Forty-nine seasons in, and we’re still seeing Survivor firsts. It’s unfortunate, though, that this one was so scary. We’ll get into more specifics in a bit, but Jake had a scare, being bitten by a very dangerous sea krait snake. Given that he was okay, it was actually pretty cool seeing behind the curtain like this. We see Jake back at base camp, being tended to by the medical team.
Survivor has had its fair share of medical mishaps and emergencies in its two decades, but you never think too much about what that looks like, all that it entails. Logically, we know the show and network have safety as a top priority, and are well suited to deal with whatever might happen on the island. But it was quite the experience to see it in action, confirming what a well-oiled machine the entire production is, in front of and behind the camera.
Kele
The Kele tribe is still on their heels, after once again going to Tribal Council, keeping their losing streak going strong. They have no fire, no food, no fishing supplies. Jake tries to spin it positively, that they finally have no dead weight. The remaining four is the original alliance of four. That might sound good, but if they go to Tribal again, each one of them will have to stake their claim on where they stand.
While on the beach, Jake calls the other guys over, saying a snake came out of the water and just latched onto him. After looking over his body, he finds bite marks on his feet.
Survivor medical comes to give Jake a quick inspection. While they’re waiting, Alex looks over the book production gives them for what they can and can’t eat, what animals they should or should not interact with. He finds the black and white braided sea krait, matching the snake that bit Jake. Scarily, it’s an extremely venomous snake. Nobody tells Jake this – at least not yet – so as not to scare him too much. He gets taken away by medical for further inspection, and all anyone can do at this point is wait.
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In a Survivor first, we actually see footage of Jake at production base camp. The first question they ask upon the boat arriving is if Jake is breathing. It really underscores the potential danger the castaways are in.
At first blush, the team believes it was a dry bite, meaning no venom was delivered. But because a venomous bite would be so dangerous, they still take all necessary precautions, treating this as if it were venomous, until they can determine with complete certainty that it was a dry bite.
Once Jake is in the clear, he, Jeff, and the doctors have the inevitable discussion. And given all the uncontrollable factors that come with the territory, the doctors pull him from the game. It’s nothing short of a tragic turn, but they had no other choice.
Hina
It seems a little off to go straight from that to the other tribes, but we have a few other tidbits to get to, and we’ll zip through it.
While Kele is struggling through the first part of the game, Hina is the exact opposite. They haven’t struggled at all yet. They’re all friendly and copasetic. They might be too friendly. This is one of the drawbacks to having so much success early on. You have nothing to base your guesses on about where everyone stands.
Jason suggests they take a tribal approach to their Beware Advantage, everyone looking and whoever finds it coming forward so everyone knows where it is. Everyone obviously knows this is mostly just a facade, but MC and Steven especially want to make sure it’s one of them that comes out with it.
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And eventually MC finds it. She shares it with Steven, with no plans to tell anyone else. She gets the same general instructions as Alex, except she has to dig under the boat instead of Tree Mail.
MC says it feels like everything she’s come to Survivor for, so far, she’s getting. That might just be a simple statement of fact. But with the way this show goes, it could also be a “famous last words” type situation. You always have to be careful what you say in confessionals!
Uli
Uli is also living the life of (Survivor) luxury. At one point, Jawan even says he’s full. Kele could never! And with the relatively easy time they’ve had, paranoia might be starting to creep in. With nothing but time to speculate and let your mind run wild, you can talk yourself into all sorts of crazy ideas.
Sage pulls Shannon aside, and asks what she thinks about Savannah and Rizo, but Savannah in particular. She’s worried Savannah might be making too many connections. But little does Sage know that Shannon and Savannah are extremely close. So of course Shannon goes straight to Savannah with this new info. This puts Savannah on high alert, who believes she has the sway to push the vote onto Sage if she wants.
Immunity Challenge
The tribes arrive at the challenge, and Jeff updates the rest of the players. Everyone is emotional, but they still have a challenge to get to. The game must go on.
One tribe member races to the top of a tower in the ocean and leaps into the water. They cross a balance beam and a series of floating platforms, collecting a key along the way, and then swim to the final platform. Then the next two players go. Once all three are done, two players unlock and solve a turtle puzzle. They’re also playing for reward. A giant tarp and two hammocks for the first-place tribe, and a smaller tarp for the second-place tribe.
Jason continues his puzzle dominance, leading Hina to a first place finish. Uli takes second, in the least surprising result ever. Even with Jake, the smart money would have been on Kele losing. But factor in the huge emotional toll, and it would be shocking if they could have overcome it all.
Pre-Tribal
Alex has his idol, and he absolutely has to play it. I know there will be temptation to save it, but you have to. His solo vote wouldn’t necessarily decide it if either Sophi or Jeremiah decided to play their Shot in the Dark. But if neither plays it, it’s all on him. Because of that, he has to make them both believe he’s not playing it. They want to make him comfortable enough to save his idol. He wants to play into that, where they fully believe he won’t play it, so they have no reason to doubt each other or his intentions, giving them no incentive to play their Shot in the Dark.
Sophi tells Alex that she and Jeremiah don’t have much, if any, semblance of an alliance or even working game relationship. Jeremiah keeps things neutral, not trying to push him hard one way or another. During Alex and Jeremiah’s conversation, Sophi sneaks up and eavesdrops on them. She hears Alex second-guessing how loyal Sophi would be in the long run.
After hearing that, Sophi tries to get her Plan B solidified. She tells Alex she believes Jeremiah is voting him. If Alex doesn’t play his idol, she and Jeremiah are set. If he does play it, she hopes he’ll have convinced him to vote for Jeremiah. But Sophi also has to consider her safety.
If Alex plays his idol and votes for Sophi, her voting for Jeremiah could save her game. This should be an easy choice for Alex, at least as far as deciding whether or not to play his idol. But it is a little more nuanced for Sophi and Jeremiah. It’s unfortunate that the episode devoted very little time to that aspect of the vote.
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In a little twist, coverage shifts to Uli, who, like Hina, decide to do a group search for the Beware Advantage. They view it as a tribe tool, seeing the merge as an inevitable battle between Uli and Hina.
Rizo finds it, and his instructions tell him to dig at the water well. He sticks to the plan, immediately announcing it to the tribe when he finds it.
Tribal Council
Alex wisely plays his idol. It turned out he didn’t need to, as Sophi did switch her vote to Jeremiah. I think it was the correct decision for both players. Alex had to play it. There’s no getting around it. It will be easy for him to dwell on it now, but he simply had to. And with Sophi voting with Alex, they enter this next phase of the game closer than they would have had she voted against him.
Now if they both make it to merge and she decides she wants to split from Alex, she has some more cover. If she had tried to vote him out, he would always be on edge and suspicious about her true intentions. Well-played by both.
You can catch new episodes of Survivor 49 every Wednesday at 8pm ET/7pm CT on CBS, and new episodes are also available to stream on Thursdays on Paramount+.
