Survivor 48: Wanting to Help Above All Else
One moment, one connection, and the rest doesn't matter
Survivor 48 episode 5 ends in a manner that mystified this armchair critic, much like earlier in episode 3 of Survivor. Yes, this 90-minute episode has a monumental moment that brought many viewers to tears, but the episode ended in such “What is going on?” fashion (again) that I’m going to save the monumental moment for last.
Survivor 48 Reward Challenge for Two Tribes
The Vula (green) tribe was in desperate need of a win after last week’s boastful claim to fame and then falling short in the immunity challenge. Kyle and Kamilla downplayed their tight bond, and it’s very clear, they’re still able to keep that camouflage in place. As for the reward challenge, or any challenge for that matter, Lagi (purple) continues to perform well before or after tribe swaps earning first place.
The reward for first place involved going to the Sanctuary, a separate comfortable location in the shade where food is provided. In this case, savory and sweet pastries galore, juice, coffee, milk, and enough food to where David joked about potentially puking. The second-place winner of the reward challenge was a smaller stash of pastries to enjoy back at their camps. Vula was able to secure that victory.
In that moment, Vula became a tight unit. Although there was a massive move in last week’s episode, each player discussed how their parents overcame such massive obstacles in their lives. From Shauhin talking about his parents in the Iranian revolution in 1979, to Kamilla’s parents’ journey through the Sri Lankan civil war, to Joe’s parents going through the Jim Crow era where his father (black) and mother (white) had a picture taken on a date in front of a segregated water fountain.
The shared reality of their parents’ trauma, and what it means to grow up with that knowledge, clearly left a profound impact on the Vula team. Even though Kamilla was part of blindsiding Thomas last week, who were partners with Joe and Shauhin, she admits in confessional that she does not want to vote any of them out of Survivor. If you’re looking for a team to root for, this is the team.
End Result of Survivor 48 Episode 5
Before talking about what happened during the immunity challenge, let’s talk about the end result and tribal council. Vula needed a win. The green tribe had not won an immunity challenge all season, and they came in first in this episode. The final obstacle was a maze table where players had to manipulate the table by holding it upright, moving it this way or that, to navigate a ball down a zig-zag path into a landing zone. The tricky part: Each player was responsible for landing one ball into one of the four landing zones.
In the end, Sai was left for Civa (orange) and Eva was left for Lagi. Ultimately, Lagi won immunity and Civa would go to tribal council. From the surface, it looks like Sai is targeting Chrissy, while Chrissy is targeting Sai. They have seemed to fray each other’s nerves to the point where it’s clear that is where the votes are going.
On a tribe of five castaways, Bianca also keeps the viewers aware that she doesn’t have a vote when talking about her plan in confessionals. She discusses the notion of playing up the Sai versus Chrissy vibe, because if it is a two-two tie, there will be a revote where players can only vote for Sai or Chrissy. She recognizes it’s a risk since she doesn’t have a vote, which might be why she decides to tell Cedrek at the last second.
If we go back to episode 3, Cedrek voted for Sai twice leading to a tie vote where he had the sole power to send either Sai or Justin home. Despite voting for Sai twice, he sent Justin home (for apparently not telling Cedrek he didn’t have a vote at tribal council). Back to tonight’s episode, Cedrek now has the knowledge that Bianca doesn’t have a vote. And Bianca tells him this information after Cedrek seems to come to terms with voting with Chrissy and Mitch to send Sai home.
So, when the votes get cast, it reads: One vote Sai, one vote Chrissy, and two votes for Bianca – and Bianca is voted out. This means that Cedrek in whatever little time before tribal he had, went back to Mitch and Chrissy and formed a new plan to vote out Bianca. Whether or not that’s the right move is not certain now, but it’s definitely a befuddling moment (again) where who gets sent home doesn’t seem to make sense immediately.
The Monumental Moment of Survivor 48
If we flash back to episode 1 of Survivor 48, we will remember an incredible conversation where Eva shares with Joe about her autism, what it means, and how he can help her when she’s having difficult moments that she calls “episodes.” In that moment, Joe said in confessional that he’s made a decision to support her regardless of whether or not it hurts his game.
In the final stage of the immunity challenge during this episode, Eva tried the table maze and had to pass it off to her teammates because she was struggling with it. David, Mary, and Charity each made theirs, which meant Eva was back up to try again. The ball continued falling off the edge at different points, allowing Civa to get closer to winning the second remaining immunity.
While this was happening, Eva was clearly frustrated, talking aloud negative thoughts of not being able to complete it, and coming to tears as she continued to get overwhelmed. The struggle was so real it was palpable, and the entire time, the camera would pan to Joe who was clearly struggling as he watched Eva struggle. Joe had a sense of hopelessness on his face, because every viewer knew he wanted to help Eva in some way. Ultimately, she was able to find whatever strength she needed to sink the last one and win immunity for the tribe.
As everyone celebrated and embraced her, she could not contain this sense of being overwhelmed as she continued to scream and cry while celebrating. Joe continued to look at Eva, understanding that she was in need of help, and, fortunately, Jeff Probst saw this and asked if Joe wanted to go over to her. Joe walked to her, she immediately went to him, and they embraced in a hug. Joe did his best to soothe her with his words.
She asked him to squeeze her hands, and he did, and then they did another round of hugs and softly spoken words to help calm Eva down. It was the most emotional moment in Survivor history, and I can only imagine what that felt like for Eva to go through it, and for Joe to watch helplessly (because tribes are usually kept separate during challenges), and then have them come together to find a way to break her free of this episode.
After Eva was feeling better and each tribe was separated to their own team mat, Jeff asked about what happened. Eva shared with the group her diagnosis of autism, and shared the importance of not only needing help, but accepting help when it’s available. Jeff highlighted how this moment does expose the relationship between Joe and Eva. So, Joe explained he wants his kids to see, “I’m going to be the man I want them to be and the people I want them to be,” and that he would want someone to do that for his daughter.
Much like the rest of the world, Jeff understood that, getting emotional as well, knowing what it means to be a parent and look out for someone else in such a way. If anyone has never watched Survivor, this scene should be played. Not only does it highlight how the game can bring compassion in a seemingly cutthroat game, it also showcases how people from all walks of life can form bonds that can last a lifetime.
Thank you for reading!