Survivor Season 48 Weekly Recaps
- James Hayden
- Feb 27
- 28 min read
Updated: 4 days ago
Written by NSA Contributor and Survivor superfan James Hayden, this blog follows the journey of Mitch Guerra — the first openly stuttering contestant in the show's history.

We're rooting for Mitch every step of the way and can’t wait to see how his story unfolds.
This post will be updated weekly with episode recaps featuring Mitch, so be sure to check back. Let’s hope he earns the title of Sole Survivor!
Weekly Recap of Mitch's Journey on Survivor Season 48

Survivor Season 48 Episode 1 Recap
Survivor 48 begins with a montage of the cast discovering they’re going to Fiji! Mitch is featured in this montage, but we aren’t officially introduced to him until the cast is marooned. Jeff Probst, host since season 1, greets the cast and formally welcomes them to Survivor 48. After giving the cast a pep talk, Probst asks Mitch, “Why did you answer the call to be here?” Mitch explains how seeing Christy Smith, who is deaf, play in Survivor: The Amazon inspired him to play. During his response, Mitch openly stutters and discloses that he has a stutter to the group. When Jeff asked what took him so long to get there, Mitch responded, “I’ve been trying to get out here for 20 years.” The cast laughs, and Mitch makes a good first impression overall.
After asking two other players the same question, Jeff announces the tribe names. Mitch’s tribe is called Civa and their tribe color is orange. The other two tribes are Lagi and Vula, wearing purple and green, respectively. In the opening reward challenge, Lagi wins their camp supplies: flint, machete, and a pot. Civa and Vula have a second chance to win their supplies. Each must send one player to compete in the challenge. Civa sends Kyle and Vula sends Kevin. Kevin secures supplies for his tribe, which means Civa won’t get their supplies until after the first immunity challenge on day 3.
Once at the tribe camp, Mitch gets his tribe’s first confessional. He gets along well with everyone and pulls his weight around camp. One of his tribe mates, David, pulls him aside to look for the hidden immunity idol. He seems to be in everyone’s good graces, and his stutter is a non-issue. The story of day 1 on Civa is told through Mitch’s eyes.
Over on Vula, Sai is hitting the ground running. She is looking for advantages, and ultimately finds their hidden immunity idol on day 2. In Lagi, Eva opens up to Joe about being a person with autism. The two share a beautiful exchange that goes beyond the game, discussing how to be an ally for someone.
The tribes compete in their first immunity challenge on day 3. Mitch performs excellent in the challenge, and Civa finishes second. Civa wins their camp supplies and immunity. Vula loses and votes out Stephanie for losing the challenge for them.

Overall, Mitch had a good first episode. He seems to be well-liked by everyone in his tribe, did well in the challenges, is a hard worker around camp, and David seems to trust him. The only thing that concerns me is a scene in which his tribe mates Kamilla, Chrissy, David, and Kyle form a four-person alliance. On a tribe of six, this is not good for Mitch. However, it’s still early in the game. A lot can and will change from now until day 26.
Survivor Season 48 Episode 2 Recap
The episode opens with Vula back at camp and Mary asking why she was left out of the vote. She gets into it with Sai, and it’s clear these two do not like each other. Vula is simply a mess.
On Civa, the members share their “humble traits.” When asked what his “humble trait” is, Mitch responds, “I just have a speech impediment.” This gets some chuckles out of his tribe and helps Mitch strengthen his rapport with the rest of the tribe. It’s important to note that Civa is laughing with Mitch instead of at him. This scene normalizes stuttering and shows the others that Mitch doesn’t view it as a big deal, and they shouldn’t, either.
Over on Lagi, Star, feeling on the outs, starts looking for the hidden immunity idol. She finds the clues but can’t find the idol. She tells everyone in an attempt to bond with the tribe, but it backfires on her. Star is now the prime target on Lagi.
A boat approaches each tribe’s beach and instructs the tribes to pick one person to go on a journey. A journey gives the chosen player an opportunity to win an advantage. Mitch is selected for Civa, Mary for Vula, and Thomas for Lagi to go on the journey. They encounter a puzzle and must solve it within the given amount of time. Mitch and Thomas are successful, while Mary is not. Mitch wins the opportunity to block someone’s vote at Tribal Council, while Thomas wins the opportunity to steal someone’s vote. Mary loses her vote at her next Tribal Council. Mitch tells his tribe he won and forms an alliance with Charity, who is on the outs. The rest of Civa look for the idol, and Kyle and Kamilla ultimately find it.
