Survivor 49 — Episode 1 Power Rankings
It’s Survivor season again, and the first person has been voted out of Survivor 49. Who stood out and who fell flat after a single episode?
Episode Thoughts
Look, Survivor has committed to the exact same starting format ever since the New Era began. We’re at nine seasons and the premiere episode is basically a procedural at this point. Here come the tribes, look how excited they are, opening challenge, some sort of follow up challenge for supplies, everyone meets each other and is very nice, backstories everywhere, immunity, vote. At this point I need something truly shocking to happen, or a major switch up in the day one format, to guarantee that I love the first episode. Season 45 is head and shoulders above all other New Era premieres because of how crazy the Yellow tribe was out the gate with Emily, Brandon, and Hannah the quitter.
All that to say — this was a boring Survivor 49 premiere. Without any shock and awe twists or an intriguing first tribal council, the cast needed to deliver with a first impression punch of personality, and they by and large did not. There were a few bright spots but not enough to really hype me up for the rest of the season after one episode. Though at this point, I don’t think the show even tries to generate hype like that, knowing that their dedicated fans (like me) will stick around for a while before passing judgement on the season as a whole.
THE WEEK 1 POWER RANKINGS
OUT OF THE GAME
18. Nicole
She really showed up to the beach, puked, and left. The first vote of Survivor 49 was a very straightforward affair as the Kele tribe prioritized tribe strength, and a majority foursome quickly formed to ice out the two weakest physical players. Perhaps given more days, Nicole could have found her way into an alliance as she was liked amongst the Kele tribe, but the game required her to move fast and make friends and Nicole did not succeed in proving her worth to the group.
BOTTOM OF THE TOTEM POLE
17. Annie
The next casualty of the Kele tribe is likely to be Annie. She is not part of the majority alliance and deemed the next weakest castaway in challenges behind Nicole. It’s particularly telling that when she realized her bad position and tried to make an early deal with Sophi to flip the next vote against the Bromance duo (aka Jake and Alex), Sophi immediately went to the rest of her tribe and told all of them that Annie tried to make this deal with her.
Clearly Annie is thinking ahead strategically, but it seems her social game has doomed her. She didn’t connect with anyone on her tribe and the only person who reached out for an alliance with her in Alex just learned she is wanting to scheme against him and Jake. A tenuous alliance could save Annie if Jeremiah and Sophi become threatened by the Bromance, but right now I don’t believe this is likely.
IN AN UNCOMFORTABLE POSITION
16. Jawan
The hierarchy of the Uli tribe was fleshed out clearly in the first episode. I feel Jawan sits at the bottom after he was called out by Savannah late in the episode. While Jawan made an initial connection with Shannon and Savannah and felt he could solidify his place in the majority alliance, that search ended with him saying he wasn’t sure who would make a good fourth in his alliance, while Savannah connected with Nate and implied she was more comfortable aligned with him against Jawan. This might be a hint at the beginning of the end for the plucky dad.
15. Sage
All we learned about Sage so far is that she’s so quirky and random! She made a connection with Shannon which is good, but she also got painted as someone who says whatever she’s thinking, which is not a great quality for Survivor players. The majority in Uli is forming and Sage did not factor into those conversations.
TOO SOON TO SAY
The Hina tribe seems to be Survivor 49’s kumbaya tribe. They all loved each other and much glazing was done to build utopic tribe unity. No hierarchy was formed but I do have a few takeaways.
14. Steven
Strategically, Steven got the most focus amongst the Hina tribe, but the edit was a mixed bag. On one hand, discount Ryan Reynolds made a lot of alliances and seemed very popular within his tribe. On the other hand, a big deal was made of Steven’s paranoia as he laments his imposter syndrome and the difficulty he has in believing that these positive interactions he’s having with tribemates are truthful. I’m reading this as a possible downfall arc, where Steven overstrategizes and crumbles later on in the season, but there is still room for a possible growth arc where he finds his social confidence.
13. Sophie
12. MC
11. Jason
I have no thoughts on these three Hina castaways… they didn’t have much going on in episode one, other than that they are happy to be here.
10. Kristina
Kristina’s in a similar boat as the previous three Hina castaways as there was no analysis to be had of her game strategy, but I just wanted to note that I liked her more than I thought. She seems very bubbly and sociable.
9. Matt
Survival skills might actually make Matt an important piece of the Hina tribe amongst a tribe of complete nerds and city folk.
