S48.E04 The House Party's Over

[Rodney]

An unexpected twist for the castaways sends the trajectory of their games into an all-new direction.  An undercover alliance in the losing tribe leads to a shocking Tribal Council.

This is the episode's discussion thread for after the episode airs.

[Tango64]

Even though it’s legal within the game, digging through someone’s personal bag in search of an idol makes you look like a filthy little rat. 

[Rodney]

Way to go, Kamilla and Kyle!  Played the California Girls (Thomas, Shauhin, and Joe) like fiddles!

It was a great episode.  The tribe expected to dominate the challenges lost tonight, and the should-have-been dominant alliance lost the fight at Tribal Council thanks to a perfectly-played idol!

On another note, glad that Sai, Mary, and even Cedrek have some new life.

[mojoween]

Thomas was voted out, or he was shipped off into the Pacific, never to be seen again.  No way to tell.

Cedrek keeping Sai over Justin was all for naught.

[Carey]

NGL: Whatever happens in S48 going forward, Kyle's performance will make up for it

[LadyChatts]

First, for those that missed it, here's the link to vote for how you want to impact Survivor 50:

https://survivor50cbs.votenow.tv/

Voting lasts for a week!

I'm not even the biggest fan of Kamilla's but god I was hoping she and Kyle would pull that off.  Thomas had the right call to vote Kamilla and I'm glad Shauhin and Joe didn't listen to him.  I'm not sure how long he thought he could hide his steal-a-vote or how he thought his alliance would take him hiding it on them all this time when he finally did use it.  I didn't completely dislike Thomas (he was an entertaining villain) but I'm not sorry he's gone, either.

Glad that Sai and Mary came together, but too bad it was short-lived.  If both survive to the merge I hope they can re-connect.  I think they'd be a fun duo.  Sai seemed to realize she got screwed one too many times by the guys in her alliance and wants to try seeing if the women are a more loyal choice.  

I don't really have an opinion on Charity but it was funny hearing her talk about using David as a shield and like they were together and then he's telling Eva he wants her gone and she would have been voted off first if Civa went to TC.

Seeing the different reactions at the swap-Civa and Lagi come in celebrating and then act like they are never going to see each other again, whereas Vula comes in feeling defeated and then are celebrating at the news.  I am happy that all former Vula's went to new, better camps and that none of them had to go to TC (and got a nice food reward).

Edited March 20 by LadyChatts

[dancingdreamer]

Wow, how to play Survivor,  by Kyle and Kamilla  tonight. Thomas should  have played  his idol, he was too complacent.

I figured when it came to puzzles,  the guys would lose. It never seems  to fail.

I'm happy  for all the new teams, some with a new lease on life. 

Good episode!!

 

I apologize  to Thomas, I thought  he had an idol l when he didn't. 

Edited March 20 by dancingdreamer

[dkb]

This was a great episode! Kyle and Kamilla still holding on and staying loyal to each other for the win. Eva/Star, Charity/David can't relate. Chrissy/Mitch up in the air for now. The California Girls were loyal as well, and did the smart thing sticking together  even though it didn't end well. Kyle and Kamilla played that perfectly. I just wish they had went the extra step and had Kamilla vote Kyle as well - to cement that they aren't working together. Not sure if Jeff read all 3 Thomas votes.

Also laughing at Sai being like yeah me and Mary need to work together to get rid of Cedrek, everyone saw that coming. Cedrek got saved by the swap and I don't think he realizes at all.

I can see Thomas being invited back, he's pretty funny in his commentary. I actually liked the new Vula tribe, but as soon as they came in so aggressive at the challenge I was sure they would be the ones going to tribal.

Also go Kamilla! Did not realize she's from Toronto. Have to cheer her on now.

[jsm1125]

17 minutes ago, dancingdreamer said:

Wow, how to play Survivor,  by Kyle and Kamilla  tonight. Thomas should  have played  his idol, he was too complacent.

I figured when it came to puzzles,  the guys would lose. It never seems  to fail.

I'm happy  for all the new teams, some with a new lease on life. 

Good episode!!

Thomas didn’t have an idol, but he did have a steal a vote

[North of Eden]

Sai being ungrateful to Cedric after he saves her...who da thunk it?!

I do with Mary and Sai had wound up on a new tribe together just to see if their détente was genuine or not.

So happy for Mary NOT having to go to a tribal finally. Don't care the other two were spared.

Thomas was my least favorite player slightly ahead of female fire Lt and tattoo arm sleeve girl so this episode was made for me. I was so worried that whole build up to  K& K's plan was just going to have no pay off. I was mildly shocked when they showed Shahuin actually writing down Kyle's name kind of tipping the hand that it was going to work after all. Just glad it did.