For me and the rest of the stuttering community, the episode's highlight occurred on day 5. Before explaining the immunity challenge, Probst asks Civa how the toolkit they won during the first challenge improved their camp life. Mitch answers Probst’s question and has quite a few stuttering moments during his response. Instead of moving on, Probst takes a moment to be an ally.
He asks Mitch, “When you’re struggling, do you want help from someone, or is part of it to let you finish when you’re ready to finish?”
To which Mitch beautifully responds, “The hope is that everyone would just kind of hang in there for me and just give [me] the opportunity to finish my sentence. I’m so thankful you asked that because, honestly, people just naturally want to help others and sometimes we don’t feel comfortable enough asking that, so thank you.”
Mitch’s answer is what every person who stutters wants: the space to openly and freely stutter during spontaneous communication. It’s such a powerful message for everyone. Moreover, I appreciate Probst’s response to Mitch’s stutter. He allowed Mitch to stutter freely, had no visible reaction, and then asked how he could best be an ally. To paraphrase Probst, “That’s how you do it in allyship.” In addition to Probst, the entire cast took in the moment. They nodded in support of what Mitch was saying and showed their support. They, like Probst, are willing to learn how to be a better advocate for PWS (people who stutter).
As a longtime fan, what I love most about this moment is that it wasn't a forced or potentially scripted moment. Instead, it occurred naturally. It was just one person who doesn't stutter asking one person who does, how to be supportive. It just so happened that it occurred with cameras rolling and would later be broadcast on prime-time TV for millions to see. Moments like these are when the show is at its best: when two people from different walks of life meet and teach each other something. This episode gave us one of the most positive representations of stuttering allyship in the media for millions of people to learn from.
Moving on, the next challenge is a water obstacle course, and each tribe has to get five balls to reach their goal. Mitch is the hero for Civa and wins them immunity and fishing supplies. Cedrick loses the challenge for Vula, and they are headed to Tribal Council.
On Vula beach, every person’s name is mentioned as a possible target. Sai plays her hidden immunity idol because of the chaos. But ultimately, Kevin goes home after Sai joins Justin and Cedrick to vote him out.
Overall, this was a great episode for Mitch: He had a few hero moments, strengthened his social bonds on Civa, and gracefully educated Jeff and at-home viewers how to be a strong ally for PWS. Going into next week, my only concern for Mitch is that he’s associated with Charity. It’s only day 5, and with 21 days to go, many things can change.
Survivor Season 48 Episode 3 Recap

The episode opens with Vula dealing with the fallout from Kevin going home. Sai no longer trusts Cedrek and Justin after they both told her to play her idol when she didn’t need to.
We then join the Civa tribe on the morning of Day 6. The main four, David, Kyle, Kamilla, and Chrissy, are talking about weight loss and life back at home. David has been a big character in the past two episodes, but we go beneath the surface this week and get to know him better. He opens up about his living situation and how important winning the million-dollar prize is to him. Elsewhere, Lagi struggles with lacking food, living in the elements, and missing home. To bring up tribe morale, Joe builds a bonfire for the tribe to enjoy. While everyone is sitting around it, Eva gives Joe a bracelet for his daughter. This alarms Shauhin and Thomas, who realize Eva is too close to Joe and needs to go.
Mary wakes up early on Day 7 to look for the hidden immunity idol. Since Sai played it at the last Tribal Council, it has been hidden again. Sai has the same idea, and, eventually, they both chase after the idol. Neither has any luck finding it and it stays hidden at Vula Beach.
Over at Civa, Mitch believes the tribe is firing on all cylinders and ideally wants to go deep into the game with all of them. Charity and Mitch are each other’s #1 allies. Mitch approaches Kyle about a four-person alliance of Kyle, himself, David, and Charity. This gives Kyle and David options since they’re also in an alliance with Chrissy and Kamilla.
At Lagi, Star knows she’s on the outs and continues using her clues to try to find the tribe’s hidden immunity idol. Seeing this, Eva approaches Star about allying with her and Joe. Star is against this and tells Bianca and Thomas, her true allies, and a plan against Eva begins to take shape.
The immunity challenge is a blindfolded obstacle course. One player directs three blindfolded players to collect three bags of keys. Once all the bags are collected, the tribe’s caller must direct one blindfolded player to complete a slide puzzle. Mitch has a solid performance and saves Civa from Tribal Council. Vula loses their third challenge in a row.

Bianca, Justin, and Kamilla go on a journey in which they play a game of chance. If they win, they get an extra vote. If they lose, then they lose their vote at Tribal Council. Biana and Justin lose their votes, and Kamilla wins an extra vote.
After Mary pretends to have an idol, three rounds of voting, and a historic Tribal Council, Cedrek casts the sole vote and votes out Justin.
