‘Survivor 48’ recap: Shoulders, symbols, and star signs define the first 3 days in Fiji
In the Survivor 48 premiere, CBS once again brought 18 first-time players to the beaches of Fiji to determine who among them can "outwit, outplay, and outlast" the others to win the million dollar prize and follow in the footsteps of Survivor 47 winner Rachel LaMont to earn the coveted title of "sole survivor." Starting in tribes of six, the players used the first three days of the game to nurse shoulder injuries and bruised egos, build initial bonds and form alliances, and compete together to earn safety through the first Tribal Council where one unlucky player was the first voted out of the game.
The starting tribe breakdowns are:
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CIVA: Kyle Fraser, Mitch Guerra, Kamilla Karthigesu, David Kinne, Charity Nelms, Chrissy Sarnowsky
LAGI: Shauhin Davari, Eva Erickson, Joe Hunter, Thomas Krottinger, Bianca Roses, Star Toomey
VULA: Stephanie Berger, Saiounia "Sai" Hughley, Kevin Leung, Cedrek McFadden, Justin Pioppi, Mary Zheng
Read on for our recap of Survivor Season 48, Episode 1, titled "The Get to Know You Game," which aired Wednesday, Feb. 26 on CBS.
CBS
"I either am going to fail again... or I can change my fate around" — Kevin Leung
As Jeff Probst referred to it, the "first test as tribes" was an obstacle course through mud and sand to retrieve three heavy chests and a key to unlock sandbags that had to be tossed upward to land on high perches. The first tribe to finish earned standard camp supplies as reward while the two losing tribes would have a second chance to earn them later. Lagi was quickest through the mud crawl and kept their lead throughout the entire challenge, landing all three of their sandbags before Civa and Vula could even begin their tossing.
More concerning for Vula than their group loss was that after his mud crawl, Kevin began complaining of a shoulder injury. The pain prompted him to sit out the rest of the challenge, but by the end of the challenge he appeared to have recovered. Feeling like a failure and looking for a way to prove that he can still be an asset, Kevin was happy to be elected by his tribe to be their representative in the second chance opportunity for reward, joining Kyle who was chosen to represent Civa. In their "Fight for Supplies" battle, Kevin and Kyle competed head-to-head in a methodical race to unlock a series of keys that would ultimately secure a flint and other supplies to the winner. In the last stage of the challenge, Kyle's muscle-through-it approach became his downfall when he dropped his pot on the glass jug he was trying to fill and broke it, ending his chance at a win. Instead of sitting in defeat, he chose to assist Kevin in his own race to finish and helped him fill his jug.
While Kevin and Kyle battled for reward, the rest of the players garnered first impressions of each other as they built up their camps. At Lagi, Thomas was surprised to feel a bond brewing with the "two straight dudes" Shauhin and Joe that they later named "The California Girls" alliance, but he shared a closer and mutual connection with Bianca and they very quickly acknowledged the possibility of being a "day one" to each other. At Civa, stunt performer David was aware that he was being pigeon-holed as the leader of the tribe because of his strength, but wasn't sure if that would make him the "hero" or "villain" to them. Not feeling anything cooking with the women of Vula, Sai locked in a "core four" via pinky swear with Cedrek, Justin and Kevin (without his knowledge) to work together.
CBS
"Even if that hurts my game, whatever. If I gotta go home early, I'm not gonna let her down" — Joe Hunter
Not wanting Mary and Stephanie outside of her fresh alliance to find any advantages, Sai organized an idol search with the men of Vula that resulted in her finding the "Beware Advantage." With the clue noting that she's lost her ability to vote at Tribal Council until she finds the hidden idol was a letter-based cryptogram lock and a second parchment with a six digit number code. What Sai wasn't aware of is that David over at Civa had already discovered the piece of the puzzle she could be missing. Spread around their camp and the surrounding jungle were black animal symbols and strings wrapped around branches that when unraveled revealed letters that could only mean one thing... the code to unlocking the idols. Later, Sai recognized the same animals around the Vula camp. There, each symbol was painted the color of one of the numbers on her code. With the help of Kevin and Cedrek, they eventually figured out the numbers correspond to one of the letters in the name of the animal of the same color, providing the letters "ILESTN" that unscrambled to spell "LISTEN" unlocked the cryptogram and revealed to Sai her idol.
Over at Lagi, Star came up short in her own search for clues and advantages, but her attempts did not go unnoticed by her tribe that was busy building strong personal connections to each other. Eva took Joe on a walk together to disclose to him that she is autistic and because of how rigorous the game can be foresees a point where she may need him to help pull her out of an episode of intrusive thinking. She told him that she doesn't want to tell everyone out of fear that someone could use it against her, but that she trusts him fully. He was honored and touched, telling her that she came to the right person and in a confessional he was emotional as he declared that he'd always do right by her in the game, even to his own detriment.
CBS
"No one likes to work with a delusional queen" — Stephanie Berger
For the first Immunity Challenge of the season the tribes competed in an obstacle course and puzzle race to determine which two tribes would earn safety from the first elimination as well as toolkits to take back to camp as reward. Lagi proved their might once again by dominating both in the physical and mental aspects of the challenge, finishing the challenge first and earning the lion's share of the tools. Civa finished second in a comeback finish during the puzzle and officially sending Vula to the first Tribal Council.
After the challenge, Stephanie owned up to the role she played in failing to complete the puzzle in time, thinking she earned some credit for taking accountability, but Sai was quick to organize a narrative against Stephanie and wanted to put all the blame on her. Mary was not trusting of Sai and wanted to gather votes against her, but needed Kevin and Justin to vote with her and Stephanie in order to own the majority decision. Both guys were caught in the middle between opposing viewpoints and it was unclear on what side of the fence they'd fall as they headed to Tribal Council.
In the pre-vote discussion at TC, the communication differences among them highlighted the way that Stephanie and Sai were struggling to get on the same page. Stephanie was more concerned with "looking at the stars" and reading the tribe as having too many air signs, which Sai did not respect, preferring the more aggressive style of play that contributed to her finding an idol in the first days of the game. With all the attention clearly on the two of them, Stephanie decided to play her Shot in the Dark for a lucky chance at safety by sacrificing her vote. The scroll she chose did not provide safety and so all votes counted and Stephanie was voted out by a 4-1 vote with only Mary voting for Sai instead.
Next time on Survivor...
Sai prepares to "hold grudges," Star realizes someone is "plotting [her] demise," and Shauhin sniffs out "full-blown sabotage."
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