Survivor 48 | Ep. 11
NIU NAI - Night 19
“Mary, if you’re here, you’re here for a reason.” - Mary (to Mary)
Mary thinks the reason she is still in the game is to get rid of Joe or Eva. The reality is that Joe has emerged as the number one threat to win the game and that means that people in Mary or Mitch’s position have to make their move, now. Well, really they probably needed to do it last episode or even the one before that, but I think the culture of this tribe is built in the image of Joe, it’s loyal and straight up.
Having players in Mary’s position and with a mindset like she has, may not appeal to the masses but I love it. I love seeing people play and play hard. I like seeing desperate people do desperate things and fully stop giving a f#@! because they have nothing to lose.
Keep doing you Mary!
NIU NAI - Day 20
Joe is SOOOOO CONFIDENT right now in his alliance of four - Joe, Eva, Shauhin and Kyle. He’s talking about his game as the game he’d want his kids to play. The guy is too comfortable.
Enter Kyle. He’s still playing as close to the middle as someone can in this season. Actually, Kyle has defined the middle this season. His emotional connection to his alliance with Joe, Eva, and Shauhin is genuine and a powerful force, but his communication of that to the desperate people as a means of maintaining power over them, is more impressive. I think Kyle is playing so well that I think every viewer doesn’t know what he’s going to do nor who his number one is.
In the next scene, we flip with Kyle over to the other side and see him and Kamilla hammer out the rock and a hard place. The rock is the dealing with betraying Joe, Eva, or Shauhin and the hard place is the other side of his game betraying Kamilla. Kyle has to make a choice and it’s gutting him. He is raw with emotion because his game is on a collision course with his real life belief system that he doesn’t like to hurt people. The game is at a tipping point and Kyle is the fulcrum. Ultimately, he has to make his choice of going with Joe, Eva, and Shuahin or going with Kamilla.
I think the better move is to go with Kamilla. Two reasons. One, I believe Kyle would still get Joe, Eva, and Shauhin’s jury votes if he makes it to the final three. Second, the shock value of his secret alliance with Kamilla for the entirety of the game will add to his resume, and I believe, make him unbeatable at the end. I am rooting for Kyle and hope he wins.
SNORKELING/FISHING - Day 20
AN INCREDIBLE SCENE! I say it every season but Survivor is the most beautiful television show. The music, scenery, drone shots, and underwater tranquility brings calm to the players and to us the viewers. I feel a sense of relaxation being underwater with Kyle, Shauhin and Mitch as they spearfish. The noise of the game is silenced and the beauty of the island takes center stage. I love when the show does this.
And I know why they do it. To set us up for the 180 coming next.
JOURNEY - Day 20
Come on, you didn’t think that zen moment had any staying power, did you?
Eva wins the rock draw and is headed out for a journey because of course Eva did. Eva heads out onto this journey with a Hidden Immunity Idol and Safety Without Power advantage. Eva going on this journey means everyone else in the game isn’t on this journey.
However, that also means that Eva could be risking her vote at this journey. This matters because of the numbers. In her head it’s 4-3 and her vote MATTERS! If she were to lose it, it could flip things on her and the alliances’ stranglehold on the game.
Ya gotta love it!
A GAME AWAITS INSIDE THE JUNGLE
STACK 4 LEVELS - Vote is Safe
STACK 8 LEVELS - Earn Knowledge is Power advantage
TWIST - Turn platform only using feet while balancing on a platform
Eva EASILY stacks 4 levels using her superpower of fixation. She keeps her vote, passes on Knowledge is Power, and we the viewers are let down because she was the last person who needed to go on that journey. Imagine if Mary had been there? She is definitely stacking 8 levels, earning the Knowledge is Power advantage and asking Eva about the Hidden Immunity Idol and flipping this game.
Oh well.
Even Eva’s brutal honesty back on the beach, though endearing, sucks from an entertainment standpoint. It prevents the game from being shook up. It maintains the status quo which is fine for Joe and Eva, but pretty much nobody else.
Luckily, we still have Mary. Mary is playing hard and looking to shake things up. She has pitched Kamilla and Mitch, she’s pitched Kyle, and now Shauhin. The major takeaway from Shauhin is similar to Kyle, that’s the internal conflict. The choice of going with the flow and voting out Mary or grabbing the game by the horns and steering it your own direction and nobody else’s.
Is Mary getting through??? Look out Joe!
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE - Day 21
REWARD - Sushi, Chicken Teriyaki, Chocolate Cake
This challenge comes down to some awkward balancing. The debut of the Survivor wheel barrow and navigating it over balance beams and bumps in the dirt was really tough, especially for poor Mary. She can’t buy a break.
