There's no question that Survivor 49 episode 10's Tribal Council was the final straw for Sage Ahrens-Nichols as she watched her closest ally, Jawan Pitts, sent to the jury while her plan to eliminate Savannah Louie failed for the thousandth time.
Sage has been playing a very meticulous game so far, but with the numbers dwindling down, if she doesn't pull out all the stops soon, she's going to find herself on the chopping block sooner rather than later.
In a first look clip of this Survivor 49 episode 11, "Cherry on Top," we see that of our blindsided players returning from Tribal Council, Sage isn't the one who is starting to show some new drive in her game after that wake-up call. Kristina Mills is asking the same questions she's been asking after the last three blindsides, but this time around she doesn't sound upset—as she has been—she sounds ready to fight.
Not only is Savannah still in the game, but Rizo Velovic still has his idol and Kristina no longer has hers. As the saying goes, fool me once, shame on me, but this is now the third week in a row Rizo has walked away from Tribal Council with his alliance fully intact and guaranteed, transferable safety in his pocket. And in the clip, Kristina isn't too thrilled that she played her idol when neither she nor Steven received votes.
Kristina is awake and ready to play the game harder than before
While most of the above clip is Kristina recapping the events of Tribal Council and how she feels about them, these sneak peeks usually cut off right before our players start to go into their new plan of action and based on how she is addressing everything—and how much stronger she sounds discussing it all than she has in weeks past—she is about to come out swinging, ready to go down with the ship to get Rizo or Savannah out.
And I predict Sage is in a similar spot. At this point, it likely feels personal how many times they've been blindsided when they've concocted these incredible strategies with contingencies to remove the biggest threats from the game, yet they always somehow seem to be one step ahead.
Now the question is, how will this bottom alliance get the one-up on the majority to take out their leaders? Because in Survivor as soon as you get too comfortable, you're always the next to go. And Rizo and Savannah are starting to look mighty comfortable in their power positions.
Watch Survivor 49 episode 11 on Wednesday, Dec. 3, at 8 p.m. EST on CBS and Paramount+.