“Survivor”: Season 48, Episode 7, Reviewed

Any episode where two players go home is massive in determining the game’s outcome. This is where sleeping giants kick it into gear, and seasons can go from great to excellent. This episode did not disappoint in that regard.

Unfortunately though, it started with a sad Mitch. No one had told him Charity was going home, so he now questioned if he could trust anyone left.

Instead of wallowing in self-pity, Mitch worked on bonding with Shauhin and Joe. He told them that he used to be a mailman and made good money doing it. He took a significant pay cut to become a gym teacher because he wanted to impact young lives positively. Shauhin and Joe gained respect for Mitch in this conversation, but it may have further played into why they already didn’t want to work with him. They know he’s a smart and trustworthy player, but people adore him. Joe and Shauhin are scared that they could lose to him in the end if he gets there.

Mitch’s other issue is that he has now unsuccessfully voted to eliminate Sai twice in a row. Mitch is dead to her.

We then learned that Sai voted for Cedrek in the last episode to get back at him for his lies and to make him panic a bit. It worked — he was freaked out the entire next day. Along with haunting Cedrek, Sai spent the day fostering a relationship with Shauhin.

This conversation was the first time Shauhin and Sai talked game this season. Shauhin thinks they could have worked together if they had started on the same tribe, appreciating Sai’s bluntness and passion for the game more than anyone else has this season. Despite Shauhin already having strong bonds, creating a new ally is never a bad move. This conversation could pay dividends for both players in the future.

This episode’s immunity challenge was a classic from start to finish. Players had to hang onto a rope with a bucket attached that held 25% of their pregame body weight. Castaways were split into two groups of six, with the last player standing in each group winning immunity. This meant that each group would attend a tribal council. The player that lasted the longest overall earned the right for their group to attend tribal second, which was important because the person eliminated at the first tribal missed the jury. They also earned a food reward for their group, which means a lot when you’re starving like these players are.

The orange group was Chrissy, Eva, Joe, Mitch, Sai, and Star. The purple group was Cedrek, David, Kamilla, Kyle, Mary, and Shauhin.

Cedrek’s bucket fell first, after about 20 seconds. He must have been gripping the rope poorly — this was one of the fastest challenge eliminations in Survivor history. Star dropped next, followed by Chrissy and Sai on the orange team. Kamilla dropped next for purple, followed by Mary.

Now, Eva, Joe, and Mitch were left for orange, while David, Kyle, and Shauhin remained for purple. It had been about 10 minutes, so holding on at this point was wildly impressive. Mitch’s bucket started to drop, but he wrenched it back up with pure will.

Shauhin’s bucket fell, leaving only David and Kyle for purple. Mitch unfortunately dropped next, leaving Eva and Joe for orange.

After Shauhin dropped, the smack talk between Kyle and David ramped up. Both wanted the immunity necklace badly and needed the other to fall to earn it. Shauhin chanted some impressively accurate Survivor-like music on the bench — it was on.

After about 10 more minutes, Eva slowly started to drop her bucket and lost to Joe. Joe now had individual immunity but kept holding on to his rope in hopes of earning the food for orange.

Shortly after, Kyle lost the smack talk battle and decided to drop out. He knew he wasn’t beating David anyway. The players were now at 22 minutes, 16 away from the Survivor record at this challenge. Both Joe and David ended up beating that, with Joe falling after over 52 minutes. This tremendous challenge ended with another powerful Survivor moment: Joe saying that he held on for so long to inspire his kids.

Now Cedrek, David, Kamilla, Kyle, Mary, and Shauhin enjoyed a meal, knowing they made the jury. Cedrek was the easy boot out of this group since he had the least social ties — Shauhin, David, and Kyle had previously been working together, Mary had built trust with that group, and Kamilla was Kyle’s number one. However, Kyle secretly distrusted Shauhin since Shauhin searched Kyle’s bag for an idol two episodes ago. Kyle saw this as a potential time to make a big move against Shauhin.

Chrissy, Eva, Joe, Mitch, Sai, and Star returned to Civa’s beach without food or supplies. Mitch and Sai were the two on the outs in this group. Sai recognized this and tried to make things happen. She told Eva that Mitch was dangerous, but this only confirmed to Eva that Sai causes chaos.

However, Star wanted Mitch out because of his success in challenges. Chrissy agreed, telling Sai that Mitch was the vote. Chrissy even told Joe and Eva that she preferred taking out Mitch because she thought Mitch was a bigger threat than Sai.

After feeling uneasy about the vote, Mitch told Joe about his Block-a-Vote and that he wanted to use it against Sai. This would not only take away Sai’s vote but also her ability to use her shot in the dark.

Much to his chagrin, the purple group decided Shauhin would be the decoy vote pitched to Cedrek to throw him off the scent. Kyle loved this — it made it easier for him to oust Shauhin.

Of course, Kyle went to his secret partner in crime, Kamilla, to figure out what to do. She was okay with voting out Shauhin, but the pair decided they needed to trick David into thinking that Shauhin was coming after them so that David wouldn’t be angry at them for eliminating Shauhin.

The first part of the Shauhin framing was Kamilla telling David she feared Shauhin had an idol and wanted to make a big move. This worked, incepting the idea in David’s head. Now, he was considering voting Shauhin out.

At tribal, Mitch blocked Sai’s vote. Sai was voted out unanimously, becoming the last player eliminated before the jury phase of the game. Despite Kyle’s efforts to take out Shauhin, Cedrek joined her shortly after, leaving Mary as the lone Vula player left in the game.

This episode was incredibly important in determining the outcome of this season. With Sai and Cedrek eliminated, only 10 are left to duke it out for the title of sole survivor. The path is clear for Eva’s alliance of challenge threats (David, Eva, Joe, Kyle, Shauhin) to dominate the post merge. The main threat to that alliance is now the players inside of it flipping on themselves.

Tune in tonight to see how this season continues to unfold!