David Kinne is the latest Survivor castaway to be voted out of Season 48, as his outspoken nature appeared to finally get the best of him. Despite not having much knowledge of the game, David appeared to acclimate himself well, playing a strong, albeit confident, game that saw him form strong majority alliances on most of the tribes he found himself on.
David also played a very strong physical game. Since the merge, he has been winning the majority of the immunity challenges, and even in the ones he did not win, he is almost always in the finals. That gave him a bit of a target, but due to his loyal alliance, it appeared David was in a strong position regardless.
Unfortunately, that all shifted in the last two episodes, when David began becoming a bit more outspoken on his preferences. His demanding presence caused verbal spats with multiple castaways, including those on his own alliance. When he began to vocalize concerns about alliance members Kyle Fraser and Shauhin Davari, it caused most of his alliance to turn on him, leading to his eventual shocking blindside.
David had a hidden ally, that even the viewers did not see
Reflecting on his time on Survivor 48, David has had the opportunity to conduct multiple exit interviews regarding his experience on the show. As fans know, the edit only shows us one small aspect of the game. These players are on the island 24/7, and so much of the daily living and communication does not get shown. Editors work to put together a story, and when something does not add to that story, it often gets cut from the final production of the given episode.
Usually, then, fans get to gain an extra bit of insight about the goings-on of the game from exit interviews that were not previously public knowledge. David did not disappoint, as he spilled a lot of tea, including about his personal dating life, a juror's potential final vote had he made it there, and personal emotions going through his head.
Perhaps most surprisingly, though, was David sharing he had a number one ally that the edit did not really show him aligned with, at least not as closely as he apparently was. Although Mary Zheng was seen as close to David, and he had a lot of other close connections, he also revealed that his biggest ally was actually Eva Erickson.
Here's what David told Parade:
"Eva was the one that I really wanted to work with. She was the one that I saw an endgame with. She was part of my Final Three, Final Five, whatever."
Despite the fact that it appeared Eva and Joe were the ones due and that David was closer to either Mary or the guys, his real hidden agenda was to work closest to Eva. Thus, Eva flipping was probably the hardest pill to swallow.
Overall, David played a strong game, and his frustration with the alliance made sense. He even had a solid read on what was exactly happening. The problem is, he simply did not communicate his feelings in a way that people could digest. His bold, loud, demanding attitude rubbed people the wrong way too often, and that was his ultimate demise.
It would have been very interesting to see how David and Eva interacted moving forward had David survived. Would Eva have stuck with Joe, and would David have anticipated that and set himself up to sever the ties? Or would he have ended up being loyal to a fault? Could the three have become the Final Three? There is no way to know, but it is certainly an interesting element that, as fans, would have been exciting to have seen more of.