Saturday, 22 March 2025

Survivor 48 - Champions League Update #3

 


Before we get started, a reminder of who has whom: 

Second, 5 bonus points each to Carol and Kristyn for knowing the man holding the knife saying “I told you not to trust me” was Lord Petyr Baelish, aka Littlefinger from Game of Thrones. Thomas looks and acts so much like him that henceforth, we shall refer to Thomas as Littlefinger, or Lord Baelish.

Third, the redrafts are going on now.  Your new players will begin earning you points on the 3/27 episode.

Enough administrivia. On with the show!

We pick back up  at Vula where it’s pouring and Cedrek whines about having to choose between his two closest allies (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Cedrek] to Jay!).  I’m not sure if anyone ever voted for their entire tribe in one night before.  Congrats to you, Cedrek?  Sai sees Cedrek as “You got me out of something you got me into”, which is one of the first rational things she’s said all season.  She also softens with Mary, and the two form a bond. 

Just in time for buffs to be dropped!

Eva is shaken, Vula is ecstatic and Littlefinger is upset that everything he knows about Lagi is useless.  Newsflash to Littlefinger: That’s why they do it.  We draw new buffs and the tribes come out:

-          Lagi: David, Eva, Charity, Star, Mary

-          Civa: Chrissy, Mitch, Cedrek, Sai, Bianca

-          Vula: Joe, Shauhin, Thomas, Kyle, Kamila

At first glance Lagi looks strong, the new Vula tribe is packed with muscle (and has no original Vula’s on it!) while the new Civa tribe looks a little weak.  But Survivor isn’t about muscle.   It’s about relationships and Shauhin is about as comfortable as could be - his California Girls alliance with Joe and Thomas is intact on the new tribe.  (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Shauhin] to Kristyn!)

At the new Lagi tribe, at least Star is at the same camp – she could’ve been at Civa or Vula. Maybe she can finally solve her Beware advantage and earn her vote back! Mary feels like she’s hit the lotto while Eva panics on what she’ll do without Joe.  Her reaction is almost cliché:  She bonds with David, the next biggest guy on the island, over their love of jet skis.   She also sells Star out to her new tribemates, saying she’d have no problem voting Star out.  For his part, David – who has all sisters at home - feels right at home on a tribe of women.  Mary sees him as a gentleman but Charity sees him as playing house while she’s playing Survivor. She sees David as smart, but not strategic – a chess piece she can move around.  Meanwhile, David tells Eva he sees Charity as playing too hard and someone he’d vote out without thinking twice.  Maybe Charity needs to employ some….

Get it while it's hot!

At Civa, Sai and Cedrek see what camp life is like when you win challenges, and they love it.  Sai may be Cedrek’s #1, but Cedrek is not Sai’s favorite.  She wanted away from him. Chrissy wasn’t working with Mitch on the old Civa, but she is now that they’re the only two. Voteless Bianca is acting confident but she’s panicking inside when she approaches Sai about working together with Cedrek. 

What Bianca doesn’t know is that Cedrek just voted for Sai twice in one night, and that’s not something Sai easily forgives.  She’s reluctant to include him – a response Bianca rightly interprets as a crack.

Team Bianca's Logo

Cedrek pairs up with Mitch, and they bond over having speech impediments.  He wants to work with both Mitch and Sai, who he sees as totally loyal. We know better though, don’t we?  And Bianca does too as Sai fills her in on the crazy tribal.  Lastly, Chrissy tells Cedrek and Mitch she wants everyone to team up against Bianca as Lagi was too strong a tribe.

Finally, the Vula’s are dismayed when they arrive at the old Vula camp and see what it’s like when you lose. It’s like showing up at the house party after mom and dad have come home.  (5 points for “Say the title of the episode” [Joe] to Roberta!).   Littlefinger complains about not having a map but he’s happy to be in the majority with Shauhin and Joe against two “Civa stragglers”.  He really has no respect for anyone else out there. 

Kyle is internally ecstatic at his #1 ally Kamila being with him, and she’s right there with him (1 point for “Mention ‘in this game’” [Kamila] to Marissa!).  She saves him from sharing too much, by lying that she was on the bottom of Civa and doesn’t really know Kyle well, which Shauhin totally believes.  There’s definitely a “Man underestimates small woman” bias at play here.  Kamila tells Shauhin and Joe that Littlefinger lied about his journey, which rattles his two allies.  Lord Baelish denies it, of course, but it’s not clear if Joe and Shauhin believe him. Kamila is now his #1 target.  If only he had a Valyrian steel knife to plant….

