Survivor 51: Kilby and Lewis Orchestrate a Blindside and Force a Deadlock

Survivor 51 saw two female contestants eliminated in one episode, and that seems consistent with the show thus far. Remember, Rob left after saying he had injured his foot and was worried about an infection. But so far, he’s the only male contestant to have left the island.

Six In A Row

Entertainment Weekly reported that “Probst also weighs in on six women in a row getting voted out to start the game.” It came after a Tribal Council where two extra votes created a deadlock. Rather than risk drawing rocks, three contestants agreed to sacrifice their ally, Linnea.

The outlet explained, “Thanks to former Toka ally Maggie Nestor providing extra votes to Lewis Kelly and Danny Kilby, the pair managed to force a surprise Tribal Council tie, with four votes each on Lewis and Linnea Capobianco.”

That put Eric Macksoud, Sharonda Cox, and Cristian Chavez in a tough spot. Kilby “stood firm on his plan to go to rocks,” which meant any one of them could be knocked out by chance.

Jeff Probst Weighs In

In his Field Notes on Instagram, Jeff Probst discussed what went down on Survivor 51. In fact, he thought it was pretty impressive, because he wrote, “This is a great example of what playing to win looks like.”

Notably, he also said that if players play it too safe, they end up “doomed.” He added, “You must play to win,” saying, “sometimes that means a risky, go-for-broke, big move. That’s what tonight was.”

Comitting To A Strategy

Kilby and Lewis caught the others off guard, but the move wasn’t something Kilby dreamed up at Tribal Council. He’d already decided that he was prepared to go to rocks. With four Savu members lined up against them, there wasn’t much reason to play it safe.

Probst said that being willing to go all the way to a rock draw gives players “a massive advantage.” And that’s what happened. Eric, Sharonda, and Cristian then had to choose between saving Linnea and risking their own elimination.

Fans React

When the episode was discussed in the r/survivor sub on Reddit, one person commented, “Kilby had a 25% chance of a bad outcome for him.”

They continued by saying, “Those three had a 75% chance of a bad outcome for their alliance. If it was likely that one of their alliance was going home anyways, why not at least make sure that it is not you? Simple math.”

Here are a few more responses from the discussion:

• “they will get kilby out first chance.”
• “Jelly voting out women again and again whilst complaining about it is going to get old,”
• “Who cares? One of the best tribals in a while and yall talking about this… 7 of the past 11 winners have been women.”

Your thoughts? Join the discussion and then come back for more Survivor 51 news and updates.