First, a few notes from my rewatch. Last week, I said the draw for tribe buffs looked pretty random. I totally missed the part when Probst said, “Find your name. Don’t open it yet, wait for me.” Each buff had a player’s name on it. This wasn’t a random draw.

In Jenna’s Exit press, she claimed Christian was the first to suggest voting Cirie out by saying “Cirie is the biggest threat.” She also claimed Devens started floating Jenna’s name around because he has become Christian’s puppet. I disagree with her 100%. I think Christian manipulated the bejesus out of her. Jenna says Christian told her he’d sit next to who he thought was the biggest threat, then sat next to Cirie. Jenna then started pitching a vote against Cirie. I think Christian tricked Jenna into making the pitch, then watched to see how people reacted to it. When he saw some blowback, it was easy to target Jenna by literally saying “She’s playing too hard too fast,” and “My concern is that if Jenna is still around, we’re all gonna be playing around her game. Whose name is she gonna throw out next?” Then he closed it by insisting on a consensus vote.

Devens spoke up on social media saying the reason he targeted Jenna is because she didn’t bother to talk to him at all. That’s a bad move by Jenna. Christian’s moves here were excellent. He totally led this vote and came out of it without anyone thinking he was pulling the strings. Jenna’s Exit press comments are a perfect example of why I rarely trust what players say about their own game. The booted player usually doesn’t know how or the reason why it happened. That info comes from those who cast the votes.

Many people are wondering how Kyle could rupture an Achilles tendon and not be in terrible pain. I’ve torn both of mine. The first one (my left) was horribly painful for weeks. That injury felt like someone hitting my foot with a hammer. But the second one (injured 2 years later) wasn’t. It felt more like a deep bruise. I hurt it during a softball game and was able to drive home afterwards. I had no problem pressing the gas and brake pedals. It was sore but not nearly as sore as the first rupture. Kyle’s reaction wasn’t a surprise to me at all.

Apparently at the Immunity Challenge, both Savannah and Cirie volunteered to throw the monkey’s fist. Volunteering for a spotlight role is almost always a bad move. If you kill it, you get labeled a challenge beast. And if you screw it up, it could get you voted out. I’m not surprised Savannah made this mistake. She’s a habitual gloater. But I’m shocked that Cirie did it. Once Savannah volunteered, Cirie should have shut up and let her do it. This was a rare strategic screwup for Cirie. Was she trying to erase her reputation as a bad physical player? Sandra leaned into that same reputation in S20: Heroes vs. Villains and won the game. Cirie might be better served by following the Queen’s example. If others perceive her as having an improved physical game (she’s actually an average challenge athlete), that’s only enhancing a reason to vote her out. However, I am impressed that Cirie finally locked up a #1 ride or die partner in Ozzy. She hadn’t done that in any of her prior seasons. Not having a #1 spelled a loss for her in S16: Micronesia and S34: Game Changers.

Like Christian, Kamilla showed her talent for subtle manipulation when she was alone with Tiffany at the Well in this exchange: Tiffany – “The only person I haven’t been chatting it up with is Chrissy.” Kamilla: “Ok.” Tiffany: “If I had my pick (to vote out first), it would be her.” Kamilla: “I have no strong opinion. If someone says a name, as long as it’s not my name, I’ll do it.” Tiffany: “Yeah, rest assured, we’re aligned.” Notice how Kamilla did NOT agree to vote for Chrissy or commit to an alliance with Tiffany, yet Tiffany left that conversation thinking she’d locked up a partner. Kamilla simply let Tiffany reach the conclusion on her own. This frees up Kamilla to side with a group against Tiffany if she chooses, or side with Tiffany if the numbers go that way. Kamilla didn’t lock herself into anything, but Tiffany could have set herself up for a fall. I like the Tiffany/Kamilla/Dee trio, but I fear Dee is too big of a target. They probably won’t last long, even if there isn’t a swap.

During the Immunity Challenge, I noticed Kamilla was doing the building and directing, while Chrissy was mostly handing pieces to Kamilla. Chrissy is good at puzzles, but did she intentionally take a back seat to let Kamilla stand out? Chrissy has sandbagged challenges before. I won’t be surprised if this was the case. And so far, Chrissy is doing the same things she did in S35: HHH. She pitched partnerships with the men and ignored the women.

How will Kyle’s alliance partners adjust to losing him? Can Cirie and Ozzy protect each other well enough to make a dep run? Will Colby’s alliance lose another vote? How many times will Coach babble about honor this week? Let’s find out.

