It’s the final eight, and Rizo just made a bold move to snipe Alex while pocketing his idol for another round. The Rizgod label was a bit of a joke for a while, but honestly? He’s low-key earning it now. Unfortunately, not everyone is enjoying the aftermath, as Kristina and Steven are stuck at the bottom after a brief stint in power. Kristina is relieved to have her idol still, but with Soph’s advantage in play and the editors doing everything in their power to lay on the dramatic irony here, I wouldn’t bet on that idol doing much good for her. But Steven is the main target for now on account of his strategic ambitions if Soph has anything to say about it.
The next morning, Sage meets up with Jawan and reveals Kristina’s idol, making him promise not to tell anyone about it. Wow, surely this won’t inevitably blow anything up, right? Well, Jawan immediately gets red flags about Steven’s trustworthiness since he never mentioned this idol to him, not even when he gives Steven the opportunity to reveal some secrets and build goodwill. From Steven’s view, he doesn’t want to tell Jawan anything because he just went behind his back to send Alex home. No love lost there, so this alliance is on its way out.
Speaking of trust, Kristina put a ton of it into her budding relationships, and now it’s biting her in the butt once the game got cutthroat and proved bonds can be broken with ease. Part of her just wants to go home and get away from the rest of the cast to heal her emotional wounds, but she and Steven aren’t done fighting for top billing. They need to target Savannah, weaponize Kristina’s idol if need be, and flip the game around yet again. But the odds are stacked against this plan in ways they can’t even fathom.
The pressure gets so bad that Kristina breaks down at the next reward challenge, opening up about her late mother and the legacy she left, and how she just wants her back but can’t give up without letting her down. But the transformative journey of suffering through the game day by day and emerging stronger than ever is what she admits she needs to find peace, so Kristina locks in and gets ready to play, wrenching herself across that balance beam with everything she’s got to keep her team alive. But a valiant effort doesn’t guarantee a win, because Sage, Soph, Sophie, and Steven maintain their lead and claim victory.
Back at camp, Rizo has his own breakdown over the hunger and pain as the days have taken their toll. Jawan says it feels like a funeral, and he’s not wrong, so off he goes to catch some fish for the gang. He’s no Ozzy, but he catches one small fish for bragging rights. Meanwhile, the winners get burgers and hot dogs galore in a real Haves and Have Nots contrast. Emotions aside, reward means fuel for challenges and information for strategy, and Sage is ready to rally troops against Savannah if she loses immunity. Sophie’s seemingly on board, Jawan should be open to it for obvious reasons, and Kristina and Steven have nowhere else to go, so the numbers are there. Maybe.
After a bizarre application ad where Jeff puts on a terrible British accent (wish I could say it’s the first time he’s done that, but alas), we cut back to the tribe starting a boy band to double down on the cringe. Enough cringe, though, because we have more planning to get to, and it’s against one of the band’s star members in Steven. In on it are Savannah, Rizo, Soph, Jawan… and Sage, who laughs in the plan’s face in her confessionals and ropes Steven into the Savannah blindside.
But as Steven joins, Sophie gets cold feet and realizes she’s the swing. Savannah took her under her wing when she needed an ally, but voting her out could flip everything around and make her position even better. She’s going to piss off someone though, and she doesn’t really care. She can apologize and make nice once she’s a millionaire, and that’s that. And to cap off her declaration of dominance, Sophie puts her reward food fuel to good use and wins immunity, bringing an end to Savannah’s winning streak. There’s also rice negotiation nonsense again, but nobody really cares, so I don’t care, and neither should anyone else.
With Savannah vulnerable, this could be the last shot to knock her out and break up her little trio. But with Rizo having his idol, Sage and Jawan have to play smart and pull off a blindside, or else he might protect her with it and ruin everything. Rizo believes the plan is still on Steven, so… so far so good. But Sage goes for broke and gets a little greedy by telling Sophie about Kristina’s idol, and Sophie runs right to Savannah to reveal it all, as well as the news that Sage and Jawan have flipped. Steven and Kristina have no idea what’s brewing against them, so they’re going into Tribal thinking Kristina will play her idol on Steven, and a hinky vote on Rizo will guarantee either him or Savannah goes home.
Savannah makes her rounds, though, and susses out the goings on, figuring Kristina and Jawan are both voting for her. Time to whip out that extra vote and flip some votes around, and to punish the flip-floppers, Sage and Jawan are now the targets. Soph debates using her Knowledge is Power on Kristina just in case the idol rumors are true, but when it comes to the votes, she lets Sophie call the shots to keep her loyal to the alliance long-term. But there are still so many possibilities floating around. Steven, Jawan, and Sage are on the block. Two idols in play. An extra vote. And then Soph’s advantage nobody even knows about.
After an analogy-packed Tribal where Jawan all but spoils Savannah being the target to her face, Soph keeps her Knowledge is Power for another day, Kristina saves Steven with her idol, Rizo showboats as he plays his idol on Savannah… which turns out to be a phony! Rizo’s actually holding his idol AGAIN, and his ploy was just to test the waters and see how everyone reacted to the faux play. When the votes come out, Rizo gets a single throwaway vote, leaving rivals Jawan and Savannah to stare each other down as the rest pour in against them.
Jawan is blindsided with five votes by Savannah, Rizo, Soph, and Sophie, along with the extra vote Savannah pocketed. Jawan leaves in good spirits, Sage is left in tears without her number one, and the power has shifted yet again. Savannah, Rizo, Soph, and Sophie are the core four. Steven, Kristina, and Sage are right back on the bottom. And with the majority holding all the advantages left, it might be a wrap at this point.
But if the rest of the season really is that straightforward, at least we got a really solid Tribal tonight. One that felt less dictated by advantages and random nonsense than you’d think at first glance. It was about information being exchanged, people reading each other like books, some ballsy plays from both sides that had varying results of success, and thankfully, no Knowledge is Power mucking it up, even though Soph probably should’ve used it, all things considered. A fun episode for sure. Not enough to say this is a great season, of course, but I was entertained for almost 90 minutes straight, so that’s a win in my book.
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