Though we've been talking about Survivor 49 for months, no one knew what to expect from the season until now. It was two hours of changing our initial impressions of players and discovering who is clearly at the bottom of the game, regardless of if their tribe won or not.
Host Jeff Probst opened the marooning with an epic speech emphasizing the importance of the people playing Survivor and how the game is impacted by them, not just for this season, but for years to come. Just as he's been preaching in interviews leading up to the premiere, it's clear that this season will focus on the castaways and their social and strategic games more than ever.
Spoilers ahead for Survivor 49!
The marooning challenge drew clear lines in the sand, establishing physical threats, the ones who will persevere, and the tribe to watch
In the relay-style challenge, Hina was out to an early lead despite Kele's Jake Latimer immediately proving himself as the most physical player of the season. So much so he circled back and help his tribe mate Kimberly "Annie" Davis carry her crate after already delivering his. But even with his performance, Kele fell behind in the second lap, allowing Uli and Hina to reach the puzzle round neck-in-neck.
After all tribes took an extended amount of time on the puzzles, Hina continued to push forward and soar ahead of both the red and blue tribes, winning the marooning challenge. In a second chance one-on-one competition, Uli chose Rizo Velovic and Kele chose Alex Moore as representatives.
Arriving at the new challenge, Rizo immediately doubted if he would perform well, which proved true as Alex was basically half-way done with the second phase of the challenge by the time Rizo even gathered his puzzle pieces. As Alex moved on to the third phase, Rizo chose to complete his puzzle by copying the completed one—which Alex wasn't a fan of, even returning to cover up his puzzle at one point—without realizing he forgot to gather all his pieces.
Yet despite a fairly embarrassing starting performance, Rizo managed to finish the final phase before Alex. His emotional response to pulling through definitely showing fans why Jeff has been talking non-stop about him leading up to the premiere.
Only one Hina tribe member proved to be ready for survival
With spirits high after winning supplies, the Hina tribe jumped into playing the "Get to Know You Game" alongside prepping their camp. Right off the bat, Steven Ramm shared about his journey with hearing loss and why he wear a hearing aid.
As I predicted, Matt Williams felt outcasted due to his age. He not only had difficulty relating to the younger players on his tribe, but also had to "bite his tongue" when his fellow castaways showed clear ineptitude regarding survival instincts and abilities. After watching his tribe fail to make first until the sun had nearly set, he finally stepped forward and did it himself, proving his camp life worth.
Steven was impressed with his performance and approached Matt to tell him as much. But then he turned around and told everyone how much he liked them, only to immediately start feeling paranoid that even with his extra social play, he was likely on the bottom.
Some of Kele started strong, the rest were a little all over the place
Despite losing and returning without a tribe mate, Kele established themselves as outdoor novices, especially without supplies. Sophi Balerdi worked the social game, wanting to build relationships with every person on her tribe, but specifically setting her sights on Jake, who told her he was also vibing with Alex and (without him knowing) they established a Final 3.
Upon Alex's return, everyone was shocked to see him return without supplies, but they still greeted him positively. Though he worried about being on the bottom after failing, the tribe clearly had placed Annie on the outs as she took the lead to put together the camp, isolating herself by going off on her own. But secretly, she and Alex sealed their own day 1 alliance.
Publicly, it was clear, though, that Jake and Alex were tight. So much so that Sophi started growing concerned, approaching Jeremiah Ing about starting their own duo and throwing Jake and Alex's names under the bus. But Jeremiah approached Jake about being a stealth alliance together, ultimately establishing a Final 4 with Alex and Sophi.
Uli chose to establish calm over distinct alliances
Savannah Louie got the conversation going, sharing her job without letting anyone know she was previously a reporter. Similarly, Nate Moore gave a half-truth by saying he used to work on film and TV sets, but not letting anyone know exactly how important his role was.
When Rizo returned with supplies, the entire tribe not only celebrated his win, but also encouraged his emotional excitement about being on the show and starting off with a bang. The entire tribe came together to do yoga and breath work led by Shannon Fairweather, not quite ready to play even with lots of conversations happening.
Nate feared his age put him on the outs, so he worked his way in, establishing his Survivor Avengers by suggesting to Savannah they work together with Rizo and Shannon. They were considering bringing in Jawan Pitts, but his frustration in his inability to start a fire was a major red flag for Savannah.
A pattern was set during the immunity challenge, showcasing the start of a potential losing spree
The season kicked off with a classic Survivor challenge including a rope tunnel, a mud pit, giant 200lb serpents, and a winding snake ball puzzle. First two to finish win immunity as well as varying degrees of tools.
Hina entered on cloud 9 after their first win, chanting their name as they walked in, which they continued throughout the challenge as they kept the starting lead, almost lapping Uli. But Savannah and Nate were able to pull off a great comeback as they passed Kele in the second lap. But as with almost all Survivor challenges, everyone eventually caught up as soon as it came to the puzzle.
But in the end, Hina once again pulled out first place with Uli coming in second after Kele's Nicole Mazullo and Annie weren't able to communicate and fell out of the puzzle.
Nicole Mazullo is the 1st player voted out of Survivor 49
Jeff starts Tribal Council once again focusing on player dynamics over challenges. The tribe consensus established was that everyone likes each other, but deeper connections were clearly made and you never know if you didn't make the deepest connection. There were lots of laughs happening, which was a shock to Jeff considering they were moments away from voting out the first person of the season.
Though it was clearly between Annie and Nicole as the weakest links in the challenge, in the end, the majority came together and decided that voting out Nicole would benefit the strength of the tribe, hopefully leading them to win and never return to Tribal Council as Kele. Despite everyone's belief that she'd be loyal and a good alliance member, the need for strength outweighed the rest—as it often does.
Survivor 49 is back on Wednesday, Oct. 1 on CBS and Paramount+