It seems the Survivor 48 players were wise to vote Sai out of the game before the jury, as doing so helped them get rid of a player who would very likely have been a bitter juror.
Episode 7 saw the remaining players split into two groups, with each group heading to their own tribal council. While the player voted out in the second of the night’s two tribal councils became the first juror of the season, the first player eliminated in the episode’s double elimination became the final player sent home before jury.
Heading to tribal council first in the episode were Chrissy, Star, Mitch, Joe, Sai, and Eva, and it became clear that the two players in the most danger of being voted out were Mitch and Sai. We spent a good amount of time watching this group discuss sending Mitch home, seeing him as a social threat in the game, but it was ultimately Sai who was voted out and became the final player to go home before the Survivor 48 jury began.
The decision to send Sai home before jury out of the fear of how her presence on the jury could impact the jury vote was one that factors into some players’ decisions, and it seems they made the right call. This is because Sai herself has admitted in her post-elimination interview that she would have been a very bitter jury member.
In speaking with Entertainment Weekly, Sai did not mince words when candidly revealing she would not have been happy with being a member of the jury. In fact, she went as far as to reveal that she most certainly would have been a bitter juror and that she would not have wanted to vote for any of the remaining players when the time came to vote for a winner.
“I don't think I would've been happy on the jury because I would've been helping somebody else win the money. I would've been a bitter juror. It would've never worked out for any of them. I would've gone in there and voted for Jeff to win the money. I would've never voted for any of these people, and they would've had to have been like, ‘Somebody voted for Jeff. Please go back and try again.’ And we would've been there all night. No way any of y'all are about to win,” Sai revealed.
That’s definitely the definition of a bitter juror! To not want to vote for anyone in the game is wild, and honestly, it might be for the best that Sai didn’t make it to the jury, as one bitter juror can sometimes poison the well. Sai even admitted that the players who didn’t want her on the jury were right to feel that way as she would have made it a “living hell” for them to potentially win the game.
While we appreciate her openness in admitting she would have been a bitter juror — and sympathize, since as a competitor, the last thing you want is to lose — the comments surely aren’t going to help her case for coming back in a future season. After all, why would CBS choose to bring back a player who has openly admitted they’d be a bitter juror and wouldn’t want to vote for anyone other than host Jeff Probst?
It’s a shame because Sai was a lot of fun to watch this season and definitely helped to bring us some fun moments, including her cursive vote against Cedrek that sent him into a spiral. We just can’t get behind her comments about not wanting to vote for anyone else in the game as true Survivor all-stars are players who love and respect the game, and can put their feelings aside to champion a deserving winner at the end of the game in respecting those who outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted them in the game.