 At the immunity and reward challenge, they are playing for a large / smaller plate of fruit and for immunity.  Vula is imposing to look at, and their confidence is off the charts.

They have to free up a cube by removing sandbags, then roll the cube under a structure to get two more sandbags.  Then they must throw the sandbags through a frame to land on a barrel.  One done, they can dig up a puzzle piece and solve a huge pyramid puzzle.

Vula (Joe, Shauhin, Thomas, Kyle and Kamila) finish stage 1 first, with Lagi (David, Eva, Charity, Star and Mary) right behind. Civa (Chrissy, Bianca, Sai, Cedrek and Mitch) is close, but distinctly behind until Mitch lands two bags in quick succession to catch them up. He’s really good at these kinds of challenges.  Eventually, Vula gets to the puzzle first but confusion reigns as they think they’ve solved it, but they’re wrong.

Lagi catches up as Civa begins the puzzle.  Vula progress has completely stopped and they are stumped as Kamila tries to guide them from atop Shauhin’s shoulders.  Lagi earns immunity and reward. Vula can’t seem to get the puzzle to fit and Civa takes advantage of the delay to finish, earning the 2nd immunity and reward!   (12 points total for “Win tribe immunity” and “Win tribe reward” [David, Eva, Star, Cedrek, Sai, Chrissy] to Daphyne, Jay and me!).  (6 points total for “Win tribe immunity” and “Win tribe reward”  [Charity, Mitch, Bianca,  Mary] to Roberta, Marissa, Ricky, and Carol!)

Despite having all new members, Vula will attend tribal council again!

"Meet the new loss, same as the old loss."
 
5 points if you can tell me what song that line I'm paraphrasing is from.  
Message me directly. 
No Google, ChatGPT or other internet sleuthing! 
You know it or you don’t.

Back at loser tribe, Littlefinger thinks this is a tale as old as Vula, and while Shauhin believes keeping Kamila out of the puzzle cost them, the California Girls plan is solid: They have the numbers, use them. But who should they vote for? Shauhin wants Kyle to give up some info, but there’s nothing Kamila hasn’t already shared.

The California Girls can’t align on a target, which makes Littlefinger paranoid since he knows Kamila can ruin him.  He even considers playing his steal-a-vote advantage.  Meanwhile, Kamila and Kyle agree that Kyle will play his idol. Then it’s just a matter of going after Shauhin or Littlefinger.  You can feel a solid blindside is coming.

At tribal, Shauhin definitely didn’t want to be here but he’s happy it’s 3-2 in his favor.  Kyle and Kamila play the part of voting against each other to curry favor, with Kyle adding a little guilt about only getting to play for 9 days. It’s solid bullshit – and good gameplay - a lot of words that sound relevant to the conversation but mean nothing and betray no secrets.  Kamila says she feels underestimated too, which felt like a mistake to say.  Plenty of tribal plans have been blown up by a misspoken word or poorly timed glance.  Lord Baelish ends tribal  saying it’s tough to crush someone’s dream but it’s the game.

Kyle is chosen to vote first (5 points for “First person chosen to vote at tribal” [Kyle] to Ricky!). At the vote, Kyle plays his idol which Littlefinger can’t believe. The votes come in:  3 for Kyle (which don’t count on him, but do count as points!), and 2 for Littlefinger, who is voted out with an advantage in his pocket.  

That face you make when you know you're busted

Dammit! I hate it when the people who earn nicknames are voted out so soon after earning them!

(3 points for “Received vote against” [Kyle] to Ricky!), 

(2 points for “Received vote against” [Littlefinger] to Carol!), 

(-1 point for “The tribe has spoken” [Littlefinger] against Carol),  and finally  

(-5 points for “Voted out with an idol or advantage in your pocket [Littlefinger] against Carol!) 

Never saw it coming

 So what does that mean for our scores?  The top six (!) hold serve and remain in place. Marissa retains her 10 point lead over 2nd place Carol, and while Ricky remains in 3rd, he’s only a few points out of 2nd. 4th place Jay remains in the hunt, while 5th and 6th place Roberta and Dalphyne are separated by two points.  7th place Kristyn and I have no idea when our players will start doing something, but we hope it’s soon!

 

1. Marissa

78

2. Carol

67

3. Ricky

64

4. Jay

57

5. Roberta

48

6. Dalphyne

47

7. Scott

35

8. Kristyn

30

 

 


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