On Wednesday (Dec. 10), the penultimate episode of “Survivor 49” saw castaway Sophi Balerdi fumble her chances to correctly play her Knowledge is Power advantage during the Final Six’s “jaw-dropping” Tribal Council ceremony.
While Sophi tried to use her power to steal an advantage from fellow castaway Steven Ramm, she was devastated to learn that the reward he won during Episode 11’s “strenuous” journey – a Block-a-Vote advantage – had already been played to prevent Sophi’s ally Savannah Louie from voting.
Thankfully for Balerdi, Steven’s allies – Sage Ahrens-Nichols and Kristina Mills – flipped on him at Tribal, sending the 35-year-old NASA rocket scientist to the jury just short of next week’s finale.
Though Sophi was able to secure her own spot in the finale – alongside her “Tres Leches” allies Savannah and Rizo Velovic – many fans were confused as to why the castaway didn’t use her advantage to steal Rizo’s Hidden Immunity Idol, arguing that the “cutthroat” move was likely Balerdi’s last chance to establish herself as worthy of being named this season’s “Sole Survivor.”
After the episode, however, Sophi took to X to explain her decision, revealing that the plan to blindside Steven was established well before the remaining castaways set out for Tribal Council.
Sophi Reveals Steven’s Unanimous Blindside was Pre-Planned
“It was a planned [unanimous] vote,” Balerdi revealed. “Before tribal, Kristina told me about Steven’s Block a Vote but she didn’t know the specifics of it.”
Because Steven had to play his Block-a-Vote before Tribal Council, the advantage was no longer in play by the time Sophi tried to steal it using her own Knowledge as Power advantage.
Despite trying, and failing, to become the first player in “Survivor” history to successfully play the Knowledge is Power advantage, Sophi added that she did consider using it to flip on her alliance and steal Rizo’s idol.
“Had I felt unsafe before tribal, I would’ve taken the idol. Had [Savannah] not won immunity, I would’ve taken the idol,” she explained, adding that with both her allies essentially safe from elimination, the “only threat option left was Steven.”
Jeff Probst Reacts to Season 49’s ‘Advantagegeddon’
Longtime “Survivor” host Jeff Probst similarly opened up about his thoughts surrounding the Final Six Tribal Council, particularly concerning the interaction between Steven and Sophi’s respective advantages.
During his appearance on “Survivor”s official “On Fire” aftershow podcast, Probst explained that producers intentionally formatted Steven’s Block-a-Vote to be played before Tribal Council, knowing that Sophi might try to steal it using her Knowledge is Power.
“The ‘why’ behind the advantage is that we wanted to force the player, in this case Steven, to play the advantage before they leave for Tribal and that’s very unusual,” said Probst, adding, “The second ‘why’ was because we know it could impact the Knowledge is Power, which was also in the game.”
Speaking specifically on Balerdi’s attempt to steal Steven’s advantage, Probst explained: “What Sophi did that night, she had everything right. She had the information and she had it set up perfectly. And, in almost any other situation, she would’ve stolen Steven’s advantage before he used it. So did she misplay it? That’s how it will go down in the history books.”
CBSProbst added that he thought the twist was “not really fair” on Balerdi, but conceded: “She didn’t really misplay it as much as she got got by a new twist she couldn’t have anticipated.”
Will Sophi’s decision to let Rizo keep his Idol come back to bite her in the finale? Find out when the “Sole Survivor” of Season 49 is declared during the “explosive” three-hour finale episode, coming to CBS this Wednesday, December 17 at 8:00pm ET.
That doesn’t seem right that they changed how the steal-a-vote was played. They changed the outcome of the game. Like refs making or not making a call because they don’t want to influence the outcome. The producers had an outsized impact on winner. I guess it’s good that Stephen didn’t benefit from what they did.
Unfair to Sophi!