Survivor Season 49, Episode 3
"Lovable Losers"
Host: Jeff Probst
Cast: Sage Ahrens-Nichols, Sophi Balerdi, MC Chukwujekwu, Annie Davis, Shannon Fairweather, Jeremiah Ing, Jake Latimer, Savannah Louie, Nicole Mazullo, Kristina Mills, Alex Moore, Nate Moore, Jawan Pitts, Steven Ramm, Sophie Segreti, Jason Treul, Rizo Velovic, Matt Williams
I'm hopeful that this episode marks the end of a bad stretch for Survivor 49 and that, by next week, we're in a new era (so to speak). It's a double whammy for the Kele tribe, as they not only end up losing a tribe member via traditional means but also lose a player to one of the most surprising medical evacuations we've seen in the show's history.
Alex begins the episode by calling their tribe the "lovable losers," which becomes the title of the episode. I'm hesitant to say that I'm loving this all so far, but I do feel sorry for them! The current format of small tribes in Survivor means we keep getting disaster tribes — spurred on by the fact that, if a tribe loses the first challenge, they are limited in what they can eat and drink to the point of being disadvantaged in future challenges.
Before we get to the medical issue on Kele, we pop into Hina (yellow) and Uli (red) for some status updates. Both tribes are feeling pretty good! Makes sense: When you haven't had to vote anybody out, your life in the game seems pretty safe.
Both tribes have inner circles. On Yellow, MC and Steven form part of that group. When a tribe-wide idol hunt is commissioned, MC wants to make sure that the odds of finding the idol are higher for the pair of them, so they split up. It is MC who finds the idol, and she later shares that information with Steven. I like this from MC. She not only has a solid advantage in her pocket (if she can eventually get the idol) but she used it to solidify a bond with Steven, who also seems like a very capable player.
In previous episodes, we've seen that Savannah was thinking Jawan was the one they needed to get rid of. This episode, she discovers that Sage might be the one to vote out if they lose. Feeling like things are a little too good to be true, Sage confesses to Shannon that Rizo and Savannah seem awfully close. Shannon feeds this immediately back to Savannah, leading the latter to wonder if Sage should be the first boot from her tribe and implying she had the power to make it happen.
I do worry that Savannah seemingly suggested she had the power to get rid of Sage. That might be true, but I'd prefer someone who didn't seem eager to take revenge rather than address why she might be targeted by Sage in the first place. While I'm hesitant to call what Shannon did ratlike, it does let me make a joke about this episode — Sue Hawk told us in Season 1 that the island is filled with snakes and rats. Tonight was no different.
Speaking of snakes, Jake gets bitten by one while sitting in the water. He's taken to the medical center on the island, where he's treated. While the doctors think it's a dry bite, meaning there was no venom, he is taken out of the game so he can recover. Ultimately, it’s a gut punch for Jake. But in a silver lining, we later learn he made it home in time to be there for the birth of his daughter. And in the picture shown, he's wearing a Toronto Maple Leafs jersey; as a fellow Leafs fan, I can attest that any fan of the team has to be okay with losing. So I'm sure Jake handled this loss just fine.
At the immunity challenge, the stage is set for Kele to make a heroic comeback, win the challenge and dedicate it to Jake. Alas, they fall apart yet again. They can't complete the puzzle and lose another challenge.
After the challenge, we get a rare bit of time with one of the winning tribes. This rarely happens, as we're so focused on the tribe headed to vote someone out, but clearly there isn't a lot of strategizing happening between the three Kele members. Uli is on a group hunt for the idol, and it's found by Rizo. He shares this news with the entire tribe and gives a (sort of) rousing speech. Secretly, he declares that the idol is his and his alone.
The dilemma at Kele is pretty simple. Alex has a hidden immunity idol, which means he holds all the power. If he plays it, he decides who goes home. Sophi and Jeremiah try to figure out how to outbluff him and how to convince him he's safe enough not to use it. It’s a tough sell, because Alex would be foolish not to play it. Sophi's "bluff" is that she's a loyal bitch. Jeremiah tells Alex they get along quite well.
But Sophi, who I think could have played a very strong game had she not been stuck on this dead-end tribe, reads the situation quite well. She's not quite ready to be voted out via an idol, so she casts her vote for Jeremiah. Unless Alex and Jeremiah were in cahoots, Sophi guaranteed her safety, but also didn't betray the person on her tribe who's still in the game. It's a very smart move. With that, Jeremiah is gone.
This is the ninth season of the new era of Survivor, and it's safe to say that, much like Kele at Tribal Council, I've seen enough. With a swap seemingly coming next week, we can close the chapter on the disaster tribe-era of Survivor, and with Season 50 coming next year, I hope the three-tribe format is gone for good. As Jeff said, maybe a lifeboat is on the way.
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