Now that they’re just a trio, Sean knows he’s in a bad spot. He was left out of the Sabiyah vote, and was completely blindsided. He plays it off okay, saying the right things. But there’s no denying his current position in the game. Sean says he wants to move forward with Kaleb and Emily. That’s all well and good if they make it to the merge together, but he has nowhere to turn if they go right back to Tribal Council. Kaleb is thrilled that making the effort with Emily proved to be worth it. If only Sean could have been shown a “Next time, on Survivor, preview, he could take some relief in knowing that a swap was coming. And he actually mentions that it in a confessional, noting a swap might be his only chance at saving his game.
Tribe Swap
It’s about time! We have our first true tribe swap of the new era of Survivor. It’s been long overdue, and one of the (admittedly, many) weaker points of the newer seasons. They should have done two tribes, but I’ll take what I can get.
Our new tribes are:
Belo: Austin (R), Brando (B), Drew (R), Emily (L), Kendra (B) Lulu: Bruce (B), Jake (B), Kaleb (L), Katurah (B), Kellie (B) Reba: Dee (R), J. Maya (R), Julie (R), Sean (L), Sifu (R)
This an interesting swap. The three remaining Lulu all get split up. Four original Reba stay together, as do four Belo members – switching to Lulu. The new Belo tribe is the most diverse, with a 2-2-1 mix. Conventional wisdom might say Kaleb and Sean are in the hot seat right away. But I wouldn’t be so quick to make that assumption. How often do you hear someone say, “Vote out the newbie” or something similar, only for that person to become the belle of the ball and be in no danger whatsoever? And with Kaleb’s challenge prowess and strong social game, he should have a good chance to work his way in somewhere.
There’s no challenge or anything here. Just the tribe swap and Jeff sends them back to camp.
Lulu
When Bruce arrives at camp, he realizes it’s Tika beach, where he had to be pulled from the game in Survivor 44. He takes some time to let his emotions take over, but then regains his composure and is pretty quickly back to his gregarious self.
Katurah asks Kaleb what Brandon had told them about his journey, the same journey Bruce went on. Kaleb then asks Bruce, but before he can start, Katurah stops him and asks Kaleb to keep going with what Brandon revealed. She had always been a little suspicious about Bruce and what he told them. It’s a smart move in general, but? DON’T DO THAT IN FRONT OF BRUCE! Are you kidding me?! You’ve got to have even a tiny amount of tact there.
Kaleb and Jake start to bond, and there could be something there. Jake likes Kaleb, but he doesn’t want to jump into something new too fast. He still has some strong relationships from the original Belo that he doesn’t want to automatically cast aside.
Kellie is benefitting from her strong relationships from the original tribe. She had a lot of routes she could have taken depending on how the swap shook out. And with Bruce and Jake and Katurah, she sees Bruce and Jake as maybe the more logical choice, especially with Bruce wanting to bring Kaleb into the fold.
Katurah sees this, and goes right back to the “Let’s vote Bruce out” plan. She tells Kaleb Bruce would have been the next vote, which may or may not be true. But the point gets made.
Belo
Emily starts off better with her new tribe than she did with Lulu. She’s taking the advice Kaleb gave her to heart, and it might be paying dividends already. Drew even says he had this much more extreme impression of Emily, and she’s much more normal than he was expecting. With the 2-2-1 makeup, it sure seems like Emily is going to be an all-important swing vote.
Austin knows Emily can’t be the first vote. If she goes next, then it becomes a tough 2-2 split. The race for Emily is on. He and Drew put in some good work with Emily, and the three of them do seem to be getting along nicely.
Reba
Sean gets right to work laying down the charm. He knows his only chance is to make strong social relationships, and make them quickly. He and J. Maya hit it off right away. But the other four aren’t so sure. They like him, but they’re suspicious. They decide to go through his bag. But they notice Sean tied the ropes on his bag in a unique, intricate way. They even have to tie one of their own bags in the same method, so they can redo it. They don’t find anything, as there was nothing to find.
J. Maya tells Sean that Sifu is on the outs, and could be the target if they were to lose. That’s expected, based on what we’ve seen in the first three episodes. The interesting part is learning that J. Maya is actually tight with Julie and Dee. We had barely seen anything from her so far. I thought she was potentially on the outs just as much as Sifu was.
Julie, though, isn’t so sure about J. Maya’s insistence on going after Sifu. She likes Sean and loves the energy he brings to camp. But if he can’t perform in challenges, that may not matter. That’s where Sifu has the decided edge. If the new Reba decides to vote on challenge strength, Sean very well might be the vote.
Immunity Challenge
The tribe swims out to a cage, and climbs up and into the cage. They then carry the cage to the beach. Once they reach the beach, one member digs themselves out. That player is the rebounder as the other four shoot balls into baskets. They need to make one ball in each of the three baskets.
Kaleb makes all three balls before the other tribes even take their first shot. For the second win, it comes down to the last basket. But Austin makes it before Reba can get their first shot on the final basket.
Lulu
In a rare occurrence, we get some scenes at Lulu. Kaleb is ecstatic at finally winning a challenge. Bruce makes a joke about losing the flint. And guess who doesn’t like it? The one-sided rivalry continues to feed us.
Pre-Tribal
While Kaleb is riding high, Sean is…well, Sean isn’t. Sifu wants to remain Reba strong, which means Sean is gone. But J. Maya is still on the Sifu train. She, Dee, and Julie are the strong three, and will decide who goes. Dee is more willing to go after Sifu, but Julie doesn’t want any part of it. She knows Sifu is going to be very important in any challenges, much more valuable than Sean. But she also knows she has to stay in the numbers, so she has to go with the other two.
The three of them tell Sean they’re going to vote Sifu, but prep him that he’s the decoy vote, and the talk at Tribal will be “Reba strong, Reba strong, Reba strong.” Sean (obviously) wants to believe them, but he’s not 100% sure he can. But he also doesn’t really have an alternative choice, other than playing his Shot in the Dark. But that puts him in a tough spot too. If he plays it, that tells the girls he doesn’t trust them. I think he has to vote Sifu and just hope for the best.
Tribal Council
Tribal Council starts off normal as expected. But then. Sean gets emotional talking about his life back home, missing his husband, a lot of the usual stuff. Sure, makes sense. It’s what players talk about when they feel they’re about to be voted out. And then he says he wants the Rebas to vote him out. He says his “big adventure” is his life back home. But that doesn’t make sense! If he gets voted out, he doesn’t go home! It seemed completely genuine, and not at all like an act, as part of their ploy to blindside Sifu. I’m thoroughly confused.
The votes come up Sifu, Sean, Dee, Sean, Sean, sending Sean out of the game. In saying their goodbyes, Sifu asks Sean if he voted for him, and he says no. Watching the votes back during the credits, Sean voted Dee, who still voted Sifu.
This was disappointing. This was a very strong episode, right up until Sean quits – let’s be honest it was a quit. Or as Jeff called it, an “engineered quit.” That’s two out of four votes so far! Absurd. This is still a strong season, but the rest of the players have to get it – and keep it – together.
