“Survivor”: Season 48, Episode 5, Reviewed

On Wednesday, Survivor released episode five of Season 48. It was a fantastic episode full of powerful moments, including something that has never happened in 48 seasons of “Survivor”: Jeff crying.

At the start of the episode, Shauhin was bummed about Thomas getting home but harbored no ill will towards Kyle for playing his idol. Kyle and Kamilla are still convincing Joe and Shauhin that they are not in an alliance (they are). Kyle told them he was going to go with them, but he noticed that someone had gone through his bag. One confusing thing was that Kyle said they burned the extra vote. This was ostensibly for safety, to split the vote in case votes went on Camilla. This meant the Vula tribe was deadlocked 2 to 2, however.

For the reward challenge, Lagi led most of the way and won first place. Mary was excited, as this was her first challenge win of the season. She received a lecture from Sai for displaying this excitement. Sai was being an embarrassingly sore loser here — she didn’t even compete in the challenge! Lagi was understandably pissed about this, reassuring Mary that she did nothing wrong. They earned a trip to the sanctuary, which they loved. Chrissy got her buttery croissants, and David savored his whole milk.

Vula got second place, earning a smaller assortment of pastries. They may not have gotten first, but those pastries meant a lot to them. The four of them bonded over them — talking about issues their parents went through and how much harder that was than playing Survivor. Kamilla’s parents endured through the Sri Lankan genocide. Shauhin’s were refugees from the Iranian revolution. Joe is mixed, and his white mom and Black dad took a picture in front of a segregated water fountain while they were dating.

Kyle, Kamilla, Joe, and Shauhin are a foursome I love and that I hope works together going forward. They’re all likable people that want to play this game hard. They locked that foursome in over pastries, and I believe them. Maybe Eva can join them once the tribes merge!

Sai’s Civa tribe got last. Bianca was now food-less and bummed that Thomas, her number-one ally, was out of the game. She now knew she needed to make stronger relationships with her swapped tribe.

On the same beach, Chrissy was mad at Sai for saying she wanted to sit out because she had not yet and acting like that was a big deal. Chrissy hadn’t sat out of a challenge either, and she wasn’t the only other person in that situation. The second Sai got back to camp, she grabbed a piece of fruit. This set Chrissy off further, as she knew Sai expended zero energy during that challenge that necessitated eating their limited amount of fruit. When Chrissy confronted her about this, Sai was snappy in response. Sai is abrasive and not self-aware — she grates on her tribemates.

Mitch and Chrissy had originally wanted to take out Bianca to weaken the original Lagi tribe (Bianca, Eva, Joe, Shauhin, Star, Thomas). However, with Thomas gone, weakening Lagi was  less of a priority. This opened the door to voting for Sai, who they liked less than Bianca and saw less potential to partner with strategically.

Mitch pulled Bianca aside and pitched working with her to take Sai out. Bianca loved this, especially because she secretly didn’t have a vote for the next tribal council. She had lost it during the last journey.

Since Sai was annoyed at Chrissy for calling out her antics, she wanted to work with Cedrek and Bianca to take out Chrissy.

For the immunity challenge, tribes started out dragging a boat through the water and then dug through sand under a thick wood beam once they reached the shore. Lagi got through the sand beam first and moved on to the ball-balancing phase. Vula caught up and finished this first, winning immunity. Eva struggled with the puzzle, and had what she called an “episode” of panic during it, but somehow managed to complete the challenging ball balancing task and secure immunity for Lagi. Her focus and perseverance are incredibly impressive and one of the most inspiring things I’ve seen on Survivor and TV in general. After finishing the challenge, she cried and shook uncontrollably. Jeff, the show’s host, asked Joe to help out, and he expertly calmed her down with hugs and breathing exercises right there. It was the remarkable and powerful culmination of Eva confiding in Joe about her autism.

This act of kindness exposed Eva and Joe’s bond in front of the entire cast, but that bond is stronger than the game. Eva told everyone that she was autistic after that, revealing that doctors told her family she would never be able to live on her own and that the best she could hope for was potentially being able to marry another autistic person. Eva sharing her story was beautiful. I don’t think anyone is going to take advantage of her struggles reading social cues, but I do think she will inspire numerous people to be more confident in who they are and to push the limits of who they think they can be. This was the first time Jeff has cried in 48 seasons of Survivor and the most moved I have ever been watching the show. I often focus on strategic gameplay in these recaps, but that moment is why I love Survivor.

Eva’s reveal even bonded her and Star despite their relational struggles all season. Eva’s honesty inspired Star to reveal that she had a beware advantage. The rest of the tribe helped her figure it out, getting her the idol. Eva figured out the cryptogram — “SILENT!” When Eva unlocked it, Star told her to keep the idol. This was a near-unprecedented act of goodwill that solidified Star and Eva as unlikely allies.

Back at Civa Beach, Bianca told Cedrek that she wanted to take out Chrissy while telling Chrissy and Mitch that she wanted to take out Sai. Her goal was to pit Sai and Chrissy against each other so that the vote was a 2-2 tie against Chrissy and Sai. In that situation, the re-vote would only be between Chrissy and Sai. I get that Bianca had to play riskier because she had no vote herself, but telling both sides two different things is dangerous.

Since Mitch trusted Cedrek after Cedrek told him that in childhood, he also had a speech impediment, Chrissy and Mitch told Cedrek that they wanted to take out Sai. Cedrek agreed to this and Chrissy and Mitch believed him. They were confident that it would be a 4-1 vote against Sai. However, Cedrek didn’t actually want Sai to go home yet. With only three original Vula left (Cedrek, Mary, Sai), he didn’t want anyone from his original tribe going home. He planned to vote for Chrissy. This actually played into Bianca’s split-vote plan, but she got antsy. She didn’t want Cedrek to come back the next day and distrust her, partly because she already lost her closest ally, Thomas.

Bianca told Cedrek that she didn’t have a vote, hoping to build trust with him. Unfortunately for Bianca, Cedrek turned this information against her. He told Chrissy and Mitch that Bianca had no vote and orchestrated a 2-1-1 blindside of Bianca. This was a villainous move by Cedrek, but I respect taking an opportunity to keep a close ally in Sai. He didn’t tell Sai though, which was a weird choice. Mitch voted for Sai, which I assume was to split the vote.

With hindsight, Bianca should have played more conservatively to maximize the chances of surviving that harrowing tribal council. However, I’ll always understand the desire to make a trusted ally — those are valuable in this game. Cedrek just wasn’t that for her.

Tune in next week to see how this season continues to unfold!