This episode is quiet for Mitch and sets the stage for what the rest of the season could look like. Everything could be upended when the tribes swap next week!

Survivor Season 48 Episode 4 Recap
We open the episode, “The House Party’s Over,” on Day 8: Cedrek and Sai attempt to rebuild trust after a historic Tribal Council just as Mary and Sai finally realize they should work together instead of against each other.
However, tribes are thrown a curveball when they arrive at their next challenge and Jeff says the game-changing words, “Everyone, drop your buffs. We’re switching tribes.”
The new tribes are:
Civa: Bianca, Cedrek, Chrissy, Mitch, Sai
Lagi: Charity, David, Eva, Mary, Star
Vula: Joe, Kamilla, Kyle, Shauhin, Thomas
On Lagi, Eva immediately bonds with David. She then informs the rest of her tribe that she would gladly vote out Star if they went to Tribal Council.
At Vula, Kamilla and Kyle pretend not to be close to each other. Kamilla also uses information she learned from Star to throw Thomas under the bus.
On Civa, Chrissy realizes she needs to work with Mitch to make it through this phase of the game. Bianca approaches Sai about an alliance with them and Cedrek. Sai is unsure and tells Bianca to “vibe check” him first. Cedrek approaches Mitch about allying, but this conversation is so much more than that.
Cedrek tells Mitch about how he stuttered as a kid and how, at times, he still stutters. They then talk about their experiences in speech therapy and the sounds they have difficulty with. Mitch mentions that he has the most difficulty with “M” sounds (it's common for people who stutter to stutter when saying their name!). Mitch talks about growing up without any positive portrayals of stuttering. Ironically, Mitch’s appearance on the show is creating a meaningful and positive portrayal of stuttering that many people will treasure and appreciate!
Cedrek sees himself in Mitch and wants to work with him. At its core, this conversation is about two people bonding over a shared experience. But in tribes this small, any commonality you find with someone could lead to an alliance. Cedrek pitches to Mitch that he and Sai are loyal to each other. Humorously, it instantly cuts to Sai talking to Bianca and throwing him under the bus.
The immunity challenge is another obstacle course that ends with three tribe members building a 3D temple puzzle. Once again, Mitch shows his physical prowess and dominates his part of the challenge. Although Vula has all new members, the result is the same: They win a fourth straight date to Tribal Council.
Kyle and Kamilla keep pretending that they are at odds but ultimately plan how best to use Kyle’s idol and Kamilla’s extra vote to survive. After an emotional Tribal Council, Kyle uses his idol to send Thomas home for being a threat.
Overall, this was another good episode for Mitch. Although potentially being in the minority on his new tribe, I think Mitch is in a good spot. He and Chrissy realized they’re better together than apart, made inroads with Cedrek, and was never once mentioned as a possible boot if Civa goes to Tribal Council. His challenge prowess has him in a good spot going into next week, but that could all change. What’s true on Day 9 might not be true on Day 10.
Survivor Season 48 Episode 5 Recap
Opening on Episode 5, “Master Class in Deception,” Vula returns from Tribal Council, where Shauhin and Joe try to figure out what happened with Thomas being voted out. They reach out to Kyle and Kamilla one-on-one in an attempt to rebuild trust between the four of them.

For the first time this season, the tribes compete in a reward challenge. The first-place tribe will indulge in an afternoon of pastries and sandwiches at The Sanctuary, and the second-place tribe to win gets a smaller tray of the same food at camp. Lagi and Civa have to sit out one person: Charity and Sai, respectively. When Jeff asks why Sai is sitting out, she responds, “I’ve been in every single challenge; I would love to have a little break,” which garnered some looks from the other survivors.
Mitch performs well in the challenge, but unfortunately, Civa ends up in third place. Lagi wins a trip to The Sanctuary, with Vula coming in second.
On Civa, Sai is getting on the tribe’s nerves with her comments and how she conducts herself around camp. On the beach, Chrissy and Mitch express their annoyance to each other about Sai. Mitch tells us that Thomas being voted out creates more options for his game. He then allies with Bianca. Sai wants an alliance with Bianca and Cedrek. What complicates this is Bianca doesn’t have a vote.
Lagi is ecstatic when they arrive at The Sanctuary and see the various food items and drinks. Charity becomes emotional and expresses her love for the tribe, but Eva isn’t buying it. Over a smaller selection of pastries and sandwiches, the members of Vula bond over their life stories and agree to work together post-merge.

