Normally, Survivor plays it pretty close to the vest when it comes to previews, sneak peeks, and episode synopses. Sometimes, things slip through the cracks and give a little more away than they probably originally intended, and that appears to have happened with Survivor 49 episode 5, "I'm a Wolf, Baby."
Please, walk with me on this journey through the sneak peeks and synopsis for episode 5, which airs on Wednesday, Oct. 22, on CBS and Paramount+.
Shannon Fairweather is in big trouble in Survivor 49 episode 5
Heading into Survivor 49 episode 5, there's no doubt Shannon Fairweather on the Kele tribe and Jason Treul are in big trouble. It's been that way since the tribe swap when they ended up on the outside of the majority alliance. But, the latest synopsis and accompanying previews suggest their plans to assimilate with their new tribe will not go well for at least one player.
There's not one smoking gun in the sneak peeks, preview, or synopsis for episode 5 that leads me to that conclusion. It's a combination of factors.
In the Next Time on Survivor preview, which was released immediately after episode 4 ended, we see Shannon throwing Sage Ahrens-Nichols out as the person to vote out on the new Kele tribe. Shannon and Sage were close-ish during their week on the Uli tribe, but Shannon is more than happy to throw out Sage's name.
Then, in the sneak peek, we see Shannon telling Alex Moore, Kristina Mills, and Steven Ramm basically the same information. She tells them that she feels the strongest to each of them individually, which can't be true. It feels like, based on this clip, that she's playing too hard.
Then, we look at the episode synopsis, and we find out someone is going to be in big trouble because they keep telling all the other tribemates that the same thing.
Here's that synopsis, via CBS:
"One castaway’s scheming gets them into hot water when their tribe realizes the same conversation has been repeated to each of them. Two castaways are sent on a grueling journey. Then, one castaway’s series of missteps leaves one of their tribemates hungry for revenge, on SURVIVOR..."
So, if I had to guess, I'd say, based on all of this evidence, the cat is out of the bag, and Shannon is going to be called out and probably voted out in episode 5. She's definitely in trouble because Sage, too, knows what she is up to.
Of course, Shannon was always in a tough spot after the tribe swap. It's devastating to go from the majority on one solid tribe to the absolute bottom on a new tribe, but Shannon has to know better and be more savvy than to lean on that strategy.
As mentioned, Jason is another player who is absolutely in trouble in episode 5. He basically turned his back on his new tribe in the last episode, but I don't think Jason is confident enough to play as boldly as Shannon in the next episode. He might get voted out, and he might scramble, but it's looking much more likely than Shannon overplays a bad hand and exits earlier than many thought she would.
We'll find out in Survivor 49 episode 5 on Wednesday, Oct. 22!