Eva's relationship for Joe seems suspiciously shallow as soon as she had a new piece of beefcake to latch onto....and yet somehow, I found her more endearing tonight than all the previous episodes before so I kind of hope her and David's pairing pushes forward.

[Carey]

To be honest, I didn't have a problem with Sai's attitude with Cedrek sparing her.  Mainly because it was not a smart move at all, and therefore there's nothing worth being respectful for.  If Sai had gone, that would've been due to the actions of Sai

[dizzyd]

1 hour ago, dancingdreamer said:

Thomas should  have played  his idol, he was too complacent.

He didn’t have an idol, he had a steal a vote which wouldn’t have helped him.

 

55 minutes ago, dkb said:

Not sure if Jeff read all 3 Thomas votes.

I don’t think the extra vote was used. It definitely wasn’t needed if he was playing his idol.

[Rodney]

37 minutes ago, North of Eden said:

Sai being ungrateful to Cedric after he saves her...who da thunk it?!

Did you miss when he tried voting her out twice before he did that?  I don't blame her for that.

[TVFan1]

Got to be honest, I don't like tribe switches. However, I'm happy that Mary found new life on another tribe away from Cedrick and Sai, even though Mary and Sai supposedly called a truce of some sort. Unpopular, but I would actually like to see a tribe get down to only one person or a tribe gets wiped out and see what would happen on a six person tribe before merge. 

Didn't care for Thomas, so don't care that he went. Don't care for Kyle and Kamilla either, but good on Kyle and Kamilla for playing stetegically against the California Girls alliance and Kyle for playing the idol on himself keeping the Civa tribe fully intact (even though I'm not a fan of that former tribe).

[choclatechip45]

I love Kamila/Kyle alliance. Rooting for them! 

[Skooma]

Kudos to Kamila starting the thing rolling by immediately putting on an act and Kyle picking up on where she was going right off to play his part.  Emmy deserved performances by them both.  But so many of these Hail Mary plans fail I thought this one would too but so glad it didn't.

If Sai thinks she found a better alliance partner she will be sadly mistaken.  This new one - have no idea her name - seems more than a bit sketchy to me.  Meanwhile Cedric may have found a far nicer alliance partner.

[Rodney]

8 minutes ago, Skooma said:

If Sai thinks she found a better alliance partner she will be sadly mistaken.  This new one - have no idea her name - seems more than a bit sketchy to me.

That would be Bianca, Thomas's former partner.

[Cotypubby]

1 hour ago, TVFan1 said:

Unpopular, but I would actually like to see a tribe get down to only one person

That has happened! The infamous Ulong tribe of Survivor: Palau. They just kept losing until only one person was left.

[Skooma]

I think the most hilarious moment was the bearded guy's big over-reaction to Thomas being voted out.  He looked like somebody just shot his puppy.

[AntFTW]

Well played, Kyle and Kamilla.

[Lantern7]

Meh episode. I had fun "live reacting" to it, but I can barely remember it. This is because most of the focus was on the failing Vula tribe. Naturally, their remnants get shuffled off to other tribes, and five people who might as well be new to me go to Tribal, where one guy successfully plays his hidden idol, and another guy gets the minority vote out of the game.

You think teams might try to be less dominant in future seasons? With the tribal shuffle, we wound up with five randos stuck at a camp with no advantages and no flint. I can't see Probst manipulating things to get that result. I reckon it was pure luck. Once again, Probst probably wasn't able to sleep on his stomach after Tribal Council that night.

4 hours ago, Tango64 said:

Even though it’s legal within the game, digging through someone’s personal bag in search of an idol makes you look like a filthy little rat. 

Indeed. That's why I'm advocating for booby traps for future contestants. I suggested exploding dye packs on the live thread, but a regular mousetrap would work just as well.

[OutOfTheQuestion]

1 hour ago, Skooma said:

Kudos to Kamila starting the thing rolling by immediately putting on an act and Kyle picking up on where she was going right off to play his part.  Emmy deserved performances by them both.

I thought Kyle was spoiling it by revealing their Guyanese heritage bond at tribal council.  It was like "dude, you're supposed to be virtual strangers, don't bring that up!"

[violet and green]

Oh, damn, I really liked Thomas. (I wish he'd fessed up about his steal a vote, and they could have used the extra vote to split their votes, and then on the revote they could have got out Kamilla? Maybe?)

So exciting for Mary to not go to tribal for once!

[JudyObscure]

Somethings must be very wrong with me, that I like everyone this season.

