Previously on Survivor 49, Savannah Louie once again secured her safety from a vote that would have gone her way by winning individual immunity for the second time in a row. With Savannah safe and Rizo Velovic‘s public idol still a threat, Sage Ahrens-Nichols and Jawan Pitts had to put their own targets on hold in favor of working with them to oust Alex Moore for “very visibly” playing the middle. The self-proclaimed Rizgod’s gamble at not playing his idol paid off, giving his trio alliance with Savannah and Sophi “Soph” Balerdi another week to make more strategic plays for spots at the top of the tribe. This week, Sophie Segreti finds herself in the middle of two alliances, but instead of being the target like Alex was, she unexpectedly lands in a position of power.
The eight players still competing to be “sole survivor” at the start of the episode were: Jawan Pitts, Kristina Mills, Rizo Velovic, Sage Ahrens-Nichols, Savannah Louie, Sophi “Soph” Balerdi, Sophie Segreti, and Steven Ramm. The eliminated contestants making up the jury so far were: Nate Moore, Michelle “MC” Chukwujekwu, and Alex Moore.
Read on for our recap of Survivor Season 49, Episode 10, titled “Huge Dose of Bamboozle” which aired Wednesday, Nov. 26 on CBS. After watching the episode, be sure to make your predictions at Gold Derby for who you think will go home next week.
Steven RammRobert Voets/CBS
Even Steven
With Alex out of the picture, Soph turned her sights to Steven, who not only wrote her name down at Tribal Council, but was next on the totem pole of people playing the middle. Her alliance thought that their next vote could go to him or Kristina for the same reasons. Between Steven and Soph, they were at an “even Steven” point where each had cast a vote against the other once already, yet while Steven might have been telling the truth about a willingness to work with Soph going forward, she was not and vowed to get him out at the next elimination.
Steven and Kristina had their own plan in the works to blindside Savannah, feeling protected by the idol she had in her pocket, but those began to unravel as news of her advantage spread. Steven already confessed it to Sage, committing her to a vow of secrecy, but she woke up the next morning wanting to get that power out of Kristina’s hands so she shared the information with Jawan, committing him to a vow of secrecy. Having felt like he was in a secure alliance with Steven, Jawan was bothered that he only told Sage about Kristina’s idol so he tried to “test the waters” with Steven, giving him an opening to tell him about the idol, but Steven failed by keeping it to himself.
Kristina MillsRobert Voets/CBS
Wear and Tear
Prior to the Day 18 challenge, Kristina shared with Steven that she was experiencing a “low low” of days, due in part to their spot at the bottom of the tribe and in part to the loss of her mom three years prior. The emotion of this moment for Kristina came fully out when Jeff Probst addressed the “wear and tear” of the game and how he could tell even smiling was a struggle for her. Kristina expressed her mom’s legacy with the group and how if she was there with them now like she wished she could be, she’d tell Kristina to “keep going, baby girl.” Kristina used that newly realized strength to compete for a backyard picnic reward in a team of four with Jawan, Rizo, and Savannah. Unfortunately, both she and Rizo had immense trouble getting across a balance beam and their team failed to catch up to Sophie, Soph, Sage and Steven to win the trip to the “Survivor Sanctuary.”
Rizo caught the emotional bug upon their return to camp for another afternoon without food and the weight of his role in his team’s loss. Wanting to uplift his team, Jawan picked up the spear and was able to bring back one very small fish for them to enjoy. Over at the Sanctuary, the winners devoured cheeseburgers, hot dogs, potato chips, and chocolate cake, while Sage found opportunities to throw the trio of Savannah, Soph, and Rizo under the bus to Sophie.
To further her cause, Sage and Jawan met with the trio to commit themselves in a vote against Steven at the next Tribal Council, leaving Savannah to believe that they have her “best interest at heart.” Sage realized that their spot in the middle of the tribe was a “high risk, high reward” position so she accepted the risk by going to Steven with the plan to get him and Kristina to work with her, Jawan and Sophie to go for Savannah. Sage’s vulnerability in this strategy was that Sophie was the actual player in the middle of the two groups with the ultimate power to decide which side would have the edge over the other.
Jeff ProbsRobert Voets/CBS
No Negotiating
It was Day 19 when Jeff offered the players a “dilemma” at the Immunity Challenge, offering the group “enough rice for everybody for the rest of the game” if three people would sit out the challenge. Despite their struggle only one day prior, Kristina and Rizo immediately said “no” to him. Rizo explained that the seven days left in the game would be worth the hunger if it means they’re still in the fight to win, essentially batting away any chance of negotiation. Faced with another balance beam in the challenge, Steven, Soph and Sophie found themselves leading the pack for the win, but the puzzle at the end became the deciding factor that afforded Sophie safety as the winner.
With Savannah finally available for elimination, Sage was not willing to consider any option other than voting her out of the game. Getting her allies to vote for her nemesis wasn’t enough for Sage though; she also wanted Kristina and Rizo to each get spooked enough to play their idols so that they’d both be flushed out of the dynamics of the game. In order to secure that, Sage hinted to Sophie that she thinks Kristina has an idol. Wanting to keep Savannah in the game as a challenge threat equal to herself, Sophie not only told Savannah and Rizo that Sage and Jawan flipped, but that because of what Sage said, she thinks Kristina has an idol that could thwart their plan against Steven.
Kristina and Steven devised their own plan to dump a majority of their votes on Savannah with one vote on Rizo in case he plays his idol for her. In that plan, Kristina was also committing to playing her own idol for Steven if they catch wind of a plan in that direction, despite the voices of her family in her head telling her to not play the idol so that she could advance another day.
After confronting both Kristina and Jawan about their votes, Savannah felt sure that they’re both committed to a plan to vote her out so she pulled Soph in for a private chat where they considered using Savannah’s Extra Vote in a new plan to “vote one of the flip-floppers” (Sage and Jawan) instead of Steven. Knowing that they’d need Sophie on their side, Savannah showed her the parchment confirming her Extra Vote and asked her who between the two she’d want out, not expecting her to ask that they stick to the vote on Steven.
Jawan PittsRobert Voets/CBS
Tribal Council
Rizo, Savannah and Sophie put on a unified front agreeing on a “live or die” mentality about the nature of Tribal Council. Sage and Kristina felt completely opposite, admitting that they’re less than confident about what the plan is for the upcoming vote. The “pick one” perspective that Rizo explained wasn’t as clear cut for Kristina and Steven who were the two options apparently up for debate and Soph outlined that the obvious options provide the perfect “smoke and mirrors” when advantages could be the actual power behind the facade.
After the votes were cast, Soph did not play her own Knowledge Is Power advantage, but Kristina did play her idol for Steven. Properly baited into a spot of playing his idol, Rizo “protected himself” by playing it for Savannah, only to have Jeff proclaim the string of beads he played as “not a Hidden Immunity Idol.” Jawan asked Rizo to “play the real thing,” but Rizo stood his ground and replied “I’m good.” Jeff read the votes: Savannah, Jawan, Rizo, Savannah, Jawan, Savannah, Jawan, Jawan, Jawan. It was an unexpected outcome for an expected blindside and Jawan still left in high spirits, congratulating the four on their play against him. After his exit, Jawan admitted he thought of himself as “the silent killer taking ’em out left and right,” but that “they got your boy.” He added that he’s had the dream of playing the game “since 13 years old” and that he’s “living proof that anything’s possible.”
Next Time
Soph tells Sage that she “wants to go for” Savannah and Rizo, but has Sage set her sights on Sophie instead?