Hey, did you know that a single day on Venus (which takes 243 Earth days) takes longer than an entire year on Venus (225 Earth days)? Crazy, right? That\u2019s some Doc Brown Flux Capacitor type stuff right there. And did you know that Mercury can have a temperature swing of over 1,000 degrees within a single day? How can one be expected to pack for that?!?\n<\/p>\n
But unless your name is Steven Ramm, you didn\u2019t come here for crazy space facts. So not unlike Jeff Probst<\/a>, I will thank the NASA engineer for his service and reassume control of this recap. And I will reassume it to say I am confused. Confused over the fact that the players told Probst to differentiate between the two Sophi(e)s by calling one Soph and the other Sophie, yet then insist on continuing to refer to them as Blue Sophi and Yellow Sophie? I mean\u2026\u00a0yes! That is confusing! But I\u2019m more confused about something else.\n<\/p>\n We saw Rizo<\/a> talking about how Alex was playing the middle and had to go. We saw other players speaking on how sloppy and messy Alex was playing. And Alex said it himself as he was walking up to get his torch snuffed, mentioning how he got caught playing both sides. But you know what we never really saw? Alex playing sloppy and working both sides. Sure, he told Savannah and Rizo they were the targets, but that is so low on the list of egregious Survivor<\/a> crimes.\n<\/p>\n Alex Moore on ‘Survivor 49’.<\/p>\n Robert Voets\/CBS<\/p>\n Everyone \u2014 including Alex \u2014 kept telling us how his gameplay got him voted out, but if that is the case, why did we not see more of these alleged Survivor mistakes? Or was it just a master class of manipulation from the R-I-Z-G-O-D RizGod, baby? He told us he was embellishing facts against Alex, and we saw him working pretty much everyone in one-on-one chats against his chosen target. Were Jawan<\/a>, Sage<\/a>, and (Yellow) Sophie completely played, or was something actually there that necessitated the dismissal of a guy who had no clear ride-or-die allies over a dude with an idol in his pocket that at the very least needed to be flushed?\n<\/p>\n The lack of evidence points to the former, but taking out Alex without a smoking gun being fired off against him seems to make no sense whatsoever, which is why I am so confused. What would they do that? But then Alex comes right out and says he deserved it, so I don\u2019t know what to make of it all. It\u2019s baffling\u2026\u00a0kind of like outer space.\n<\/p>\n Anyway, Alex is now off getting prepped for his jury glow-up (ask Nate<\/a> for a hat!), while Rizo, Savannah, and Blue Sophi continue to sit pretty with their bag of toys. Let\u2019s go see if we can make sense of what else went down on episode 9 of Survivor 49.\n<\/p>\n Jeff Probst on ‘Survivor 49’.<\/p>\n Robert Voets\/CBS<\/p>\n Defection perfection <\/p>\n First, she has to have a color randomly attached to her first name (at least it wasn\u2019t purple?), and now this! Yellow Sophie survived the vote on day 15, but then had to return to camp and find out how shocked her allies were to see her \u2014\u00a0a shock that Kristina and Steven apparently did a really terrible job of hiding. That\u2019s the first rule of Survivor: always make all alliance members feel valued. Well, no, evidently the new first rule of Survivor is to repeatedly refer to the host as your uncle, but the second rule or Survivor is to always make all alliance members feel valued no matter where they land in the pecking order.\n<\/p>\n Now, due to Kristina and Steven\u2019s lack of enthusiasm in seeing their tribe mate\u2019s return, Sophie apparently underwent an emergency LASIK surgery operation with Dr. Barry and can see clearly for the first time. And what, pray tell, does she see?\u00a0Well, I don\u2019t know if Dr. Barry is licensed for that kind of work because now Sophie thinks she is back at Washington University instead of the sandy shores of Fiji, and she doesn\u2019t much like her former freshman floor friends. And she\u2019s going to do something about it! She\u2019s going to start playing something called Sophie Segreti Survivor, which we can only assume is a lot like regular Survivor, only this time the person whose name is in the title gets more than one confessional interview every five episodes.\n<\/p>\n Considering Sophie was Kristina and Steven\u2019s last remaining fellow Hina in their majority alliance, this is not a number they could afford to lose \u2014 especially since Sage and Jawan may not have been as invested in the Bottoms Up alliance as Mr. Space Ghost Coast to Coast was.\n<\/p>\n Please, no fried chicken and waffles song <\/p>\n So, this was a fun reward challenge \u2014\u00a0especially the section where players had to toss a sandbag at an oar to knock three rings off. In the end, the blue team of Kristina, Sophie, Savannah, and Alex won, giving them a fried chicken dinner that immediately had me daydreaming of Popeye\u2019s tenders and a buttermilk baked biscuit. (Granted, 38 percent of my time is usually daydreaming about Popeye\u2019s biscuits anyway, Survivor or no Survivor.)