I have spent the last 10 weeks trying to piece together this puzzle. Because I don't know about you, but every episode of Survivor 49 so far has given me at least one moment that I can correlate directly to a similar experience that went down in the season that came before it, but inversely.
While both Survivor 48's Vula and Survivor 49's Kele were on early game losing challenge streaks, Vula had a volatile camp social life and confusing strategic calls at Tribal Council. But Kele had a fairly cohesive social existence at camp, with Tribal Councils filled with laughter and understanding—even when they always ended in a blindside—with their only camp nightmare being Jake Latimer's medical evacuation.
In the end, Vula finished with social player Cedrek McFadden making the jury and strategic Mary Zheng making it to the final 7 before joining him. And as of now, Kele's left with social player Alex Moore on the jury and strategic Sophi Balerdi in the final 6. Mary might not have made it as far as she did, had it not been for the safety she gained on Day 7 from her Shot in the Dark, just like Sophi might not have made it this far if Jake hadn't been removed from the game.
I could go episode by episode through similarities, but there are three people that I really want to focus on: Savannah Louie, Rizo Velovic, and Steven Ramm.
Around the first tribe swap, it became clear that Savannah and Rizo were going to be our Kamilla Karthigesu and Kyle Fraser of the season, respectively, but with a very different ending. While I called from the start that Kyle was going to win Survivor 48, I have no doubt that—metaphorically—in this antithetical season, it's Kamilla's turn to take the crown, and Savannah will absolutely come out on top.
Because the key difference between these two duos is that no one is playing in the shadows this season. Where Kyle and Kamilla met in secret to exchange information and orchestrate blindsides, Rizo and Savannah openly sit on their thrones and let their fellow castaways come to them with the information they need to take out anyone waiting to cross them. They are on top of everyone else's game, everybody else knows this, and yet everybody else continues to provide them with the resources they need to stay in a position of power.
But just like Kyle and Kamilla, if they're both at Final Tribal Council, it'll be a split vote and whoever is in the third seat will likely take the prize simply due to indecisiveness or, as we've occasionally seen with jury members, bitterness. Rizo's not going to be the one to take out Savannah, though, and I don't predict a world in which Savannah takes out Rizo—and his number—before she absolutely has to, which means that we'll likely see Rizo taken out by fire just as we did Kamilla before.
But what about Steven? And how does episode 11 tie into all of this? I'm so glad you asked! Episode 11 was not the first time Steven was heavily featured in an episode, but it was the first edit where he had his "main character moment."
In Survivor, that's when something truly pivotal happens to your game, like when Savannah won individual immunity at the most opportune time and turned her entire game around or when Rizo played the fake idol just for kicks and giggles because he could.
Steven finally got his main character moment in a combination of events that started with him completing the journey and then going on to win individual immunity after every other castaway complained about not wanting to go on the journey because they wanted to conserve their energy for the immunity challenge. And while I've spent the last many weeks connecting the dots between Survivor 48 and Survivor 49, the one puzzle piece that alluded me was Steven—until now.
Steven is the Shauhin Davari, Joe Hunter, and Eva Erickson of Survivor 49
While every other player has been fairly easy to match up to a Survivor 48 counterpart—Kristina Mills has taken on Mitch Guerra's role of comforting strength, Sage Ahrens-Nichols has taken on Star Toomey's role of quirky, unsuspecting threat, Sophie Segreti has taken on David Kinne's role of immunity threat who has a little more strategy up their sleeve than the people in charge would like—I had yet to be able to connect any one person to Steven and that's because he isn't just one person.
Steven is clearly the most versatile player of the season, and that's even more evident as you hold him up to his fellow powerhouse players. He came into this season with a fear that a difference he grew to view as a superpower would isolate him from the tribe and end up being a weakness in the game—not unlike Eva. He's also proven to be a puzzle genius in challenges and understand strategy on the same level as the other threats in the game—giving off some major Shauhin vibes. And he has now proven himself a physical threat in this game, not only through his incredible journey feat, but also with two individual immunity wins under his belt—just like Joe.
And just as all three of them had last season, he is a great social player, building relationships with people even when they know they can't align with him because he's too good of a player, and they'd be scared to sit next to him in the end. And while Kyle knew in the end he could win against Joe and Eva—who didn't have the same strategic resume as he did—he knew he couldn't win against Shauhin. Wrap all three of those people up in one, and you have the epitome of outwit, outplay, outlast.
So in a game for $1 million, we already have 3 people who have played million dollar games, and we still have two episodes left, including what is sure to be an epic season finale!
But that doesn't mean anyone else is ready to be discounted yet. Like I said, we're in the multiverse this season. Anything can happen! Because while our castaways might be on similar trajectories as those who walked before them in Survivor 48, they have the potential to change their ending. I imagine a few of our remaining players might still be burned despite their best attempts—like how Sophie was after choosing to vote out Jawan Pitts instead of Savannah—but if someone finally steps up and makes the big move we've been waiting all season to see, it could mean new life in the game.
We'll see what happens next on a new episode of Survivor 49 this Wednesday, Dec., 10 at 8 p.m. EST on CBS and Paramount+!