And away we go…

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We start with a reminder of Coach taking the key from Ozzy. Gee, I wonder what we’re gonna see tonight?

Genevieve explains why Kyle won Survivor 48. “Kyle makes you feel like home and security.” He did that all season long in his win with everyone except David, and he still got David’s Jury vote.

Q wants to replace Kyle with Rizo. Not a bad plan, but his execution was awkward. In S46, he tried to replace Tim in his alliance with Charlie. Charlie knew he was on the bottom and wasn’t interested. Charlie went to the finals. Rizo seems to be buying this pitch. He thinks he’s turning their perceptions around when he’s clearly the last one in this alliance. Bad sign for Rizo. But I don’t know if Q needed to tell him he lost his vote just yet. Wait until you lose a challenge.

Seeing Joe giggling like a schoolgirl when Christian pooped his pants was hilarious. Remember Christian, your son is gonna see this someday too. He has joined the Stephen Fishbach club. Abi-Maria famously called Stephen “Poopy pants” in S31: Cambodia.

Did you notice Q was limping when he got out of the boat for the Reward Challenge?

Wow, Coach kills the mood by bringing up his beef with Ozzy when everyone else is talking about the sadness surrounding Kyle’s medevac. How self-involved can a person be? I think Coach just killed any chance he’ll have of winning. I love the way Ozzy responded, “He is playing the game the same way he’s always played it. At least the last time I played with him.” Coach exposed his weakness, and he just reminded everyone of how they can exploit it. If you want to rattle him, question his honor. Even if you’re lying he’ll lose his composure.

Wow, Mike is ahead of Colby at the start, then he passes Joe on the balance beam. The new ripped Mike is kicking some ass. Maybe we’ve got “Superman in a girdle” Colby again. On social media, Rusell Hantz claimed Survivor was “protecting Colby,” by not showing his bad performances. So much for that theory.

Aubry has a MASSIVE face plant!

Did Kamilla search the sitout bench for an Advantage?

I didn’t see much of Cirie in this challenge. She was in the water rebounding missed ring tosses, but she sure as hell didn’t stop them from winning this one. Like I said last week, Cirie is an average challenge athlete, not a bad one.

Aubry is having a tough time fitting in. Like we saw in the flashback to S32: Kaoh Rong, she had a similar experience that season and S38: Edge of Extinction. She couldn’t fit in with any of the rookies and got voted out to Edge of Extinction while holding an Idol.

Genevieve is searching Aubry’s bag the same way Dee searched Sean’s bag in S45, making sure to put things back exactly the way it was packed. If you ever find an Idol, the WORST place to hide it is in your bag. Kyle survived a bag search by hiding his Idol in his shoes, but even that’s a risky spot. If the Idol is small enough, the best place to hide it is in your crotch or bra.

Coach goes fishing with Jonathan, and Coach just floats along. I remember in S20: Heroes vs. Villains, Sandra accused him of being lazy, but this time his cramps look legit. He complained of massive back pain when he was sent to Exile Island in S18: Tocantins, too. His tribemates thought he was faking it. He’ll milk this for sympathy for sure. That’s Coach’s game. Some things never change.

Chrissy is giving orders around camp. Even Charlie is getting annoyed by her. She was a control freak in S35: HHH, and it looks like she’s doing it again. She also bothered most of the women. Some things never change.

Joe’s BS meter is improving. He knows Devens is holding something back. But confronting him like this is a bad move. Give him a chance to open up first. Joe was pretty easy to fool the first time around. Props to him for making an adjustment. He just needs to learn how lay back more. He also needs to lie better.

Christian: “You can’t play with Joe you have to play around him. He’s so code-oriented.” Hmm ... this is a new way to get yourself into trouble that I hadn’t considered before. Don’t be the person people have to play around. I guess David Bloomberg would say Joe isn’t being flexible enough.

Was Christian giving a walking confessional when he found Billie Eilish Idol? Or was he just talking to himself on the way to a confessional? I hope he gives it to Aubry.

Holy shit! He picked Aubry!

I swear I wrote that line before I saw Aubry walking down the path.

We’re seeing Q doing most of the complaining about the lazy players in confessional, but we’re seeing Colby doing all the confronting in camp. That’s bad for Colby.

We saw Savannah and Rizo running this challenge last season. Last time, there was a rule that said the snake couldn’t hit the ground. A lot of teams couldn’t do that and weren’t penalized. They probably took that rule out this time. There was also a mud pit last season. I wonder if Rizo or Savannah will speak up and take a spotlight role?

