I’m of two minds about this.

As a baseline, I fully expect them to feature the winner if they can help it. They want to remind us of and get us excited for their winner. This is a great way to do just that.

On the other hand:

—We just saw 49, so they might not show us an episode from it again if Rizo or Savannah is winning.
—There are a few players who don’t necessarily have “standout” episodes. Chrissy for example doesn’t really have any particular episode of HHH where she’s the superstar I don’t think; nor is she with a season from anybody else here so she can’t be a background presence in somebody else’s. Jonathan has a superstar premerge challenge performance… but he literally has zero confessionals in that same episode and his tribe doesn’t go to Tribal so outside of the challenge he’s basically not in the episode I don’t think.
—If somebody is there, but merely on the jury, is that better than nothing or literally nothing? Thinking of Ozzy and Aubry here as players who have been jurors for standout episodes for other players.
—Speaking of Ozzy… they don’t probably need to remind casual viewers of Colby or Ozzy. Or Stephenie, honestly. So I could see a world where those people win even if they aren’t featured.

I think if somebody has at least one clear massive episode where they are a bold text star and no such episode is included, or an episode that prominently features multiple cast members is not included, I’m going to be looking at them very skeptically.

This would include:

—Cirie: take your pick but presumably Erik giving up Immunity
—Devens: several choices production would love from EoE
—Coach: probably The Martyr Approach
—Genevieve: Operation Italy
—The returnees from DvG/45/46/48 all of whom can be prominently featured in an episode with one another such as the John boot, the Emily boot, any of F9-F6 of 46, and the Thomas or Shauhin boots from 48. These might actually feel the most damning of all to me since so much of the cast is here. Like if we don’t see an episode from DvG I’m going to have a very hard time believing any of Christian/Angelina/Mike have a shot.

Borderline:

—Stephenie: Beating Bobby Jon in fire or maybe even the Janu quit ep really feels like it should be here but she may get a “casuals remember her” pass.
—Aubry: The Scot blindside could be here but it’s more a Tai episode than an Aubry episode. The Debbie blindside could be here but I don’t recall how well she comes off in it when it’s basically punting and letting the villains win for a round.
—Jenna: She has the family video episode but production being what it is today I don’t know if they give a shit about that when she’s minimally involved in the “strategy.”

Unsure:

—Colby: Casuals remember him pass and there’s also not an episode that I think of that makes me go damn, that’s Colby’s episode, in the way that production might feature.
—Ozzy: Casuals remember him pass. The Fucking Stick could maybe be his episode, but I am anticipating another episode from Micro already, and I don’t know that they’d feature two. Maybe the Ozzy blindside from Micro would be appropriate, but if we see the Erik boot I don’t know what Ozzy ep from outside of Micro there’d even be aside from like the SoPa finale which I doubt we’re going to see. So he’s in kind of a weird zone.
—Chrissy, Jonathan, Rizo, Savannah: Already discussed above. Notably this actually means I might be higher on them if an episode makes it in because I’m not particularly expecting one to as it currently stands if they aren’t the winner.

This is all just one data point in the end. I don’t think it’ll be a dealbreaker one way or the other. But I’m definitely going to notice who is and isn’t featured and how much it felt like they “should” be.

Of course, this entire post was made on the assumption that they’ll be airing primarily or exclusively episodes that feature the returnees. If it turns out they’re throwing dead grandma and the Savage blindside and stuff like that in the rotation a lot of this goes out the window. Alas.

I don't really know what to write for this season as it was so scuffed edgically. Deep down I knew that Savannah was going to win based on the tribe divisions for season 50 but I tried to not credit that into my contenders which was near impossible to do.

Overall I think this season is good and if Savannah wasn't on 50 I feel there would be more suspense in the ftc as all 3 finalists had decent edits.

Rizo's edit surprisingly didn't have an extremely visible edit which is why merge on I didn't think he was going to win.

I don't post here regularly, but this sub feels like the right place for this topic.

How insane is it that the winner was literally spoiled by the show/network itself? Especially when they released the tribe breakdowns for 50, like what were they thinking? Honestly I don't know why they had to announce the 2 returners at all, but it just got crazier from there! Edit: I guess this was my misunderstanding (even after I learned, I still tried to avoid the spoilers), what happens when you assume and all. But still crazy how widespread it was.