\n<\/p>\n What was even more interesting than the challenge was learning what a poor prediction expert Jawan was. Well, I actually take that back because while he may have lost yet another reward feast challenge, Jawan had told Probst he had a good feeling he was about to be on the receiving end of some friend chicken, and thanks to Kristina, he was!\n<\/p>\n Normally, giving up your own spot in any sort of reward is a huge Survivor no-no. That\u2019s because while it may appear on its surface to be a selfless move, it is far more likely to be seen as self-serving and a transparent way to curry favor (and potential final Tribal Council votes). Just ask poor Albert Destrade how that worked out for him. But this felt different. Perhaps I am being super na\u00efve and Kristina will say otherwise on one of her #MillsSpills posts that CBS shockingly allows her to plaster all over on social media in their somewhat haphazard contestant enforcement, but this did not actually read as a game move to me. It seemed genuine. Like, she just felt bad that Jawan had not eaten real food in 16 days and wanted to do him a solid\u2026 slight pun intended.\n<\/p>\n Now, that can still get you voted out of Survivor. No doubt about it. People look for any reason \u2014\u00a0real or imaginary \u2014\u00a0to get rid of someone. And I\u2019m guessing Kristina may have been rethinking her drink on that after Jawan appeared to blindside her with his vote the very next day. (Which I have zero issue with, by the way. If this was not a game move by Kristina, then she can\u2019t be upset that Jawan did not tie his vote to the reward feast.)\n<\/p>\n We also have a deleted scene we will post on Thursday morning showing the schoolyard pick and how everybody was pulling for Jawan to finally win some food, so this clearly appeared to be a move by Kristina that was supported by the masses,\u00a0so good on her for making the sacrifice.\n<\/p>\n Rizo Velovic, Alex Moore, Sage Ahrens-Nichols, Steven Ramm, Jawan Pitts, Sophi Segreti, Kristina Mills, Sophi Balerdi, Savannah Louie on ‘Survivor 49’.<\/p>\n Robert Voets\/CBS<\/p>\n All eyes on Savannah <\/p>\n I suppose I should have figured out Savannah was safe the way they kept showing people all episode talking about what a goner she was. Sage was going on about stuffing Savannah in her jar of blackhead pimples, Jawan was morphing into Jaws and talking about devouring the top of his hit-list prey to awesome John Williams theme music, and Kristina was openly plotting on taking out the pint-sized powerhouse to one of her biggest allies in Blue Sophi, also explaining that \u201cI\u2019m sorry, Savannah, you give off mean girl energy.\u201d (Hey, energy is energy, am I right? We\u2019ll take whatever we can get!)\n<\/p>\n Perhaps I did not piece Savannah\u2019s obvious safety together earlier because I was simply too distracted by Steven\u2019s weird chicken dream. I guess the chickens are just loose now and roaming around the camp? And not fleeing for safety even though they watched two of their family members get decapitated and eaten by their former captors? Are we sure they, and not Rizo, were not the ones clucking in everybody\u2019s ear about getting rid of that murderer Alex?\n<\/p>\n One thing of note about all the back and forth happening at camp between challenges. Kristina trying to get Blue Sophi on board for a split vote on Savannah seemed pretty sloppy to me and not reading that relationship well, but perhaps more interesting was the way Blue Sophi told Savannah and Rizo how Jawan and Sage were not with them\u2026 while Yellow Sophie was sitting right there. I guess they felt that comfortable that they had flipped Yellow Sophie over to talk that openly in front of her, and judging by the vote later, they were right.\n<\/p>\n Alex Moore, Rizo Velovic, Sage Ahrens-Nichols, Sophi Segreti, Kristina Mills, Jawan Pitts, Steven Ramm, Sophi Balerdi, Savannah Louie on ‘Survivor 49’.<\/p>\n Robert Voets\/CBS<\/p>\n The rematch <\/p>\n This week\u2019s immunity challenge was another pain tolerance test, with players having to use their feet to press up against a disc, and when the disc falls, you\u2019re out. The mini-twist was that the last man and woman standing would each win immunity. Steven eventually outlasted Jawan thanks to the power of random space facts being stronger then the power of repeating sibling names, but we don\u2019t care so much about that, for that face-off was merely the undercard. The main event was another showdown between endurance queens Savannah and Yellow Sophie.