Survivor is one of the most successful reality television shows in United States history, managing to span 25 years and 48 seasons. The newest in the franchise, Survivor 48, is coming towards its conclusion, and plenty has happened leading up to this point thus far. The beginning of the season was filled with showing blindsided and big advantage moves, while the latter half has felt more predictable and alliance-based. The cast has a good mix of inspirational stories, strong gameplay, and even a couple of good ol’ fashioned villains.
Survivor 48 – Premerge Makes Every Vote Out Exciting
Survivor 48 started incredibly strong. Three teams of six were divided into the Vula, Civa, and Lagi. From the very first challenge, it was clear that one team was going to struggle, and struggle often. That team was Vula. They lost the first three immunity challenges in a row, and each of the three subsequent voteouts resulted in a blindside. Blindsides have become more common in the new era of Survivor, thanks to a new mechanic, the Shot in the Dark, which allows any player a one in six chance of automatic safety if they sacrifice their vote. Players do not want to risk it, so they try to convince players that they are safe.
All that said, the first vote out of Survivor 48 set the dynamics. Vula was split into three duos: Sai Hughley and Cedrik McFadden, Stephanie Burger and Mary Zheng, and Justin Pioppi and Kevin Leung. Sai immediately started rubbing people the wrong way, and at the first tribal council, she and Stephanie ended up with a heated debate. Nevertheless, Justin and Kevin decided to stick with Sai and Cedrek and took out Stephanie. This created a rift for Mary, who immediately felt isolated.
The second tribal council, though, the Vula castaways decided not to go the easy route and take out Mary. Instead, they saw the threat Kevin posed and isolated Justin in the process by splitting that duo. Still, Justin had enough of a connection with Cedrek, specifically, that he worked his way back in. And then the first true fireworks of Survivor 48 came. Mary successfully played her shot in the dark, and loss votes created a wild voting situation where there was ultimately a tie between Sai and Justin, with Cedrek as the swing vote. Cedrek waffled, feeling a distrust in Sai, but ultimately flipped his vote and took out Justin.
Survivor 48 – Tribe Swap Shakes the Dynamic
The futility of the Vula tribe led to a Survivor 48 tribe swap, where the tribes were completely reshuffled. Somehow, the tight three alliance from the original Lagi of Joe Hunter, Shauhin Davari, and Thomas Krottinger ended up on the new Vula with a tight duo of Kyle Fraser and Kamilla Karthigesu. Vula, despite all new tribemates, lost yet again, and it appeared all but over for either Kyle or Kamilla. Thanks to some fantastic acting, a pair of advantages, and a flawless strategy, the duo was able to stun Thomas and use a hidden immunity idol to eliminate him from the game.
The next immunity challenge on Survivor 48 saw Civa lose, the first time any tribe besides Vula had to attend tribal council. Cedrek and Sai were once again together, with original Civa members, Chrissy Sarnowsky and Mitch Guerra, and original Lagi member Bianca Roses in the middle. Once again, it was Sai that caused controversy on the tribe and rubbed players the wrong way, and it appeared she was going to be voted out. Last second, though, Bianca admitted to Cedrek that she had no vote, and he flipped the decision with Chrissy, saving Sai and taking out Bianca.
The final episode of Survivor 48 before the merge was the infamous “mergatory”. Unlike in past seasons, though, instead of six or seven players being immune on the massive thirteen-person tribe, only one was. Everyone else had to earn their merge buff by surviving tribal council. Playing a cat with nine lives game, Sai managed to avoid elimination once again despite her chaotic gameplay, and Charity Nelms was voted out for causing chaos of her own, on her very first trip to tribal council. The rest of the tribe earned their merge buffs, and the whole new segment of the game began.
Survivor 48 – Despite a Great Start, the Merge Has Left Fans Disappointed
Sadly, the Survivor 48 merge has led to a far more predictable turn of events. A power alliance, quite literally, formed from the get-go. Players who saw themselves as the physically strongest in the tribe grouped. Eva Erickson, Joe, Shauhin, Kyle, Mary, and David Kinne formed a strong six. A few additional assets were dropped in individually for numbers purposes, including Mitch, Kamilla, and Chrissy.
This setup meant that even at the Survivor 48 split tribal of six players and six players, the majority had all the control, and they took advantage by finally sending home Sai and making Cedrek the first member of the jury. The most exciting thing that happened here was Chrissy calling out the majority alliance, saying people would have to betray each other eventually, and even admitted to lying, and called out Joe and David by name. This cost her, as she became the very next player voted out.
David had been performing well in challenges, but was also rubbing the rest of his alliance the wrong way with a very dominant, outspoken personality, forcing his views onto others. When he started publicly questioning alliance member Kyle for his connection with Kamilla, his alliance members Eva and Joe turned on him and executed the first true surprise vote of the merge up to that point.
The most recent episode of Survivor 48, episode nine, saw a return to the status quo. With just eight players left in the game, numbers were dwindling to make a move on the core four alliance of Joe, Eva, Kyle, and Shauhin. Star Toomey, Kamilla, and Mary recognized this and tried to pull Mitch in to force a split vote. He was nearly convinced to take out Joe, but when Joe won immunity for the third time, Mitch got cold feet and stuck with the power, which left Star voted out as the biggest outsider left in the game.
Survivor 48 – What To Expect Moving Forward
With only seven castaways left in the game, the end of Survivor 48 is only a few weeks away. There is still game left to be played, with only half the jury formed thus far and big moves still available to pad players’ resumes. Three inspirational social players in Eva, Mitch, and Joe, remain in the game, plus three game players in Kyle, Kamilla, and Shauhin. Mary has been an underdog all game, which would be a fantastic story if she pulled out a win. Only Eva appears to have any advantages right now, with a hidden immunity idol the entire tribe knows about, and a safety without power that she earned recently.
The easiest scenario is that the core four alliance simply takes the other three out and then walks to the end, which would be a fairly boring rest of the season. The other option is one or both of Kyle and Shauhin flip on Joe and Eva, most likely pulling in Kamilla and or Mitch to gain the numbers. Mary, Kamilla, and Mitch are at the mercy of the others now and have little direct agency themselves. Time will tell how the moves play out, but hopefully, a couple more exciting blindsides are in store soon.
Survivor 48 airs on CBS every Wednesday night from 8:00-9:30 PM EST, and is also streamable on Paramount+. Watch the rest of the season each week, and get excited for the finale episode, which airs Wednesday, May 21st at 8:00 PM for 3 hours, including the cast reunion immediately following the winner announcement. Who will win the title of Sole Survivor and the million-dollar cash prize that goes along with it?
