Rome Cooney might have played the best Survivor game so far in the new season, but Genevieve Mushaluk is responsible for the biggest move in Survivor 47.
The move left fellow tribe mate and alliance member, Teeny Chirichillo, on the outs in episode 4. In the first sneak peek at Survivor 47 episode 5, "The Scales Be Tippin," Teeny is worried she's at the bottom of the Lavo tribe. Along with Kishan Patel, who was voted out in episode 4, Teeny was blindsided by Genevieve's big move with Rome and Sol Yi.
In episode 4, Kishan planned to vote out Rome at tribal council, but Genevieve told Rome about the plan, convinced Rome to use his Steal a Vote advantage on Kishan, and pulled in Sol to vote out Kishan. It was a huge move in the game for so many reasons, but none of them probably make sense to Teeny at the moment.
Why Genevieve blindsided Kishan
In the clip, which was shared via CBS press, Genevieve takes viewers behind the scenes of her decision to blindside Kishan.
"The idea to vote out Kishan was mine," Genevieve says in an in-the-moment interview. "And, I knew I had to vote him out. It was better for my game. He is the player who is the threat you don't see until it's too late, and I just couldn't take that chance."
First of all, Rome has played the best game so far. He's been solid in most of the challenges (except for the puzzle-making aspects). He's collected several advantages and used them successfully (to a certain extent), but he's also made some big missteps along the way, especially when it comes to how he's treated Sol and others on his tribe.
For Genevieve, allowing Kishan to, basically, take credit for such a big move could impact her game. Now, she can take credit for taking out a major threat in Kishan. Plus, she removes the threat who could take her out.
After Rome goes home, Kishan could easily ally with Teeny and Sol and take her out next. Now, Genevieve keeps Rome, who trusts her 100%. She saved Sol, who was basically going home. Now, Teeny needs someone after Kishan was voted out. It's a win-win-win for Genevieve.
Honestly, I'm so impressed with this move from Genevieve. It seemed like she made the decision to take out Kishan because he threw out her name as a fake target. I don't know if that's true. I think that she's been playing under-the-radar all season. Then, when it came time to make a big decision, she saw the opening, the presentation of another path that benefitted her, and that was Kishan's big mistake. He didn't see how the door opened for Genevieve by removing him from the game.
Genevieve also comforts Teeny after the vote
Teeny asks Genevieve if there was a plan to take out her or if there was a discussion about voting her out instead of Kishan. Teeny also says that she's in "survival mode." Well, that's great because it's Survivor! And, there's only one who is going to win this game!
"No, you're right in the middle," Genevieve tells Teeny. "Rome and Sol are on the bottom. You and me are in the middle because they wanna work with us and they don't wanna work with each other."
"Rome doesn't wanna work with me," Teeny says.
"He's gonna have no choice," Genevieve tells Teeny.
That's where things stand on the Lavo tribe heading into episode 5. Will Genevieve be the next target? Luckily for those players on the bottom, it seems like a tribe change or some type of twist is imminent.
We'll find out when Survivor 47 episode 5 airs on Wednesday, Oct. 16