In our first post-merge episode, the game was as alive as it's been all season. Last week's blindside of Nate Moore lead to our previously most comfortable castaways fighting for their lives at camp, trying to figure out what needs to be done to flip them back into control of the game.
From the first moment of episode 8, it was clear the episode was going to be focused on the power of a player's social game.
Spoilers ahead for Survivor 49 episode 8!
After the challenge twist found our merged players divided yet again—in a seemingly improved iteration of last season's post-merge double elimination—it became clear that the lines drawn at last week's Tribal Council would not necessarily be the guidelines for this episode's vote. With only half as many castaways eligible to go home as well as vote, the social game was vital to the success—or failure—of our players to make it to next week.
While it should have been a straightforward vote for the losing castaways at the old Uli camp, they ended up spending their afternoon having the most pre-Tribal Council conversations we've seen all season. In fact, they weren't even done by the time Jeff Probst was ready to call for the votes. Instead, MC Chukwujekwu opted to keep the conversations going by jumping out of her seat and whispering something in Jawan Pitts' ear before having quiet conversations with the rest of the players at Tribal Council.
In an exit interview with TV Line, MC let us in on what that whispered conversation was and shared more about her initial approach of Jawan at camp—and what the episode left out for fans to know.
After playing her idol at last week's Tribal Council—though no votes came her way—this week found MC vulnerable for the first time the entire season. So when Sophie Segreti filled her in on her back-up plan to vote for Jawan just in case Rizo Velovic did play his idol, she could have just agreed and let the votes fall on Rizo, Sophie, and Jawan, possibly leading to a tie that would have sent Jawan home. But she didn't.
"When Sophie said that she was going to put a vote on Jawan, that made me feel uncomfortable," MC told TV Line.
When Jawan's name came up, MC remembered the conversation Survivor 42 winner Maryanne Oketch and Drea Wheeler instigated on Day 17 after their own post-merged tribe was split up for a double elimination. The two women arrived second to Tribal Council to find Rocksroy Bailey had been voted out and was now sitting on the jury next to Chanelle Howell.
With Nate being the first member of the jury, the idea of Jawan possibly becoming the second raised concern for her because, "after watching Season 42, I know how I felt when I saw multiple Black people on the jury in a row, and I didn't want that to happen again."
So, she approached Jawan and let him know Sophie's plan. What we didn't see in last night's broadcast, however, was her sharing all the above with him as well.
"I had an out of game conversation with him and I said this could wreck my game," she remembers, prompting her to let him know that she wanted to team up with him to vote out Sophie.
But Jawan had other plans and instead of working with MC, he opted to let everyone else know about MC's plan to go against the group—despite the fact that Sophie was the first to plan to go against the group in order to save herself. She says that's likely what switched the vote to her, which she found very ironic.
Right before Jeff was about to dismiss the players to go vote, MC wanted to double down on making sure that Jawan knew she was with him and needed him to stick with the original plan they'd discussed of voting out Sophie. But rather than going with her, Jawan stayed with his original Uli tribe and opted to keep Sophie, a player they saw as less of a threat because her own tribe mates on the other half of the merged group already saw her on the outs.
And of course, MC was bummed she'd used her idol prematurely, but she doesn't regret it. She needed to play it the week before to confirm where people's loyalties were, and she had no idea that a split Tribal Council was gonna happen in the next couple of days—with four Uli's and two original Hina's at that.
While, "Hindsight is always 20/20," MC has no issue with the way she played the game.
We'll see how the decision to vote out MC shakes things up in Survivor 49 episode 9 on Wednesday, Nov. 19!