: the two previously mentioned and Cedrek failing the balance beam with Kevin in episode two.
MVP of the Episode: David
While David sets the record for the grip strength challenge, it seems clear to me that David could have gone a lot longer… is it really an accurate record when the time elapsed is based on how long second place can last, rather than first place?
Goat of the Episode: Sai
It hurts to not make the merge… if Sai isn’t brought back for Survivor 50, will we ever see her play again? Is this the ultimate legacy Sai leaves?
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PLAYER TIER LIST:
OUT OF THE GAME
18. Stephanie
17. Kevin
16. Pizza
15. Thomas
14. Bianca
13. Charity
12. Sai
11. Cedrek
BOTTOM OF THE TOTEM POLE
10. Mitch
Someone has to be on the bottom… I guess now it’s Mitch. He didn’t gain any new allies this episode. Instead, he gained more people willing to vote him out as a jury threat.
IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION
9. Chrissy
If I had to assume who’s next on the vote out list for the majority alliance, I think Chrissy’s tribal council argument for backstabbing and betrayal in front of Joe, the most honest man to ever play Survivor, will put her in danger soon.
IN A GOOD SPOT
8. Shauhin
It is yet to be seen if Kyle and Kamilla’s subtle lies about his sneakiness will be the beginning of the end. For now he stays safe in the strongman alliance.
7. Star
6. Eva
5. Mary
4. Joe
The one thing definitely going for Joe is that he’s by far the straightest shooter in the group. If Survivor 48 descends into chaos, that’s good for Joe as a castaway established as trustworthy. The big question mark for Joe is if he will need to bend his morals and go for a big blindside to be in a position to win the game.
3. David
I can’t with confidence keep David in the driver’s seat, given that Kyle and Kamilla felt confident in their ability to influence David with the lie about Shauhin, even if they ultimately did not execute the blindside. I also am a bit spooked by the next episode’s preview teasing David going off the rails. I fear David may get overwhelmed by the paranoia that the Survivor endgame brings.
IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT
2. Kamilla
1. Kyle
Kyle and Kamilla continue to bring the most strategic chops to the season while keeping all of their devious machinations secret from the rest of the tribe.