The Day 11 immunity challenge is a water obstacle course ending with an on-land table maze. Each player on the tribe must complete the table maze. Finally, Vula wins immunity for the first time! Lagi comes in second, sending Civa to Tribal Council.
Eva, who is autistic, struggles with the table maze and experiences immense frustration. Her tribe, along with Joe, offers her words of encouragement. She eventually prevails, securing victory for Lagi. However, she becomes extremely overwhelmed, leading to what she calls “an episode.” She is unable to stop crying and begins screaming. Joe watches intently as her tribe attempts to reassure and soothe her unsuccessfully. As we recall, on Day 1, she confided in Joe and described how to help her out of an episode. Jeff asks Joe if he wants to go over and hug Eva, to which he quickly does. In an extremely touching moment, he embraces her and holds her hands, telling her to slow her breath and remember that she’s safe.
After Eva is calmed down, Jeff asks Joe why it was important for him to reveal part of his game and comfort somebody on another tribe.
“All my kids watching me, I’m going to be the man I want them to be and the people I want them to be, regardless of the game. That’s what you do and that’s who I am. So if it exposes it, it exposes it, but she was in need. I would want someone to treat my daughter that way in this game.”
She then discloses her autism and shares a bit of her story, which makes some of the survivors (including Mitch) teary-eyed.
“I’ve never viewed my autism as a roadblock to success. It’s not something to work around. It’s just part of who I am. There’s nothing bad about it.”
(Can we relate any more?)
“Eva,” Jeff says. “It takes so much courage to play Survivor for anybody. But for you to come out here knowing something like this might happen and then be brave enough to share your story, because there is a young girl or boy just like you, watching right now going, ‘Hey Mom, hey Dad…’”
Jeff also begins to cry and says this has never happened before on Survivor. He quickly wraps things up and sends the tribes out.
Back at Lagi, Star tells the tribe she has the clue to the hidden immunity idol. The tribe works
together to solve the clues and get Star her idol. Star gives the idol to Eva since she figured out the clues.
At Civa, Bianca tells Cedrek she wants to work with him and Sai to eliminate Chrissy. She then tells Mitch and Chrissy she wants to work with them against Sai. Chrissy and Mitch approach Cedrek about voting out Sai. Chrissy tells this to Bianca, who then tells Cedrek. Through it all, Mitch’s name is never said. Everyone likes and trusts him, and he is great at challenges.
To build trust, Bianca tells Cedrek she has no vote, and the plan is to vote out Sai. Cedrek must decide whether to stick to the plan or use the information to create a new one. Cedrek chooses the latter. He joins Chrissy to blindside Bianca, Mitch, and Sai and votes out Bianca in a 2-1-1 vote.
The individual portion of the game starts next week! What made Mitch great in the tribe portion of the game makes him a threat in the individual portion of the game.
Survivor Season 48 Episode 6 Recap

Episode 6, “Doing the Damn Thing,” starts with Civa coming back from Tribal Council, with Cedrek wanting to explain everything. Sai isn’t having it and only wants to talk to Chrissy and Mitch. Cedrek reveals to Mitch, Sai, and the audience that he told Chrissy to vote for Bianca right before Tribal Council. Mitch owns up to voting for Sai and tells the viewers at home that being left out of this vote “is a nightmare and makes me look like a fool.”
On Day 12, Civa and Vula get a message telling them to drop their buffs, pack their bags, and move to Lagi beach. The tribe portion is over, but the individual portion, the merge, hasn’t officially started. The group finds a note alerting them to a new advantage hidden at cap. A mad dash breaks out, and Sai ends up winning it.
Everyone then reconnects with people from their starting tribes. Eva discloses to Joe that Star gave her the Lagi tribe idol. We then see the formation of an alliance between Joe, David, Kyle, Eva, and Shauhin. On the other side of the beach, Mitch tells us he wants to work with the original Civa and go far with them. Charity tells Mitch, Chrissy, and Kamilla about Eva’s idol. Charity tells Star she should have Eva give back the idol. This doesn’t earn Charity favor as Star immediately tells Joe and Eva about this idea.
On Day 13, the players compete in the most important challenge so far. Teams of 6 will compete in an obstacle course, get a key, climb up a wall, and use the key to unlock puzzle pieces and solve the puzzle. The winning team earns the merge meal and competes in an individual challenge where the winner gets immunity and officially makes the merge. Sai’s advantage earns her the meal and a spot in the individual challenge. The orange team is Mitch, Cedrek, Eva, Joe, Shauhin, and Charity. The purple team is Kyle, Kamilla, Star, Chrissy, Mary, and David. Despite a valiant effort by Mitch and the rest of the orange team, the purple team wins. To win individual immunity and a merge buff, each member of the purple team and Sai must balance a ball on a pole. At certain intervals, they will add pieces to the pole, making it more challenging to balance the ball. It comes down to Kyle and Star, with Kyle pulling out the W.
