Survivor 49 has felt like the forgotten middle child. With all the (deserved) hype surrounding the upcoming landmark 50th season — combined with the fan polls conducted during the most recent 48th season — fans are eagerly anticipating the show’s next huge season. Add in the fact that Australian Survivor recently completed an acclaimed season, with the long-desired international casting to boot, and all eyes are on CBS and Jeff Probst to bring the goods for Survivor 50.
But there’s still one season left to squeeze in before then. Hopefully fans will give this season a fair shake, and not simply write it off as “The One Before 50.”And with two cast members from Survivor 49 still to be announced for that cast, fans will watch with extra attentive eyes to see who might have the juice to be brought back for such a huge moment. I’ll note that casting leaks have all but confirmed which two players make it, so I will refrain from making any guesses as to who I might think are the final season 50 castaways.
Marooning
Oh baby, here we go! I will always be excited for the beginning of a new Survivor season. That’s part of the beauty of the show. No matter what happened in the previous season, it’s a full reset with each premiere. But before we get into the action, let’s take a look at who’s on the Fijian island this time around:
Hina (Yellow)
Kele (Blue)
Uli (Red)
Supplies Challenge
After the usual mat chat and introductions, we get to the starting supplies challenge.
One pair races into the jungle to bring back two heavy crates. Then the next pair swims out to a boat with more crates and swims the boat back to shore. Once all the crates are back, the remaining pair builds a cube puzzle out of the crates. Once complete, one player climbs to the top, retrieves a mallet, and jumps off the top to ring a bell.
The first tribe to ring its bell earns its pot, machete, and flint. The two losing tribes will have another chance soon after to earn their supplies.
Hina takes the Survivor 49’s first victory, giving their tribe the starting edge. For Uli and Kele, they go right into it. Each tribe picks one person to compete head to head. Rizo from Uli and Alex from Kele are chosen, and they take off on a boat to their waiting challenge.
Hina (Yellow)
Jason is especially riding high. Not only did his tribe win the first challenge, he admitted on the mat that he was one of the alternates for the season. He didn’t even know he was playing until just before going to bed the night before the season started. That is incredible to have all that uncertainty, going from thinking you’re not playing to playing to being an important part of your tribe winning an important challenge. Hard to start a season of Survivor better than that.
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Interestingly, MC was the female alternate, and chose not to say anything, at least not that we saw. Though with Jason being so upfront about it, you would think we would have seen it had she said anything. Could be nothing, but it might be something to file away. You never know what might come up later on.
Kele (Blue)
If we’re going to pick a disaster tribe, Kele is the early frontrunner. Of course, maybe they’ll win the second-chance supplies challenge and everything will change. But Jeremiah and Nicole seem completely out of their element in the outdoors. They have great attitudes, and should be plenty of fun, but their immediate first impression is not great in terms of strict survival skills.
Sophi jumps at the chance to form an early bond with Jake. She came into the season wanting to find a meat shield, and Jake fits that to a T.
Uli (Red)
Nate Moore completely downplays his background. He’s a big-time movie producer, having worked on various MCU films, including Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and both Black Panther movies. He tells the tribe his first PA job was on Spider-Man 2, and Jawan loses his mind even at that. That could put those two together as a strong duo, but his high-profile job could spell his doom if the rest of the tribe doesn’t react quite the same.
The rest of the tribe gets to work feeling each other out; they’re the “vibe tribe,” as Savannah notes. That can be good if the vibes are positive and lead toward productive work around camp. But if they clash, or focus on the vibes and good times over building a shelter and other camp tasks, it could spell disaster. But either way, Savannah is looking past that and wants to get down to business.
2nd Chance Supplies Challenge
Rizo and Alex arrive at their challenge. And it’s the usual one wins, the other loses. Each player races onto the peninsula to find 10 coconuts and bring them back to their starting point. After retrieving all 10, they open them up to get their puzzle pieces. The puzzle reveals the location of a buried ship wheel, which they dig up to attach to the flag pole. They crank the wheel to raise their tribe flag. First to raise their flag wins their supplies.
Alex cruises through the coconuts and the puzzle, but struggles to actually find the wheel. Prior to being chosen for the challenge, Rizo said he’ll go, but “If it’s a puzzle, we’re cooked.” And that’s proving out. With Alex still unable to find the wheel, Rizo starts copying off Alex’s puzzle, but still can’t finish.
After finally realizing he was missing a piece from an unopened coconut, Rizo finishes the puzzle and is right back in the challenge. Against all odds, Rizo finds the wheel, raises his flag, winning the challenge. It’s a massive high for Rizo, but has to be devastating for Alex.
Kele (Blue)
Alex comes back and tries to spin it. He tells his tribe how bad Rizo was at the puzzle, but that’s hardly a consolation prize. Luckily for Alex, Jake had already vouched for him, which gave him a much-needed in within the tribe. Alex, Jake, and Sophi seem to be the first strong trio of the season.
That being said, maybe I’m reading too much into the edit, but I’m not sure how long Jake is for the game. On the mat, he talked about his dad, also a big Survivor fan, being diagnosed with glaucoma. This season will be the last season his dad can watch. And now he tells Alex and Sophi that his wife is pregnant, ready to give birth at any time. That’s a lot of emotional weight halfway into the first episode of the season.