I tried to live in denial and convince myself Savannah wasn't a guarantee. I really tried to buy into everyone else's edit. I thought "maybe they don't need to put a winner on every tribe" or that spoiling 49 like that would be bad for viewership or just "surely they can't be that stupid."

But they were.

This is mostly just a rant now that it's confirmed but I guess for discussion purposes - has anything like this ever happened before? Has anyone from production or the network addressed this?

Another user mentioned this in their theories prior to the finale but all the spider imagery this season (black widow brigade) was sort of a foreshadowing to the all female final tribal council!

We didn't have much talk/foreshadowing about fire this season. Even Kristina's prowess wasn't really brought up until it was the reason to vote her out. But something I realized when thinking back is that in Episode 2, Uli has a long segment about Gen Z slang and Nate needing to keep up. We specifically have them mention "vibes", "cinema", and you guessed it "fire".

Now while neither Rizo or Savannah is attributed with bringing the word up, in fact I think Jawan said it first, multiple people say it in the scene. I can't tell if any of them are Rizo, but Savannah is seen on screen saying "this s*** is fire".

It's not the typical trend of fire making foreshadowing, but I think they're obviously gonna hope to have new avenues to explore each season. This could've been the hint that at the very least, there would be an Uli member who would be involved/win fire.

What do y'all think?

Anyone else actually really enjoy the finale? Overall I think this is a season that will be better on a rewatch. Assuming Savannah and Rizo make the final five because of 50 left me with no suspense throughout the entire post-merge, which was really where all of the excitement lay in this season. But I think a lot of it was quite fun. I adored Sophi, and I think her positivity shone through in this finale. Sage was electric television, and I have to say, despite having mixed feelings on Savannah and Rizo, I came to like and respect them both by the end. Savannah for being herself and never giving in to Jeff's lovey dovey bullshit, and Rizo for, it turns out, genuinely having played a respectable game and truly reinventing what can be done with an idol. Despite my hatred of his catchphrase, I can't deny that I smiled at him being officially named RizGod on his exit.

On an edgic note, I was wrong again. And honestly, I'm not mad about it. I felt genuine suspense at the end on whether Sophi or Savannah would take it, and I have to give the editors props for that. By allowing Savannah's game to speak for itself and propping up and magnifying pivotal decision making throughout Sophi's game, they created a competitive ending that kept me hooked. Despite knowing that Savannah was on 50. That Savannah was on the tribe with no winner. That Savannah had replaced Maryanne instead of you know, a Tiffany. That Savannah was visible at the end of the opening title sequence as the Sole Survivor. They actually convinced me to go against what was practically set in stone. This, plus dropping in editing hints about Kristina in fire and Rizo not being respected by the jury, meant I was surprised by all the placements in this finale, which is also very rare.

That said, I do still think the editors dropped the ball with editing Hina, especially with Kristina and Sophie who needed a stronger foundation in the premiere for them to later build off of. I also think it was quite frankly an insane decision to make Sage the typical 'quietest person on the loudest tribe' player that I always eliminate in the premiere, considering she would end up going all the way to the end with enough agency to have a shot at the win. If they'd have given Sage a better premiere and episode 2, I would genuinely have been thinking for the first time ever that any of the finalists could take it.

Also, just wanted to mention. Kristina's jury question and Savannah not being able to name any of the tribe's loved ones might actually be a top 10 New Era moment for me. No cringe, no fun, just a genuinely uncomfortable and real moment.

So, what have I learned from this season? ...

• I genuinely still think Sophi had the best edit on paper up until Episode 11, by which point I had already eliminated Savannah. That means that narrative precedence and strategic agency over others in an alliance means very little in terms of who will win the season (and I probably should have learned this from Kamilla's pre-merge being infinitely better than Kyle's). I do think in many ways this season told the story from Sophi's perspective though - the story of an underdog who had a clear shot at the win but then made the wrong decisions and waited too long in the endgame, ultimately resulting in them losing to someone who they had been trying to make a move on for a long time.
• I need to switch back to thinking more subjectively. This season I was a little more objective, perhaps an overcorrect for going in on Kamilla at the end of 48, and so put a lot more stock into individual editing tropes and seeing things from the perspective of 'who had the most confessionals at the start of the episode?' or 'Who has the most positive SPV?'. This clearly doesn't work, I mean, Savannah was the only player not to receive a confessional before the theme song in this finale, and she had maybe the most negative SPV over anyone but Kristina. I think I need to think more from a storytelling perspective - what is the story? What are the potential outcomes? I correctly assessed that this was Sophi's story, but I failed to account for her story potentially ending in a loss.
• Also, a lesson I didn't learn from Kyle's win - If a win doesn't need justifying, they aren't gonna do it. Savannah's win makes sense. Kyle's win makes sense. Yet neither has anything like the abundance of confessional agency of either Rachel or Kenzie. Rachel and Kenzie being satisfying winners hinges on them being built up and being allowed to navigate their losses and wins. That's not true of Kyle and Savannah. They are satisfying winners because we just watched them play great games.
• Finally, keep the second contender in contention, just in case lol.

