We're finally down to the Final Five in Survivor 48! Kyle Fraser, Joe Hunter, Eva Erickson, Kamilla Karthigesu, and Mitch Guerra are the only players left this season. Heading into the season finale on Wednesday, May 21, we ranked the five players left this season by their gameplay so far.
This is not who is most likely to win Survivor 48! We'll save those predictions for another day, but it's important to look at who has played the best game so far. There's clearly a lot of game left. These players still have to survive: two immunity challenges, two reward challenges, two Tribal Councils, a fire-making challenge, and a Final Tribal Council. That's arguably more game left than we've seen over the last few episodes.
Overall, I think there are two players who are outplaying, outwitting, and outlasting the other Survivor 48 players. Let's talk about it!
5. Mitch Guerra
Mitch is a good Survivor player. He's good in challenges, fun to be around, and possesses good instincts about the game. I just don't think he's played great this season, and that's what it takes to win Survivor. You have to go get it, and for some reason, Mitch has struggled so far. Could he win a couple of challenges and steal this season? Absolutely!
Do I think that will happen? No! I don't know how likely it is that Mitch survives the next Tribal Council. Kyle and Kamilla might be able to convince Joe and Eva that they are still working together. Clearly, the move is to take out Joe because Eva has an idol, but it's going to be really interesting.
In terms of gameplay, Mitch ranks last because he's had opportunities to make the big move, but he's always come up a little short. Without many challenge victories, his resume just isn't competitive against the other players right now.
4. Eva Erickson
Of the Final Four, Eva has played a really good game. She has an immunity challenge win. She's played the game with multiple advantages. As far as I know, no one actually came for her all season long. Now, is that because they don't think she can win? That's for the players to say, but her resume is pretty good. As part of the majority alliance, she's had a hand in voting out every player on the jury, I believe. You don't do that without playing a good game, you know?
In terms of strategy, Eva has made some big calls, too. We know it was her decision, or it at least seemed like it was her decision to vote out David Kinne. That was one of the biggest moves of the game so far.
Ultimately, Eva has a lot of work to do to prove her game was different than Joe's game, but she is going to have an opportunity in the season finale. Will she take it, though? We'll see. So far, her gameplay ranks fourth overall.
3. Joe Hunter
For a player who could set a record in the season finale, Joe is probably ranked too low in terms of gameplay. I've gone back in forth about how I feel about Joe's game vs. Kamilla's game, but I think Kamilla has actually played a better game, which I'll explain shortly. For the most part, Joe has an excellent resume. Depending on how things go, he can definitely win this season.
He's dominated in challenges at an insane level. He's controlled, somewhat, the majority alliance since the merge. Before that, he developed incredible relationships with the Lagi tribe, the new Vula tribe, and others. He seems like a great dude. He's also voted out almost every player on the jury, like Eva. That's a great resume that he's built so far.
With that said, from a strategic standpoint, I think Joe has been a classic example of a shield. In some respects, Kyle and Shauhin, in their own ways, were using Joe as the majority alliance leader who takes all the responsibility for how this season played out. They let him shield them from the other threats, and it worked perfectly. Kyle and Kamilla just executed their strategy better down the stretch of the game. So, while it seems like Joe has been in control, I don't think that he's actually had as much power in the game as he probably thinks that he has. Does that matter? I don't know, but we'll see!
2. Kamilla Karthigesu
Like I said, I moved Kamilla and Joe back and forth a lot, but I really do think that she and Kyle have played the best game of Survivor among any of the other players this season. So, they are basically tied for first place!
Going back to the first few episodes with the Civa tribe and then the new Vula tribe, Kamilla has been fighting for her life in the game every day. She convinced Kyle to play his immunity idol that saved his life in the game, but that move also saved hers. Not to mention, she was the one who solved the puzzle for Kyle to obtain the idol in the first place.
They tried to take out Kamilla like three votes in a row, but she dodged, ducked, dipped, dived, and dodged her way out of it every single time. Sure, Kyle helped. Shauhin helped, but Kamilla did a lot of that work herself.
She won an immunity challenge. She played her part perfectly in the Shauhin blindside. It's clear that she's setting herself up in a position to win this season, but she's going to have to continue to play perfectly to make that happen.
1. Kyle Fraser
Kyle is the player who came up with the move to take out Shauhin, and he deserves a lot of credit for that. That's why he's probably just ahead of Kamilla in terms of gameplay on this season, because it's so close, but it's so close. As I mentioned, they have been playing the game together since the beginning, and they are the best secret alliance we've seen in Survivor in a very long time. Kamilla even voted for Mitch during the Shauhin vote, and it was perfect!
Overall, Kyle has forged the relationships necessary to reach the end of the game. He's been a double agent since day 1, and he's somehow found a way to pull it off in a way without alienating anyone yet. I don't know if we've ever seen a player do what he did for this long in Survivor history.
With all of that pressure, he's basically played a perfect game, strategically. He has known when to turn it up, when to sit back, and when to make a big move. He might have missed a few opportunities to make a big move, and he hasn't won as many challenges as he probably would have liked, but he's playing a winning game, probably the best game of this season right now.
He also has a successful hidden immunity idol play on his resume, too. Right now, no one can beat Kyle at the end. It's just going to be a matter of how he's able to sustain this level of play. We've seen bigger favorites fumble the win on Survivor in the past, and it's definitely possible Kyle won't win.
But, looking at how this season played out, it's Kyle's to lose.
Don't forget to watch the Survivor 48 finale on Wednesday, May 21, on CBS and Paramount+!