Survivor 48

 originally aired February 26, 2025 to May 21, 2025

The order players were eliminated and the impact they left behind:

• Stephanie (Vula) The first victim of a terrible tribe and/or Sai.
• Kevin (Vula) The first victim of Sai and Cedrek's strange alliance, and the second victim of Mary's inability to counteract Sai's influence on the tribe.
• Justin (Vula) I loved this guy mostly because he works at a pizzeria and wore a shirt that said "Pizza." But he didn't get much by way of an edit, and he was literally the bargaining chip Cedrek offered to try and make peace between Sai and Mary.  That is not a good way to go.  This was a truly idiotic tribe.
• Thomas (Lagi) This right here is where everything went wrong this season, the fact that Thomas had any impact at all.  He shouldn't.  His elimination emboldened, probably, Shauhin, and influenced how poorly that played out the rest of the season.  But more on that later.
• Bianca (Lagi) Another victim of Cedrek's bizarre gameplay.
• Charity (Civa) Another enabler of Sai.
• Saiounia (Vula) The one truly awful aspect of this season was Sai, and not just Sai herself but how much the edit loved her (please don't chime in if you were somehow a fan), and how much influence she inexplicably had on the proceedings.  Her exit before the jury was the best thing that could've happened.  She was lunatic enough to suggest she'd've actively sabotaged its proceedings if she'd made it.  So long, good riddance.  
• Cedrek (Vula) The bizarre flipside of the fruitful two-person alliances that were Joe/Eva and Kyle/Kamilla was Cedrek's inability to see how little value there was in humoring Sai.  His only role was trying desperately to believe she had value.  She did not.  And so he did not.
• Chrissy (Civa) The latest player I really didn't see much value in, second member of the jury.
• David (Civa) Such a rollar coaster ride for this guy!  A member of what I dubbed the Good People Alliance, as he was actually worth rooting for, and so were the other members (so long as they were actually true to the alliance), with a sympathetic story (the Good People Alliance was packed with those; the only player this season who had one who wasn't in was Mitch, which not even Mitch ever realized).  But he couldn't manage his alliance very well, couldn't sell Joe on the obvious reality of Kyle and Kamilla working together, Kyle actively working against his own alliance's interests...Then he gets voted out, joins the jury, and forgets everything that made him great.  Votes for Kyle to win.  For some reason.
• Star (Lagi) I loved Star.  She just didn't have any play this season.  She was the outsider looking in, just in abject amusement at everything happening around her.  I'd absolutely love to see her play again.
• Mary (Vula) The best player, the flipside of Star, to have no play deep into the game, and like Star, awesome to have around just to be able to watch.  
• Shauhin (Lagi) As hopelessly delusional as he happened to be, when Shauhin wasn't deep in his own head he was a good hand to have in the Good People Alliance.  He never realized his only play was to stay loyal.  He couldn't manage that.  He also couldn't admit that he couldn't manage that.  So he voted for Kyle instead of Joe to win.
• Mitch (Civa) Such an annoying player!  Constantly complaining that he was on the outside looking in, talking about making moves...Then never doing anything.  Just wanted to be handed the victory, really.  Didn't seem aware that he was playing Survivor.
• Kamilla (Civa) The secret hand behind Kyle, right up to the end.  Clearly a big game player, but also had no clue how to actually play.  This only worked because Kyle was a member of the Good People Alliance.  I would be much more willing to see her play again, though, than Kyle.  At least she was honest about her gameplay.
• Joe (Lagi) Thoroughly dominated this season.  I guess a lot of fans got tired of his Good People vibe, and I guess even he got a little carried away at times (he was the reality of the perception some players tried to make out of Tom in Palau).  More in a moment.
• Eva (Lagi) One of the most sympathetic players ever (though of course fans got tired of her, too), leaning, eventually, on her shortcomings but also knowing how to use them, not exploit them, mostly because Joe so readily opened himself to not only being a human being to her, but an ally without reservation.  And she and Joe worked the numbers, found allies, and if everyone had remained loyal, as they claimed they would, one of them would be the winner this season.  
• Kyle (Civa) Brilliant gameplay insofar as working two separate alliances, one the group that kept him in control of his fate, and the other that he used as an insurance policy even though it never really knew how to do anything right.  It was only the fact of the Good People not being as Good as they seemed that allowed him to reach the end, and win.  I see the clever maneuvering.  I do.  But I cannot condone it.  I can't call it deliberate.  It fell into victory.  It required David to become embittered (no matter how he tried to play it), Shauhin to reveal how thin his allegiances were, and even Kamilla's apparent schoolgirl crush on a guy who was literally about to (and did) get married.  That's how I see it, anyway.  A memorable season.  Didn't end on the note it deserved.  Casting is just too determined to find conniving players.  This season was a flash on the spirit of earlier days, when it was okay to be good and still have a shot at winning.