Survivor Season 49, Episode 6
"The Devil's Shoes"
Host: Jeff Probst
Cast: Sage Ahrens-Nichols, Sophi Balerdi, MC Chukwujekwu, Shannon Fairweather, Savannah Louie, Kristina Mills, Alex Moore, Nate Moore, Jawan Pitts, Steven Ramm, Sophie Segreti, Rizo Velovic
Survivor heard us all say that we wanted more tribe swaps and 4 person votes so here they are! After what I think most had expected to be a "fake" merge episode, the tribes get split into three groups again. We at least get the most interesting group going to Tribal Council, but once again, Survivor 49 feels a little like we're going through the motions to eventually get to Season 50 next year.
The episode kicks off with the tribe swap. I'm in agreement with a lot of the fan community that talking about how hard the game is in the New Era is rather annoying, but I also don't know that it's going away anytime soon so I'll live with it. That being said, Kristina blacks out just moments after the tribe swap and needs to sit down. She says later that she blacked out. It's attributed to a combination of emotions about missing her kids and husband combined with the game being switched up again. It feels quite real and it's a good thing Kristina is able to recover quickly.
The new tribes are as follows:
New Hina sees MC on the outs while Savannah, Rizo and Sophi stick together from their last tribes. At Kele, it's three original Uli members in Jawan, Sage and Shannon with Hina member Steve (though note: Sage despises Shannon). And then finally, new Uli is Kristina, Sophie and Alex from the last Kele with Nate as the outsider.
Hina and Uli win the reward challenge and earn themselves grilled cheese sandwiches, though the first place tribe (Hina) also get desert, ice tea and potato chips.
If either the new Hina or Uli tribe went to Tribal Council tonight, it would have felt like the player who went home got swap screwed. First, we learn that MC is likely the person going home if her tribe loses as Savannah, Rizo and Sophi are all extremely tight. While MC knows she has a clue to an idol, until she finds it, she doesn't even have a vote to save herself. Things would get interesting if she did find the idol though and it likely would have led to our most explosive tribal in the game so far. Alas, we don't get it.
What we do get is Rizo suggesting the group search the island in case any new advantages have come into play. It's during this time that Sophi finds the Knowledge is Power advantage, which would let her steal an idol from someone else if they have it. While I'm not entirely mad Sophi got it, I would have been if it meant she nullified MC's chance to play one. Now that that scenario is off the table, Sophi is a fine person to have this advantage. While she seems in a majority alliance, she's not entirely at the top of it and she could use this power to her advantage later on in the game.
At the new Uli tribe, it's Nate who is on the outside looking in. The only ripple in the water here is Kristina potentially suggesting that Sophie's name be used as a decoy for Nate. That doesn't sit well with Sophie who feels like she's last in the pecking order in any alliance she's in. She makes some plans to become Alex's new Sophie. We'll see if anything comes of that!
In the meantime, the new Kele tribe is where things are really interesting. While on paper, it would seem like Steven is the odd man out, he somehow felt like he was safest from going home tonight. Shannon would prefer Jawan to go home, sensing that keeping Steven is a sign of good faith to the other Hina members while Sage wants Shannon gone because… well… she annoys her. Jawan is ready to vote for Steven but then learns that Shannon has been throwing his name out. We'd heard all game that Shannon's lovey dovey strategy might come back to bite her and it genuinely seemed to here. Jawan seems hurt that Shannon is thinking of voting him out, and suddenly Jawan is a lot more open to the idea of striking back. With Steven and Jawan having bonded earlier, the door also seems open for a Shannon blindside.
At the immunity challenge, Hina seemed pretty dominant. Kele had second place ripe for the taking but ultimately let Uli make a comeback win. Heading into Tribal Council, Jawan isn't 100% sure that taking out Shannon is the right move, but he does realize that he and Sage get to be the ones to make the decision.
Steven seems worried at Tribal Council that because he hasn't been there before, that he might be drawing dead without realizing it. But he isn't. He votes along with Sage and Jawan to blindside Shannon. All Tribal Council, she had talked about having an open heart. She certainly seemed to be pretty okay with being voted out. She offers hugs all around but now that she no longer has to play the game with her, Sage breaks the facade of being her friend and offers her a handshake instead.
This move was likely fine for Jawan and Sage to make and was a lifesaver for Steven. With two Hina members having been voted off in the last two episodes, the Uli tribe has some flexibility to vote out one of their own and still hold the numbers, especially if they have both Alex and Sophi on their side. For Sage and Jawan, it likely cuts into the presumed dominant Uli alliance of Savannah, Rizo, Nate and Shannon, giving them some leverage over Nate if they can lure him over to their side. Or, if they really want to, they could continue to work with Steven and the other Hinas to get rid of that group.
That being said, the real loss for us all is that the Shannon vs. Sage feud is over. It was truly a delight to see Sage pretend to be schmoozed by Shannon, giving her fake kisses and holding her hand while gagging with her back turned. It genuinely felt a little mean to not hug her goodbye, but everything we got between the two of them was worth it. I'm sad to see it go.
