Welcome back to another “Survivor 49” episode recap.
The first reward challenge of the season came and went! We swap from two to three tribes, grilled cheese is consumed and we finally hear more from Sophie! First, I’ll recap the episode and then provide updated betting odds for the remaining castaways. Finally, in the words of the great Tony Vlachos, I will highlight our “top five, baby” – the five players who not only made a significant impact this episode but are also set up for future success.
Let’s return to Fiji.
(Warning: Spoilers Ahead)
“Survivor 49” Episode 5 Recap + Castaway Betting Odds
Episode Recap
Another Tribe Swap!
The players make their way to the challenge field for the first reward challenge of the season. But first, Jeff teases a potential “Earn the Merge” scenario, where players would compete for immunity. However, that does not happen.
The players are instead swapped into three tribes of four! The new tribes are as follows:
- Hina: MC, Rizo, Savannah and Sophi
- Uli: Alex, Kristina, Nate and Sophie
- Kele: Jawan, Sage, Shannon and Steven
The new swap tribes compete for their first reward of the season. Up for grabs is a grilled cheese sandwich feast for the winners, including potato chips, iced tea and brownies for dessert. The second-place tribe receives grilled cheeses, and the third-place tribe goes home with nothing.
In the reward challenge, tribe members move sandbags onto a wooden cart. They push the cart across planks until they reach a pole. Once they untie the pole, they push the cart to stations where they knock off wooden discs. Kele builds an early lead in the challenge through Steven, but Uli and Hina quickly catch up.
Rizo swiftly knocks over the targets for Hina, and wins reward for them! Alex comes back and knocks over his targets before Steven, leading Uli to win the smaller reward.
Camp Life
At the new Hina tribe, MC finds herself in a precarious position. To build trust with Rizo, MC tells him that Sage leaked his idol to her on their previous swap tribe. Rizo now believes everyone in the game will know about his advantage. Rizo checks tree mail for an advantage, and he, Savannah and Sophi embark on an advantage hunt. Despite her insistence that she is unable to find advantages, Sophi finds a Knowledge Is Power advantage in the woods. The Knowledge Is Power allows her to steal an immunity idol or another advantage from a player at tribal council.
Over at Uli, Nate talks about life as a stay-at-home dad. Nate has covered up his career as a Hollywood movie producer throughout the entire season. He tells Sophie, Nate and Kristina that the Matt vote was an easy vote, but the Jason one was more difficult. Nate did not convey that Jawan was at the bottom of the original Uli tribe to his new tribemates. Sophie, Kristina and Alex do not think Nate will flip on his old Uli tribe members based on his explanation of their last tribe. Kristina suggests Sophie as the decoy vote to make Nate comfortable if they go to tribal council. Sophie is not OK with that and furthers her bond with Alex. She then tells Alex she wants Kristina out of the game.
Finally, over to Kele, Jawan and Steven instantly connect. The two of them are shown cracking dad jokes and bonding. Shannon and Sage briefly bury the hatchet and talk with Jawan about staying Uli strong. They discuss the impending Hina vs. Uli war and how Steven could be the easy vote if they go to tribal.
Immunity Challenge
The tribes compete for immunity, with the losing tribe heading to tribal council. In the immunity challenge, players run through a cargo net and then move sandbags from one platform to another. Players then use sticks to build a rod to retrieve a key. This key unlocks the ball for a maze.
Sophi gets the key for Hina and gives them a head start on the maze. Jawan and Sage work on the maze for Kele, Sophie and Nate for Uli and Savannah and Rizo for Hina.
Savannah and Rizo expertly navigate the maze, while the other two pairs struggle. Nate and Sophie were last to the maze, but triumphantly came back to snatch the second immunity spot for Uli, as Hina had finished prior. This sends the new Kele tribe of Steven, Jawan, Sage and Shannon to tribal council.
Tribal Council
Back at the Kele camp, Shannon suggests a proposed blindside on Jawan to Sage and Steven. Sage then tells Jawan this and that she wants Shannon out. Jawan worries about the perception of the former Uli tribe cutting one of their own. This surprised me, as Jawan acknowledged before that he was on the bottom of the original Uli tribe.
Sage and Shannon’s rivalry from the Hina-swapped tribe continues. At tribal, the players talk about how the door is always open to build on current relationships or make new ones.
Jawan references the scary part of being in a tribe of four: “If two other people go off to talk, there is a 50% chance they are talking about you.”
This is the last tribal before the merge, and no one wants to go home pre-merge. The votes are cast and tallied, and Shannon goes home 3-1 with her vote on Jawan.
“Survivor 49” Castaway Betting Odds
Each week, I’ll rank and pair the remaining “Survivor 49” castaways with betting odds to win the game. These odds are subject to change after each episode. When castaways are eliminated, edits become clearer. As a result, win equities will diverge, and odds will become more favorable to some and less favorable to others.
I have ranked players with a poorer edit, with much lower odds. This week, there were minimal changes, except that Sophie’s stock marginally increased, as did Sophi’s.
Nate’s odds drop slightly here, but he remains in the top five. The fact that his new tribemates did not think he would play a flexible game could hurt him in the long run.
Steven’s odds slightly increase, too, as he survives a vote on a tribe swap with three original Uli members.
- Sophi (+300)
- Savannah (+375)
- Rizo (+475)
- Nate (+700)
- Alex (+750)
- Steven (+800)
- MC (+1000)
- Kristina (+1800)
- Sage(+2200)
- Jawan (+2500)
- Sophie (+3000)
The “Top Five, Baby!”
“Top five, baby!” The phrase coined by the great Tony Vlachos in “Survivor Cagayan” rings true here and will throughout the season. The five most impactful castaways this episode and moving forward, in my eyes, are as follows:
Sophi
Sophi finally avoids tribal council, and she finds a Knowledge Is Power advantage. She was also instrumental in Hina’s challenge victory. Sophi swaps again with Rizo and Savannah, furthering her bonds with them.
Savannah
Savannah swaps with close allies Rizo and Sophi, and wins both reward and immunity. It was a quieter episode for her, but she is still a strong contender to win the game.
Rizo
Rizo finds out in this episode that the whole game knows he has an idol, courtesy of Sage. This is unfortunate for him, but he builds trust with MC in the process, as she tells him that Sage told her about his idol. Rizo also wins the reward challenge for his new swap tribe and is shown trying to use the fishing gear to help the tribe. Despite the setback of having a public idol, it was an overall strong episode for Rizo.
Nate
Nate receives a rough swap here – swapping with Alex, Sophie and Kristina from the Kele swapped tribe. Had this group lost the immunity challenge, Nate could have gone home. However, he is seen in a heroic light, talking about his family, and helps the tribe win the immunity challenge. I worry a bit about Nate at the merge because he may be perceived as inflexible, but I am still very bullish on his chances of doing well this season.
Alex
Alex receives the growth narrative yet again this episode, as he speaks in a confessional about how he can do things out here that he didn’t anticipate, like fishing. Alex establishes a strong position on his swapped tribe, as both Kristina and Sophie want Nate out. However, Kristina chooses Sophie as the decoy over Alex, whom she has spent less time with in the game. I don’t think Alex will be in trouble in this game anytime soon.
Thanks for reading my “Survivor 49″ Episode 6 Recap + Castaway Betting Odds.” For more entertainment content, check out our other blogs here at In-Between Media (IBT). And be sure to follow me on Twitter/X @robbrereton for more “Survivor” content.
