“Survivor”: Season 48, Episode 9, Reviewed

The newest episode of Survivor was a massive turning point. Kyle faced a tough decision: continue to play nice with David and Mary or flip on them to save Kamilla. He made that decision quickly but needed to do significant work to convince others to vote with him. David and Kyle both had good ideas but executed them in vastly different ways.

The episode started with Kamilla pissed at David. He admitted to her that he tried to get her out, to which she responded that he was a horrible liar and that she already knew. This was hilarious, and I get her frustration with the situation. Kamilla and Kyle have managed to keep their partnership secret the whole time, but while Kyle is the socially ingrained of the two, Kamilla has had to pretend to be on the outs the entire time, only accessing information through Kyle. Kamilla later admitted wishing she was on a season with "less muscly" people with whom she could bond better. Hopefully, Kamilla can come out of the shadows sooner rather than later.

David continued to piece together that Kyle and Kamilla are working together. It was the only reason that made sense to him as to why Kyle pushed so hard to keep her in the game. If all he cared about was advancing the Strong Six (David, Eva, Joe, Kyle, Mary, Shauhin), eliminating Kamilla would be easy; by this logic, he pitched eliminating Kamilla, yet again, by saying it was what Mary, his alliance-mate, wanted.

Further convinced that David was no longer an ally to him, Kyle started planting the seeds for Mary’s blindside. At this point, Kyle thought taking David out was too large of a move, so he wanted to get his number-one ally instead. Kyle first went to Shauhin, telling him that David feared Kamilla's relationship with Shauhin and that David wanted Kamilla out to weaken both Shauhin and Kyle. Kyle mostly told the truth here, only omitting that Shauhin's bond with Kamilla was weaker than he thought. This conversation firmly set Shauhin against David and Mary.

Nearby, David became even more suspicious that Kyle and Shauhin were conspiring against him. He was right but did not go about counteracting this well. He and Mary went to Eva and shared their fears with her. Unfortunately for them, Eva just saw this as paranoid and annoying. She trusted all members of the Strong Six and just wanted them to keep working together. David's passive-aggressive criticism of Kyle’s indecision didn’t help this, either.

In the last episode, Eva found a scroll in her reward challenge nachos that instructed her to sneak out of camp at night and follow torches for an advantage. She did this at night, but not stealthily enough — Shauhin noticed her leave and immediately assumed it was to get a Jeremy Collins-style advantage. Collins similarly found a note that led him past torches and to an idol on Survivor Cambodia: Second Chance. Shauhin woke Joe up and told him that Eva left, but Joe wasn’t worried; he trusted Eva with everything.

Eva walked through the trees, past the torches, and up to a table. There, she was presented with an extra vote. She had the option to risk her extra vote and choose one of two bamboo pieces. One of them had safety without power, which means that anytime until the final seven, she could get up and leave tribal, not casting a vote, but facing no risk of going home. Picking the other one meant going back to camp empty-handed. She risked it and got safety without power. Now, she could risk her safety without power for an idol that lasted until the final five. The idol was in one bamboo piece, with two others, meaning she lost her vote. She decided to keep safety without power and returned to camp. Most players would have kept going until they got the best advantage or lost their vote — I was impressed by Eva’s restraint here.

The next morning, she told Joe, Kyle, and Shauhin about finding the scroll and getting the advantage. This disclosure was crucial for two reasons. The first is that it regained Shauhin’s trust while reinforcing Joe’s. With them knowing she left, her not telling them could’ve been bad. She didn’t know they knew, so luck was on her side. The second is that it showed where her true allegiances lie. David and Mary’s paranoia and abrasive gameplay turned her against them and pushed her towards these three. To some extent, David’s fear of being betrayed manifested in his own betrayal.

He furthered the damage in a subsequent conversation with Joe and Eva. After, yet again, saying he feared Shauhin and Kyle, David accused Joe of going back on his word and allowing the last vote to switch from Kamilla to Chrissy. Joe is honest and proud — he does not take attacks on his character lightly. Joe told David that the group had decided to switch the vote to Chrissy and that he didn’t appreciate the attack. David even cut Eva off when she tried to say something; he did everything possible to anger Joe in that conversation.

Kyle had made some inroads with Shauhin and now apparently Eva, but no move against Mary and David would happen without Joe — he is the heart and soul of that group. Instead of jumping right into game-talk with Joe, Kyle connected with him personally about his run-ins with the law when he was younger. The aggressive nature of David’s criticism set him off yesterday, and he wanted Joe to know that aggression impacts him more than others. Non-violent alcohol-related charges sent Kyle to jail for a couple of weeks at one point during law school. He wrote essays on jail computers, read his books there to study, and even had a professor visit him for an in-person exam. Kyle’s perseverance made me respect him even more, and I could tell that was the case for Joe as well.

Now, when Kyle said he didn’t want to move forward with David, Joe was on board. He even told Kyle about how much David's accusation frustrated him.

The immunity challenge was another bout of endurance that came down to Joe and David. It seemed like David had it in the bag, but he dropped suddenly and lost. Joe won individual immunity, and suddenly, David was vulnerable. He wasn’t a great sport about this, saying he should have won.

Joe took Mitch along for the food reward that came with immunity. This was purely out of kindness, as Mitch was the only person left who had never gone on a food reward. He then chose Shauhin and Eva as well.

Back at camp, Star pitched David and Mary on voting out Shauhin. This was music to their ears, but they were too scared of Shauhin or Kyle having an idol. They wanted to take out Mitch and told Star that was the plan.

However, everyone else had had enough of Mary and David. Because David did not have an immunity necklace, they saw this as the perfect opportunity to take him out. He became the 10th player eliminated.

This was a masterful day of work by Kyle, especially. He took the biggest threat to his game out and strengthened his bonds with Eva, Shauhin, and Joe while doing so. Now, he can continue to work with those three to take out Mary, Mitch, and Star, or he and Kamilla could swing toward Mary, Mitch, and Star to take out the other major threats in the game. The latter option is what Kamilla will likely push for, as her relationship with those three is much stronger than with Eva, Shauhin, and Joe. Either way, Kyle and Kamilla are in the best spots of the game. It’s a good thing they’re my favorites!

Eight players remain. Tune in tonight to see who gets eliminated next.