Survivor 49 | Ep. 10
LEWATU - NIGHT 17
RIZGOD gets his well deserved victory lap after orchestrating the Alex vote with Soph and Savannah and keeping his Immunity Idol and Savannah’s Extra Vote. Impressive.
The question becomes, who becomes the next target? Soph is sharpening her fangs toward Steven. Ultimately, Kristina and Steven are feeling isolated, Kristina has an idol but doesn’t pose a threat in any challenge nor the strategic game and Steven is trying to play the middle. Steven is the obvious choice and I think they can easily scare Kristina to play her idol, if they wanted to.
DAY 18
The night vision is about to wear off and so is Sage’s ability to keep her mouth shut to Jawan on Kristina having the idol. Jawan now knows that Kristina has an idol AND he knows that Steven knows and so Jawan goes fishing.
No bites from Steven.
Steven and Kristina are feeling desperate, down, and relying on a “huge dose of bamboozle” to try and flip the game back in their favor. I like how Steven is aware enough to know that Kristina isn’t a threat in challenges, nor the game, but her idol and her trust in him, can be the greatest asset in his game. In other words, even though Steven is in a vulnerable position, he still has creative control over Kristina’s idol more than anyone else, including Kristina.
REWARD CHALLENGE - DAY 18
The players arrive to the challenge in style, but something is off and Jeff sniffs it out immediately. He throws his question out to Kristina and the editing team takes over to bring us into her emotions as she EXPLODES with tears and then an almost Liz (46) moment. But in the end, Kristina misses her mother, her rock, her emotional support, and the person she always would turn to when she was struggling.
Kristina is struggling in this game and so are the rest of the players. They are all feeling the effects of the game. Some more than others and today is Kristina’s low point.
Enter Jeff Probst.
I hope America is taking notes and understands what Jeff just did. Instead of saying a typical, perfectly acceptable response like, “I’m so sorry for your loss”, instead, Jeff offers “Tell me about your mom”. Jeff must have read “Supercommunicators” by Charles Duhigg because his simple gesture signals Kristina that she’s safe to be vulnerable, show her emotions, and tell us what her mother meant to her. I think in that moment we all thought about our mothers, I know I did. 😊
Oh, but Jeff isn’t done there.
Then, he seizes the moment to remind us, as he often does, that in Survivor, the game is the lure but the experience is the real prize. The transformation that the players can have is the real prize. Kristina is transforming before our eyes and I bet the other players were too. Heck, I will be as bold to say, that those of us at home who are also self aware, are likely transforming a bit too, even from the comfort of the couch.
Thank you Jeff. Thank you Kristina.
REWARD CHALLENGE
REWARD - The Sanctuary is back and equipped with some burgers, dogs, all the fixins, and chocolate cake.
SOPH’s Team - Soph, Sophie, Sage, Steven
JAWAN’s Team - Jawan, Rizo, Kristina, Savannah
WAY TO GO KRISTINA!!!! Clap it up folks! That is championship level effort right there. THAT’S HOW YA DO IT ON SURVIVOR!!!!
Despite Kristina’s Herculean effort to overcome the balance beam and Rizo’s ability to battle through too, they lagged the yellow team behind enough to allow Soph, Sophie, Sage, and Steven to swing the three buoys up and in and win the trip to the Sanctuary.
I love the challenges that are suspended out in the water that involve climbing up, diving in, speeding up, slowing down, and then finishing with precision. This challenge was great!
LOSERS - DAY 18
Winning can be the greatest deodorant and losing can expose the worst B.O.. The game isn’t just beating Kristina down, it’s beating all of them. Post challenge, Rizo’s failures rip open the facade he is keeping up with his strategic success to reveal emotion that says the game is beating me down.
SANCTUARY - DAY 18
Is it me or does the food at the rewards look like the greatest version of a burger or hot dog that you’ve ever seen? I love watching these scenes. I can’t help but picture how juicy the burger is, how great the fixins taste, and how sweet the soda is and everything in between. I can’t help but picture myself in their shoes, or should I say buffs, and I gotta believe that given the circumstances, it has to be one of the greatest meals of their life.
LEWATU - DAY 19
3 boys on a bench, let’s just skip it.
With Alex voiding the “person playing the middle”, enter Sage. She’s in on the conversations with Rizo, Soph, Savannah, and Jawan, (old ULI still lingers), but she’s also talking to Steven and Sophie.
But, what’s interesting is that Sage isn’t the actual person in the middle. Instead, it’s Sophie. I like getting the story from her P.O.V. that one faction wants Savannah gone (Sage, Jawan, Steven) and the other wants Steven gone (Rizo, Soph, Savannah) and that leaves her in the middle. She has game altering information to consider and make her choice.
IMMUNITY CHALLENGE - DAY 19
Are we done with the rice dilemma? I think we are.
The teeter totter and discs on the pole speed you up, and the balance beam with puzzle pieces slows you down. Or at least that’s the challenge. Steven takes the big risk of balancing 3 and 4 pieces at a time and it pays off, he gets to the puzzle first. Others who took 1 or 2 pieces over the balance beam are lagging behind.
Steven begins the puzzle first and has a sizable advantage, but Sophie had other ideas. She finished 2nd at the previous two Immunity Challenges and she wasn’t about to let that happen again. From my perspective, she was putting the puzzle together with a greater confidence and sense of urgency than anyone else. I think that’s why she won and sits in the comfortable position of the final 7.