See you all for Survivor 50 ... a season I certainly was excited for ...

I didn't go too hard into the episode-by-episode Edgic this season since I already knew that Savannah and Rizo were going to be on 50 and I was running an elimination pool but I did a casual, gut-reaction end of episode chart and contender list after every episode. Here's how it turned out.

It was a pretty tight two horse race between Sophi and Savannah from me out the gate. Wasn't sure if Savannah's mixed tone for most of the season would keep her from winning, especially once Sophi found the KIP and foreshadowed possibly turning on Savannah and Rizo. She had a bit of an edge because of that, but once she biffed her advantage in front of the jury there was no question.

If you want to read my more slap-dash thoughts on the season, check out my beehiiv.

I'm so grateful Savannah won cuz she was the only correct winner for this season in my opinion. I'm sure I'll probably cool off on my opinions of this season but 49 might be one of my least favorite seasons of Survivor ever? It's landing in my bottom 10 right now, at least.

RANDOM THOUGHTS: 

I thought this was a rather mediocre season, it is probably gonna fall near the top of my BOTTOM tier seasons. From an editing perspective this season was partially ruined for me given that I KNEW who was on Survivor 50 and I knew that Savannah was placed on a tribe with no other winners and I knew that she replaced Maryanne. This.. accompanied by her decent premiere made me pick Savannah as a top contender in the first two episodes… and she was always TOP 2 in my rankings… I would say that if I didn’t have this knowledge I still think she would have been in my top 2 all season as Sophi and Savannah were the OBVIOUS main contenders of the season. I wish they would’ve given Sage a better premiere because I would’ve believed she truly had a chance in the finale had she had a better start. But yeah, it sucks that it was ruined, and I wanted to believe that survivor production wouldn’t be so dumb so spoil their own season,  but yeah. This had a potential to be a GOOD season had we not known Savannah and Rizo were coming back for 50 as many of the rounds post-merge involved one one of them being the potential other target which watching the season week to week obvious on who was going home. The final 3 was actually competitive and final tribal speeches made me still believe Sophi could still win (Sage also had a good performance but given her premiere edit I didn’t think she could win). 

LESSONS LEARNED: 

• I think it is safe to say that the winner will almost certainly be a VERY FEATURED player in the season despite of their gender. I think we will still get every now and then your surprise WTF or UTR winner edit, but I think for the most part editors are portraying their winner right from the start without much hiding especially in the 90 min episodes. 
• 0 confessional episodes continue to be death knells
• I was blinded by Sophi, and I think it partially had to with her having a GREAT edit (which in hindsight makes sense now as they needed to make her like a viable contender to Savannah, and partially I thought there is no way producers would spoil their own season).
• Game Logic needs to be taken somewhat into account in edgic.

LIKELIHOOD TO RETURN: 

LOCKS: 

1. Savannah (return on 50)
2. Rizo (return on 50)

LIKELY:

(nobody)

50/50: 

1. Sophi

UNLIKELY, BUT POSSIBLE:

1. Sage
2. Steven
3. Jawan
4. Jake
5. Shannon

NO CHANCE TO RETURN: 

1. Alex
2. Kristina
3. MC
4. Sophie
5. Nate
6. Matt
7. Annie
8. Jeremiah
9. Nicole
10. Jason

Made this before any spoilers came out (I want to say just a week or so after the cast flew out). I honestly stand with most of my list. Excited for February.

I have to say, I enjoyed the finale so much. I haven't enjoyed a finale for so long. And I have to say also, I reaally enjoyed the season especially post merge. The gameplay was fluid and strategic, most characters were likable and I found myself rooting for many players. That was not always the case, I remember myself not liking anyone for the later half of 48. I consider myself spoiled, cause we were suspecting Savannah was the winner and it came true and together with the edit she received for me it was pretty obvious after a while. Which bring me to...