There are so many times when Probst says “We are dead even” when one tribe is clearly behind. This time he said it when 2 tribes had returned all their snakes but Kalo was still bringing one back. He said it again when Cila and Kalo were working on the snake maze while Angelina was still opening the bag to get her ball.

Dee: “Coach, get your head in the game!” I wonder if Coach was having a Sandra flashback from S20: Heroes vs. Villains?

Cila loses again, and it didn’t look like any single player was at fault. Do they go after Ozzy? Does he pick up on it and play his Idol? Did Joe talk himself out of the game by being so inflexible? Have we seen the last closeup of Savannah’s butt? I guess the key question here is who does Ozzy want gone?

Cirie explains why she’s an excellent Survivor player. “All I do is provide you with the information for you to compare the two, then you come up with your decision that may be my decision.” It sounds so simple, but so few Survivor players can do it well.

Joe pushing Devens to explain his actions is gonna cause Devens to try to shift the vote from Savannah to Joe. Getting into a fight on Survivor is often a death sentence. Now Joe is pushing Christian to commit. Joe is talking himself out of the game, even if it doesn’t happen tonight.

Christian: “My role is a therapy carousel.” Cochran played that role in S26: Caramoan and rode it to a win. Everyone came to Cochran with complaints about Phillip, Dawn and Corrinne. In fact, Mike White played a role similar to that in S37: David vs Goliath and played well enough to win.

Savannah is VERY lucky her tribemates are self-destructing. They’re all buying her some safety, and she hasn’t done a thing to earn it. It’s like Rizo’s Idol from last season is still protecting her.

Devens wants to hide a phony Idol at Tribal Council. I LOVE this idea!

Booting Joe or Ozzy might not be a bad move because these players HAVE to be expecting a swap. Their tribe strength isn’t as valuable now. The only one it would really hurt would be Cirie if she loses her #1.

I have no idea who is leaving, which makes this a pretty good episode. Devens is sitting on the end. How and where is he gonna hide a phony Idol? Did he hide it by the torches?

Is Ozzy gonna play his Idol? Did he or Cirie pick up on any bad vibes? This is a tough call for sure.

Ozzy holds on to it, and Savannah gets booted. We finally saw her trying to save herself without Immunity or the threat of Rizo’s Idol, and she fell short. Two winners are gone. Dee is doomed, but we already knew that. Does Savannah’s Block A Vote boomerang too? Does Colby get it now? If he got it, would he just lose it again? Would Tina convince him to give it to her?

Christian distracts, and Devens hides the phony. I love it! Adam Klein should be shouting with joy.

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Recap

Once again in my eyes, Christian was the star of the episode. Between the levity of pooping his pants, to his bug-eyed reaction to finding the Billie Eilish Idol, to his mastery of reading his tribe’s dynamics, he’s navigating this season brilliantly so far. He’s well-liked, well-connected, well-informed and not standing out as a threat at all. He even got closer to Cirie (or did Cirie get closer to him)? If he falls on the good side of next week’s swap, it would be hard to bet against him making it at least to the fire challenge. Having Devens in front of him is a great distraction too. Christian even got the episode title.

Aubry had a good episode too. She was on the outs, then she got an Idol and could fall in with a better crowd for her after a swap.

Cirie bounced back (but I expected she would) too. She went from being targeted to successfully targeting Savannah and getting Ozzy’s Extra Vote. Savannah was on to her game, but she’s gone now. But I think Christian secured Joe’s vote against Savannah.

But it doesn’t look as good for Genevieve, Stephenie, Q and Colby. It’s doubtful their foursome will stay together after the swap, and they just gave their game plan to Rizo. Q and Colby could be sitting ducks at Tribal Council if Rizo tells anyone they don’t have a vote. Once he sees Savannah is gone, he could/should be looking for new partners. Now he has some info to use to secure some trust.

It’s also worth noting that Emily is 0-for-2 in pushing the votes the way she wants. She targeted Ozzy twice and got nowhere. Others are seeing her as a follower. She’s gonna have to change that perception if she wants to win.

After three players gone, I’m guessing the safest players are Mike White, Emily, Christian, Charlie, Tiffany, and Angelina. Nobody is looking to remove any of them. Those in the most danger are probably Chrissy, Dee, Colby, and Q.

What do you think? Was booting Savannah the best move? What could she have done to save herself? How should Joe have played it? Has Cirie talked herself into safety? How should Kamilla adjust in the post-Kyle game? Do you believe Jonathan and Ozzy are playing better strategic games? Let me know in the comments.