The House Party’s Over (S48: Episode 4)

Day 8 hit the castaways with a tribe swap, leaving some players celebrating their new leases on life and others scrambling for their lives. Here’s how the new tribes shook out:

Civa Tribe: Mitch, Chrissy, Bianca, Cedrek, and Sai

Lagi Tribe: Eva, Star, Mary, Charity, and David

Vula Tribe: Kamilla, Kyle, Joe, Thomas, and Shauhin

New Civa and Lagi tribes both had clear cracks stemming from the dynamics in their original tribes so there was a lot of room for building new alliances post-tribe swap. Cedrek and Sai were at odds after Cedrek voted for her twice in the previous tribal council. Evaand Star weren’t seeing eye to eye or being truthful with each other, and David was blatantly targeting his OG tribemate Charity. On the other hand, Kamilla and Kyle were in the clear minority at Vula after landing themselves on a tribe with the unbreakable California Girls alliance of Joe, Thomas, and Shauhin. They would have to pull off a miracle to survive, and truthfully I don’t know if any other duo this season could have managed this as seamlessly as they did. Enter Kamilla’s Oscar-worthy performance.

Kamilla delivered a MASTERCLASS of deception, throwing Kyle under the bus and convincing the former Lagi members that she was at the bottom of her original Civa group and was looking for a lifeline. Meanwhile, Kyle leaned into the ruse just enough to seal the deal and make it believable. They maneuvered this whole illusion without even seemingly discussing it with each other ahead of time!!!

The California Girls bought it. Hook, line, and sinker. What they also didn’t know is that Kyle had a hidden immunity idol. And despite them rummaging through his bag to look for one (right in front of Kamilla I might add which shows how much they truly believed that her and Kyle weren’t working together), they never found the idol, and never caught on. 

Vula went into the immunity challenge very confidently as the tribe with the clear physical advantage, but the Vula curse could not be broken! They lost, and therefore we were gifted with some top notch gameplay. 

This Tribal was chef’s kiss perfection. A true blindside. Joe, Thomas, and Shauhin confidently placed their votes on Kyle. Kyle pulled out his hidden immunity idol and nullified all their votes. Kamilla flipped her vote against Thomas, and with Kyle’s vote alongside hers (and her Extra Vote that she gave to Kyle to play for good measure), Thomas got sent packing.

The kicker of it all is that Thomas had a Steal a Vote advantage but chose not to use it. In his exit interview, he explained that he wanted to maintain trust with his own alliance who he hadn’t told about the Steal a Vote, and he assumed Kyle wouldn’t have an idol. Let this be a lesson to us all… preserving trust when you’re at risk is useless if the alternative means you’re heading home. When it all boils down to it, it’s about ensuring you see another day! (Cast me, Jeff Probst!) 

Anywho… I will miss Thomas’s good villain energy. It was refreshing and fun to watch, but I gotta give it up to Kamilla and Kyle for pulling off the most ruthless play of the season thus far, and arguably one of the best blindsides we’ve seen in any recent season!

WHAT ABOUT THE LEAGUE?

10 out of 15 castaways brought in 9 points this episode so there was a pretty even increase in points this week across the board, and therefore, no major shakeups in the league. But.. Jenna D. has wiggled her way back into the top 10 while Peach has dropped out of it! Joyce and Sasha swapped places so Sasha is now in the #1 spot with 147 points and Joyce is very closely behind her with 143. 

With the departure of Thomas, Sasha, Jenna D., Emma L., Ashley, and Tyler all lost their Sole Survivor. :( 

And saddest of all… Bradley is now down to one remaining tribe member, Mary. Hopefully his Merge Bonus will serve him well!

-Tribemasters Liv + Brian