Well maybe not David, he brags too much. "I'm the kindest person you'll ever meet, I'm very empathetic, I treat all women like princesses."  Who says those things about themselves? Then the women repeat it like it must be true, "David's so kind he's, so empathetic,"  Shake it off, ladies!

Unfortunate, Eva.  How many times have we seen these cute young girls go on Survivor and get a big whopping pimple that lasts the whole season?  It's okay, Eva, we see how amazingly fit you are.   My thighs were never that firm in my entire life.

Charity and David thinking they have each other fooled.  Heh.

Bianca is so smart, so is Sai, so is Mary, so is Kamila. Just a great cast.

Kyle and Kamila may end up putting Guyana on the map over that bad taste of Kool Aid in our minds.

[Tachi Rocinante]

1 hour ago, JudyObscure said:

It's okay, Eva, we see how amazingly fit you are.   My thighs were never that firm in my entire life.

Playing competitive hockey for a while will do that, even at minor levels.  I have a nephew who played just club hockey through high school, and he could do things in the gym with his legs that made the football players take notice.

[GenerationX]

The bond between Cedrek and Mitch looks to be one you're never going to forget.  You know, you ain't seen nothing yet.

[bunnyface]

I realize Kyle and Kamilla had a plan and had to stick with it but I wish they had turned the vote to Shauhin instead.  After watching him go through Kyle's bag, and not even very well, he feels icky to me.  Thomas was at least entertaining.  But it was funny watching Kamilla just stare dead-eyed at Shauhin while he was going through that bag.  

[Skooma]

1 hour ago, bunnyface said:

I realize Kyle and Kamilla had a plan and had to stick with it but I wish they had turned the vote to Shauhin instead.  After watching him go through Kyle's bag, and not even very well, he feels icky to me.  Thomas was at least entertaining.  But it was funny watching Kamilla just stare dead-eyed at Shauhin while he was going through that bag.  

But Thomas was the one that told Shauhin to go through the bag as it was his idea.  I do agree that Thomas was far more entertaining. 

Well except for what I mentioned above when Shauhin almost had a stroke when Thomas was voted out.  Shauhin did provide a lot of laughs at that moment at least.

[LadyChatts]

5 minutes ago, Skooma said:

But Thomas was the one that told Shauhin to go through the bag as it was his idea.  I do agree that Thomas was far more entertaining. 

Well except for what I mentioned above when Shauhin almost had a stroke when Thomas was voted out.  Shauhin did provide a lot of laughs at that moment at least.

I actually wondered if the whole reason they targeted Thomas is they knew he lied about his journey experience and that he may have something that they could get out of play (and even if he didn’t have anything, they knew he was untrustworthy).

Also, per Dalton Ross, Kyle did use the extra vote last night (I know there was some confusion even though Jeff did say “that’s two, that’s enough” when he read Thomas’s second vote, indicating there was another vote).  
 

I really can’t wait to see the reaction of everyone next week when NuVula walks in without Thomas.  

[iMonrey]

I don't understand why Kamilla gave her extra vote to Kyle. They seemed pretty sure the votes would be for Kyle and Kyle would have to play his idol. The extra vote wouldn't have made any difference - the three "California girls (?!) all had to vote the same or it wouldn't have worked.

When you think about it, it's really dumb and unfair that the new Vulu tribe had to start out with no flint. Taking away flint is supposed to be punishment for losing. None of the members of that tribe were on that tribe when it lost the last challenge. Another reason why flint stealing is a stupid idea. I think it's also part of the reason we keep seeing one tribe lose over and over again, because it just weakens them further and hinders their ability to recover.

I'm on the same page as @Lantern7 with the tribe swap. I didn't really care who went home because I wasn't invested in any of them. The focus has been on Vulu for the last three episodes and it felt like some of these people were talking for the first time, like Chrissy, Bianca and Charity. I barely remembered Kyle or Kamilla either.

[zscore]

7 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I don't understand why Kamilla gave her extra vote to Kyle.

 

[fishcakes]

Every reality show player ever: I'm not here to make friends.
Cedrek: I am!

Sai is so stupid that Bianca comes to her and says she wants to join her and Cedrek and give them a 3-2 majority on the new tribe and Sai, who's more interested in getting revenge on Cedrek, throws it away. And the worst part is that I think Sai will end up being okay anyway, as stupid people often are, because Chrissy seems to not want to work with Mitch, so I could see the three women banding together and getting Mitch and Cedrek out. Feh.