As most challenges do, this one comes down to unscrambling the word and assembling the awkward individual block arch puzzle. At the puzzle phase I learned that each block has letters on two sides in different colors - one white (faces out) and one black (faces players). Now, because the word is UNFORGETTABLE and has the two Ts next to each other, you think it doesn’t matter the order of the Ts, but ask Kyle about it.
Kyle thinks he’s got the win when he steps back and throws his hands up shouting UNFORGETTABLE, but he got got by the two Ts. His puzzle read UNFORGETTABLE on the black side facing him but it ready UNFOGRETTABLE on the white side facing out.
Devastating.
Kyle’s error opens the door for Joe and Kamilla. The cameras cut to Joe and Kamilla holding up 3/4 of an arch and still managing to pick up blocks from the floor with their feet. They finish within seconds of each other and throw their hands up thinking they’ve won.
JOE WI— NO, I’M WRONG, YOUR PUZZLE’S WRONG.” - Jeff
KAMILLA WINS IMMUNITY! Jeff avoids a disaster and Joe’s reaction to devastating news is “fair”. Credit to Kamilla for winning this challenge. I’m sure the memory will be UNFORGETTABLE. Credit to Jeff for correcting his near error immediately by somehow seeing that the block with a symbol on it was on the wrong color side. How does he do it? Oh right, he’s Jeff Probst. Lastly, credit to Joe for again keeping his composure and shrugging off defeat and giving Kamilla the respect and praise she earned.
I’m not confident that I would be able to do that.
REWARD - Day 21
Kamilla’s strategy is on full display at the food reward. She chose Eva to keep her and Joe feeling safe and feeling comfortable. But she has a grander plan. She knows that one, by winning immunity, Joe is vulnerable. Two, with Mary being written off and the easy vote, the comfort of Joe/Eva is exploitable at this Tribal. Three, Eva’s inability to play a strategic game nor lie, combined with her being the one holding the only two advantages, makes it easy for the move to be pulled off to take down Joe. Eva can’t see the move coming. Eva is literally telling Kamilla and Mitch that she is voting for Mary this vote, using Safety Without Power next Tribal and her idol at final five. If she wins Immunity, she is giving her idol to Joe because they are a duo to the end. Everyone knows it but only the strategists know how to exploit this to their benefit and I think we are going to see that happen at Tribal.
PRE-TRIBAL SCRAMBLE - Day 21
The endgame is taking shape quickly. Kyle has been the middle of the game but when he admits to Kamilla that he isn’t a teacher and that he’s a lawyer. I believe that admission is a signal to us that Kyle has made his choice and he’s going with Kamilla to the end.
The final piece of drama before Tribal is a first of it’s kind for Joe. Mary does her best Joker impression when she tells Joe, point blank, that she’s writing his name down.
How does Joe, the fireman, the 3x immunity winner, and frontrunner in the game react?
PARANOIA!!!
Uh-oh Joe.
PREDICTION: Kyle and Kamilla team with Mitch and Mary, despite their fears, and take their shot at Joe. And it lands. Joe gets voted out.
TRIBAL COUNCIL - Night 21
Jeff begins Tribal Council asking about the sacrifices that people made at home to come here and why people have come out to play Survivor. Mary and Kamilla are here to live out the sacrifices of their parents and give back to them. Shauhin’s story is the same. His parents had nothing, worked hard and sacrificed for him to be able to do something like play Survivor. They want to provide/give back to their parents.
The conversation shifts from an emotional one to a practical one with the question of working for what’s best for you and your individual game versus making moves with an “us” mentality. Obviously, Eva and Joe still see the “us” game.
Finally, we are reminded that each player’s perception of the game, their game, and everyone else’s game is unique to them. It feels like the perception of the game is about to shift…dramatically.
VOTES
MARY - 6
JOE - 1
Well, I guess I’m totally missing something here. First, is Mary THAT much of an untrustworthy player and THAT much of a final Tribal threat to win? I get that she had quite a journey in this game, especially being the last VULA standing, but that can’t be it. Second, I understand the value of loyalty in this season of Survivor and that Mary had no loyalty to anyone, so she had to go. Third, and this is what I really am missing on, WHY IS DAVID STANDING UP FOR MARY FROM THE JURY BENCH??? It’s an unprecedented move in the new era and it just reads as David is still pissed. It was so awkward that the camera cuts to Kamilla laughing and then back to David where you see Star covering her laugh behind him.
Final thoughts on Mary. My prediction was wrong. I thought that Joe would get blindsided but instead they voted out Mary. Mary leaves the game with her head held high and rightfully so. She played a scrappy and desperate game the entire 21 days. Sai’s aggression was targeted at Mary and a Shot in the Dark success kept her in the game and sent Justin home. Mary probably should have been voted out multiple times before Day 21 but to her credit she kept fighting and playing the angles. She is a worthy 5th jury member and final member of VULA to survive. She outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted the VULA tribe and probably her own expectations for the season she found herself on.
