Kyle and Kamilla Finally Made Their Move on ‘Survivor,’ and It Was Smarter Than Even They Realize

Since the merge, Survivor 48 has been a bit of a snooze. The “strong” alliance of Joe, Eva, Shauhin, and Kyle has maintained dominance, only upsetting their own narrative when they worked to eliminate an increasingly unstable, though prescient, David. Since then, I’ve tuned in each week hoping someone would have the courage to take aim at the frontrunner, Joe, only to be let down. David’s weird facial expressions from the jury seats have been the only interesting part of Survivor for weeks, that’s how dire it’s become.

Last night, things finally turned around. I wanted some chaos, and I got it! Shauhin won the important “Letters from Home” reward and took along Joe and Kyle. Yet somehow, he had time to speak with both his guests individually, and it was clear that he was itching to make a splashy play. To Joe, Shauhin floated the idea of targeting Kyle next, which was shot down. Joe, of course, is Mr. Integrity and Loyalty through and through, and saw no reason to upset the alliance this close to the finale. So Shauhin turned to Kyle and argued that, as the men in the middle, they could take this opportunity to target Eva. She’d never see it coming, and thus wouldn’t use her idol, and that would be a play that would weaken Joe and impress the jury.

He’s not exactly wrong. I’ve always wondered why nobody ever thought to take a shot at Eva, who has been sitting so comfortably with her alliance and her advantages that she’s never thought about using said advantages, but at this point in the game, there’s no way to do it that wouldn’t also require backstabbing Joe. He will never, under any circumstances, turn on his number one. Instead, Shauhin’s willingness to break the strong alliance finally convinced Kyle he had the moral go-ahead to do the same, and he came up with a savvy plan to do so by targeting Shauhin himself.

The plan was thus: Kyle would tell Joe that Kamilla told him that Shauhin is looking to make a move on Eva, and that he showed her an idol he’s secretly held on to all this time. When Joe approaches Kamilla about it, she’d confirm the story. By sowing seeds of doubt about Shauhin, they can get Joe to turn on his alliance himself while being grateful to them for their honesty, undermining his game without getting blood on their hands.

And it works! Joe goes a little unhinged at the thought of Shauhin’s betrayal, though he’s also paranoid enough to question whether Kyle and Kamilla are telling the truth. Still, at tribal, Shauhin is indeed sent packing, and we’ll have to wait until next week to see if any lingering suspicions Joe has about Kyle and Kamilla remain.

It was a risky play, and the fact that it worked makes it smart enough. But the Joe problem remains: Does anyone have a chance against him in the Final Three, and is there any chance at this point that he won’t make to the end? And I’ve begrudgingly concluded that, actually, the best play is for Joe to make it to the end. Shauhin says as much to Kyle, though he argues it’s because if Joe ends up on the jury, he’ll just fight for Eva. That’s true, but it’s more than that. The only way for Joe to wind up on the jury at this point is for his alliance to blindside him, and he’s not the sort of player who will respect that kind of gameplay. He won’t just advocate for Eva, he’ll argue against whoever targeted him. And as we’ve seen, he garners the sort of respect that sways minds. Dustin likened it to nobody wanting to disappoint Dad, and imagine how disappointed he’d be sitting on the jury! If it seems like he’s controlled the game so far, there’s no reason to think he wouldn’t control the jury too.

Whoever takes Joe out won’t get the million dollars. It’s as simple as that. The only hope anyone has is to make it to the Final Three with Joe and beat him there, which means having a narrative that will play better to the jury. Eva doesn’t have it — her many advantages were arguably the result of luck, not gameplay (Star gave her the idol, and her “Safety Without Power” was found randomly during a reward). She has nothing but strength and loyalty, but without the social skills that have made Joe such a threat. Mitch doesn’t have it. He hasn’t been able to make a single move all season, and his impotence has made him the sort of player who gets to hang around thanks to grace of others. With this Shauhin play, Kyle and Kamilla cemented their narrative as the real power players of the season, operating in the shadows, and that’s going to look great to the jury … as long as Joe isn’t sitting on it. Jurors like Mary, Chrissy, and even Shauhin should appreciate their strategic savvy, while jurors who value loyalty and strength may recognize that by staying true to each other, they’ve been plenty loyal, and they’ve each won challenges.

The only question is which of them, Kyle or Kamilla, will make it to the Final Three, because they can’t both do it or they’ll split the vote. Their narrative only works if one of them stays in the game, and the other goes to the Jury to talk them up. Of course, the same is true for Joe and Eva, which makes me wonder if the next smart play is to make sure both of them make it to the final three. I’m not sure they’d split the vote, exactly — I think Joe would simply win — but I think having the two of them sitting together, as the inevitable duo who did what everyone expected them to do, makes any alternative narrative more enticing. Just use the fact that Joe and Eva making it to the Final Three is boring!

The finale is next week, so I guess we’ll find out if boring is going to win out, or if this season has any more tricks up its sleeve.