The Final 6 went into Tribal Council this week, but only 2 returned with any chance of winning the title of Sole Survivor after the theatrics that went down in Survivor 49 episode 12.
From the initial celebration as our castaways returned after the collective vote out of Sophie Segreti, it was clear that Wednesday's episode had a different air about it. For 21 days, these 6 remaining players have been so definitive in the way they're voting that for all of them to come together was very telling of how far into the game we are and how small the numbers are getting.
Steven Ramm has been strategizing to get out the power players at every single vote, even though it's put him on the wrong side of the majority for 40% of his game with Kristina Mills voting alongside him since she began attending Tribal Councils at the merge. Sophi Balerdi socialized her way into every group of power players since day 1, attending the most Tribal Councils (81% of this season's total) and voting alongside the majority at 88% of those.
And somewhere between the three, Sage Ahrens-Nichols has played the middle, voting where she felt was best for her game while also staying socially open to be influenced by those around her which led to her only being blindsided once.
But at the top of it all are Rizo Velovic and Savannah Louie, who have been the name on everybody's lips since even before the merge, yet they have both fought, strategized, and socialized—truly defining what outwit, outplay, and outlast mean this season—scoring themselves a spot in the Final 5 and, truthfully, they're both basically guaranteed to make it in the Final 4, as well.
Rizo has an immunity idol that will 100% take him there, and Savannah is the only player left in the game who has won any individual challenges. Sage is the only person who has come close, but even so, we've already seen the force Savannah is when she knows she's in jeopardy. With Final Tribal Council in sight, there's no way she's letting anyone else take immunity from her in the next two challenges.
And while nothing this season has been straightforward, after Sophi chose not to go after Rizo's immunity idol, it seems that core three plans to stick together to the end which means next week's vote will likely come down to Savannah, Rizo, and Sophi deciding who they don't want to go up against in fire. As long as those three can keep Sage and Kristina from winning immunity, Rizo doesn't even need his idol to make it to Final 4, unless Sophi realizes she made a mistake misplaying her knowledge is power advantage and teams up with Sage and Kristina for a crazy play.
Because after Sage and Kristina flipped on Steven, they immediately lost the game. They are the only two players left who were aligned with nearly everyone on the jury at one point or another and the only major strategy they've consistently used throughout this season is social loyalty.
Even as the numbers came and went, both of these players were consistent with who their top allies were and staying loyal to them. But one of those top allies was Steven and turning on him lost a lot of respect from the jury—you could tell right away from their reactions. They are the only two players left in the game who have not received any votes against them and while they previously could have argued it was due to loyalty, the jury will likely now counter it's because they weren't threats.
Sophi's game-winning move flopped when she chose to play her Knowledge is Power advantage on Steven instead of using it to take Rizo's idol and move the target to him. If she really uses her social skills, she has one more very thin shot to get him out at Final 5, but it won't be easy.
First, she'll need to make sure neither Rizo nor Savannah win immunity, which is a hard task in-and-of itself. Then she needs to make sure that she, Sage, and Kristina vote for the person Rizo does not play his idol on. And at this point in the game, I'd be shocked if he didn't play it on himself, guaranteeing him a spot in the Final 4 even if it meant sacrificing his closest ally.
But Rizo's smart—there's a reason he's been able to make it all this time without playing his idol—and he can sniff out a plot against him from a mile away. His one fault now is that he trusts Sophi, so if she's willing to use that against him, taking him out—and making the move no one else could make this season—could be enough in the jury's eyes to win it all.
If she doesn't though, it's gonna be Savannah vs. Rizo in the end and the only way one will guarantee their win at Final 3 is by making sure the other person is taken out in fire at Final 4. Will they turn on each other when the time comes? Less than a week until we find out in the Survivor 49 finale!