Survivor 48 is over, and the season is officially in the books. While the next season has already been filmed and Season 50 will be filming soon, fans still have to let the dust settle on the finale of the current season. On Wednesday, May 21, Survivor fans learned who won season 48 and got to see the final twists and turns on the winners’ path to victory. Fans have not reacted overly positively to Survivor 48, mainly thanks to a lack of gameplay moves, but that does not take away from the strong, systematic, well-balanced approach that the winner took to get to the end of the game. Let’s dig into the details.
Survivor 48 Final Five Battle It Out
Survivor 48 started strong, but by the merge, a lot of the excitement was fading. One power alliance ran most of the game, and very few players attempted to make much of a move. This left the final five as Joe Hunter, Eva Erickson, Mitch Guerra, Kamilla Karthigesu, and Kyle Fraser, who all at some point or another worked together, although Kamilla and Mitch were ancillary pieces of the alliance. These five were left with no other choice but to battle it out against one another, with no outsider left to target.
One storyline going into the Survivor 48 finale was Joe’s chance at making history. Joe has been a prolific challenge beast on the season, and going into the final episode, he had four immunity wins under his belt. The record for the franchise is five in a single season, which had been accomplished six previous times. Had Joe won both challenges on the last episode, he could have set the single-season record with six. That dream was dashed after a shocking comeback in the first challenge saw Kamilla pull off a victory. One challenge later, Joe again lost, falling just short to Kyle.
The other major storyline was the two duos still left in the game. One duo, Joe and Eva, were visible from day one, yet no one ever truly made a move against them. The other, Kyle and Kamilla, stayed completely under the radar to the point where almost no one even detected they were working together, and if someone did, the duo managed to get that player voted out. This left Mitch in the middle, leaving many to wonder which duo would pick him up and take him to the end. As it turns out, the answer was shockingly neither.
Kamilla won immunity, and Eva had a hidden immunity idol. This left Kyle, Joe, and Mitch vulnerable. However, Kyle and Joe both promised loyalty to each other, and ultimately neither was willing to go back on their word. Thus, in a shocking decision that felt on par with the way the entire season had gone, the final four all notified Mitch that he was being voted out, and that is precisely what happened.
The final four immunity challenge for Survivor 48 was a series classic, Simmotion. Eva dropped quickly, and Kamilla followed soon after. In a tense battle, Kyle came up victorious. However, instead of taking his duo partner, both he and Kamilla openly admitted to each other they were better off taking each other out than going to the end together and splitting votes. Thus, Kyle had the goal of forcing Kamilla out in the final fire-making challenge. The obvious choice, then, would be having Joe go to fire against her, but Kyle’s sense of loyalty prevailed again, and he promised Joe a spot with him, forcing the two women to battle it out in fire.
Possibly the most emotional occurrence in Survivor 48 was when Joe helped Eva calm down after a challenge, when she had become overly emotional and overstimulated. While practicing fire in the finale, Eva was struggling and became emotional, and again it was Joe who helped calm her down, ground her, and help her learn the trick. This guidance was critical, as Eva ultimately was able to win the fire-making duel, and received encouragement not just from Joe but from Kyle and even her competition, Kamilla, showing that sometimes human empathy transcends the competitive game. Ultimately, the final three were locked in and ready for the final tribal council.
Survivor 48 Finishes With A Flourish
Survivor 48 may not have been very exciting, but the final tribal council actually brought some entertainment and a few surprising revelations. All three Survivor finalists received votes to win, for just the sixth time in the history of the franchise, and the first time since back in Season 35. This was a testimony to the job all three players did in arguing their gameplay. Eva especially stood out, really owning the challenges she faced and highlighting what she did in the game to work around them. She also dropped a bombshell when she admitted she was a doctoral student and working in engineering.
That was not the most impactful reveal of the Survivor 48 finale, though. The moment that could well have determined the outcome came from Kyle and Kamilla. Eva had just explained to the jury how the Shauhin Davari blindside at the final 6 had been her move. This set Kamilla up to give her duo partner an allie oop, and Kyle took it. He revealed that he and Kamilla had been working behind the scenes all season, and that they set up the Shauhin vote by manipulating Eva and Joe with a story about a hidden immunity idol that did not exist. Combined with their earlier blindside at the tribe swap, these moves appeared to greatly impact the jury.
A few more arguments were made, but soon the jury was ready to cast their votes. Although all three finalists received a vote, the 5-2-1 win was ultimately given to Kyle for his overall balance of strategy, physical game, and social prowess. The Survivor 48 reunion show did not have any major revelations, except that the jury agreed Kamilla would have won if she had made it to the end, for much the same reason Kyle had. Jeff ended by treating us to a trailer for Season 49, which can be watched below.
Survivor 48 may not have left much of an impression on the series fans and viewers, but Kyle Fraser was a deserving winner who played a strong, well-rounded game. Fans can now turn their attention to Survivor 49, which will air in the fall. Also, tune in the the official Survivor social media pages, because on May 28, they will be revealing the cast of the all-star Survivor 50 season, “In the Hands of the Fans”. Catch up on all the seasons exclusively on Paramount+.
