Survivor 49 finale: Who was the winner, and why?

We knew entering the Survivor 49 finale that we were going to see a really competitive battle between the remaining players. What ended up happening? Well, we had a surprising exit at the final 4 and from there, a really interesting final Tribal Council where it did feel like a few different things were up in the air.

First and foremost, let’s just speed-run past Kristina’s exit at final five. She was never going to win, but we understood Savannah’s logic that she was going to be harder to beat at fire-making. In the end, we don’t actually think that decision mattered. Because Sophi ended up winning the final four immunity, she likely would have brought Kristina to the end by default — just like she did Sage. We would have been left with Rizo and Savannah competing in fire-making no matter what.

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Getting rid of Rizo at the final four was easily Sophi’s biggest move of the season, and it justified somewhat her threatening to make a move against him and Savannah for the majority of the season. He could have easily won had he made it to the end of the game … but we still think she should have stolen Rizo’s idol with her Knowledge is Power. That would’ve been the thing that actually allowed her to win the game if she was still in final three.

The final three — Savannah, Sage, and Sophi

This was the first all-female final three in twenty seasons, and it was actually pretty competitive. We thought going in that Savannah had it in a landslide, but Kristina really hit her with a big statement about the lack of her social game. Meanwhile, Sage was cooked for flipping on a dominant alliance, and it also felt like the jury knew that Sophi was largely #3 in her own alliance.

So who ended up taking it home? Savannah! It was a 5-2-1 vote, but she deservedly got the lion’s share.

Related – Be sure to get some more coverage right now when it comes to Survivor 50

What did you think about the events of the Survivor 49 finale?

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