Back at camp, Sai and Charity are the two main names being discussed. Both are on the bottom of their original tribes and are “easy” votes. Plus, eliminating Charity would prevent the original Civa tribe from having 6 of the 12 tribe members left.
Tribal Council consists of metaphors about what it’s like with all 13 people living on one beach. The Survivors vote, and Charity goes home in a 7-5-1 vote.
Overall, this wasn’t the best episode for Mitch. He did great in the challenge but was left out of the vote and lost his #1 ally. Yet, Charity going could be a blessing in disguise. We’ll see what happens next week.
Survivor Season 48 Episode 7 Recap
“Survivor Smack Talk” opens with the tribe returning from Tribal Council. Mitch talks about how it hurts to be left out of another vote. Kyle and Kamilla approach Mitch to do damage control since they both left him out of the vote against Charity. Not sure where he stands, Mitch approaches Sai to do damage control with her since he voted for her instead of Charity.
The morning of Day 14 opens with Mitch telling us how emotionally difficult this game is for him. Shauhin tells Mitch he was told by others to leave Mitch out of the Charity vote. Mitch understands why people didn’t tell him and wants to strengthen his relationship with other tribe members. He opens up to Joe and Shauhin about his previous jobs to build trust. Joe is onto Mitch as a threat to win because of his social game, story, and how great he is at challenges. Sai and Cedrek individually approach Shauhin to build trust. Mitch, Sai, and Cedrek are clearly at the bottom of the merge tribe and are trying to do anything to stay in the game.
The tribe arrives at the immunity challenge and is greeted with a twist. They are divided into 2 groups of 6, each going to Tribal Council. The players must hold up a bucket filled with 25% of their pregame body weight for as long as possible. The person who lasts the longest in each group wins immunity. The person who lasts the longest overall wins a DIY PB&J bar for their group, but more importantly, goes to Tribal Council second. This matters because the person voted out of the losing group is pre-jury, while the person voted out at the second Tribal Council becomes the first member of the jury. The orange group consists of Star, Chrissy, Eva, Joe, Mitch, and Sai. The purple group consists of Cedrek, Kamilla, Kyle, David, Mary, and Shauhin.
For the orange group, it comes down to Joe and Eva, with Joe winning. Over on purple, it comes down to Kyle and David with Kyle giving David the necklace. After almost an hour (a challenge record), Joe drops out of the challenge and gives David the overall victory.
The winning group returns to their camp and bonds over PB&J. In confessionals, Kyle and Shauhin tell us the plan is Cedrek. However, Kyle is concerned about his Shauhin’s threat level and is considering voting him out.
The orange group returns to the old Civa camp. Eva, Joe, and Sai throw out Mitch’s name because he’s good at challenges and a great social player. Eva then approaches Mitch and Chrissy about voting out Sai.
Back at the purple group, Shauhin worries that people will start coming for him soon. Kyle approaches Cedrek and Kamilla about voting out Shauhin. To get David to consider voting for Shauhin, Kyle and Kamilla tell him that Shauhin has an idol. David is considering this but wants to stick with “The Strong 5,” which consists of David, Shauhin, Kyle, Joe, and Eva.
Back at old Civa beach, the elements are taking a toll on Mitch. Chrissy approaches Star and then Sai about voting out Mitch, then approaches Joe and Eva about the same plan. To prevent Sai from voting and playing her shot in the dark, Mitch thinks about playing his block a vote against Sai.
Orange goes to tribal first and discusses the importance of trust and whether the smartest vote is the best move. They go to vote; Mitch plays his block a vote against Sai, and after a unanimous vote, Sai is no more! Purple goes to tribal second and discusses the importance of how and when you put someone on the jury. They go to vote and Cedrek becomes the first juror.
The players are starting to see how significant a threat Mitch is. Will he be able to escape it?
Survivor Season 48 Episode 8 Recap
“A Rift Between All of Us” opens with Chrissy doing damage control for her commentary during Tribal Council, where she stated several times that she wanted to break up the stronger players’ alliance. She tells the tribe that it was just “smack talk,” but she tells the audience this is her actual plan.
Mitch realizes he needs to start taking control of the game. After surviving the vote, Shauhin feels more confident in his alliance with David, Kyle, and Kamilla. Eva tells her allies that Chrissy is out for Shauhin. Mitch approaches OG Civa about reuniting the tribe. David is against it, Kamilla is for it, and Kyle remains uncertain.
