Savannah Louie is one of the most dominant Survivor winners of all time, but there were two mistakes made by another finalist that basically ensured Savannah would walk away with the $1 million prize.
Of course, I'm talking about the missteps made by Sophi Balerdi in the final two episodes of the season. Sophi made enough moves to make things interesting, including a massive immunity challenge to lock in her spot at Final Tribal Council, but she could have guaranteed the victory had one more thing gone her way in each episode.
Let's talk about those two moves.
Sophi should have stolen Rizo's immunity idol
This is the biggest mistake of the whole season. Sophi tried to be a team player and help out the Tres Leches alliance of herself, Savannah Louie, and Rizo Velovic, but the move that needed to be made happened in episode 12.
At Tribal Council, Sophi tried and failed to steal Steven Ramm's advantage using her Knowledge is Power advantage. Steven had already played his advantage before Tribal Council began by blocking Savannah's vote.
Steven played the moment perfectly, and it really proved that Sophi, despite surviving the entire game as the underdog, didn't really have the game under her thumb. And, it all happened for the jury to see.
Had Sophi just stolen Rizo's idol, even if she didn't vote him out, it would have been a huge shift in the game, earned her some drama points in front of the jury, and shown that she was playing to win. She could have taken control of the game and completely dictated what happened at the Final Five with an idol in her pocket.
All Sophi would have had to do to win Survivor 49 was sway two more jurors. I think that happens if she uses Knowledge is Power correctly and steals Rizo's advantage, even against Savannah. She was that close.
Sophi should have challenged Savannah to fire
Savannah won Survivor 49 because she won immunity challenges to keep herself in the game. She was right to say that she would have been voted out had she lost, basically, any of the challenges she won. I feel like that's the main difference between Sophi and Savannah because they voted together and worked together after the merge.
After Sophi messed up the Knowledge is Power advantage and basically only advanced in the game because Sage Ahrens-Nichols and Kristina Mills flipped on Steven, Sophi had one chance to make a winning move.
Instead of pitting Rizo and Savannah against each other for the $1 million prize, Sophi should have given up immunity and went into the fire-making challenge with Savannah. She needed one more move to win $1 million, and it was right there.
Nobody could knock Savannah out of the game by beating her in a challenge. Well, Sophi could have done it twice in the same day and send her to the jury. The bold move would surely have been enough to beat Rizo and Sage.
Sure, Sophi would actually have to beat Savannah at fire, which would be a tall task, of course. And, giving up your spot at Final Tribal Council, especially when it's guaranteed and you feel confident about the game you played, seems crazy. It's easy for me to sit here from my couch months and months after this all happened and say this is what a player should have done, but I would love to see more players take on the fire-making challenge as an opportunity to knock out a player everyone has been trying to knock out.
Imagine if Sophi had told Rizo and Sage that they would be making fire to make Savannah feel safe, only to pull the rug out from under her right before the challenge. Then, you beat her in fire in front of the jury and that's the last thing the jury sees? That's a $1 million move.
Sophi even considered doing that after her immunity win. Here's what she told TV Insider about the move and why she chose not to make it:
"So that whole day, I was contemplating two things. One was either putting Savannah on fire or putting myself in fire against Savannah, which would’ve been a boss move. But with everything I’d gone through in that game, I felt like I deserved to be in those final three seats. I earned the final immunity. I had survived a disaster tribe. I went to the most tribal councils out of anyone, voted the most people out of my season. I felt like I had a good underdog story and good enough connections with the jury, at least sitting next to Sage or Rizo. I knew it was going to be harder with Savannah, but sitting next to them that I could potentially win. And so I ultimately convinced myself to put them in the fire to just show the jury that I was playing for myself."
It's insane, but sometimes it takes a little insanity to win Survivor.