The Return of “Survivor”: Season 48, Episode 1

On Wednesday, Survivor released Episode 1 of Season 48. After a season-long hiatus due to a concussion, I am caught up on Survivor 47 and ready for my final season of Survivor recaps.

Season 48 opened with a phenomenal first episode. There were powerful relationship moments, captivating characters, and some fascinating contrasts in gameplay that are worthy of discussion.

One of those captivating characters is Mitch. He has a speech impediment and told host Jeff Probst that he was inspired to play by Christy Smith, a deaf player from Survivor: The Amazon (Season 6). Mitch has applied every year for over 20 years since that season aired in 2002. Mitch is a ray of sunshine with a massive smile — I’m really pulling for him this season.

Another compelling character is David, a stuntman with a strong personality. He is extremely confident, a trait his tribe quickly recognized. Within hours of arriving at camp, he bragged about his car and about being able to make fire without flint. He also tried to impress the tribe with pull-ups. It remains to be seen whether David has the self-awareness to succeed in this game, but a lack of it could provide quality entertainment.

The first reward challenge was a doozy. Tribes had to crawl through mud, maneuver under nets, and carry chests that were hundreds of pounds. The Lagi tribe (Bianca, Eva, Joe, Shauhin, Star, Thomas) unlocked their chests first, leading to Star landing three sandbags on perches to earn Lagi their tribe supplies: a machete, pot, and flint. This left Civa (Charity, Chrissy, David, Kamilia, Kyle, Mitch) and Vula (Cedrek, Justin, Kevin, Mary, Sai, Stephanie) without those supplies. The two losing tribes then had to send someone to a separate island to compete individually for their tribe supplies.

At the island, Kevin and Kyle had to find a machete and then use the machete to crack open a coconut with a key inside. They then had to get a pot from the top of a bamboo tree by any means necessary. It was interesting how these two went about that task. Kevin found the key and attempted to climb the tree before knocking the pot off with another bamboo branch. Kyle, unable to find the key, knocked the pot down with brute force. The final step required them to fill a water jug using the pot, running back and forth from the sea. It was a tight race, but Kyle accidentally broke his jug with the pot. Instead of wallowing in self-pity, he helped Kevin finish, congratulating him with a hug. This was a lovely moment that shed light on Kevin’s compassion; it will likely bond these two later in the game.

At Lagi Beach, Thomas immediately worked to establish alliances. He hit it off with Bianca quickly and then formed a “California Girls” alliance with Joe and Shauhin, as all three of the men are from California. Thomas, the only gay man in his tribe, noted his surprise at bonding with two straight men. His strong social skills prevailed — he’s an early competitor to watch in that tribe. The other side of the coin was Star, who got caught looking for idols early and was quickly on the outs for it.

Eva went to work in a different way. She knew she was the youngest person in her tribe at 24, and wanted to demonstrate her worth despite that. She spent a couple of hours collecting dozens of bamboo branches, successfully impressing her tribemates while doing so. Eva is on the autism spectrum and noted that her autism can be both beneficial and detrimental for the game of Survivor. Her autism makes her driven — it allowed her to fixate on getting that much bamboo and commit to completing that one task for so long. However, she explained that it’s hard for her to tell when someone is lying to her. Lying happens frequently on Survivor, so Eva knew she needed someone in the game she could trust to confide in. She needed to be careful about who she chose, though. If the whole tribe found it, they could exploit her struggles to detect lies.

She chose Joe because of his love for his family and told him about her autism in one of the most beautiful conversations in the entire series of Survivor. That secret is safe with Joe, who is now willing to sacrifice his game for her. Eva’s trust in him made their bond bigger than the game for him. They even discussed ways for Joe to help Eva out when she is overstimulated. Eva reminds Joe of his daughters and says he will treat her as such.

On Civa Beach, Kyle and Kamilia bonded over their Guyanese heritage. Kamilia told Kyle, and later Chrissy, that Charity pitched Kyle as the first person to vote out of their tribe. Those three, along with David, became an alliance of four gunning for Charity.

Over at Vula, Stephanie was eager to start playing the game hard, but decided instead to play it slow and focus on social bonds. This was a reasonable decision — many of the new-age winners flew under the radar. However, Sai did not approve. She wanted to sprint and did not appreciate those around her jogging. She ran to the boys and bluntly locked in a four-person alliance. Some people would see this as abrasive, but it worked for her — they liked being included. Sai’s pace led her to find a “beware advantage,” which she learned was a cryptogram she had to solve. Sai said she would usually keep it to herself, but because she’s not great at cryptograms, she told her new alliance. She had to find the different symbols across the camp that Civa was looking for and connect them to a word. Since it was a beware advantage, her vote was lost until she found the idol.

Each number was a different color, reading out to two (red), one (yellow), six (green), three (blue), three (purple), and seven (pink). Sai realized that color corresponded to the animals painted around camp, and the number was a useful letter for each animal. Bird (I), Lizard (L), Turtle (E), Fish (S), Octopus (T), and Dolphin (N) gave i, l, e, s, t, n. Cedrek decoded the word as listen, giving Sai an immunity idol.

Like many Survivor challenges do, the immunity challenge came down to the puzzle at the end. Kevin and Stephanie (Vula) choked a lead, allowing Civa to catch up and send the Vula tribe to tribal council. For the first boot, going hard out of the gate beat out laying low and building relationships. Stephanie was voted out, leaving Mary blindsided and Sai quite pleased. Playing hard like Sai definitely benefits you early on, but starting slow tends to work better later. The issue with slower gameplay, as we saw here, is that you’re more likely to get taken out early by the players going harder than you. Stephanie may have been in a better long-term position than Sai if she survived the early stages of the game, but she did not.

There are so many storylines to keep track of in this season. I can’t wait for next week and to see how this game continues to unfold! Tune in on Wednesday, March 5, for Episode 2.