Previously on Survivor 48, cracks grew among the season’s dominant alliance of David Kinne, Eva Erickson, Joe Hunter, Kyle Fraser, and Shauhin Davari when David and Kyle couldn’t see eye to eye about the fate of Kamilla Karthigesu. David saw her as a threat they needed to target now, but Kyle was keen on keeping his secret number one ally in the game. Luckily for Kyle, Chrissy Sarnowsky continued to dig her own grave by antagonizing at Tribal Council and the alliance voted her out 8-1.
This week, Eva follows the clues on a hunt for her second advantage while David and Kyle add fuel to the fire burning at the bottom of their alliance. Read on for our recap of Survivor Season 48, Episode 9, titled “Welcome to the Party,” which aired Wednesday, April 23 on CBS.
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The players still competing to become “sole Survivor” at the start of the episode were: David Kinne, Eva Erickson, Joe Hunter, Kamilla Karthigesu, Kyle Fraser, Mary Zheng, Mitch Guerra, Shauhin Davari, and Star Toomey. The members of the jury that will decide the winner are: Cedrek McFadden and Chrissy Sarnowsky.
Photo by CBS – Credit: CBS
CBS
“Like a wombat… a bearded man standing over top of me” — Joe Hunter
After seeing his name on parchment at a second straight Tribal Council, Shauhin was eager to understand whether the vote was only “unanimous on paper,” suspecting that some members of the tribe may have actually wanted him out of the game. But while he stewed, David stepped in it even further by admitting to Kamilla that he floated her name as someone that should get votes in the event that Chrissy played her Shot in the Dark. The admission only furthered the divide between him and Kamilla and underscored for David that Kyle’s defense of her is worrisome.
The next morning, the “core six” was grouped together when Eva asked who they should go for next, suggesting Star because she is likeliest to win a challenge. At first David said he would “sit this one out,” but then qualified that Mary still wants Kamilla out. Kyle used that as an opportunity to pull Shauhin aside later and, playing up his insecurity about the votes against him, said that David and Mary are targeting Kamilla as a way of undercutting Shauhin within the alliance. Noticing them away from the group, David and Mary suspected that Kyle and Shauhin are definitely calculating a move against them and attempted to alert Eva of their potential danger, but she wasn’t having it. When Kyle and David finally connected to clear the air, neither was great at covering up their distrust and paranoia about the other and so it remained clear that the simmering “rift” in the alliance was reaching a boiling point.
That night, Eva waited until the rest of the tribe was seemingly asleep to follow through with the “taco reward” clue that directed her toward the latest advantage in the game. When away from camp, Eva found a game to play to risk her boon for a more powerful one. Starting with an Extra Vote that would be hers to keep, Eva could risk it by choosing between two options, one of which would be the Safety Without Power advantage and the other would strip the Extra Vote from her. Having risked it and successfully gained the Safety Without Power instead, Eva was given a second chance to risk in a one of three choice to gain a fully realized immunity idol. Because she already has an idol and not wanting to be greedy, Eva stepped away from the game and kept her advantage that is good through the final seven. At this point, however, the risk that Eva didn’t know she had taken was that when she left camp, Shauhin was awake to see her leave and immediately woke Joe to fill him in on her absence.
Photo by CBS – Credit: CBS
CBS
“When Jeff calls me, I promise the next time Jeff sees me I will be a swimmin’ pro” — Star Toomey
First thing in the morning, Eva confided in Kyle, Shauhin and Joe about her clue, the journey she took at night, and her successful claim on the advantage. Her admission confirmed for Joe that Eva is the “team player” he thought she was, which is why he didn’t put too much stock in Shauhin’s worry about her leaving camp on her own. Higher on the priority list for Joe had to be the hammering at him from both Kyle and David that the other is planning a move against the alliance. In one of David’s attempts to sway Joe to believe him that Shauhin and Kyle have a plan with Kamilla, he made the mistake of telling Joe that he “went back on [his] word” with the Chrissy vote at the last minute. Joe became offended and repeated to David that he’s not capable of that, immediately squashing any hope David may have had at getting him to see that Kyle might have pulled a fast one on him.