On Day 15, the tribe receives tree mail telling them to pair up for the immunity challenge. The pairs are:
Shauhin and Kamilla
David and Mary
Kyle and Chrissy
Joe and Eva
Mitch and Star

There are three stages to this challenge:
First stage: The teams must work together to retrieve buried puzzle steps and plant a flag. The two pairs that finish last are out and will embark on a journey where their votes will be at stake.
Second stage: Teams use a number of puzzle steps to build a staircase. Once at the top, they cross a rope bridge using planks. The first two pairs to finish proceed forward.
Third stage: The pairs are split up and compete individually to hold onto a pole for as long as possible. The player last standing wins immunity and is guaranteed a spot in the final nine.
But not all is lost; the final four will return to camp and enjoy an afternoon of tacos and chocolate cupcakes.
Despite Mitch performing well in the challenge and initially having a head start on the other teams, his team is eliminated in the very first round and Eva ends up winning the entire challenge. The bottom four, Mitch, Star, Shauhin, and Kamilla, compete to keep their votes at Tribal Council, and Star ultimately loses hers.
At camp, Kyle and Chrissy agree that Shauhin, Joe, and Eva need to be broken up ASAP. Kyle is willing to take the shot, but is unsure if this is the best time since Mitch and Kamilla might lose their vote.
Eva finds a scroll revealing a clue to a secret advantage in a chip bowl and keeps this to herself. David tells the group that he’s worried about Shauhin and wants him out soon. Instead of Shauhin, he wants to go for Kamilla to weaken Shauhin. Mary supports this idea, but Joe is unsure.
Eva reads her clue and must sneak to the far end of the beach to claim her advantage tomorrow night. Meanwhile, Kyle checks in with Joe to confirm that Chrissy is the target, but Joe warns him that David wants Kamilla out instead. Kyle is against this and tells Joe that Chrissy has been mentioning his name. Kyle tips off Kamilla, pushes hard to flip the vote back to Chrissy, and scrambles to save his closest ally, but the majority leans toward taking out Kamilla.
At Tribal Council, Cedrek watches the discussion between the players and Jeff as a jury member. Chrissy’s torch ends up being snuffed in an 8-1 vote.
This episode was a quiet one for Mitch. He managed to escape Tribal Council, but seems to be at the bottom with very few allies left. Will he be able to turn his game around?
Survivor Season 48 Episode 9 Recap
"Welcome to The Party" begins with Shauhin telling the group that he understands why Chrissy voted for him and is thankful no one else did. David tells us he’s starting to notice that Kyle and Kamilla are closer than they appear.
The morning of Day 16 starts with the Core 6 on the beach discussing the order of the next three votes. They agree that as long as the Core 6 stay together, they can vote out the other three in any order they choose. Day 16 is also an off day for the players; there are no challenges, journeys, or tribal councils to attend. Instead, they spend the day painting the tribe flag, strengthening relationships and/or letting paranoia set in. And paranoia got the best of the Core 6.
Kyle tells Shauhin that David and Mary are coming for him and want Kamilla out to weaken Shauhin. David and Mary tell Eva that Shauhin and Kyle have something going on. David attacks Joe for going back on his word during the Chrissy vote, a claim that Joe strongly denies and Joe loses trust for him . The Core 6 spend the entire day fighting with each other and destroying the trust they had built. Meanwhile, Mitch tries to build a relationship with Star and gives her some swim lessons.
On Night 16, Eva sneaks out of camp and uses her clue found in her chip bowl from the last episode to earn an extra vote, then risks it for a stronger advantage: Safety Without Power (SWP), which lasts until the final seven. She has the option to risk her SWP for a shot at a hidden idol, but chooses to keep it instead.
On Day 17, Eva tells Joe, Shauhin, and Kyle that she won SWP. Kyle tells Kamilla that the Core 6 want her out. They decide that David must go. He then tells Joe that David and Mary are together and Joe agrees that they need to be broken up and David is the primary target.
At the immunity challenge, players must balance a ball in a chute for as long as possible. The last one standing wins immunity, as well as ham and cheese wraps, chips and dips, and soda. The challenge comes down to Joe, Kyle, and David with Joe winning. Joe picks Mitch, Eva, and Shauhin to share the reward. At the reward, Mitch throws out David’s name, which is music to everyone’s ears.


Tensions rise at camp as David, Mary and Star target Mitch, but Eva and Joe make their own move and set their sights on David instead.
At Tribal Council, there is more talk about jury management and the importance of making a move before it's too late. Mitch received three votes, but David got the other six and was brutally blindsided.