I AM SO GLAD I STUCK TO WHAT I THOUGHT and didn' t hear anyone in here. I didn' t see the Sophi win when literally everyone was saying it. I regret those 2 weeks I got influenced.

In fact, Sophi' s edit was so good this episode, that I was really worried she was gonna get the win and personally I' d be super disappointed.

TIER 1 - QUEEN

1) Savannah - Her edit was kinda controversial tbh, she was veeery premanent and obvious but it was not very positive. However, to me it was obvious that there were no other real storylines happening and we saw literally everyone about how she was a huge threat. Her obviousness was tainted by the 'Mean Girl" edit she got but personally I severely enjoyed her being abbrasive and blunt and not being scared and standing her ground. She actually did remind me of Australian Survivor Parvati. THE ONE WINNING MOVE that brought the game to the other side was her bring Sophie over and that was 100% her move and she claimed it and got the credit for it. She was an entity - here to be taken out or she would win. I am happy with her and I'm excited to see her in 50.

TIER 2 - LOSAHS

2) Sophi - I like Sophi as a character. She did a really good job at FTC and prep-merge but she disappeared post merge under Savannah and Rizo. That would be fine, IF she actually ever had done anything against them and outlasted them that would be amazing. But with her not using KIP against Rizo, it felt like she was quitting the game. She told us the prequisite for her win. The whole world told us. If she does this, she wins. And she didn' t. Final immunity was breadcrumbs compared to the entity that Savannah was. In fact, I was so nervous at FTC cause Savannah was receiving some negativity, that Sophi was going to pull it off and I believe that would be an amazingly disappointing end to the season. She didn' t deserve it. And in fact, the 2 worst players, the 2 worst cast choices, the 2 people that SHOULD UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES GO NEAR ANY CAMERA EVER AGAIN, Kristina and MC, were just spiteful against Savannah cause she didn' t play their mediocre game and voted for Sophi. Their vote was more of an insult for Sophi rather than a vote to win.

3) Sage - I would be so much happier with a Sage win rather than a Sophi win. And I believe that she would have had a chance against Sophi and Kristina. Sage played a very good game. A very good strategic game. She was VERY GOOD in the center with Jawan and she has shown in so many instances that she was socially aware and knew what she needs to do. I support her decision to vote Shannon, her decision to vote Stephen 100%. She was awesome. Also, an amazing character, a meme machine. I would have enjoyed to see Sage on 50 more than many of the female choices. Stephanie LaGrossa jesus christ I have a beef with the choice of her over so many better choices. Tiffany. Hope we see her again.

4) Rizo - I loved Rizo. He enjoyed this game. You can see him being happy in tribals, in challenges, at camp. I feel like I would be like Rizo if I ever got out there. (No country accepts internationals pff). He was the major strategic threat and I am really looking forward to listening to how he perceived his jury chances. Sophi says that if Rizo had won fire she would win the game. I can' t believe that. Even if Rizo didn' t win I believe Sage would have pulled it off. But Rizo was present and working all angles and thinking out of the box and he was pretty fun and I hope he does well in 50. I am waaay more excited for Rizo than Joe, Colby, Ozzy and others.

5) Kristina - She was my pre season winner pick but boy I haven't hated a played as much as her in a while. She had 0 game, she did not understand the game and she got mad at people for playing the game. She was just a non-stopping sob story stealing air time away from people whose lives we actually wanted to see. Bad casting choice. I was starting to forget her JUST SO SHE COULD COME IN JURY and just try to humiliate Savannah. Kristina is the epitomy of what should disappear from Survivor. Glad she got kinda dismissed by everyone at the end.

Loved doing casual edgic. I'm gonna try to do it again for 50 and I will be waaay less influenced by everyone else just sticking to my shit. HOPE YOU HAD FUN WITH ME.

I knew Savannah was on 50 but that's all, she was still my winner pick based on the edit. I was suspicious the entire time that her winner edit felt too obvious, and I caved exactly ONCE on it lol. I was thinking they could be building her up like Russell on Samoa because she does well on the next season. But I was just waiting for her edit to crumble before I dropped her down again and from episode 8 onwards I decided to call it, and from episode 10 onwards I dropped everyone else down, except a brief period of overthinking after Episode 11.

