Humble Traits (S48: Episode 2)

We had another action-packed episode! Let's unpack it!

• Civa’s “humble traits” convo was gold. Charity introduces the concept to the tribe, and suddenly it’s a full on roast session of themselves and each other. David casually drops that he had four nipples, Charity’s got a janky foot, Chrissy’s belly button is a black hole, Mitch points out his speech impediment, and Kyle insists he has a callus while everyone else tells him it’s definitely a wart. Classic Survivor camp banter. More of this, please!

• Over at Lagi, Star knows she’s in trouble so she goes on an idol hunt. When she finds the Beware Advantage, she immediately tells everyone (except for Eva) and implores Joe and Shauhin to help her solve it. Eventually, Thomas straight up suggests that Shauhin just “loses” Star’s idol clue so she’s stuck with no idol and no vote?!? Though this idea is evil, it’s not a bad one. The only problem is that it might be too much too soon. Thomas is playing harrrddd from the jump and he doesn’t seem concerned with hiding that from his tribemates. 

• Mitch, Thomas, and Mary go on a journey and get hit with a puzzle challenge. Mitch and Thomas pull it off, but Mary fails. Mitch comes back and tells the truth about his Block a Vote advantage, Mary tells the truth about losing her vote, while Thomas lies and says he didn’t attempt the puzzle because he didn’t want to risk losing his vote, but he actually won the Steal a Vote advantage. A wise move in theory… as long as his tribemates buy it!

• Civa goes on an idol hunt, and Kyle finds the Beware Advantage. Similar to Star, he immediately hands it over to Kamilla to solve for him. She takes a methodical approach, testing different combinations and using logic to work through the word scramble. It’s a nice showcase of her problem-solving/puzzle skills. The fact that there was no “foul play” of her attempting to steal the idol from Kyle (which she totally could have done), makes it safe to assume Kamilla is playing a loyal, level-headed game, at least with Kyle!

• At the immunity challenge. Civa comes in first thanks to Mitch’s basket shooting skills. Lagi manages to take second place, keeping them safe as well. Vulu, once again, falls short and is sent back to Tribal Council. Poor sweet angel Cedrek really struggled with this challenge, especially on the balance beam, and it was heartbreaking to watch him cry afterwards. But despite his rough performance, his name never comes up as a target. If anything, he ends up in the power position on his tribe!

• Heading into Tribal. Kevin thinks he’s in charge and pushes for Sai to go. Sai flips it right back on him, and suddenly his closest ally, Justin, decides Kevin is actually the bigger threat. Justin (who up until now has given total goober energy) realizes that since Sai is voting for Mary and Kevin is voting for Sai, the rest of them can just pick off whoever they want. Just like that, the target shifts to Kevin. (And suddenly I’m feeling like Justin would have been a great winner pick. He’s a mooood.) 

• Kevin’s blindside cements Sai, Justin, and Cedrek as a trio, while Mary is left on the outs. But with Sai’s idol wasted and her tendency to ~overshare~ at Tribal, could Mary find a way to wedge herself into that group in place of Sai?

Let’s check out those Vukelulu Tribes!

Our Sole Survivor picks were pretty concentrated among a few players: Joe was selected as 15 peoples’ Sole Survivor. Shauhin was selected 9 times. Kamilla and Eva were each selected as 8 peoples’ Sole Survivors. That means about 58% of us selected one of four players as our Sole. The only player who was not selected as anyone’s Sole Survivor was David. No one tell him. 

Kamilla was the only player who was not chosen as Merge Bonus for anyone meaning she is actively gaining points for all 21 tribes she's on! The most popular Merge Bonus picks this season were Justin, Mary, and Chrissy. Each was selected as the Merge pick on 8 out of their 21 tribes. 

Kyle and Star were the biggest earners this week (19 points) thanks to being on winning tribes and finding immunity idols. This largely contributed to our standings this week as everyone in our top 10 had either Kyle, Star, or both of them on their tribe. Tori is the only person to lose their Sole Survivor, Kevin, this week. Strega Mandi is currently on top with 63 points, but we’ve got a long road ahead, and it's anyone's game! Take a look below to see how the points shook out:

-Tribemasters Liv + Brian