Sage seeks revenge and retribution

I think it was back around Survivor: Palau when I realized something truly awesome. I was getting ready on a Thursday night to watch my favorite TV show. But I also really, really wanted a beer. The problem was, this was also work as I had to recap the latest episode documenting the systematic destruction of the Ulong tribe.

Drinking on the job seemed bad. But also, like, I was working at night… after working a full day. It seemed like I had earned… nay, deserved the smooth suds emanating from a classic can of Milwaukee’s Best. After all, I was working unpaid overtime for no real reason other than a somewhat disturbing obsession with a reality competition program that occasionally asked its host to jet ski up to the Statue of Liberty.

So what if the brewski might lead to a few more typos. As far as I was concerned, my corporate overlords at Entertainment Weekly could file that one under T for tough noogies. Because not unlike the Wonder Twins, I was about to combine the awesome power of my favorite malt beverage with the force of the greatest television show on planet Earth.

In fact, by doing both things at the same time, one could say I was killing one bird with two stones! Wait, that’s not it. Killing two stones? No, doesn’t sound right. Killing two stoned people with Big Bird? I mean… closer! And I would actually pay decent money to see something like that, but not sure that’s the phrase I’m looking for. OH, I GOT IT! Killing two birds (chickens, specifically), but only if you can catch them in the jungles of Fiji before they rip Rizo’s face off.

Now that that’s settled, let’s also kill two birds with one stone by recapping episode 11 of Survivor 49 while also hoping that if Steven magically pops up at some point to take over my recapping duties that he does a better job than he did imitating Probst introducing a challenge.

Fallout (not the video game or the TV show)

I remember being shocked at how quickly Kristina played her immunity idol last week. Playing idols should be like a game of chicken (more chickens, seriously?), waiting to the last possible second to see if someone else plays theirs first. There is zero advantage to playing your idol first.

Well, apparently Rizo was counting on this as well, and told us this week that the entire reason he made his fake idol was to play it to ensure that Kristina also played hers as well. But Kristina hopped up so fast she did not even give him a chance! Now, we should probably pause for the cause to note that Rizo’s plan does not make tons of sense either, because under that scenario, Jeff would have also already revealed that Rizo’s was fake so the pressure on Kristina to play hers would have evaporated in less time that it took me to write this sentence.

All of this is to say that Rizo’s real modus operandi was to put on a big show for the jury, and that he did. Evidently, Yellow Sophie also put on too much of a show for Sage’s liking.

“I knew she would be most hurt by this vote,” Sophie told us of Sage. “And I also knew that she would be the least understanding.”

Sage was upset for several reasons. 1) She lost her island BFF in Jawan. 2) Sophie was smiling after blindsiding the two of them. 3) She felt Sophie had just handed the game to Savannah.

“I did not hand her a million dollars,” Yellow Sophie replied, and we’ll have to wait until Dec. 17 to see if she’s right. Of course, the best part of this entire confrontation was Blue Sophi tentatively walking up behind them and trying to determine if her best course of action was to enter or avoid. RUN, WOMAN! RUN!

But Sage was simply not having any of Yellow Sophie’s explanation.

“That was the stupidest move that Sophie could have done because I’m still here. She’s going to regret this.” And that she would.

A rocky situation

Look, I get it. Conserving energy for an immunity challenge is a smart thing to do. But I was still surprised to see only two people volunteer to go on this week’s “strenuous Journey,” where a new advantage would be up for grabs — and Sage only half-heartedly volunteered and pretty much immediately told Steven he could go do it.

You all know I’m not a fan of Journeys in general, but at least nobody was forced to go and no vote was at stake. What made this Journey so diabolical is there was a time limit on Steven going all around the perimeter of the island to collect combination lock puzzle numbers, but the player had no idea what the time limit was. A pot hanging out in the water would rise along with the tides (very cool, by the way) and eventually drop and break, but how was Steven supposed to know what that translated to in actual time?