On the flip side, Kyle approached Joe on a more personal level, telling him more about the story of his childhood and some underage drinking charges that sent him to jail as an explanation for why the previous days tension with David had triggered him so much. As we saw earlier in the season with Eva, it was easy to understand how Kyle’s conversation with Joe furthered their relationship and trust more than David’s strategy did. Wanting to understand his own path forward within the group, Joe went to Eva next to see where her head is at between David and Kyle, but she was little help, stressing to him that she trusts both sides and doesn’t want it to become “open warfare” in their group.
Having taken her first ever swimming lessons with Mitch earlier in the day, it was unfortunate for Star that their Day 17 battle for immunity and reward did not take place in the water and instead was another endurance challenge. For this one, each player had to hold up a ball on a track above them by raising a bar palms-up at their waist. Because it wasn’t a swimming challenge (sarcasm), Star was the first to drop, mere seconds in to the challenge. Dropping out after her was Mary, Kamilla, Mitch, Eva, Shauhin, and Kyle until only David and Joe were left in another face off and looking for their own second individual win. Joe was the only one showing signs of struggle between the two of them, but in one moment David’s legs gave out temporarily and he stepped off his platform, disqualifying him from continuing and handing Joe the win in what appeared to be seconds before Joe may have dropped out on his own. With the win and safety secured, Joe earned a picnic reward as well and invited Mitch (his first reward of the season!), Shauhin and Eva to join him.
Photo by CBS – Credit: CBS
CBS
“We’re 100% right… I’m willing to die over this” — Mary Zheng
Back at camp without immunity for David, he and Mary were quick to view the alliance “from a different perspective” and take a real look at what Kyle and Shauhin could be planning against them. Running with the assumption that Shauhin could have an idol and knowing he knows they want Kamilla out, they decided in that moment that their safest play would be to vote for Mitch to avoid Shauhin playing an idol on Kamilla to get David or Mary out. David didn’t want to vote for Star because he envisioned them working with her in the future. At one point, Star asked Mary and David to vote with her against Shauhin, but because they’re convinced he has an idol (Star knows he doesn’t) they wouldn’t and wanting to stay in the majority, Star agreed to just vote Mitch with them.
Meanwhile at the reward, Mitch pitched to Eva, Joe and Shauhin that he would “gladly” vote David out next. Shauhin used that as an open door to bring up to Eva and Joe that David is running around paranoid and “babysitting” their alliance in a “Boston Rob style.” As soon as the reward four returned to camp, David and Mary fed into Shauhin’s story by bringing up “again and again” the danger of Kyle, Shauhin and Kamilla and their supposed idol. Upon learning that Kyle and Shauhin would actually be willing to vote David out because of his growing paranoia, Eva approached Joe with their options and they committed to voting together regardless of which direction it goes (Mitch or David).
At Tribal Council, Shauhin was the first to bring up the “emotional connection” and “paranoia” theme of where they’re at in the social dynamics of the game. Eva reiterated that she trusts who she trusts and is “locked in” with her alliance, shooting down Star’s plea to use a “crowbar” to break an alliance apart so that she can maneuver in the game. Surprisingly, Mary was the one to address that “taking a strike” against your alliance comes with the risk of misjudging that the people you thought were going to take a strike never were at all and then you’ve shown yourself as disloyal. Once again, Kamilla challenged that David’s loyalty game is not doing him any favors with the jury.
When the dust of another Tribal settled and with no one playing an idol or advantage, Jeff read the votes cast: Mitch, David, Mitch, David, Mitch, David, David, and David. By a vote of 6-3, David and Mary’s fears were realized as he was blindsided by his alliance. From the juror box, Chrissy and Cedrek “didn’t see that coming” and David left the game visibly frustrated that his belief in loyalty lasting until the end of the game did not come to fruition.
Next time on Survivor…
Kamilla, Mary, Mitch and Star look toward a “whole new revolution” in a “four v. four” situation against what remains of the “strong” alliance.
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