\n<\/p>\n Savannah is a freakin\u2019 endurance terminator. Not only does she dominate, but now she\u2019s even taken to some light smack-talking along the way, informing Sophie mid-battle, \u201cI\u2019m not dropping,\u201d and then tacking on a \u201cI\u2019m not even close\u201d for good measure. And guess what? She wasn\u2019t! This woman probably could have sat up there and beheaded another chicken with her bare hands and shot Kristina mean girl daggers with her eyes while keeping her legs pressed up against the disc. She can multitask like that!\n<\/p>\n It’s fascinating the way Savannah and Rizo were in command and control for the first seven episodes, but it\u2019s only when they lost their power the past two weeks that we saw just what strong game players they truly are. Respect is due.\n<\/p>\n Savannah Louie on ‘Survivor 49’.<\/p>\n Robert Voets\/CBS<\/p>\n Tribal Council talk <\/p>\n Dammit! I wanted to hear the kangaroo metaphor! What a tease that Steven Ramm is. In truth, I could never hear another Tribal Council metaphor ever again and I would be good to go. Of course, that means Drew Basile<\/a> is not allowed to ever come back and play again, but as this Tribal Council noted in their cooking metaphor for the week, sometimes you have to break a few eggs.\n<\/p>\n As for the actual vote, I wouldn\u2019t say Alex\u2019s ouster was surprising in that the edit pretty clearly walked us down that path, but I do remain shocked everyone is just totally cool with not flushing Rizo\u2019s idol, especially since they had an acceptable pawn to go home in case he did use it in Alex. That\u2019s the perfect scenario to take a shot at someone holding an idol, but the opposition all holstered their collective weapon.\n<\/p>\n I\u2019m also shocked that Sage and Jawan appeared to not let Steven in on their plan to vote out Alex, especially after Sage agreed to not let Jawan in on Steven\u2019s secret that Kristina had found the idol. It doesn\u2019t add up. I have to wonder if they may show us some reasoning behind this next week after the fact. Like, if the vote was going on Alex regardless, maybe this was a play to shield their connection by having Steven play dumb and throw his vote the wrong way, even though he knew the score. That would make more sense than Sage simply icing him out.\n<\/p>\n Alex Moore on ‘Survivor 49’.<\/p>\n Robert Voets\/CBS<\/p>\n Want to be kept up with all things Survivor? Dig deep and sign up for Entertainment Weekly’s free Survivor Weekly newsletter<\/a> to have all the latest news, interviews, and commentary sent right to your inbox.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n Speaking of out, that now describes Alex, who becomes juror number three. I still am not entirely sure what he did wrong other than act as a target for Rizo to deflect votes, but the fact that people did move so easily against him shows that his DC mover and shaker background was not as handy as he hoped. But after that disastrous Kele start, he can\u2019t be too upset about making it all the way to the jury. Nor did he appear to be.\n<\/p>\n I’m sure nobody is particularly happy with the first three members of the jury being Black, least of all MC, who told me last week <\/a>that she informed Jawan about Sophie putting a vote on him specifically because she did not want the first two jury members to be Black. Then she ended up on the receiving end of the vote. And now Alex makes three. Coincidence? Let’s hope so. (Let’s also hope Kristina uses that idol, if need be!)\n<\/p>\n Okay, before you go, we’ve got some other goodies for you. Did you check out the entire Survivor 49 cast naming whom they would put on <\/a>Survivor 50<\/a>? Some definite hot takes in there. You can also watch the schoolyard pick that did not make it to TV in an exclusive deleted scene, and see what Probst has to say about everything. And we\u2019ll also be chatting with Alex so keep your eyes peeled for that exit interview while you also sign up for our free Survivor newsletter<\/a> to have all the news and interviews sent directly to you digital doorstep.\n<\/p>\n Okay, not unlike Rizo in an endurance challenge, I\u2019m out of here, but will be back next week with another scoop of the crispy!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hey, did you know that a single day on Venus (which takes 243 Earth days) takes longer than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":302499,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[88,92],"class_list":{"0":"post-302498","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302498","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=302498"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/302498\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/302499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=302498"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=302498"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=302498"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}