Each week, Christine Pallon and Gia Worthy will round up the previous week of Survivor 48 as they list their top moments in various important categories. This includes the most essential information, the stand-out castaways, and the key moments from the week.
Here, Christine and Gia break down all the action from the latest episode.
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Top 3 Moments
Eva Gets an Advantage
Christine: After winning immunity and a very important piece of paper in her bowl of chips in the last episode, Eva had to sneak away from camp in the dark to get an advantage. She won an extra vote but could risk her advantage and upgrade it to a Safety Without Power by choosing one of two scrolls. She selected correctly and won, but decided not to risk her Safety Without Power for a full idol, deciding the 1 in 3 chance was too risky. Since she already had an idol in her possession, it was a smart move to play it safe at this last stage of the game. Eva wasn’t entirely subtle when she snuck out from camp, with Shuahin catching her in the act and immediately telling Joe, but she was able to save face with her allies by telling Joe, Kyle, and Shauhin what she won the next day.
Kyle Shares with Joe
Gia: To say things were shaky between David and Kyle during this episode is an understatement, but the way David was speaking to Kyle left a really bad taste in his mouth. This left Kyle with a need to explain himself to his allies, particularly Joe, why he was so defensive when David was increasingly aggressive with him. In this one-on-one discussion, Kyle explained to Joe (and the audience) that he has had some unfortunate run-ins with law enforcement, to the point that he spent a month in jail for underage drinking while he was in law school. This time inspired Kyle to not only better his own life but also finish law school and speak about his experiences on a larger platform. It was a heartbreaking yet empowering moment to watch, and an excellent piece of commentary on the police state many Survivor fans can relate to.
David Gets Paranoid
Christine: David and his second in command Mary (by the way, I’m still not entirely clear where on earth that tight relationship came from), fell into a spiral of paranoia as they tried to figure out the Kamilla of it all. David tried to get ahead of his alliance’s impending implosion by sharing his suspicions about Shauhin, Kyle, and Kamila with Joe but ended up alienating Joe when he accused him of going back on his word at the previous vote. Meanwhile, Eva became equally sketched out when she realized that Mary and David’s paranoia would pull their alliance apart. All of this set the stage for Mitch to save himself and for the majority alliance to blindside David, sending him out of the game and leaving Mary out of the vote.
Advantage Watch
Safety Without Power
Gia: On top of an idol, Eva has also acquired a Safety Without Power advantage after successfully risking her vote. This advantage is good until the final seven and allows Eva to leave a tribal council without voting. While she initially planned to keep this advantage a secret, she eventually decided to tell her alliance members about it. Time will tell if this is the right call.
Idols
Christine: Eva’s still got that idol! She had the chance to get another, but (correctly) decided it wasn’t worth the risk and took the Safety Without Power instead.
Top 3 Players
Eva
Christine: With another advantage in her pocket, Eva’s power grows, but so does her threat level. She and Joe made the smart move of taking David out here, as he became more and more of a liability for them than a valuable ally. Out of the Joe and Eva duo, she’s a lot more threatening than him with her public idol and her somewhat public Safety Without Power (with Kyle and Shauhin in the loop about it, it’s only a matter of time before one of them spills the beans to Kamilla).
If Eva stays on her toes and uses these advantages defensively, she could be just one or two immunity wins away from making it to the end. But I worry she’ll get too comfortable and go out with them in her pocket when someone inevitably decides she’s a good option to take out soon. Her tight duo with Joe is critical to her game, but it’s also painfully obvious, and her advantages make her the more dangerous target of the two. With David out of the game and the playing field opening up, Eva needs to be prepared to burn those advantages to save herself in the coming days.
Joe
Gia: Is Joe the winner of Survivor 48? It’s more likely than you may think. Last week I highlighted how I believed that if he is the winner of Survivor 48, that episode was the beginning of his winner edit. This week I double down on this theory and add in that episode 9 solidifies as one of the few true contenders for the win. While David’s lack of social game made him a relatively easy vote this round, Joe’s strong social capital sets him apart from his competitors. The fact that his name has yet to come up as a target is impressive enough, but continuing to build on his reputation as an “honest” and “loyal” player with little backlash is on a whole other level. If anyone else wants a chance at the win, they’ll need to start looking his way.
Kyle
Gia: Joe may be a top contender for the win as of now, but Kyle remains my undisputed winner pick for the season. Yes, Joe is getting a good edit to justify a possible win, but Kyle has a more extensive Survivor resume and, truthfully, is miles ahead of Joe in terms of strategy. Kyle has had more of an uphill battle in this game, dating back to the tribe swap where he and Kamilla were able to pull the wool over the eyes of Thomas, Shauhin, and yes, even Joe. And even now, it seems like many players still have not caught on to the fact that he and Kamilla are an unbreakable duo. I worry that people will catch on soon to just how good of a game he is playing, but he is, without a doubt, the player I am cheering on the most to win.
Fallen Comrades
David
Christine: I can’t say I’ll miss David on this season. It was interesting to see such a tight majority alliance form and try to dominate the game in the New Era, but the last few episodes really dragged as a result. David tried to set himself up with an alliance that would bring him to the end, and he succeeded initially by forming a tight core group that felt some degree of loyalty to each other. However, David had a very narrow and rigid approach to Survivor and failed to adapt to the fact that he couldn’t fully control his alliance members’ every move; instead, he tried to berate and strongarm them into doing what he wanted.
It’s a shame he fell into this narrow, brute-force gameplay since we saw him excel socially in the pre-merge. It didn’t have to be this way, David! He could’ve made it further in the game if he had softened his game with more diplomacy, charm, and flexibility, but instead, he saw himself brutally blindsided by his own allies as a result of his own strongarming.
Gia: Well, David, based on your exit interviews and how you behaved in the past few episodes, I can’t say I’m disappointed that you are gone (even if it comes at the expense of my draft). There is no denying that David was a controversial figure this season, and he certainly got the fans talking, but not always for the best reasons. If there’s one thing solidified for me from his time in the game, it’s that the social game really does triumph over everything. Even the best-laid plans will fall apart without it, whether David wants to admit that or not. While I’m glad we have received more evidence to attest to this fact, I’m even more excited to watch Survivor 48 move forward without him in the game.
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