In last week’s episode of “Survivor 48,” Eagan native Eva Erickson’s alliance of five physically strong castaways — her day-one ally Joe Hunter, stuntman David Kinne, debate professor Shauhin Davari and lawyer Kyle Fraser — seemed to fracture after they turned on one of their own and voted out Kinne.
Erickson, the show’s first openly autistic player, opened this week’s episode by consoling Kinne’s ally, substance abuse counselor Mary Zheng. Sort of, anyway.
“I’m really, really sorry,” she told Zheng. “I mean, I really, really like you and I like working with you.”
Erickson then explained she’d keep Zheng around as long as she can, but offered little hope beyond that: “I’m not gonna promise I’m not gonna write your name down, but I am gonna tell you if it is your name I’m gonna tell you beforehand.”
Grasping for straws, Zheng asked if Erickson would play her idol for her. The answer? Nope.
As Erickson explained to the camera: “I really like Mary and I don’t want to have bad blood between us. That’s why I’m being straightforward and telling the truth, but I’ve picked my people I want to work with and she’s not part of that. I have a strong four that I’m working with now, being myself, Joe, Shauhin and Kyle.
“We really hold a lot of power because I’ve built up an artillery of weapons to protect me and my allies. I have the hidden immunity idol, I have a safety without power (advantage). And with all that, we can get to that final four and everyone else can’t really do much about it.”
Much of the rest of the episode seemed to prove Erickson’s point. With eight players left in the game, and Erickson’s strong alliance of four, that left Zheng, physical education coach Mitch Guerra, software engineer Kamilla Karthigesu and sales expert Star Toomey to fend for themselves. Although they talked about various options, the four loose cannons never came to a firm agreement on what to do next.
During a rare standalone reward challenge, Fraser won an afternoon picnic of chicken and waffles on a nearby island. Host Jeff Probst allowed him to choose three people to join him and he went with Erickson, Karthigesu and Davari.
Erickson was once again thrilled to have the chance to eat, telling the camera: “Food changes everything. Without food, you’re so depleted you can barely stand up. I don’t think people at home realize that one meal actually does make all the difference.”
Also, Erickson explained that she had fun on the reward, but reiterated the strength of her alliance.
“Obviously I’m big fans of Kyle and Shauhin and Kamilla is so cool in her own right,” she said. “We’re just having a great time. And I don’t picture anyone trying to make a move on me or my core people. I feel unconcerned with the next few votes.”
Related Articles
Barbra Streisand and Bob Dylan to release the duet no one asked for
Betsy Arakawa, Gene Hackman’s wife, died from hantavirus, autopsy confirms
Autopsy confirms Gene Hackman died from heart disease, notes his Alzheimer’s and prolonged fasting
James Taylor on his new musical, songwriting, Ukraine and more: ‘It helps to have a deadline’
Eagan native Eva Erickson sees her strong alliance fracture in ‘Survivor’
Hunter went on to win the immunity challenge and, with a fifth vote from Zheng, the alliance sent Toomey packing.
During tribal council, Probst asked the castaways various questions about the mood at camp. He turned to Erickson and said: “Was it paranoia (or) was it very calm, despite a big vote coming?”
Erickson’s answer yet again confirmed her alliance of four is looking like they will be the show’s final four.
“I think we knew what we were doing,” she said. “I think that everyone’s going to do what we had discussed, and there isn’t a bunch of crazy stuff going on. It’s just, we’re like, ‘Yep, next one’s going. Next one. Let’s keep this rolling.’ ”
“Survivor 48” airs at 7 p.m. Wednesdays on CBS and streams the next day on Paramount+.
Leave a Reply