Is This the Vote of the Season?
Survivor 48 tackles emotional bonds and what that means when it comes to voting
The game of Survivor is clearly a difficult game to play, let alone get to the merge or final tribal council. In a game where the design is to vote people out, and then eventually ask those people to vote for a winner, it is an astronomical task to understand the quandaries from season to season. Survivor 48 episode 11 puts the difficult notion of breaking significant bonds into question.
Let’s be clear: Most people in this episode believe Joe to be the biggest threat to win the entire game. On top of that, Mary is considered to be the one person truly on the “bottom.” The player on top or bottom does not always translate to what’s really going on within the best reality TV show. Survivor 48 has created strong relationships through shared experiences or struggles. Despite the reality of who should go home, it doesn’t mean that answer makes sense for this group.
Survivor 48 Episode 11: Bonds to Break or Not Break
It is very clear that the perceived tight foursome of Joe, Eva, Shauhin, and Kyle would clearly vote for either Kamilla, Mitch or Mary. Four votes are better than three votes, but Survivor is never that simple. Mary pitches to target Joe early. She pitches Kamilla. She pitches Kyle. Then, she goes to Shauhin. She’s doing whatever she can to turn a plan into action.
Although Kyle is considering Joe, despite his loyalty to him, he’s not going to be open with that information with Mary, because he does not trust her. Plus, if he were to vote out Joe, who would the next logical target be from the remaining players? Would it be him? Would it be Shauhin? Would it be Eva? If the answer is yes to any of those questions, it could mean a wrong decision at this point.
On the other hand, Kamilla would benefit from this vote because the attention for another target would go away from her (most likely). But, her and Kyle have been the hidden super-tight alliance from day 1 – AND NO ONE STILL KNOWS ABOUT IT AND HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?! Do Kyle and Kamilla maintain their alliance? Do they break apart because Kyle is part of the foursome?
This season has many players who are playing for their parents. From what they’ve had to endure and the sacrifices they’ve made to raise their kids, many of the remaining players understand the significance of winning one million dollars. What is equally incredible is that not every player believes they’re even capable of winning an immunity challenge.
Winning Immunity on Survivor
Despite not believing, Kamilla won immunity in Survivor 48 episode 11. It was an incredibly difficult challenge of navigating an obstacle course, while balancing one or two pots on top of a makeshift wheelbarrow. If you drop, you go back to the beginning. If you make it through several obstacles, you then have to align wooden blocks to balance into a self-sustaining arch while spelling out the word “U-N-F-O-R-G-E-T-T-A-B-L-E.”
If the blocks fell, players had to start over, but when Joe finished and then Kamilla, it looked like Joe won immunity again. But Jeff Probst quickly corrected his announcement by saying Joe didn’t have his blocks arranged entirely correct – and Kamilla won her first immunity. In this case, the blocks were black on one side and white on the other, so they had to completely match on each side. Joe missed on one block.
After winning Kamilla had to select two people to go on reward with her. She admitted in confessional that she hadn’t thought about it, because she didn’t think she’d ever win immunity. Congratulations to her, because self-doubt is a very big obstacle to overcome, let alone trying to navigate it in the game of Survivor. She picked Mitch first, because he has eaten less food than anyone else. Then, she picked Eva to keep her comfortable so a vote against Joe wouldn’t be discovered.
To Vote Out Joe or Not Vote Out Joe in Survivor 48 Episode 11
Despite Mary’s earlier pitch to vote out Joe, she clearly did not feel confident in those conversations. So, she decides to tell Joe she’s going to vote for him. This clearly irks Joe, because he could go home if she plays an idol. It did appear that Kamilla, Mitch, Kyle, and Shauhin were tempted to vote out Joe – at least from what was shown in conversations or private confessionals. Despite Eva having an idol and a “safety without power,” which allows her to leave tribal council before voting commences, that doesn’t mean she would play something for him.
Would she play something for Joe? Absolutely. But she would have to think Joe was in danger of being voted out. In tonight’s episode, she did not play anything for him. In an emotional tribal council where several players discussed why playing Survivor is important, and what winning means for them, it did seem like voting Joe out would benefit many of the players left in the game.
However, it does appear that the relationships forged in Survivor 48 have amplified the current ecosystem with the player’s gameplay. Mary was voted out and the opportunity to vote out Joe was not taken. What is very interesting, or confusing, is that next week’s preview highlights Kyle and Kamilla lying to Joe about Shauhin turning on the foursome. They had a chance to vote out Joe tonight, so why resort to lying and crushing someone else’s game if they could’ve taken care of business tonight?
It could be something as simple as we don’t know all the facts, and maybe what they’re saying at that moment is true, but we’ll have to wait a week to figure that out.
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