John Powell – Binge News
I bet you somewhere in the great wide world Lex van den Berghe is having sympathy ‘feels’, sympathy pains for Shauhin Davari for he too was stabbed in the back by his ally in ‘Boston Rob’. Shauhin was double-teamed during his tribal council though because both Joe and Kyle really stuck it to him. Despite being in an alliance with him since they stepped foot on the Lagi beach, Joe believed Kyle’s lies over Shauhin’s word. Kyle, well, he cannot be blamed for doing what he needed to do to reach the finale. And to be perfectly honest, it was a little get-back from the Survivor Gods and Kyle as Shauhin did rummage through Kyle’s bag looking for an idol or an advantage earlier in the season.
Karma is a bitch, Shauhin.
As for Shauhin, he blames only one person for what happened.
“I blame myself. That’s who I blame. I blame not understanding the shift — the wind — that was very clear around camp. The vibe had changed and I either wasn’t aware of it or I attributed it to the wrong thing. It was kind of a perfect storm,” he told me.
He also praised Kyle’s move.
“That was fun — and well done. I respect good gameplay. It was an incredible move, expertly executed, with timing that couldn’t have been better,” he also told me.
You can watch my interview here:
…or read it here.
The big Survivor 48 finale airs next week and Joe and Eva appear to be the frontrunners to win it all. The thread running through all of the conversations I have had with the jury members and why they voted for the winner they did was the concept of loyalty. That can be taken a number of ways though. Eva was loyal to her allies, the glue that kept their alliance together in most cases. Joe was seen as fiercely loyal to his allies too, except for perhaps David and Shauhin. Kamilla and Kyle stuck by each other through thick and thin. And there is Mitch, who is just kind of there but never wavered from his the alliance he belonged to even though he was at the bottom. So, this notion of loyalty could be attributed to any of the finalists.
I would still say that because of the deeply personal bonds and connections he made with people, his incredible strong social game, that Joe has the lead over everyone and anyone heading into the finals. Despite him being portrayed as “The Godfather” and the central figure in the tribal politics since the merge, he hasn’t been successfully targeted by anyone.
Remember, Joe has only received one vote against him the entire season and that was from Mary who said to me: “I love that you asked this! On the island, everyone seemed so focused on being ‘likable’. I don’t know why, because I’m not voting for someone just because I like them. I’m voting for someone whose gameplay I respect. So that’s what I was looking for: someone who could prove they were strategic, that they were thinking multiple steps ahead. Well, not even just that, but someone who was thinking about the ramifications of every decision they made in the moment. How the chips might fall five, six, seven moves later. I didn’t care about physicality. I wasn’t one of those people who came out here to play the Olympics. I didn’t care about a winning streak. I just wanted to see that someone had a strong grasp of the game and truly knew what was going on.”
From this comment can we deduce that she will be the only vote for Joe not to win?
FYI: Here are the recorded vote counts for everyone this season:
| Eva Erickson | None |
| Kyle Fraser | Three but he played a hidden immunity idol on himself; therefore, three votes for him were not counted. |
| Mitch Guerra | Five |
| Joe Hunter | None |
| Kamilla Karthigesu | None |
The current betting odds are:
| Joe Hunter | -200 |
| Kyle Fraser | +250 |
| Kamilla Karthigesu | +600 |
| Eva Erickson | +750 |
| Mitch Guerra | +1000 |
Check Global TV for my final picks next Wednesday.
On with this week’s Survivor Stock Ticker:
He simply got outplayed and is not afraid to admit that. You would think that Joe would have placed his faith in Shauhin over Kyle but here we are.
He made the move of the entire series and could be a million dollar move for him. He does need to win immunity though to secure his safety.
For so many reasons, he has the best chance to win this season. He is the clear front runner.
If he even comes close to winning, it will be a miracle.
Who is the winner?
Anything is possible especially if he ever loses an immunity challenge or the others finally align against him and Eva but barring that, Joe looks like our winner.
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