What a close call for Mitch! He lucked out by benefiting from the Core 6 turning on each other. However, getting a third of the votes at Tribal Council puts him more in the spotlight. Will he escape it? Tune in next week!
Survivor Season 48 Episode 10 Recap
“My Enemies Are Plottin’” opens with the tribe coming back from Tribal Council and Mary realizing she’s firmly at the bottom of the totem pole. Kamilla has a similar revelation. Instead of being on the bottom, she realizes she’s at the bottom of the majority alliance. She pitches a plan to Star, Mitch, and Mary that the best move is to force a tie against Joe at the next tribal council.
The next morning, Mitch shares a funny story from his time as a mailman. He has the tribe in stitches and he rest of the tribe takes notice at how well he's playing the social game. Mitch says that laughing is one of the things that helps him with stuttering; “You gotta be able to laugh at yourself every now and then.” (Oh Mitch, you’re so right!). Through this interaction, Shauhin realizes that Mitch and Kamilla are free agents and wants to keep them on his side, so they don’t realize they’re on the bottom of the majority.
Star approaches Mitch about joining her side and voting out Joe. Mitch tells us in confessionals he's against it because Star just voted for him, she has no power in the game, and he doesn’t trust her. Mary later pitches the same plan to Mitch and gets the same results.
Kamilla tells Kyle the rest are against Joe and asks if he'd flip to take out Joe. Kyle is for it, but doesn't want the blood on his hands. He tells us the theme of the season is "emotional connections," a game built on being honest with each other. If he goes against that, then he’s worried he would throw away his chance of winning.
At the reward challenge, players slither through sand with limbs strapped, land three rings, and the winner scores chicken and waffles on a new island. Kyle ends up slithering his way to victory. Kyle picks Eva, Shauhin, and Kamilla for the reward, intentionally leaving Mary, Star, and Mitch behind to stir chaos and push them toward targeting Joe.
On Day 19, the players take on their next immunity challenge: balancing a wobbly table with a rope while spelling “immunity.” Probst offers rice for the rest of the game if three people sit out, but no one takes the deal. In a tight showdown between Joe, Shauhin, and Kyle, Joe pulls off the win, leaving the tribe with only a few hours to scramble for a new plan.
With the tribe scrambling, Mitch tells Star to play her Shot in the Dark after she suggests targeting Shauhin. Though Mitch wants to make a move to improve his position, he hesitates because he doesn’t trust Mary or Star. Meanwhile, Mary pitches Kyle’s name to Kamilla, who quickly shares it with Mitch and Joe. Realizing Kamilla and Mitch aren’t with her, Mary scrambles to stay, urging Shauhin to keep her over Star.
Tribal Council discussions center around two things: How do you, as an individual, move forward in the game? And do you move forward based on trust or paranoia? Ultimately, Star’s light faded as she was voted out 5-3.
Mitch had a decent episode this week. However, being at the bottom of the majority with only seven people left isn’t an ideal spot. Will he be able to flip the game to his side? Find out next week.
Survivor Season 48 Episode 11 Recap
Episode 11, “Coconut Etiquette,” opens with the players congratulating each other on making the final 7 and only being 6 days shy of the end. Knowing she’s next, Mary pitches to Kamilla to keep her and use her as a vote to eliminate Joe and Eva. Mitch tells us that now’s the time to get out Joe, otherwise Joe wins the game.
The next morning, Joe, Shauhin, and Kyle reiterate to each other that they, plus Eva, are the final 4. However, Shauhin’s facial expressions say otherwise. Mary continues to try to save her game by pitching Kyle and Shauhin her plan to use her as a vote to knock out Joe and Eva. To relieve stress (and be spiteful), Mary chopped up the last coconut to eat it without consulting the others. This goes against proper coconut etiquette and harms her game.
Later, Kyle and Kamilla trade notes and share Mary’s plan to vote out Joe. In a confessional, Kyle shares with us how emotionally difficult this game is. He knows he must take out Joe and Eva to win, yet he has such strong emotional ties with them that it would hurt to vote them out.
A boat appears and tells the group that one person must get on the boat and go on a journey. The person with the odd color rock must get on the boat. Eva picks the odd rock and jumps on the boat.
On the journey, she must compete in an individual challenge. If she completes the challenge in
the given time frame, she keeps her vote and a chance for an advantage in the game. If she fails,
she loses her vote. She completes the first part, keeps her vote, and decides not to go for the
advantage.