Throwing a tribemate under the bus might not work at as well for Eva though. Not surprised that she offered up Star so quickly, but given that she glommed onto David right away and has no interest in working with women, I could also see the three other women on her tribe forming a majority alliance and voting her out before David. Mary, Charity, and Star already seem to be pretty friendly with each other, and all of them were outside of their original tribes' majority alliances.

26 minutes ago, zscore said:

 

Yes, this. Also, once they're deadlocked, they go to rocks (assuming the old rules are still in place) and Kyle, Kamilla, and Thomas are all exempt so either Joe or Shauhin go home. By giving her extra vote to Kyle instead of using it herself, Kamilla set it up so that neither one of them could go home. (Given the information that she had, that is. She didn't know about Thomas's steal-a-vote.)

Edited March 20 by fishcakes

[gail56]

I am not sad to see Thomas go. He lost me when he said that yes, he is lying to his people but it was none of [Kamilla's] business. The way he said it like he had no loyalty to them at all.

[dizzyd]

6 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

Also, per Dalton Ross, Kyle did use the extra vote last night (I know there was some confusion even though Jeff did say “that’s two, that’s enough” when he read Thomas’s second vote, indicating there was another vote).  

Interesting! I don’t understand why it was wasted. If it was in case the other votes went on Kamila instead of Kyle, it wouldn’t have worked because after the tie the votes would have been 2/1 and Kamila would be gone.

[fishcakes]

20 minutes ago, dizzyd said:

Interesting! I don’t understand why it was wasted. If it was in case the other votes went on Kamila instead of Kyle, it wouldn’t have worked because after the tie the votes would have been 2/1 and Kamila would be gone.

It took me a bit to figure out why Kamilla and Kyle did it that way and I had to run through all the voting configurations in my head, but at least thinking about it helped me fall asleep last night. 

Extra votes can be used through all the revotes, so if the vote had been a tie between Kamilla and Thomas, then on the revote Kyle would have voted twice for Thomas, leading to presumably a 2/2 tie. Then they go to rocks and either Joe or Shauhin is eliminated.

That's why Kamilla gave Kyle the extra vote instead of using it herself. He was going to play the idol on himself, so even if they guessed wrong and the California Girls put three votes on Kamilla instead of Kyle, then Kyle can still use the extra vote to force another tie. Had Kamilla played the extra vote and received 3 votes, she'd then be ineligible to vote and would be gone on a 2-1 second vote.

[princelina]

9 hours ago, LadyChatts said:

I actually wondered if the whole reason they targeted Thomas is they knew he lied about his journey experience and that he may have something that they could get out of play (and even if he didn’t have anything, they knew he was untrustworthy).

Yes Kyle said as much - that he thought Shahin was the sneakier of the two, but couldn't be sure if Thomas had an advantage from his journey, so he wanted him to go.

[Rodney]

8 hours ago, gail56 said:

I am not sad to see Thomas go. He lost me when he said that yes, he is lying to his people but it was none of [Kamilla's] business. The way he said it like he had no loyalty to them at all.

For me, it was how gleefully he lied.  I've seen other people lie on the show with just as much glee as he displayed.  But for some reason, the way he was so gleeful set my teeth on edge in a way that it hasn't in other cases.  I'm not entirely sure why.

11 hours ago, fishcakes said:

Sai is so stupid that Bianca comes to her and says she wants to join her and Cedrek and give them a 3-2 majority on the new tribe and Sai, who's more interested in getting revenge on Cedrek, throws it away. And the worst part is that I think Sai will end up being okay anyway, as stupid people often are, because Chrissy seems to not want to work with Mitch, so I could see the three women banding together and getting Mitch and Cedrek out. Feh.

Hard to do with Bianca not having a vote.

[SVNBob]

Also hard to do with Vula being the only tribe to go to TC this season.

[watch2much]

I love a blindside so much when an alliance is a cocky as they were.  I wasn't a fan of Camilla previously, but I like her now. 

[gail56]

12 hours ago, Rodney said:

For me, it was how gleefully he lied.  I've seen other people lie on the show with just as much glee as he displayed.  But for some reason, the way he was so gleeful set my teeth on edge in a way that it hasn't in other cases.  I'm not entirely sure why.

Hard to do with Bianca not having a vote.

This is what I mean, his attitude toward his alliance was way off. In the first episode he talked about how happy he was to be in the California girls alliance when he didn't expect to fit in. Then he lies to them for no really good reason and is proud of it. Why not tell them about his advantage? They could have used that knowledge together and it was really detrimental to his game and his alliance that he kept it a secret.

Happy to see him go and Kamila and Kyle pull that off!

