The merge officially arrived in the final moments of Survivor 47 episode 6, "Feel the FOMO," but in the first sneak peek of episode 7, "Our Pickle on Blast," there's still some stuff from tribal council to unpack.
During the vote, Sol Yi and Sue Smey voted for Andy Rueda just in case Rome Cooney, who was voted out, played an idol or his Shot in the Dark and was successful. Then, Andy would have gone home with two votes against him. During the vote, Andy asked Sam if he was the "backpack plan," and Sam said, "I don't know."
That's very important to remember when watching the first clip from Survivor 47 episode 7.
Survivor episode 7 sneak peek
In the clip, Sol walks through Andy his reasoning for not voting for Rome. Basically, Sol explains that he thought Rome could have an idol, which then Andy understands to mean that Sol was fine sending him home had Rome played an idol.
"Out of everyone on god's green Earth, you chose me. Why?" Andy asks Sol.
Sol, then, reveals via in-the-moment interview that he's "happy" to "give up some things to earn" Andy's trust back. Sol, then, reveals that he went to the Gata tribe, and they were happy to give up Andy so Sol could cover himself with the vote.
Andy asks Sol who gave him up as the vote, and Sol reveals that it was Sam Phalen, Andy's No. 1 ally in the game that allowed Sol to vote for Andy. Earlier in the episode, Sam revealed to Sol that he would rather have Sol in the game instead of Andy.
That's when the clip ends!
What a massive miscalculation and overplay by Sam. Like, this is going to blow up in his face. Andy is going to feel so blindsided by Sam taking a shot at him, basically.
For Sam, it made no sense to turn on Andy that quickly. He just took a risk at the last tribal council by not playing an idol to protect himself in order to keep Andy's trust. Then, one day later, he's throwing Andy's name out as the backup plan. That's not good gameplay. Maybe he thought Sol would keep that information to himself, but why would he think that? Sol has no loyalty to Sam or Andy.
Sam, Sierra, and Andy had such a good thing going after that vote to blindside Anika Dhar. Sam potentially just messed it all up one episode later. On top of that, everyone knows that Sam and Sierra are quite close. That's been revealed to the group. Sam is one of the stronger challenge threats left in the game, too, which is another target on his back.
Again, it just felt out of character for Sam to throw Andy under the bus like that. And, if there's anything we know about Andy, he's going to be loyal to the people who offer him life in the game, just like he was loyal to Sam and Sierra through their time at the Gata tribe. Andy could definitely take a few shots at Sam and Sierra in the coming episodes, and it'll probably work if he plays the blindside correctly.
We'll just have to wait and see!
Survivor 47 episode 7, "Our Pickle on Blast," airs on Wednesday, Oct. 30, at 8 p.m. ET on CBS and Paramount+. We'll be watching, so stay tuned for more news and updates about the new season.