After what has felt like the longest ever hiatus, Survivor finally returned on September 24 with an extended 2-hour season premiere which saw 18 new players taking to the beach to begin their fight to become the next Sole Survivor and the winner of the $1 million grand prize.
As the episode opened, we quickly began to get to know the new players as they made their way to the beach to greet Jeff and officially kick off the game of Survivor 49. Upon arriving on the beach, our tribes were already established and Jeff quickly started the conversation in calling upon various players to break the ice.
Among them was Jason, who is one of the season’s two alternate players (the other being Michelle aka MC). The pair joined the show at the final moment after two players in the original cast broke the rules and were removed from the game in an unprecedented moment in the show’s history. This led to Jason and MC entering the game at the very last minute, as Jason revealed to those on the beach in talking about his wild journey.
With the tribes assembled, Jeff reveals the names for this year’s tribes which break down as follows:
Kele Tribe - Blue
* Alex
* Kimberly “Annie”
* Jake
* Jeremiah
* Nicole
* Sophi
Hina Tribe - Yellow
* Jason
* Kristina
* Matt
* Michelle “MC”
* Sophie
* Steven
Uli Tribe - Red
* Jawan
* Nate
* Rizo Rizado
* Sage
* Savannah
* Shannon
Hina tribe emerges as a tribe to watch after winning the first challenge of Survivor 49
We waste no time in getting into the action of the season as Jeff presented the first challenge of the season. The teams have to work together to race down the beach to gather a series of crates before then putting the crates together to complete a puzzle, climb on top and ring the bell to win supplies for their tribes.
As the challenge starts, two players from each tribe race down the beach where they must untie and bring their two crates back cross the finish line. It’s a tight race with Hina getting a quick lead and Kele falling to the bottom of the pack. As the duos head out to water to get to their respective boats to retrieve the rest of their crates, Uli pulls ahead of Hina with Kele still bringing up the rear.
Once all of the teams are back on the beach, they race to complete their puzzle in order to gather their stick, use it to retrieve their mallet, and then ring the bell to secure their supplies. Hina quickly pulls ahead in the puzzle stage and completes their puzzle, secures their mallet, and ring the bell to pick up the win and earn their supplies. They emerge as a strong frontrunner, putting up a strong showing in each leg of the challenge.
As Hina heads off with their map to get started on building their camp, Jeff reveals to the Kele and Uli tribes that they’ll get one more chance to win their supplies. Both tribes will need to select one member of their tribe to compete in a one-on-one showdown where one tribe will win their supplies. After some discussion, Kele chooses to send Alex while Rizo volunteers to represent Uli. The duo head out for their challenge as the others in their tribes make their way to their respective parts of the island to build their camps.
Rizo emerges as a player to watch in Survivor 49 and it's clear fans are going to love or hate him
As the tribes build their camps and settle in with some early bonds forming, Alex and Rizo head out to face off. The pair make their way to shore and begin reading the rules of the challenge. They’ll need to find 10 marked coconuts in a field of coconuts on the beach, bring them back one at a time, break them open to obtain puzzle pieces, complete the puzzle leading them to a map, dig to find a wheel, and then use the wheel to raise their flag and win the challenge.
The challenge begins and Alex smokes Rizo, easily racing through the beach and gathering all of his 10 coconuts and getting started on his puzzle while Rizo is still searching for his coconuts. Alex finishes his puzzle in record time and immediately heads out to begin digging where X marked the spot to find the wheel.
While Alex is desperately trying to find his buried wheel, Rizo begins using his finished puzzle to complete his own challenge. Little did he know, he had a piece missing but once he found the piece, Rizo easily completed the puzzle. He then raced off to begin digging for his wheel and somehow managed to unearth his wheel before Alex. Rizo used the wheel to raise his flag and won the Uli tribe their supplies in the process.
The showdown is sure to be a defining moment for Rizo. We’re certain fans are going to be divided by how he won the challenge, with some likely to feel he cheated to get the win by copying Alex’s completed puzzle. Others are likely going to like how scrappy he is and that he wasn’t afraid to take advantage of the completed puzzle to finish his own and pull ahead of Alex.
Survivor 49 alliances begin to form
When the duo return to their respective camps, Rizo’s tribe is ecstatic that he managed to secure the win and bring back their supplies. Alex, meanwhile, heads to camp worried his tribe mates won’t be happy but they prove to be more understanding than expected. In fact, he’s quickly pulled into an alliance with Jake and Sophi, marking one of the first alliances to develop in the season. Funny enough, Alex lines up a secret alliance with Annie as well, positioning himself well early in the game.
Over at Uli, another alliance begins to form as Shannon, Savannah, and Jawon come together as a trio and seek to find a strong fourth member to gain the majority in their Uli Four. Jawon begins to put some feelers out and work through the others in the tribe, trying to figure out who will be best to join their group, and there is really no telling who will find their way into the inner circle and who will end up on the outs.
Things aren’t quite as organized over at Hina. Steven starts making strong connections with his tribe mates, but fails to put anything firm together, which could make it interesting should Hina end up heading to Tribal Council.
Back at Kele, Sophi begins to worry about being in a trio with a budding bromance between Alex and Jake. Fortunately, Jeremiah comes along looking to make an alliance and approaches Jake, who suggests they form a strong four with Alex and Sophi. Once Jeremiah fills Sophi in, she’s immediately on board having already solidified something with Alex and Jake; however, with Jeremiah coming into the fold, she now has a partner of her own to keep things balanced.
Over at Uli, the tides begin to turn when Nate reaches out to Savannah about forming a strong group of four. He proposes pulling in Shannon and Rizo, two other players he thinks have a lot of potential and strengths to offer. This deal begins to look like a great option to Savannah, and becomes even more enticing when she witnesses Jawan meltdown over his inability to start a fire.
Hina wins the first Survivor 49 immunity challenge as Kele heads to Tribal Council
Day 3 brings our first immunity challenge of the season as the three tribes reunite to battle for safety. For the first immunity challenge, the teams will race in pairs through a rope tunnel and under a rope net through mud into the jungle to retrieve three super-sized serpents. Once they’ve retrieved all three serpents, the tribes must select three players to work together to navigate a ball through a serpent shaped maze. On the line is not only immunity, but also some tool kits to help with building their camps.
As the challenge begins, Hina takes a commanding lead while Kele once again seems to struggle with some players on the tribe thriving in the challenge and others holding them back. Hina is first to retrieve all of their serpents and move onto the maze, with Uli shortly behind them and Kele coming in last.
Fortunately for Kele, the maze wipes the slate clear as all of the tribes struggle to navigate the maze. Kele begins to gain some momentum, but the wind is quickly let out of their sails when the ball drops at a crucial time in the challenge. Hina gets the win, Uli comes in second, and Kele loses sending them to Tribal Council.
Nicole is the first person voted out of Survivor 49
Heading into the first Tribal Council of the season, the Kele tribe quickly realize they have to cut the dead weight from their tribe if they have any hopes of turning things around. The tribe begins to focus in on Nicole, but when Annie suggests banding together with Sophi to take out the guys before the merge, it looks like she could be the first to go. At Tribal Council, the tribe ends up sending Nicole home making her the first player eliminated in Survivor 49.