Heading into Survivor 49 episode 10, there's not a person left in the game who hasn't earned a target on their back—whether their tribe mates know it or not.
Savannah Louie has won two back-to-back individual immunity challenges while her day one ally Rizo Velovic continuously alludes getting his torch snuffed despite having a not-so-hidden immunity idol in his pocket. The other member of their Final Three, Sophi Balerdi, has a Knowledge is Power advantage that no one knows about.
Meanwhile, Kristina Mills has her own hidden immunity idol that very few people know about, including Steven Ramm who has been a strategic powerhouse from the very beginning even though he was on a tribe that never had to go to Tribal Council. Their other original tribe member Sophie Segreti has managed to land herself in the middle of the current castaways, giving her immense power on which way the tides turn.
Then, we have Jawan Pitts who was on the bottom of the Uli tribe from the start, but has securely flip-flopped multiple times with his ally, Sage Ahrens-Nichols, whose flexible social gameplay has been nothing short of a masterpiece this season. She built herself up as such a quirky side character that she's learned how to influence the "main characters" votes for her own game—specifically in eliminating Shannon Fairweather.
And in a new sneak peek clip (below) of episode 10, "Huge Dose of Bamboozle," Sage reveals that she's once again ready to use her wallflower power to bring in Jawan and turn the heads of the other players to target Kristina and her idol.
In the video, Sage decides it's time to tell Jawan about Kristina's idol despite previously promising Steven should wouldn't share that information with anyone (even Jawan). But Sage knows as long as Kristina has an idol she's dangerous and she trusts Jawan as he's been with her from the start, always voting together.
But of course, with only eight people left in the game, it's nearly impossible for two people to have a conversation without everyone else growing suspicious. So, Sage uses her social prowess and has Jawan tell everyone that she has bad gas, so she's just sitting off on her own, and he was just checking in on her. No one even questions whether or not this could be true because of the bread crumbs Sage has set up to get to this point in the game.
This social tactic—obscure as it is—means Sage has the power to talk to anyone on that beach without anyone else batting an eye. It's just Sage. To them, anything she has to talk about probably isn't too threatening.
In reality, Sage has the power to change up the game right now. She could orchestrate a vote where she flushes Kristina's idol and eliminates her biggest rival Savannah all in one go, if she's able to maneuver the conversations perfectly.
But we'll have to wait until we get the full extent of what Jawan does with this new information before we know for sure how things could play out. Because with him involved now—based on previous moves he's made—there's a high liklihood he shares this information with Savannah and Rizo who then use it to their advantage.
We'll find out very soon when episode 10 airs tonight at 8pm ET on CBS and Paramount+!