‘Survivor 49’: Jeff Probst Reacts to Player Refusing Hug From Castoff After Blindside

[Warning: The following contains MAJOR spoilers for Survivor Season 49 Episode 6, “The Devil’s Shoes.”]

Everyone say congratulations to Sophi Balderi, who finally avoided Tribal Council for the first time all season in Survivor 49 Episode 6. While the former member of the original Kele tribe didn’t see Jeff Probst on the shipwreck set in the October 29 episode, Kele was still represented there tonight, but in a new form after yet another tribe swap. One of the players staged a blindside against a secret enemy and refused the eliminated player’s offer for a hug on their way out. Probst reacted to this on the On Fire podcast aftershow (embedded below), saying the differences between these two players are exactly what they’re looking for in the casting process.

The Episode 6 swap resulted in three new tribes of four, with the “cursed” Kele tribe ending up back at Tribal Council. Over on the second version of Hina, the Uli alliance — Nate Moore, Savannah Louie, Rizo Velovic, and Sophi — held strong and voted out the only other original Hina, Jason Treul, last week. Savannah, Rizo, and Sophi lucked out in the swap this week, when they ended up on the third version of Hina with MC Chukwujekwu. On the new Uli tribe are Sophie Segreti, Alex Moore, Nate Moore, and Kristina Mills.

Nate was the unlucky OG Uli who wound up on a team without any of his Uli-strong allies — or anyone else he’s played the game with, for that matter. He’s lucky the merge is next week, because his lie about working with Jason in an attempt to downplay his Uli loyalty did not work on his new team. He was on the outs of that group, but he got lucky again when they finished second in the immunity challenge (the new Hina finished in first).

Even if the new Kele hadn’t gone to Tribal Council in this episode, Sage Ahrens-Nichols still would’ve had the luckiest results from this tribe swap. She ended up on Kele with her secret rival, Shannon Fairweather, as well as Jawan Pitts and Steven Ramm. Last week, Sage revealed to the new Uli that Shannon had idol intel about Rizo that she didn’t reveal to any of her new teammates. This was done to make Shannon look bad after she secretly targeted Sage for elimination. Several players started to see through Shannon’s good-vibes-only, highly spiritual attitude as the slight front that it was in Episode 5, and Sage capitalized on this. She did it again in Episode 6 when they ended up on the same team.

Shannon’s strategy to build the facade of trust with just about every player but Sage backfired. After Kele lost the immunity challenge, Sage got to work on a Shannon blindside by telling the truth about what she knew about her in talks with Jawan and Steven. Shannon, meanwhile, was only seen talking strategy with Sage, and she wanted to get Jawan out. She had no idea that Sage was her biggest opponent in the game, probably because she didn’t take much time to get to know her in the first place.

When the votes were read at Tribal Council, Shannon smiled confidently when her Jawan vote came up first; she clearly felt the votes were going to go her way. And then, the second vote showed her name, and her smile dropped. Every vote was for her after that, making Shannon the seventh person voted out of Survivor 49 and sending her home just shy of the merge.

Jawan also lucked out with Sage on his team, because it separated him from the Uli alliance that was led by Savannah, someone who’s determined to vote him out as soon as possible. It could have very well been in this episode had they remained on the same team. With this new group and partnership with Sage and Steven, Jawan finally gained some social capital in the game and made a big strike against the original Uli tribe, on which Shannon was a member of that core alliance with Savannah.

Shannon Fairweather and Sage Ahrens-Nichols in ‘Survivor 49’ (Robert Voets / CBS)

Shannon hugged Jawan and Steven before getting her torch snuffed, and she wanted to hug Sage as well. Sage, meanwhile, laid all of her cards on the table and refused to hug Shannon because she couldn’t make it “genuine.” She offered a handshake instead and said that she hoped to be able to give her a genuine hug in the future. Shannon said, “I love you,” just like she did to Jawan and Steven, but Sage wouldn’t say it back. She’s unwaveringly honest when it’s time to reveal her true feelings in the game.

Related

'Survivor 49' Castoff Addresses Alliance 'Declaring War' — Was It a Mistake?

In On Fire, co-host Jeremy Collins (winner of Season 31) said that Sage’s big swing opens up the game at last.

“Now Uli can move, and we can all play a different game now. We don’t have to stick to tribe lines,” Collins explained. “That’s when Survivor really gets good, is when everybody is all over the place and nobody knows where anybody’s going as a player. It’s very nerve-wracking and very scary, but watching it, it’s beautiful. It’s such great gameplay. I love it.” He called Sage’s plan a “perfect” move that puts her on top of her new alliance and in a stronger position of control in the game, exactly where you want to be by the merge.

Probst says Sage and Shannon’s differences are exactly what they want in Survivor.

“She’s a vibe. She’s a planet in her own orbit,” Probst read from his casting notes about Shannon. “She talks. She’s zany, new-age spirituality, very enterprising. Family of entrepreneurs. She has opinions, she will play the game, and engage the others. Undeniable energy. And when we saw her in casting, which we’ve talked about, she came alive in person, and she embodied all of those things that I just mentioned.”

Shannon “was honestly something I won’t forget for a long time,” Probst continued, “because it’s one of the best parts of casting is you get to meet these amazing humans, and when she blossomed in that room, she got herself a spot on the show. This is the example, when you look at just Shannon and Sage, at the different walks of life that make Survivor special.”

Stay tuned to TV Insider for an exit interview with Shannon tomorrow, and listen to the full On Fire episode for free below.

Survivor, Wednesdays, 8/7c, CBS