[Nashville]

1 hour ago, gail56 said:

This is what I mean, [Thomas’s] attitude toward his alliance was way off. In the first episode he talked about how happy he was to be in the California girls alliance when he didn't expect to fit in. Then he lies to them for no really good reason and is proud of it. Why not tell them about his advantage? They could have used that knowledge together and it was really detrimental to his game and his alliance that he kept it a secret.
 

Thomas is (or was, game-wise) a walking illustration of the phrase “so sharp he sometimes cuts himself“. 🙄

 

1 hour ago, gail56 said:

Happy to see him go and Kamila and Kyle pull that off!

Personally, I was quite pleased at the level of strategic thought which went into K&K’s management of the TC and the votes; much more elevated than what we’ve grown accustomed to seeing in recent seasons past.

[mertensia]

Who is this Mitch guy and why haven't I seen him before?

I also think personal bags should be off limits.

[iMonrey]

21 hours ago, mertensia said:

Who is this Mitch guy and why haven't I seen him before?

I know you're being facetious but he has actually gotten some screen time because he's the one with the speech impediment, and Jeff made sure to highlight him the minute the new contestants first hit the beach. 

The ones that still make me go "who?" are Chrissy, Bianca and Charity. We've spent the majority of time on old Vulu but when they did pop in on the other tribes it was mostly about who found what idol/advantage or who went on the "journey." 

[Diana Berry]

Thomas and his witty repertoire has left the building. Fare thee well Fare thee well

Eva and her beautiful teeth live to see another day

Beefy and his cake stuntman live to see another day

 

[Rodney]

On 3/20/2025 at 7:04 AM, JudyObscure said:

Kyle and Kamila may end up putting Guyana on the map over that bad taste of Kool Aid in our minds.

I think that Jem from 46 has already done that with her errors.

[blackwing]

So happy to see that Thomas lying about the journey is what ended up costing him.  Kyle and Kamilla might not have targeted him otherwise.  I thought it was risky that Kamilla didn't play her steal a vote.  If the California Gurlz had put 2 on Kamilla and 1 on Kyle, and K/K put two on Thomas, then at revote, Kamilla would have been gone.  Kyle did talk about this as a danger, but they seem to have decided not to use her Steal after the Gurlz rooted through Kyle's bag and decided that he didn't have an idol.

Sai is bitter against Cedrek.  Good.  Cedrek is awful and should go home ASAP.  Horrible player.  Justin would have been a good ally for him at the merge no matter what tribe they were on, assuming both survived.

[Rodney]

4 minutes ago, blackwing said:

So happy to see that Thomas lying about the journey is what ended up costing him.  Kyle and Kamilla might not have targeted him otherwise.  I thought it was risky that Kamilla didn't play her steal a vote.  If the California Gurlz had put 2 on Kamilla and 1 on Kyle, and K/K put two on Thomas, then at revote, Kamilla would have been gone.  Kyle did talk about this as a danger, but they seem to have decided not to use her Steal after the Gurlz rooted through Kyle's bag and decided that he didn't have an idol.

Actually, Kamilla did play her extra vote.  Actually, she gave it to Kyle to play, and he used it just in case the California Girls split their votes so they'd have an extra one for Thomas.

[blackwing]

8 hours ago, Rodney said:

Actually, Kamilla did play her extra vote.  Actually, she gave it to Kyle to play, and he used it just in case the California Girls split their votes so they'd have an extra one for Thomas.

Ah, thank you, I missed that part.  So there were actually three votes for Thomas?

Did all three Girls/Gurlz/ no idea how Thomas was spelling it vote for Kyle?  So Jeffy revealed the three "Kyle - does not count" votes first.  Then a Thomas.  Then another Thomas in the event that Kamilla and Kyle didn't vote together?  So there was still one Thomas vote in the urn?  Well played by K&K.

[SuburbanHangSuite]

On 3/20/2025 at 12:16 PM, fishcakes said:

Throwing a tribemate under the bus might not work at as well for Eva though. Not surprised that she offered up Star so quickly, but given that she glommed onto David right away and has no interest in working with women, I could also see the three other women on her tribe forming a majority alliance and voting her out before David.

I REALLY hope this comes to pass. 

I cam't stand the "I'm so cool, I only have guy friends" type of women and I REALLY can't stand this Eva trying to target Star so quickly. 

 The Sai-Mary truce is cute.  Let's see if they can make it to the merge and reconnect.

[Rodney]

2 hours ago, blackwing said:

Ah, thank you, I missed that part.  So there were actually three votes for Thomas?

Yes.  That was why Probst said that two votes were enough to take Thomas out rather than say that one vote was left after the first vote for him.