After the Vula tribe lost three straight immunity challenges to open Survivor 48, we knew a tribe swap was on the way in Survivor 48 episode 4, "The House Party's Over," which airs on Wednesday, March 19.
CBS shared a brief look at Jeff Probst announcing the tribe swap in the Next Time on Survivor preview after Justin Pioppi was voted out in episode 3, but now, CBS has revealed the full clip of Jeff telling the players to drop their buffs and breaking the news that they will be switching tribes.
Jeff Probst tells Survivor 48 players they are switching tribes in sneak peek
In the clip, the Vula, Lagi, and Civa tribes are ready for the new immunity and reward challenge in episode 4, but Jeff has another plan in mind. He asks Thomas Krottinger what's the most important thing to remember about playing Survivor. After Thomas answers the question and shares players need to be ready for any adversity possible, Jeff drops his signature line: "Everybody drop your buffs!"
It's a huge moment for Mary Zheng, Cedrek McFadden, and Sai Hughley who have struggled in challenges throughout the game, but it's a rough moment for basically everyone else. We haven't learned who is really on the bottom of the Civa and Lagi tribes because they haven't had to vote anyone out yet. Sure, there are reasons to suspect Eva Erickson, Star Toomey, Charity Nelms, and Mitch Guerra could be in trouble, but it's not clear yet.
Even though CBS dropped this awesome clip before episode 4 airs, we still don't know a lot about this tribe swap. The video ends before Jeff can start handing out buffs, rocks, or however they are going to reveal the new tribes. We also don't know if we're consolidating the three tribes into two, uneven tribes (one tribe with eight players and another tribe with seven players), or if we will see three tribes of five.
I have to imagine we are going to see three tribes of five. There are 15 players left, down from 18 players to start the game. It's a lot easier on production to keep the three-tribe rotation for the next few challenges before the game changes again in three or four votes from now.
From the looks of things, Mitch Guerra is the only player with a known tribe in episode 4. In a picture released by CBS, it looks like Mitch will remain part of the Civa tribe, assuming that they do split into three tribes.
It's going to be really interesting to see how this tribe swap plays out. There are a few players who were in danger of going home who might get new life in the game. There are also a few players who seemed very secure in their initial alliances who could be in trouble now. We'll just have to see how it shakes out.
Watch Survivor 48 episode 4 on Wednesday, March 19, on CBS and Paramount+!