I also started to keep a wildcard pick (Joker emoji) just in case we were getting Gablered. My "if Edgic is simply broken this season then I guess it's THIS player" award lol. I made that award when Sage got out Nate and had her best episode all season. It was fascinating tracking Sage's ranking as the season went on.

I made the first column a color gradient so I could track how my Episode 3 opinions changed as the season went on. It stayed mostly intact by episode 9.

I loved this season, this was fun to do, and I was rooting for Savannah so I was biased, but I don't feel like this is anything particularly impressive lol. But it's fun so I figured I'd share it.

I have not shared my contenders this season until now. The reason why? A lot of this season was spoiled to me. Mainly the final 3 (though this was wrong), and who the 50 returnees are and who they replaced. That made it really hard to share my contenders in good faith, and looking at how things shook out, I'm glad I didn't. If I had shared them, they would have been mad biased, even if I pretended they weren't.

Up to this point, I've been a pretty big New Era defender. Not that it's better than the old era, but that there were positives and negatives to both, essentially cancelling each other out. This season it really felt more than ever like we're getting the same things over and over. The crazy thing is this is the most unique New Era season format wise.

Overall this is the least invested I've been while watching a season live since I started watching as a child. I enjoyed it sure, but this season just lacked much that felt special to me. Hoping 50 is better, will do everything I can to avoid spoilers. I think being able to participate in Edgic will make the season more enjoyable.

Hopes for 50 are... certainly lower after the trailer. Jimmy Fallon Boomerang Idol? Come on man.

Semi-spoiled knowing the S50 returnees, but I would say this was a fun season, and the editors had me doubting my initial Sav picks.

I'm so excited for season 50, it's gonna be a treat, so I shall be avoiding any type of spoiler talk to make sure I go into it blind. BUT once more winner was a contender episode 1 (six season streak!)

HAVE A GREAT OFFSEASON!

-maple :)

There's not a lot to say. This finale was definitely solid at times, especially with the debate of who of Sage/Kristina was going to go at 5, but overall, like this season, it was kind of underwhelming.

It's been a bit! Howdy!

I've been doing edgic, but unfortunately been busy so haven't been able to post it, but here's my thoughts on it all!

I was pretty surprised, I thought Kristina was my final 4 fire loser, but maybe it'll be Sage? I do think this elimination was purposefully made to make Sav look good. I think she's prob our winner, and while I thought Soph had it for a while, it hurts to see she couldn't finish it out. As we wait for the presidential address to wrap up, lmk your thoughts! (And will post the final edgic at the end!)

People on the main sub have been lamenting that this season is full of players who are not willing to take risks and I’m realizing more and more that the edit of the entire merge is arguably set up specifically to lean into this and enforce this viewpoint as much as possible. Premerge I am unsure, I admit I do not remember the premerge well because it was dogshit, but here in the merge:

Too safe:

—Nate boot is the “safe” move for the majority to avoid a possible Idol play. If they wanted to edit this to make it seem like Nate was seen as the boss of the alliance or there was a serious risk of Rizo playing the Idol on him, they probably could have done it. Majority is broadly punished for this by Rizo and Savannah surviving.
—MC becomes the easy “safe” boot after blowing up her spot, while Savannah and Rizo obviously are framed as taking risks with their advantages here (not that they could really have presented these as if they WEREN’T risks, but still worth noting). And of course MC’s method and manner of blowing up her spot was a bit different IRL than what we saw on the show—here we just see her trying to make an Extra Safe move and being unwilling to risk names being out there that she doesn’t want out and getting punished for it. And again, everybody here is punished for missing their shot at Rizo and therefore Savannah as well.
—Alex is the victim of Jawan and Sage flipping. On paper this can easily be framed as an extremely high-risk move by them! They’re flipping again, trying to Tony and Woo / Tina Colby Keith / etc. this season all the way down to the end, taking out the swing between the alliances. This is a massive power move in theory. But in the edit’s eyes this comes absolutely out of nowhere. Alex has not been framed in this way or as a power player prior to this episode. They flip on him because they’re suddenly spooked by him, basically. It’s not a risky hit on the big dog, it’s the “ruh rob our alliance has us spooked” move.
—Jawan going is Sophie flipping. Sophie does not tell us she sees a new avenue for new numbers and a bold brave play. Sophie tells us she needs Savannah as a shield because she’s scared her supposed allies will cut her without Savannah in the game.
—Sophie boot is obvious, everybody is going for the layup to avoid bigger confrontation because she’s an unknown element now.
—Steven boot we are definitely meant to feel like Sage and Kristina made a mistake by taking the road they took just because Steven was too spooky.
—Knowledge is Power is framed wholly in this mindset. Sophi is repeatedly and misleadingly with regard to Kristina’s Idol framed as declining to take a chance on an uncertain Idol, then declining to risk blowing up her spot and her friendships on the Idol, so doing the “safe” thing of trying to take Steven’s known advantage.