Nicole has already lost a shoe. Except that she didn’t lose it. Jake hid it. And he tells us in a confessional that he’s planning to hide one left shoe each day. I get the idea of wanting to find ways to entertain yourself, but this is a fine line to walk. Even though he’s destroying it, or throwing it into the ocean, making it harmless, it still could be a reason someone uses to target him.
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Annie seems to struggle the most. She takes on the boss role and is actively going off on her own, leaving the other five to strengthen their connections. But she might have a saving grace in Alex, who approaches her with an eagerness to work together. They agree their alliance should be kept a secret from the rest of the five.
The Jake-Alex bromance is obvious to everyone, and Jeremiah wants in. He talks to Jake, who’s also all for it. They each want Sophi for the fourth. Jake and Alex are clearly each other’s number one allies, and Jeremiah and Sophi want the same for each other.
Hina (Yellow)
Matt is already feeling a little on the outs, as the oldest on the tribe (he’s also the oldest player in the game). He brings lots of outdoor experience, though, and is hoping that can help bridge that gap. But he’s also already struggling to hold his tongue. He knows he has to keep it quiet, at least to a point. And Steven sees that right away, that it’s killing Matt to hold it all in. He offers him a chance to make fire after everyone else struggles. He gets it started easily, hoping his outdoor skills will incentivize the tribe to keep him around.
Stephen gets to work trying to find his people. Except for that, he’s making everyone feel like they’re all his people. As always, it’s a tricky balancing act.
Uli (Red)
Shannon leads the tribe in morning yoga and meditation. This would be my nightmare on Survivor. You can’t really say no to this, especially early on. But it would be so obnoxious to have someone taking over the tribe like this. Savannah is feeling it a little, but mostly because you can tell she is itching to sprint and really playing Survivor. She and Shannon end up talking with Jawan and feel like they have similar approaches to the game, and want to keep this three, but of course have to find a fourth to secure their majority.
Nate talks to Savannah about working together, wanting to bring together a group with differing but complementing skills. Savannah is open to what Nate has to say, but feels confident she and Shannon will make the final call on who their fourth will be.
Immunity Challenge
One pair at a time, the castaways navigate a rope tunnel before crawling through a mud pit. They race into the jungle to gather a large Survivor serpent, bringing it back to their mat. Once they have all three serpents, two players maneuver a ball through a winding snake trap. The tribes are also playing for a tool kit reward, a big kit for 1st place, and a smaller one for 2nd place.
After plenty of back and forth gathering the serpents, all three tribes are on the track at the same time, making for a down-to-the-wire finish in our first immunity challenge. Hina closes it out first, for immunity and the larger tool kit. Kele drops, giving Uli time to slow down and make sure they finish safely, which they do, sending Kele to Tribal Council. Kele being the disaster tribe is still on the table! (I’m not trying to put them down; I just like getting predictions right.)
Pre-Tribal
Everyone is playing the waiting game, hoping somebody else will be the first to throw a name out. Nicole and Annie present as the easy, obvious options. Not only did they both struggle in the challenge, but the other four already have a group thing going. The initial consensus is on Nicole. They start off playing it cool, telling her the vote is on Annie. But Nicole’s no dummy. She knows she’s an easy target, so she is on high alert for anything that doesn’t track or add up, so she can play her Shot in the Dark if things feel off.
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Annie becomes the immediate decoy vote, which the rest of the group is all too eager to tell her. This gets Annie moving, telling Sophi they can work together with Jeremiah to vote out Alex or Jake at the next vote. But Sophi goes straight to the guys with this info, causing them to consider switching the vote to Annie instead.
Tribal Council
Probst welcomes Kele into Tribal Council, and we’re off and running with the first vote. There’s a lot of kumbaya to start, which is nice and all, but you’re about to vote someone out of Survivor, and as the first boot, no less. Get your mind right. Jeremiah maybe makes a slight faux pas, saying the vote is between two people. To be fair, both Nicole and Annie know it’s between them, but still, why vocalize that unless absolutely necessary?
Neither Nicole nor Annie plays their Shot in the Dark, and Nicole is voted out. It’s sad. I liked Nicole just fine, but she definitely seemed like the clear-cut weak link, and the right choice here.
Final Thoughts and Winner Pick
I liked it! The opening is beyond stale at this point. It can’t be this hard to come up with something different, right? I still think the losing tribe should get their flint once they finish Tribal Council. But other than that, this was good stuff! Lots of energy, some potentially big characters. As is often the case in season premieres, we didn’t get a ton of insight into the strategic gameplay, but there are for sure plenty of hints of good, strong players. It could be a case of famous last words, but I’m hopeful about where this season can go.
I was skeptical of Rizo coming into the season, but the man delivered. If he makes a run, will it stay like that over the course of an entire season? Or will it become annoying? Either way, I’m here for it. We could see the birth of a Survivor (Riz)god.
As for my winner pick, I’m actually leaning towards someone from Kele. Granted, we didn’t get a lot from Hina (did you know there is also a Sophie on that tribe? Thank goodness she spells her name differently). But even still, I’m going with Sophi (Kele Sophie, to be clear).
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+.
