After sending Kevin home in episode 2 of Survivor, the Vula tribe was back at their camp and honestly, it was interesting to see how they didn't all convene to chat about what went down at Tribal Council. While Cedrek did pull Mary aside to make sure she was okay, it was not really a meaningful conversation.
Over on the Civa tribe, David opens up about his personal life. He admits that he is currently living in a trailer in front of his dad's house. And it goes further, as he talks about his girlfriend and their relationship. It was an emotional opening moment for this episode and gave us a better idea of who David is as a person.
The Lagi tribe is starting things a little low, as everyone seems to be struggling. This leads to Joe building a bonfire setup. And then they plan a gathering of "wine and appetizers." But of course, we still have Star trying to figure out her Beware Advantage puzzle to try and get the idol and her vote back.
On the Vula beach, Mary is on the hunt for the idol. But Sai is also hunting at the same time. Sai is not letting Mary out of her sight and that includes running after her so that she can't find the idol.
Mitch and Charity on the Civa tribe agree that they are each other's number one. And they decide that they want to bring Kyle and David with them to the merge. But they aren't the only ones talking about strategy, as Lagi has Star revealing to Thomas and Bianca that Eva is talking about getting rid of a puzzle person. And they are the puzzle people, so of course that means that now they want Eva out. This gives us an interesting new alliance between Star, Bianca, and Thomas.
But with all of this talk of alliances and who the tribes want to see gone, who actually went home in this episode?
Justin is the third player voted out of Survivor 48
This was an interesting tribal council, as this tribe does not work cohesively at all.
Mary ends up playing her Shot in the Dark, which means that there were only two votes cast. And Mary ends up pulling safety! So no votes cast for her will count. Both of the votes cast were for Mary. So now it is time for a revote.
Again, Justin can't vote. So who did Cedrek and Sai choose to go home? Now we have one vote for Sai and one for Justin. This means that only Justin or Sai can go home. And Justin can't vote, but Sai can.
Once again, Sai votes for Justin and Cedrek votes for Sai. This means that we are in a deadlock so now the tribe is supposed to talk about who goes home. But only Cedrek gets a say in who goes home. And if he can't decide, then he is the one who goes home.
Cedrek opens up about his thoughts on his vote and decision and Sai makes a solid case for keeping her. But he tells Sai that if he is going to keep her, then she and Mary need to work together. So he ends up sending Justin home instead because, as Sai pointed out, Justin wasn't honest with Cedrek about losing his vote.
How did Vula get to this point once again?
It's a blindfolded challenge, where team communication is the key to success
This challenge sees the tribes being blindfolded, while one caller guides their players to three keys. Those keys will unlock puzzle pieces. And the caller keeps working, as a blindfolded player must put together the puzzle. And of course, there is a reward with this challenge to help make life easier for the tribes.
Cedrek is calling for Vula, Shuahin is calling for Lagi, and Civa has Kamilla calling. Lagi is off to a solid start thanks to Joe who immediately gets the key within moments of the challenge starting. And honestly, Lagi seems to be doing the absolute best in working as a team. But Civa is not far behind. In fact, Civa ends up with all three bags with the keys first, but Joe is right behind with his bag for Lagi.
Civa and Lagi are neck and neck heading to the slide puzzle. While both Civa and Lagi get to the puzzles first, Vula is actually able to get into the competition by getting to the slide puzzle.
Lagi is on fire as they win the immunity first. Vula is actually in the challenge now, as they are fighting hard to get this puzzle solved. But just before Vula can solve the puzzle, Civa is able to get their puzzle slid into place.
Jeff announces a new journey after the challenge
As the winning team, Lagi gets to decide who goes on the journey. It is decided that Bianca from Lagi will be going on the journey. Then we have Justin from Vula and Kamilla from Civa who are chosen by the Lagi tribe to also go on the journey.
Our three Survivor players end up on the journey beach, where they each have to head to an individual game with an advantage on the line. The players have to roll seven dice with skulls or flames. Four skulls mean a lost vote, whereas four flames equal an extra vote.
Bianca ultimately loses her vote after getting four skulls. Then we have Kamilla who ends up getting four flames, which earns her an extra vote. Finally, we have Justin who ends up rolling four skulls and losing his vote. And Justin is the player heading to the tribal council, which is definitely not good for his game.
With Vula heading back to tribal council, who is on the chopping block?
Back at the Vula beach after the challenge, Mary decided to go for a swim instead of hunting for an idol. On the beach, Sai is worried about whether or not Mary has found an idol, so she tells Cedrek that she wants to put a vote on Justin, as she believes he won't have a vote when he gets back from the journey.
And of course, we know that Justin did in fact lose his vote. But what will Cedrek do?
After everyone returned from the journey, Kamilla tells her tribe everything, right down to winning an extra vote, while Bianca lies about the challenge and losing her vote, but she does end up telling Thomas. Finally, Justin tells his tribe about the dice but not the real challenge or what happened. And he doesn't admit that he lost his vote.
Cedrek tells Justin that he thinks that Sai is going to put her vote on his. And Justin tries to convince Sai that Mary does not have anything. But Sai confronts Mary, and Mary basically plays everything off. At this point, it sounds like there is going to be a vote on Mary, a vote on Sai, and a vote on Justin. And Justin doesn't have a vote.
It's Vula's third tribal council of Survivor 48
As the conversation starts at tribal council, it is clear that this is not a cohesive team. Mary makes it clear that there is no "we" for her, as she is on the bottom. But she and Sai agree that they enjoy playing the game together, even if they don't work together.
Sai also makes it clear that she hates the classic Survivor answers about how the vote is going to go. It didn't even come as a surprise when Jeff interrupted tribal to have the tribe vote because everyone was basically talking around each other.
Ultimately, this tribal council was historic. And this voting is one that we will never forget. Sadly for Justin, his lack of trust in the man who was supposed to be his ally was his eventual downfall. But will Cedrek's decision to choose Sai over Justin end up being his own undoing?