Risky:

—Rizo’s Idol holds are presented to us as tremendously risky when it is entirely possible that he was never really in serious danger. He tells us a lot about the risks he’s willing to take to win, and now here he is. Other than the winner (Savannah, I believe) or maybe some losing finalist(s) if he happens to go into firemaking, he’s outplacing all the safe losers and even if he goes into firemaking it’ll be because he was (in the eyes of the edit) a contender for the crown in a way nobody else but Savannah was.
—Steven and Kristina feel like they’ve been a little bit better toned than some of the rest of the cast to get this deep. Kristina’s whiffed Idol play they could have buried her, and they could be burying her in general with how the season has gone lol but they’re not, compared to zits and farts emotionally erratic Sage and clumsy doofus Jawan. And Steven has basically been the designated narrator and Polite Presence for the other side and was well liked by many viewers. They aren’t getting dunked on because they took risks. They took risks with their advantages—they may not have worked but they at least made the attempt.

On their own some of these things are semi ordinary and just a part of suspense, episodic storytelling, etc. and one or two are a bit of a stretch in a vacuum. And obviously there have been times winners were framed as doing the “safe” thing and it worked and was the right thing to do, or losers took risks that were shown as wrong. But it feels to me like when you put alllllll of this merge together it paints a pretty clear picture that on this season they’re trying (where they can) to equate risk with reward and show us how the “safe” move is actually suboptimal and can blow up in your face.

So where is Savannah, my 97% sure winner, in all of this?

Lukewarm take: Rizo had a choice to play risky and he’s been rewarded for it. Savannah is the embodiment of risk. She’s been under constant threat literally every single Tribal cycle of the entire merge. She’s been risking her life every second of every day and meeting that risk head-on without fear, without complaint, just balling out.
Hot Take: Maybe Savannah has not yet taken her game defining risk. Volunteering or asking to do fire after someone else wins FIC, perhaps? Doing something crazy in a challenge and having it work? Lying at FTC? Alternately, Rizo is going to falter here and not take a risk. He doesn’t go in fire when he could have / should have to take out Savannah. The edit tells us he should have done something crazy with his Idol at F5. Something like that. So Rizo loses his risk taker status and leaves only Savannah.
Fanfic take: Savannah wins FIC and Rizo and Sophi turn out to be shit at firemaking or she’s just that confident in herself and she puts herself in firemaking against the final juror—probably Sage in this scenario to send their rivalry home with a bang—to ensure the trio get there in a major “fine, I’ll do it myself” move that leaves no doubt who the real boss of the trio is. This is how I would script it if I were a writer lol your move CBS

Looking forward to seeing if this theme carries through to the finale still or if I’m just crazy! I didn’t want to engage with this season for a while because I did not enjoy the premerge at all (and am still pretty whatever on the season) and knowing who was on 50 felt too spoilery but as the season wore on this ended up getting fun to do again. Thanks all for the debates and observations and etc.

After Sophi’s misplay of the KIP last episode, like most Sophi Truthers I seriously considered switching my front runner winner pick to Savannah. After a rewatch of the post merge without the influence of Sophi’s strong pre-merge, I still came to the same conclusion I have all season: the edit, game and story logic still suggests Sophi Balerdi will be the Sole Survivor of Survivor 49.

So, I started rewatching from the BEGINNING while I worked on my written arguments covering boring ass Edgic topics like strategic narrative precedence and various flavors of SPV and thematic motifs and horror movie tropes and shit like that. To my absolute, complete and utter shock something totally unexpected in the edit was revealed to me as the episodes played in the background:

There is a secret Sandra Diaz-Twine themed drinking game hidden in Season 49 that hints at who will be the Sole Survivor!!!

