“Survivor”: Season 48, Episode 10, Reviewed

As I open my laptop in the Minneapolis Airport to write my final Survivor article, I am overcome with gratitude. I started writing about “Survivor” during my junior year of high school. I was the sports editor of the school paper, but when sports seasons got canceled due to Covid, I had to find something else to write about. “Survivor” was my favorite show then, so my parents suggested I write about it. Thankfully, my amazing newspaper editor, Ms. Hogan, agreed. When I pitched this column to the Arts & Living editors as a first-year, I was looking for something to do and a place to belong. Four years and 54 “Survivor” articles later, I am overwhelmed by the support I’ve received from the A&L community and everyone who has talked to me about these recaps. Writing these has put countless smiles on my face and furthered my passion for this show I love so dearly — I cannot express how thankful I am to everyone who has made this possible. If anyone wants advice from the “Survivor” guy, please do what you love, and don’t be afraid if what you love is a little different.

Now, let’s get to it! Eight remain in Survivor 48, coming off a massive blindside against challenge-beast David. After being left out of the vote, Mary realizes she’s at the bottom again. Kamilla is also aware that she is not a core member of the majority alliance (Eva, Joe, Kyle, Shauhin). She pulls in Mary and Star in hopes of taking out Joe. Star is all for it, seeing this as the revolution that will bring the outcasts to the top.

To pull this move off, Kamilla, Mary, and Star needed Mitch to side with them. However, the majority alliance also recognizes the importance of Mitch’s vote. Shauhin specifically views Mitch and Kamilla as free agents who could side with the Core Four of him, Joe, Eva, and Kyle, or with Star and Mary. Joe thinks similarly, wanting to eliminate Mary and Star from the bottom.

However, the Core Four alliance does not want to keep Mitch around long term. Star tries to convince him of this by the water well, saying she wants to go to rocks against the majority alliance. Unfortunately, Mitch doesn’t trust Star since she voted for him last tribal.

Kamilla tells Kyle about the planned revolution, but Kyle is a bit gun-shy. He values both playing with Joe in the game and living with Joe as a person. Kyle is also scared of burning too many people on the jury. Since he values his alliance with Kamilla first and foremost, Kyle decides to help Kamilla take the shot at Joe, but he won't cast a vote for Joe himself.

The reward challenge was for fried chicken and waffles. The castaways were so excited that they made a little jingle in anticipation! “They’re savory, they’re sweet, they’re what you want to eat!” Shauhin now has the all-time “Survivor” lead in musical numbers initiated.

Kyle won the challenge in a close battle with Joe and chose to take Eva, Kamilla, and Shauhin.

Mitch took this personally and started to reconsider his position in the game. Surprisingly, this is the reaction Kyle wanted when he left Mitch behind. He wanted Mary, Star, and Mitch as pissed off as possible so that they might go with Kamilla to take a shot at Joe. Even though getting Joe out right now isn’t in his best interest, Kyle is giving his number-one ally (Kamilla) an opportunity to make her big move. I commend that, although the better way to do that would’ve been to take Joe and leave Kamilla behind.

Joe didn’t get too paranoid about getting left behind, seeing it as Kyle leaving him to watch the three on the bottom and make sure they don’t band together.

Joe took the opportunity to tell Mary that they blindsided David because they thought Mary got into his head and was controlling him. He did this to build a relationship with her through honesty. This was to better his chances of getting Mary’s vote at the end, which Mary recognized.

With Joe looking the other way, Mary pitched Mitch on going to rocks against the majority alliance. Although Mary also voted for Mitch last tribal, he was a bit more open to the idea than before.

At the immunity challenge, Jeff offered enough rice to last the rest of the game in exchange for three players sitting out. Surprisingly, the castaways rebuffed him. Whether it’s toughness, this happening later in the season than usual, or naivete, all eight players competed in the challenge.

The immunity challenge was another classic one. Players had to walk back and forth on a beam and place letter blocks to spell immunity without letting the blocks fall. Like always, this challenge took a while. Players are never out of it, as it gets harder to balance the more blocks are stacked, and anyone can drop at any time. It’s a challenge of balance but also a challenge of patience, composure, and resilience: a microcosm of “Survivor.”

With flies buzzing around his face, Joe slowly made his way back to the podium to win his third individual immunity of the season and foil the minority alliance’s plans.

Star asked Mitch to vote for Shauhin, but he balked and sheepishly warned her to play her shot in the dark. He immediately told Shauhin that Star wanted him out.

I was disappointed in Mitch’s response, and Mitch was aware of how this would seem to fans. Mitch addressed us in his confessional, saying he knows fans will think he needs to make a move and that he would love to, but that he doesn’t trust Mary or Star. He won’t make moves with people he doesn’t trust.

Kamilla tells Mary about Mitch’s hesitations, but Mary responds by pitching Kyle’s elimination because she thinks Eva, Shauhin, and Joe wouldn’t go to rocks for him. Mary didn’t know that Kyle was Kamila’s number one ally, so this, unfortunately, was an unavoidable mistake on her part. Kamilla’s focus now shifted to taking out Mary over Star.

Mary and Star recognized that everyone was against them, so Mary went to work, making sure Star went home instead of her. She told Shauhin she would be a number for him if he kept her, which Shauhin liked. He knew that Mary had already played her shot in the dark, so she was less of a threat to him than Star. That alliance went with this logic, making Star the 11th player voted out of the game.

I liked Star a lot and was confused about why the other players disliked and distrusted her. Before leaving the game, she even dropped a new Jeff Probst nickname — “Uncle JP” — and another musical number in her “My Enemies Are Plotting” freestyle.

Star leaving makes it seem like those on the bottom failed, but hope is not lost. The last-ditch move is Kyle flipping on the majority alliance to vote with Kamilla, Mitch, and Mary and oust Joe, Shauhin, or Eva. The main obstacles to that happening are Mitch still distrusting Mary too much and Kyle not wanting to flip on the players he has worked with for so long. If Mitch wants to get to the end and Kyle values Kamilla over the majority three, though, I don’t think either has another option.

Tune in tonight to see if Kamilla, Kyle, Mary, and Mitch can pull off this massive blindside! Thanks for reading, love you all.