He could have finished this challenge with an hour to spare, but would have no idea. So he had to hustle since he was flying blind on time. And Steven did fly… at least when he was not slipping on wet rocks and landing on his ass. I have to say, telling a contestant to race on dangerous wet rocks around the island against a ticking clock is one of the most badass, high-key dangerous things that producers have had a player do since half the tribe had to be treated for heat exhaustion during a digging challenge in Cambodia. This task was no joke.

Steven’s prize for risking life and limb was a secret Block-a-Vote, but to use it, he had to name the player before he left for Tribal Council. That brings up a very intriguing wrinkle that could possibly play out on next week’s episode. Let’s say Steven plays his Block-a Vote. He has to name the player before he leaves for Tribal Council, thereby presumably activating the Block-a-Vote.

However, Blue Sophi’s Knowledge is Power — which allows her to steal someone’s idol or advantage — can only be played at Tribal Council. So can Sophi steal Steven’s Block-a-Vote? On one hand, it seems like the answer would be a clear no, since Steven already would have played it by naming his victim. On the other hand, while the power had been activated, no actual vote had been blocked until voting started, so perhaps since the full function of the advantage had not yet played out in this scenario, maybe she could steal it?

I checked in with the Hostmaster General himself on this to get an official ruling, and he confirms that once Steven plays the Block-a-Vote back at camp, it can no longer be stolen with a Knowledge is Power at Tribal Council. Makes sense. If the Survivor gods are truly smiling on us, however, we will get a scene next week of Sophi — knowing Steven has an advantage — trying to play her KIP and him being like “Nope, I got nothin’,” and her having no idea what was going on. That would be absolutely delicious. I kind of love having pre-Tribal advantages in the game alongside a Tribal-only powered Knowledge is Power. Completely changes the strategic calculus on things.

You spin me right round, baby, right round, like a record, baby, right round, round, round

I appreciate what John Kirhoffer and his challenge team did here on the immunity challenge. They took a classic fan favorite challenge (but one that has maybe a been a bit overexposed) and put a new twist on it… slight pun intended.

The former version had people carry blocks to spell the word immunity backwards on a wobbly table while balancing the table with a rope, but for version 2.0, the players wore a belt with a rope attached to a rotating disc on which the blocks had to be placed, which spun the stack around as the player moved back and forth.

I looked at the design of this and immediately fell in love. For one, because it was different. But also, I figured the spinning would lead to many more falling stacks of letters, and there is little in this world I love more than watching giant stacks plummeting to the ground alongside the challenge-winning hopes and dreams of reality TV contestants.

But that’s not what happened. There was hardly any stack destruction at all, as Steven and Sage both seemed to cruise through the challenge pretty unencumbered. That was disappointing, to be sure, but I really do like the design of this and would love to see the challenge producers experiment with a wobblier disc next time to add more dismay and despair into the mix. But even without pieces crashing to the ground, this challenge is a winner because it’s always super tense watching people stack their final block and return to the start and wondering whether it is all going to come crashing down and immediately send them from first to worst.

Perhaps due to some high-caliber professional editing, Steven seemed to take forever to get back to his base, and with Sage just behind him, you still had a dramatic competition, even without any lead changes along the way. And the guy who had all of his energy depleted the day before brought home his second immunity victory. To quote the Dark Lord of the Sith: impressive… most impressive.

RizGod strikes… again

I don’t want to underestimate the power of Sage’s revenge determination on this week’s vote. She was hellbent on getting Yellow Sophie out after she flipped on Jawan, and that definitely seemed to play a big part in the outcome because she was willing to work and encourage both sides to make that happen. But we also were served up yet another scene of Rizo seeming to bend other people’s votes to his will.

Kristina and Steven had been just as determined as Sage to get Savannah out over multiple votes, but after being worked by Rizo at the reward feast, they too moved their target over to Sophie. Yes, Steven had other considerations (like saving his Block-a-Vote for the final 6), but the man, the myth, the legend appeared to get the big edit credit for getting the heat off of Savannah.