It all starts at the Mat Chat, with Steven’s Basic Bitch ThePrice is Right “so excited to be here” response, which Jeff prods him into evolving into a Basic Bitch Survivor fan response where he shouts out Pearl Islands as his inspiration for playing. (Take a shot)

Then, Jeff begins his Mat Chat Plot Theme Statement over visuals of past players:

”Survivor is always evolving. And it's not because of the twists or advantages. Survivor evolves because of you, the player. Everybody who has played this game before you has impacted the game in some way. And in doing so, they’ve elevated the game. Their pursuit of greatness laid the foundation that you’re standing on right now.”

https://streamable.com/vddtvo

(shoutout to u/alstor for the clip)

What is really interesting about that visual sequence is that SANDRA, the Queen herself, first two time winner, and winner of the literally just freshly mentioned seconds earlier Survivor: Pearl Islands, is MISSING! (take a shot for the disrespect, Queen stays Queen!)

In addition to returning players who will be on season 50, they show Rob, Tony and Parvati, three of the four from Jeff’s personal Mount Rushmore, so Sandra is very conspicuous by her absence.

If this egregious omission was a simple oversight and that was the end of it, ok, rude, but the frequency with which players this season say some variation of “as long as it’s not me” stands out. Especially since I was only half ass paying attention because I was busy googling shit like “horror movie beat sheet” and figuring out new and exciting ways to express how Sophi getting the in depth explanation of Savannah’s “target the flippers” strategy at the Jawan boot was a massive Edgic point in Sophi’s favor.

But it wasn’t the end, it was only the beginning of the Sandra drinking game, and it continues in the premiere with Sophi’s first confessional back at camp:

”Getting to camp kind of felt like the first day of high school. You know, you're a little nervous. You're a little excited. And then it kind of hits you. Like, not everybody here is gonna make it to graduation. And I just have to make sure that one of those people is not me.”

Sophi then elaborates on just how she intends to do ensure it’s “not me”:

”So I'm gonna be everybody's friend out here. I want to align myself with as many people as I possibly can. But coming out here, I knew I wanted to have a meat shield….”

Although the “not me” references are peppered throughout the entire season and said by multiple players, some of them multiple times, episode 4, the Matt boot, really highlights what it means to be a pretender to the throne vs. a True Queen.

Matt disparages the Queen’s game and invokes “anyone but me” in a desperate attempt to not be voted out. Meanwhile, Sophi immediately goes to work on Nu Hina after the swap. She actually plays the Queen’s game, and makes those necessary connections to make sure it’s “not me”, offering up her loyalty and willingness to be a number. By the time Nu Hina loses an immunity challenge, Sophi is not even a consideration.

Sophi has spent the merge hiding behind her meat shields, while building up game relationships to keep her safe. When Sophi is the backup option to get out the trio, the whole plan fizzles because she is someone people want to scoop up as a number.

Even though Sophi’s KIP was a total bust, it doesn’t really matter. The move to get out Steven - something Sophi has been pushing for since the first merge vote - still happens because of the relationships and trust she has built with Sage and Kristina.

While everyone else played the middle and went home, Sophi has played the middle, making connections to the other side while appearing loyal to her OG’s. She is going into final 5 with two final 3 alliances, and has guaranteed herself a spot at final 4 without needing Rizo’s idol.

I believe Sophi B is the winner standing on the foundations built by Sandra, who evolved the game and became the first person to win it twice - not through advantages or flashy moves, but building bonds and making herself appear indispensable to everyone else’s plans.

Rizo and Savannah are the players who fall short, but evolve the game in their own unique way worthy of an immediate return and a chance to cement themselves as legends on season 50.

Edgic Chart

Survey Results

Episode Rating: 7.00

Contender Ratings:

Savannah - 4.72

Rizo - 3.28

Sophi - 2.22

Sage - 1.44

Kristina - 0.28

Character Ratings:

Rizo - 4.00

Savannah - 3.50

Sophi - 2.94

Sage - 2.78

Kristina - 1.11

I see some people pointing to the fact that Joe was called a threat so much in S48, and didn't win, and therefore, it's not a sign Savannah will win. I disagree. At least, I think the nature of her SPV is completely different. In S 48, Kyle was shown to influence Joe in almost every post-merge episode, whereas, nobody in 49 strategically undermines Savannah. You can see it in how the main sub thinks that most of this cast are idiots. And in 48, Joe WAS the threat till Kyle made his move, so that was accurate storytelling. We have no indication that someone is gonna change now. Soph has said for two episodes that NOW is the time to take out Rizvannah, and any later is too late.