POST- TRIBAL SCRAMBLE - DAY 19
There’s a lot happening and the intensity’s picking up. Sage is pushing to vote out Savannah and needs Jawan, Steven and Sophie to do it. She also hopes that it will cause some idol flushing domino effects. Separate from that, Rizo, Savannah and Soph are “locked in” on Steven.
That leaves two others - Sophie and Kristina.
Sophie and her Immunity Necklace are ready to make a move and use information to disrupt people’s plans. Sophie spills the tea to Rizo, Savannah, and Soph what she learned from Sage about Kristina having an idol and she tells them that Sage and Jawan are flipping on them. Power move. She doubles down by telling Rizo that he should play his idol. Sophie is ready to start playing her game.
That leaves Kristina. She has an idol, but what will she do with it and who does she want to target? If she thinks people are voting Steven, will she play it for him and potentially swing the entire vote? The potential is there.
Then, Savannah calls her bluff and asks her straight out who she’s voting for and Kristina had to literally walk away. I love how Savannah took the bull by the horns and stopped the nonsense. I think it just shows that Savannah is able to rise to a level that Kristina cannot.
Then, Savannah turns it up again. She realizes, why don’t we just vote out Sage or Jawan - aka the flip floppers. Aka the people who are playing the middle are about to get called out, again! I love it! I think Savannah is going for broke here too. She shares with Soph the plan and she loves it. She shares the Extra Vote info with Sophie and the plan to vote flip floppers, but Sophie seems more hesitant. My guess is Tribal is going to be ON FIRE!!!!!!!
LFG!!!
PREDICTION: Honestly, I have no idea, but it seems that Savannah, Rizo, and Soph will come out of this still on top and Kristina and Steven will still on bottom. Savannah wanted to vote a flip flopper but didn’t want to vote Sage, so i guess Jawan gets voted out. 🤷
TRIBAL COUNCIL - NIGHT 19
RIZGOD is bringing the heat and the confidence to this Tribal. He’s right. The game is won and lost at Tribal and to Sophie it’s the Super Bowl, but to Sage, she doesn’t know a thing about sports. lol
Kristina reveals how clueless she is and how nervous she is.
Rizo likes to talk out loud, dangle his idol out there, and use the stage of Tribal to his advantage. He has a big personality and I think he rises to it and loves it. He calls it “a show”. It’s an interesting strategy. I also like how players like Steven rise up to his level to tell him “I’m not afraid of this move” and I’m here to play. On the other hand, to me, players like Kristina, Sage, and Jawan are the people who can’t play Rizo’s game at Tribal and may be outmatched.
KRISTINA PLAYS HER IDOL FOR STEVEN
I love that Kristina took her shot and did it for Steven.
RIZO PLAYS HIS IMMUNITY IDOL FOR SAVANNAH
BRILLIANT MOVE! He played the threat of playing the idol and read the reactions of playing it for Savannah. Put him on 50.
VOTES
JAWAN - 5
SAVANNAH - 3
RIZO - 1
Sage telling Sophie and Sophie telling Rizo and Savannah ended up being the end for Jawan. Savannah made the decision to change the direction of her vote, her extra vote and her alliance’s vote to Jawan, and it got him voted out.
First, great job by Savannah to turn the vote around, target Jawan, and use her extra vote to secure the numbers. That’s how you do it. Next, great job by Soph to go with the plan and not use her Knowledge is Power advantage here. There is a greater move to be made with it - either taking Rizo’s actual idol or not using it at all and pulling it out during Final Tribal - but tonight was not the night for it. Lastly, props to Rizo. The guy locked up a spot in 50 with using the power of playing an idol without actually playing the idol. Everyone knows he’s got the idol, he talks about it all the time, and he dangles the doubt in people’s heads of whether or not he will play it. However, the way he used the threat of his idol, I don’t think has been done before (except on Surviving Barstool by Tommy Smokes). It’s a brilliant move because the power of an idol is in when you play it, who you play it for, and what it can reveal from others. In this case, it was quite a reaction. People didn’t know what to do with it. Kristina and Steven were still in the dark. Jawan was pleading with him to play the real one. Sage was shocked and upset. And Rizo’s alliance loved it. It’s a move that someone makes who is at another level of gameplay and confidence in the game. He was able to extract another value from the idol that few, if any ever, have been able to extract. If you have an idol, don’t just walk up to Jeff and hand it to him, instead, turn around, observe, and learn from others’ reactions things you may not have known. Or at least do it so you can see the looks on their faces when you’ve outplayed them.
As for Jawan, we say goodbye to our fourth jury member and my thoughts are this is a great outcome for him. He’s the self described comic book nerd from the city. I think Jawan just got outplayed by better players. He was never going to outwit Rizo or Savannah. Maybe he’s too nice, maybe he’s too nerdy, and maybe he wasn’t cutthroat enough. My guess is he’s not as bad a player as a Shannon but not as good as a Rizo and so 8th place feels right. His Survivor story is all about getting outside your comfort zone, expanding horizons, and learning that you can do things you didn’t know you could. Jawan opened this season of Survivor narrating how the game was like a horror movie and in Act 1 is suspenseful and the minor characters are killed off, in Act 2 the chase begins, and that leads to Act 3 where the heroes fight back. In the horror movie that is Survivor 49, Jawan made it to the chase but the monster got him before he could fight back.
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