For the final 7 immunity challenge, the contestants must use a “Survivor wheelbarrow” to
navigate and balance two clay vases through an obstacle course. At the end of the course, they
must complete an arch word puzzle. After an unforgettable challenge ending and Joe not
having an eye for detail, Kamilla wins the necklace and is guaranteed a spot in the final 6. She
also wins an Asian feast reward that she shares with Mitch and Eva. In a confessional, Kamilla
shares with us that she chose Eva to keep Eva and Joe comfortable. During the reward, Kamilla plays up that Mary is going home tonight.
At camp, the three guys avoid Mary like the plague and refuse to talk to her. Upon her return
from the reward, Kamilla asks Kyle if tonight is the night they flip this game on its head
and take out Joe. Mary makes her vote public, telling the others she’s voting for Joe. Joe
spirals and wants to put a vote on someone else in case Mary has an idol. This scares Shahuin
and makes him consider whether tonight’s the night to vote out Joe. Kyle also has the same thoughts, but doesn’t know if he can pull the trigger.
At Tribal Council, the group talks about what sacrifices they made to play the game and their reasons for playing. The conversation then shifts to when’s the right time to make a move. Tonight wasn’t the time, as Mary was voted out in a 6-1 vote.
Heading into the final 6 and 5 days left, Mitch has little time left to better his spot in the game. Will he be able to figure a way out?
Survivor Season 48 Episode 12 Recap
“Icarus Time” starts off with the tribe celebrating making the Final 6 and Mitch telling us that now is the time to make a move. The morning of Day 22 opens with “The Four” (Kyle, Shauhin, Joe, and Eva) sitting beachside, agreeing that Mitch is the target. But not everyone agrees with that. Shauhin and Mitch talk about how now that they’ve reached the goal of making the Final 6, it’s time to go after Joe. Kyle and Kamilla have a similar conversation. The other Survivors realize that if Joe makes it to the end, he will win the game.
At the reward challenge, the players must hold on to handrails as they are suspended on a board over water. The winner wins a sleepover at The Sanctuary, where they will enjoy burgers, beers, cheesecake, and letters from home. It comes down to Shauhin vs Kyle, with Shauhin winning an overnight trip to The Sanctuary. He picks Joe and Kyle to join him on the reward. The three share parts of themselves with each other and with us. Joe opens up about losing his sister to domestic violence. Kyle shares with the audience his relationship with his father and how he’s his best friend. Shauhin shares with us how close he is to his mom.

Back at camp, Mitch expresses his frustration with Shauhin’s decision to take Joe and how
he’s playing “with a bunch of knuckleheads.” Over at The Sanctuary, Shauhin and Joe discuss taking out Kyle. However, they both agree it’s not the best move. During one-on-one time with Kyle, Shauhin says it’s time to make a move. And Kyle agrees. But he wants to go for Shauhin instead of Joe or Eva.
Coming back from reward, Kyle tells Kamilla that Shauhin is ready to flip. He wants to relay this to Joe to get Joe and Eva to join Kyle and Kamilla in voting out Shauhin. The plan involves telling Joe that Shauhin showed Kamilla an idol that he doesn’t have. Kyle hopes this lie will cause Joe and Eva to flip on Shauhin.
In a moving scene, Joe goes to the beach to try to get closure from his sister’s death. The night before she died, they got into an argument and never had a chance to apologize or tell each other, “I love you”. He apologized for what he said and for being unable to protect her. He tells us that he’s out here for her.
The Final 6 immunity challenge is another obstacle course. The players must traverse the course on a barrel, crawl through a net maze, and complete a puzzle. Joe wins his fourth immunity challenge and is one win away from tying the record of most immunity challenges won in a season.
Back at camp, Kyle sets his plan in motion. Joe shares the information with Eva and then fact-checks it with Kamilla. Kamilla says the lie is true and Joe becomes paranoid. Joe approaches Shauhin to see if what Kyle and Kamilla told him is true. Shauhin tells the truth and tells him that the plan is still Mitch. Joe doesn’t believe it and Shauhin doesn’t appreciate how Joe talked to him. Joe must now separate fact from fiction and figure out who’s telling him the truth and who isn’t.
At Tribal Council, the conversation centers around how paranoia impacts one’s game. Ultimately, Joe trusted Kyle and Kamilla’s lies and Shauhin was sent home in a 4-2 vote.
Mitch was on the right side of the vote, but this was ultimately Kyle’s move. This could be the move that Kyle needed to separate himself from the pack and win this game. However, will that move be enough to dethrone Joe as our front runner? Is there a way Mitch can get to the end and win?
If you or someone you know is impacted by domestic violence, help is available. Call 1-800-799-SAFE or text START to 88788.
Tune in to episode 13 of Survivor on Wednesday, May 21, at 8 PM ET on CBS.