It’s time to drop your buffs – Again! Just two episodes after “Survivor 49” made history by hosting the first ever “new era” three-to-two tribe swap, the currently-airing season teased yet another “major shakeup” for its 12 remaining castaways as a second pre-Merge tribe swap was revealed to take place in next week’s sixth episode.
‘Survivor 49’ Teases Unprecedented Second Tribe Swap
In a synopsis for Season 49 Episode 6, set to air on Wednesday, October 29, CBS teased that “a major shakeup hits the game when two tribes turn to three. New tribe members size each other up, but with only four players on each tribe, there is not much room to hide.”
While Season 49 started with three tribes – Uli, Kele and Hina – the Uli tribe was dissolved during Episode 4’s tribe swap.
Though longtime “Survivor” host Jeff Probst revealed that a swap was pre-scheduled to occur after four players had been eliminated, the reshuffling became unavoidable after the so-called “disaster” Kele tribe found themselves with just two remaining players following three back-to-back Tribal Council eliminations and the medical evacuation of castaway Jake Latimer.
The season’s first tribe swap saw three tribes become two for the first time in “new era” history, however, the cast will once again be reshuffled into three tribes of four players each on next week’s episode, with the Uli tribe being resurrected for the first-of-its-kind swap.
Rumored New Tribes: Who Ends Up Where in Episode 6?
Here’s a closer look at which remaining castaways are rumored to end up on each of the new tribes, and how their pre-existing relationships could potentially affect the rest of the season up to the Merge.
The New Uli Tribe
The freshly reestablished Uli tribe will feature Alex Moore, Kristina Mills, Sophie Segretti and Nate Moore.
CBSGoing into the second tribe swap, Kristina and Sophie, who began the season together on the Hina tribe before swapping to the new Kele tribe in Episode 4, boast the strongest pre-established connection.
The female duo similarly have experience playing alongside Alex, who also joined the new Kele tribe after the first swap.
The new dynamic could leave Nate, who has hardly even met his new tribemates outside of competing against them in immunity challenges, on the bottom of the tribe coming into Episode 6.
The New-er Kele Tribe
Reshuffled for the third time since the start of the season, the newest iteration of the Kele tribe with feature castaways Shannon Fairweather, Sage Ahrens-Nichols, Jawan Pitts and Steven Ramm.
CBSOnce again, the new tribe will boast two players who have been tribemates since the beginning of the game in Shannon and Sage, who both began on the Uli tribe before swapping to the new Kele tribe in Episode 4.
The duo will remain on the new-er Kele tribe alongside Steven, who donned the tribe’s blue buff two weeks ago after starting the game on the original Hina tribe.
Jawan, who began the game on the Uli tribe, will reunite with his original tribe members Shannon and Sage on new-er Kele, though it remains unclear as to whether the two women will honor their OG Uli alliance with Jawan, or if they’ll opt to work with Steven towards the Merge. Regardless, on the surface, it appears that the two men could be in trouble if Kele returns to Tribal Council this week.
The New-er Hina Tribe
Finally, the new-er Hina tribe will feature Rizo Velovic, Savannah Louie, Sophi Balerdi and Michelle “MC” Chukwujekwu.
CBSIn what seems to be a pattern for the second tribe swap of the season, new-er Hina will once again boast two players who have played the entirety of the game together up to this point in Rizo and Savannah, who both began the game on the original Uli tribe before swapping to new Hina in Episode 4.
They’ll remain at the Hina beach alongside Sophi, who moved to the tribe after surviving the disastrous original Kele tribe. The trio have worked together in recent weeks, joining forces to send home Matt Williams and Jason Treul in back-to-back Tribal Councils after the Episode 4 swap.
The final member of new-er Hina will be MC, who will return to her original beach after a two-week stint on the new Kele tribe. While MC has avoided Tribal Council to this point in the season, it seems clear that she would be on the bottom of the four-person tribe should they lose next week’s immunity challenge.