And then there was Blue Sophi. Unlike previous times where Sophi was playing a bit of double agent and bringing intel back to her Uli allies, here she seemed to be genuinely considering blindsiding her bestie in Savannah. She knew she could not beat either of her allies in a final three, so would need to make a big move at some point.

The problem for Sophi is she’s a bit stuck in the game at this point. You stay with Savannah and Rizo, you lose at the end. You move over to the other side, and you join folks that will never let you get to the end because in that scenario you have jury votes in Nate, Savannah, and Rizo already locked up.

I’m sure people are going to take Sophi to task for not making her move against Savannah here. My only point is, I’m not sure she had any move to make that would have improved her chances in the game. Like I said, she’s stuck.

The “other” Sophie

I posited last week that Tribal Councils in the new era have tended to be pretty boring because players never really air out grievances anymore and are too skilled at avoiding tough topics and parrying with a metaphor that sounds like it is saying something but is actually saying nothing whatsoever. (“Jeff, Survivor is kinda like a Labubu. Everyone wants to be with you and is not exactly sure why, and then they wake up one day wondering why they spent 900 Fire Tokens to be in your alliance and they trade you in for vintage still-in-box Cabbage Patch Kid instead. Survivor is like a Labubu, Jeff.”)

But we got some good stuff this week, chiefly Savannah and Kristina debating whether they actually hate each other, or if it is merely a “strong dislike.” Now, you may discount that entire exchange as a bit of theater since Kristina also claimed she was voting for Savannah when the two were, in fact, aligned in their vote against Sophie. But I don’t. Kristina is clearly not a fan of Savannah out there. She has told us that herself. And it was nice to watch her not play nice at Tribal Council.

And that wasn’t all. Sage showed a lot of genuine emotion, crying about Jawan’s ouster and explaining how he was a “stabilizing” force for her out on the island. She also talked about how revenge was a big motivating factor for her, while Savannah told Jeff that revenge was sometimes necessary. YES, MORE TALK ABOUT REVENGE, PLEASE! Revenge may be a dish best served cold, but I don’t give two Medallions of Power how it is served. Just serve it!

Of course, the person who clearly wanted revenge the most was over on the jury. Jawan was eating up every single one of Yellow Sophie’s votes, proclaiming “Get her” and “Oh, hell yeah!” as the votes rolled in. It ended up with him flexing awkwardly for some reason, and then applauding Sage, who looked positively ecstatic.

Want to be kept up with all things Survivor? Dig deep and sign up for Entertainment Weekly‘s free Survivor Weekly newsletter to have all the latest news, interviews, and commentary sent right to your inbox. 

Less thrilled was Sophie, who was legitimately blindsided. I don’t know if the “None of you can have my jacket” comment was an Angelina callback, or if there had been jacket chatter back at camp that didn’t make the edit. At least she had somewhat of a sense of humor about the whole thing by using her final words to note that “I guess I am now the other Sophie because I am the first Sophie voted out.”

I’ve stated this already back when Yellow Sophie was getting a pretty purple edit, but I interviewed her twice on location in Fiji (once as a 48 alternate and once for 49) and was sure she would be a big personality on the show. She was sharp, cutting, and confident. It was a bummer when she was so invisible out of the gate, but she got a pretty big edit the past month, so I’m glad viewers finally got to see more of her before her run ended.

But was it the right move for Sage, Steven, and Kristina? Probably not. Yellow Sophie was a total free agent. She even called herself that exact term. Taking out a free agent rather than a member of a tight three whose name has been on everybody’s lips ever since the merge is pretty suspect from a strategic perspective. It must have felt good in the moment after Sophie turned her back on them 48 hours later. Whether it will still feel good 48 hours from now is another story.

Okay, my good friend Bex says it time to wrap this up, but just a reminder that we’ll have an exclusive deleted scene for you, and we’ll see what Jeff Probst has to say about everything. I’ll be chatting with Yellow Sophie on Thursday morning so make sure to come back for that, and also take three seconds to subscribe to our free Survivor newsletter to get all the news and interviews sent right to you. Now go find a stone to kill those two birds, and I’ll be back next week with another scoop of the crispy!