Teeny Chirichillo's personal moment is a big reason we watch Survivor

Survivor 47 episode 10 featured one of the few votes that wasn't a straight-up blindside, but it wasn't tribal council where this episode had its best moment. Teeny Chrichillo's confessional is what tugged at the heartstrings.

Unless you've played Survivor, it would be impossible to understand what the players go through physically and emotionally. Over 47 seasons, audiences have witnessed numerous meltdowns and breakdowns. Even in Survivor 47, fans saw Andy Rueda have a moment in episode 1 where he displayed his mental unpreparedness for the game.

Teeny had her moment in episode 10, which was quite different from Andy's. Teeny had a grand strategy for her game, as does every person on the show, but from the beginning, nothing has worked out the way she wanted.

She's found herself on the wrong side of almost every vote and has been blindsided in several. Her allies have disappeared one by one as the season has progressed. She wants to play a friendly social game and develop strong relationships. She's done that to an extent, as no one dislikes her, but the people she was closest to became targets for one reason or another.

She's tried several times to assemble a strong women's alliance, but most already had strong ties to their male contestants. True female alliances have seldom worked out. Who can forget Survivor: Vanuatu, when the final seven included six women, but Chris Daugherty, the lone man left, ended up winning.

What made Teeny Chirichillo's Survivor 47 moment so poignant?

Teeny's game just hasn't unfolded as she had hoped. It does for very few players, but her game, in particular, has been out of her control almost from the beginning. In episode 9, she lost Sol Yi, her closest ally in the game, by the hand of another so-called friend in the game, Genevieve Mushaluk.

Teeny had to vote for her friend or be the only dissenting vote cast in what turned out to be a unanimous vote. She was visibly upset as the votes were read, and she was crushed to see Sol go.

Back at camp, she did not explode or throw a fit. She talked to Genevieve privately, but Teeny was obviously upset with how the events unfolded.

Throughout the night and the next day, she struggled. She even said she was at her lowest point in the game, finding it hard to move forward. Cameras caught crying as she tried to sleep the night of the vote.

Audiences have seen how Survivor can strip down players emotionally and physically. In this episode, we saw Teeny bare her soul. In a confessional, she told the audience she was gay and that she had struggled with her gender identity, as well. She was her most vulnerable, feeling down and beaten by the game's events.

It is impossible for anyone who has always been secure with their sexuality and identity to understand what people go through in this situation - with themselves, their family, their friends, and an unkind society in general. Audiences have witnessed these things before on Survivor, most vividly when Jeff Varner told everyone at tribal council that his tribemate Zeke Smith was transgender on Survivor: Millennials vs. Gen X. That moment will forever be etched into the memories of all Survivor fans.

Then, a funny thing happened, though. While sleeping by the fire, Teeny's bag caught fire, probably from a stray popping ember. A large hole was burned into the one thing she had on the island. The one thing that contained that was hers in this game. At that moment, it would have been very easy for Teeny to throw in the towel. She was already on edge, raw with emotion, and as vulnerable as she's ever been in the game. Instead, it brought her back from the emotional brink and stiffened her resolve.

In that moment, when she could have given up, her innate inner strength helped her clear her mind and pushed her to not only remain in the game but also start playing it harder.

No one knows Teeny's fate in the game, but it was a fantastic moment for her personally. It was inspiring to see her pull herself from despair and mentally push back everyone she had been dealing with within and outside of the game.

Regardless of the outcome, Teeny is in the final eight of Survivor 47, and maybe she can push herself to the end of the game and make the final three.