IN A GOOD POSITION
8. Sophi
My preseason number one sadly had me calling her Temu Genevieve by the end of the episode. She made a ton of alliances with little substance, none more telling than her quick agreement with Jake, basically objectifying him as her meat shield ally upon arrival to the Kele beach. She gets immediately paranoid about this alliance when Alex comes to the beach and the Bromance forms, but it takes very little work to immediately swing her back to loyal foursome soldier when Jake talks about his pregnant wife and Jeremiah reassures her of their alliance with each other and with the Bromance duo. She just isn’t a slick Survivor player upon first impression, and I think big mistakes are in her future. For now, she is safe in the Kele majority.
7. Rizo
I’m not calling Rizo the “Rizgod” until he proves himself worthy of the nickname. For now, he’s who I expected: a pure-hearted, Gen-Z-slang-seeped “little brother” character who carries a lot of Survivor strategy head knowledge, and will most likely find his early footing in the game as a trustworthy ally. It’s giving shades of Carson, whose youthful pluckiness earned him alliances and so much room for strategizing as the game progressed. Rizo isn’t there yet but he is on his way.
6. Nate
I think Nate is really smart and can do serious damage in Survivor 49… if he can lock in a spot on an Uli alliance. While I feel good about the direction things are going with Savannah, there is no guarantee yet. He has to survive a few pre-merge votes first.
5. Jeremiah
He’s put himself in a decent spot in the Kele four in an alliance with both Sophi and Jake. The concern is that the current alliances he has are generally weaker than the Bromance alliance Jake and Alex have. And sorry, I have to mention it once, but I do not envy this man’s voice. It sounds like he swallowed a helium balloon. I won’t mention it again because he probably gets crap for it in the real world, but I feel like I need to acknowledge and accept it before I listen to him speak the rest of the season. It actually could end up benefitting him as it can make him seem more harmless and keep him under-the-radar as a threat. He himself acknowledges this when he says he wants to come off as ditzy and later aligns with Jake as polar opposites.
4. Shannon
The “High-Vibe Women’s Events” manager thanked the ocean for her arrival and woo-woo’d her breath patterns into the spot of charismatic shot-caller of a possible Uli majority alliance. Whether she can capitalize on a good start with impactful strategic moves or if she becomes more of a tribe-strong alliance figurehead with little real power is yet to be seen.
3. Alex
The DC political bro recovered from an embarrassing defeat to Rizo in the supplies challenge to find a good spot in the Kele tribe. He’s in the majority four with Jake as his number one, and he’s at least opened the door to making a secret alliance with Annie that could help him make a big move in the next Kele tribal council if he so chooses.
2. Jake ( ⭐Episode 1 MVP ⭐)
For the most part Survivor 49 came out the gates in episode one very tame. I found most of these castaways to be pretty uninspiring personalities. Two people saved this premiere from being a total dud, and it is unsurprising that they ended up in my top two spots.
Jake was so much fun this episode. Going into the season I thought he was going to be the next version of Joe, but turns out Jake is quite the entertainer and the producers went the “ex-male stripper” route rather than leaning into the heartwarming backstory (though they made sure to highlight his dad and his wife over the course of the premiere). The shoe bandit bit is the fantastic fun chaos that new era Survivor needs a lot more of, rather than nerds nerding out about the show. And there’s lots to unpack about how Jake said he was to have a thriving bromance with tribemate Alex, mandated by God himself, BEFORE even meeting the man. Jake just decided he and Alex were best friends now… just guys being dudes, what can be better than that?
I don’t know if Jake will be some strategic mastermind, but he was fun this episode and central to the Kele tribe, starting alliances with Alex, Sophi, and Jeremiah to create the majority foursome. With his physical prowess, I don’t expect him to be going home anytime before the merge unless he royally screws something up.
IN THE DRIVERS SEAT
1. Savannah
It’s impossible to leave this premiere without the impression that Savannah is going to be a major player in this game. Her edit was so hyperfocused towards her strategic machinations and social reads on the tribe that it seems inevitable that Savannah will be calling the shots on Uli. Savannah certainly carries the aura to be the next “black widow” player in Survivor, and the show seems to be preparing us to be wowed by her gameplay… I can think of no reason why the show would be incentivized to do this… hmmmm.
Will Kele lose another tribal council? Or will lines have to be drawn in the sand by the Uli or Hina tribe and a new power player will have to emerge?