Survivor begins as soon as the players hit the beach for the first challenge. We've seen players bury their games just based on what happens those first few days on the beach. Look at someone the wrong way, lose your cool after a challenge, snap at someone back at camp, or go looking for an idol too soon, and that might be the thing that seals your fate in the game.
We've seen two episodes of Survivor 48 so far, and there's been more than a few moves that have the potential to backfire. Some of them already have! Overall, the Survivor 48 cast doesn't seem that cutthroat yet, but the blindsides are about to start happening. I can feel it!
Let's talk about four moves in Survivor 48 that some of these players will end up regretting later in the game if they aren't already.
The Vula tribe voting out Stephanie Berger and Kevin Leung instead of Cedrek McFadden
Look, it brings me no joy to write how a player needed to be voted out of Survivor. This is a dream for these players, and I don't like being super negative. With that said, there was an obvious move for the Vula tribe after losing the first immunity challenge of the season and heading to Tribal Council. One player struggled more than the others in the first two challenges of the season, and that player was Cedrek McFadden.
Cedrek seems like an incredible person, so, again, I don't like advocating for voting out a player like him. So many of these early challenges are strength and endurance-based challenges. In the first challenge, Cedrek really struggled to climb to the top of the muddy platform and really slowed down the tribe. Then, in the immunity challenge, Cedrek didn't slow them down much. Stephanie Berger was obviously voted out first.
Then, in episode 2, Cedrek could not walk across the beam in the water, which resulted in the Vula tribe heading back to Tribal Council where they voted out Kevin Leung. Despite Kevin's injured shoulder, he was clearly the strongest or second-strongest player on the tribe.
Survivor is not a forgiving game, and Jeff Probst will not save the Vula tribe when they continue to vote out players who could help them in challenges. Remember, Stephanie and Kevin almost solved that puzzle in the season premiere. Then, they got blown out in the next challenge. I have a feeling another epic loss is coming in episode 3.
Star Toomey telling everyone except Eva Erickson about the Beware Advantage
Things for the Lagi tribe have been rather smooth sailing to this point in the game. Star Toomey appeared to be on the bottom until she found the Beware Advantage. Well, Star realized she couldn't solve the clue on her own, so she looped in Joe Hunter, then Shauhin Davari, and then before you know it, everyone on the tribe knows.
Star was on the outside, it appears, so I liked the move to bring someone into the fold with the idol, but sharing it with everyone is basically putting a big target right on your back. Everyone is scheming for how to use that idol OR scheming to get you out of the game because your threat level just increased. I did not love the decision to make the idol a tribe thing.
Thomas Krottinger suggesting Shauhin Davari "lose" the key to the Beware Advantage
Because Star wasn't part of the California Girls Alliance, Thomas and Shauhin tried to figure out what the right move was with the clue. Do they actively sabotage the mission to find the idol? It's risky given that they probably won't be losing a challenge anytime soon. While they're talking, Thomas makes a comment about losing the key to Shauhin, so Star wouldn't be able to solve the code.
Well, that catches Shauhin's attention. It's an obvious answer, but how flippantly Thomas suggested it obviously raised some flags for Shauhin. Does he want to be allied with a person playing that cutthroat this early in the game? That's a choice he'll have to make at some point.
But, we see this happen so often in Survivor. Like, players connect early in the game and form alliances, but the game gets real really quickly. There are often reminders about how hard some people are playing or willing to play, and that can be eye-opening to some other players. The Lagi tribe hasn't even been to Tribal Council yet. That's when the game really begins.
The Civa tribe allowing Kyle Fraser and Kamilla Karthigesu to get an immunity idol
So, in the second episode, the Civa tribe has an alliance of four with Kyle Fraser, Kamilla Karthigesu, David Kinne, and Chrissy Sarnowsky. Mitch Guerra and Charity Nelms appear to be on the outside of that alliance. To prevent Mitch and Charity from finding an idol, the alliance splits off to find an idol together, which they do. Kyle finds the immunity idol, and he enlists Kamilla's help to solve the puzzle, which she does rather easily. Kyle gets to keep the idol, but I feel like there's a bond between those two players forming.
That's not a good thing for the rest of that tribe. Yes, Kyle does have a target on his back now, but he's in a powerful position being in the majority alliance, which was the opposite of Star on the Lagi tribe. So, I really feel like it was a bad move to allow Kyle and Kamilla to get that idol if you're Chrissy, David, or even Mitch and Charity. Kyle and Kamilla appear to have the smarts to flip this game on its head, so now they have a ton of power in the game. They could, at any moment, use that idol as a bargaining chip to pull in Mitch and Charity. There are a lot of things that can happen should the Civa tribe head to Tribal Council.
Overall, I really think Kamilla might be in a position to go super far on this season of Survivor. She's not a physical threat, so no one is going to be looking her way, but she's incredible at puzzles. If she keeps sticking around vote after vote and gets to play a good social game, Kamilla has every opportunity to win this game. We all know how many of these challenges come down to puzzles, right?
Would Kyle have found the idol had the majority alliance not decided to hunt for it? That might be the big mistake that someone made. Only time will tell.
If Kyle and Kamilla can survive these first few weeks, things are going to be very interesting for them in Survivor 48.